I have been healing on my monk for about 2 weeks now. While leveling, I really only did the normals once each, and have only spent this week running heroics.
The difficulty has fluctuated for me immensely, depending on who's the tank (video reference for you, Aba), what the DPS is like/doing, and what dungeon is. Most of the time I enjoy it, but other times, I feel like I'm pulling my teeth out. I will say that when I do pull my group out of a tight bind, or do something pretty impressive, I feel that exhileration I used to get from healing on my druid. That's always a warm feeling. Unfortunately, I can't tell if it's when I just happen to do something right, or if I really am making a bad situation good.
Although...me being a monk might be a bad situation. :P
Doing the Chi Cycle
The core of Mistweaver healing is a cycle of consumption. Sounds gluttonous right. Not only do we have mana, but we also have Chi, kind of like Holy Paladins have holy power. However, we use Chi in a much different way. By using Chi we gain stacks of Mana Tea. They appear as tea leaves in our buffs. We can then use these stacks in a drink that helps us restore mana. The catch? It costs mana to gain mana tea leaves. So there is a constant cycle of consumption. Use mana to gain chi to use chi to gain mana.
Gaining Chi can be done in a multiple of ways. One is of course to use Jab, a core ability for all monk specs. Unlike Windwalker, Jab only generates one Chi, and using Jab is the most cost effective and efficient way of obtaining Chi. We can also gain Chi from using our healing spells that are do not cost Chi, for example, Soothing Mists, Surging Mists, Renewing Mists and Expel Harm.
Melee Healing
So the spells above costs a decent amount to a lot of mana. The most efficient way is to Jab. Soothing Mists is our small, cost efficient heal, but it's a channeled spell meaning it only has 25% chance of granting one Chi. It's a risky spell to use as your only Chi gainer, and extremely frustrating if you don't have luck on your side. I've come to use it more of a spot heal, and stuck to the Melee Healing roll. Here's how it works.
In Stance of the Wise Serpent, given to us upon choosing Mistwalker, we gain Eminence, an ability that heals 50% of our damage done by non-auto attack abilities. So Jab, Tiger Palm, Blackout Kick, and Crackling Jade Lightning (ie. Soothing Mists except an attack), will heal for 50% of our damage. We can use these to gain and consume Chi. The healing done by these can be strong and worthwhile if the group hasn't been taking an immense amount of damage. I find that this, coupled with our mai HoT, Renewing Mists, can keep a group going through minimum downtime.
At level 34, we gain Teachings of the Monastery, which gives our abilities buffs if used correctly. By using Blackout Kick, we gain a 30 second buff that allows for all auto-attack damage to heal up to 50% of our damage. It stacks twice. Tiger Palm gives Vital Mists, which lowers the cost and cast time of our Surging Mists by 20% per a stack, so at 5 stacks, it's basically instant and free. Finally, it gives Spinning Crane Kick, by far my favorite move, the ability to heal as well as damage.
So this is how DPS Healing works. Obviously different from the Discipline's Atonement healing, but following the same thought process.
Actual healing of some kind.
Besides the whole dps/healing thing, there is also some normal, mana consuming heals.
One heal that is extremely vital to our healing, especially AE healing is Renewing Mists. At first glance, it's an 18 second HoT.
But then you place it on a target and it does something wonderful. It bounces (in Prayer of Mending form) from different targets, at a range of 20 (40 if glyphed) feet, and up to 3 extra. It's a smart heal as well, so if someone is lower on health it bounces to them first. The cooldown itself is 8 seconds, so in a raid you can have it on a large amount of the players. In a group, I like having it rolled on all members, and even pets. Keeping this spell up is key to using Uplift, a key AE healing spell and Chi consumer.
Uplift costs 2 Chi to use, and heals all Targets with Renewing Mists on them. So if you have major AE damage incoming, having 4 Chi and Renewing Mists on as many people as possible (in a Raid, it can be as high as 9+) you can spam Uplift twice and get some nice healing done. This is actually my favorite combination of spells.
Another combination of spells has to do with Soothing Mist. At first it looks like just a channeled, poor Chi generating small, mana efficient heal. But when combined with other spells, It can be so much more.
Take Surging Mist for example. At first, this is our quick, high heal, high mana cost spell. Flash of Light, Regrowth, Healing Surge, etc. But if you are channeling Soothing Mist, using Surging Mist during the channel makes it instant and doesn't break Soothing Mist.
Then we have Enveloping Mist, another Chi consumer. Costing 3 Chi, Enveloping Mist is a extreme potent HoT. But, similar to Surging, if used while channeling Soothing Mist, Enveloping because instant.
Finally, we have Revival, our "oh $#!+" button. This is a pretty nice heal, and it also removes all harmful poison, magical and disease debuffs on party members. And it heals ALL, within vision (idk what that means), but so far its been ridiculously powerful. It has that cooldown though, 3 minutes, to keep it in check. But man. Tranquility is in the past.
Green Orbs of Failure
Healing Sphere...Healing Sphere. Where do I begin?
I remember when druids got Efflorescence. It took what seemed like forever to get people to stand in the good green. Priests brought back Lightwell, and were begging melee to click on the Lightwell! to grab a quick, good heal.
I've never been extremely happy with forcing non-healers to heal themselves. Efflorescence wasn't too bad because it just forced players to stand in a large green circle. This isn't so bad because healers can pre-place this spell (use Swiftmend on a player in a large group or a tank with tons of melee around him). Priests have Holy Word: Sanctuary and Power Word: Barrier where they can physically place them.
Then there's the Lightwell, where players have to go out of there way to click it and heal themselves. There is a large range for clicking it so you don't even need to be standing besides it. There is now a glyph called Lightspring, that makes the Lightwell and automatic smart heal.
And then we got to Healing Sphere. Green orbs that we place on the ground, 3 at a time. They last 2 minutes and heal anyone not at full health who run through it.
And that's where we have a problem.
They are small, spherical green orbs that one must run through to get the heal. Not stand by. Run through. And they're small.
Expecting players that are not healers or tanks, to look at their health, see they need heals, go find a green orb and go run through it is expecting too much. In a smaller group setting it's silly. We end a fight and all I see around me is green orbs. Unused, green orbs. Unused heals. Unused mastery, because our mastery is all about making these stupid green orbs. GREEN ORBS....
I wish the range for when these orbs would heal would be increased slightly. If they had a little bit of a better mechanic then these orbs would be worth it. They do a substantial amount of healing, and do not heal if the person who runs through them is at full health. But they are too small to be of good use in a small group setting. I've had tanks try and help out by running over the orbs, but then they're twisting and turning the boss like no tomorrow.
Also, to add insult to injury, the Healing Spheres are a huge part of our mastery. Our heals gain a chance to create the Healing Spheres, which in theory is great, but in practice, I have yet to see it work out. A lot of 25 man monks are using mastery as the most important stat after Spirit and the Haste cap is met, and I can see that having 25 people running around could use these orbs. But in 5 man heroics, they are not worth it.
Juries still out on 10 man.
Healing "Rotation"
So, that's a lot to take in. There are a lot of ins and outs of healing as a Mistweaver. The interesting part is combining the two.
I've kind of adopted an incredibly flexible rotation. I try to keep Blackout Kick buff up as much as possible, as well as 2-4 Chi going for a well timed Uplift. To keep Chi consumption going, I use Uplift often, even if to just heal the Tank. This is of course assuming Blackout Kick buff is up.
There is a sense of urgency in keeping Mana Tea stacks going, so I feel like I want to keep gaining and consuming Chi. This isn't a big deal in Heroics, since they are relatively easy, but I want to get used to this for raiding.
I think Monk style healing is more difficult because you now have the added bonus of watching out for melee type things. Whirlwinds, pools of doom are harder to see. It's been a difficult learning experience. I've always been a caster if not a healer, so this new style is definitely a challenge. It has improved my awareness and I do see myself getting better over time.
Need to Drink more.
Overall, the healing is going well. I've seen my numbers reach up to 70k HPS, but I'm usually sitting at 24-30k HPS. I often forget to drink Mana Tea, and after some time, I do find myself OOM, far more than I should. It's currently my biggest weakness, which is ironic considering all the thought I put into gaining and consuming Chi for Mana Tea stacks.
Interestingly enough, whenever my group has wiped, it's never been my fault. If I do end up OOM, the small heals I attempt to throw out seem to be enough to keep people alive.
There are a few things I need to work on, but I think the healing is getting easier, especially as my gear, and Spirit continue to improve.
1.) My biggest weakness. Remember to use Mana Tea on CD.
2.) Keep Blackout Kick: Teachings of the Monastery buff up.
3.) Keep Renewing Mist always up on people (this is becoming second nature but I could still perfect it)
4.) Continue to improve"get out of the bad" reflex.
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