I've been wanting to write this opinion piece for a long time but, for one thing or another, I haven't been able to do it yet… until today.
Few of you know it and in Who we are, it only appears that I play with my magician but it is not like that.
It's been a long time since I've been playing more with a Shaman who, from level 1, was predestined to be Healer. I honestly love the Shaman's game almost as much or more than the Magician's.
Not long ago, while doing one of the daily heroics, another shaman (Elemental) accompanied us and, after the first boss, he whispered to me, commenting that the Chain healing it would be more effective. Kindly, I replied that this was not so.
This is a reality that, today, it is very difficult for some players to assume: The shaman is not an Area Healer.
There are several reasons that make us bad Area Healers. So that the Chain healing is in some way productive, you have to increase the Haste a lot and take advantage of the Tier Bonuses that, of course, are focused on the Healing Chain. On the other hand, people tend to spread out a lot or move around during combat and when you finish casting the chain it only heals the initial target. For the latter case, there are times that it does not happen but when this happens we have lost precious seconds and a not inconsiderable amount of mana.
Shamans have always been pretty good Healers. In The Burning Crusade they were especially good, but honestly, they were too over the top. But all this changed with the departure of Wrath of The Lich King. Shamans' area heals are not comparable to a Druid or a Priest on equal terms. They don't give anything unique either, well yeah, I forgot about the very rare occasions when the Resistance Totems or the Mana Tide Totem are used. The rest of things can be given by an Elemental / Improvement Shaman without major problems, which leads me to think that we are, today, quite expendable.
In comparison, a Priest can heal an entire group of 8,000-9,000 critics with a cast time similar to or less than a Shaman fully focused on the Healing Chain. If we look at the Druids with the Cures in their time, one simply understands that they have nothing to do with these classes.
Before the Paladins jump around my neck, I will say that a good paladin with the Sign of Light is a good healing machine and can compete with the other two classes while the shaman simply cannot.
The shaman, with a good critical strike rating, is quite good at healing with Lesser Healing Wave + Spring tides and in combats where the damage hits high peaks they are quite effective but they are not effective when raising a band and, without a doubt, they are good Tank Healers with the previous combination + Earth Shield + Glyph of Lesser Healing Wave.
Until the day Shamans are (or are not) Area Healers, please don't force us to use the Chain of Healing.