Healbot, Unashamed

I usually get smart remarks for using Healbot from some of the healers in my guild. I love Grid as much as the next enthusiast, but this weekend I switched my last character who used Grid (my priest) to Healbot.

Since I've been doing a 25ICC alt-run every week and switching between my druid and priest to round out the healing comp, I've noticed that my druid and paladin get several more frames per second than my priest. Considering at best I get 7 FPS in a 25-man, losing 5 means I am running at 2. That's not really what I consider playable.

I switched to back to Healbot, which is my Very First Healing Addon(tm). On my priest, it's a bit of nostalgia because I suddenly feel like I should be back in Slave Pens or Kara, twitching fearfully in my hybrid disc/holy spec and blues. It didn't take much time to get back into the swing of things, in fact, I was quite surprised how little I had to do to get healing. It was a most pleasant experience.

Why I'm not ashamed of my Healbot

1. Healbot doesn't hog. Of all the healing addons/raid frames, HB bogs my computer down the least. If you're having troubles, you'll probably want to experiment with several setups to find the best, but don't discount Healbot as it doesn't take much effort to run.

2. Healbot plays nicely. Healbot shows you incoming heals from other addons, assuming that healer has a mod, too.

3. Healbot submits to your creativity. I choose to leave my frames looking much like they did back in BC, but that doesn't mean yours have to look that bad! Healbot has updated quite a bit, with lots of options: what you can show, what you can hide, how big you want it, skins you can use, and what colors you can adjust.

4. Healbot knows. I never told it to track my Beacon or Sacred Shield or even Hand of Sacrifice, or count down over the icon when it's almost expired so I know I have 5-10 seconds to refresh. I never asked for tank cooldowns, lucky charms, or encounter specific debuffs, but I have them. Healbot understands my druid, too, showing all my hots and how long they have left.

This weekend I came into an exciting discovery. Healbot knows priests, too! It tracks Power Infusion, Pain Suppression, Guardian Spirit, Inspiration, and Prayer of Mending. The Power Word: Shield indicator is two icons rolled into one - when there's a little plus sign on the corner of your bubble, that's the Weakened Soul still active on the target. When the shield is absorbed, Healbot shows the Weakened Soul debuff, and counts down when it's almost over. That is Improved Happiness for me, it's a way to plan out my bubbling and be ready for new shields on the folks who need them the most.



Other addons can do that too, but I didn't have to beg for it, because...

5. Healbot stands alone. When Healbot is updated (mine lets me know upon login, which is great because I often don't update unless something breaks), there's only one addon to download and I don't have to worry about one plugin causing problems with one another.

I think no matter what addon you use, it's important to understand how our UIs can either get in the way or facilitate healing. Addons can solve (or cause) problems by creative use of space on a small monitor, calling attention to things we might otherwise forget we have, or distract us from more important things in an encounter.

Last week in raiding, my paladin cast 3,601 direct heals. It would have been possible without an addon, I'm sure, but with the sheer amount of activity required by healers, I wouldn't find it fun without a helpful interface to press my buttons in. Whether it be standard UI or healing addon, we all use a healing interface to interact with the game world. Mine is Healbot.