Unfortunately, if you want to heal at level 80 you have to get to that level first which can be a long and daunting process. Thankfully there have been tweaks and additions in recent patches which will help speed up the levelling. This post will look into what spec to level as once you have chosen the class you prefer, then there will be some comments about gear before it’s finished off with some tips on having fun while levelling. However, the very first thing you need to do is decide what class you want to level.
Picking a class
Ah, this is always the difficult bit. At least it takes me absolutely forever… There are a few things to consider, but most importantly is what kind of healing style do you think you would enjoy and what is it that you want to be healing? Would you like to heal the raid, or would you prefer to keep tanks alive? Do you want to heal in 25 man raids, 10 man raids, PvP or just in 5 man heroics? These are all important questions which you may want to consider. Wanting to heal the raid (and not focus on tanks) in 25 man raids could easily influence your choice as for example paladins are not currently a great raid healing class.
It is always nice to consider the guild’s needs if you are not particularly fussed what class you’ll be playing. However, unless it is a very small guild or you level stupidly fast then there is likely to be someone of the particular class in your guild by the time you get to 80. Therefore this is something that shouldn’t be a vital part of your decision. 
You are likely to be just as useful if you choose a class you think you will both enjoy and master.
There are four different classes to choose from; priest (which you can heal with both as discipline and holy), druid, shaman and paladin. (If you are picky about what race you want to be, you may be limited to only a couple of the classes.) If you are going to be healing in 10 man mostly you will probably find yourself healing both the tanks and the raid no matter what class you heal on. However, in a 25 man holy priests, druids and shamans are most frequently on raid healing duty, while discipline priests and paladins tend to get assigned to tank healing. There may of course be variations, but that is the stereotypical classification.
Another thing you might want to consider before you pick the class is what type of spec you would prefer levelling as. Some people are not particularly fond of melee, while others struggle playing a caster. If you are either of those types, it is worth noting that you don’t want to melee your way to level 80 as a priest, nor is it a good idea to level the paladin as a caster. Both druids and shamans can be both caster and melee.
OK, so you’ve chosen what class to level (hopefully it doesn’t take you three days just to pick a name, sigh..), now to decide what spec you want to level as.
Spec
Right, so you want to level up quickly. You will get your first talent point at level 10 where you can start specialising. Any class with a healing spec available also have at least one DPS spec available, druids and paladins also have the ability to tank. Trying to level with a healing spec only can be quite slow and a lot find it unnecessarily difficult; not because you are likely to die (as you’re not), but because it takes a lot of time and effort to kill mobs compared to other specs. It is very important that you enjoy the spec you choose to level as. If you don’t enjoy playing the spec you have chosen you can easily get fed up and stop levelling all together which is hardly the intention. If you do reach this hurdle it is really worth considering respeccing and trying something else your class has to offer.
Dual spec is a great way of having a healing spec for instances as well as questing with a DPS spec. This is available from level 40 and for a person new to the game the 1000g it costs may seem like a stupidly high amount. Keep in mind that you can go to a trainer to respec if you want to, without having the dual spec, so you can both do quests as DPS and heal the odd instance with a healing spec should you wish to spec back and forth. If you choose to level as a caster you can probably heal well in that spec until level 40 or so without having to get a specific healing spec. Dual spec is not necessary, but it’s a nice option if you want to both level as quickly as possible while getting some healing experience in instances. If you do choose to have dual spec, make sure you continue to put your points in both talent specs as well as get training for both of them. You have to swap spec by the trainer to train any spec specific talents. (Some button add ons may require you to update your buttons as well.)
Below I have made suggestions on what specs I would likely to choose to level with; none of which are very healing oriented. These will include a glyph suggestion. The sole purpose of these builds is levelling, so they are all likely to be quite poor for dungeons and raids at max level. These series will only cover healing specs so you will have to go elsewhere for dps and tanking raid specs 
. Please note that if you choose to dual spec early you on may as well go straight for a proper healing spec as your secondary spec. The raid oriented healing specs will be looked at in the next episode.
First I would focus on getting to level 50 and the bottom tier talent because these are generally quite nice abilities. As feral talents are so similar for both cat and bear I’ve only included one talent suggestion which works for both types. I have included a discipline/holy spec for levelling as DPS as well as it is the most viable DPS option of the healing types in my opinion. Here is where I would put the first 50 talent points:
| priest | druid | shaman | paladin |
| disc/holy | balance | elemental | retribution |
| shadow | feral | enhancement | protection |
Then I would continue placing talent points until I got to level 80 where I would instantly respec to something less levelling oriented and make sure I have all the required training. Here are what the builds I would use from level 60 until the last talent point you’ll use while levelling at 79:
| priest | druid | shaman | paladin |
| disc/holy | balance | elemental | retribution |
| shadow | feral | enhancement | protection |
Now the spec is decided, you need to know what gear you want.
Gear
If you already have a level 80 alt on the same server, purchasing heirloom gear will surely benefit you greatly. Make sure you purchase the heirlooms for the spec you want to level as because the experience bonus will speed up your levelling significantly. It is important to note that the stats and armour type of the heirloom scale as your character levels up. Therefore, if you are levelling a paladin you want to purchase the plate gear, and as a shaman you want to purchase mail gear. Both of these classes uses a lower level armour type until level 40 and although the plate heirloom may look unwearable at lower levels for a paladin this is not the case. If you have a lot of emblems to spend on heirloom gear, you might also want to consider some items for a healing off spec as well to have some optimal gear items for when healing instances, although it’s not really necessary.
Dual spec means you should ideally collect two sets of gear – one to use for levelling and one to use for healing instances, even if you don’t have the extra emblems to spend on heirloom gear. Unless you plan on going all the way until max level without healing a single instance you probably want two sets of gear. No matter which of the two levelling approaches you pick you definitely want to start collecting healing gear around level 75 both as quest rewards and instance drops. To find out what stats you want on your healing gear, have a look at each class’ introduction page (discipline priest, holy priest, restoration druid, restoration shaman and holy paladin). Though keep in mind that you won’t be able to obtain much haste on gear until after you reach Northrend. If you level as melee, the gear you pick up for your levelling spec is going to be of no use to you as a healer, while caster gear will benefit a healer more. Those who level as a caster can therefore easier reuse bits of their DPS gear for healing.
Have fun
There are plenty of ways to have fun while levelling. Some people will enjoy levelling with a friend for nattering and company while others focus more on for example a role play angle and create a story for their character as they go along. Then there are some who prefer reading all the quests and are interested in the lore while others mostly ignore this part of the game and plough through as quickly as they possibly can. Some will enjoy questing, while others will prefer to do instances. It has thankfully been made easier to get an instance group with the looking for dungeon tool. There are many different ways to add more enjoyment to levelling a character and you will be the best to determine what it is that would up your experience.
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Next up we’ll look at proper healing specs and how to gear up quickly.
Tags: choices, druid, heal, level, opinion, paladin, priest, shaman