Switching Armor Types
#1
I am rather curious on the matter of armor types. With Terelith, he is Holy spec (Paladin), so healing gear is a necessity for him when grouping. However, plate armor is notoriously sparse and lacking in that area compared to say, mail armor. Seeing shamans and other such healing classes with bonuses of over +1200 to healing as opposed to my +700, this makes me wonder. Not to sound ignorant or anything, but would it be frowned upon to even consider wearing mail or even leather in extreme cases, merely for the bonuses to healing and such? I understand that paladins are not meant as entirely primary healers in every case, but under the circumstances where paladins are needed to main heal for groups is what I am concerned with.

Anyways, what I'm getting at is if that would be something worth pursuing (wearing some mail rather than all plate), or would that get me black listed from Karazhan runs when I am finished with the attunement? Tongue The only thing that comes to mind when I think of differences between plate and mail is armor and absorption differences.
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#2
Being a Hunter that melees more than range and not to mention a full Survival spec. I would say go for it and test it out and see if it works! Sure your gonna take some trade in's (Armour for +Healing). If it works you can claim that it was all you....be different...go for broke this game isnt about being like everyone else...do what you want.

Just do it and see if it works...if it doesnt worst case scenario is your out some gold.


No frowns from me. Dare to be different
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#3
Back in the old days, it was quite common to see healing paladins using anything from mail, to leather to cloth. It weakens your armor, but if you use a weapon/shield combo, thats usually a Good part of your armor anyway.
Paladin itemization is a lot better than it used to be, with a lot more damage/healing plate, however there is still nothing wrong with a paladin wearing none plate if its better than what they have. However, to roll against someone of the proper type(Rolling on healing leather against a druid for example) would be poor form, but thats just my opinion.
What is the best thing in life?
Crush enemy, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women.
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#4
I think it totally depends on how you're going to go about it, like if you keep a set of armor you'll be wearing for most of the time, and a separate set of armor you'll be using for healing.

For the latter, then you'll probably use any armor with the highest healing bonus regardless of armor type (like clothadins).

But if you use only one set at all times, I agree that you'll want the most +healing of mail and even leather and cloth since Plate is indeed more limited in that aspect; and you don't want to sacrifice too much armor for the healing bonus.
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#5
Well, coming off of having played a priest, I can tell you that +healing when you're a main or even off-healer is of great benefit.

From 20-40, when I quit the priest, I was able to heal in groups effectively using sparse Flash Heals, and mainly HoT spells such as Renew, thanks to the amount of +healing I had on my gear.

If you're going to be a healer in a raid with limited, or no, tanking to be done by you, I'd say it's a good idea to grab some +healing gear in any form. I'd imagine that the reason there's not so much plate +healing is because you're a hybrid, not a main healer, so they need to be sporadic with it, but to be honest, if you're in a raid with me and you can manage your hate, wear cloth if it makes you heal better. Just watch the aggro; paladin in cloth is likely dust just the same as if he were a priest.
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#6
Nothing wrong with wearing non-plate, for the bonuses. Just let the group you are in know what's up, shouldn't be a problem (most of the groups want 'healers and off-healers to have the best stuff possible.)
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#7
I tend to wear leather items on occasion if they have the stats to justify it. I don't do it as much as I used to since the implemented pet scaling now though since Kiba gets a portion of my armor.
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#8
I never used any +healing gear from 1-60. Only once I was moving toward raiding did I collect any at all, usually as a sideline from getting mana/5 regen gear that happened to also have +healing. Once we were starting to see epics it was natural to accumulate +healing gear since everything for healing-capable classes had it on.

Working now on Serce, my Paladin, I have to say I wouldn't wear cloth/leather/mail unless it was a very significant boost over the corresponding plate piece I currently held in that slot, and even then I'd hesitate. Just my personal preference.

Perhaps Fleethoof could add something about being a leatherwearer, I know of very few if any times she'd wear a cloth piece for healing purposes. Obviously as a clothie primarily my input to this isn't as useful as others. Just thinking about it myself.

Tae
"She is a soothsayer. She’s a mystic. She is a witch doctor, able to see into people’s hearts and minds. She’s also touched by the elements." -Naomie Harris
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#9
Perhaps you should look to sound for advice, shes a cloth wearing Tauren priest who poses as a druid, her healing works wonders even if she does die a bit to often.
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#10
Healing is an unknown beast to me, I've heard it said that it has something to do with keeping people alive and is part of the reason we keep all these tauren and undead around. However, I freely interchange between mail and leather as a hunter.

Armor value is essentially irrelevant to a hunter. Nine times out of ten I'm not getting hit and if I am, I have many tricks to make that stop. Paladins have fewer options in that regard, so armor is a bit more important. I'd hesitate, personally, as a paladin, to switch plate for lesser armor.

+healing looks nice on softer armor, but remember that +healing means more healing aggro, and with less armor aggro is a Bad Thing.

All very theoritical of course, your mileage may vary. Why not give it a try and let us know what you think? Worst case, you're out some gold.
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#11
Make sure you select very strong healing jewelry, cloaks, weaponry, and enchants. You can get a lot of mileage out of those.

If you're functioning as a healer and not as a tank/off tank (and everyone in the group is aware of this) one or two pieces of less-than-plate wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea. (one if you're talking about legs or chest, two if you're looking at something like bracers and a belt). More than that is probably asking for trouble.

It can be hard when itemization doesn't seem to support your playstyle. I very occasionally wore a cloth piece or two while leveling to 60 (if no clothies were around or wanted them) for that reason, although I really have no complaints about available druid gear nowadays.

Ultimately, there's no reason not to play around with it. If it makes you a better healer and you don't die, keep wearing it! If you start biting the dirt too often, go back to plate. Smile
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#12
I wore a complete mixture of armor types on my paladin, who was almost always primary or secondary healer. A shield provided a heck of a lot more armor than a priest would ever have, and as a general rule, you shouldn't be taking damage anyway when healing. If you do begin to take damage, even with a few pieces of cloth tossed in, your damage mitigation is going to be quite a bit higher than a priest's, and you will have your self-cast shield for emergencies. I don't see the slightest thing wrong with wearing the gear best suited to the job you are performing. It's what I always did, and never to my or the group's detriment. Whenever you can replace lower armor healing gear with equally beneficial items with the higher armor class, wonderful! The only thing I would caution against is taking said gear over a class who wears that type as their primary armor, because they don't have the option to pick and choose so many types.
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#13
>>Armor value is essentially irrelevant to a hunter.

Unless you count that a third of your armor is added to your pet's armor.
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#14
I do apologize for going off Topic here but Armour is perfectly relevant to a hunter...it all depends on how you play the character.

Thanks....

And I still say go for it and use whatever gives you the bonus' you want regardless if its leather mail cloth or plate.
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#15
I don't see a problem in mixing your gear types. My healing suit consists of a mix of leather and cloth right now, and if I could it would have some nice mail peices in it too. Given your ability to take a shield the loss of armour will not be as significant to you.

You may not want to try being the main tank in a suit of mostly cloth, but it should be perfectly fine as you heal.
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