I Heart Shields

i like shields.  i really do.  they make life a little easier when it comes to healing.  now i havent played holy paladin healing much (since he's holy pvp, and i do mainly pve crap) but i have played the other classes.  what i find most awesome is that each class has its own version of a shield, whether it seems like it or not.
I'm writing this because i have been thinking about the differences in playing styles between my druid (which i love love love) and my shaman, as well, with my priest and my paladin.  heck, throw in my death knight and warlock (because they can heal themselves!) and we'll have a nice healing party.  i'll bring the kungaloosh.

Lets start with the obvious, priest's Power Word: Shield. I wonder if there are any other "Power Word" spells.  anyway, this is the obvious shield, with disc getting a secondary shield as well.  this shield rocks my socks and it does exactly as it says, it shields.  damage taken is damage absorbed.  makes sense right?

The second shielding type of healer is the paladin.  his shield absorbs damage as well. but it also increases healing on the target with the shield with this thing called a HoT.  like the shield above, it lasts for a certain amount of time or until the shield is completely used.

The third class with a shield is the shaman.  now his shield acts a little different because it shields the person kind of.  what it does is each time it gets whacked, it heals the bearer of the shield by a certain amount.  its not as effective as the priest shield with its "partial" absorb, but it has one thing the other shield doesnt have: longevity. it lasts for quite a while, and only needs to be refreshed when the shield runs out of charges.  whether it has 8 charges or 2 charges, the heal per hit will be exactly the same.  only limitation is that this shield only works on one person, per shaman, at a time.

The last type of shield isnt really a shield at all.  it comes from the awesome tree druids and they call it rejuvenation.  this spell is an inexpensive heal over time spell that simply exists.  if your "shielded" party member gets hit, it will kick in once every three seconds to heal him back up.  if the party member doesnt take any damage, it overheals, but its waste is neglegible (liken unto a shield that doesnt get used up).

people will argue that the druid talent living seed can be this shield. i find it lacking the very basic concept of a shield.  the fact that it only plants by chance makes it unreliable.  with all the other spells, the shield can be cast at-will, barring any cooldowns or debuffs.  although living seed may seen like a great "sheild" type spell, its very situational and would probably be considered a proc heal that may or may not be used.  what?  well what if the tank gets a living seed proc, awesome! but what if the tank is also at full health?  that next hit, whether it be blocked, parried, dodged, or taken, will still cause living seed to burst, thus wasting a good heal. i'd love living seed to go off if the tank were to die. that would rock.

but anyway, rejuv is a shield.  it is also a hot.  but it acts as the shield in many cases and tops people off nicely.  it is used in conjunction with swiftmend and nourish to blow away the competition.  it is the base for which druids get their healing bonus.  sounds like a sacred shield, power word shield and earthshield to me!

anyway, those are the shields in my life and i love them.