Beta: Leveling as Holy

So, given the fact that addons are not allowed in Beta yet, and I'm really hesitant to start healing instances using mouseover macros (although I will, soon, and that's a promise), I have decided to give everyone a quick update on how leveling is going as holy. When I first logged in, and got my fill of flying around in Ironforge, I headed out to Stormwind. There I picked up a quest to head out on a mercenary ship to Vashj'ir. The quest itself is a really cool one, and you get to see some cool "machinima". Let's just say that if you're a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean, you'll like this:

Not Pictured: Capt. Jack Sparrow

At any rate, once you've finally settled down from the mind blowing awesomeness of the above scene, as well as the one after it, you finally get to start grinding your way to 85. The very first mobs you encounter have 30k+ health. No, that isn't a typo... That's almost three times the health of the average Icecrown mob. However, there is good news. Retribution aura, as well as Holy Shock and our Judgements have been scaled up to account for the health increase. In fact, one hit of Ret aura does 500+ dmg on the mobs, and that adds up to a lot. Now, it is still slower than leveling as DPS. However, at least we're not at a huge disadvantage. If you're like me, and you have Protection as an offspec, we'll be more than able to offset the slower grinding with shorter instance queues, and combine the two to level to 85.