Healing Gear: Cloaks

I've already listed various idols, weapons, off-hands, necklaces, rings, and trinkets that can be used for healing. Aside from idols, these are all universally available to any healer, although their preferred stats may be different. Cloaks are the last of this universal gear. After this, itemization is a bit more clear. Any leather gear you find with healing stats is meant for a druid. Shamans and paladins could certainly wear them if they wanted, but these are the pieces that are meant for you, as a resto druid (or druid building a resto set of gear).

Just as shamans and paladins can choose to downgrade their armor by wearing leather healing gear, you also have the option to wear cloth. There are arguments for and against this. Some feel that the stats are the most important thing and the armor difference shouldn't be considered. Others say that druids should take advantage of their ability to wear leather, especially since they have very limited ways of dropping aggro if something does start beating on them (cat-cower or certain trinkets).

For this post, however, we're just concerned with cloaks.

The Path to 70
There aren't many options while leveling through Outland. If you find yourself searching the Auction House, look for enchants that are of the physician, prophet, or hierophant, depending on what's available and what your stat needs are. But, here are some other Bind-on-Pickup options along the way.

[Lost Anchorite's Cloak] - Horde-only quest reward from Hellfire Peninsula
[Arakkoa Sage's Shawl] - quest reward from Terokkar Forest
[Cloak of Healing Rays] - drop from Underbog
[Cloak of Revival] - drop from Mana Tombs

Quest Rewards
Unfortunately some of these rewards are for dungeon quests, so they aren't soloable. However, the advantage over drops is that these are guaranteed with one pass through the instance (as long as you complete the quest objectives).

[Mantle of Vivification] or [Vicar's Cloak] - quest reward from Shattered Halls
[Sha'tari Anchorite's Cloak] - quest reward from How to Break Into the Arcatraz
[Diviner's Cloak] - quest reward from Netherstorm

Auction House
Obviously you can find many more options than these, but here are a couple in particular to look for if you've got gold to spend.

[White Remedy Cape] - crafted with Tailoring
[Lifegiving Cloak] - random BoE epic

Reputation Rewards
Only Ogri'la offers a healing cloak as a reputation reward, the [Apexis Cloak]. If you make your money through dailies, you'll probably get this fairly quickly without much extra effort. The only catch is that you need to get a group together to help you get the apexis crystal it costs.

5-man Drops
[Cloak of Whispering Shells] - drop from Steamvault
[Avian Cloak of Feathers] - drop from Sethekk Halls
[Cloak of Scintillating Auras] - drop from Arcatraz
[Cloak of Swift Mending] - drop from Magisters' Terrace
[Cloak of the Everliving] - drop from Heroic Ramparts
[Light-Touched Stole of Altruism] - drop from Heroic Auchenai Crypts

Badges of Justice
[Bishop's Cloak] - available for 25 badges
[Kharmaa's Shroud of Hope] - available for 60 badges
[Cloak of Swift Reprieve] - available for 60 badges

Karazhan Drops
[Red Riding Hood's Cloak] - drop from the Big Bad Wolf opera event
[Stainless Cloak of the Pure Hearted] - drop from Prince Malchezzar

Zul'Aman Drops
[Cloak of Ancient Rituals] - drop from Hex Lord Malacrass

I'm going to stop here, assuming that if you're into 25-mans (or even the 10-mans) chances are you've done your own homework concerning gear and don't need me to list for you what's out there. I also haven't touched on any PvP rewards, but if that's something that interests you, it can be a great way for solo and small-group players to get gear that's on par with raid drops.

Obviously some of these choices will be better than others, but there's not always a clear-cut option. It depends what the rest of your gear has and is lacking. It depends on your play style and where you get most of your gear. Whether you need more basic stats or more additional healing, if you'd rather sacrifice a little healing for more mana regeneration, if it's worth it to save badges or whether you'd rather wait for a drop . . . these are all decisions that individual players need to make.

And while we're talking about choices, Bovisrex commented that I left off a good endurance cloak, overlooked because it didn't have any bonus healing to it. This inspired me to dig a little deeper. Here's a few options for those who don't necessarily need more healing as much as they need other stats.

Non-Healing Healer Cloaks
[Cloak of the Ancient Spirits] or [Ceremonial Cover] - available at Exalted with Kurenai/Mag'har
[Manaweave Cloak] - crafted with tailoring
*[Shadowvine Cloak of Infusion] - drop from Terestian Illhoof in Kara (*Bovisrex's pick)