Ok, I don’t like to admit I was wrong.
Ever…
But, I think I might have prejudged the Priest Tier 10 4-piece bonus a little bit. Especially when you consider how RNG it is – but on the other hand COH is one of the most powerful spells in our arsenal. Hmm…
“Your Circle of Healing and Penance spells have a 20% chance to cause your next Flash Heal cast within 6 sec to reset the cooldown on your Circle of Healing and Penance spells.”
At first glance my opinion was along the lines of, “So What? COH is only a 6 second cooldown, and I have to cast a Flash Heal in there to reset the cooldown anyway – I don’t want to give up 2pc T9 for something so RNG on an already short CD ability! ” And I think many priests out there would agree with me…
In theory, this all makes logical sense. Why would I trade off a 20% buff to a spell that is doing incredible amounts of healing for a chance to reset a CD when I cast a different spell?
In practice, however, I’ve found that trading the 2pc T9 & T10 for 4pc T10 has been well worth the trade off, especially as holy. With my playstyle and my role in my raids, having the ability to quickly (and in many cases instantly) reset a smart AOE instant heal has proven to be incredibly valuable.
Points To Consider:
20% buff on POM is Mostly Overheal
I noticed, after looking more closely at my logs, that on many of the fights in ICC that constant POM bouncing was doing some great healing; however a good chunk of it was overheal. Losing a 20% T9 bonus to it would gimp the total healing it was doing, but not enough to really break the overheal.
Tier 10 4-Piece Has No Cooldown
This surprised me greatly: Every COH/Penance you cast you have a 20% chance of triggering the set bonus with no cooldown. This means, as Holy, I can cast COH and then immediately cash Flash Heal (and in most raids, I likely have a Surge of Light proc ready) to immediately cast COH again. Breaking it down even further: I just healed 13 targets in only 3 GCDs. My “longest chain” was COH FH COH FH COH FH COH during Phase 3 Putricide – while it is RNG, it certainly pumped out some massive healing.
Now, the trick of maximizing this set bonus is to not miss a chance to reset it. I use a Power Aura’s Notification when I proc the buff “Flash Heal!“. This lets me know I have 6 seconds to reset my COH early. Here is the import code for my Power Aura for this ability. (remember, you may need to edit this to work best for you and your existing Power Auras)
Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu1; anim1:nu6; g:nu1; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:bofalse; icon:stInterfaceIconsSpell_Holy_BorrowedTime; size:nu0.31999999284744; torsion:nu1; r:nu1; y:nu76; x:nu0; customname:st; groupany:botrue; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:st; bufftype:nu1; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu1; alpha:nu0.75; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu0; owntex:botrue; isResting:bofalse; duration:nu0; mine:bofalse; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1.7000000476837; anim2:nu0; stacksOperator:st>=; realaura:nu1; InactiveDueToState:botrue; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; sound:nu6; wowtex:bofalse; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:nu0; id:nu12; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; buffname:stFlash Heal!; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:bofalse; stance:nu10; spec2:botrue; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:botrue; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:bofalse; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu1; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; finish:nu1
Now, let me be clear: I am not suggesting breaking 2pc T9 for 3pc T10 – even if it is a “stat” upgrade. I suggest only breaking it for 4pc T10- and wear 2pc T10 and T9. I know I personally hate looking like I don’t match… I know the Alliance version of T9 did not match base T10 very well at all! It could be worse, we could be wearing gear that from another Troll Instance! *shudder*
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