Every Dragon Soul fight has substantial raid damage — especially the  Heroics. This means we’ll need to be putting out a good deal of raid healing, but it also means we need to do what we can to stay alive as long as we possibly can to heal through that damage.

Both Holy and Discipline offer some great spec choices as far as survivability talents. Keeping that in mind, lets take a look at these options– some of which are often overlooked simply because we ‘forget about them’ as well as the fact that they do not provide any direct throughput. One could argue that these talents DO provide indirect-throughput as they either keep you alive longer, or mitigate damage on yourself — in turn, this enables you to continue to heal the other members of your raid.

Holy

Desperate Prayer – (Available to Discipline and Holy Priests) This spell comes in handy for those “Oh shit” moments. 30% of your total HP (capable of critically healing) with a 2 minute CD. This spell is handy for those situations where you know a surge of damage is about to hit, and you immediately need to get your health back up. (For example: Morchock’s Stomp ability, or perhaps your HP is low and you’re about to be targeted by Hagara’s Frost Tomb? )

Bessed Resilience –  (Available to Holy Priests only) With points into this talent you gain15%/30% bonus healing done on yourself for 10 seconds after being hit by non periodic damage for 10% (or more) of your total health. So many of these fights you’ll have the buff uptime for a good chunk of the fight. This is a fairly decent option for Holy Priests to help keep themselves alive during periods of high damage, as it makes all heals on you that much more potent.

Discipline

Inner Sanctum – (Available to Discipline and Holy Priests). With points spec’d into this ability, we can gain 2/4/6% static spell damage mitigation when we have Inner Fire active. Since all the unavoidable damage we take is magic damage, Inner Sanctum can be a huge lifesaver, particularly since some of the damage we take is deemed “periodic” and doesn’t trigger Blessed Resilience or Focused Will.

Focused Will – (Available to Discipline Priests only) This talent provides you with 5%/10% mitigation of all damage after you suffer non-periodic damage equal (or greater to) 10% of your health, and it stacks 2 times for 8 seconds. This means you can have up to 20% damage mitigation when it is fully stacked… that is a huge amount of mitigation.

Choices

Of course you have to make choices to gain some of these talents. With the exception of Holy Priests who seek out Blessed Resilience, who arguably have no better options to pick out, these choices could be difficult. For me, as a Disc priest first on the chopping block was Mental Agility– keep in mind as Disc losing points in MA, directly affects the net cost of your PWS and thusly the “cost” for Rapture. Certain priests may also want to consider dropping Inspiration for survivability. Depending on raid make up (Another Priest? Shaman?), Healing Assignments (are you not casting Inspiration eligible heals often?), and role you simply might not be applying the buff often enough to merit those 2 talent points.

It is important to understand the differences in each of these survivability talents, and what each bring to the table as they are notably different from each other … and some do not work on certain Dragon Soul encounters. Blessed Resilience and Focused Will do not proc on periodic damage… this works extremely well for soaking Hagara’s Ice Lance, as well as proccing during her lightning storm. Unfortunately, Ultraxion’s damage is considered periodic (for whatever reason) and does not proc BR/FW.

It ultimately boils down to survivability and how necessary it becomes for your raid.  The need for survivability talents is inversely related to your raid’s skill level and its familiarity with the encounter. The more your raid improves on a given encounter, and the more your raid gears up, the less necessary these talents become.  In progression raiding, the longer you survive, the longer your raid and tanks survive. Each one of us has to decide where that tipping point is, and when we start valuing one over the other.

How many first kills did you stumble across the finish line with the boss picking off the raid one by one by one… leaving only a bubble’d paladin alive as he fell over? (or a Dispersed Shadow Priest!) These talents can help you extend that survivability and should be strongly considered on certain fights in Dragon Soul… particularly a number of the Heroic Encounters.

Survivability and Progression Raiding is a post from: Tales of a Priest

Many priests have both specs, and play both specs- what I aim to discuss here is the questions and considerations you should be making when you decide to play one spec over the other for certain encounters.

Healing vs Mitigation

Healing and Mitigation are clearly the biggest differences between the two specs: Bubbles vs Raw Healing. With Power Word: Sheild being substantially buffed in 4.0.6 it has the arguable potential of being the strongest spec of the two, right? … MAYBE.  You need to evaluate the fight and how the damage is coming in to really understand and decide which spec you could play for this fight– more importantly: what spells and healing strategy to use during certain parts of a fight.  For example, Power Word: Shield is handy during the burn phase of Heroic: Chimaeron since Shields are not subject to the healing negation in that phase. Bubble spamming (and POH/DA applications) in that final phase can sometimes buy your DPS an HP buffer that will give your raid enough time to burn him down.

Let’s use a Boss that, I assume, most of us have encountered at least on Normal Mode: The Conclave of Wind…

Each of the 3 Djinn’s have a special ability when they reach full power.  Rohash, for example, has Hurricane which picks you up in the air and deals significant damage to everyone on his platform and allows for pre-emptive PW: Shielding making the ‘ultimate ability’ much less of a worry. On top of that, Atonement healing any melee who are dpsing him is a cakewalk! Conversely, Nezir, is easily managed by a Holy Priest since his ultimate ability is Sleet Storm and has massive burst damage AOE. During Sleet Storm, a prepared Holy Priest can burst AOE Heal through with POH, COH, POM, and Sanctuary cooldowns.

“BUT DEREKVA!!! You could, as Holy, pre-hot the raid as you get picked up for Hurricane and use POM & COH on CD while a Disc Priest can use Barrier and Borrowed Time POH’s during Sleet Storm.”

Yes! Exactly! The question you need to ask yourself is how do I use my abilities in the damage that is coming? Both spec’s bring their own strengths and weaknesses in this department– the key is to be certain you know how to play that spec to your advantage with the toolbox available to you for that encounter.

Cooldowns

Both Discipline and Holy bring great cooldowns to the raid: Power Word: Barrier, Lightwell, Guardian Spirit, and Pain Suppression. The key here is to understand the differences between the two, and when they are best utilized.

Pain Suppression vs Guardian Spirit - While both are great, and very strong cooldowns they are NOT interchangable. One prevents a killing blow and provides a healing bonus, while the other reduces incoming damage. GS can be more reactive, while PS is more proactive. Tossing Pain Suppression on a tank with 2% HP will not save them, while GS would. However, PS will minimize incoming damage over time; and works best when you know incoming damage will be coming steadily. Yes, both cooldowns can be placed pre-emptively and can/will save a tank, but it is very important to know that they are not interchangable.

Power Word: Barrier - Nearly every fight has some sort of mechanic that results is massive amounts of raid wide damage. Barrier, and subsequently the Glyph of PW: Barrier, can often time make or break a fight– Fued during Chimaeron, Maloriak’s breath during the Red Phase, Furious Roar on Halfus, High Sound Modulation on Atramedes… these are all great applications of Barrier. If your guild is struggling during those moments to either survive the damage or the added +healing bonus when your raid is healing up the damage.

Body and Soul -  Aside form being able to levitate/sprint from Blackwing’s elevator all the way to Atramedes room, Body and Soul is a great utility spell you can use in a number of encounters. I always try to Body and Soul targets that need to move to specific positions in strategy. (Ascendant Council’s Lightning Rod and Atramedes Targeting kiting come to mind). Here is something you can actively do, as holy, to assist your raidmates in their strategy mechanics– especially if you are having difficulty with these mechanics.

Preference

It is a game. Remember that.

If you really hate Disc or hate Holy– don’t play that spec.

My previous statement about Healing vs Mitigation really is a red herring when it comes to what spec you should play– and I do apologize for kind of tricking you and leading you down the path that one is superior to the other earlier in this post (/cackle). The biggest factor into what spec you should play is: what do you enjoy playing the most? Both specs are viable in every encounter. Sure there will be minor benefits to one over the other, particularly in regards to Cooldowns and Utility. (e.g. +damage modifiers lending to Atonement healing – Halfus, or PW: Barrier mitigating massive amounts of damage to your entire raid, or COH smartly healing your raid in burst damage situations, or Echo of Light providing healthy throughput to your POHs in big AOE damage fights…)

Having 2 healing specs is a duality of priests that, as healers, we need to deal with. Discipline and Holy, while healing twins,  bring very different playstyles and utility to our raids and we do have to pick what spec you want to play every fight. Just remember to use your healing toolbox to its maximum potential, know the fight, know the damage, know the mechanics, and know your spells!

Priesting Discipline or Holy is a post from: Tales of a Priest

What’s that? The total amount of Gold I have spent since hitting 85 tuning just my Holy Spec. That is eleven 66 gold respecs.  Could it be me being fickle? Yes– and let’s be real here: I can be fickle and indescisive. (Just look at the total gold spent in the Barbershop and the total numbre of race changes I’ve done!) Joking aside, it is me testing out different spec options and seeing which seem to work best for me and my raid group. As a general rule, there is very little flexibility in the ‘bookends of our spec’.

The real questions come in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th tiers of the tree- and therefore have the most flexibility. You need to remember to spec to how you are going to play your priest, That said, there are a few things to keep in mind. Let’s go over the spec that I have been using in 25-Man Normal and (starting tonight) our first few 25-Man Heroic raids.  

Instead of going over each tier, I want to spend time going over the “Why I chose X” and “Why I skipped Y” instead of going over some of the more obvious choices that are obvious choices. Elitist Jerks’ Holy Compendium does have two specs that are viable; however I do  feel that some of those talents points could be better used elsewhere in the Tree.

Derevka’s Spec 6/32/3

Holy Points

Rapid Renewal – With renew being much more expensive to cast, we aren’t blanketing the raid with renews nearly as often. Looking at my logs from our 25 Man kills, renew is on my tank, and occasionally on a random DPS person. I’m never spamming it on multiple targets to require a faster GCD. (Talent Skipped)

Divine Touch – With Rapid Renewal not a necessity, we could free up the 2 points in Divine Touch and use them elsewhere.  DT hits for a pittance for two points– why waste them? (Talent Skipped)

Surge of Light – Even as a raid healer, Heal is your filler spell– raid healers should be assisting on the Tank when they have downtime as well as spot healing with Heal. The alleged incoming buff to SoL will allow the proc to happen more often (Due to the increased number of spells that can proc it)  and enabling it to crit. With this in mind, the Surge proc can provide you either with a great top (and free) off spell for a random raid member or to be burned on the Tank. (Talented)

Desperate Prayer – Situational? Yes. But remember, you’ve now freed up points from Divine Touch, and Rapid Renewal – this is a free, instant, self heal. I can think of several situations where a 2nd warlock cookie would have been helpful. (e.g  Falling from Gravity Crush, Acquiring Target, etc…) Besides, you are going to need to spend this point to get further into the tree. (Talented)

Spirit of Redemption – No longer provides us with a spirit bonus; however it can be a raid saver. (e.g. Up against a soft enrage to keep your last few DPS alive as the boss slowly peels away your raid group). Yes, SoR is just “Improved Death”, but it can mean the difference between a first kill and a wipe. (Talented)

Lightwell - gone are the days of LOLWell. Lightwell is pretty much a ‘must have’ in a Holy Priest’s spec. (Yes, I said “must have“). It is one of our most cost-effective spells. There is some training involved on when to use it, where to place it, and training your raid to use it properly. Mana is at a premium, triage healing a focus, and raid healing big AOEs a priority. Lightwell is one of our best spent single talent points. (Talented)

Serendipity – While Flash Heal isn’t our “go-to spell” anymore, Serendipity still provides a benefit to us. (Besides, where else are you going to spend those points?).  If you are in a situation where you need to cast a Flash Heal, you’re also likely in a situation where you’re going to need subsequent spells with speed. (Valuing the Mana Cost Reduction less than the Haste) However, when spec’d into Surge of Light, it increases the value of Serendipity. Get a SoL proc? As a Tank Healer:  it makes your next GHeal less oppressive– for Free!  As a Raid Healer: your next PoH is all the better. (Talented)

Test of Faith-  In WotLK, being under 50% HP was quite rare, so Test of Faith was an arguable waste of points. In Cataclysm, however, ToF has a much more improved value since we are seeing raid members  at lower HP quite often during a fight.  To get deeper into the tree you’ll need at least 2/3 — and the extra point provides bonus healing to the most greviously injured targets is well spent. (Talented)

The rest of the tree is fairly self explanatory and filled with some pretty “cookie cutter” options. Depending on how the “Chakra Duration” buff goes, we might not need State of Mind capped off (or at all). I’d much rather have State of Mind reduce the CD on Chakra itself– enabling us to swap in and out of different stances with a bit more fluidity. Even the 30 second cooldown is a bit restrictive. I find myself pre-pull to be in Chakra: Serenity for the first 15-20 seconds of a fight to then be sure that I can swap to Chakra: Sanctuary when the AOE starts– e.g. Ascendant Council… but that might just be a pipe dream.

Non-Holy Points

Shadow Points:

Darkness – 3% haste to all your spells. It also will bring you to your 12.5% haste marker much easier. There has  been some debate weather or not this 12.5% is worth the effort– I’ve found, even in purely a “only renew the tank” situation, the added throughput and HPS/HPM that Renew provides is worth the effort. (It really isn’t all that difficult to hit 12.5%). (Talented)

Veiled Shadows – What?! I thought you said mana was at a premium! But you have zero points in Veiled Shadows! It is.  However, at only a 30 second reduction per point — meh. I’m pretty much of the mindset that if you need two Shadowfiends in the same encounter, something larger is wrong. (DPS too slow, poor use of your own cooldowns, spirit or other stats are too low, etc…)  (Talent Skipped)

Disc Points:

Twin Disciplines – Pure throughput improvement. Cap it.  (Talented)

Mental Agility – This is part of my Raid Healing spec if anything just for Prayer of Mending and COH. (It also helps with making Renewing the tanks a bit more tolerable). Further, it makes me feel better for not using Inner Will in favor for Inner Fire’s spellpower. (Talented)

Inner Sanctum – Getting points into this is possible, however you’d have to sacrifice points in Darkness (or 1 point in Mental Agility). Heroic Encounters may require the Spell Damage mitigation, but I’ll have to take a look at the way this feels in 25-Man Hard Modes and get more data. For normal encounters, this is not a necessary use of your points. (Talent Skipped- Testing in HMs)

Glyphs

I don’t want to get into our glyph choices too much. Fellow priest, Dawn at WoW Insider, wrote an article that offers an explanation of our options and outlined them very well. I will say that we do need to remember that we can (and should) be changing our glyphs as the fight calls for it to quickly optimize ourselves for those fights. (ie. Doing more tank healing? Renew might be an important Glyph to keep on. Lightwell playing an important role in your strategy? Glyph for the additional charges.)

Spec Notes

Renew: This is the “Break the WOTLK Habit” mantra for Holy Priests. Disc Priests need to learn to NOT Bubble Spam and Holy Priests need to learn to not Renew Spam. Our mana pools simply cannot support Renew Spam, which devalues the spell as a major player in our spellbook. For me, I do keep that 12.5% haste benchmark in mind (even though it’s usefulness has spurred some debate) if anything just for Tank Renews, as at that point(raidbuffed) Renew gains an additional tick.

Yep, I roll Renews on the tanks. Not with 100% uptime, but if one of our tank healers gets Arion’s Lightning Rod, or if Cho’gall has too many Worship Buffs… you’re damn right I do. (and often times even if they aren’t) HPS is HPS is HPS. Am I assisting with Heal or even swapping to Chakra: Serenity? If the fight allows for it, yes. One of our biggest strengths we need to always keep in mind is our flexibility; Raid healing and Tank Healing. Arguably Holy Priests are the strongest raid healers and should be focusing on that, but many fights have ebbs and flows in how the damage comes out. (Maloriak’s different phases, P1 or P2 Ascendant Council) Renew and Heal play a big part in the Tank Healing portions of those fights.

One of the things I think is great about Cataclysm for us Holy Priests is that there isn’t really a “standard cookie cutter spec”. There are some “must haves” and “should take” talents; but there are a few “take this if you don’t cast/use this” talents. A number of the non-holy points are flexible. If you need the cooldown of your Fiend reduced, you can move points into Vield Shadows. (Either from Darkness, or from Mental Agility). If you need the added survivability from Spell Damage, you can spec into Inner Sanctum.

The suggestions I’ve made here are just that: suggestions— however, after running several raids with a number of different spec options, I’ve found this one to work the best for me. The key is to find what works best for you. I offer you my spec and rationale as a starting point of consideration. Good luck!

Raiding Holy Priest Specs – Redux is a post from: Tales of a Priest

First off, I know what you’re going to say. Just stop right there and wipe that smug look off your face. I blame all of you for me being here. That’s right – YOU.  All your chitter chatter on twitter and facebook. The emails. The previews. That fiendish asshole Derevka singing how amazing I am, & bribing me with a baby boomkin pet. IT’S SO FUCKING CUTE HOW CAN I RESIST???!!! Add in the fact that once I left, he tried “classing” the site up by adding doilies & curtains everywhere, and now it looks like this – enough is enough. Don’t expect me to match him post for post -I’m simply back to bring the trash to his class, so get the “I told you so’s” out of your system.

Now – back on topic. Disc really didn’t get off to a good start, did it? The PoH/DA issue, the Mastery issue & changing mechanics lead priests to the forums in droves to cry ‘foul’. Now while there were some issue effecting disc functionality, and those have been adjusted (more on that later), we really don’t believe the problem was a huge as people made it out to be – mechanics, gear, & perception all compounded the issue.

Gear, Glyphs,  & Stats: The Emperor’s New Clothes

Wrath spoiled a lot of people. Get to 80, buy some 245/264 gear off the AH, join an ICC pug and slam your face on the keyboard to epics. I think we’ve all seen what happens when you try that at 85, but, like me with a hot stove, people don’t learn until they burn themselves…usually several times over.

So some of the perception of priests being “broken” came down discovery. The tanks had to learn to slow down & learn to generate threat. DPS had to get CC spells on their bars, learn something called “assisting” and realize that the days of healers keeping them up thru Stupid Shit were over . And healers had to learn the art of “triage” and “acceptable casualties” and proper spell usage. To disc priests, that meant gearing properly, and realizing we had to do more than flash heal & PW:S.

1) Gear & Stats:

So how DO you gear properly? What stats do you need? Like most healing questions, there is no cut and dry answer. Intellect is a priority, as is spirit – Drop the Wrath mentality; you’re still going to need the regen. As for Crit, Haste and Mastery…well, it depends on what you’re doing. For single target healing, crit seems to mathematically come out on top and there’s a much lower reliance on mastery. However, I am almost never simply spamming heals on the tank. I find value in haste for smites, and haste/mastery for PoH, especially when you consider the large amount of encounters with heavy raid damage (especially since PoH is now guaranteed to proc a DA on the targets) that will consume the DA. Renewed hope & Inner Focus gives me a little breathing room on crit for when I am single target healing.

The TL;DR version: Int, then Spirit, then find a balance of haste, mastery & crit that suits your needs & style. Also keep in mind this is for heroics & entry level raiding at 85. Things can (and will) change and we’ll update as we go.

2) Glyphs:

Prime:

• Penance: Reduces your cooldown on this heal. It’s cheap, it’s instant, and it applies 3x grace fast. I found great value in it for 5 mans, however, with the Atonement/ToT spec, I’m questioning it’s necessity – it will probably, like many things, down to what encounter I’m on -if I can’t reliable use the ToT penance cooldown reduction, this glyph’s value increases. More to come on this later
• Prayer of Healing: I’ve found this invaluable for both 5 mans and raid encounters.
• Glyph of PW: Barrier/PW:Shield : While barrier doesn’t have much use in 5 mans, I’ve found it’s use in raids to be unquestionable. On the other hand, I’m finding very little use for PW:S in raids when compared to other options.
• ** Glyph of Renew: I’ve added this just as a way to keep it in the back of your mind. In wrath, most Disc priests didn’t touch renew, but it’s actually worth a look now, and you may find a place for it. More on this in specs.

Major:

• Divine Accuracy: I’m smitin’ – I can’t be missin’.
• Mass Dispel: We can no longer talent for the cast time reduction. In order to get a .5 sec (unhasted) cast time, you’ll need this. The good news is Holy priests can now pick this up too.
• Holy Nova/ Dispel : Again, fight & choice dependent. I use holy nova on high mobility fights. A little “cheater” tidbit: if you leveled as shadow, the dispel glyph is a good way to heal yourself without dropping shadow form.

Minor:

• Fortitude: You’ll appreciate this when you have to buff someone rezzed in combat.
• Levitate: Personal preference. Levitate comes in handy and bag space is too precious
• Shadowfiend/Shadow protection: again, personal choice. The shadowy idiot isn’t as dumb as he once was, so you might not miss that glyph if you take Shadow Protection

Specs & Mechanics: Ol’ Gray Mare just ain’t what she used to be

I am currently using a 31/8/2 spec for most fights where I am disc in raiding. Let me ‘splain why.

Stop. Spamming. Shields.

How you heal has changed.Remember when we pleaded and begged back in Wrath for disc priests to remember their other buttons besides Power Word: Shield? Yeaaaaaaaaaaah. That shield happy spamming method will get you screwed faster than a drunk teenager at prom. You just can’t do it. Even putting the mana drain issue aside, look at how Rapture now functions: Multiple shields consumed at the same time return mana for only ONE shield.   It used be be you could “cheat” this mechanic (Think Lich King)  – multiple shield procs within this 12 second window would return mana for each shield. BUT NOT ANYMORE. Cast 5. Cast 10. You’re only getting a return on ONE. Spamming shields becomes a massive drain of on your limited resources.

The good news is the 3/3 return has been adjusted from 2.5% of total mana to 6%. ForteXorsist will track your rapture cooldown, but I’ve also been using Ingela’s Rapture Tracker. So because I find myself actually casting PW:S every 12 secs, I dropped Soul Warding entirely. This is something you will need to evaluate & decide on. I’ve heard some arguments for 5 mans & multiple shielding, but I found using one shield & a BT PoH is more efficient, especially if the DA will be consumed.

I’ve seen a lot of back and forth over Strength of Soul. It sounded good, in theory. In practice, even when 1/2, I found myself working against the rapture ICD and struggling to find a place for heal – it just was rather ineffective, & I dropped it all together. I use what I call “The Focusing ToT” spec – the Atonement/AA spec combined with Inner Focus and Train of Thought. Atonement healing during periods of low damage keeps melee/Tank topped off, while macroing Inner Focus to both Gheal and Prayer Of Healing give me the sustainability I need. Here’s an IF mouseover macro (PoH will work the same way, but if you’re not using a mod that extends macro limits, you need to leave the showtool off):

#showtooltip Greater Heal
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/cast Inner Focus
/cast [target=mouseover,help,nodead] [help,nodead] [target=player] Greater heal
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

I know there were many naysayers about the Smite/Atonement spec, and I stubbornly supported it. It was rather underpowered, but it seems this is really an intended mechanic, and several buffs seem to support my theory of it’s viability. The amount of healing applied by Atonement has been increased, the affected target can have DA applied, the range of an atonement target has been increased to 15 yards, now atonement targets are affected by healing modifiers (like AA), AND it can proc a DA on the heal recipient. This is a GREAT mechanic. Used in conjunction with Archangel, it’s powerful, and I find myself using it over Heal exclusivly. The key is knowing WHEN to use this in a raid setting. Know your encounters so you can predict the ebb and flow of lesser and higher damage. I also use this macro, as it will smite my target’s target:

#showtooltip Smite
/cast [@mouseovertarget, harm] [@mouseover, harm] [@targettarget, harm] [harm] Smite

You’ll notice I took 3/3 Inner Sanctum – it’s really a toss up between that or Mental Agility for the next tier. I found the increased movement speed of IW and the damage reduction of IF to be more valuable in raids, considering my limited use of instant cast spells. One thing to note is 3/3 is giving a ~2200 mana cost to IF; I’m not sure if this is a bug, since the tooltip mentions no cost. However, I find myself switching between the two far less than as holy, and it hasn’t proven an issue…for now.

I also took 2/3 Darkness. Again, your mileage may vary, but I’ve found it useful in most situations. I also tried out putting those two points in Surge of Light, given my ample use of smite. It just didn’t seem to proc enough to warrant giving up the haste. Admittedly, however, I don’t feel I’ve collected enough log data or experience with it to give it a thumbs up or down. There’s also a change going in on Tuesday that will now allow SoL to proc from Flash Heal/Greater Heal and can crit. Im going to have to revisit this.

Now I also want to mention renew here. When I was running 5 mans as disc I used a 31/10 spec that included heavy use of renew (Keep your Inner Will up!!) – it’s not a dirty word for disc. It’s a great way to keep Grace on the tank, keep dps alive, and even at early haste levels with BT, you can hit that extra tick mark. Renew ticks can also crit and proc what we like to call “mini Aegises” (it’s fun to say). Even in raids, I try to keep it ticking on the tank. Try it out before you poo poo it.

One thing I do want to mention regarding 5 mans & heroics: In the beginning, yes – it is more difficult for disc. Disc is more gear dependent, and we don’t have the extra gains from spirit that holy does. The reason Derevka and I call ourselves “healing priests” is because we aren’t married to one spec – we have no issues using one or the other. However, I do know many people have no desire to go holy, so be prepared. If you find yourself struggling, run with guildies when possible, run regulars to gear up and purchase reputation gear, or craft/buy what you can. You’ll find that as familiarity with the dungeons increase, as do others gear, the strain on you will lessen even more.

Several people have also asked me disc healing vs holy healing in raids ie which is better, and again, there is no answer to this. It will come down to your role, the fight, and the raid make up, as well as the skill of the players.  Some fights will favor holy, some might let disc shine. Some fights you might be better raid healing over tank healing.  And there will be other fights where your utility is favored over your output (Chimaeron, for example). The success of the raid is more important than your place on the meters.

Odds N’ Ends:

• Prayer of Mending: USE IT. Track it on your raid frames or use some sort of Prayer of Mending tracker

• For tailors, Lightweave embroidery is granting INTELLECT, not spellpower, as the tooltip states. This may factor into your gearing/gemming. It’s a toss up however, if it is better than Darkglow if you are having mana issues. When factoring in ICD and raidbuffs, darkglow can be worth slighty more mana over the course of a fight. However, Lightweave also provides regen in it’s own right, minor crit, and if it procs during a fiend usage or Hymn, it can better than darkglow.

• For Metas,  Ember Shadowspirit outperforms the spirit option.

• Power Infusion: Another spell to shift from Wrath mentality. Both the mana reduction and haste are excellent tools for you to use ON YOURSELF, and a great tool for when you are in a hairy situation &/or need to pump out lots of healing.

• Inner Focus no longer works with Divine Hymn.

That’s pretty much it for now. I’m sure I forgot something, but if I didn’t have this ready by today, Derevka’s non stop nagging would have caused me to snap and take out a busload of school children. I should have another post soon, probably between next week & when ever the hell I feel like it.

The Cataclysmic State of Disc is a post from: Tales of a Priest

Traige healing is here! What does this mean to you? Mainly, it means you need to get used to the fact that you will not see your raid at 100% HP at all times. This could take you some time to get used to, and you’ll have to resist the urges to immediately top off all the members of your raid — if you try to, you’ll find mana pool bone dry and your tank getting decimated by the boss. Mana conservation is the name of the game here.

Not only do you need to get comfortable with always seeing your raid not at 100% HP, but also your raid does too.  I am looking at you, DPS… Everyone has exceptionally higher health pools than we did in Wrath. This means we can take a hit, or two, or three before we die. This allows healers to prioritize their targets better, and know if a DPS will die in 2 seconds or if you can wait a moment before you get to them. This “choice” is a huge component of Cata healing.

Ok, I’ll say it:  I have officially done a 180 on my thoughts about Lightwell. If you asked me what I thought about Lightwell a month ago, I would have whined and complained about how it requires too much external interaction, and that very few people actually clicked it. With how mana conservation works (especially early in Cata), we’ll need to strongly consider speccing into Lightwell– if not for just the mana efficiency.

Dear DPS,
It is a different world out there to the healers, we need to make tough decisions and sometimes those choices mean putting off healing you in favor of someone who needs it more urgently. If you see that you are low on HP, and the healers are preoccupied with a lot of tank damage, boss abilities, mobility, what have you… and you feel that you are in an urgent need of a heal, you have options available to you: Healthstones, Health Potions, Bandages, and… Lightwells. Click the Lightwell. Lightwell is put out for you to use and be able to contribute to the survivability of the raid. Dead DPS is no DPS.

No, really… click it. If you die, and you are not taking responsibility for your own health, it’s on you: not on the healers.

A few things you should know about Lightwell:
- Lightwell has a finite number of charges. (10 or 15 when glyphed).
- Lightwell’s HoT will break if you take damage equal to 30% of your HP.
- Lightwell can be clicked from 20 yards away.
- You cannot get another charge of Lightwell Renewal until after your existing one expires.
- Lightwell does NOT change your target.
- Lightwell has a 3 minute cooldown, sometimes the charges are used up before the CD is available again.
- We don’t expect you to run clear across the room to click Lightwell, if we place it poorly that is on us; but if it is within a reasonable distance from you and it requires you to take a step or two during your GCD, do it.

Much Love,
Your Healers

Now, priests just because you put the Lightwell out in the battlefield, it doesn’t mean you are home free. You need to remember a few things yourself:

- If you can safely precast Lightwell before the pull, do so. You’ll be back at 100% mana and have your Lightwell out.
- PLACE IT IN AN APPROPRIATE AREA! Having a Lightwell in a place that no one can easily get to isn’t going to help anyone. Consider placing it in spots that you know will be in reach of many people as the fight goes on, and in spaces that you know people will be taking damage.
- Recast Lightwell when it is off cooldown– it is cheaper to cast Lightwell than it is to cast a couple Renews!
- Pre-pull Lightwells should be cast with Inner Fire active for the spellpower buff. Remember: Inner Fire/Will costs no mana. This means if you want to switch, you can swap mid fight to recast Lightwell.
- Remind people to use the Lightwell. If you are running OOM, and your raid needs heals, remind people to click the Lightwell.  (I might have yelled at people who needed heals and were standing right next to it…. might have.)

Lightwell has the potential of being a great tool for you and your raid to use, you simply need to get EVERYONE, priests included, in the habit of using it and understanding how it works.

How have you been fairing on getting your raid to use the Lightwell?

Tip: Click the lightwell.

Triage Healing is a post from: Tales of a Priest

Flame on!

Let’s look at the spell: Power Infusion

(Remember that 1% haste = 32.79 haste rating, so Power Infusion grants 655.8)

Some of the confusion comes from the fact the spell didn’t always work this way – it used to be a 20% direct damage boost. Now that’s pretty easy to understand, isn’t it? Everyone wants MOAR DAMAGEZ!!!111111ONEONE. But with the change, it’s no longer a pure spell damage boost – it’s now a haste boost., and who it benefits the most is no longer so cut and dry.

“WHHHAT? “ you say. “Don’t all casters want MOAR HASTE? God, you’re dumb, Ava.” Well, yes, I am dumb, but that’s besides the point. Most casters usually do not skirt the haste cap on all their spells, but that doesn’t mean that you should just randomly pick a caster to toss is on, nor does it mean you should toss it out when ever it’s up without thinking about it.

Power Infusion Does NOT Stack with Heroism

First, let’s get the most irritating thing out of the way: What PI does, and does not, stack with. A general rule of thumb is that you can only have one external activated haste ability at any time. Things such as Heroism/Bloodlust are considered External, and therefor DO NOT stack with PI. You can, of course, still cast PI during a Heroism/BL, but the only benefit received will be the mana reduction – quite the waste of a powerful spell.

While you can’t stack external haste buffs, you CAN have an infinite number of self only buffs. Things such as Trinket Procs, Potions of Speed, Troll Beserking – those will stack with PI.

Passive abilities, such as a Wrath of Air totem, Swift Retribution & Improved Moonkin Form will also stack with PI

PI also does not affect your GCD.

So Who do I put Power Infusion on?

In no particular order:

Shadowpriests: Show our shadowy brethren some love. Shadow priest damage scales very well with haste, & this is especially yummy on fights with multi target mobs.

Warlocks: I just want to thank Bringing Chaos for his infinite patience with my warlock questions this expansion

• Affliction: Incredible haste scaling with their DoTs, but only only a good choice when the boss is above 30% health.
• Destruction: Gain direct output from haste. A good choice ASSUMING they are not GCD capped and can still receive haste benefits. You wont see too many of these at ICC levels.
• Demonology: a good choice. If you are running with one, wait until you see the big purple demon form aka metamorphosis, or when a boss is under 35% health for maximum gain.

Mages: All 3 spec mages are good choices, but just to clear up some confusion I’ve seen:

• Frost/Arcane mages: Icy Veins DOES stack with PI. Arcane Power DOES NOT. Some of the confusion regarding AP comes from what happens when casting this on a mage with this active: If you cast PI when AP is already active, you receive “A more powerful spell is already active” error. If you cast PI and THEN the mage casts AP, PI is over written.

Elemental Shaman: While my first choice is usually a Warlock, Spriest, or Mage, Elemental Shamans are still a good choice. They love haste, & PI DOES stack with Elemental Mastery.

Boomkins: Again, not my first choice, but to maximize the gain, cast PI during an LUNAR eclipse, not Solar. Look for the blue moon. Someone once remarked “Once in a Blue Moon, give a boomkin PI” and the saying stuck.

Yourself and other healers: We rarely use PI on ourselves, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an option. The key to a great healer is being able to quickly choose tools and adapt. If you are in a hairy situation that requires intense direct healing, use it. If you fill more of a bubble spammer role, and you see your tank healers are struggling, give it to them – better to lose some DPS than wipe the raid. That being said, don’t use PI on yourself as a mana saving tool unless it’s a make or break situation – if mana is tight, ask for an innervate, pot, Hymn of Hope chain, Fiend, have a shaman in your group drop Mana Tide…the DPS gains outweighs the mana reduction, especially if you have other options. On a side note, if you give PI to a holy pally during Dreamwalker, he or she will probably hump your leg.

Don’t hate – COMMUNICATE!

It’s a lot to think about, so the best way to maximize PI usage is COMMUNICATION AND AWARENESS! Set your raid frames up to track these buffs you need to watch for. If needed, have the casters macro in a notification /tell to you on certain spells so you know when ( and when not to) cast PI. Use a mod like Guardian Spirited to communicate to them what you’re casting, or make a simple macro yourself.

Plan your targets before the pull, and make sure you understand the fight (and therefor the best times to use PI), and what the positioning will be, especially relative to your chosen target. The last thing you want to do in a fight is take your attention away from your healing target(s) to go chasing down a PI target. Also keep in mind the range of PI when planning this – just because a target is in range of heals, doesn’t mean they’re in range of PI. Let your potential targets know what you plan to do so they can be aware of their positions as well.

A PI macro is a big help. You could do something as simple as setting a Focus Target and using:

/cast [target=focus,exists,nodead] Power Infusion

However I find that rather limiting. As I said, a good raider is about reaction & adaptability. If your focus target is dead, DC’ed or out of range, it leaves you fumbling around to “click & pick” a new target – not something you want to be doing.  You need to quickly pick a target, keeping in mind these pointers. Sometimes, the best choice for PI isn’t the ideal one, due to the dynamic nature of a raid encounter. For this reason, I use this:

#showtooltip

/script local u,pi=”mouseover”,”Power Infusion”;if IsSpellInRange(pi,u)==1 and GetSpellCooldown(pi)==0 then SendChatMessage(“Flame on, Asshole-You have Power Infusion! “,”WHISPER”,nil,UnitName(u)) end

/cast [target=mouseover] Power Infusion

I embed mouseovers into most of my spells, as you see, so this allows me the flexibility to quickly mouse over  a target, check that it’s in range, and cast with a notification. I also run guardian Spirited, so the embedded tell is kinda redundant. I tell myself all the /tell spam makes sure they’re paying attention, but really it’s because I can’t pass up an opportunity to call someone an asshole.

Use it or Lose it.

The worst use of PI is to not use it at all. We’re a big fan of ForteXorcist and PowerAuras – both can notify you when PI is off cool down. As I mentioned, don’t spend time hunting and picking for your PI target either. If you planned to throw it on the mage, but he’s clear across the room, throw it on the elemental shaman right next to you – you’ll do more harm trying to chase him down for a potentially larger DPS gain than you would hitting who you can. Think Heroic Lich King – do you want to delay your shields and possibly risk blowing up a shadow trap to find someone? Probably not. Analyze what’s available and in range, and quickly pick.

I’m sure most of this is old news, but hopefully someone will still find this useful. Derevka has our Beta key and infinitely more time, so I’m left cleaning up the few remaining topics for Wrath. Obviously these mechanics can and will change in Cata so CAN I HAVE A BETA KEY PLEASE?

Re-Revisiting Power Infusion in Wrath is a post from: Tales of a Priest

Ava did a great post last week recapping the Priest preview for Cataclysm – I agree with most of what she said. While, personally, I hate the current design of Leap of Faith. I sincerely hope the current incarnation isn’t implemented as described – where’s the throughput? Threat dump? Healing Bonus? Anything? It needs just a little SOMETHING else to it. Or the fact that the level 85 spells are supposed to be our ‘shiny new toy’… I don’t want to get too distracted by it. Aaaaanyway…

One of the more interesting changes is the concept of Chakras. I really have mixed emotions about this proposed ability. One one hand I can see the whole ‘Wow! It’ll be great to be able to hit our stride and then be better at what we are focused on doing at that point in time!” but then on the other hand, I keep noticing holes or concerns I have with the ability.

The idea behind the Holy “cast three in a row” talent (it’s called “Chakra”) is that we’ve always positioned Holy as a versatile healer. This talent lets you shift into different modes. If you need to be a tank healer, cast three single target heals and your single-target healing is now better. Cast three area heals, and you can be a temporarily specialized group healer. We’re going to try to play this mechanic up with a cool UI to try to get that “I’m almost in the zone” feel. We’ll let it apply to as many types of spells as we can, perhaps even Smite for those times when nobody’s taking damage.

Ok, buffing spells by casting spells. Sounds interesting – sounds possibly exciting. (and I better looking freakin fantastic when I trigger this ability – WTB Valkyr form!)

But wait… didn’t Blue also say that they didn’t want healing to feel spammy, and that not stopping casting heals isn’t what they want the healer experience to be? They did. Doesn’t that seem slightly counter to what Chakra is about?

Chakra sounds like it is going to reward healers for casting the same spell in a row (three times) to then buff that same spell (or type of spell) that is subsequently cast. Lets put this theory in practice: You cast Prayer of Healing… 3 times in a row, to then buff your fourth (and fifth, and sixth…) Prayer of Healing after that. First of all, even on heavy Aura damage fights in Heroic ICC25 you don’t do that… not to mention in the new world that is Cataclysm where they seem to not want healers to spam or chain cast the same spell. It just seems slightly counter intuitive to the new mana mindset that is Cataclysm.

Some people feel it would be better similar to the Grace talent in the Discipline tree. Letting it build up when you are focused on a certain task (or on a certain tank). But, what happens if I cast two POH’s then cast 2 renews… am I building up POH Chakras or Renew Chakras? Just like Grace, if you switch quickly to heal the offtank, your original Grace stacks are gone.

Speculation is speculative!

Now, I am not saying I dislike Chakra. I actually really do like the concept and I will reserve my judgement until I get a chance to see it in action. (Pssst, Blizzard…. Beta key! Over here!!!). The ability to be better at the task that I need to do is always good. I just have some reservations mainly regarding the theory behind it… and I am hoping we don’t become the whole “Jack of All Trades Master of None” healer without being in an appropriate Chakra mode; and the spam to trigger it seems awkward given Blizzard’s new opinion of healer mana and spam casting.

The UI interface sounds interesting… for some reason I am seeing this meter that tilts towards Hots/AOE/Direct heals based on what you’ve already cast. Hopefully Blizzard pulls through and executes well on this. I am betting the Chakra UI interface is similar to the Eclipse interface that they hinted at for Boomkins. I am hoping Chakra isn’t overly complex where just having it being a cooldown ability. (Ie. Chakra is a buff that is consumed by your next spell, and based on the consuming spell does X, Y, or Z – consume it with renew to buff hots, consume with POH/COH to buff AOE heals, or Consume it with GHeal to buff direct healing spells).

At the end of the day, this sounds like a really interesting ability — and if executed properly will be a great tool in our arsenal! Time will tell, and early beta information is ALWAYS subject to change… and the promises of a Ghostcrawler pony.

Chakra Khan or Chakra Can’t? is a post from: Tales of a Priest

Every expansion, one can assume there will be class mechanic changes, especially when new content & levels are being added. It would be a rather boring expansion if NOTHING about our classes changed, don’t you think? And LOTS is being changed – stats are being ‘simplified’ & how we receive benefits from them are being changed, we’re getting 5 more levels and talent points and new toys & spells to play with.

But like all the other class announcements, anything we see or read is PURE SPECULATION. We can’t possibly know how these things will work, or the situations they will work in. Not a single one of us has played with it.  I’ve seen how blizzard was going to “ruin” the game going from Vanilla to BC, and how healers were going to “get screwed” with the Healing/Spell Power changes going from BC to wrath- nothing played out how the negative nancys screamed it would. I won’t go as far to say all changes worked out as planned or even great; I’m simply saying we have no way of knowing. All we can do is discuss & theorize – who knows? Our thoughts may have someones ear. Nothing is set in stone yet. So 2 – 4 -6 -8 COME ON HEALING BUDDIES, LET’S SPECULATE!

New Priest Spells

Heal (available at level 16): While priests already have a spell called Heal, the existing version becomes obsolete at higher levels, which is something we intend to change in Cataclysm. Introduced at a low level, the “new” Heal spell will functionally work much like a down-ranked Greater Heal did in the past, adding more granularity to your direct-healing arsenal. If you need to heal someone a moderate amount and efficiency is an issue (making Flash Heal the incorrect spell for the job), then Heal is what you want to use. Heal is intended to be the priest’s go-to direct-healing spell unless they need something bigger (Greater Heal) or faster (Flash Heal). We will be following a similar philosophy with all the healing classes.

Interesting. With the removal of down ranking our spells, I can see this being fairly handy. Currently, my flash heals can hit for around 11K and I forgo the use of Gheal altogether as disc or holy, so this certainly adds a nice ‘in between’ heal. The best part of priest healers is our healing arsenal – we’re not three button healers, and more options can’t be a bad thing.

Mind Spike (level 81): Deals Shadowfrost damage and puts a debuff on the target that improves subsequent Mind Spike damage. The intent of Mind Spike is to fill a niche missing in Shadow DPS, though it may be occasionally useful for healers as well. Mind Spike provides a quick nuke to use in situations where the priest doesn’t have time to set up the normal rotation, such as when adds are dying too fast or you have to swap targets a lot. Spamming Mind Spike will do about as much damage as casting Mind Flay on a target afflicted with Shadow Word: Pain. The idea behind the debuff is that when you cast Mind Spike, we expect you to cast a lot of them; we don’t intend you to fit it into an already full Shadow rotation. It also provides Shadow with a spell to cast when locked out of the Shadow school. (School lockouts will no longer affect both schools for multi-school spells.) 1.5-second cast. 30-yard range. No cooldown.

I don’t have a clue about shadow things. The closest I’ve come to dps on my priest was a raid saving smite for my first Sindragosa kill. I’ll leave this one for more knowledgeable people to discuss.

Inner Will (level 83): Increases movement speed by 12% and reduces the mana cost of instant-cast spells by 10%. This buff will be exclusive with Inner Fire, meaning you can’t have both up at once. Inner Fire provides a spell power and Armor buff; Inner Will should be useful on a more situational basis.

Now this I REALLY like. I could have seen many uses for this in current content. Fights requiring high mobility will certainly see this used. I’m glad they’re getting rid of the ‘charges’ too. I never understood the point, and it was just one more thing to monitor.

Leap of Faith (level 85): Pull a party or raid member to your location. Leap of Faith (or “Life Grip”) is intended to give priests a tool to help rescue fellow players who have pulled aggro, are being focused on in PvP, or just can’t seem to get out of the fire in time. Instant. 30-yard range. 45-second cooldown.

Here’s one I have an issue with. In PVP, sure, it sounds great and deliciously annoying. But in PVE? You shouldn’t be pulling aggro.  You have a million tools at your disposal to monitor this, and as a DPS player, one of your jobs is to keep your aggro in check. You also shouldn’t stand in BAD SHIT – not standing in BAD SHIT is Raiding 101. Avoiding tunnel vision in any role is a huge part of the game, & I see alot of blame shifting to the priest for not pulling a DPS out of these situations, rather than blaming the offending player in the first place. That’s the last thing I think we want. Also, this had better include some sort of Aggro cancellation, because if I DO LoP an aggro gaining player, I forsee a VERY pissed of tank trying to run after a boss that’s now coming our way.

Changes to Abilities and Mechanics

All HoTs and DoTs will benefit from Haste and Crit innately. Hasted HoTs and DoTs will not have a shorter duration, just a shorter period in between ticks (meaning they will gain extra ticks to fill in the duration as appropriate).

What’s not to like about that?

We want to bring back Shadow Word: Death as an “execute” — something you do when the target is at 25% health.

From what little I know about shadow, I see our Spriests use this currently as part of their rotation, instead of just a finishing move. Hopefully they handle this better than the functionality of a Warrior’s Execute, which at this point is almost not worth breaking your rotation for.

While we want to keep the priest’s role as a well-rounded healer, we also want to make sure the class is a viable tank healer, which is something priests moved away from a little in Wrath of the Lich King. Greater Heal will probably be the tank-healing spell of choice, though we’ve also discussed giving Discipline a second shield so that they have a small shield to cast on lots of different targets, and a big, more expensive shield to cast on a tank or anyone else taking a ton of damage.

This baffles me. While I agree holy isn’t an ideal tank healer, Disc is still a fantastic one. What bothers me about this is losing a niche or identity between our specs. When each spec can do everything equally, it usually ends up not doing anything spectacular – a jack of all trades, but master of none, if you will. This is one we have to watch how it will play out.

Divine Spirit and Prayer of Spirit will be removed from the game. As Spirit will be the primary mana-regeneration stat, we don’t want it to vary as much between solo, small group, and raid play. Blessing of Kings and Mark of the Wild will not boost Spirit either.

I can see this being good. Early 80 players or ones that focused on smaller content suffered in the regen department, and the disparity between gearing/gemming for Mp5 vs int/spirit was a huge gap.

Mana will be a bigger consideration for all healers. We aren’t trying to make healing more painful; we’re trying to make it more fun. When the cost of a spell isn’t an issue, then casting the right spell for the job is less of an issue because you might as well just use your most powerful spell all of the time. We are, however, getting rid of the five-second rule, because we don’t want to encourage standing around doing nothing. We’re also going to cut back on the benefits of buffs such as Replenishment so priests (and all healers) don’t feel as penalized when those buffs aren’t available.

Again, I can see this. While mana management can be a issue in the hardest heroic content, it certainly wasn’t in normal raids. Much like the CoH cooldown seperated the good from the spammers, This will force more healers to learn to quickly adapt and choose the proper spell – right now most raiders don’t take that into consideration.

New Talents and Talent Changes

We want to improve Discipline’s single-target healing capacity. One key is to make sure shielding isn’t always a more attractive option than healing.

I really think this perception comes from people not understanding the strengths of a disc priest. If all you are doing is bubbling the raid, you are doing it wrong. While there are certainly fights where are points where you will be doing that, that is not ALL you should be doing. While your mitigation is a huge part of the disc style, you SHOULD be healing as well. You’re not working to your full potential, and honestly, you’re forcing the rest of your healers to work more.

That being said, I would hate to have our shielding and mitigation focus moved to the secondary. A way to encourage people to understand how to use the two TOGETHER is certainly warranted, however. Making the damage absorbed more easily seen without the use of secondary mods would be nice. I think half the problem is you can’t ‘see’ mitigated damage, thus to the average player, it looks like the disc is doing less. It’s all perception. When you have access to logs, and you can visually see how a disc priest actually ranks (it’s not uncommon to have numbers on par with a holy priest or pally) you realize this, but Joe Casual or PuG groups don’t have access to these. Another ‘wait and see how it plays out’ preview.

We want to improve Holy for PvP healing. One way to do this is to make sure that Heal’s throughput is similar between both specs.

See above.

We want to improve Shadow for short fights and reduce its susceptibility to school lockouts.

Again, I don’t know nuthin’ ’bout no shadowz. Go ask the experts.

Discipline will finally be getting Power Word: Barrier as a talented ability. Think of it like a group Power Word: Shield.

Woot. Something similar had been promised for a long time, and we actually expected to see it for the Wrath expansion. I can definitely see something like this move the perception that all disc is good for is bubble spamming, since covering groups more quickly will allow shifting focus to pure healing. However, I think it will require a high mana cost &/or a cool down, much like CoH, to discourage mass bubble spamming, and to encourage people to use it effectively. I hear it won’t work as a group targeting like PoH however, and more like a ‘zone effect’, similar to a Death Knight’s Anti Magic Shield. Interesting mechanic, has huge benefits for shielding melee groups that stand in BAD SHIT, or chef hat wearing death knights.

We want to make Holy a little bit more interesting to play. One new talent will push the Holy priest into an improved healing state when he or she casts Prayer of Healing, Heal, or Renew three times in a row. The empowered state varies depending on the heals cast.

Again, this baffles me. I think holy is hands down the most interesting healer to play. You have so many tricks and procs to manage, coupled with a large healing output, I’m not sure how this is boring. I am hoping this ‘improved healing state’ is obtained by a combination of heals, much like our serendipity stacks from flash OR binding heal. I rarely, if ever, cast 3 PoHs in a row. I’ll at least try to pad with a FH/BH or two to stack up the hasted effect. If I’m going to cast three in a row, the resulting state better be phenomenal. Which can be an interesting way to strategize – you know a phase with intense healing is coming up, you cast 3 PoH in a transition in preparation. The most powerful form of a bonus healing state probably should be harder to obtain – otherwise, healers will constantly sit at that.

I also demand a kick ass visual for this.

Since the Shadow tree has a lot of passive damage-boosting abilities — something we’re trying to avoid in Cataclysm — we will need to replace several of the tree’s talents. One idea is to play off of the new Shadow Orbs mechanic (see Mastery section below), possibly allowing you to consume an orb to increase damage from Mind Blast or reduce Mind Spike’s cast time.

Misery will no longer affect spell Hit chance. We want players to be able to gear themselves around a Hit cap that isn’t variable depending on group composition.

Durrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses

Discipline

• Healing
• Meditation
• Absorption

Absorption: Improves the strength of shields such as Power Word: Shield, Divine Aegis, and Power Word: Barrier.

Holy

• Healing
• Meditation
• Radiance

Radiance: Your direct heals add a small heal-over-time component to the target.

Not much is known how this will work. Set bonuses that gave a Radiance like effect always were lack luster and ended up being mostly overheal. Absorption is nice – perhaps that will encourage more interesting tier set bonuses like our original T10, instead of the current yawn fest we have now. I like the concept, but there’s still not much to comment on.

So that’s my brief thoughts. I’m not up in arms, I’m not upset, and you shouldn’t be either. We have a loooooooooong way until we see how these play out, or, if they play out at all. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a proposed change didn’t see the light of day, and we have very little details how things will work, much less any indication on how we should apply them. So sit back, and ride the easy epic train that always pulls into the station before an expansion (I know my alts are loving it.). We’ll be getting more and more information as the weeks & months go on. When we see something concrete, THEN we can bitch.

Also, Derevka will have a follow up post in a day or two with his insights. Right now he’s holding a Starbucks hostage, screaming something about idiot melee & babysitting. When he’s sedated, I’m sure he’ll have some great thoughts.

That being said, what do YOU guys think? Anything you want to add? Musings, comments, insult my gender &/or heritage?

THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!! (AKA Ava’s thoughts on Cata Priest Changes) is a post from: Tales of a Priest

Holy Spec'd Raid Healing

The priest class has been changed a great deal over the years, and not until Wrath, we really only had one true viable raiding Tree:  Holy. While, yes, some priests did attempt to heal as Disc in Burning Crusade… it just was neither practical nor as widely accepted.

Priests have 2 defined niches: Tank Healing and Raid Healing. Generally speaking, if you want to be a raid healer – you are better off speccing holy. (I do not want to get into the argument about PW: Shield spam or using Borrowed Time to cast a hasted Prayer of Healing- so I simply won’t).  Some of this stems from what my raid make up is and what kind of healing my raid needs. If you feel that your raid needs you as a PW: Shield spammer, and it works for you – great! Keep at it. However, I am going to be discussing Holy for now. (and Yes, I have raid healed as Disc, and certain fights it is certainly very helpful– Lich King and Saurfang for example)

In Dark Nemesis raids, Holy plays the role of Burst Healing. We have a number of spells at our disposal that provide an incredible amount of instant or fast burst heals. Lets dive into those:

Circle of Healing:
We have had this spell since BC, and has been a great tool for us—even after the Cooldown nerf. With a single quick snap, you instantly can heal 6 targets (assuming you are glyphed) for upwards of 5400 each.

Prayer of Healing:
With this spell now targeted off of a group you now can cast this spell quickly (<2 seconds) with your 3 x Serendipity stacks.

Prayer of Mending:
Launch and go! Send this bad boy off into a group and let its magic go to work! Bouncing around your damage takers and healing for boatloads. (see my earlier post on POM here)

Renew:
With empowered renew able to provide an upfront heal (not to mention a possible Holy Concentration Proc) you can heal consistent damage over time. More importantly, it is instant—that means you can cast it on the run and heal your raid.

Holy Nova:
Often times forgotten – and can provide solid group only aoe heals in an instant. I remember using this spell regularly on some of our earlier Mimiron and Freya Hard Mode kills.

Getting the most out of these spells can be overwhelming. One of the most stressful things to do as a Raid Healing Holy Priest is answering the hard questions. Lets go over some of the questions I ask myself throughout every single raid.

What spell do I cast?

That is a very difficult question to answer, and it usually is: It depends.

Raid Healing effectively often requires you to be aware of how incoming damage happens. Take Festergut for example, most Raid Mods (DXE, DBM, etc.) let you know when he is going to exhale, or you can watch a castbar for Lady Deathwhisper to see her cast her Frostbolt Volley. With an appropriate reaction time you can land your Prayer of Healing moments after the damage lands, thus nearly eliminating all the damage on an entire group.  A lot of this timing takes practice and familiarity of the encounter… the more practice you get on bosses, the more familiar you become with them, and the audio and visual cues for the damage will become second nature. Now when you use POH in these situations, you often can prep your Serendipity stacks. Keeping your Serendipity up at 3 (while spot healing with Flash Heal) can often allow you to provide a much needed POH punch! Alternatively if you know the raid is going to be taking consistent damage in between your CD’s you can be weaving in Renews on other raid members.

What order do I cast stuff in?
Often times people have a knee jerk reaction and quickly cast a COH once damage occurs. This does, of course, provide great burst healing on 6 targets, but if you don’t have a 4-Piece bonus proc, you’ll have to wait for the CD to complete before you can heal again. (see my earlier post for my thoughts on the 4pc) Let’s examine a situation:

One of Lady Deathwhisper’s Tormented Spirits Explodes into the melee group. You have a raid group of 25 with 8 melee and 2 tanks. Split up into 2 groups (lets just say groups 1 and 2). If you were to cast COH onto a melee target, you’ll heal 6 players.  You, in all likelihood, will now have 2 groups with a mix of people at 100% HP and lower HP. On the other hand, if you were to cast a Serendipitous POH on one group (likely topping them all off) followed by an instant COH you’ll have probably handled these 2 groups in about 2 seconds. Any straggling Targets would likely have been handled by a Surge of Light proc you likely just acquired. Remember you have other spells at your disposal! Utilize COH’s smart healing aspect to your advantage.

When the Raid isn’t taking damage, what do I do?
Depending on the situation, you might be in a position to regen mana. While, not very many encounters in ICC allow for downtime, if your raid is stable, your tank healing is taken care of, you might be able to stop and regen mana. (Or assist other’s mana by popping Hymn of Hope). However, if your mana is stable, helping your tank healers with a POM, Renew, or Flash Heal on a tank, is often appreciated… even if it is just to restack your Serendipity. 

Oh shit! All my spells are on cooldown! My raid needs heals! What do I do?
If your raid needs heals: heal. I have had several people ask me if I cast POH without Serendipity Stacks. The short answer- YES!! While it does feel like I am casting through Jell-O, POH heals 5 people. During the transition phase on the Lich King encounter, Pain and Suffering can wreck havoc on your raid. POHing can often be the best choice, even without a hasted cast time.

When do I use Divine Hymn?
With a 8 minute cooldown, you want to be sure you don’t waste it. When to use Hymn often falls into one of two categories:  1) Oh shit!  2) Big Raid Damage = Big Raid Healing. In the “Oh shit” situation this can often be when someone screwed up and chained damage to your raid, or another raid healer is down and you need to heal up the raid quickly. (ie. Felllow raid healer got picked up by a Val’kyr during the Lich King fight, and then the raid is hit by Infest). The other option is predictable big or difficult damage. I know I cast my hymn on Festergut when he casts Pungent Blight and the raid takes massive damage, or on Blood Queen Lanathel’s air phase. Large damage calls for large heals. This spell is a great one to use for major raid stabilization – know your encounter and determine the best time to cast it. So, warm up those vocal chords and chant that hymn!

A lot of raid healing as holy comes to instincts. And it takes practice and fast reflexes. Your keybinds and mod set ups can often assist with your raid healing, being sure you have raid frames that provide you with the information you need to know about your raid’s HP, Debuffs, and incoming damage is pivotal in being a successful Holy Raid Healer. For me, my mouse also plays a pivotal role in my healing, you can read my write up on that in my previous post here.

Enjoy the perils and joys of raid healing… the livlihood of your raid counts on your burst healing to survive. That is, unless they stand in fire… Blizzard has yet to come up with a spell that heals through stupid.

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Holy Raid Healing Batman! is a post from: Tales of a Priest

Let’s take a good look at it.

Hmmm 3% for 4 ticks? 12%? That sure doesn’t seem like very much, does it? The 20% boost is nice, but it goes away after 8 seconds. Sure isn’t sounding very good, is it ? The thing to remember is HoH (Hymn of Hope) works on your maximum mana level – not base. So assuming a base mana level of 30,000 & ignoring any exterior factors such as replensihments, totems, meditation, haste levels ect, & making it very simple, it actually works like this:

1) Cast HoH

2) First tick nets you 900 mana (30,000 mana x 3%)

3) Here’s where it gets interesting – Now your 20% maximum mana level is registered. Your second tick nets you 1,080 mana [ 30,000 x 20% x 3% tick, or 30,000 (1.2)(.03) = 1,080].

Hmmm. Roughly 4100 mana for an 8 second channel? Still not sounding very good, is it? Well, let’s make it good.

I’m sure you all know our little friend, Mr. Shadowfiend ? He’s not as stupid as he used to be. He now returns 5% of your MAXIMUM mana with his attacks. See where this is going? Launching your fiend, and the popping HoH now nets you 5% of 36,000 [ 30,000 x 20%] for the 8 second HoH maximum mana duration, on top of HoH’s own mana return. That alone should net you a good hunk of your mana return. Want to get REALLY crazy? Pop you Shadowfiend/HoH combo during a heroism.

Haste also plays a part in this. Using myself as an example, in disc spec/gear, I sit around 484 haste. Between that and Enlightenment, my actual channeling time on this spell looks like this:

Throwing Borrow Time into the mix, and casting a shield on myself before I channel HoH looks like this:

The interesting thing to note is that even though Haste reduces the channeling time, it does NOT reduce the applied time on the 20% mana increase. With BT, that’s almost 2.5 seconds of casting with maximum mana buff under solo conditions.

Which brings me to my next point: Something to remember is that Hymn of Hope works along the same lines Divine Hymn does, so while the shadow fiend trick comes in handy for personal use, where this spell really shines is a raid.

Why? Because of two little words that every raider loves to hear: It. Stacks.

Oh yes – these stack. HoH is a trainable spell, so every shadow, holy and disc priest in your raid has it. So if Holy Priest Larry, Disc Priest Moe, and Shadow Priest Curly pop this at the same time, the mana return goes from 3% per tick to 9% per tick, and the maximum mana boost goes from 20% to 60%! So, following our VERY SIMPLE model with no external factors, if Larry, Moe & Curly all have 30,000 mana, they now have 48,000 mana and will return 4320 mana per tick.

Another thing to note that I’ve discovered during some very scientific and controlled experiments awhile back (I grabbed a bunch of priests from the guild and we stood by the Dalaran fountain) is the extension of time relative to your haste on the channel time of the 20% “fake mana” also stacks. For example, with haste, Larry’s Channel time on HoH is 5.0 seconds, Moe’s is 5.26 & Curly’s is 5.4 – leaving them 3, 2.74 & 2.6 seconds of “fake mana casting time”, respectively. This ALSO stacks, giving all three of them about 8 seconds of extra time, and almost 16 seconds of “fake mana time” for the raid. Keep in mind the spells you cast during this time come out of your “fake mana” pool.

One question people ask is “When do I use this?”. Well, that’s not really an easy question to answer. With a 6 minute cooldown, like Divine Hymn, you have to choose wisely. Identify fights when you’re running tight on mana, and coordinate with the priests on when to use this – a good example would be way back last summer when Ulduar 25 was still progression. Firefighter (Mimiron hard mode) was some intense healing, and we would channel our Hymns in the transition between Phase 2 & 3. I love the Smell of Saronite in the Morning (General Vezax) was another good time – even a single priest channeling at the end provided enough mana for that last boost to knock him over (remember, Vezax is the fight that negates all mana regen mechanics). A more recent example would be on the Lich King 25 – we like to pop ours between phase 1 & 2 as we get into position, as phase one can be an intense drain, especially on disc priests. There is no magic answer that I can give, no “at X minutes in fight Y, use HoH ” – your guild strategies and raid makeups can be very different than someone else’s, and that can and will affect when and where you need it. The key to using this is to review a fight as you experience it and determine if there’s a use for it, and if so, when would be the best time to use it. Coordinate & discuss with your other priests as well.

My goal here was to show, in a VERY simplified way, how Hymn of Hope works so priests can understand how to apply it ( I can almost hear Zusterke having a stroke at how simplified this is).  There are so many ways and so many fights to apply these techniques in – you simply have to determine WHEN to use them. And don’t be selfish with it! Remember, this can help with raidwide mana issues. If you see DPS struggling at a certain point, determine if it’s feasible to use this for them, even if you don’t need it. And hey – even if you don’t need it, it looks REALLY cool. And I’m all about looking cool.

(PS We’re recruiting an exceptional holy pally and warlock for ICC25 Hard Modes. Know any?)

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Hymn of Hope: Our Misunderstood Little Friend is a post from: Tales of a Priest