A thread like this was bound to pop up at some point, but it required someone to take the time to not only gain the experience necessary to create the guide, but to fully understand the present complaints people bring up.
Common Misrepresented Complaints about Holy:
- Heal is useless. Doesn't heal for enough, too long of a cast.
- Flash heal costs too much.
- lol lightwell
- regen is horrible
The Truth:
Heal: This spell, in holy, is perfectly acceptable as it stands, and for any holy priest doing heroics or raids, this should really be your main spell of choice. It has to be, for no other reason than the fact it is your lowest cost heal, and everything seems to be built, talent wise, around it. It does heal for plenty. 10k non crits with proper spec... crits often for 13 to 14k right now in heroics. This is perfectly viable. Combine that with chakra refresh on renew (hey 1400 ticks may seem weak, but it helps) and an instant cast, low cost, 10k heal that crits for 16k. Combine that with the fact heal also procs SoL... and it really becomes a very viable and useful ability.
This is your main spell. Stop complaining about it and realize that everything you thought you knew about holy from Wrath of the Lich King is completely irrelevant. This is an entirely knew healing experience, and thus requires a completely different mindset.
Flash Heal: The costs for this spell are highly justified presently due to the amount of healing it does. If flash heal was reduced to being spammable again, the challenge of Holy Healing is completely removed. It heals for a lot. Combine that with Echo of Light and really, who needs skill anymore? This a complaint mostly based on how healing was handled in Wrath. This isn't your non-fun casual healing experience anymore. It's not about spamming, it's about spell choice, with heal being the front runner. Flash heal is situational, used in emergencies to nab a dps or tank who dipped low and you happen to need a fast reaction to it.
Note that just because a tank or dps dipped low does not automatically mean you need to flash heal, or greater heal, them. It's situational. As you learn the fights, you will know what health people need to be at to survive.
Lightwell: Forget all your transgressions, and the dps's complaints, about lightwell. It is so overpowered that I have had several other healing classes demanding, or at least stating to me, that it needs to be nerfed. Why are they saying this? It is the single most powerful, and mana efficient, healing ability in the game. Most complaints have been addressed. It has a 20 yard click range, can be clicked while casting/dpsing, can be clicked when stunned, does not need to be targeted.
The base issue is that yes, it still needs to be clicked, but with how powerful it presently is... too bad - you need to force people to use this amazing spell. In heroics, it practically does all my raid healing for me. Imagine what your mana issues look like, as a holy priest, if you don't have to worry about raid heals for parts of the fight? I Glyph it for 5 extra clicks and let it go to town.
It's time to take off the blinders. This is an absolute must have spell for holy, and dps will learn to use it or die. There choice. This is no longer some optional play thing - blizzard stated many times they wanted this spell to be viable and important for Holy, and it finally came true. No more excuses.
Regen: The base argument that regen is horrible stands true in comparison to level 80. This is intended. Unlimited mana pools and the ability for dps and tanks to make constant mistakes is long gone. We cannot make up for bad players anymore. One mistake? Sure, 3 or 4? No. Damage is highly avoidable, and it's about time the dps and tanks figure that out if they want to live. Just like they need to figure out that lightwell is awesome. Healers are no longer the "sole reason" wipes happen.
Making Holy Healing Easier for You in Cataclysm:
If a DPS dies, it's most likely his fault: DPS and Tanks finally have to be responsible for their own actions in Cataclysm. A lot of the damage that causes massive healing and in return causes us to OOM and wipe (or have to do silly tricks like die on purpose to pop spirit form, pop a SS, die again for spirit form) is avoidable. The incidental, non avoidable, damage is still going to occur, and that is what we are responsible for. We can make up for a mistake here and there, but if a player is constantly not getting out of fire, not interrupting boss abilities, it's going to cause havoc for you. This is not on you to correct.
No one needs to be topped off: This is not to be confused with "don't ever top people off". If you know you can spare it, by all means top people off with your cheap spells, like heal or CoH. In general, and you will find several built in mechanics to the raid bosses (and heroics), no one needs to be at maximum health. Not even the tank. To waste heals to top people off is an attempt to "top meters" - which will be counter productive. You may get to #1, but oom quickly and thus everyone else slowly passes you. Point is that meter topping, and topping off everyone is no longer a viable decision for a healer, any healer.
In heroics, presently, keeping dps around 40 to 50% health is ideal. No need to keep them above 80%. With the inflated health pools, most abilities will only drop them 20% or so in health unless they continue to stand in/screw up. I, personally, keep them aroudn 50 to 60% just to be safe, but until you get to know the ins and outs of each fight and have that mana to spare, doing so may be difficult. I know several healers that are ending each fight with dps at 10% health. You need to find that happy medium.
Use all of your tools: Holy has a lot of fun abilities, even more so than almost every other healer in the game. Use them. The key thing right now is that all of our tools are viable in different situations, and it's up to us to determine when that situation is best. We aren't "just" spamming one spell anymore, even if Heal is our main go to spell. Binding Heal, Divine Hymn, Lightwell, Flash Heal, Greater Heal, Prayer of Mending, Circle of Healing, Shield, Guardian Spirit, Heal, Holy Word: Serenity, Holy Word: Sanctuary, Prayer of Healing... that is 12 different abilities listed that you use in healing situations. Find a way to incorporate them and you will be thanking yourself later.
