Raid Rx: What the -- more beta healing changes?
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Hey everyone! I'm back from BlizzCon and feeling refreshed. It looks like another beta patch was pushed today. Most of the changes were adjustments to spell coefficients. There are additional healing changes that might actually mean something.
Some of the highlights include Rebirth being restored to the original 10-minute cooldown for druids and Chakra losing the Renew state for holy priests.
Here's a look at all the classes so far.
Shaman
Rebirth now has a 10-minute cooldown, down from 30 minutes.
Swift Rejuvenation is now a one-rank talent, down from two ranks. Now reduces the GCD of Rejuvenation by 0.5 seconds.
Efflorescence now heals nearby targets for 20/40/60% of the amount healed by Swiftmend over 7 seconds, down from 7.5 seconds.
Natural Shapeshifter now also increases the duration of Tree of Life by 5/10 seconds.
For the past several weeks, playing with a 30-minute Rebirth cooldown felt awkward. I was so used to having 10-minute Rebirths to bail us out in case something went wrong. Now I know some of you are going to incinerate me because "players shouldn't be dying and resorting to Rebirth" and so forth. My raid group has around five to six druids, and I'm pretty aggressive when it comes to mid-combat resurrecting. It was a little disconcerting to see my resources drop low. I think overall, it made us better players. We took fewer risks. But no matter how careful you get, a stray cleave here or an awkward breath there is enough to push you over the edge and drop you. There are deaths for which there is simply nothing you could have done.
Restoring Rebirth to a 10-minute cooldown means it should be available for every one or two attempts. I'm trying to minimize my reliance on it, but you know, at this point of the expansion, we just want to get stuff done as quickly as possible.
Shaman
Chain Heal now costs 20 percent of base mana, up from 17 percent of base mana.
Nothing to really add here for our shaman friends. A slight Chain Heal nerf? Makes me wonder if they're working on other classes for now before coming back to the shaman. I cannot wait for access to Healing Rain!
Paladin
Holy
Holy Radiance's effectiveness now diminish on targets farther than X yards away.
Divine Light base healing has been increased by 30 percent, from 8,538-9,512 to 11,100-12,366.
Holy Wrath now scales from 61 percent of spellpower, up from 30 percent. Base damage is reduced by 22 percent, from 3,122 to 2,435.
Exorcism now scales from 34.4 percent of spellpower or AP, up from 15 percent. Base damage increased by 15 percent from 2,343 to 2,741.
Flash of Light base healing has been increased by 30 percent, from 5,313-5,961 to 6,907-7,750.
Lay on Hands no longer restores mana.
Beacon of Light now lasts 5 minutes, up from 1 minute.
Mastery: Illuminated Healing now absorbs 10 percent of the amount healed, up from 8 percent. Now lasts 8 seconds, up from 6 seconds. Each point of mastery increases the absorb amount by an additional 1.25 percent, up from 1 percent.
Holy Shock base healing has been increased by 30 percent, from 3,033-3,285 to 3,943-4,271.
Paladin mastery gets a slight buff. Not only is it stronger but it lasts longer. Lay on Hands can't be used to give yourself a mana boost anymore. The rest of the changes are simply number tweaks. They actually look like significant number tweaks. A 30 percent base healing increases to both Flash of Light, Holy Light, Divine Light and Holy Shock? Paladins, think it'll do the trick for you?
Priest
Inner Fire now increases spellpower by 531, up from 425.
Holy Nova affects target within 10 yards. (tooltip fix)
Binding Heal base healing increased by 20 percent, from 3,295-4,237 to 3,959-5,091. Now costs 28 percent of base mana, down from 29 percent.
Prayer of Healingnow costs 26 percent of base mana, down from 36 percent of base mana.
State of Mindno longer affects Renew, affects Prayer of Mending instead.
Chakra no longer works with Renew. No longer costs mana. Sanctuary (Prayer of Healing, Prayer of Mending) now increases healing done by your AoE spells and Renew by 15 percent. (formerly, only increased AoE spells by 10 percent)
Revelations now has a 40-second cooldown.
Rapid Renewal (Tier 4) New* Reduces the global cooldown of your Renew by 0.5 seconds.
Tome of Lightis now a tier 3 talent, down from tier 4.
The discipline tree only saw a minor increase to Inner Fire, but the holy tree saw most of the changes. The mana cost of Prayer of Healing has reduced. Discipline priests can use it and it is one of their options when it comes to blasting out an AoE heal. But as discipline, it doesn't seem as mana is a significant issue. I need to get back on beta and mess with it some more.
I am a big fan of the Chakra change. On live, the idea of having 4 Chakras was nice. The problem is that it always felt cumbersome. I would either use the Renew Chakra or the Prayer of Healing Chakra. Now that the Renew Chakra has been folded into the Prayer of Healing (or Sanctuary) one, everything feels cleaner. The power of Renew is increased slightly, along with the other AoE spells. To help further offset the HoT aspect, there is a new talent which reduces the global cooldown of Renew by a half-second.
The only downside I can see here (and yes, it doesn't really affect raiding that much) is that when I PvPed as holy, I would often remain in the Renew Chakra. Since I was running around fleeing for my life and trying to keep my group alive, Renew was typically the best choice for me to use. However, since the Sanctuary Chakra can be triggered by Prayer of Mending, I can still activate it for stronger Renews while being on the run.
Need advice on working with the healers in your guild? Raid Rx has you covered. Send your questions about raid healing to matticus@wow.com. For less healer-centric raiding advice, visit Ready Check, and don't miss our strategy guides to Icecrown Citadel and Halion/the Ruby Sanctum.
