Now, let's talk about tier. Before I focus on the set bonuses though, let me mention that there are going to be some gear pieces where due to the ability or inability to upgrade to a level 277 item, tier will be the best choice. If you decide that it's best to take tier, but you do not like the tier set bonuses, give a solid look at shadow priest tier. You may find that there is gear there that has the itemization you want even if the set bonuses are useless to you as a healer. Now, onto the set bonuses on healer's tier 10, starting with the 2-set bonus.

2 pieces: Your Flash Heal has a 33% chance to cause the target to heal for 33% of the healed amount over 9 sec.

Basically, every time you cast a Flash Heal there is 1/3 chance you will heal your target for an additional 1/3 of the Flash Heal as a 9 second HoT. One would think this could be particularly useful for fights where your target needs more hots for extra stabilization, but the mechanics of the effect are not so simple. Let me explain how it works: if you cast Flash Heal and trigger the 2-piece bonus effect, the HoT will not start healing immediately. The first heal tick will occur at 3 seconds, then two more ticks at 6 seconds and 9 seconds. This is all good and fine, except if you cast two Flash Heals in quick succession and happen to trigger the effect before the previous HoT finished. When that happens, the timer on the HoT will refresh to 0 and start counting back up to 3 (which, again, is when your target will receive a heal). Fortunately, the effect stacks, so even if you do get multiple procs in a short time (and as a result, refresh the HoT back to 0 multiple times) each tick from the heal will be divided up from the total combined healing that hasn't already been distributed to your target; so if you refresh the HoT before the 9 second tick goes off, only the healing from that last tick will be added into the new HoT. Still with me? Here's a graphic to help illustrate it.

Now that you know how the tick works, let's reconsider how it's going to work on a target. If you cast a single Flash Heal on your target, and it happens to trigger the effect, there is now a 9 second HoT on that target. Great! Now if you cast a second Flash Heal and the effect is triggered, what happens in the picture above will occur. This effect can stack indefinitely, so if you keep casting Flash Heal, and keep successfully triggering the proc (remember there is only a 33% chance), the HoT won't start healing until you stop casting Flash Heal or stop triggering the proc. This could mean when the HoT does tick, it could be in the form of a large burst of healing (or, more than likely, overhealing). It's very unlikely you'll ever stack the HoT more than a couple times though, because... well let me explain why with a question: How often do you cast Flash Heal?

See, I explained how the HoT works just so you could better understand it as you assess it for yourself, but ultimately the most important factor to weigh is how frequently you cast Flash Heal. If you use the spell frequently, then fantastic, but if you don't then the bonus will go under utilized. Let me makes some very basic assessments, based on priest conventions: if you're a disc priest who heals the tank, you'll probably get the most out of this 2-set bonus. If you're a holy priest who casts a Surge of Light Flash Heal after each Circle of Healing, you'll also get some use out of the 2-set as you spot heal. If you're a disc priest who raid heals, you probably only occasionally cast Flash Heal, and thus will rarely get a chance to trigger the HoT.

That all said, my general opinion on set bonuses is this: you have to adapt to them in order to utilize them. As healers we cannot expect our style of play to be universal, since priorities vary from healer to healer. In the end, there is no right way to heal as long as our targets stay alive. You could, for example, prove that your way of healing produces more effective healing, but another player might value speed and delivery of heals, which can't be tracked on a meter. I mentioned the holy spec earlier, and how the 2-set could be utilized with instant cast Flash Heals after Circle of Healing. But that is just one style of playing holy which is reactive and 'bursty.' Your style of healing might emphasize effective healing and damage control by constantly applying Renew to the entire raid. The 2-set might not be very useful in that case. The thing to remember is that no style is right if it works, and it's all very dependent on the strengths and weaknesses of your raid composition. When it comes to set bonuses, there will be times when a set bonus just doesn't fit your current play style. That doesn't mean you should trash it immediately. It could hold a lot of potential if you adapt your play to it. I personally welcome each tier's set bonuses (no matter how atrocious they may initially seem) just because it gives me the chance to try something new and keep healing interesting. If I kept the same spell priority for all of WotLK I'd be sick of healing by now, even with the new encounters. Anyway, what I'm saying is if you don't initially like a set bonus, give it a second look. If you still don't like it after you reassess it, then just pick non-tier gear. Tier bonuses are not game breaking, and will usually balance out because of the extra stats or gem sockets on non-tier gear. Now, onto the 4-piece:

4 pieces: 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.

This bonus doesn't require as much explanation (or bring up as many questions) as the last one. When you cast Circle of Healing or Penance, and then follow it up with a Flash Heal (or two, if you're fast) there is a 20% chance the cooldown on your Circle of Healing (6 seconds) or Penance (12 seconds, 8 when talented and glyphed) will reset. The first thing that I want to say about the 4-set is that I think Blizzard is really trying to get us to look at both bonuses together. Neither of them alone is spectacular but if you somehow adapt yourself to use one, it will surely affect the other. Already, a few members of the priest community have tested the 4-set bonus and reported that both it and the 2-set yield awful results. Unfortunately, it's really hard to say if those players were trying to adapt themselves or just playing as they normally do. Until more players have 4 pieces (myself included) we can only trust their opinions and reports, or wait to test it ourselves.

My personal feelings, just based on first glance, is that you will really have to work to see these bonuses pay off. Most of the time tier bonuses are passive and easy to benefit from; this 4-set bonus is the opposite. It will be a bit of a challenge to use at first. 20% is not a reliable proc rate to depend on, which means responding to each proc is going to require reaction that goes against your current sense of spell timing. You will never develop a rhythm around a 20% proc, so you will either need to watch your bars like a hawk, or be smashing your buttons repeatedly. Either way, you will have to do a lot more anticipating by having the target of your Flash Heal pre-selected. This also means that the 4-set is really only going to shine on fights with high tank or raid damage, otherwise you'll just be queuing up Flash Heals wastefully. There is no point in utilizing a bonus at the cost of inefficiency. This is probably why so many people have trouble liking this bonus: It's not applicable in every situation, and you have to be willing to sometimes risk inefficiency to yield, at a low proc rate, a chance to be more efficient. Many of us already follow up our Circle of Healing or Penance with a Flash Heal, but we don't always. This bonus encourages us to always follow up those spells with Flash Heal, but only if the fight lends itself to do so. Otherwise we will be healing superfluously.

Then, of course, even if you give the set bonus a chance, it may be just like the initial reporters are saying: not worth the effort. The only way to know is to test it for yourself, and since acquiring tier is no fast and easy feat this patch, it's quite the risk. All I can recommend is you do what feels right by you. If you don't want to take the risk then go for gear stats. If you do wand to take the risk though, it could, at the very least, be fun to play with. I will keep you all informed as we get into hard modes and the playing ground to test this bonus becomes more apparent. Until then, good luck in Icecrown.

But wait! Before I sign off, I have to finish what I started. Remember how earlier in the week I brought up an age old debate about who to gear up first, healers or DPS? At the time i explained why I felt gearing DPS was the best choice. I also asked for your comments on the debate, and now I am going to summarize (or paraphrase) what I felt were the best arguments in favor of gearing healers first.

• If you gear up your healers, you will be able to run with fewer, and thus more DPS. [Suggested by Apra]
• If you gear up your tanks first, your healers will need more gear to keep up with their increased health. [Suggested by Calebe]
• If only one or a few healers are passing loot to DPS (as opposed to your raid team as a whole) that lone healer will not keep up with their fellow healers. [Suggested by Cthulu]
• If you gear your DPS first, you risk losing healers who don't agree with the philosophy. Spread the gear around so everyone's efforts are rewarded equally. [Suggested by Tridus]

As I said before, there is no universal answer, just one that works for you and your raid team. I spoke with a raider from a top world ranked guild (he is pictured above) about the topics raised in my article and his response was: "What idiot guild gears their healers first? Who does that? Who has ever done that?" Alternatively, my old progression guild believed in gearing healers first because it didn't take that long to gear 5-6 players, and thus the impact would show faster. Both the top ranked guild (which has 7 scheduled raid days a week) and my old progression guild (which has 3 scheduled raid days) are progressing appropriately through Icecrown for the time and commitment they put in. One guild is not necessarily better than the other, because their philosophies in the game are different. There were players in that old progression guild that could be in that top ranked guild, and there are players in that top guild who make the same stupid mistakes we all do. It's all about how you want to play.

For my conclusion to the open forum discussion of Spiritual Guidance this week, I want to share something I learned from one of our commenters. I have been informed that I was wrong about a particular statement I made in my previous post. Apparently, mages are actually the rock stars of WoW, and warlocks scrub their toilets. Discuss.

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Want to find more great tips for carrying out your Priestly duties? Spiritual Guidance has you covered with all there is to know! And don't forget to check out our other Leveling Guides as well as our Wrath Guides and Galleries!

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