Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Priest healing tier 10 4-piece bonus changed
by Dawn Moore 
Mar 2nd 2010 at 10:25PM
Zarhym -- PTR Patch 3.3.3 Notes Priest Tier-10 4-Piece Healing Set Bonus: Redesigned. This bonus now increases the effectiveness of the caster's Power Word: Shield and Renew spells by 5%.
Priests all over have been ragging on the strength and utility of our Tier-10 4-piece bonus for months, and now our pleas have finally been answered in the latest PTR patch notes for patch 3.3.3. The bonus just got
Still, the buff is exceptionally good. The only problem with it is that so many priests who turned their back on the tier gear for other badge items (such as shadow's tier gear) with better itemization are now going to be screaming bloody murder.
Filed under: Priest
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Spencer Gardner Mar 2nd 2010 10:30PM
need to put "healing" somewhere in the title, you almost stopped my poor shadowclad heart.
Dawn Moore Mar 2nd 2010 10:44PM
Done. Thanks =)
mazokuranma Mar 2nd 2010 10:32PM
Yes, you are the first failure of this article. Congratulations.
Leroy Jenkems Mar 2nd 2010 10:34PM
Damn, I thought the 4-set bonus seemed like a fun bonus. Oh well.
Sten Mar 2nd 2010 10:35PM
pretty dissapointing, 5% isnt much at all and the old bonus seemed more enjoyable to me.
Dawn Moore Mar 2nd 2010 11:21PM
It's definitely going to go further for discipline than holy, but I agree with you that the old bonus was more enjoyable.
I always prefer set bonuses that require some thought to work. Still, there was a big difference between the set bonus of priests and other healers, and having one that is easier to utilize seems fair. To get the bonus to work before you had to keep your eyes open and hop through a hoop or two. This one just flat out works with whatever we're doing. It's too easy for my tastes.
Wyred Mar 3rd 2010 4:43AM
The other bonus might've been more interesting, but it just didn't fit in with current playstyles. Holy gets so much more out of renew than flash heal that fitting a flash inbetween CoH and reset cooldown CoH didn't make much sense, and only reduced the cooldown by 3 seconds effectively, less if you missed the proc or had to do something else (in theory could reduce the cooldown by 4 seconds if you're at the gcd haste cap). It made a lot more sense for disc priests, but with all 5 pieces being spirit gear (!), it sucked for them as well.
Can't see why they don't change the stats instead. As soon as tanks started staying away from tier due to the lack of armour, they hotfixed it toot da sweet. Spirit is a weak stat and has been for a long time, even more so for disc. They know we don't need regen, so why was spirit on all 5 pieces? Overall this looks like a buff for holy priests, but as disc I'll have to check the numbers to see if it's worth taking that much spirit, and even if it is worth it I probably won't take it as I'm one of those who went down the shadow tier road.
Tl; Dr - Bit late to buff it now, and the 2 piece bonus still sucks; why didn't they buff this one, or fix the stats? The 4 piece was always ok, it just was sitting on top of an awful 2 piece bonus and a hell of a lot of spirit.
Dharmabhum Mar 3rd 2010 9:03AM
@Wyred: That was pretty much my thought too. I was never convinced that 4T10 was going to be all that awesome for most of ICC so I never made it a part of my strategy. Heck, I've got i251 gloves in my bank in favor of i245 crit/haste gloves and never gave it a second thought.
IMHO it would have been nice if they'd changed the stats. With all that Spirit, it was never attractive as a 10-man tank healing disc priest. That was the first reason I passed, but the bad 2T10 bonus sealed it. I was interested in 4T10 and once I got to see the LK encounter, I realised it definitely had its place. With either better stats or a more attractive 2-piece bonus, I'd have given it a shot... after I picked up my offset gier for disc and my 4T10 for shadow at least :D
I guess this seals it now though... 4T10 for disc is going to wait until I'm overrun with frost emblems with nothing left to buy. The one place I need buffs would be on the LK but right now Infest doesn't even break my shields=no rapture="wasted" mana and then I have to reshield for Infest #2... In this case, I may actually want a little weaker shields haha.
ozone Mar 3rd 2010 1:45PM
Could be worse, the holy pally 4 piece really sucks. I have the other 2 pieces sitting in my bank hoping Blizzard decides to make a useful bonus at some point.
Jacob Thompson Mar 15th 2010 4:21PM
The one place I need buffs would be on the LK but right now Infest doesn't even break my shields
Start shielding 6seconds before he casts it, will break by the 2nd infest.
http://elitistjerks.com/f77/t54629-discipline_healing_compendium_v3_1_a/p22/#post1576121
Anthony Mar 2nd 2010 11:00PM
not exactly an original or thought provoking 4piece.
+5% whoopdedoo
SmokeTheBear Mar 2nd 2010 11:07PM
Your mileage may vary, of course, and if it doesn't look appealing to you, there are still other worthwhile options for those gear slots. Renew has crept into my healing rotation more and more over the last 2 tiers, and we all know how valuable Power Word:Shield is for our discipline-specced brethren.
Given the lengths we'll go through to get an extra 1% on something here and there, 5% is pretty great. It's not so powerful that it totally outshines those other options (the non-tier badge loot and the ICC drops), but it makes for a worthwhile boost to those who choose to take the tier itemization path.
SmokeTheBear Mar 2nd 2010 11:00PM
I was one of the priests who hated the T10 4pc. bonus, and I had settled on waiting until at least one of the two spirit/haste pieces from the Blood Prince Council (25 man) dropped to replace my T9 gloves and chest. This complicates things, because now that looks pretty tasty.
Oh, who am I kidding? I'll quite happily pick up the other 2 pieces of my T10 set now, and use the raid loot points on something I can't replace at the badge vendor. I'm totally stoked about this change!
Wikwocket Mar 2nd 2010 11:05PM
Disappointing to see a set bonus changed so long after release, after people have already spent their emblems, and disappointing to see a potentially interesting mechanic changed to a flat 5% bonus.
But very nice to see a very clumsy set bonus changed to a solid one!
zweitblom Mar 3rd 2010 1:35AM
Yes, because healing priests will spend days waiting for groups to collect the emblems necessary...
skyrocker93 Mar 2nd 2010 11:06PM
but, but, the circle of healing and penance resets were awesome! now we just get some lame extra 5%?
Dboy Mar 2nd 2010 11:16PM
I think you mean 'raging' rather than 'ragging' :)
Dboy Mar 2nd 2010 11:18PM
Actually no, you don't. Don't mind me.
Travieso Mar 2nd 2010 11:19PM
Thanks for linking to the T8; that was like my favorite set bonus this expansion. Sigh, I have fond memories of bubbling everyone on Firefighter.
Dawn Moore Mar 2nd 2010 11:26PM
Tier 8 is also my favorite, both for disc and shadow. It was so perfect with borrowed time. I had a really hard time giving it up.