I didn't get the whole "mana regen is no longer a concern for healers in wrath", all the way up to ToC 25. As a holy priest I was top on heals relatively frequently, but mana problems were my top concern... then I got spark of hope and solace of the defeated. Since then I've needed to use hymn of hope for myself roughly once, whereas before I'd have to line it up exactly right to ensure that the tanks wouldn't be taking too much damage and that I could use it in conjunction with shadowfiend for more mana regen.

I think it depends on your playstyle: if you know the healers you're running with and they're assigned to specific groups, you don't have to switch back and forth from tank healing to raid healing to whatever. You can concentrate on a few targets and can afford down time, even if your gear isn't as high as others. If you're competing with perhaps one other player with huge haste gear while 3 other healers are just above judgement of light/vampiric embrace healing, then ensuring you have a high enough mana regen becomes a huge concern, especially if you're not sure the tank or raid will survive during a divine plea or hymn of hope.

I think Cataclysm could go relatively well or disastrously for a healer in the second category. If they nerf mana regen but keep the long cooldowns for a priest's mana returning abilities, then large portions of the fight will be spent wanding, which I really doubt was what they wanted when they said mana regen should be more active. If they reduce hymn of hope to a 12 second cooldown and a 6 second cast time that restores 500 mana to party members (or similar), I'm sure it could work very well.

Reply