The Light and How to Swing It: Holy paladins make a trade
by Chase Christian 
Dec 26th 2010 at 6:00PM
I'm not going to sugar-coat it: Holy paladins saw a massive stealth nerf delivered recently. Tower of Radiance, once the pinnacle of a holy paladin's healing strategy, was reduced to rubble. ToR previously granted us an extra holy power point any time we used a core heal on our Beaconed target. The new version only works with Divine Light and Flash of Light, our two most expensive heals. Our holy power generation mechanics basically limit us to one holy power point every 6 seconds. Daybreak can help by letting us snag extra Holy Shocks, but not in a predictable manner. Tower of Radiance allowed us to control our holy power generation by using Holy Light to pick up a few extra points whenever we wanted.
The key to Tower of Radiance's potency was the cheap price of Holy Light. If we needed extra AoE healing, we could generate holy power points and then spend them on Light of Dawn. When low on mana, we could use our cheap Holy Lights to build points towards a zero-mana Word of Glory. ToR gave us the flexibility to do something productive with our Holy Lights during downtime and allowed us to exploit our free holy power-based heals. To make matters worse, the developers nerfed us from the other direction, by lowering Light of Dawn's potency by 40%.
Why the nerf was needed
Light of Dawn was simply performing too well. The base heal itself was potent, and LoD's interaction with Beacon of Light made it even better. Back when holy paladins only had a couple of heals, Beacon of Light was both simple and predictable. The revised version of BoL interacts with several of our new mechanics, creating situations that holy paladins aren't used to seeing. Every heal from Light of Dawn was being replayed by Beacon, albeit at 50% strength, and that caused LoD to do a massive amount of single-target healing. With LoD being potent enough to top off groupmates by itself, it's clear that spamming Holy Light and then unleashing a powerful LoD was the optimal way to play.
The new healing paradigm is all about triage. If we're not making active choices with our spell and target selection, then something is broken. Don't expect for any strategy that involves "spam this" to last very long. Blizzard's devs have made it clear that they want choice to be an integral part of healing, and we're not going to be deviating from that any time soon. When one method of play is so great that no other methods can compete, you can be certain that either a nerf or a buff is going to occur.
Word of Glory and Light of Dawn both cost us nothing but a few holy power points, but LoD could heal for far more than a single-target Word of Glory ever could. We were able to ignore several of our heals and only favor the cheapest (Holy Light) and the most effective (Light of Dawn) without losing any potency. While I really think the original ToR had a great design and that a short cooldown on LoD would've been the better fit, after hearing the reasoning behind the nerf, I agreed with the decision.
The good news
Not everything that came from the stealth hotfix was gloom and doom. Blizzard's devs let us know that they knew about the interaction between Protector of the Innocent and Light of Dawn with Beacon of Light, and they gave it their blessing. Currently, all healing done with Light of Dawn is replayed through Beacon, as well as the self-heal we receive from Protector of the Innocent. If we cast a single heal on the tank, they see that heal, we see a self-heal from PotI, and the tank then sees half of that self-heal replayed onto them. The interaction directly buffs all of our healing spells when used on targets other than ourselves, and it also grants our Beaconed target more than the 50% of the direct healing we do. Many thought that this interaction wasn't intentional, and that it would be removed. Lucky for us, it was deemed to be balanced, and so that mechanic will stay in place.
The key feature of Light of Dawn interacting with Beacon of Light is that we don't have to choose who we want to heal. When we cast Light of Dawn, we'll be doing great healing to our raid targets, and all of those individual heals collaborate to ensure that the tank gets a sizable heal too. Holy Radiance works in the same way, as it lets us "set it and forget it" and continue to cast other heals. By allowing holy paladins to heal the raid with minimal effort, Blizzard ensured that we won't lose our AoE healing capabilities when situations get rough. We had to trade the overpowered strategy of spamming our shiny flashlight for the stability of knowing that everything else is working as intended.
The Light and How to Swing It: Holy helps holy paladins become the powerful healers we're destined to be. Learn the ropes in Cataclysm 101 for holy paladins, study the new balance between intellect and spirit and learn how to level your new Sunwalker. Tanking is a job, DPS is a craft -- but healing is truly an art.Filed under: Paladin, (Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
ToyChristopher Dec 26th 2010 6:29PM
"The key feature of Light of Dawn interacting with Beacon of Light is that we don't have to choose who we want to heal. When we cast Light of Dawn, we'll be doing great healing to our raid targets, and all of those individual heals collaborate to ensure that the tank gets a sizable heal too. Holy Radiance works in the same way, as it lets us "set it and forget it" and continue to cast other heals."
Passive healing ftw. It's so much more engaging than holy light spam.
Elmouth Dec 27th 2010 2:20AM
Not to mention that its been proven Divine Light is actually more efficient than Holy Light currently.
The only problem is and remains that healadins now have to get up close and personnal with mobs, which is basically the opposite of what a healer is supposed to be, but thats another issue entirely.
Camaris Dec 27th 2010 4:38AM
Well, getting into melee range feels very paladin-y to me, to be honest. It's nice for Holy Radiance (I love that spell!), and melee mana regen is a nice bonus in these heroic times.
Res Dec 27th 2010 10:01AM
Exactly. I don't know why people didn't talk more about holy radiance earlier, it's saved bad pulls for me.
Shock Dec 27th 2010 12:04PM
I kind of like the "get-up-close" feel that healadins are doing. Yeah no other healer is doing it but here's the thing - we're the only one in plate.
Realistically, if you're in cloth or leather or even mail, you're not standing up near a guy taking a chance that his swing hits you because your armor doesn't give you the protection. Wearing plate means you're getting down and dirty up close. Hopefully, that makes sense to ya'll.
Also the returns from melee swings with SoI is beneficial obviously. Add it HR while you're hanging with the melee helps keep them up while druids and shammies can't drop healing rain or efferesence(sp) on the ranged.
Da Hammer Dec 26th 2010 7:11PM
Does anyone feel that Blizz is expecting to see Holy palis doing a little melee dos to generate more holy power points?
Jackwraith Dec 26th 2010 7:52PM
I certainly do with my paladin, especially to engage SoL and get 4% of my mana back for just swinging, even if I'm not using Crusader Strike to try to generate HP for WoG.
I like the model of that approach, honestly. With a warrior-priest wearing plate and wielding a hand weapon and shield, it seems appropriate to dish out a little with the rest of the crowd to make healing function more smoothly, in the same manner that the very less "warrior" Disc priests can now use Smite to enhance their own healing. I haven't played high-end stuff yet, so I don't know how well offensive abilities fit in with heals on the GCD and so on, but the model that Blizz has preached since the Cat announcement was that healing was a test of endurance, not a test of reflexes.
Janaa Dec 26th 2010 6:32PM
I'm not a huge fan of the changes. It hasn't really impacted me too much in raid healing, but has made 5-man heroics much more difficult. Now - this could be averted by DPS/tanks actually knowing what they're doing but 6 years in we're used to the idea that's never going to happen, with the exception of in-guild groups that you've already berated for mistakes in the past and they do learn how to deal with effects - at least, they deal with them so when I'm around so I won't berate them anymore. ;) Randoms as a holy pally can be an extremely unpleasant experience nowadays. It was much nicer pre-nerf.
omedon666 Dec 27th 2010 12:34AM
"with the exception of in-guild groups"
And there's your answer.
The guild perks would like to remind you of the theme of this expansion:
There is no group content, there is only team content.
Finnicks Dec 27th 2010 1:20AM
While I sympathize that your personal experience was pleasant before and is unpleasant now, let me assure you that you have merely joined the ranks of the many priest, druid, and shaman healers who are afraid to press the "random Q" button w/o at least 2-3 guildies already in the group with them.
QQinsider Dec 27th 2010 11:06AM
"The guild perks would like to remind you of the theme of this expansion:
There is no group content, there is only team content."
Yeah, well unfortunately it's too late for that. Blizzard picked up millions of subscribers during WotLK and taught them that you can play the game through LFD and PUGs, and this new "theme" will last exactly as long as it takes those people to start getting frustrated and cancelling their accounts.
omedon666 Dec 27th 2010 2:55PM
QQinsider:
So what you're essentially saying is, you think playing as a team is too much to ask?
The door is that way.
I hear Star Wars Galaxies is lovely.
The dungeon finder, as introduced in mid/late WOTLK, socially broke WoW and exposed all its (the game and the dungeon finder) flaws, and how far WoW was in danger of going from an actual MMO. The dungeon finder in early Cataclysm (the first expansion to have a dungeon finder live at its release, I might add) is reminding us of the place of such a function, and it is not the place of the dungeon finder to *replace* your guild or circle of friends. It is there to fill out incomplete groups of friends, it is there to randomize where you and your friends go on your next random dungeon, but just because it is capable to queue alone does not mean all content needs to bow to five people who all queued alone, when the option exists FOR EVERYONE to remedy the "always queueing alone" state of being. That option is the community.
Co-dependency is not what we're talking here, too much Co-dependency is bad for an MMO and downplays the individual. Co-operation is essential. Co-operation is needed to play WoW. Part of that is co-operating with the community. If that's too much for you, this isn't your game any more.
omedon666.livejournal.com
Kia Dec 26th 2010 6:45PM
Did you forget the part where Light of Dawn heals for crap now and is entirely useless? I fired some off the other night and you couldn't even see the bars move.
Alantu Dec 26th 2010 7:07PM
Roll a holy priest and see how little CoH hits for. ToR had it way too easy for way too long.
Chase Christian Dec 26th 2010 7:32PM
Mine heals for around 3k a target, plus all of the Beacon reflections. 15k direct and 7k through Beacon seems like a pretty powerful heal to me.
Drunken_wookie Dec 27th 2010 4:09AM
I have to say this, people seem to have the wrong idea about LoD...it's doesn't seem to be meant to super aoe heal the group, but rather as a manaless buffer to help keep the groups HP up, while interacting with Beacon to send a moderately sizable heal to your beacon target.
Everyone seems to have gotten themselves into a mindset where they should only have to press 1 or 2 buttons to get what they want done, and not have to make decisions on which buttons to press.
If all you do is spam Divine Light on your main target even if they don't need that much health, you deserve to be running OOM all the time.
Use your head, take your time, and for the love of god, get your groupmates to use CC.
Awallio Dec 26th 2010 7:04PM
OK... more ret/prot articles.
Good read though.
SlimPickens42 Dec 26th 2010 7:15PM
I agree. I play a Ret/Holy Pally, and I appreciate the frequent articles for Holy, but I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a Ret article. I had to look at the gearing guide for DPS Death Knights to get an idea of where to find the best pre-heroic gear. That's ridiculous.
MrJackSauce Dec 26th 2010 7:24PM
We're sorry that xmas time has been happening for the past few weeks, and the writers have got lives to lead and family/friends to see. They will get right on to making sure that what you want to read is up and running before you can say selfish little...
Noogie Dec 26th 2010 7:39PM
Nah, why bother? The recent changes to pallies have pretty much killed my love for the class. My pally was my only 80+, but now I'm working on a mage and a druid and having much more fun not sucking.