Raid Rx: Healing changes and Firelands thoughts
by Matt Low 
May 13th 2011 at 4:00PM
Here's one of the larger healing changes coming up in patch 4.2. It'll affect all healers for sure, since it affects the critical strike of heals. We first learned Blizzard was contemplating this change several weeks ago in a Dev Watercooler post.
All healing critical strikes now heal for 2 times a normal heal (+100%), up from 1.5 times a normal heal (+50%).
I'll go over my thoughts about the proposed healing changes for patch 4.2. I also had the opportunity to try out some of the new raid encounters on the PTR in Firelands. Think you're ready for the upcoming healing challenge?
Big change for druids
Another significant change comes to druids. The mastery has been completely gutted and changed to something else.
Symbiosis (Mastery) has been removed and replaced with Harmony. Harmony increases direct healing by an additional 10%, and casting direct healing spells grants an additional 10% bonus to periodic healing for 10 seconds. Each point of mastery increases each bonus by an additional 1.25%. Healing Touch, Nourish, Swiftmend, and the initial heal from Regrowth are considered direct healing spells for the purposes of this Mastery. All other healing from druid spells is considered periodic.
From my understanding, many druids were unhappy with Symbiosis straight from the beginning. It looks like this new mastery just might be able to help resolve some of the issues that players had before. But this is one strong mastery, since it affects both direct healing and HoT components. The overpowered factor might be there, but we'll have some time on the test realms to play with it and see if druids will consider investing additional points into mastery. I don't expect the mastery bonus number to be final, but it certainly is an extremely attractive secondary stat.
Shaman take a hit
Poor shaman. They took a slight hit to one of their iconic abilities, as well as the main reason why raid leaders bring them into raids.
Improved Water Shield has been redesigned and renamed Resurgence. When Water Shield is active, Resurgence causes critical direct heals to restore mana (Resurgence rank 2 is roughly equal to 150% of the old Improved Water Shield value when a Healing Wave or Greater Healing Wave critically hits, and scaled down accordingly for faster or multi-target spells).
Mana Tide now grants 200% of the caster's Spirit, down from 400%.
The only reason I bring Joe Perez into my raids is largely to benefit from his Mana Tide totem. But with this nerf, what shall I bring him into raids for now?
Just kidding, Joe! The renamed Water Shield talent continues to emphasize critical heals for shaman as a way for them to regain mana. The wording on it isn't the clearest, but it appears to be affected by the critical hits of other spells like Chain Heal or Healing Surge, with different coefficients.
The change to Mana Tide indirectly affects the other classes, since the bonus has been reduced. Plan to reforge or change your augments accordingly if you need to compensate for regeneration. I'm hoping it isn't too big of a deal, though. If you've been skimping on regeneration potions or consumables, you may wish to consider switching back to it.
Remember, the best solution to lack of mana regeneration is to bring in really hard-hitting DPS. The quicker bosses go down, the less healing you need to do! If you don't have such hard-hitting DPS, that's alright. Nowadays, we just need to find a way to win such as reminding all players to avoid all avoidable damage.
Paladin tweaks
Some slight mana cost adjustments are coming in for paladins, but I don't think that'll significantly impact their play much. After all, isn't it expected by now that paladins get nerfed in some fashion every patch? (I'm kidding!)
Divine Light mana cost has been increased to 35% of base mana, up from 30%.
Flash of Light mana cost has been increased to 31% of base mana, up from 27%.
Holy Light mana cost has been increased to 12% of base mana, up from 10%.
Speed of Light now increases movement speed when Holy Radiance or Divine Protection are cast. in addition, this talent now reduces the cooldown of Holy Radiance by 13/26/40 seconds, up from 10/20/30.
Flash of Light mana cost has been increased to 31% of base mana, up from 27%.
Holy Light mana cost has been increased to 12% of base mana, up from 10%.
Speed of Light now increases movement speed when Holy Radiance or Divine Protection are cast. in addition, this talent now reduces the cooldown of Holy Radiance by 13/26/40 seconds, up from 10/20/30.
Priests stay level
No significant changes. Why? Because we're amazing just the way we are. Honestly, I think we're in a decent shape right now. There's that bug fix about a cancelled channeling spell when clicking on Lightwell, but it's just a bug fix.
What's ahead for healers in Firelands
From the limited healing I've done so far, I can tell you that healing will be just as fast-paced as it is right now. In fact, it might be a little too hard. I expect the difficulty level to be dialed back ever so slightly. The gear advantage is practically gone, and your group will need at minimum Zul'Aman or Zul'Gurub level gear to even make the cut. This isn't the raid you want to bring a freshly blue-geared level 85 into at all.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to mess with any trash or anything, so I can't comment much about that. The new bosses will certainly give healers a workout -- and not just in the healing department, but also in the coordination and awareness factors. Judging by set bonuses, expect to dish out more raid healing. If you have items from heroic raids, you'll be in good shape to start, but that isn't necessary.
Need advice on working with the healers in your guild? Raid Rx has you covered. Send your questions about raid healing to mattl@wowinsider.com. For less healer-centric raiding advice, visit Ready Check for advanced tactics and advice for the endgame raider.
Filed under: Raid Rx (Raid Healing)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mugutu May 13th 2011 4:07PM
This can't be true!
Heals don't crit!
Bigandnasty May 13th 2011 4:20PM
So really.... What is the point of a Resto Shaman now? I guess I'll have our Shaman re-roll. It's something that I didn't want to do since he's been playing his for years now and he's a really good player. I just hate looking up and seeing him at the bottom of the meters on every fight.
So much for "bring the player, not the class"...
Oriflame May 13th 2011 4:29PM
If he doesn't bring an all spirit all the time set to serve as a mana battery then he will not sit at the bottom of the meters.
I hate to get nerffed, but shaman have spent enough time with boring play mechanics being just buff bots with heroism, totem of wrath, or mana battery mana spring. I'd hate to get stuck in that spot again.
lividmonkey May 13th 2011 4:31PM
This really sucks. I play a resto Shaman and I'm the main healer for my guild. I still get the job done, but as shaman continue to get the hammer, we might have to find an alternative. I'm leveling my priest as quickly as possible!
Lissanna May 13th 2011 4:36PM
They also nerfed resto druids' ability to innervate other people, so that we'll basically have to use it just on ourselves now.
Nopunin10did May 14th 2011 1:51PM
You're really gonna need to just wait and find out on this one. The spell is a nerf to multi-target spells' mana usage, but not to the big single-targeters like Healing Wave and Greater Healing Wave.
It seems Blizzard is really trying to push Shaman into more of a single-target healing role. That may be the adjustment you need, not telling your friend to reroll. Have him become more of a tank healer.
josiah.davis May 13th 2011 4:45PM
The other major problem is that a mage can cast heroism. So there's even less of a reason to bring a shaman. Spirit link totem is pretty OP but there are other CD's that can be just as effective. Mana tide was HUGE!! With that being gone (or at least useless), I can't justify one in a heroic raid. Priests and Pallies just bring more to the table (probably druids too after the change).
I for one hope the mana tide change gets reversed.
Zura May 13th 2011 4:52PM
I hope your shaman gquit after reading that, as well as rest of guild. Leveling and gearing a new character is a huge request of someone that you admit is talented. Blizz will never have a healing spec nerfed so hard that it is not viable in current content. Sure, they may be behind othe classes some, but never enough to matter that much. I can't believe anyone would stay in a guild with a leader who makes unreasonable requests like that.
Sidone May 13th 2011 4:51PM
i dont get this post, sure some boss fights tend to favour one class, but there is others to compensate
( heroic magmaw anyone? my raid minus kiters and tonk just stand at one place for most of first phase and shamies have np toping meters with spam chain and nevergowaste Healing rain)
and do you saw this new totem? on fights like hc chimmy /maloriak its tends to be as good as pw: Barrier!.p
and in all honesty, that ( another) mana tide totem nerf was coming was quite obvious, especialy with 4 set bonuses it geting ridiculous again, imagine all the spirit you will get in firelands
TheBlob May 13th 2011 4:54PM
You have a bad player on that shaman. That is the problem, not the freaking class.
Goradan May 13th 2011 5:17PM
We 2-healed Cho'gall with a shaman, they're amazing for spot heals on Chimaeron, and even now, shaman make awesome, mobile, tank-healers. They'll be fine.
Revynn May 13th 2011 5:37PM
The entire healing model for the expansion is "mana matters" and it's also something that was too quickly becoming overcome by simple gear scaling. As it was, the entire concept of watching your mana would have been outdated by the end of T12.
More gear means more intellect and more spirit. More Intellect and more Spirit means more effective replens, more effective Innervates, more effective totems, more effective heals. In order to keep the "mana matters" paradigm, Blizzard needed to do something. They could ramp up raid damage (eventually going back to the ICC situation of constantly spamming everyone to keep them from being one-shotted) or nerf big regen cooldowns like Mana Tide/Divine Plea/Innervate, raise the base cost of spells and tone down base regen through talents, etc. Mana Tide was Public Enemy No. 1 in that and unsurprisingly the first thing to hit the chopping block. Innervate also got thrown in front of the bus and you can expect others to follow. There was a blue post that even outright said that Paladins have way too much regen right now. They're in line too.
IMO, this is a good thing for Shamans since they wont feel as much of a need to stack Spirit over throughput stats for the good of the raid. 200% of the average T11 Shaman's Spirit is still substantial, even if it's not ZOMGAWESOMEWATCHMYMANABARFILLUPINTWOSECONDSROLFLOLOMAO!!.
The bad news is that healers of every spec can expect to see a new string of nerfs with every patch. It's just one more stage in the Mana Wars that are likely to plague the entire expansion. As a DPS I've accepted the fact that I will always need to consider my Hit/Expertise ratings. Healers should likewise accept the fact that managing their mana is something they won't get to out-gear while Deathwing is alive.
Besides, rather than telling your Shaman who (by your account) really knows what he's doing and has been playing the same character for years to pick up, level, learn and gear an entirely new class because Mana Tide got nerfed, why not just let him roll Ele or Enhance for a while? Class Balance has always and will always be a thing of constant flux. Forcing someone to reroll as a FoTM healer because of a few nerfs THAT HAVENT EVEN BEEN FINALIZED YET and we can't see the end result of is downright ridiculous.
Our only Resto Shaman is a fantastic player and, though he may fall a little behind the paladins, priest and druids due to simple balance issues, it's a difference of 2-3% healing done on average, not 25-30%. If your shaman is having that much trouble keeping up, then it's likely he's gemming, enchanting, gearing, and reforging for spirit in every possible way to make his Mana Tide more effective (which, judging by your comment, he's probably come to feel is his only ticket to a raid spot), instead of looking at throughput stats to make himself a more effective healer.
Sunaseni May 13th 2011 7:31PM
There are no totally unique buffs/debuffs now (Ebon Plague not withstanding), so saying "Shamans are nerfed because they don't have exclusive access to Bloodlust" is stupid. What's the point of bringing my mage if the lock in my group provides the 5% crit debuff, the druid provides Replenishment, the shaman brings Bloodlust, and the Beast Mastery Hunter brings 3% crit? Because I'm a badass, that's why.
If you need a special unique buff to be viable, here's a hint: it's not your class that's bad.
All of the healing classes have unique tools. Shaman's Spirit Link totem and Chain Heal, Priest's Barrier or Guardian Spirit, Paladin's Beacon of Light, Druid's HoTs and Tranquility. None are left out of the loop, and all are useful.
Dumbguy May 15th 2011 3:02PM
This is still such stupid game design. What's the point of having improving gear if your abilities are just going to be nerfed to compensate for said gear upgrades?
I know the point, but it's still dumb.
This is going to screw people that want to raid BWD/BoT/TotFW at the normal iLevels. (LFM BWD 1 healer and dps 365 gs minimum, right?)
lividmonkey May 13th 2011 4:24PM
Heals critting?!?!? That's unpossible!
Necromann May 13th 2011 4:38PM
I like the new version of priest 4pc bonus.
xyna May 13th 2011 4:38PM
Divine Light mana cost has been increased to 35% of base mana, up from 30%.
Flash of Light mana cost has been increased to 31% of base mana, up from 27%.
Holy Light mana cost has been increased to 12% of base mana, up from 10%.
Me? ITS TIME FOR REROLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
aku May 13th 2011 4:56PM
You never truly enjoyed playing a paladin if a slight increase to the BASE mana of some spells makes you reroll. Enjoy finding a new fotm.
TheBlob May 13th 2011 4:55PM
I really hope that is a sarcastic mockery of people who are overly dramatic of tiny changes.
If so: Well done, I lol'd.
If not: QQ MOAR
DC May 13th 2011 5:22PM
Having a paladin main, this nerf sounds boring. I'd rather they kept base heals in line with other casters and tweak either holy power or Beacon (the two things that make Paladins almost mana neutral in their play style).
Maybe I'm alone in feeling this way, but I really hate that those two abilities cause so many nerfs to our general healing.