The Light and How to Swing It: The AOE heal we deserve
by Chase Christian 
Oct 9th 2011 at 6:00PM
From launch until Cataclysm, holy paladins survived on just a handful of heals. We traded healing complexity for unique utility, gaining Aura Mastery instead of Wild Growth or using Hand of Freedom instead of Prayer of Mending. Holy paladin healing was so simple for so many years, as we tended to gravitate toward a single spell like Flash of Light or Holy Light in each expansion. While any other healing class could have complained that their class had become stagnant, holy paladins had literally been playing the same game of whack-a-mole for years.
Cataclysm's massive retooling of paladins and introduction of the three-heal model helped breathe new life into playing holy. Holy power gave us a unique mechanic to manage and gave us additional choices to make when healing. The three-heal model ensures that we're forced to choose between throughput and efficiency, and now we're challenged with managing our mana as well as our healing. Even though these changes drastically shifted the way we play our paladins, we were still relying on the same single-target heals we had always been. Healing Hands, now known as Holy Radiance, was the spell designed to upset the status quo.
Holy Radiance failed
Now that it's dead, I'll come out and say it: Holy Radiance's original design was lazy and we deserved better. Instead of taking the risk of breaking holy paladins in order to give us a true AOE heal, we were simply told to pop an instant heal every 30 seconds and we'd heal everyone in range of us. Once Holy Radiance was activated, a holy paladin's AOE rotation was no different from his normal healing protocol. There were no decisions to make; there was no choice involved at all. You simply popped HR whenever you wanted to heal the raid, and then went about your business as usual. Once again, holy paladins were stuck using their single-target heals to cover raid-wide incoming damage.
Holy Radiance's initial incarnation, Healing Hands, was the same HR of today but with a shorter duration and shorter cooldown. Holy Radiance's design has been flawed since its inception. Using one instant-cast spell every 15, 30, or 60 seconds doesn't make holy paladin AOE healing interesting or different. Every other healer in the game has different healing strategies for their different roles, and holy paladins deserve the same complexity. Holy Radiance's one job was to liven up our AOE capabilities, and while it did give us more potency, it failed to give us new choices to make.
Examining what works
When we start looking at classes with successful AOE healing capabilities, we see that there are several different ways to accomplish the same task. Restoration shaman use a fun mix of Riptide, Chain Heal, and Healing Rain to handle raid-wide damage. Riptide and Chain Heal are synergistic, with Riptide's HOT buffing Chain Heal's potency. Healing Rain provides them with a set-it-and-forget-it AOE heal they can unleash when the entire raid needs some love.
Druids can choose to blanket the raid in HOTs before the incoming damage arrives, they can use their AOE heals like Wild Growth to hit multiple targets at once, and Efflorescence gives them an area-based heal as well. Priests have a similar mix of on-demand healing like Circle of Healing and Prayer of Healing that they can supplement with area-based heals like Holy Word: Sanctuary and Power Word: Barrier. They're also receiving a newly revitalized Divine Hymn in patch 4.3, which means my article on priests where I stated that Divine Hymn was a powerful raid cooldown will actually be proven right. You're welcome, priests.
If you break it down to the basics, in order to make AOE healing interesting, a healer needs a specific set of spells to cast in AOE damage situations. The exact mechanics of those spells can vary, but the point is that we need some special spells to cast. By having certain spells used for single-target healing and other spells used for multiple-target healing, you enable the healer to choose what they want to do. Holy paladins have never had this choice before. Ever.
Better late than never
The new Holy Radiance is scary to a lot of holy paladins, as it should be. It represents a healing paradigm shift unlike anything we've ever experienced. As healers, we understood how to manage our mana, so Cataclysm's changes weren't that drastic. As holy paladins, we understood how to choose between a limited selection of heals, picking the right one of the job. Beacon of Light and Aura Mastery are still intact, and our Hand spells are old friends at this point. We have gotten complacent.
The new Holy Radiance isn't going to fit nicely into today's healing strategies. We are going to have to stop casting Holy Light and Divine Light on nearly every GCD, which is something that I haven't done for years. With Light of Dawn receiving a few tweaks in patch 4.3 as well, we might actually have a real AOE toolbox on our hands here. Rather than spending a single global on our AOE healing spell, we're going to have to choose targets and cast a few HRs across the raid. We are going to have to consider everyone's positioning when casting HR, as well as managing the holy power points that we're generating.
Our AOE healing rotation will likely consist of a couple of Holy Radiances cast on different targets (so that we don't overwrite the HOT) followed by maybe a Holy Shock and a Light of Dawn. We can actually completely stop casting single-target heals and focus on AOE healing. Our Illuminated Healing mastery affects the initial AOE heal from Holy Radiance, and initial PTR testing shows the initial heal also being transferred through Beacon of Light. Holy Radiance has plenty of talents to support it, including being added to Infusion of Light. We're on the verge of having a fully developed AOE healing system, and as scary as it may seem, I can't wait.
The Light and How to Swing It: Holy helps holy paladins become the powerful healers we're destined to be. Find out just how masterful mastery healing can be, gear up with the latest gear, and learn how to PVP as a holy paladin.
Filed under: Paladin, (Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Marolas Oct 9th 2011 6:32PM
I never called it whack-a-mole...
In WoW, it was X-TREME WHACK-A-MOLE! Lives were at stake if those pesky health bars turned red! Click! CLICK FASTER! FASTER!
But in all seriousness, I both miss the olden days where we had a one button heal and a second button for auto-cleanse, and hate that I was basically nothing but a cleansebot for 40 people back then.
At least with all these new - and admittedly scary - changes, we're versatile. :)
Crispn Oct 9th 2011 6:42PM
"Holy Radiance's one job was to liven up our AOE capabilities, and while it did give us more potency, it failed to give us new choices to make."
I disagree that HR's job was to liven up AoE capabilities, I rather think Blizz put it in as something to give you some AoE heals. I doubt that they put it in to make the healing "rotation" more interesting.
That being said I love the direction they went with Holy Radiance this patch. The added layer makes it feel a lot more potent. The only problem I have with it is that (depending on how numbers work out) holy pallys might suddenly think themselves on par with resto shaman or druids, and not heal on the tank as much. This isn't really a problem as much as another layer of complexity, as it will put more strain on the "raid healers" having to pick up some tank healing slack(once again depending on how awesome pallys think their AoE heals are.)
Baribal Oct 9th 2011 7:05PM
Well I believe it's been stated by Blizz that they wanted to break the "Paladin = Tank Healer, Druid = Raid Blanket, etc." mentality in Cata, and bring about the ability to look at the players on your heal team and the encounter for heal assignments, and no longer feel compelled to have X class to perform X role. So this new AoE will, if anything will, hopefully put the final nail in that coffin.
Barrierboy Oct 9th 2011 6:55PM
Maybe I'm crazy or maybe I'm different but what exactly was wrong with holy pallies doing what holy pallies were designed to do, tank heal? Why do we need to be able to have all these heals to help heal the raid? I mean sure it gets boring to some just spamming FoL or HL in the days of old but if I remember correctly, it worked. We arent raid healers, and I personally don't want to be one. I understand what blizz is doing trying to give us more options here, but I liked the days were I beacon to OT, SS the MT, and spammed FoL on MT keeping both up and criting like mad ( back when crit meant something). I don't know maybe I'm jaded, but the holy tree should be kept as tank heal and mana management. Maybe I miss the days of old but I'm of the mind set of if it isn't broke don't fix it.
Baribal Oct 9th 2011 7:09PM
Problem is for many situations it IS broken. As I mentioned above, they're breaking the "X Class = X role" system for various reasons, and in my opinion good reasons. For instance I know our 10 man group has 2 Holy Pallies and a Holy Priest. If for any reason our Priest isn't available for that night, we're pretty much screwed on AoE heavy encounters.
Barrierboy Oct 9th 2011 7:20PM
@Baribal
If blizz has that mentally then why not just go the route of all healing classes have the three heal system, hots, aoes, and bubble/shieliding system that work the same. That why there's no " tanking heal " class or " raid healing" class. We would all be the same and thus be pointless what class you are. There are just some classes that are better/designed to be a certain way and I enjoying being a tank healer.
Revynn Oct 9th 2011 7:22PM
- "Maybe I miss the days of old but I'm of the mind set of if it isn't broke don't fix it."
Whether or not it was broken depends on who you're asking. If all you do, or ever want to do, is to heal tanks and only tanks, then the Wrath Holy tree was fine. But not everyone wants to be pigeon-holed into spamming heals on the tank forever. Some guilds only have two healers, both Holy Paladins. It's the "Bring the player, not the class" mentality that you should be able to heal most raid content with 2 Holy Pallys or 2 Resto Shamans or 2 Disc Priests. It won't be ideal, but it can be done. Blizz didn't like the way Wrath was when some fights, Heroic Lich King for example, REQUIRED a Holy Pally and a Disc Priest.
Also:
- "but what exactly was wrong with holy pallies doing what holy pallies were designed to do, tank heal?"
This depends on when you're talking about. The Vanilla Holy Paladin was not a tank healer. They were buff and cleanse bots whose job was to keep 40 people constantly refreshed on their 2 minute Blessings and spot heal the raid as necessary. The "Holy Paladins are Tank healers" paradigm wasnt one that really came into fruition until Wrath.
Literaltruth Oct 10th 2011 3:45AM
The problem was, it was broke.
Now for you as a holy pally who likes tank healing it was brilliant. You got to do exactly what you wanted because any time you were in a raid you were seen as not on the best at what you liked but as the worst at what you didn't like. This was amazing for you - but it completely sucked for two other huge groups of people.
The first, as has been talked about here, was Holy Pallies who didn't want to be limited to one job and one job only. If they wanted to be more of a raid healer, they often weren't allowed to - and if they were, then their tools weren't really up for the job.
The second group - and this is an even larger group than the first - is every other healer who wanted to tank heal sometimes (or all the time). I was a disc priest in Wrath - I loved tank healing and I was good at it. However, I was only ever allowed to do it when my raid's paladin didn't show up for raid. As soon as he did it was back to bubble spamming. This wasn't even so much because I was significantly worse at tank healing than him - in fact I was just as good. However, his argument was that there was pretty much nothing else he could do well - while I could raid heal well - so to not have him on tanks would be a waste.
Cata has been fairly good at giving priests, druids and shaman the tools they need to tank heal successfully. However, without viable AOE , Paladins still are getting pigeon-holed into tank healing and those other classes blocked from it simply because the other classes are better at keeping the raid up.
Paws Oct 9th 2011 7:07PM
You know, I'm actually scared.
I'm one of the best healers in my guild simply because I use ALL my spells. I know when to use them, and how. This whole new system is going to screw me up ;-P.
Ah well, into the great, big, unknown!
musicchan Oct 9th 2011 9:24PM
This is how I feel as well. I've never been a single-heal Paladin; I enjoy using my entire toolkit. But every time they change that kit, I have to re-learn how to heal. It's starting to get a bit exhausting when patch time rolls around.
On a side note, I will really miss the graphic for Holy Radiance. I thought it was the most paladin-like effect I've ever seen.
TonyMcS Oct 9th 2011 7:11PM
I have a tree, disc and holy priests and played with pally healing for a while.
Essentially each class wants the perks of the other. I miss my AoE heals in Disc, miss Penance in Holy and miss any instant large heal for my tree and of course I miss Lightwell of the tree and Disc and it also sucks I don't have Tranquility on my priests. But then, isn't that the point? These are supposed to be different healing mechanics, so I don't see a problem.
However Holy Radiance does have one huge advantage in the Firelands dailys - Burn Victims. One Holy radiance and a bit of running and they're all healed - are pallies the only class that has a friendly heal rather than party or group?
Diatenium Oct 9th 2011 7:41PM
There's a fine difference between bringing something unique to the raid and not being able to get the assigned job done. Priests don't really need to worry about this because they have two healing specs, but a paladin--and by extension druids and shamans--need to be able to fill each role competently.
dartheranul Oct 10th 2011 2:23AM
@Diatenium You can disregard Shammies for that. They are effective tank healers with just a different stat priority. (Mastery > Haste, i I remember correctly)
But yes, Pallies are weaker raid healers, and Druids are weaker tank healers. Now in 4.3, they're buffing raid heals on Pallies. Not sure if they're doing anything for Druid tank healing, though. triple-stacking Lifebloom isn't exactly what I call potent. But then again, I don't know much at all about Druid healing. :p
Noodlenose Oct 10th 2011 2:36AM
On your priest, spam Holy Nova as you run around and youll ninja all the burn victims. Atonement also heals burn victims and random NPCs who walk past.
Lissanna Oct 10th 2011 7:46AM
I'm really thankful that paladins are getting a tool they really have needed for a long time. Paladins should be used to change, since they like changing your mechanics all the time. ;)
Druids are just getting nerfs in 4.3, no buffs. They're making our Wild Growth AOE heal have a 10 second cooldown (up from 8), OR we have to give up the glyph that allows WG to heal an extra person (ie. run around with only 2 glyphs slotted since there isn't a viable 3rd glyph worthwhile to use).
Druids are actually fine tank healers, but make the best tank/raid combo healers, where we mix in tank healing (lifebloom, refreshing with direct heals) with our medium-to-long AOE cooldowns (all of our multi-target heals are now 10 sec, 15 sec, and 3 minute cooldowns). A mix of HOT and direct heals on a tank can actually be quite potent, and our DK tank really likes having a druid tank healer in some situations to keep his HP more stabilized. That said, this change actually makes druids the only healers without an on-demand (no cooldown) multi-target AOE heal (rejuv is a single-target heal we re-purposed along the way). I'm not really sure why people think druids are such great raid healers in the first place, since HOTs have never saved anyone from death by burst damage.
EverythingRuned Oct 9th 2011 7:12PM
Sometimes simpler is better- I personally like to leave as much mental bandwidth free as possible. However... combo point generator -> finisher is something that I can easily and automatically grasp. There's something nice about knowing exactly what the optimal course of behavior is at all times. I have high hopes for this new system.
I forget whether the new holy radiance is a group heal or a raid heal, and my overall holy paladin happiness (difference between acceptance and excitement) will be dependent on that.
Diatenium Oct 9th 2011 7:19PM
Very insightful article, thanks for writing it!
For the most part our "Raid healing" strategy involved powerful spot healing. Holy Radiance and LoD were fairly situation and, for the former, fairly brainless.
And while this wasn't necessarily an issue for 10-man raiding I can see where this becomes a problem in 25-mans, and the new holy radiance changes might resolve this, among other things, but there's also some other interesting prospects.
For example, if the new mana cost reduction is to be believed, Holy Radiance is now the cheapest spammable source of Holy Power, the prior holder of that title being Flash of Light; it was actually more mana efficient to use Flash of Light on your Beacon and use the holy power to hit 5-6 targets with LoD than healing a non-Beacon target, and Flash of Light is more mana efficient than Divine Light if your Beacon target is already at/close to full health, by virtue of less over-healing. A scenario where this would work is scorpion-phase Staghelm.
In that exact same scenario we can avoid tower of radiance altogether and use the beacon-healing from HR to prop up the tank while we focus on the raid.
Assuming we're in 10-man and we have 7 players in range of the heal, a full cycle of holy radiance does 11k healing per target, and a single 6-target LoD does a total of 13k-ish total healing (It's been a while since I tracked those numbers) per holy power; for 8k mana we can do 90k healing, That's a consistent 11.25H/M.
Of course, that's very rough math done off the top of my head so don't expect it to be exact, especially since it doesn't take into account our mastery which features prominently on these spells, to say nothing of crit, raid buffs, cooldowns, beacon, etc. But this does give you a fairly basic grasp on how powerful this spell can be, and I'd argue it goes well into the 100+k range when you do take those into account.
Barrierboy Oct 9th 2011 9:09PM
@Rev
That "bring the player not the class" deal has alway meant to me that you as a player should be able to understand your class, what it meant to do, what boss/mobs your fight, what they do, were to stand and when, and know what to do and when if problem raise up. That what separates a button masher and a player. Besides last I checked if pigeon holding meant you downed the boss you were fighting and you got the loot, what was wrong with that? I understand most guild can only have x amount of healer in them but thats what happens sometimes. And to your second comment, true in vil pallies were different ( I came in BC) but I can tell you this we were tank heals long before wrath cause from Kara to sunwell when I asked who I was to heal two words came out "the tanks." We came into fruition in wrath that is true but we have been tank healers for awhile now.
Baribal Oct 9th 2011 8:06PM
"Player not class" is more about Blizz recognizing that most players who raided, did so in casual 10 mans, and things have been tweaked for that direction. For instance shamans are no longer mandatory since other classes can bring bloodlust.
Same applies for healing. Yes you're correct every class has it's own unique strengths and weaknesses, and I also enjoy having that uniqueness. Players at the at the absolute cutting edge of progression still do and probably always will exploit that uniqueness (ask Paragon about that one), but for the vast majority of us, having your Paladin BE ABLE to effectively Aoe heal the raid if it's needed because of player constraints, then this is a thing to be cheered.
In short, don't get too stressed, Paladins are staying paladins and will probably reign supreme on tank healing for a while. They just won't absolutely have to anymore.
Boobah Oct 9th 2011 9:00PM
There were three major problems, as far as the game designers were concerned, with holy paladins (as opposed to all healers) at the end of Wrath.
Point the first: Every time you asked "What heal do I use?" the answer was Holy Light, with some rare exceptions like when you were getting out of the bad. This is pretty much the same reason Wild Growth got a smack from the nerf bat; if it was available, it was kinda stupid to not push the button in most situations.
Point the second: If your raid had only holy paladins for healing, there was some content you just could not do. Period. Holy Light wasn't going to get your raid through Tympanic Tantrum with any regularity.
Point the third: As a corollary to the second point, as mentioned upthread, there was some content you couldn't do without a holy paladin, which meant that holy paladins were too good at their niche. For the other healers to be able to tank heal effectively, all the healers had to be closer together in what they could do for a tank.