Healer hot- and long-term fixes coming.

[Vitandus]

Nethaera
Blue Poster
#1 - 2011/02/16 05:34:37 PM

Since the release of patch 4.0.6, we've been keeping an eye on healers and how they are performing and are currently in the process of making some additional adjustments.

Priests

The cost of Power Word: Shield is being increased by 33%. While we wanted Discipline priests to be able to utilize this spell more often and with better results, we also did not want it to be the main spell (and often the only spell) used while in groups. We don't find this to be a particularly compelling playstyle and have found that it encourages players to avoid using other spells such as Penance. We believe that using a shield in a tight moment is totally appropriate, but we don't want it to be incredibly efficient to do so with more frequency than that.

We realize that by making Power Word: Shield slightly more expensive for Discipline priests to cast that it might cause Holy priests to avoid using it. To that end, we are adding mana savings into the Body and Soul talent. The tooltip will not reflect this change until a future patch, however. Ideally, Holy priests should not notice much of a change to the Power Word: Shield costs.

Shaman

We are also applying a hotfix for Purification for the Restoration shaman passive from 10% to 25%. We think that shaman healing per second is not as competitive with other healers and while we hoped to bring down Holy priest and Holy paladins (in particular) in 4.0.6, which we did, shaman still appear to be behind. In this case, it is simply easier to buff Restoration shaman rather than nerf everyone else or rebalance the encounters.

In Addition- Restoration Druids and Restoration Shaman

We agree with the sentiment among some players that Restoration druids and Restoration shaman are lacking in the healing cooldown department. The shaman buff and Power Word: Shield adjustment above should bring all healers reasonably close in terms of throughput. The decision on who to bring then might end up being dictated by the strong cooldowns offered by paladins or priests. This isn't the kind of thing we can address via a hotfix, but it is something we are looking at for the next major content patch.

As always, we appreciate your continued constructive feedback and will do our best to keep you informed of ongoing developments.

[Winchcombe]

Riptide!

[Ian]

Riptide!

[Skippy]

Riptide!

[Kiero]

Chain heal

[Vitandus]

Chain heal.... sigh.

[One Ear]

With the purification change, chain may actually turn out not so bad. Still suck mana, but HPM should come  up quite a bit, which would make it more useful.

[Kiero]

I still didn't think chain heal is really that bad of a spell before the buff to it. In raids, there are plenty of times where 3-4 people are close enough that it is efficient to use.

[Vitandus]

I agree - Chain Heal is very tactical in use, but the opportunity cost can be exceedingly high. The boost may make the expenditure worthwhile where it can be a dicey call at this point.

[One Ear]

It's not that bad. It's just that Healing Rain + Riptide/HW spot heals seems a better choice for the mana. HR + chain means oom very quickly. Chain by itself, while an option, doesn't seem to be that effective as a lot of abilities are tied off direct heals (namely WS mana return). Then there is the whole chain peeling off Riptide ticks that can be quite annoying (I calculated it back in wrath to a net loss of HPS unless very late in the ticks before they buffed chain around Ulduar timeframe. Haven't calced it out since then, though. And with crit ticks and haste now is probably a moot point).

[Amidia]

Personally can't wait for the change for shaman, and it'll be fun thinking of what kind of cooldown may be in store for shaman/druids (Ain't holding my breath though). Lodur has a nice article at World of Matticus with some neat cooldown ideas for shammies.

http://www.worldofmatticus.com/2011/02/17/weighing-in-on-the-purification-buff-and-future-cooldowns/

As far as chain heal, I've found it to be quite efficient (especially when things are melee heavy) except when I dunce up and cast it at the lone off tank  :-[ At this point, still very situational, but I really look forward to this change, maybe I won't be kicking myself as much after a raid :D I've been pretty happy with Healing wave though, seems like I could cast that for days (not the greatest throughput, I know), will be nice to see it eek out a little more healing.