So as of my last post, Holy priests everywhere were visiting their trainers to respec into the Holy "bubble spam" spec. I was not one of those priests. I knew Blizzard wouldn't let this new spec be viable and I was right. I woke up this morning to see these changes posted:
-Body and Soul no longer reduces the mana cost of Power Word: Shield (the hotfix made on February 16 to provide this additional benefit has been reverted)
I saw the Body and Soul change coming back when it was first introduced. This made PW:S extremely powerful for Holy priests and it came with little mana penalty. With this hotfix, bubble spam is no longer viable as a Holy priest. Prayer of Healing/Circle of Healing once again take the lead for HpM.
-Rapture now returns 2/5/7% of maximum mana when Power Word: Shield is consumed, up from 2/4/6%
This was necessary, although I'm not sure if its enough to rectify Disc priest mana issues. I'll have to see if the mana return is higher than the cost of PW:S. If it is, then great, PW:S is viable to use again. If not, then Blizz still has some mechanics they need to fix. I have said it before and I will say it again, PW:S wasn't good enough to use after the increased mana cost. Greater Heal was more efficient. I'm hoping this fix will rectify this problem.
Holy PvP
I was bored yesterday and decided to dabble in PvP as Holy for the first time. It was really fun and was a little different from Disc in terms of play-style.
Control- Holy has a bit more control than Disc. Holy Word: Chastise is a POWERFUL CC and can help you kite those nasty Death Knights and is on a decent 21 second CD when talented. As Holy, you also have spare points to use in the Shadow tree. You can actually go far enough to get Improved Psychic Scream which reduced the CD by 4 seconds.
Mobility- From what I've seen, Holy has more mobility than Disc. This is because of the Body and Soul talent which increases your movement speed by 60% for 4 seconds every time you cast PW:S. I've noticed that Holy priests rely on this mobility to survive. They don't have the damage reduction talents to take the damage that Disc priests can survive through.
Cure Poison- Yes Holy priests can cleanse poison off themselves ONLY. This is fantastic for trying to dispel Crippling Poison that rogues like to put on you. Cure the poison then PW:S yourself and the rogue will eat your dust.
Lightwell is Awesome- Lightwell has to be the most powerful tool in the Holy priests toolbox next to Guardian Spirit. Place a Lightwell out and you can just click it while you are stunned/feared/etc. With Blessed Resilience, it places a POWERFUL HoT on you healing for almost 9k every 2 seconds. Unless you have 3 or more DPS on you, this makes it difficult for a DPS to kill you.
Glyph of Desperation- Originally this glyph only applied to Pain Suppression, but Guardian Spirit was also added to the glyph. GS gives you a second chance and can save your butt in a bad situation. It's fun seeing a rogue thinking he has you locked down for the killing blow, you pop GS, and your back at 60k health again and he's blown all his CD's on you. Pop a Lightwell, dispel poison, then pop PW:S and take off in a run. It's pretty fun.
Mana is a Problem- The only downside to Holy is that mana is still a big issue. Because spirit isn't seen much on PvP gear and Holy gets all its regen from Holy Concentration you go oom much quicker than other healers. This is where Disc can shine when played appropriately.
Since the hotfix, I will probably go back to Disc for PvP. It was fun being Holy while it lasted!
-Lunar
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