So, supposedly there’s a Cataclysm coming, or some such. Not sure what all that nonsense is about. I guess we’re supposed to be losing a bunch of stats, too? So even in my ridiculous two pieces of tank gear, I would be defense capped and you know, totally capable of tanking raids. That’s definitely not sarcasm in any way, shape, or form.
The most notable change for healers, I suppose, is that mp5 will be removed completely and replaced by spirit. That means our gear will likely soon include spirit and we can hang our heads in shame after laughing at all of the mages and warlocks forced to take spirit crap. Except they won’t be anymore, because apparently it’s only going to be on healer stuff.
What does that mean for a holy paladin, though? It’s not as if we have mana issues. The last time I actually had a mana issue in which I wasn’t just being lazy was when one of the tanks disconnected during Toravon and the poor fool left up got to 20 stacks of the debuff. Blizzard plans on changing this, making mana actually mean something again, but I’m not sure how much of this is going to affect the throughput of a holy paladin because to the best of our knowledge thus far:
INT isn’t really changing. Spellpower is now out the window, so a holy paladin’s INT will give him even more pewpew.
Divine Plea is still a 2 minute mana battery. When I switch over to play my shaman now, I have to remember that I actually need to drink to refill that blue bar. I don't see this really changing, though I hope other healers will be getting an equivalent spell.
I do expect a couple of things, however:
The benefit from INT is going to be reduced. Smaller mana pools seems to be the theme of Cataclysm; forcing healers to be smart about their spells instead of dropping heal-bombs into one target. And I do agree with that. There’s nothing fun or challenging about spamming Holy Light on one target.
We already know that INT is going to give less mana. But I expect paladins will be gemming for INT post-Cataclysm, as well. With the Reforging system, we’ll be able to convert 50% of another stat into something else, so gemming for haste or crit seems silly at this juncture. With the removal of spellpower, even FoL paladins will be gemming for INT.
But what’s going to happen to Divine Plea? I would hope that the co-efficient will change a bit. Hitting a cooldown every 2 minutes does not challenging mana management equal. Even in the middle of a boss fight, popping cooldowns with Divine Plea negates it almost completely.
I’d love to see a Divine Plea with charges that proc when you heal. If you want to be unoriginal, make it proc off of crits. And make it shoot down a pillar of light from the sky. Like a holy laser beam of greatness and awesome. That’ll show those disc priests.
Of course, there’s another small thing. If you’ve logged into WoW since yesterday you’ve noticed a patch. The first of the ICC buffs is now live, and I expect it will help nudge some guilds stuck on certain fights. I’m very much hoping we can get Blood Prince Council down and move on, and I anticipate with the buffs and our raid leader pointing out Slime Spray awareness, we’ll get Rotface in 25. Or at the very least, Festergut. That means 25 Putricide is swiftly approaching. Oh. Joy.
So how do I feel about the ICC buff going in before my raid team has cleared half the content? I don’t care a wit. I don’t raid to spend three or four hours doing the equivalent of beating my head against a wall. Sorry, I just don’t find that fun. The Wrath model of raiding may have ‘dumbed down the game’ for some folks, but I am not one of them.
And hell, I’m even glad. These buffs mean we might start seeing some new (to us) fights, and that can only be a good thing. Doing the same six bosses every week is pushing me rather haphazardly toward the edge of burnout. It’s Ulduar pre-Watchers all over again, and it’s driving me to be even more of a bitch than I normally am.
So this 5% buff? That’s cool. Making healing more fun in Cataclysm? …Good luck! Not giving holy paladins pewpew laser beams? …For shame.
On a related note, I will be FRAPSing the Rotface10 fight on Friday for cleansers. I hope to have it edited and available for viewing on Monday.
