Healing Hands, the new aoe Healing spell for Holy Paladins in Cataclysm, sucks in its current rendition. Combine that with the planned nerf to Beacon, holy paladins are going to be underpowered, AGAIN.
Thanks Blizz. I know you hate paladins for real now.
Reasons Why Healing Hands SUCK
- Short range - described like a healing totem and conjecture has been the range is real short. On top of that, it depends on where the casting paladin is standing so our movement/placement is key. Yet, we are one of the least mobile healing classes! WTH, Blizz?!
- Short duration, long CD - It lasts 6 seconds with 15 second CD. So how effective can paladins really be as raid healers then? Sure we have DSac too but so do ret/prot! Why would raid leaders feel compelled to bring holy paladins to the raid?? HL + glyph is better in this regard since there is no CD associated with it.
- Not spec dependent - Correct me if I am wrong but aren't all the paladin specs receiving this? It should scale best as holy but why are prot/ret allowed to aoe heal too? Ret also has Divine Storm so now they have TWO aoe heals. This seems a bit overpowered for PVP purposes as well.
- Self only - Healing hands basically makes the casting paladin a "beacon of light" (hehe) so fights that means the raid must all spread out, too bad sucker! Also, unless the entire raid stays in 1 spot, our "aoe" healing spell will never be able to hit the entire raid yet the traditional raid healing classes are getting spells that hit the entire raid!
Suggestions that Blizzard should GODDAMN LISTEN TO!
Beacon of Light
Blizzard has suggested that they could change BoL so only certain heals (aka FoL) translate via BoL. However, the flaw to this change would be that it will make healing via BoL too complicated and unreliable.
Another proposed nerf is the make any spell cast when BoL is active much more expensive in terms of mana. WHY BLIZZ WHY?!
In Cataclysm where mana efficiency is key, why would holy paladins feel it necessary to waste the mana on BoL then?
I propose that instead of 100% healing translate via BoL, it should be 50% or 75% rather than only select spells. Either that or make HL, the new Greater HL and HH translate but not FoL or HS since those are our need-to-heal-right-now-damn-the-costs spells. A third possibility is to make BoL radiate out the healing received as a semi-aoe heal as HH is a really inferior, horribly designed aoe healing spell.
You could also make BoL cost no mana and last indefinitely ala Righteous Fury so to encourage holy paladins to switch up targets or if Blizz decides they want to go ahead with the silly make-all-spells-cost-more strategy (likely they will go a stupid route).
So to summarize Beacon change proposals:
- 100% -> 50%
- HL, Greater HL & HH mirrored only
- BoL -> aoe heal
- Remove duration/costs of BoL
Holy paladins are going to get a new spell that is talented, which is only a bigger version of HL. Yet why would we want to waste talent points into Greater HL when HL is going to be our bread and butter?
Either make it so that Greater HL works like HL+glyph (without a glyph!) so we have another sort of aoe heal to use when HH is on CD. The reason why I propose the included (non-glyph) aoe component to Greater HL rather than HL is because the higher cost and longer cast time should discourage holy paladins from spamming it but only to use it when necessary.
If this change goes through, HL glyph should be removed and a different glyph introduced. Greater HL glyph can then either power up the aoe component or change the mana costs or cast time.
To summarize Greater HL suggestions:
- Add aoe component baseline to Greater HL
- Remove HL glyph
The only reason why Holy paladins look so damn good in ICC outside of VDW is because of meter inflation via JoL! How is that actual real healing done by holy paladins??
Remember, holy paladins' mana regen got nerfed and they buffed Beacon to throw us a bone. Yet prior to the Beacon buff, most fights didn't require 2-3 tanks being kept up simultaneously as the key component, it was mostly having to deal with aoe raid damage - something holy paladins are truly lacking in. It was only because of holy paladin concerns of being cut from raids that we see Blizzard designing fights that require 2-3 tanks being kept up while eating massive damage.
That is why holy paladins are viewed as strong now because of current fight designs and JoL meter padding. When we go back to how it was in Vanilla & TBC with more aoe raid damage mechanics, the many weaknesses of holy paladins will definitely rear their ugly heads!
I'm so damn tired. If FFXIV looks good, maybe I should just quit WoW because Blizzard obviously does not love my class as much as I love it.
I'm not that much of a masochist. And I REFUSE to reroll.
Blizzard can care less about little ol' me but quite honestly, I think it is a telling factor when subscription numbers are stagnating and people are starting to quit WoW (or lose interest) as the big arch-villian from lore, Arthas, has finally been killed. Blizzard better make its customers happy/interested or it will start losing real money.
You've been warned, Blizzard!
