Beacon of Light and Emblem Changes in Patch 3.2
The more I think over the changes coming in Patch 3.2, the more I start to drool. Without the mana nerfs, the changes to Beacon of Light would be totally overpowered, there’s no question in my mind. The only thing stopping it from being overpowered is our own need to conserve mana so we can sustain the same level of healing over the entire fight. Here are some of the reasons I think the Beacon of Light changes are so awesome:
- 60 Yard Range
Beacon of Light will now have a 60 yard range. That is huge. No longer do I need to be worried about a heal not reaching the tank because my target is out of range of the tank. I can easily heal two tanks on both sides of me at the same time. Every single heal I do will get Beaconed on the tank wherever the target is. But that’s not the only reason why I think its so awesome. If, for some reason, I end up out of range of my Beacon target for regular heals, I don’t need to worry about running back into range right away. Instead, I can just start spamming heals on myself or the people around me. The Beacon heals have a range that is 20 yards larger than our regular heals. I don’t even have to be in range of the tank to heal him. That is so amazing. Imagine the possibilities in arenas. I hope this doesn’t get nerfed, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.
- We can now take full advantage of the Glyph of Holy Light
Holy Paladins can pump out a lot of raid healing with Glyph of Holy Light. However, a lot of the time the glyph goes unused since the tank is standing by himself. Being able to spam Holy Lights on the raid, get a bunch of Glyph splash, while simultaneously healing the tank will increase our total healing by a ton.
- All overheals are Beaconed
This is the most obvious change, but its also amazing, due to the large amount of overhealing paladins usually do especially when raid healing. We can now spam our heals all over the raid without ever needing to do a direct heal on the tank. Sure, we’ll probably be using Flash of Light more often to conserve mana, but those Flash heals will never get sniped and completely wasted. We can be sure that the tank will always get the heal. The new Flash of Light HoT is just icing on the cake to help keep the tank up even easier while we’re busy healing the raid.
- Other healers can help us with the tank
With this change, Holy Paladins will now be full time raid healers. There’s no reason to spam heals on the tank when all of our heals get Beaconed onto the tank. This means that the other raid healers will have less to do and can spend more of their time helping us heal the tank. There’s many advantages of this: 1. If we mess up, it doesn’t necessarily mean a wipe because we have backup. 2. It improves our mobility. We can take a short break to run or conserve mana without the tank dying immediately. 3. With a larger number of smaller heals on the tank, tank health will be more stable and the tank will be less likely to die.
I’m just amazed by how much raw healing throughput we’ll be able to do in the next patch if all of these changes go through. The only thing that will temper it is our need to conserve mana. I’ll be able to pump out an insane amount of healing in a short amount of time to both the tank and the raid, then go back to some Flash of Light spam or even take a small healing break and get in some Seal of Wisdom whacks to regenerate mana before the next burst is needed. It will be truly amazing. Overall, I think these changes are great and I’m very excited.
New Emblem System
Another thing that amazes me in Patch 3.2 is the new emblem system. In Patch 3.2, we will get Emblems of Triumph (the Tier 9 emblems) from the regular and heroic daily dungeon quests. We’ll also get Emblems of Conquest from everything that currently gives Emblems of Heroism and Emblems of Valor. That is so OP, considering how easy and fast some of that content is. I’m totally going to be running the dailies, heroics, 10-mans, and whatever else I can find as much as possible until I get all the emblem gear. The quicker my guild and I can get that Tier 8 and 9 gear, the happier I am.
This patch is going to be absolutely huge. If you also add in all the new things you can buy for Champion’s Seals in 3.2, I’ll never find time to do everything I want to do. I can’t wait! =-D
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I appreciate your positive outlook. Most (including myself) are doom-and-gloom on the Holy changes but you make a lot of great points. I really like your point on other healers taking responsibility for the MT…this will help us a LOT and allow us to Divine Plea a bit more which will hopefully offset some of the regen nerfs…
Positive outlook also noted. The main problem that I see with this patch is that it removes our “identity”. I leveled a pally to be primarily a main tank healer. If I had wanted a raid healer, I would have rolled another class. Now, we will be neither the best MT healer and will be a poor raid healer.
I think you underestimate the mana regen issues. You fail to mention the FoL + SS hot, which can only be applied to 1 target, requires 2 global cool-downs to apply, then heals for a paltry amount that will do little to cure the 25K hits done by many Ulduar bosses.
Though healing meters are not indicative of healer performance, it was nice to occasionally see myself at the top, knowing that if I had to, I could floor the pedal and rain HL’s down on the MT and OT’s. Now, that is no longer an option. If that is needed, because other healers are down, I won’t be able to do what I used to. From my perspective, this is going to ruin pally healing for me. Homoginization ahoy!
I am very curious as to why you didn’t discuss the fact that beacon now stack on the tank. I can see this being nurfed very quickly due to the fact that raids can bring 3 or 4 paladins to ensure that the MT is always topped off. As quick and powerful as FoL is, even 25k hits won’t be much to heal through with some support from other classes.
You could be right, Erik. I am worried that they nerfed our mana regen too much. In answer to both comments, I’ve done other Patch 3.2 posts where I mention the other abilities. The identity issue is something to think about, but it happens and has happened with many class in an evolving MMO. Sometimes you have to re-learn your identity. Sometimes you have to re-learn how to play your class. Sometimes it ends up requiring a lot more skill and thought to play, but also becomes a lot more fun.
The HoT really only takes one GCD to apply since you should be applying SS already anyway. Its also not just a HoT, its a doubled FoL heal for very little mana. In combination with your Beacon heals and other healers, it can help keep up the tank. I’m not going to claim its awesome, but it is a small buff and a new mechanic.
I disagree with the last point. Flooring the pedal and raining HLs on the tanks is even easier in 3.2 than in 3.1 and topping the healing meters is also easier. You won’t be able to do it for 3 minutes straight, but we will still be able to use Holy Light when we need to, they’re not removing it from the cast bar.
I kind of agree with Malkris. I can see these changes actually making paladins overpowered.
The strange thing about these changes is that half of the paladin community thinks paladin will be overpowered, the other half thinks we will lose our raid spot (MT healer) especially in Ulduar.
Hey admin, I’ve been following your site for a while now via my blackberry. I frequently check your site just to see if there’s an update. Just want to let you know, great blog, I let my wow buddies in on your info alot, and refer my newbie holy pally buddies to your site for basic game mechanics. I, also, try to break the popular paradigm that paladins are only HL spammers and am excited too about the upcoming changes. I agree, there will be a lot more skill involved in Paladin healing in 3.2. If you have the time, or are looking for viewer/guest written articles, I’d love to see more PALADIN HEALING SPECIFIC boss strategies in 25 ulduar. Keep up the great work!
Okay, with a bit of self-coaxing, I’ve finally convinced myself that 3.2 is going to be a good thing for Holy Paladins, due to the massive buff that is going to be for Beacon of Light. I overheal so much that I’m usually by far with ANYONE even other holy pallies the person with the most overheals, and so that makes me feel better, and even with our mana regen nerf, we will still find a way to manage, its all about being resilient, right? And I agree with Xidius, this is an amazing blog. I saw the true philosophy of going against Holy Light spamming when I went here, I was learning toward it, but you really gave me a great shape on how it would be. So thank you, keep it up, I would love to see more strategies too, and thank you for answering my questions when I ask them, it seems that whenever I ask my guild, nobody knows (no surprises, I’m in an RP guild >.<). Anyway, I actually have yet another question, if you are willing to answer it. In 3.2, would it be more benificial to use the Holy Light crit buff or the instant Flash of Light with Infusion of Light, when the tank is at, let’s say…. 40% health? You have Beacon, SS, the works on it, and the Flash of Light HoT is going on anyway, so you don’t have to bother about that. I think I’m trying to say: Will using Holy Light be more beneficial than using Flash of Light with Infusion of Light due to the Illumination nerf when the Tank is less than half when you use your Holy Shock crit on him?
I would probably use the instant FoL to get him out of the danger zone immediately and then quickly boot up a Holy Light if necessary. It really depends on how many healers are on the tank and how much damage he’s taking. If he’s really getting slammed and there’s not many heals on him you’ll probably need to spam Holy Lights on him and forget about FoL. Your main job is to keep him alive so do whatever you have to to do that. Ideally you’ll have so many HoTs and heals on him from various healers that he’ll only be at 40% for a split second and your FoL can help bring him above that 40% quickly and help the other healers bring him back up to full. Your Holy Light would be mostly overheals anyway if there’s that many heals on him. So, the answer is, it depends.
Also, I say “on the tank”, but you shouldn’t be directly healing the tank at all in 3.2 since he has Beacon on him.
That’s what I was afriad of, it always depends >.< Oh well, I guess I’m just going to have to try to see how this will effect everything… I kinda want to go onto the PTR and try out the changes that Blizz has for us. With some looking on the official Paladin forums on WoW, I am just 50/50 about it. I’ll have to try Holy Light spamming and see if that is still efficient but you’ll have to take it down a bit or if it is just flat out chaos and I would wana go prot right then and there.
Question on Beacon of Light changes made in 3.2: Does Beacon of Light now work for spells such as Lay on Hands or the Dranei racial? I ask because the wording is now “ALL HEALS you cast on those targets…” any word on that?