Maliva

Just curious if the general view of Lightwell is going to change if the current PTR version makes it to live.

With it now having a 1.0 modifier from +heal like other HOTS it goes from:

Current Live:
787x3 (ticks over 6 seconds)=2361 Healed per charge x 5= 11,805 potential max healed for 455 mana.

PTR:
With +1800 healing
2361 + (1800x1.0)=4,161 Healed per charge x 5 - 20,805 potential max healed for 455 mana

Another change in PTR I read is that you can not overwrite a Lightwell charge until the current charge is finished ticking, keeping people from wasting charges by accidentially clicking twice.

With the ammount of +Heal most holy priests are running around with end game these days this change nearly doubles the effectiveness.

Is this arguably a worthy 31 point talent now?

 

Constie

It still takes some planning to get use out of, which makes it too much trouble for some people, but this change does mean that I'll be taking a point out of Holy Spec. to get it in my future healing specs.

Before anyone else says it, I really don't think it'd be balanced for it not to break on damage, especially with this +healing coefficient.

Come on, die young.

 

tedv

The biggest problem with lightwell is that it requires a non-healer to realize they are hurt, that they won't get enough direct heals, AND that there is a bandage vending machine nearby that they can use for self service healing. If the priest remembered to cast it and it's not on cooldown. The problem with lightwell is really the mental distraction to use the vending machine, not the amount it heals for.

I've been trying to think of a change that would reduce the mental distraction but I haven't come up with anything.

 

Maliva

I have to dissagree. The problem is that the healers casting it haven't properly taught people how/when to use it....and the proper placement of it by the priest. You cast it in a spot with ranged dps/healers and say "i'm not healing any of you till that LW is gone" and trust me people will learn how to fit in a quick "click"

 

Constie

Exactly - and almost every Priest I know who's given it a chance and tried it feels the same way.

Come on, die young.

 

Peekaboo

My rogue friend is addicted to my lightwell, especially in heroics.

 

Sapp

Removing the charges would be a good start to making it popular and usable.

 

• frmorrison

Having charges on it prevents it from dealing out too much potential healing per cast, so that the ability can be balanced.


I think the current PTR version will go through, although I still don't know if it is worth one talent point, since the HoT breaks on damage. Only allowing one click per HoT is a nice feature, it is getting better.

 

Hodan

Removing charges would be to powerful - you'ld essentially have an infinite source of health, making any intermittent AoE damage fight incredibly less mana intensive.

Still, I'ld say it would definately be worth the investment. The reason to get lightwell is because simply, even if it is lackluster, 1 point in any other talent would be less effective. I doubt 1% crit, or 5% +healing from spirit (which is probably what is most likely to be sacrificed) would be able to compare with lightwell.

The best change is the fact that you can't spam click it to get rid of it. Accidentally double clicking and wasting a charge has been a plague to this talent since its conception. Granted, intentionally clicking it 5 times was probably more frequent.

 

tedv

I'm not saying it's a bad thing that DPS classes have to pay attention. It's just a bit of a catch 22. People don't use lightwell because they aren't used to doing so, but priests don't drop lightwell because no one uses them. I was just making the point that the amount healed wasn't the reason for this catch 22.

 

Cadmus

Does lightwell really need a 6 minute cooldown? I'd still like to see them lower the cooldown or increase the number of charges. Adding +healing is a step in the right direction; a trinketed lightwell could do over 24k healing for 455 mana now (pretty ridiculous).

I think it's worth a point now (if your dps realizes it doesn't interrupt anything to click it) and it's definitely worth a point with the changes.

 

• Rizzen

Indeed. Lightwell lasts 3 minutes with a 6 minute cooldown, so that seems balanced... until you realize you are in a group of 5-25 people and those charges are going to go away within seconds to a minute max. Making it have no charges would be too powerful for intermittent aoe fights, like Hodan said, but maybe they could at least give it more charges or reduce the cooldown. 1-2 minute cooldown would probably work quite well.

 

Shabutie

But more importantly... does it count for me or the lightwell on the healing meters?!

...I kid, I kid. For only one talent point, I'll give it a try at least.

 

Cadmus

Lightwell counts for you...

Really I'd be happy if they just made it like a combat soulwell; 10 charges, 3 minute cooldown with a 2 minute cooldown on being able to click a lightwell.

 

SeanDamnit

I believe that it will be worth the one talent point, but now I'm not sure which one I should give up. Current spec is Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft, so I would need to lose a point out of any one of the following:

Healing Prayers, Spiritual Guidance, Spiritual Healing, Holy Concentration, Empowered Healing.

All are very good talents that I'm weary of gimping. Spiritual Guidance seems to give the least benefit of them all, so probably that.

 

Cloudgatherer

Warlocks fit the bill for this perfectly When I was raiding on my priest, I liked to call lightwell "warlock crack" because the spell caters to the warlock/healer relationship very well. Drop a LW just before Prince p2 and let the warlock ride it out while you keep your focus on the MT.

While the +heal gain is nice, I do think the CD should be lowered to 5 or 3 minutes. It's almost a "once a fight" type of spell, but lacking in power for such a cooldown compared to other 5+ min cooldown abilities especially with the "bandage" drawback it has (too much raid wide damage these days for it to be helpful on several fights).

 

rgirty

I plan on trying it out after the patch. Wouldn't it be useful after a shatter? Or maybe during the shade or perhaps while nightbane is in flight between phases?

 

senior toasted bread

If it triggered the Weakened Soul debuff i think it would be appropriate for it to have no charge limit, would also do away with spam clicking, which i have never done to piss off my favorite holy priest, really never. Another incarnation of it could dispense Power Word: Shield directly, although priests already have a fair amount of aoe healing so I'm not sure they need more.

 

Reedu

While warlocks always love HoTs, sometimes healers decides to HoT me at an a point in my spell rotation that isn't ideal for lifetapping. Lightwells not only let the priests focus on direct damage by allowing the warlocks to passively heal themselves, but it also allows the warlock to add a HoT it into their spell rotation when they want to be lifetapping.

As a warlock, I love the crackwell.

 

alberico

As a DPS class and a raid leader, the reason I think lightwell still won't see much use in raids is the cooldown. 6 minutes is at least 6 times too long. It is completely unrealistic to plan around a 6 minute ability and get real use out of it when the average periodic boss ability occurs every minute or sooner. As it is, the HOTs from lightwell will likely go the way of most HOTs not on a tank and get turned into overhealing. I can't think of a single fight where lightwell can have a real impact on the strategy; even if it had a 1 minute cooldown you still couldn't handle an adequate number of people quick enough.

Still a very poor 41 point healing talent.

Some avenues of change might be to
- change the healing to instant instead of HOT
- give it a very short cooldown, i'd say 30-45 seconds
- many more charges

Regardless, developers need to decide what niche they want it to fill and then design it to fit. As it is, it's not realy designed to do anything well and so unsurprisingly it doesn't see widespread use. It could easily shore up a percieved priest healing weakness or enhance a strenght if they would design it with a specific and reasonably common situation in mind.

 

• Dragooner

I kinda agree with you alberico.

Should make it instant burst heal, maybe 3-5k but then you get a debuff saying you have been healed by "lightwell" and can not again for x amount of time.

 

Gokey

They should change it to a mana restore blast in my opinion. As it stands now, it's way too situational, and on the majority of encounters; it's just going to be overheal anyways. About the only encounter I see it being worth a damn is Najentus, and that encounter is easy anyways.

If it were to be changed to a charged mana pot well, you'd probably see most priests picking it up. Granted, It would have to be reduced in effectiveness a bit, but you get the idea!

 

Cantic

It's fine as a heath restore but in its current form it's too situational to be a must have for anyone, similar to having holy nova to use rank 1 for finding rogues. It would be better if it was closer to a warlock's soul well, i.e. heals X amount of people for Y amount(scaled with + healing of course ), and gave everyone who used it a debuff similar to the one mentioned in a previous post. The cooldown and duration would be fine as they are.

 

Anedris

The problem with the cooldown is it becomes a once per encounter spell. So it's like tranquillity, except instead of making it virtually impossible to kill the caster's group for 8 (10?) seconds it... gives out a few bandages.

As long as the cooldown remains in place it's just a gimmick. It either needs to be buffed to make it worth the cooldown (much more healing over time not breaking on damage, instant healing, more charges, etc.) or the cooldown needs to be greatly reduced (I like the weakened soul debuff idea). As it is now, and even with the +healing scaling, it has little application outside of letting the warlocks HoT themselves... (and it doesn't allow you to forget about the warlocks even then because it'll quickly be gone and then you have to go back to healing them).