You can additionally use Aura Mastery in conjunction with Frost Resistance Aura to further reduce the incoming damage.

Exactly what I saw while I was testing, and wrote in my previous post. It was pretty unstable as it sometimes removed my 10 minute BoW, sometime didn't. but the numbers didn't stack in either case. When there was Greater BoW, nothing got removed, an the effect stacked clearly with increasing numbers.

First, I want to say thanks to Endoscient and all of the others that contribute to the forum for all the great information. I have learned a lot gleaning over the information here and aim to improve my knowledge of the game.

This being said, this thread is now on the 90th page and has a bit of heft while the original post of the thread hasn't been updated in nearly four months. Could we get some data compilation or a new Holy Paladin WotLK 3.1 thread up to condense some of the base information down?

1. Information outlining the new 3.1 Glyphs and how they pertain to Holy (Glyph of Beacon of Light/Holy Shock). Where do they fit into the picture compared to the old standbys?
2. A weight scale spun up to determine upgrades. For example, how much haste overcomes crit, if ever?
3. Regular gem list with prioritized recommendations. What should we be gemming for?

If this information is already posted somewhere, I do apologize. In contrast to the Prot/Ret threads, this thread is massive in size and core elements should be presented up front.

So in summary, could we briefly discuss the updates that 3.0, and more importantly 3.1, brought to the table and make updates to the original post to reflect this summation of new information?

It appears that Divine Sacrifice is no longer maintaining its full 10 second duration regardless of absorbed damage any longer while Divine Shield is up.

Hi first time poster and long time reader,

Currently in a guild progressing through Ulduar and I have begun to notice a trend in a lot of holy paladin gear in the instance. First off, I think a lot of people can agree that int and CRIT are pretty important. I mean without crit the HL spam spec just would not work because we would go oom fairly quickly. That all being said, is anyone else confused by the way Blizzard itemized our gear? I see quite a bit of MP5/Haste/SP items which I would not put on over T7.5 or other equivalent or 226 items from previous raids. As far as I can tell, nothing really changed with holy paladins in 3.1 so I am just confused.. Maybe I am missing something but these items seem pretty bad to me. MP5 is still one the last stats we should be caring about, right?

A good example would be the T8.5 gloves compared to the 7.5 ones. In my case, putting on T8.5 gives me some mp5 and MINOR increases in spell power, mana, haste, and stam, but I lose like 1.6% crit. To me, that seems like a fairly large amount of crit lost and not a very smart trade off. The same type of trade off also occurs between T7.5 and T8.5 legs. Perhaps someone who understands the math behind all this stuff, because I don't, can shed some light on the subject?

So in summary, is the haste/SP/MP5 gear really that good for us if we already had the best in slot pre 3.1? By the way, I am fully aware that there are some more traditional haste/crit/SP items in Ulduar, but it still feels like the vast majority is taking on this new MP5 trend which has me confused. Anyways, just please do not list the haste/crit/SP gear to me, I am refering only to the MP5/Haste/SP items. Thank you.

In terms of updates. Very little has changed. The first post does need updating though, it was commented a few pages ago it wouldn't happen until after 3.1 went live since things were fluid until then. Probably a new thread in the works.
These are the changes I would make to the first page (probably starting in another thread though):
New Terms:
DSac: Divine Sacrifice
AM: Aura Mastery
4pt(7,8): 4 piece tier bonus

New Glyphs:
Beacon of Light: Yields a 90 second duration on Beacon of Light. It saves less mana than divinity if you use LoH on yourself or another healer, but does spare GCD's in addition to its mana saved.

Holy Shock: Reduces CD on holy shock by 1 sec. Required for pvp. In PvE holy shock usage lowers your overall HPS; therefore the lower CD will typically only benefit heavy movement fights, where you are forced to move for more then 5 seconds.

New Abilities:
Update: Holy Shock:
...Along with Infusion of Light, which makes it so whenever you crit with Holy Shock, your next FoL is instant or your next Holy Light has a 20% higher crit change....

Aura Mastery: Increases the base effect (resistance, armor, ret aura reflected damage, pushback resist) of your current aura and makes effected targets immune to interrupts for 10 seconds. This does not apply to talented effects from auras (6% healing from devo doesn't apply for example). 2 minute CD. Very useful on fights where you have auras that can help resist damage or boss abilities. Interrupt immunity does not apply to some boss encounters.

Divine Sacrifice: This talent is not taken in most PvE builds, but some consider at as it is a pre-req for the talent Divine Guardian. Divine Sacrifice allows you to redirect 30% (40% talented) of damage the raid within 30 yards is taking to yourself. Damage can't exceed 150% of your max health. Will likely result in personal death unless used while bubbled. The rate of transfer can be increased by the talent Divine Guardian

Update: Hand of Sacrifice
The new version of this spell for WotLK is now very useful for PvE. A good button to use to help keep your tank alive when he gets some burst on him. Be careful though, the tank can take a lot of damage which will the be transferred to you. If your tank has BoL on him, it can be useful to just heal yourself while HoS is active so you don't die. The total damage transferred is now capped at 100% of your health. The rate of transfer can be increased by the talent Blessed Hands from 30% to 40%.

Update: Sacred Shield
First I will clarify how SS works, when you cast the spell on someone they gain a 30 second buff. Nothing happens until the target takes damage, when they do they will take the full amount, but will gain a second buff. This new buff will absorb the next 500 + 75% of your Spell Power damage and then expire, while it is active it will also increase the crit rate of FoL by 50%. This 2nd buff lasts a maximum of 6 seconds, and can only occur every 6 seconds. The ICD on the proc is shared between all SS's on the target, so it doesn't stack between multiple Paladins.

Now limited to a single target, this is most effective on Tanks since they take damage often, but can also be useful on group members if you know they are going to be taking damage more often then every 6 seconds.
Sacred Shield special notes: 4pt8 and Divine Guardian
4pt8 decreases the internal CD to 4 seconds, it should be noted that the duration of the shield effect still lasts 6 seconds. The talent Divine Guardian increases the duration of the buff to 60 seconds, as well as increasing the shield effect duration to up to 12 seconds. It also increases the amount absorbed per shield by 10/20%. If damage is absorbed after the internal CD of sacred shield has expired, a new shield will proc.

[Libram of Tolerance][new libram]
I don't see any situation where I would use these over Renewal. Since I can use the 113 mana I saved on a Holy Light to do a lot more than 265/XXX healing.

Profs
Engineering: update

Specs
PvE typical
51/0/20
51/5/15 (5% crit)
51/5/15 (3% crit PoJ)
51/2/18 (max crit/Divinity)
PvE Divine Sac/Divine Guardian - Lower personal HPS in return for a buffed SS, and a raidwide absorb.
51/17/0+3

X. Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which is these two items are better for me?
A: Use a theorycrafting tool, it will be able to answer it much better. If for some reason you think it is wrong, post here in detail about why you think it is wrong.

Q: Is t8.5 worth upgrading to yet? Should I break my 4pt7.5?
A: See question above.

Q. Who do I beacon?
A. It is situational... here are some suggestions...
Is there an OT within 40 yards of your healing target, if yes then that is your target typically.
Are you standing by yourself, healing an isolated tank, then you are your beacon target.
Are you a pally who is nearly FFA healing due to having an easy tank healing assignment, then Beacon the MT (this really applies to 10 mans 80% of the time).
Does it seem like there is no constant OT to beacon, the tank is taking tons of damage... well you get to choose! By choosing yourself you get to focus more on healing the tank, or you can pick a melee who is more likely to get hit by aoe since they are typically more bunched up.

Q. Why shouldn't I just always beacon my primary healing target?
A. Beacon isn't a reliable heal, there is a chance you'll get sniped and your tank will receive no heals. There is a chance the person you are healing is not within 40 yards of your tank and your tank will receive no heals. If the tank is taking enough damage, this "missed" heal will cause you to fail at your job.

Alrighty. I know we're all unhappy with the state of itemization in Ulduar, but after really sitting down and looking at the situation... I'm not worried any more. Two things have changed for me:

1. After a full run-through of Ulduar I never once encountered a situation where mana was an issue that couldn't be solved through tighter play and better DP usage. (Except, obviously, Vezax, but that's entirely different scenario.)

2. After reading through several posts worth of math on the equivalency of Crit and Int compared to MP5 and applying the math within I've determined that the haste/mp5 pieces of ulduar loot have just as much if not more regen than the crit/haste pieces of naxx loot.

As best I can tell, admittedly using other people's maths, in a HL spam situation with 35 HL per minute and 1 DP per minute, 1 Crit Rating is equivalent to .5 MP5 and 1 Intellect is worth .8 MP5. For the purpose of comparing regen, I lowered Intellect to 1 Int = .66 MP5 to compensate for more realistic DP usage such as 2-3 times a fight instead of using on cooldown.

With those weightings, which rely *entirely* on spam-casting, the haste/mp5 pieces of ulduar loot such as [Treads of Destiny] and [Plate Girdle of Righteousness] significantly outpace the naxx versions of loot in terms of regen while still providing much needed haste! (Comparing those two to [Waistguard of Divine Grace] and [Poignant Sabatons].) And keep in mind that any time you cast fewer than 35 HLs in 60s the values of crit and int both decrease while the value of MP5 remains static -- so any fight that involves movement (which is basically every single fight in ulduar) or that has a break in cast time (Mimiron, for example) you will find MP5 actually performing equal to if not better than crit on an item point for item point basis.

Even the tier8 haste/mp5 gear is outperforming the t7 haste/crit gear. (Obviously this is not counting the t7 4-piece bonus.)

Will it be enough to make breaking the 4pcT7 bonus worth it? That I cannot say yet. But, for me, if I can manage to remain mana neutral while utilizing these higher iLvl pieces to gain haste then that is enough of a gain for me to wear it. Mana has yet to be an issue for myself in Ulduar, and while this may change with hard-modes, if it does, the good old trusty T7 will still be in the bank ready to slap on for the ridiculous 4pc set bonus. And even then, the majority of hard modes seem to be "kill the boss faster this time!" which doesn't promise to be too straining on mana.

MP5 is still a bad stat. It's still weaker than crit and significantly worse than int. But I'm convinced that it isn't as bad as many people make it out to be, and that the combination of higher item levels and more sockets is making alot of this gear much better than was originally expected.

Closed at the request of the thread starter.