What I don't understand is why you would cast glyphed FoL on a bunch of full HP targets in anticipation of damage instead of simply spreading a few SSs around:

1) You're wasting the initial heal to apply the 140% 12s HoT effect.
2) The HoT's value as a damage buffer degrades rapidly up to the 12s mark, then it's value is 0. SS on the other hand is up for the entire 30s with no degradation in its strength as a damage buffer.
3) SS has the additional advantage on raid damage that it increases FoL's efficiency on the targets taking damage through the +50% crit effect.

SS is superior in the scenario you are describing under just about every metric I can think of. The only downside is the heals aren't attributed to you, it costs a bit more and the initial damage tick isn't absorbed (as the shield must be procced before absorbing - kind of silly mechanic, but there you have it).

I, for one, am not going to be missing the old FoL glyph as it was implemented. Now if the HoT rolled or stacked, was redirected to a Beaconed MT and ticked every second... yes, then I'd be shedding a tear. SS is really very good in most situations where I would see wanting to use a FoL HoT effect though.

Beacon allows me to do a lot more raid healing than I ever have before, by my main responsibility is still to keep the tank on his feet. In that regard the HoT FoL Glyph fails terribly.

My guild's MT is a warrior that sits on top of about 40k HP when fully buffed. My average FoL will hit for around 4k. Which is pretty good for topping him off when not much else is going on. A 2k hit with a HoT that ticks for a few hundred here and there is barely a blip on the radar. Not to mention that I'm generally chaining gigantic HLs - turning a vast majority of the HoT into wasted overheal.

I can see where the HoT could have been marginally useful in healing raid damage, but that is definitely not the Holly Pally forte. Other classes do that better, cheaper and easier than we do.

What FoL really needs is bigger numbers. And the new glyph will help with that.

Perhaps. While you seem to work well with GoFoL, many other players do not like it. I guess enjoy it while you can, that playstyle will go away.

The issue with SS is it only works if you know they are going to take damage twice within a six second period.

This is a major issue in terms of effectiveness. It is basically the power of a druid rejuv, but over a longer period of time, doesn't stack with other people's SS, is ineffective against damage already taken, doesn't proc off some DoT damage, and requires getting hit twice.
The upside is that increases FoL crit chance! Too bad FoL with a 100% crit chance is still lower HPS then HL with a 0% crit chance.
Regardless of it's weaknesses compared to other class's tools, I still use it all the time, it is one of 2 mobile spells we have for healing and really the only option we have during a moment of calm. Placed on a tank it will proc 5 times, yielding higher HPM then anything else we have... (assuming 0 GHL healing and naxx lvl gear).

I can't see it being practical to SS everyone. Depending upon the number of pallies you would spend most of your time SS and waiting for the GCD. Now if Blizz had a mass SS spell that would be the hawtness!

I don't think anyone is pushing for us to be keeping SS up on everyone. You never really expect druids to HoT a whole raid up either. But sometimes damage comes in predictable, small, inevitable amounts and SS works well in those situations. It's also great on tanks in 5 mans, heroics and on trash. So overall one of the better additions to Holy paladins in this expansion really.

The initial damage being necessary to proc the shield is pretty clumsy to my mind however, and I think we could all appreciate this great spell even more if that we're reworked to be more like a reactive PW:S on the target once per 6 seconds rather than a PW:S cast by someone slightly slow on the draw.

Indeed. I still try to keep up SS 100% on the MT, but only on Saph and running to the zombie eating boss are putting up mass SS useful for me.

Another thing, I am pretty sure FoL only gets the extra crit on that target while the Shield buff is up.

I always use SS for MT/OT in 5/10/25 mans, it helps a lot. Soloing it is amazing, so hope they do not nerf it. I guess I will start trying to mass shield people in 5 man groups then move from there. Maybe I will try SS in HeroicOld Kingdom as the Taldaram fight sucks as everyone takes damage and we have no AoE heal.

I want to say thanks for all the helpful information. I used to raid as a ret paladin but respec'ed holy because apparently everyone is either ret or prot. The class has changed a lot since the last time I healed (when SSC/TK still had attunements) and this thread has allowed me to help a lot of holy paladins on my server. With that said here is my comment and question.

I have been using SS on any content I can, in 5 mans its amazing, in raids it's insanely helpful. I will throw it on the tank, holy shock someone who needs a heal (very good chance it will crit) and then holy light the tank. I have also started grinding honor and arena points because of peer pressure, a lot of guild mates are convincing me to pvp with them because they see how overpowered my mana pool is, and how large my heals are. A heal bot with 16-18k crit heals is pretty awesome and can completely change the outcome of a battle. Before in pve I would place it on the tank that I was assigned to heal, and never use FoL, PvP has brought some questions to mind.

The wording on the spell has me kind of confused. It stays on the target for 30 seconds, and the procs can only happen every six seconds. I understand that but does the increase to crit only happen when the damage is absorbed? If that is the case, (which I was assuming) how can you track the buff? Or does the 50% crit chance only happen if you have it placed on yourself and you absorb the damage?(doesn't seem likely) Also I assume it means the absorption effect can only happen every six seconds? The buff isn't that important, it would just be nice to know when you had 50%+ crit to FoL.

edit: grammar/spelling

The 50% crit is only applied when the target has the absorption buff active. It is not applied when you simply have SS on a target. They need to have taken damage. The only way to track this is to either have a mod or be actively monitoring the target.

The 'absorb' is triggered by the first damaging ability used upon the player with SS active. The shield that's triggered has 2 components. One is the absorb portion. If enough damage is absorbed, the shield goes away and will be procced 6 seconds later if the player continues to be hit. While the shield is up, any FoL used against the target will have a +50% chance to crit. Once the actual shield is down, that crit bonus goes away. Basically, you either get the absorb, or you get the crit unless you're lucky enough to get a FoL off before the shield is gone, and then it still absorbs some damage.

From my use of the ability that's how it seems to work, but I could still be wrong, so maybe someone else can confirm.

Edit: Hey look, I'm 2 posts too late. Go me.