It should be noted that those two strategies are mutually incompatible using the same spec. If I'm choosing between shield spam and not shield spam as a disc priest, I can't supplant the loss in mitigation with CoH. Choosing between approaching BQL as holy or as disc is a worthy discussion, but given that someone has made a choice (maybe they are the only priest in the raid or they have a set role) limits how much we may criticize shield spam as a tactic.

And the raw HPS decrease from using FH over Renew is about 4k HPS. The set bonus is horrible because the optimal case for the proc (consistent ongoing raid damage) is also the strongest case for Renew, and the weakest case for Flash Heal,

The only reason to take the set gear is if you're happy with the spirit itemisation, or you think they'll buff it.

Relinking (and please remember these calculations are at 100% proc rate, not 20%): WotLK Healing Compendium v3.2: Same Old Thing

Yes, that's why Renew spec is much, much more popular amongst top Holy Priests. The 2pc T10 isn't worth switching over to non-Renew spec in most cases.

While your math is spot-on for the 4pc, you were naive in assuming that 100% proc chance on the 4pc is a HPS increase over the 20% live proc rate. Because it's not. Using your own numbers on a mini-rotation:

107.5 CoH/Renew rotation: PoM + CoH + 4* Renew
110.3 CoH/PoH rotation: PoM + CoH + 2* PoH
111.1 20% Proc rotation: PoM + CoH + FH + CoH + 2* Renew

The 20% Proc rotation replaces the CoH/Renew rotation in the case of your 2pc going off after that CoH. Hence, a HPS increase.

Athariel - Holy Priest - EU - Dunemaul

Given some of the posts above I am concerned that I maybe using Prayer of Healing too much however on fights like Festergut it does account for so much healing I am loathe to stop spamming it when CoH and PoM is on CD.

I have also moved from spamming FH to using renew almost exclusively except for Surge of Light Procs and I have been thinking about changing my Spirit of Redemption Glyph to the renew one. Given that we only have one Druid healer in 25 man raids with the rest being Disc Priest, 2 Palas and a Shammy wouldnt it be better to go for the longer duration of renew than the shorter but increased healing provided by the Glyph.

Also given the fact that I am now using renew so much does this make the 2 piece tier 10 a waste of time and a waste of DKP for the tokens that could be better used by others?

I have provided a link below to WoW meters online for this weeks raiding, I am only in the 25man raids and respecced as disc for the Saurfang kill.

I was holy for all the other kills and try's on Festergut.

WoW Meters Online - Combatlog Replay

I am wondering the same thing. With all the overhealing PoM does, would upgrading to 264 gear and losing the PoM bonus simply result is similar "effective" healing from PoM with a decrease in overheals. Then we could enjoy the benefit of the 264 gear stats.

Any thoughts?

The actual "bonus" of 2pc Tier 9 ranges between 1-3% based on the fight. It's an intense amount of trivial math to determine per fight, but you can do it yourself. Take any log where you have 2pc T9. On World of Logs, for example, go to the Log Browser, and clear out the general query. Add in one where your Priest's name is the SOURCE, Prayer of Mending is the SPELL, and tick the HEAL checkbox. Run the query, and you have every heal that your PoM did throughout the fight, including bounces.

For every line in the log, sum the effective and overhealing. Divide by 1.2 to see what the heal would have been without 2pc. Subtract that amount from the effective healing on that line. You now have the real bonus that 2pc provided for that one line of the log. Repeat this for every line of PoM healing.

Like I said, on the few logs I examined of my healing with 2pc, it provided an abysmally low overall bonus to my healing, typically on the 1% side of the 1-3 range. Which is most certainly made up for by 264 upgrades in my opinion.

I was so upset with that comment that I started to type the reply before finishing your post.

When done properly, keeping 4-5+ renews, is extremely taxing on mana and it is also extremely effective.

I believe you are contradicting yourself. I strongly agree with the 2nd statement. Using this principle in mind, the "Should I use renew on that target at this moment?" has never been a question to me. The answer is always, in any situation, on fight - YES, this has turned into reflex for me. People always look from high-chair as healer, saying that we don't have rotation and I beg to differ.

Using CoH and PoM on cooldown + renew in between is the purpose I enjoy playing a priest so much. This is our 'rotation' and if you employee the strongest trait of a good healer - predicting the next person to take dmg - these are all the tools you need to be an effective part of the raid, imho.

I'm curious to know if anyone with [Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings] has actually picked up [Trauma] and tested it for comparison purposes. I'm reading a lot of interesting things about Trauma and am wondering when the best time to drop the legendary is (if at all).

I've finally decided to bite the bullet and make disc my primary spec (over holy). I'm curious if it would be more beneficial to switch weapons anytime soon.

[Crystal Spire of Karabor]'s proc at level 80 does equivalent if not more of a % of your effective healing at the end of the fight than [Trauma]'s. In other words, the proc is complete and utter garbage. I'm considering grabbing a heroic Trauma in a few weeks should they ever choose to buff it in the future. It also doesn't proc off of the PW:S glyph, making it basically just as worthless for Disc raid shielders as Val'anyr.

As Holy though, there's absolutely no decision to be made. Val'anyr is still accounting for 5-10% of my healing on fights where it matters. I doubt I'm replacing it even through the first tier in Cataclysm.

Ive been seeing more and more Holy priests stacking pure haste. Could you explain why? I am not arguing or think its "wrong." I am just curious.

Do you have mana problems? Most beneficial for a PoH spam?

Thanks

I raid in a decent guild, not at all HC raiding. For this reason I usually am not pushed to the limit and I find that I stack haste. I currently have, I think, around 1050 haste rating and there doesnt seem to be need to stop stacking yet. Haste brings the most thoroughput in my experience. It simply makes you push out big, big numbers. Now, the purpose is not to start posting recount stats to the raid channel, the idea is to be able to react in dangerous situations and close calls.

And for some reason, mana has never been a problem for me. I avoid any sort of MP5 in my gear, also I avoid Intellect as much as I can, preferring mostly gear with Spirit and Haste. This goes for gemming also. No matter how much I avoid those regen stats, I just will not run out of mana. I'm not sure why. I'm not slacking either, I'm really working on the healing, trust me, I try my darnest, but the mana is there.

Usually with bosses that we are not farming yet, I need to use my Shadowfiend and Hymn of Hope, naturally, but that pretty much brings my mana back to 100% and when the fight is over, I barely have gone under 50%.

This is a bit strange to me, yes, but of course stacking haste means that my spell power is not very high. Around 2800 with average ilevel 247. Then again, I feel that haste simply overrides the need for spellpower so it does not come up as a problem (naturally, with cooldown spells this is the most taxing).

I simply prefer haste. I have no idea what results other combinations can bring, but this, I feel, is pretty damn nice.

EDIT: Exceptions when I run out of mana: free range healing in heroic Twin Val'kyrs and Blood Queen Lanathel where I spam PoM, CoH and PoH, will eat my mana, but not before everyone else was dead already on the first try. Naturally, groups need to be assigned to these fights.