That's a very good point; I am simply not good at reliably finding a point of blank space required to make priorizing mouseover work Actually, there is one thing that bugs me to no end about the default UI and I don't think there is a way to change it: I would like to leave myself with NO target by default, and only acquire a target manually. Unfortunately, if I get hit by any incidental damage, my target will immediately change from no target to the target that damaged me. This is wonderful behavior in most situations, but in PvE healing it is a terrible behavior.

I don't like either set-up. I would go with [Scarab of the Infinite Cycle] and [Essence of the Martyr].

The mana regen from [Pendant of the Violet Eye] is nice but +40 intellect is of little help. It's not even a single cast of max rank Chain Heal.

The scarab and Essence give you a nice amount of plus healing. You should be fine on mana if you keep up Water Shield and keep down mana spring.

Just to note, Berserking is rather a Troll racial. Orcs have Blood Fury which is also affecting healing but differently.

[Pendant of the Violet Eye] passive 600 max mana w/o talents also its gives 0.5% spell crit + (how many manatide you get) X * 0.24 * 600 mana return via mana tide casts.

I have the Suntouched Leggings aswell and just followed the socket bonus out of old habit when I got them, plus the socket bonus is a nice +9 healing. I agree with you that going pure red gems is probably a bit better even tho socket bonus is so nice.

But there are some other issues to think about when it comes to the red gems. How rich is my guild on these gems? Should resto shamans get red gems before some of the dps classes? When I get new items I dont wanna ask for red gems if I feel we're short on them cos some classes can basically only socket red gems (SP's come to mind). If this is not an issue for you then by all means gogo pure +22 heal socketing.

Personally when I get my hands on T6 chest or shoulders I'm gonna ask for red gems cos I am way high on mp5 so I wont benefit from purple gems at all plus chest socket bonus is mp5. I can always put +13 healing gems in the sockets when I wait for us to get more gems.

Basically I wanted to go with 3 [Teardrop Crimson Spinel]. but due to guild shortages of spinels I went with the socket bonus and just use pure +healing trinkets most of the time. I think you have enough mp5 if you bring pots and use them early on the rougher fights like bloodboil you should be fine.

For [Sun-touched Chain Leggings], I would use [Teardrop Crimson Spinel] x 3. Sure, the set bonus of +9 healing is nice but you can get far more +healing by using three red gems – an additional +24 healing at a cost of 4 mp5 and +5 Intellect. That’s a pretty good deal in my opinion.

If Crimson Spinels are in tight supply, use [Teardrop Living Ruby] x3 until more epic gems become available.

Now, let’s say an item had a blue and red gem socket and bonus of +7 healing. In that case, I would recommend putting in the correct color gems. Because of the socket bonus, using a [Royal Shadowsong Amethyst] in the blue slot really gives you +18 healing. You lose +4 healing but gain +2 mp5. I would readily sacrifice +4 healing for +2 mp5. However, I would not give up +24 healing for +4 mp5 and some Intellect.

Epic gems of certain colors are usually in short supply when a guild first enters Hyjal and the Black Temple. Usually, red and orange gems are very popular. You may also be tight on blue gems (depending on how many you give your tanks). Guilds usually have more than enough green, yellow and purple gems.

Most guilds implement a policy of giving epic gems to item that drops in Hyjal and Black Temple. After guilds have been in BT and Hyjal for a while, they will usually give gems to loot that drops in ZA or items that won’t be upgraded soon.

The epic gems are usually provided the same night as you get an item or the next time that color gem drops. To decide who should get gems first if they are in short supply, use your guilds DKP system or simply give the gems in the order that the items dropped. Players can always use blue-quality gems while waiting for epic gems.

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I’m all for being considerate of guildmates. However, I think it is a big mistake to socket with [Royal Shadowsong Amethyst] and [Luminous Pyrestone] just because Crimson Spinels are in short supply. I would be reluctant to let someone resocket an item that already had epic gems. You would destroy three epic gems in the process that someone else could have used. You would be better off using [Teardrop Living Ruby] until Crimson Spinels were more plentiful. I would only want to see someone destroying epic gems due to a change in game mechanices such as the increased mana regeneration in Patch 2.3.

Shadow priests are no more vital to a raid than resto shaman. Healers are just as important as DPS. If your guild makes epic gems available to you, ask for the color gems that are the best for you. By all means be considerate of your guildmates but not to the point where you are “way high on mp5.” Did it occur to you that your shadow priests can also use Living Rubies while they wait for more Crimson Spinel to drop?

I think you meant 11x2 from royals and 11x1 from luminous but the math is correct either way. I had no idea that some guilds were facing a three month wait. I still think the three spinels are the superior option. However, if I had to wait three months, I would make the same gemming choice as you did and go with the epic royals and luminous.

A little trash farming can greatly help a guild's supply of Hearts of Darkness and epic gems. We've done it a few nights when not enough people were logged on for the raid to start. However, we had enough to easily clear Black Temple trash.

Yeah I should have been a little more clear on that 11x2 from royals and 11x1 for luminous. There is basically no time for trash farming unless we changed our raiding schedule. Usually we clear to illidan on tues then do Illidan + Hyjal on wed so farming is basically out of the question.

I would have preferred 3 spinels as well I have no disagreement there. However, due to our terrible luck getting them to drop and extremely high demand from basically every DPS class except for the blood frenzy war its not always practical. I don't know if other guild have better luck with them than we do or have less demand but its somthing to keep in mind.

Basically our gm said that since we just don't have the spinels to go around and dps has priority on spinels he gave us priority on shadowsongs so it works out in the end. We have alot of top 10 DPS (of WWS parses) for bosses in BT Hyjal (which makes it easier to heal) so I can't really argue with our results even if its mildly annoying missing out on the extra healing. If others guilds don't have similar problems, I would recommend others to get the spinels.

ok, thanks for the input.

You're right - I'll probably have to first check the availability of the spinels. If I can get them, perfect - if I can't, I'll probably go the Shaodwsong/Pyrestone route.

The reasoning for not going with 3 living rubies is pretty much that I don't think I'd really replace them with the epic ones anyway AND with a bit of luck I'll have the T6 leggings at the point we'll have enough spinels.

I'll try to repost which gems I get.

If you can get the other 4 pieces then yea, use Suntouched for sure. Since there was quite a line for the chest I took legs to get 4-piece.