Crit Healing strategies and stats - Page 2

Vuldunobetra · 12/10/08, 12:20 PM

The only time I cast HW is when I have the Tidal Wave buff up. Depends on the fight, but the more healing I need to do, the more I RT-HW-HW for the increased HPS. LHW is great for general maintenance healing. Knowing when to use each is the skill part of healing.

On a side note, I am seeing AA make up 5-7% of my overall healing. This is both in 5-mans and 10-man Naxx. I have 26% crit unbuffed. I'm currently raiding with a holy priest and resto druid, so I'm doing a lot more tank healing instead of raid healing.

Durnitol · 12/10/08, 11:09 PM

What I'm saying is that there is almost no difference in HPS if you are LHW glyph healing and HW healing. LHW + glyph has a slight advantage.

Compared to non-glyph LHW healing, HW gets better with more SP or haste. I still prefer LHW spot healing as a time saver. That half-second difference in cast time with TW really makes a difference.

Spreadsheet results below.

Assumptions not shown:
Infinite Mana
0 time between casts.
All cast times hasted below 1 sec are calculated as 1 sec cast
Riptide based rotations must be > 6 sec long
Riptide/earthliving HoT ignored
Chain heal gets 1 bounce
All heals are 100% effective, including Ancestral Awakening.
Stats are close to mine, rounded nicely:

Rotation		Time for    |	cycles/3min |	Mana cost|Whole   |Time to cast	|Tothealing	|hps		|tot mana cost	|HPM		|Possible|Avg IWS|WS re-|Added GCD	|total time	|Adjusted HPS	|Mana 	 |Adjusted HPM	|HPM delta
			rotation    |		    |		 |cyc/3min|		|		|		|		|		|IWS proc|procs	 |fresh |		|		|		|returned|
RT>2xLHW>CH>2xLHW	7.326443264 |	24.56853804 |	4050.914 | 24	  | 175.8346383	| 788301.6994	| 4483.199141	| 97221.936	| 8.108269922	| 120	 | 36	 | 8	| 9.979329791	| 185.8139681	| 4242.424331	| 17712	 | 9.914505521	| 1.806235599
RT>2xLHW>CH>LHW		6.326443264 |	28.45200573 |	3424.484 | 28	  | 177.1404114	| 775078.612	| 4375.504189	| 95885.552	| 8.083372269	| 112	 | 33	 | 8	| 9.979329791	| 187.1197412	| 4142.153079	| 16236	 | 9.731110754	| 1.647738485
CH>2xLHW		4.07902704  |	44.12817033 |	2046.338 | 44	  | 179.4771897	| 836766.9954	| 4662.247033	| 90038.872	| 9.293397139	| 88	 | 26	 | 6	| 7.484497343	| 186.9616871	| 4475.606786	| 12792	 | 10.83237384	| 1.538976701

*RT>2xLHW>CH>2xLHW	7.326443264 |	24.56853804 |	4050.914 | 24	  | 175.8346383	| 887460.5822	| 5047.131729	| 97221.936	| 9.128192861	| 120	 | 36	 | 8	| 9.979329791	| 185.8139681	| 4776.070342	| 17712	 | 11.1616312	| 2.033438336
*RT>2xLHW>CH>LHW	6.326443264 |	28.45200573 |	3424.484 | 28	  | 177.1404114	| 861842.6344	| 4865.307852	| 95885.552	| 8.988242925	| 112	 | 33	 | 8	| 9.979329791	| 187.1197412	| 4605.8349	| 16236	 | 10.82043292	| 1.832189993
*CH>2xLHW		4.07902704  |	44.12817033 |	2046.338 | 44	  | 179.4771897	| 927662.6379	| 5168.6938	| 90038.872	| 10.3029127	| 88	 | 26	 | 6	| 7.484497343	| 186.9616871	| 4961.779348	| 12792	 | 12.00906411	| 1.706151406
 
RT>2xHW>CH>2xHW		9.147718975 |	19.67703648 |	5721.394 | 19	  | 173.8066605	| 1010667.66	| 5814.896026	| 108706.486	| 9.297215803	| 95	 | 28	 | 6	| 7.484497343	| 181.2911579	| 5574.831511	| 13776	 | 10.64639719	| 1.349181388
CH>2xHW			4.989664895 |	36.07456689 |	2881.578 | 36	  | 179.6279362	| 1050875.892	| 5850.292076	| 103736.808	| 10.13021234	| 72	 | 21	 | 5	| 6.237081119	| 185.8650173	| 5653.97355	| 10332	 | 11.25076872	| 1.120556383

* with LHW Glyph


Base Mana	4396
Spell power	2000
Healing coeff	1.88
Wrath of Air %	5
Haste rating	500
Haste total	1.202485563
Mana reduction%	0.05
Crit %		30
GCD		1.247416224
Mana/WS orb	492
AA added %	30
	
Talent Name	Bonus multiplier
Purification	1.1
Imp CH		1.2
LHW Tidal waves	1.1
LHW glyph	1.2
HW Tidal Waves	1.2

I would take away from this that CH>LHW>LHW is your best HPM(barely), whilst CH>HW>HW is the best HPS. Unfortunately these numbers are nowhere close to reality, since lag exists, as do other healers, and in most situations HW will overheal by far too much. Because of this, I'd say CH>LHW>LHW is a VERY safe bet for those not looking to use riptide much.

However, if you look at the last column of the HPM delta, you'll see a trend that the second LHW rotation benefits the most from increased stats, especially crit. Despite this, even if you use extreme stats like 50% crit, 5000SP, 1000 Haste, the trend between the rotations is still basically the same. CH>HW>HW is still the best HPS, and CH>LHW>LHW is the best HPM.

Arkandel · 12/11/08, 6:05 AM

Given the above, would you say that for heroics a (glyphed) LHW-oriented strategy might be preferable to a HW-based one given the 10% mana cost reduction from the totem? Obviously I'm referring to situations where most of the damage is on the tank and CH can only really be counted for one leap.

Krim · 12/11/08, 6:14 AM

I prefer LHW Glyph healing compared to Tidal Waves HW healing due to the amount of overheal a HW will inevitably do. LHW, when Glyph, can crit about the same as a non crit HL but will cost a lot less mana when it does crit, especially with the tier 7 2 set bonus. Also, HW is a poor spell unless you take Healing Way, but stacking Healing Way costs 3 talent points - which could be better spent - and around 2-2.5k mana, which is costly for something that would still resultingly be subpar to the Paladin HL.

With the nerfs to CoH and WG closing in, I believe we will be once again asked to perform raid healing duties due to the sustainability we have at our disposal! Yes, CH cannot be downranked and is quite costly due to no mana gains from IWS however it scales greatly with haste and the Emblem of Heroism Totem would scale definately well.

Also, I'm not entirely ruling out the possibility of Shaman MT healing... I think we do quite well, keeping up a 25% armor buff is useful to all Pallies, DK's, Warriors and to some extent even bear tanks and due to all the talents and raid buffs we can healthily look at 35-40%~ crit raid buffed with LHW.

My thoughts, really.

Durnitol · 12/11/08, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by Arkandel

Given the above, would you say that for heroics a (glyphed) LHW-oriented strategy might be preferable to a HW-based one given the 10% mana cost reduction from the totem? Obviously I'm referring to situations where most of the damage is on the tank and CH can only really be counted for one leap.

I think Tidal Waves + LHW is pretty much always the best way to go. My default spell to kick off a stream of healing is almost always Riptide. If there is no more healing to be done, I let the HoT ticks do their job, and LHW as necessary to any other targets. In a 5 man, I never cast CH unless I can expect at least 1 hop, as it is too slow and inefficient otherwise. Glyphed LHW is more HPS and HPM per cast (this means ignore the GCD) than regular HW. If you have a group where the tank is taking 90% of the damage, then LHW can't be beat... ever! If the tank is only taking 70% thanks to overly aggressive melee DPS, you are casting Chain Heal more, but glyphed LHW is still way better than any other solution.

In a 25 man raid, CH>LHW>LHW is a good pattern to keep if you wanted to be a little robotic about it. It's the most efficient healing strat available to shamans with IWS, thanks to overhealing. If you like to mix it up and pretend that the only reason the raid is alive is because of your alleged superior "ubermicro" skills, then you throw Riptides, HW's, LHWs, CH's, Earth and Water shields as you see fit for the situation, with a little bit of Mana Tide, Tremor, Grounding totem, and perhaps even the occasional Earthbind mixed in.

In a 5 man, it's pretty much ES and Riptide the tank, and wait for enough damage to need an LHW until Tidal Waves expires. Reapply Riptide as necessary. Mix in chain heal if other melee are present.

Krim, you are very wrong about HW being a poor spell without Healing Way. With Tidal Waves, Healing Wave is the best HPS and more or less tied for the best HPM in the shaman healing arsenal, without Healing Way. Healing Way makes it even better, but there is practically never a need for that much healing, nor can we reliably maintain 3 stacks of Healing way on a target.

Vuldunobetra · 12/11/08, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by Durnitol

What I'm saying is that there is almost no difference in HPS if you are LHW glyph healing and HW healing.

Your numbers show HW rotations to be better by 11-14% HPS. Almost no difference? After 10 seconds, the difference is ~7,000 hp.

I do understand that HW is more apt to overheal, and isn't as efficient. But to counter that:
- LHW loses effectiveness if the target doesn't have ES.
- LHW needs one of your glyph spots.
- The HW glyph heals yourself 20%.
- The T7x4 set bonus increases HW by 5%.
- Healing Way can boost HW up to 18% more.

...and in most situations HW will overheal by far too much

If the target is down 5000, yes HW will overheal far too much. But if the target needs 5000 healing, use LHW to heal them. If you are precasting on a fully healed tank, then LHW might be right. Use the right spell for the job.

Durnitol · 12/11/08, 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by Vuldunobetra

Your numbers show HW rotations to be better by 11-14% HPS. Almost no difference? After 10 seconds, the difference is ~7,000 hp.

Glyphed LHW per cast is better HPM and HPS than non-healing way HW. Without the glyph, HW is better. The problem with LHW is that your haste doesn't help when TW gets the cast time below 1 second, thanks to the GCD. If you factor in constant casting, HW is slightly better than glyphed LHW after haste is applied, because of the cap on the GCD.

glowacks · 12/11/08, 1:01 PM

Even with a tank just starting heroics and tanking all 4 mobs in a pull, Riptdie + LHWx3 and repeat has been enough HPS to never warrant use of HW, ever. I doubt I've ever used HW in a 5-man outside of NS - and certainly haven't since getting Clique. With 2 hots and Earth Shield, you have a buffer in between cast heals such that its extremely rare in my experience for the tank to get below 50% where HW would actually be useful - and starting a HW when the tank is at 50% isn't a great idea. Even with LHW clipping GCD with TW my HPS has always been high enough on tank healing that it can easily cover any spikes. For healing the group Chain Heal is certainly superior.

But that's 5-mans.

In raids when you're low on healers I can see definitely switching to Riptide (or Chain Heal when useful) + HWx2 when mana (given stacking mana springs and replenishment, is it ever?) isn't a concern and you're not the one with Earth Shield on the target. It allows you to get every heal in under TW, lets you not have to refresh Water Shield as much, and provides higher throughput. Your tank should have a large enough HP that pool cast-canceling with another healer or healers on the target (the shaman with Earth Shield up and using LHW at very least) will cover smaller gaps and let you only land heals when you'll have less overheal. If you're going to be healing this way a great deal you might even pick up Healing Way (although it seems very group and fight dependent - I'd personally wait until dual specs).

If you're the one with Earth Shield on the target though, the gains in throughput from using HW can be easily erased through overhealing. However, that's mainly a question of how well you can time then to avoid overheal, which is a latency and health update issue more than anything else.

Lenlen · 12/11/08, 3:22 PM

Originally Posted by Durnitol

With Tidal Waves, Healing Wave is the best HPS and more or less tied for the best HPM in the shaman healing arsenal, without Healing Way. Healing Way makes it even better, but there is practically never a need for that much healing, nor can we reliably maintain 3 stacks of Healing way on a target.

PTR patch notes says, "Healing Way: Now only one application is required to reach full benefit. No longer stacks."

I'm still not convinced it's worth 3 talent points, but if this change makes it into live it seems like a step in the right direction.

WoW -> Test Realm Patch Notes

Vuldunobetra · 12/11/08, 3:33 PM

Resto PTR changes:
Healing Way: Now only one application is required to reach full benefit. No longer stacks.
Improved Water Shield: Lesser Healing Wave now has a reduced chance to trigger this talent.

HW > LHW imo.

Torrential · 12/11/08, 5:06 PM

From my experience so far (Wrath's absurdly easy content), tanks are rarely, if ever, taking the kind of damage that requires HW spam. LHW was king because delievered small chunks of HP every 1-1.3 seconds, which was essentially perfect. I am most displeased with the changes, but swapping to RT, HW, HW, Chain/LHW,HW until RT is at least more interactive I suppose.

Torrential · 12/11/08, 5:10 PM

Edit: double post, delete

MatsT · 12/11/08, 10:22 PM

Originally Posted by Torrential

From my experience so far (Wrath's absurdly easy content), tanks are rarely, if ever, taking the kind of damage that requires HW spam. LHW was king because delievered small chunks of HP every 1-1.3 seconds, which was essentially perfect. I am most displeased with the changes, but swapping to RT, HW, HW, Chain/LHW,HW until RT is at least more interactive I suppose.

I think the problem with that mostly lies in wrath's absurdly easy content. It have been mentioned that the highest healing throughput we can put out is RT-HW-HW-CH-HW-HW. With this we can keep up HPS-wise even with druids and priests. The problem is, you can easily play an entire 25-man raid without anyone being so low that a Healing Wave won't overheal them. So since the raid usually has 6-7 healers even if 3-4 would be enough, all you can do is spam chain heal on people with full hp, hoping that they or someone close will take damage.

If we actually saw some encounters where healers were pressured, and dps requirements didn't allow you to bring more, Healing Wave will probably have a use again.

Durnitol · 12/12/08, 11:17 AM

I think the problem lies with encounter mechanics as well, but not because it's easy (though it may be). I think it has something to do with the ratio of MaxHP::AvgDmgBetweenHeals.

Essentially, if the AvgDmgBetweenHeals is ever greater than the MaxHP, you have a dead toon. If your tank is getting healed every 1.5 sec for 10k (TW + avg Healing wave), and they are getting hit for 10k every 1.5 sec, there can be a point at which they will be down 20k before the heal lands.

Assuming a .1 sec reaction time, and 0 sec chain cast delay, sequence begins with TW

t0.0 - 0 HP deficit
t1.5 - 10k deficit
t1.6 - Begin HW cast
t3.0 - 20k deficit
t3.1 - HW lands, 10k deficit

If you are precasting, this scenario can STILL happen, if your heal lands when the tank is topped off. Lets take a look at that again with 6k glyphed LHW's, TW enabled.

t0.0 - 0 HP deficit
t1.5 - 10k deficit
t1.6 - Begin LHW cast
t2.6 - LHW lands, 4k deficit
t2.6 - Begin LHW cast
t3.0 - 14k deficit
t3.6 - LHW lands, 8k deficit

So over the same time period, now only do we have a better chance at not overhealing, but the target never acquires an HP deficit as low as the HW scenario. Even though the throughput of HW was equal to the average damage received, LHW was still better because the tank had less HP deficit on average in case of damage spikes.

We all know that tanks do not take steady, predictable damage, they take small bites and big chunks depending on the encounter. Your best bet to keep a tank alive, Healing way or not, is LHW. If tanks had 40k HP on average without trinkets/cooldowns, I might say different. I treat any HP deficit below 40% as "the danger zone".

Torrential · 12/12/08, 11:25 AM

At this point what we need to know is how much the reduced chance to proc IWS from LHW is. I think most of us agree that LHW spam is still good. Unless the IWS/LHW nerf is just huge we can probably view this as a buff to HW and not Blizz saying 'stop casing LHW'.

Vuldunobetra · 12/12/08, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by Durnitol

So over the same time period, now only do we have a better chance at not overhealing, but the target never acquires an HP deficit as low as the HW scenario. Even though the throughput of HW was equal to the average damage received, LHW was still better because the tank had less HP deficit on average in case of damage spikes.

Smaller and quicker heals are better at keeping the tank up, all other things being equal.

But based on your own numbers, and the addition of HWay, HW is 40% more HPS than LHW w/glyph, for close to the same HPM. The current content isn't challenging enough to notice the difference. We'll see what the new raid content brings.

d3v · 12/13/08, 8:12 AM

* Healing Way doesn't stack up to 3 times anymore and now increases the effect of subsequent Healing Wave spells on the target by 18%. (Up from 6%)

* Improved Water Shield has been changed to - You have a 33/66/100% chance to instantly consume a Water Shield Orb when you gain a critical effect from your Healing Wave or Riptide spells, and a 19.8/39.6/60% chance when you gain a critical effect from your Lesser Healing Wave spell.

Healing Wave will be hopefully useful in the next content patch. Because at the moment no one is using HW or I just don't see anyone. People just take low dmg, so HW would be: Too slow for too much overheal. Maybe we get in Uludar enough Haste or something like that, that we begin spaming HW.
What shall we think about Crit now? It provides 1/3 less mana than before and is often overheal?

Greets

Durnitol · 12/13/08, 12:51 PM

Nerfing LHW is unbearably stupid, or at least the reasoning as I perceive it is. It's not "too good", and changing the proc rate doesn't change the fact that it's the spell of choice in tank and spot healing. If they just want the spells to have identical proc rates, that is a perfectly good and justified reason. As it stands, it sounds like "shamans are casting it too much because of IWS" which is complete horse puckey. As I explained over and over above, the speed of the smaller heal and the similar throughput glyphed are what make it better, not the HPM.

If tanks magically start being able to absorb enough damage to allow HW + Hway to not overheal without DYING due to cast time even for crits at least 75% of the time, then I will concede that Healing wave is better. You know what happens then? I stop casting LHW and I glyph something else.

I don't get how developers think that they can make 2 spells that are identical in implementation, except for some statistics on their effectiveness, and then claim that "this one is being used too much". NEWS FLASH!! One spell will ALWAYS be better than the other because they are IDENTICAL effects (right now). We as a community are going to continually spam ONE of them because the math works out that it's better. That's how it works. Unless you alter the mechanics between them (Riptide has the HoT, Chain Heal has the jumps, Earth Shield is a buff, etc), then we will always prefer whichever is better.

Right now, LHW is better. Later, HW may be better. It is my sincere opinion that having the faster heal as the better spell in most situations is a good thing, saving the big spell for a situational encounter or granting it some synergy that the smaller, more expensive, more EFFECTIVE spell doesn't get (or isn't related) allows for creative encounter design, and more options for playstyle.

Below is an adjusted chart for 60% LHW procs on IWS. Character stats here are same as chart from my previous post. Enjoy if you dare.

Rotation		Total Mana HPM		Possible  Avg IWS WS 	    Added GCD	total time	Adjusted HPS	Mana 	Adjusted HPM	HPM delta
			Spent	 		IWS procs procs	  refreshes						returned
RT>2xLHW>CH>2xLHW	97221.936  8.108269922	120	  24	  5	    6.237081119	182.0717194	4329.621876	11808	9.229192991	1.120923069
RT>2xLHW>CH>LHW		95885.552  8.083372269	112	  23	  5	    6.237081119	183.3774925	4226.683446	11316	9.164984249	1.08161198
CH>2xLHW		90038.872  9.293397139	88	  15	  3	    3.742248671	183.2194384	4567.02085	7380	10.12313591	0.829738771

*RT>2xLHW>CH>2xLHW	97221.936  9.128192861	120	  24	  5	    6.237081119	182.0717194	4874.236289	11808	10.39011458	1.261921723
*RT>2xLHW>CH>LHW	95885.552  8.988242925	112	  23	  5	    6.237081119	183.3774925	4699.827785	11316	10.19093295	1.202690029
*CH>2xLHW		90038.872  10.3029127	88	  15	  3	    3.742248671	183.2194384	5063.123465	7380	11.22278366	0.919870958

RT>2xHW>CH>2xHW		108706.486 9.297215803	95	  28	  6	    7.484497343	181.2911579	5574.831511	13776	10.64639719	1.349181388
CH>2xHW			103736.808 10.13021234	72	  21	  5	    6.237081119	185.8650173	5653.97355	10332	11.25076872	1.120556383


*Glyphed

Based on this chart above, making it a 60% proc rate is essentially nerfing it lower than HW. To make it equivalent (IWS procs per period of time) using the pure CH>Spell>Spell rotations I listed above, you want a nice round 75%, not 60%. Hopefully they adjust to make IWS the same for these spells.

grayrest · 12/13/08, 4:18 PM

You're running it at a very low crit rate. If you have a moonkin in the party, that's a 20% crit rate on the character sheet, which only really happens when you're running straight mp5/haste gear. At the 42% crit rate I use in my spreadsheet, glyphed LHW comes in ahead of HW, behind healing way HW, and even with RT. All in all, it's a reasonable balance point. I don't plan on changing my playstyle or gearing choices other than shifting trinkets to a Darkmoon Int deck or static SP+proc instead of a crit+proc/use trinket and sticking with int gems rather than going SP for throughput.

pfg · 12/14/08, 12:29 AM

Just for fun have you guys considered doing this with CH spam ? 25 man raid buffed i have been seeing 12k first jump CH crits, this works well and leaves two jumps with that same high crit chance for other people in the area. I have always believed you dont want the first jump of CH to crit but do want all the others too so I have been grabbing crit gear when I can. Using a 8/18/45 spec and the crit on gear so far is putting me at about 38%, raid buffed adds about 4 so call it 42%. So far its been a bit trivial doing naxx with CoH/WG really taking care of AE damage for the most part but this does shine on Malygos after being droped from vortex were you see multiple health bars jump by 50%

All your math looks great for some things but really you should also do it for CH multiple jumps, as each jump can crit and is less likely to end up as overheal.

grayrest · 12/14/08, 2:12 AM

Originally Posted by pfg

Just for fun have you guys considered doing this with CH spam ?

Yes, and I don't do it. Stacking haste allows you to get off more CH producing considerably higher throughput than crit would and allowing a more intelligent distribution of smart heals due to the greater number of casts. I'm a big fan of crit for single target healing, but when I'm going to primarily CH, I put on my haste set and spam the 2.0 second CHs.

Durnitol · 12/14/08, 1:07 PM

Grayrest is correct. CH crits are neat to see on the screen, but the only benefit you really get out of it is Ancestral Healing, and not throughput. CH spam already has a 40% overheal rate on average, and that's when you are being selective about it. All larger crit will do is increase your CH overheals. Haste is a ton better for CH spamming for the reasons Grayrest listed.

At the 42% crit rate I use in my spreadsheet, glyphed LHW comes in ahead of HW, behind healing way HW, and even with RT.

Only if you let allow calculations to let LHW go below 1 sec cast time hasted. Don't forget my spreadsheet is ignoring the Riptide HoT on purpose. In reality, it never goes below 1 sec because of the GCD. This inspired me to add some more to my spreadsheet, which I should have done in the first place as a baseline. The numbers below include the IWS nerf.

Rotation	Time for 	cycles	Mana 	Whole cyc Time to cast	Tothealing	hps		Total Mana 	HPM		Possible  Avg IWS WS 	    Added GCD	total time	Adjusted HPS	Mana 	 Adjusted HPM	HPM delta
		rotation	/3min	cost	/3min							Spent				IWS procs procs	  refreshes						returned
LHW spam	1.428571429	126	626.43	126	  180		650730.168	3615.1676	78930.18	8.244377094	126	  22	  5	    7.142857143	187.1428571	3477.184104	10824	9.554642002	1.310264908
*LHW spam	1.428571429	126	626.43	126	  180		780876.2016	4338.20112	78930.18	9.893252513	126	  22	  5	    7.142857143	187.1428571	4172.620925	10824	11.4655704	1.572317889

HW spam		2.380952381	75.6	1044.05	75	  178.5714286	768848.0839	4305.54927	78303.75	9.818790083	75	  22	  5	    7.142857143	185.7142857	4139.951221	10824	11.39376011	1.57497003
**HW spam	2.380952381	75.6	1044.05	75	  178.5714286	907240.739	5080.548139	78303.75	11.5861723	75	  22	  5	    7.142857143	185.7142857	4885.142441	10824	13.44463693	1.858464635

*Glyphed
** Healing Way bonus

Yeah, Glyphed LHW beats HW without Healing Way every time... except LHW without TW doesn't really go below 1 sec cast time. Fun things to point out from results above (some data not shown):

Healing Way spam is the highest HPM (I include CH>HW>HW with healing way in this).
Healing Way spam is higher HPS than any LHW rotation.
All other stats being equal, crit rate improves LHW spam more than any other rotation, but not significantly.

Joulakil · 12/14/08, 2:57 PM

if you got too much overheal from chain heal, is it safe to not take T7 4pcs bonus? Because that is what i'm thinking now. The other reason to not take 4pcs bonus is that there are some better equipment for some slots. Here is the example of the items:

[Valorous Earthshatter Handguards] vs [Winter Spectacle Gloves]
[Valorous Earthshatter Tunic] vs [Tunic of the Artifact Guardian]

T7 can't even compare to those pieces...
however this is what i think the best set you can get as a resto shaman:
http://www.chardev.org/?template=106807

note: the talent i use is Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft, assume that 'healing way' is a 1 point talent. Also, I am a LW/Alch, please note the bracers enchant and trinket.

healing stats in that set:
Mana: 19926
Critical: 21.82%
Haste: 16.9% (554rating)
Healing: 2240 (without earthliving weapon)
MP5 while casting: 285 (without water shield)

the gems in that set are quick yellow, royal purple, and runed red. The reason there is no intellect gem is because most shamans won't run out of mana when they fully buffed. I use quick yellow to buff chain heal speed.

edit: also, no int gems because a shaman already at 20k mana unbuffed in that set.

bewmheels · 12/14/08, 7:29 PM

[Winter Spectacle Gloves] are great but [Tunic of the Artifact Guardian] lacks haste and if you're stacking haste you want to have the 4 piece t7 bonus as it takes up for a loss in SP which is inherent when going for pieces that are haste heavy. IIRC there is only 1 piece without haste on it (shoulders) if you don't go for T7 gloves.

Having said that Crit is still useful up until 30% (including talents). I just havent seen enough evidence be it anecdotal or on meters in raid healing that i should choose crit over haste. Would have to say the Egg is nice starting off but far from best in slot. Consider stacking all haste gems as thats 80 haste (get a belt buckle for an extra slot) that would get your chain heals down to 1.9sec.

Altsobadoli · 12/14/08, 11:06 PM

Originally Posted by d3v

Healing Wave will be hopefully useful in the next content patch. Because at the moment no one is using HW or I just don't see anyone.

Greets

The way I see it, HW is only useful in situations when you know a tank will be taking a lot of damage and you can precast the spell to time a big heal just at the right time. For instance, for Malygos I precast HW on the tank right after vortex when I know the tank is going to take a breath. It's not spammable. And like Durnitol says, faster heals are still more effective at keeping a tank up.

I agree with Durn. The nerf doesn't make sense to me either. What is the reasoning they give for it?

Seems like from Durn's numbers, adjusted with IWS returns gives HW and LHW roughly the same HPM. Have I interpreted the charts correctly?