While I have my own personal thoughts about how 4.2 will make T11 content easier by modifying a ton of encounters and the like, the major thing for holy paladins in this latest update from Blizzard is a single sentence long:
Walk in the Light now improves Word of Glory healing by 30% in addition to its current effects.
Walk in the Light is one of the passives we get for choosing the holy specialization, so all holy paladins will have this.
My first thought upon reading the update was “well, there goes LoD/Beacon healing!”
But then, I decided to do the math.
Of course, I ran into a snafu with the math, as is what usually happens to me when I attempt to do “math stuff”.
I wanted to go back in the logs and pull the numbers for a 3HP Light of Dawn cast on six targets and being redirected to the Beacon and add that up, then look at a 3HP Word of Glory heal and then look at what a 3HP Word of Glory heal + 30% would look like. (Bear in mind that the LoD is cast while glyphed, as is the WoG.)
Only, when I went to look at the logs, the numbers didn’t add up. There’s all kinds of math that is not making sense, primarily because of Divinity and Field Dressing. So bear in mind that although the transfer heals are NOT exactly 50% of the LoD heal, this is due to the tank’s talents and the amounts are correct, although I’m not sure why certain heals are double-dipping and certain heals are not.
[23:41:34.945] Madrana Protector of the Innocent Madrana +3992
[23:41:35.218] Madrana Light of Dawn Enhancement Shaman +6506
[23:41:35.218] Madrana Light of Dawn Feral Druid +7943
[23:41:35.218] Madrana Light of Dawn Resto Shaman +6670
[23:41:35.218] Madrana Light of Dawn Disc Priest +6608
[23:41:35.218] Madrana Light of Dawn Frost DK +*9951*
[23:41:35.218] Madrana Light of Dawn Frost DK +6506
[23:41:35.452] Madrana Beacon of Light Prot Warrior +0 (O: 1996)
[23:41:35.890] Madrana Beacon of Light Prot Warrior +0 (O: 3448)
[23:41:35.890] Madrana Beacon of Light Prot Warrior +0 (O: 3508)
[23:41:35.890] Madrana Beacon of Light Prot Warrior +0 (O: 3535)
[23:41:35.890] Madrana Beacon of Light Prot Warrior +0 (O: 3503)
[23:41:35.890] Madrana Beacon of Light Prot Warrior +0 (O: 5274)
[23:41:35.890] Madrana Beacon of Light Prot Warrior +0 (O: 3448)
So on that one Light of Dawn, the following healing went to the raid: 44,184
The following healing went to the tank, including Protector of the Innocent’s transfer: 24,712
Now a look at a 3HP Word of Glory on a target that also has a 6% buff to healing received:
[23:39:33.759] Madrana Word of Glory Prot Paladin +20306
So a 6-target, 3HP Light of Dawn heal will hit the beacon target for more than a single 3HP Word of Glory. This much, we already knew, and many people, including my buddy and fellow holy paladin, Walks, do this very well.
If, however, we add a flat 30% extra healing to Word of Glory (and this could be the way it’s calculated — but it may not be!) we get:
20306 x 0.3 = 6091.8
6091.8 + 20306 = 26397.8 = 26398 healing to the Word of Glory target.
This dwarfs that 24712 heal via Beacon transfer, even with the Protector of the Innocent thrown in. This is 26398 without factoring in another 2k (1996) from Protector of the Innocent.
For healing on your beacon target, assuming this change stays in the game through the PTR period into live, and assuming I’ve done my math right, Word of Glory will become the best way to get the most healing done to your Beacon target.
Word of Glory will not be the best way to get the most overall healing done, as you’ll still do a good amount of healing to your beacon target AND heal the raid, using Light of Dawn. If the raid is taking damage, that is.
So, a Word of Glory buff is almost certainly going to be viewed as a “nerf” to the LoD/Beacon style of healing. Leave it to paladins to see a buff as a nerf, eh? ;)
Did you take into account that with wog you have a chance to not lose your 3 hp and be able to immediately wog again?
I do admit that my first thought was, well even less reason to cast light of dawn in a 10 man raid.
I love this change for my 10 man team, I rarely use LoD these days on most fights, since it usually doesn’t hit enough targets to be more beneficial than WoG
I second what Gina said. I very rarely use WoD because I run in a dedicated ten man – the chances of me hitting six people that all need healing are already slim on half of the encounters, and raid healing is just that much more amazingly done by the druid and the shaman I run with that I’d rather throw out a solid WoG on a raid member and hope for the proc so I can make that two. Plus I’m usually relegated to tank healing and LoD doesn’t cut the bill when the tank is taking massive damage in most of the heroic modes we’re trying to push lately.
Same for me. I’ve actually considered taking LoD out of my build entirely. I don’t use it for PvP at all, and the only fight I ever got a good use out of it was on H-Chim or maybe H-Maloriak (red phase). I tried not using it last night (this is what happens when you PvP for 3 weeks instead of raiding), and didn’t miss it at all. With the 30% buff to WoG, I think it might be time to officially putll it out of my build – unless I join a 25m guild.
You forgot that : usually LoD is aimed at the melee range so one of the 6 heals will be on the beacon target (less total heal but more heal for him).
And if you WoG the tank 2, your tank beaconned will only get 50% of that WoG, so about 13k, far behind the LoD 24k.
It is interresting however with our +60% crit talent on WoG on people with less than 30% life. As crit will be 200%, a WoG on a raid member with less tahn 30% health will be more productive than the LoD. But the usual WoG won’t.
WoG makes a significant contribution to my overall healing in 10 man. I’m happy to see this getting buffed. As for LoD, I hardly ever use it.