Some Pally QuestionsFollow

I can think of a couple of reasons why being healed by a paladin might be less comfortable than a shaman/druid. First is that in LK raid content, there's no downranking, and the mechanics encourage a HL-heavy healing rotation, as opposed to FoL spam which was the order of the day in BC. So you're going to be seeing your health bar flutter a lot more than if you were being healed by a class that can use/rely on HOT to avoid spikes. Second is that a lot of paladins aren't used to using their whole toolbox yet. Sacred shield, Bacon of Light, haste via Infusion and/or Judgements of the Pure - we're still hashing out the best uses of these on boards like this one, the general public must still be using trial and (mostly) error. Third is that proper gearing synergizes with new talents like Divine Plea, and improper gearing synergizes negatively - our naxx group (out of necessity) has three holy pallies healing, and even in fights with a lot of raid damage, our main tank healer goes OOM while I'm still at 2/3 or 3/4 on raid heals (she's at a much higher gear ilvl, and the only stat I compare is Int).

As for gear, clothadins still are looked down on. I'll wear mail, but only on the edges (gloves, boot, belt), but no leather, and breastplate and helmet must be plate. With LK, there's plenty of well-itemized plate, so I don't see a need to fight casters for their dresses. The only real weak slot to fill while gearing up for raids is wrists, but still there is a readily available plate option to fill your entire paper doll that will be at least tolerable.

Stats? Point for point, int > mp5 > SP > crit > haste (which means that, due to itemization budgets, mp5 is actually least desirable, but any mp5 you do get still works, and isn't wasted, you just don't seek it out anymore). The goal, as the mechanics currently stand, is to build up SP until you have enough raw power to do the job, then work toward a large mana pool (~30k) with a high holy crit (~40%), at which point you become a perpetual motion machine.

Priest and Druids are topping meters for heals right now. CoH is powerful and Druid healing with spellhaste is just plain sexy.


I think a big part of it (something I need to create a post on for itself if I ever get the time) is that a lot of paladins are stuck in a pre-3.0 mindset. There are any number of encounters from 5 man trash to 25 man raid bosses where smart use of Beacon will make an impossible fight into a joke. Holyshock should be a main part of your heal rotation as well.

I have seen holy pallies get crushed because they are in a pre-wotlk mindset where they single target heal and rely heavily on FoL spam. If you are still healing the same way you did pre-3.0 then you are a relic and a lot of the new content is going to pose serious problems for you and it will indeed seem like healing is skewed to Druid/Priests. However if you learn to hustle while still keeping that focus on the tank by being able to anticipate raid damage (like all good healers should) you can double if not triple your healing and push CoH and Druid hots on a number of occasions.


/shrug

How much SP should a Pally have to be able to heal Heroics at 80? And what should his stats be for healing raids?