Think Blizzard will rebalance Holy against Disc? Making Holy viable again?

[Yunzi]

PWS has a 6 sec cooldown and there was a cooldown ability that temporarily removes the PWS cooldown. That and the talented absorb are the only two left for disc as far as I know. Are there any others?

No - that's it. Power Word: Shield, Rapture (perhaps with Doomsayer to extend it's duration), and Clarity of Will are the only remaining absorb abilities.

Clarity of Will because it doesn't apply atonement is unlikely to be commonly selected in raids, despite the lackluster T90 alternatives of Divine Star and Halo. It's largely a 5-man tank healing tool. It's 2.5 second base cast time is a large amount of time to be neither applying atonement nor healing the atonement targets.

Rapture with PWS is powerful, since PWS remains an instant (GCD) cast and applies atonement. When lined up with Pontifex with Renewal of Faith (increases all atonement durations by 10 seconds) this sequence can occur (with Contrition which increases atonement durations by 33%), assuming 10% or so Haste:

PWS > Rapture (Doomsayer Rank 3) > PWS > PWS > PWS > PWS > PWS > PWS > PWS > PWS > Power Word: Radiance > Pontifex (Renewal of Faith) > Penance > Smite > Smite > Penance > Smite > Smite > Smite > Penance

So there's a maximum of 15 atonement targets all lasting for 10+ seconds after Pontifex 9 of whom have shields on them and all of whom get a large amount of subsequent healing. This is a good sequence for handling a large raid-wide damage ability, and it's not terrible on mana cost, but notice how well-timed it has to be - you're starting the sequence well in advance of the damage, and it gets messed up if it's mistimed.

[Moistie]

Interesting. Does mind blast have a cooldown for disc? I am imagining mind blast is disc's version of atonement flash heal whereas smite is a bit like heal in terms of mana cost.

[Yunzi]

Interesting. Does mind blast have a cooldown for disc? I am imagining mind blast is disc's version of atonement flash heal whereas smite is a bit like heal in terms of mana cost.

Disc will be a very complicated spec to play in Legion, with this a minor aspect of the new level of difficulty. In WoD it's easy to determine whether to cast Heal or Flash Heal - consider the sniping and throughput advantages of FH against the increased mana cost. That's it, unless Surge of Light is being selected (rarely by Discipline) in which case a free instant FH may be available. That's all there is to consider.

Instead of slightly more than twice the mana cost of FH over Heal, Mind Blast is four times the mana cost of Smite. However, it casts 25% faster and does 56% more healing. With zero haste, Mind Blast's throughput (barring trait bonuses) is 166.7% Spellpower/second per atoned player, while Smite's is 80%.

So you might think, how is that more complicated? It's more throughput for more mana, just like now. But no...

"... per atoned player" - Flash Heal and Heal are always cast on a single player and only affect that player. The throughput of Mind Blast and Smite are multiplied by the number of atoned players, all of whom have atonement timers which count down. So the Disc healer needs to judge not just the throughput versus mana like he does now but consider which players are going to have atonement on them when the cast finishes (bearing in mind MB's faster cast speed) and judge whether the extra throughput of MB is going to be worth the four times extra mana.

One way to make this easier is to use a rule of thumb - the more players with atonement, the more valuable Mind Blast becomes versus Smite. In a standard, low-damage phase with let's say 5 players atoned, use Smite. When the raid damage ramps up, you use Power Word: Radiance to atone the raid and use Mind Blast (following Penance of course).

So when 5 players are atoned and all need healing, the throughput of MB versus Smite is 833.3% SP/sec against 400% (difference of 433.3%).

When 15 are atoned and all need healing, the throughput of MB versus Smite becomes 2500% SP/sec against 1200% (difference of 1300%).

This is for the exact same difference in mana. MB's 4% of base mana versus Smite's 1%.

[Xio]

I am afraid that priest will not be included in the groups in legion. Holy will be weak and disc will be so complicated and maybe not worth, so priest will be out, as monk mw was out the most of the time during the raids.

[Moistie]

I am afraid that priest will not be included in the groups in legion. Holy will be weak and disc will be so complicated and maybe not worth, so priest will be out

What are the next winning PowerBall numbers?

as monk mw was out the most of the time during the raids.

Nevermind.

[Nyoken]

PWS has a 6 sec cooldown and there was a cooldown ability that temporarily removes the PWS cooldown. That and the talented absorb are the only two left for disc as far as I know. Are there any others?

Divine Aegis? Passive but, still can absorb a lot of dmg. Dunno how that's gonna work out in Legion though....

[Isheria]

All passive absorbs are removed that includes illuminated healing (paladin mastery) and divine aegis.

[Moistie]

Divine Aegis? Passive but, still can absorb a lot of dmg. Dunno how that's gonna work out in Legion though....

Legion disc mastery is atonement healing.

From the preview linked below:

Mastery: Absolution
Increases the healing transferred through Atonement by 28% (with Mastery from typical gear).

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/199...iest-11-9-2015