How to chose the target of PoH?

[Deleted]

Hallo my fellow healing priests!

I have been doing some raids now and adapted to the new style of holy healing with PoH as the spell for AoE situations.

But my problem often is to chose the best target to cast PoH on.
What I do:
- Before the fight starts, I tell my RL to build PoH-friendly groups (very important on fights like Conclave)
- I try to position myself in the middle of the ranged group and cast PoH on me

But still I often seem to miss people due to range issues (Hunter!).

How do you decide which target is best for PoH?

[shifta]

It's really all about positioning. The specific group or groups you are assigned to should understand that they're getting healed by POH, and that they need to make sure they're somewhat in range. If you're out of the group that you're assigned to heal, I would keep a close eye on each of those 5, and see who might be the best person to POH off of. You shouldn't have too many issues considering the huge 30 yard range it has, but I'd really like to note that communication is huge for things like this.

[sp101]

If you are casting PoH on yourself (or another raid member positioned in the center of the group) and a DPS isn't getting healed because he's too far, telling him on vent or by whisper between two attempts will usually fix things.

I've had this problem a lot on Omnotron, where we try to keep the ranged/healers somewhat close to the center for healing purposes, but our hunter always ended up moving out of range because of fight mechanics. Between two attempts, I told him over vent that it is important he stands in the center area at least when Magmatron is out, or else my PoH are less effective and I need to single-target heal him.

As for how you decide which target is best for PoH, I usually either cast on myself if I positioned myself in the center of a group, or the lowest health person as long as he/she isn't too far away from the group.

[Deleted]

If I heal my own group I usually try to heal myself and I try to be in range of everyone if it's possible, If I am about to heal another group I usually heal one of the ranged close to me since they are usually the best option to hit as many as possible.

[Venara]

I do the same as Ainariela.

Either I position myself so it will reach everyone and then target myself with PoH or I choose someone who I can see is in a position (middle-ish) where the heal might reach as many people as possible.

[Denae]

There are some addons which can help you choose targets. GridStatusPriestAoe is what I'm using -- it will show you the target for each group that will produce the most healing with PoH or CoH (or even holy nova, if you're feeling silly).

[Venara]

GridStatusPriestAoE is only guestimating that and the target shifts like every freaking second. Skilled players shouldn't need to rely on that.

[Deleted]

Skilled people are in a good guild where the raidleader will setup the groups for great raidsynergy. Not only buffs (Mana tide + Replenishment for priests) but also keeping positioning in mind. Melee groups and ranged groups. In that case the 30yrds CoH (4.0.6) and PoH will reach most people anyway.

Not using an addon that just helps you with a suggestion is as elitist as ignorant.

(I use GridStatusPriestAOE)

[Kelesti]

GridStatusPriestAoE is only guestimating that and the target shifts like every freaking second. Skilled players shouldn't need to rely on that.

I agree with that, so much.

One thing that I myself do, is I park myself significantly farther back than most of my raid core. That means that everyone by default is in my cone of vision, or at least in front of me (if obscured by boss or other mechanics). If four people in a group are in range of me, but the fifth isn't, I can chain my Prayer off the four to hit the fifth pretty reliably, but then again that's the whole situational awareness thing.

[Denae]

GridStatusPriestAoE is only guestimating that and the target shifts like every freaking second. Skilled players shouldn't need to rely on that.

Indeed, but it can still provide an extra visual cue to help you react more quickly. Obviously if you're not being aware of raid positioning you're going to do poorly with or without this add-on.

[Kelesti]

Indeed, but it can still provide an extra visual cue to help you react more quickly. Obviously if you're not being aware of raid positioning you're going to do poorly with or without this add-on.

Arguably, addons such as this can train people to be worse raiders, because it gets them to spend even less time looking at their surroundings, and further encourages GridTunnelVision.

Better players aren't those that push out the highest numbers. They're the ones that push out decent numbers that instantly know WhatTheFrak is going on.

[Cerunnir]

I may be misunderstanding a couple of things here. But ive always been of the impression that Prayer of Healing originate from yourself? Thats how it was in the past atleast, I distinctly remember Huhuran + Prayer of healing groups. You practically NEEDED 5 priests to manage the damage. These days you can target prayer of healing on a group, but I always belived that it still originated from your position.. regardless of who you cast it on or what group you target.

Please make something clear for me. If you are in a 10 man raid, and you cast prayer of healing on the tank that stands roughly 30 yards away from you. Do prayer of healings "radius" start from the tank, or from myself. Meaning that everyone in the tanks group have to be within prayer of healing radius from the tank, or from me?

[Dentro]

Please make something clear for me. If you are in a 10 man raid, and you cast prayer of healing on the tank that stands roughly 30 yards away from you. Do prayer of healings "radius" start from the tank, or from myself. Meaning that everyone in the tanks group have to be within prayer of healing radius from the tank, or from me?

The way the spell is written, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=596 , suggests that the radius would start from the tank in your example.

[sp101]

The way the spell is written, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=596 , suggests that the radius would start from the tank in your example.

This is correct. Imagine a circle with 30 yards radius centered on your tank. To compare, healing range for single target heal spells is 40 yards.

[scandore8472]

I may be misunderstanding a couple of things here. But ive always been of the impression that Prayer of Healing originate from yourself? Thats how it was in the past atleast, I distinctly remember Huhuran + Prayer of healing groups. You practically NEEDED 5 priests to manage the damage. These days you can target prayer of healing on a group, but I always belived that it still originated from your position.. regardless of who you cast it on or what group you target.

Please make something clear for me. If you are in a 10 man raid, and you cast prayer of healing on the tank that stands roughly 30 yards away from you. Do prayer of healings "radius" start from the tank, or from myself. Meaning that everyone in the tanks group have to be within prayer of healing radius from the tank, or from me?

That's how it was in BC, it hasnt been that way for a long time. It heals the group your target is in.

[harky]

Better players aren't those that push out the highest numbers. They're the ones that push out decent numbers that instantly know WhatTheFrak is going on.

Your avatar is going to your head, Kara. I mean Kel. <3 -- Kel

In any case, don't underestimate the radius of PoH. 30 yards is quite a long ways. If you pick someone in the middle of a fight you will almost always hit your entire raid. There are some exceptions. Nef is the one that pops to mind. You should be in the habit of knowing who is where. Chimaeron is probably the best fight for really getting a handle on this. Most good guilds will have groups positioned so that it's a non-issue, but it's a good lesson in spreading out properly. I've never found a good use for things like 'cluster detection' because I typically know where my raid is positioned. It helps that most boss rooms allow you to zoom out far enough so that you can see the entire raid even when standing in melee range. The 4.0.6 CoH changes actually make me sad. There used to be some finesse to using CoH.