Healing staffs obsolete??

[haeresis]

Im in a bit of shock. I use to use the rod of blazing light for the 3 sockets and spirit. Now that I'm looking to shed regen due to the benefits of rapture I equip the jaded crystal dagger and find it only has 16 less healing spellpower than the 2hand staff, with NO offhand equiped. The staff is socketed with 3mixed gems. I'm torn on re-gemming the staff or finding an off-hand for the dagger.

So I just looked up the fetish of the primal gods and see that it has 37SP, which is 10-15 more than the the 3 epic "healing" offhands Ive held on to.

???

[Nezoia]

Well, not really. It's just a question of stats balance. [item=34608] got alot more spirit than the Jadefire dagger, and you won't benefit alot from the haste if that's your gear level.

We gave [item=34337] to a healer today. But I guess the next one goes to a dps.

[shyg]

Traditionally, (this is not a fact, but it is agreed upon by many) staves provide more stats, i.e. spirit, while a MH/OH combo brings better spellpower. Because regen from spirit was buffed in BC most priests don't need the extra stats from a Stave to stay in mana, so for the most part, healing staffs are obsolete. The only Staves that can keep up are the onces with three gem slots, and even the one Nezoia linked is pretty much outdone by Hammer of Sanctification + Scepter of Purification for anyone but the most hard-core spirit stackers.

[Nezoia]

Panda likes spirit! (But I rather want Sunflare, it looks cooler)

[2OfDiamonds]

Well, not really. It's just a question of stats balance. [item=34608] got alot more spirit than the Jadefire dagger, and you won't benefit alot from the haste if that's your gear level.

We gave [item=34337] to a healer today. But I guess the next one goes to a dps.

while this is true, and they do give alot more stats (spirit, in this case) rapture regen is pretty profound and with it, using penance, flash heal (glyphed maybe :O) renew and GH as always, i at least have no mana problems at all, maybe for very prolonged fights, but in that case theres likely to be a replenishment buff giver around that nullifies any spirit regardless.

he is talking about rapture, meaning hes talking about disc healing, and disc healing cannot have spiritual guidance.

for holy however, i can see spirit still being a major contender through this talent, and through meditation and DS it still is to some degree important to discipline aswell.

i guess disc can pick for stats, and now also for looks, if they are matched in SP stamina and int, but one has 'end-of-the-world' looks, then id say go for that, i know i will

[Nezoia]

Shadowpriests use spirit as well now. It's the reason I'm picking up T6 wherever it's possible.

[Mora]

As a Disc priest, I'm thinking the 1 hander/OH combo is going to be better for me in the future. I don't need spirit as much any more, it's more about haste and crit. We'll see what items come up for drops, but i think the stigma of "healer uses staff!" is going to be over.

[haeresis]

Each time I run a heroic I trade a "healing" piece for an epic dps piece I've held onto that has crit/haste. I will have 163haste with another haste gem in the MGT robes, ~1050SP and was around 550regen, I'm trying to find a comfortable amount of regen to have, lots of crit and haste deffinitely makes penance fun. I've been very impressed with the 3.0 discipline spec. Aside from very long raid fights spirit almost seems like a thing of the past for discipline, without the benefits of spiritual guidance as somebody pointed out. This is fun, except I look like a mage now... Rapture almost seems OP to me, part of me is expecting the benefits from it to be reduced.

I also noticed the gravel of naaru blessing has the same SP as the badge dagger now. I came very close to buying the gravel but couldnt bring myself to do it since it had no regen, seems like it took a large hit in stats aver 3.0.

Can anybody explain how the mechanics of spirit have been chanted, I have yet to look that up.

[MaritnR]

BAD Shadowpriests use spirit as well now. It's the reason I'm picking up T6 wherever it's possible.

edited that one for you.

in the first announcement of sp80 a sp would have used spirit, but in its current form 10% spirit spell damage and and 20regain... its all but a dead stat again.

esp now that our dots get crit bonus.

[Folly]

After looking through the existing gear, gems, and enchants a priest can stack enough int in order to generate mana off of Flash Heal and Penance. Even though you do not want to be limited to Flash Heal and Penance, you can use other spells as needed, and then use Flash Heal and Penance to regen mana(with the aid of in combat regen). While this requires some of the best gear currently seen, it mostly requires 213 level items. As raiding progresses it will become easier and easier to achieve the int threshold.

All that being said, I have to agree with haeresis that Rapture will be nerfed or altered in some way.