empowered renew

[oorbs]

is it worth putting in 1 point in empowered renew just for the chance to proc conc aura? i dont obsessivly spam renew but i do usually keep it on 2 or 3 tanks at all times, or try to at least while healing the raid

[Zka]

I've got 1 point in it for the regen and the SoL proc, it's not the worst 1 point I've ever spent But as I rarely use renew, it's not that great.

[Seraphic]

im thinking depends on ur tree and if u have nothing else to spend that point on.. but i dont think so

[Danner]

It totally depends on your playstyle. Some people love to use renew, some people don't even have it hotkeyed.
It's a strength of the priest to have many healing styles, and whether yours include renew is the core of the issue.
Renew is not horribly fantastic as far as a HoT go, but it's not really bad either. Renew spam is a perfectly viable - often surprisingly so - method of raidhealing.

If you cast renew 1-2 times per evening, then no, it's not worth it. But I would also argue that you are underusing a useful spell.
If you cast renew every 10 seconds, then go all out with renew and dump talents into making it great.
For everyone else, I'd argue to go for at least 1 point. This is what I do at least.

[Doctavice]

If you keep renew up on the tanks while raidhealing, I would most definitley suggest putting at least 1 point into emp. renew for the added chance to proc holy concentration (not to mention the up front heal which scales with spell power)

[rarwzs]

hehe I spam renew all the time xD love it

[Kelesti]

Just one point is enough to crit, thus giving Holy Concentration and/or Surge of Light.

Three points, plus 3 in Improved Renew, and a Glyph of Renew make you able to put Flash Heal on a "back burner" and use Renew as a staple healing spell, Flash for the extra burst when someone needs a little bit more.

[Amallthia]

I only cast renews on the tanks and once and awhile on someone taking increase dmg from a debuff (grip, slagpot...etc) so I only place one point in it.

However, insome of our 25s I have noticed on the meters that a few priests are using emp renew instead of flash heal. Is this a good technique or does it just make you look good on the meters? I'm not very good with math, but if you were to glyph and spec into renew vs FH, which would be more mana effiecent?

Maybe I should dump my GS glyph for Renew and just play whack-a-mole with the hot and FH... Insert your thoughs below

[Izenhart]

is it worth putting in 1 point in empowered renew just for the chance to proc conc aura? i dont obsessivly spam renew but i do usually keep it on 2 or 3 tanks at all times, or try to at least while healing the raid

Yeah it's worth just if you want to proc HC, but if you're an HPriest raiding, it'd be suggested that you go to full that talent out

[[-Spiritus-]]

I only cast renews on the tanks and once and awhile on someone taking increase dmg from a debuff (grip, slagpot...etc) so I only place one point in it.

However, insome of our 25s I have noticed on the meters that a few priests are using emp renew instead of flash heal. Is this a good technique or does it just make you look good on the meters? I'm not very good with math, but if you were to glyph and spec into renew vs FH, which would be more mana effiecent?

Maybe I should dump my GS glyph for Renew and just play whack-a-mole with the hot and FH... Insert your thoughs below

Healing and "general efficiency" over an entire fight is unbelievably variable.

How many raid healers do you have? What classes do you have raid healing? Does the fight have people spread out or bunched up? Are your raid healers using mods and have quick reaction times?

All of this factors into what "efficient" is. I personally haven't tried the renew over FH strategy... mainly because I have just been so use to FH for "cleanup" healing.

That being said, If CoH, ProM, and PoH aren't the top healing spells on your meter for most fights, you aren't performing to the peak ability a Holy Priest can. There are tons of ways to "cheat the meters"... but just because you have high HPS doesn't mean you are a better healer. Where a healer proves his worth is in the role he is assigned. As a 3.1 Holy priest you are a master of burst AoE healing. You can hit more targets in a short time than any other class in the game. The cost of this awesome ability to dump massive HPS is the incredible mana cost required to do so. When I see a holy priest in a raid chillin' out, keeping renew and dropping ProM on the tank, I'm not worried. Why? Because if he is a good holy priest, he is saving his mana for Tantrum, Flame Jets, Sonic Scream, Kolo-armswipe, Frozen Blows, etc. When those high stress healing situations arise, a single holy priest, if played properly, can keep up an entire raid (minus the tank OFC).

So, if I see a holy priest topping the meters with a low overheal and I see PoH, ProM, and CoH as his top heals, I know he is doing his job. If I see a holy priest topping the meters with renew and FH, I should have brought a druid.

HOWEVER: FH is usually the spell that I have the most over-healing on (its still very low overall, but is defiantly my least efficient spell). FH is cheaper than Renew with the GoFH, but w/o it, Renew is cheaper than FH.

Next week I will try to substitute Renew for FH and see what happens. I could care a less about my HPS going up, but if everyone is still alive at the end of the fight and I've used less mana on "filler" heals, thats a good thing.

[dionadar]

So, if I see a holy priest topping the meters with a low overheal and I see PoH, ProM, and CoH as his top heals, I know he is doing his job. If I see a holy priest topping the meters with renew and FH, I should have brought a druid.

Well, if you have an infinite amount of healers that you swap every fight you are right.

If you happen to have to live with what you brought on the current day, there are fights like iron council i.e. where renew spam can give you ~7k hps (yes, i tried it) as long as steelbreaker is alive. Renew spam is the best you can do if (a) you have it specced fully in either your main or your dual specc and (b) if the fight deals a lot of constant small aoe hits.

If I see a holy priest with a "low overheal" however, I think he is slacking in most cases... As long as the remaining efficient healing is good, what do I care?

[Kelesti]

The one thing to do is tell your healers that use Grid to enable at least Renew (toss in Druid HoTs if you so desire). Make sure they do this.

If your renew is capable of healing 8k, one guy has 6k damage and after you toss out your Renew, the Paladin standing next to you just does an "LOL" and beacons the tank to top the person off, you might as well have not done anything. As a Holy Priest, you have the abilities of every other type of healer, small absorption, raid healing, powerful Single Targets, and a strong HoT.

Most of the Raid knows some of these, or can adapt instantly without even knowing it (i.e. a weak Shield taking 3.5k off a target before he even knows he's hit). Your job is to get them to adapt to a Heal over Time rather than just spamming a target you and/or a Druid has already taken care of.

[Abuelo]

That being said, If CoH, ProM, and PoH aren't the top healing spells on your meter for most fights, you aren't performing to the peak ability a Holy Priest can. There are tons of ways to "cheat the meters"... but just because you have high HPS doesn't mean you are a better healer. Where a healer proves his worth is in the role he is assigned. As a 3.1 Holy priest you are a master of burst AoE healing. You can hit more targets in a short time than any other class in the game. The cost of this awesome ability to dump massive HPS is the incredible mana cost required to do so. When I see a holy priest in a raid chillin' out, keeping renew and dropping ProM on the tank, I'm not worried. Why? Because if he is a good holy priest, he is saving his mana for Tantrum, Flame Jets, Sonic Scream, Kolo-armswipe, Frozen Blows, etc. When those high stress healing situations arise, a single holy priest, if played properly, can keep up an entire raid (minus the tank OFC).

Is this not a little subjective depending on gear and other raid healers though?

I'm thinking especially about haste and Prayer of Healing. In my so far (very) limited experience, if I know there is going to be substantial AoE damage, I absolutely have to cast those flash heals for the Serendipity buff. If I don't, then noone is getting healed anytime soon.

[[-Spiritus-]]

Is this not a little subjective depending on gear and other raid healers though?

I'm thinking especially about haste and Prayer of Healing. In my so far (very) limited experience, if I know there is going to be substantial AoE damage, I absolutely have to cast those flash heals for the Serendipity buff. If I don't, then noone is getting healed anytime soon.

If you know there is going to be substantial AoE damage incoming, I suggest having Serendipity stacked to 3 already. Also, if 3 or more people in a group are down enough to be FH'ed, you should PoH them instead. Its faster and more mana efficient than FH on 3 or more injured targets.

Well, if you have an infinite amount of healers that you swap every fight you are right.

If you happen to have to live with what you brought on the current day, there are fights like iron council i.e. where renew spam can give you ~7k hps (yes, i tried it) as long as steelbreaker is alive. Renew spam is the best you can do if (a) you have it specced fully in either your main or your dual specc and (b) if the fight deals a lot of constant small aoe hits.

If I see a holy priest with a "low overheal" however, I think he is slacking in most cases... As long as the remaining efficient healing is good, what do I care?

If no one is dying, you don't run out of mana, and the boss goes down. Then it works. I wouldn't argue with that. The portion of the fight that you mentioned is indeed perfectly set up for renew. Also, it is one of the great tools of the holy priest to be able to be flexible during any fight.

I was referring more to the fights where a holy priest shines alone. I wouldn't want to see a holy priest bring the Steelbreaker strategy to Kolo or XT.

As far as "low overheal," your right this by itself isnt a good testament to how good a holy priest was during the fight. However, if you combine "low overheal" with 4-5k HPS and having CoH, ProM, PoH as his top heals, then I know he has alot of skill in counteracting massive AoE burst damage. You can't keep a low overheal if you CoH at the wrong time or PoH when one person in the group is injured.

It is situational for each fight in what a holy priest can do to be as efficient as they can be. My comments before were more in reference to "why do I bring a holy priest?" The answer, at is base, is to counteract huge burst AoE damage.

[Abuelo]

If you know there is going to be substantial AoE damage incoming, I suggest having Serendipity stacked to 3 already. Also, if 3 or more people in a group are down enough to be FH'ed, you should PoH them instead. Its faster and more mana efficient than FH on 3 or more injured targets.

I hadn't considered it like that, good info.

Coming from a DPS class to a healing class like the priest (healed Naxx 25 on my paladin but it was rather boring and, well, not the most challenging) I can see a lot of this comes from experience. That probably explains why there aren't any amazingly good duides aswell!