So I'm sure most of you saw the post on the front page about active mana regeneration for healers. Personally, I am quite alarmed at some of them. I have a healing monk, paladin, druid and priest at level 90 right now, and none of the active regeneration tools seem to fit in pvp, in any way shape or form. Mana right now is way to easy to manage (Though some healers have trouble healing the current constant damage against some comps and can go oom) but I do not think this is the solution for it.
Druids: "Innervate has been redesigned to now have a 2-second cast time with no cooldown, and causes the Druid to gain 2.5% of maximum mana every 4 seconds for 8 seconds. Spending any mana on a healing spell will cancel this effect."
So basically for druids, it is a cast time drink. You have to get the cast off, then you get two ticks of 2.5% mana. if you heal, it goes away. So basically you are limited to cc and dps (And keep in mind, this is AFTER getting the cast off, so they know you will not be healing-you can either lose your mana regen or heal. Prime time to CC the druid directly after his mana regen, as his hots will be falling off.
Monk: Crackling Jade Lightning channel duration has been reduced to 4 seconds.
Stance of the Wise Serpent now also causes Crackling Jade Lightning to cost no mana, and restore 2% of the Monk’s maximum mana if the ability is channeled for its full duration.
So you have to get a four second cast off of a damage spell that interrupts your healing tree to return 2% mana. This is a nightmare for pvp. On my monk, I actually spend quite a bit of time playing aggressively, casting crackling jade-however I highly doubt it would be anywhere near enough to get enough mana back to matter, in four second in a row increments. Possible solution: Make it interruptable but on a different tree then healing.
Paladin: Divine Plea has been redesigned to be instant cast with no cooldown, and consume 3 Holy Power to immediately regain 7% of maximum mana.
By far the "best" of the new ones pvp wise. You use three holy power which is a huge chunk of healing, however it is nowhere near as bad as any of the others in terms of danger, in my opinion.
Disc Priest: Atonement is no longer triggered by Penance. Penance now also refunds 1.1% of the Priest’s maximum mana each time it deals damage.
Penance no longer heals, but you have to use it on an enemy, risking a major healing ability to apply dps, in a situation where you need mana, there is probably going to be damage taken as well, so you will no longer be healing in any way, and using a nice healing cd.
Holy Priest: Chakra: Chastise in addition to existing effects, now also causes Smite and Holy Fire to restore 0.75% of maximum mana each time they are cast instead of costing mana.
Not quite as bad as some of the others-though I have not seen much smiting going on in 3s, it will be vastly limited to the instant holy fire. You do not need to use any of your healing cd on this ability, like you do for disc priests. You do have to be in damage chakra, but you already do that to disorient so it won't be as big of a deal (Disorient/fear stay in red and dps possible)
Shaman: Telluric Currents is now a passive ability for Restoration Shaman and causes Lightning Bolt to restore 1.25% of maximum mana each time it is cast instead of costing mana.
Shaman is the only healer I have not played at 90. However, this ability seems complete and utter trash for pvp. You have to stand still (Remember, Lightning bolt will not be cast while moving in WoD) and do a 2 second cast that if locked out locks you out of healing tree, to do extremely "meh" damage, just to regen any mana.
100% of these seem to be based on a raid setting where you have other healers to pick up your slack (Kind of like the old five second rule, where you had "rotations" and stuff for when people took them on hard fights)
in pvp you often do not have another healer to pick up your slack, it is only you, and risking lockout to regen pitiful mana and do pitiful damage does NOT seem to fit pvp in any way.
Anybody else have an opinion on these active regen models for pvp? I assume I will get some "Good healers need to diaf it should all be dps!" but hopefully there can be good discussion.