Guys, I have an announcement to make. This is a special day.
For the first time, I am not in the 75th+ healing percentile. I actually fell quite low. Ended up being 4th, in fact.
I’m sorry for letting you all down 
(and I got beat by a Druid, ugh)!
Here’s a snapshot from World of Logs in Mists of Pandaria. As was the case during the tail-end of Cataclysm, I’m getting spanked by holy Paladins. I’m not upset though. There’s a few reasons for this and it’s largely on me. This is against Gara’jal, the third and final boss in the first half of LFR.
The thinking for overhealing, mana management, and efficiency goes out the window at this stage.
It’s about survival.
The first pull or two on an encounter is going to result in low mana reserves because you have no idea how much you have to pace yourself. If you were told to run a marathon without any idea of the terrain, the length, or the conditions, I’d say you’d tired out too because you don’t know when to jog and when to sprint. Not only that, with the Mists class changes, it’s like getting new shoes, outfit, and weights attached to your body.
Thoughts
- My top spell was Circle of Healing right at the top followed by my holy mastery along with Prayer of Mending behind that.
- You can also see that I used Heal way more often comprising 10% of my healing done. I did run low a few times and there were periods where only light healing was needed.
- Not only that, I was unfamiliar with the fight. Didn’t know when the big damage phases were. Didn’t realize there’d be players being spiked. Way to do my homework.
- Kept forgetting to use my 1 minute Shadowfiend. I should just macro that to something.
- Suffered from mana problems towards the end when we hit the last phase of Frenzy.
- Used predominantly PvP gear.
- Lightwell and Lightspring usage is something I have to deploy earlier. Have to start working that cooldown early instead of waiting for health to get low. In the 3 minute span that Lightwell is active, the probably is high that Lightspring ticks will automatically trigger.
- Cascade is awesome in a 25 man environment.
I know I can do better next time.
Matticus I have followed your blog for a long time now and am starting to grow concerned. You frequently display behavior that would seem to indicate that you are some place on the autism spectrum. Have you ever considered being tested? Seeking a diagnoses and specialized therapy would improve your life.
Just go PvP and be a god. Kthx.
I asked you this on WOWInsider too Matt – why do you use Heal at all? It is less efficient than Greater Heal. There’s math out there showing that right now you are better off standing around doing nothing than casting Heal.
Felade I understand it’s more efficient. But there’s a few times where people ARE low and I’m fresh out of mana anyway that Heal’s my only option. It’s one of those situations where everyone’s at the end of an encounter and you’ve got many players dead and you’re trying to keep the tank and yourself alive.Do you wait and hope that your spirit regenerates mana quick enough to drop a Greater Heal and hope that those players don’t die? I didn’t want to take that chance.
mattuzzi hmm maybe from a 10 man perspective the situation you described never comes up. If anyone’s dead in HM 10s its pretty much a wipe (if you’ve used your battle rez already). It sounds like things are different on beta (which I am not in) but I’ve never run into situations (even in early t11) where I’m waiting for my static regen to give me enough mana to cast Heal and it has any effect on the outcome. Usually, if we’re in that situation, its already over. Heal has never saved anyone for me (it just isn’t worth casting, even on live), and with PW:Solace coming that’s a better use of the time. I’ll let other healers in the group who have the mana/aren’t throttled by Chakra take care of single target healing.
mattuzzi That doesn’t really explain the other 42 times you cast Heal 😉
Sure it does! Don’t under estimate the amount of damage that was going out due to ignored mechanics.
I understand it’s more efficient. But there’s a few times where people ARE low and I’m fresh out of mana anyway that Heal’s my only option. It’s one of those situations where everyone’s at the end of an encounter and you’ve got many players dead and you’re trying to keep the tank and yourself alive. <a href=”http://www.farmer100.com/news/158_Buy_World_of_Warcraft.html”> buy world of warcraft accounts</a>