Not just one Overton window
23 hours ago
I'm watching the changes to the Priest t10 4pc bonus closely. There was a very strong reaction to the change initially proposed on the PTR, but I think it's really important that people recognize how often tier bonuses change on the PTR. It's not uncommon for Blizz to start a PTR cycle with a fairly blase tier bonus, and then tweak it. Currently, the initial 5% bonus to Power Word: Shield and Renew has been changed to a 5% bonus to Power Word: Shield and 10% to Circle of Healing.
That is a fairly powerful bonus, though I still don't really like how it's being changed from a really interesting bonus to a boring buff. I can understand the argument for it, however. The truth is, the default WoW UI is not very good at alerting the player to procs - and Blizz really does need to design their tier bonuses with the default UI in mind. That doesn't mean I'm not still sad about the change. Maybe it's an indicator that Blizz needs to spend more time tweaking the UI - there are lots of weaknesses from the perspective of this healer!
I definitely approve of the change from buffing Renew to buffing Circle of Healing. I realize that Renew is becoming particularly popular among Holy Priests, but Circle of Healing is the trademark Holy spell. Buffing Renew is a buff to single target healing - even if you heal several people, one at a time. The more druids you have in a raid, the easier it is to argue that Renew is not as useful. Instant cast burst AoE heal? That's Circle of Healing - and that's the signature Holy Priest move.
The post on the forums announcing the changes appears to have an error, but check out the test realm patch notes on the PTR site to see the change.
That is a fairly powerful bonus, though I still don't really like how it's being changed from a really interesting bonus to a boring buff. I can understand the argument for it, however. The truth is, the default WoW UI is not very good at alerting the player to procs - and Blizz really does need to design their tier bonuses with the default UI in mind. That doesn't mean I'm not still sad about the change. Maybe it's an indicator that Blizz needs to spend more time tweaking the UI - there are lots of weaknesses from the perspective of this healer!
I definitely approve of the change from buffing Renew to buffing Circle of Healing. I realize that Renew is becoming particularly popular among Holy Priests, but Circle of Healing is the trademark Holy spell. Buffing Renew is a buff to single target healing - even if you heal several people, one at a time. The more druids you have in a raid, the easier it is to argue that Renew is not as useful. Instant cast burst AoE heal? That's Circle of Healing - and that's the signature Holy Priest move.
The post on the forums announcing the changes appears to have an error, but check out the test realm patch notes on the PTR site to see the change.
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A change in the right direction.
Although I cast renew a lot, I do like this bonus better. As you said, it is still not very interesting though. I wasn't convinced that the first renew bonus was going to stay the way it was, but this seems to be more likely of going live. Which is good for me as I'm working on the set after I got luck with a VoA25 drop.
One thing that made me go 'hmm' after hear this change was in GC's "How GC plays a healer" post he mentioned how he dislikes that holy priests cast Circle of Healing so much.
I kind of wish they would replace the 2pc bonus with this and then keep the original 4pc bonus.
It would keep the people who liked (and already had) the 4pc bonus happy, it would enable those who chose off-tier pieces to get the new bonus somewhat easier (less badges to regain) and I haven't heard anything outstanding about the current 2pc bonus that would be lost.