"Thomas J. Boschloo" <nospam DeleteThis @hccnet.nl> wrote:
>Dan wrote:
>> Now, at level 35, you get access to superior healing potions -
>> average 800 health restored. You also have flash heal rank 3 now,
>> 327-393 for 185 mana. The greater mana potion gives you enough mana
>> to flash heal 1308-1572 health. At level 41, you have superior mana
>> potions *and* flash heal rank 4...
>
>If you ignore time that is fine. I could just take a healing potion,
>wait for the cooldown, take another potion, fade a bit in between,
>bandage myself and by then the whole party will have bought it.
Time to take a health potion: instant + 1.5 seconds global cooldown
Time to cast Renew: instant + 1.5 seconds global cooldown
Time to cast PW:Shield: instant + 1.5 seconds global cooldown
Time to cast Flash Heal: 1.5 seconds (assuming not interrupted)
Which spell you pick as the best choice is situational, but
whichever you do is exactly the same amount of time.
>Health potion is instant and if it doesn't do a full heal it means I get
>less aggro as a bonus. I don't need much health, just enough to stay
>alive till the crisis has been resolved.
Healing yourself, no matter which way you do it, generates the same
amount of healing aggro on all mobs, whether it's a spell, a
bandage, a healthstone or a potion.
>[snip]
>> A priest who has plenty of mana just does not die unless they are
>> taking damage faster than they can heal it,
>Which is always in my case. I have burned through my PW:S faster than I
>could do a full heal on myself.
Who's talking about a full heal? As you said above, you "don't need
much health, just enough to stay alive till the crisis has been
resolved."
At level 31, if your shield fails before you can cast a heal, you're
taking at least 301 damage in 1.5 seconds, or around 200 dps. (Which
is a LOT for level 31!) Your greater healing potion gives you 520
health, which at that dps rate will last 2.6 seconds. 1.5 seconds of
that is global cooldown, so your potion buys you at most 1.1 seconds
in which you can cast a spell. An instant spell, since the fastest
time-cast is 1.5 seconds. I doubt that kind of crisis is going to
pass in 1.1 seconds, and you're not going to be able to cast a flash
heal in that time. So your healing potion buys you enough time to
cast a single PW:Shield or Renew. And you could just as easily have
cast that in the time it took you to drink the potion - so you've
bought yourself nothing. Zero. Zip.
Is it possible that buying yourself 1.1 seconds of extra life could
save the group from a wipe? Yes, it's possible. Is it likely? No. In
fact, I'd venture to suggest it's extremely unlikely, because the
group has clearly lost all aggro control. What needs to happen for
that 1.1 seconds to save the group? Someone needs to take the mobs
off you. The only way that's going to happen is if your tank is a
warrior and manages to squeeze in a Challenging Shout - pulling all
mobs to him. For 6 seconds. He's now taking that extra 200 dps that
you were taking, the dps you can't outheal, in addition to the other
things that were already hitting him that were so threatening his
life that you wanted drink a potion and heal him rather than healing
yourself. He's going to die. And then, so will you.
>In PvP Duels against DPS classes healing
>yourself is a sure road to defeat.
Coming from a holy spec priest, that's just laughable. A shadow
priest can pump out the damage needed to kill someone before they
take too much damage themselves, a holy priest generally cannot.
If they don't shield or heal, they are going to die first. Usually
Psychic Scream is used to buy time to fully heal themselves while
the enemy runs helplessly around, otherwise it's shield and renew or
flash heal. Even shadow priests are likely to slap a vampiric
embrace on their target, so they get healed during the fight.
>You just cannot outheal the damage
>you take unless you can solo the same mobs on you in anycase (which
>brings the question why you are in a party)
Nope, being able to solo the mobs does not equate to being able to
temporarily out-heal the damage they deal. We're talking about
instances and elite mobs - these mobs are hard primarily because of
how much health they have, not how much damage they do. (Obviously
there are exceptions to this.) You don't have to out-last the mob
anyway, you only have to last long enough for someone else to take
him off you. (The tank ideally, failing that a wise DPSer, who based
on your previous comments you then won't bother to heal, so you'll
get the mob back again 10 seconds later when (s)he dies..)
If you can't outheal the damage you are taking, then you have
multiple mobs on you. They are most likely to be adds - an
accidental overpull or a patrol. Cast fade the moment you get aggro
and 99.9% of the time they will go to someone else. Then be careful
of your healing aggro while someone else builds aggro on the mobs.
I.e. use renew, delay healing as long as you can, etc. And
communicate with your party - make sure they know you need help,
that you had to fade and that the mobs will be right back on you
when the fade runs out if no one does anything.
>> and in that case a
>> health potion isn't going to do enough to save you.
>Again you are ignoring time. The tank wants healing _now_ not after I do
>a PW:S on myself and flash heal myself a couple of times (getting me
>lots of healing aggro to add that I don't want)
As others have said, please go and read up about how aggro works.
Healing yourself or healing the tank makes no difference - both
actions build exactly the same amount of aggro with all mobs
involved.
Your group has massively over-pulled if both you *and* your tank
have life-threatening dps on you. You are facing an almost-certain
wipe. In that circumstance, you'd be better off casting Prayer of
Healing, which will heal both of you (and anyone else hurt too.)
Prayer of Healing is the Priest's trump card for saving parties that
have lost control of aggro. It's what makes the priest the 'best'
healing class. It means you can save a party that any other healer
cannot because you can heal everyone in it at once. It's by far the
spell I miss the most when I'm group-healing with my shaman - the
shaman's chain heal is puny by comparison.
I get the feeling I'm wasting my time here. I'm trying to offer
advice and tips and tactics that in my experience will work far
better than the ones you are using, but it's like I'm banging my
head against a wall.
Your philosophy is alien to me.
Dan
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that have set bonuses as you get more pieces
ROAR!