I was really disappointed when I saw that the cast time of the Reverent Light heal click effect on the "Darkened Donal's Chestplate of Mourning" (from the Trakanon Hardcore Heritage raid event) was not reduced in the most recent patch. The current cast time of 3.8 sec might seem acceptable given that it's an 11k mana-free heal, but when you consider how most clerics use heal click effects like these, it isn't. For the Reverent Light heal click effect to be truly useful, it should be at least a 1.5 sec cast if not less. In fact, before this heal click effect was introduced all single-target, direct heal click effects with unlimited charges (that I am aware of) in the game were under 1.5 sec as noted in the table below: The reason I suggest 1.5 or below is that most clerics use heal click effects during the short period of time between spells (the 1.5 sec global recast timer) when we cannot really do anything but use gear/item click effects or other abilities that do not involve casting a spell. As long as the click effect or ability is cast within that 1.5 sec window between spells, no time is lost when we are able to once again cast a spell. Using Pious Light (a 1.0 cast heal click effect from the Braided Kirin Mane item) as an example, I can cast the following sequence: Spiritual Remedy to Warrior/MT (0.5 sec) --> Beginning and End of Pious Light Cast from Braided Kirin Mane to Paladin/OT (1.0 sec) + (0.5 sec, rest of global recast timer) --> Graceful Remedy to Warrior/MT (0.5 sec) and in a total of 2.5 sec (0.5 sec x 2 for Remedies + 1.0 sec for Pious Light click effect + 0.5 for the rest of the global recast timer), I have provided a heal to the Paladin OT without compromising healing to the Warrior MT. The Pious Light heal is small (3770 base with some focus/crit possible) but it didn't really cost me any time to cast as I would have had to wait out the 1.5 sec after I cast the Spiritual Remedy without doing anything otherwise. If I use that same sequence but with the Reverent Light heal click effect: Spiritual Remedy to Warrior/MT (0.5 sec cast) --> Beginning of Reverent Light Cast from Darkened Donal's Chestplate of Mourning to Paladin/OT during global recast timer (1.5 sec) --> End of Reverent Light Cast from Darkened Donal's Chestplate of Mourning to Paladin/OT after global recast timer (2.3 sec) --> Graceful Remedy to Warrior/MT (0.5 sec) in a total of 4.8 sec (0.5 sec x 2 for Remedies + 3.8 sec for Reverent Light click effect), I have provided a heal to the Paladin OT but the second heal to the Warrior/MT has been delayed 2.3 sec because the Reverent Light heal did not finish casting during the global recast timer. So in this case, I did compromise healing to the Warrior/MT to heal the Paladin/OT because had I not used the Reverent Light click effect, I could have cast that second Remedy sooner. If we compare both sequences above, you could say the Paladin/OT received a better heal from the Reverent Light click effect than the Pious Light click effect (by around 8000 hp or so), but given that it delayed healing to the Warrior/MT by 2.3 sec, I doubt many clerics would use it as we usually value speed over strength when it comes to heals. Using the Reverent Light click effect is better than doing the following: Spiritual Remedy to Warrior/MT (0.5 sec) --> Do nothing during global recast timer (1.5 sec) --> Ardent Light spell to Paladin/OT (2.2 sec) --> Do nothing during global recast timer (1.5 sec) --> Graceful Remedy to Warrior/MT (0.5 sec) because that would delay the second heal to the Warrior/MT by 3.7 sec (the 2.2 it took to cast Ardent Light + the 1.5 from the second global recast timer), but clerics don't really use the Light spell much anymore, so a sequence like this would be very unlikely. So what we have in the Reverent Light heal click effect is an effect that is really only useful in a single situation: when a cleric is completely OOM and suffering the effects of a mana drain. The second part of that (suffering the effects of a mana drain) is important because if a cleric is OOM but not being drained, they can often recover enough mana through QM/VP/Yaulp/Rod/mana-regen boosting potions or spells to gain enough mana to cast our cheapest spell (Remedy) continuously at a reduced rate, which would provide much better healing than the heal click effect. Even if a drain was in effect and this heal click effect could be useful, the recast timer (5 min.) ensures that it will not have much of an effect on a tank's survival because let's face it, if you're being drained, 11k heals spaced 5 minutes apart aren't going to ensure the tank's survival for much longer... There is the fact that it's mana-free, and a few years ago, that would have been a benefit in itself but the game has changed a lot since then. Mana Regeneration is just too strong and Recovery options too plentiful for it to mean much anymore. Even clerics without full raid gear (and to get this BP you need to have at least some) aren't holding back casts of expensive spells like Undying Life (8161 base mana cost) for Gift of Mana procs and the most often recommended healing strategy for raid clerics involves casting spells as frequently as possible without regard for mana cost. This brings me to another point I feel I have to bring up regarding heal click effects and abilities (like Burst of Life) that provide heals: long recast timers are generally enough to balance heal click effects/abilities without reducing heal amount and extending casting time. By "long," I mean anything over 3 minutes or so. I know the assumption might be that clerics spam these heals at every opportunity but I have seen months of parse data (from my guild, at least) that prove that this isn't the case. Most events in EOK last about 15 minutes at most for my guild (often due to scripted events that cannot be sped up much), so in that time a cleric can use a heal click effect with a 3 min timer at most 5 times per event IF they are casting it every time it is available. Most clerics aren't doing that, however. I personally only consider using a heal click effect in the following situations: 1.) I want to provide additional healing to my primary target during the global recast timer because my healing spell didn't heal for enough to keep up with the damage 2.) I performed a non-healing action (like a DI or a buff) instead of healing my primary target and want to provide healing to my primary target during the global recast timer to make up for the healing he didn't get because of the non-healing action 3.) I want to throw a heal to a target other than my primary target during the global recast timer, like the sequence described above with Paladin/OT, and then go back to healing my primary target with spells when I can cast them again 4.) I am completely OOM, have no QM/VP/rod available, and need to cast a heal before I get enough mana to cast a Remedy If none of those situations apply, I don't use it. Some clerics are even more conservative than I am and will only wait for Situation 4, which on our raids, doesn't really happen that often. At the other extreme, there are some clerics who do cast these at every opportunity (including them as part of a multibind), but that is uncommon (at least for us it is). Even going all out and trying to use them strategically in Situations 1-3, the most I manage to cast heal click effects is about 50% of the times I could have. Many clerics don't even cast them 25% of the time. What I am getting at is that when you add a "long" recast timer to any ability we can use, it limits the potential effect on our healing output. I won't lie and say that just having an option to do something instead of nothing during the global recast timer isn't an increase in power in itself, but if the concern is that we will spam these effects enough to make a raid event easier, then there is not much evidence to support that. Even using multiple heal click effects in succession only leads to an increase in heal output every 2-3 min (depending on the recast timers of the click effects). So I can go through a sequence like this: Undying Life (0.8 sec) --> Burst of Life + Manisi Balm Effect from Small Manisi Branch (instant cast + 1.0 cast + 0.5 sec rest of global recast timer) --> Spiritual Remedy (0.5 sec) --> Pious Light from Braided Kirin Mane (1.0 sec + 0.5 sec rest of global recast timer) --> Graceful Remedy (0.5 sec) --> Supernal Remedy from Weighted Hammer of Conviction (1.5 sec during global recast timer) --> Mystical Intervention (1.5 sec) and in 7.8 sec, I have delivered 8 heals but I have to wait 3 min 22 sec before I can do it again. And in those 3 min 22 sec, there might be a better situation to use the heal click effects/Burst, which is why most clerics aren't doing this and are being more conservative with their casts of them. This is precisely why the Small Manisi Branch, though it seems overpowered to some, honestly isn't and is probably the best designed heal click effect for the class. The designer who created it recognized that an effect has to be somewhat powerful (40,000 hp healed), have a cast timer at or below 1.5 sec (1.0 sec), have a moderate but not ridiculous recast (2 min.), and not share a timer with other effects of the same type. Yet despite its strength and availability to all three priest classes, it still is not used nearly as much as it could be because of how most healers use heal click effects, meaning its overall effect on healing output is minimal while still giving healers the ability to occasionally do great things with it. That is the nature of raid healing, though. No matter how powerful the heals are or how frequently they are cast, overhealing is a thing and not every heal a cleric casts will reach its target or have an effect. This is in contrast to DPS, where every point of damage, no matter how small, contributes to a mob's death. That doesn't mean a talented cleric can't use our spells and abilities, along with click effects, to accomplish great things from time to time and save someone from certain death, but giving every cleric the tools to do so doesn't lead to that result because even with all of the tools and talent, the situation and timing still need to allow the cleric to do so. Or, if a tank is dying and in need of saving, 1 or 2 clerics get the heals to him in time and the rest are just too late. This means you can afford to reduce the cast time of the Reverent Light effect on the BP even given its healing potential because the nature of raid healing won't allow it to have its optimal effect a majority of the time. While I know the BP effect likely won't be changed, I hope the designers keep this in mind for future heal click effects. I know everyone probably wanted something other than another heal click effect but I think everyone would have wanted it to at least be useful.
You mean the guy who took over the dot revamp project for sk's and necros? So everyone else got gravy dot boosts and sk's and necros now could end up with changes that don't even make sense 18 months later, joy. Gear, clicks, revamps whatever while being aimed at some general idea like adhering to the old or following some formula need to then also make sense in todays game when compared to other items or classes. Just because something adheres to what old seb was doesn't mean its not wasted if said item doesn't then adjust for what the game is now or what else is available while also keeping to its roots some.
