Priests. Why we are so ..umm.. difficult.

[LochnarITB]

Actually, something I've learned having two mages behind Aleri frequently is to not shield before the AoE.  Let the mage take one or two hits (depending upon how hard the critters hit of course and how many critters there are), then shield, slap on a renew and be ready for a flash heal if shield wears off before the soul sickness does or before all the critters are dead.
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Another thing to be aware of is playing with a frost specced mage. If they have gone to the top of the frost branch, they have ice barrier which is the frost version of the priest's shield. This can be applied while heading into the trash that needs to be AoE'd. If the barrier drops before they are dropped, the priest can then choose to shield or heal (or let them die for biting off too much ;) ).