Paladins and Druids to get a Lift

[MongoJerry]

And about holy nova and holy fire, in release the priest boards were filled with complaints of "why have the top tier talents doing damage rather than healing better?"  I guess you don't agree with all those other priests either.

I think that it's obvious that I do. Priests in release only ever saw the gimped Holy Nova that only did around 120 damage. If it did around 350 damage every five seconds, then a whole lot more people would have loved the spell the way I did.

I think the main thing you are forgetting is the difference between PvP and PvE.  PvE isn't solely about how much damage can you pump out in a short amount of time.  The aggro reduction would be a help when your fade is still in cooldown (and would be even with improved fade). The AoE heal is nice.  And it's not just a "save the group from a wipe once in a blue moon" skill MJ.

Why are you getting on your PvE vs PvP high horse? Two of the three examples I gave were PvE examples, and the primary story example involved a PvE adventure in Blackrock Depths. Damage dealing isn't limited to PvP. Priest can actually deliver a fair amount of dps for a PvE party between heals and that extra dps often saves the party by killing mobs faster. That's why I like stuff like the old Holy Nova and the new wand-autocast. More damage dealt = less time the mobs have to beat on your party = good.

Regarding the old Holy Nova, it was great in a party that only had one mage or warlock to handle aoe situations. When you only have one primary aoe'er, it really helps to have secondary characters who can put out some supporting aoe and kill the mobs faster than the primary aoe'er can do alone. That's why it's crucial for shamans to drop fire totems, hunters to throw up volleys, and warriors to throw out all their aoe skills if the situation allows it (they might have to tank a difficult elite, so that's not possible in all situations). The beauty of the old Holy Nova was that it gave a holy priest an extra dimension. He or she could add his or her own damage on top of what was going on and help bring the mobs down. Holy Nova could only be cast once every five seconds, but that was fine. You just pre-buff Shield mage, Holy Nova, flash heal, flash heal, Holy Nova, Shield mage, flash heal, flash heal... etc. It was great. It let the priest fill a new niche roll. As it stands now, Holy Nova just encourages holy priests to stay in a one-dimensional heal-bot role. I like healing and supporting a party, too, but sometimes it's nice to be able to break out and do something else on occation.

But since you've made up your mind on beta holy nova and refuse to actually see what this version of holy nova is like, it's fruitless to continue the discussion and I don't like my opinion being belittled instead of actually discussed.

I in no way feel that I have belittled you. And what's more, I gave long and specific reasons why I don't like Holy Nova. Disagreeing with you is not belittling you. I have played a priest for a very long time and know a lot of its ins-and-outs. I've tried many many respecs to see what different priest builds are like and I've found that Holy Nova isn't worth the 31-point investment. It's certainly not worth giving up Inner Focus, and it's not worth giving up many of the other more useful talents that are at the priest's disposal. If Holy Nova as it stands were a 21-point talent, then I could see why some priests might get it. But as a 31-point top of the tree talent? No way.

And the reason why I keep mentioning how holy nova isn't pointless is because while the holy tree is "broken", it's not broken because of holy nova.  It's the other talents available that make the holy tree less than desirable.  It's not a neutered holy fire or neutered holy nova, it's the great utility of the other trees and lack of anything really unique in the holy tree that make it less than desirable.

Since I spent three long paragraphs discussing this issue and you make no allusion to them and since you made your strange reference to PvP when more of my examples were PvE rather than PvP related, I can only conclude that you didn't actually read my post before responding to it. You're right that it is fruitless for the two of us to continue discussing Holy Nova when you don't actually read my posts before responding to them. However, I make my posts not only for your benefit but also for the benefit of the rest of the people who read these forums. You are welcome to join in the discussion or not as you please. However, I would ask for the simple respect that if you reply to one of my posts that you read it first.