Paladins and Druids to get a Lift

[MongoJerry]

I do use my faster spells (Regrowth, Nature's Swiftness) when needed and can see that Flash heal is better than Regrowth (reliable, fast, front loaded) but it doesn't look so much better that I'd give up the efficiency of the big heals unless I had to. So by analysis without personal high level Priest experience Flash Heal looks like an emergency spell filling the same role as Regrowth, but from observation and discussion it's the spell most used by Priests. What it is about Flash Heal that makes it so much more attractive a healing option in actual play?

In a nutshell, unless you spend a *ton* of points in the Holy talent tree, there's no benefit to using Greater Heal over Flash Heal. Greater Heal has a theoretically small numerical mana efficiency advantage over Flash Heal, but the fact that a person is more likely to overheal or waste critical heals more using Greater Heal removes most of that mana efficiency. Meanwhile, Flash Heal is much more flexible. You don't have to bite your nails hoping the heal lands before your target dies, and you can choose to switch targets quickly back and forth depending on who is taking damage in a given situation. It just overall allows more flexibility than Greater Heal does and since in practical situations it has about the same mana efficiency as Greater Heal, why wouldn't you use Flash Heal?

Of course, one could then argue that a good priest ought to invest heavily into the holy tree and increase the mana efficiency of his or her Greater Heal spells. But then again, one could also put those points into the Discipline tree and improve one's mana efficiency, total mana, and mana regeneration and therefore have more mana to cast all spells -- not just Greater Heal. It's not that Greater Heal is a bad spell. It's just that there isn't the incentive there to use it.