I’m a long time priest holy priest player. My favorite time was in BC when we were the second best of all the healing specs in their respective roles. Where we could do whatever role in a raid we wanted if you geared for it and were viable in a heroic dungeon. I’ve played several other mmos over time as well and always choose the best all around healer. It is just what I enjoy.
One of the largest challenges I see for a cast time heavier and more reactive healer in WoW is action economy. I really enjoy the identity of holy words and lightweaving but they require/excel with very consistent upkeep in terms of actions. This puts holy priests at a bit of a disadvantage relative to other healers as Blizzard’s encounter design relies heavily on movement and dealing damage in tandem with your healing whenever possible.
To me the solution would be (rather than lose an iconic playstyle that is relatively popular) is to find a way to lean into it. I would love to hear from others their thoughts on how to make that playstyle viable or even thrive.
My thought is to make different healing spells confer different buffs to their targets. Flash heal provides haste, heal provides a versatility, mending could provide minor reduction in abilities that are currently on cooldown, and so on. This would preserve the design of holy priests being “you have a lot of tools for your kit but which spell is the best” and give it another layer for that same decision by asking “and which buff is best?”
We already have more supportive buffs baked into our class like hymn of hope reducing defensive cd, divine hymn increasing healing received, power infusion, etc. Our abilities already as a general theme help others do theirs better. To me, this differentiates priests as more “miraculous” because we’re empowering others to reach new heights.
What are you thoughts?