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5.3 Changes

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Holy Paladin’s Daybreak changes once again on 5.3 PTR

First, we saw the complaints about Paladin’s T14 being so overpowered compared to T15 which resulted in the nerfing of T14 on the PTR, but with a buff to Daybreak which allows it to stack.  But they must have deemed a 2 stack of Daybreak too powerful, because it has been somewhat nerfed on the PTR.

Daybreak now heals nearby targets for 75% of the original healing done, down from 100%. Now stacks up to two times.

Still better than what it is on live, but again reduces the appeal of the Holy Pally T15 again (2 pieces: Increases the healing done by your Daybreak ability by 50%.)

Things still aren’t final on the PTR, so we could see more changes before the PTR goes to release candidate and 5.3 officially being launched.

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Holy Pally T14 4pc nerfed but Daybreak buffed in 5.3

Well, the speculation that the Holy Pally T14 4pc bonus would be nerfed has made its way to reality in the 5.3 PTR patch notes.

Tier-14 Holy Paladin 4-piece set bonus now reduces the cooldown of Holy Shock by 1 second, down from 2 seconds.

Not really surprising, considering how overpowered Holy Pallies considered their previous tier’s 4pc bonus, but also gives pallies some time to get their tokens before patch 5.3 drops and the nerf comes into effect.

Fortunately, there is also a change in the patch notes that buffs Daybreak, something that Pallies thought was quite underwhelming.  Here are the T15 bonuses:

2 pieces: Increases the healing done by your Daybreak ability by 50%.
4 pieces: Increases the healing transferred to your Beacon of Light target by 20%.

And here is the buff to Daybreak:

Daybreak is now a stackable effect with a duration of 10 seconds, stacks up to 2 times, and causes the next Holy Shock to also heal other allies within 10 yards of the target for an amount equal to 75%/150% of the original healing done.

The buff might not compete with the pre-T14 bonus, but does make the T15 a bit more appealing to Pallies upgrading to T15.

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Holy Paladin Mastery: Illuminated Healing shield has been reduced in 5.3

Holy pallies love their mastery shields, and 5.3 will see a slight reduction in Illuminated Healing Shields.

For many holy pallies, Illuminated Healing is their number one healing spell by a large margin – 30-40% of total overall healing, so even though a 2% nerf seems small, that will have a much larger impact overall.

Here is the nerf:

Mastery: Illuminated Healing now places an absorb shield for 10% of the amount healed, down from 12%.

Not much discussion on the change yet, however Pallies are overpowered (along with Priests) currently, so this is obviously to combat that.  And non-shield healers will like the fact that one of the biggest absorbs in the game is being slightly nerfed.

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Holy Pally T14 4pc could be nerfed

UPDATE: This nerf has been confirmed.

Many Holy Pallies have been commenting on how strong the T14 4pc bonus is – so much so that Holy Pallies currently raiding in Throne of Thunder are going back to try and get heroic tier tokens (for those with only normal tier, or worse, LFR tier) so they can maximize their stats while still retaining their T14 4pc set bonus.  Not only that, they are eagerly awaiting and saving valor points so they can upgrade any non-upgraded heroic tier pieces with the valor upgrade system for when 5.3 drops.

Pallies are also faced with the problem that unless their helm is already heroic (which many don’t, since it dropped from Heroic Sha in Terrace), they cannot equip the legendary meta gem, which requires a minimum 502 ilvl.

The current T14 set bonuses are:

While the lacklustre T15 set bonuses are:

Even with the reduced stats, people are getting more throughput from the lesser ilvl T14 over the T15.  And since Holy hasn’t seen a buff or change to the current T15 bonuses, it is starting to appear that Blizzard just might nerf the T14 bonuses to compensate.

Here is the complete Twitter thread that discussed a possible nerf, and the T14 > T15 issue.

hpallyt14

Playing the game with old tier sets, and hoping Blizzard doesn’t nerf them, is always a dangerous game, since Blizzard doesn’t seem to have a problem nerfing previous tiers bonuses on a moments notice.  If you are a Holy Pally and have stuck with the old tier while passing on T15 tokens, I would suggest you start collecting tier and using coins to get the new T15 ASAP.

Some discussions on the over-poweredness of T14 over T15 and the possible nerf:
Holy Paladin T14 vs T15 (Blizzard forums)

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Rumored 5.3 changes to healer mana pools are not real

When the recent 5.3 PTR patch notes hit, there was definite panic amongst mana starved healers worried that they were just about to be hit with a reduced mana pool, nerfing mana pool size of some healers from 300k mana to 225k mana.

Druid:
Balance & Restoration

Paladin:
Holy

  • Holy Insight now increases your mana pool by 300%, down from 400%.

Shaman:
Restoration

However, the other three healing classes did not have any such “nerf” on their PTR patch notes.  However, as you can imagine, Ghostcrawler was asked about it, and here is his response.

gcmanapools

So healers can (maybe) let out a sigh of relief.  So there could be something going on with overall mana pools that would relate to this change, but it remains to be seen.  But does anyone else miss the days when you could actually increase your mana pool size and not have it static as it is now?

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Disc Priest Atonement nerf might be reduced for 5.3

One of the 5.3 nerfs that had many disc priests crying was the nerf of Atonement by 20%.  Currently on the PTR, the notes state:

Atonement now heals for 80% of the damage dealt, down from 100%.

However, a tweet from Ghostcrawler has given discs some hope that the nerf might only be 10% instead of the 20% currently seen on the PTR.

gcatonementnerfs

Great potential news for discs, although I am sure some non-disc healers that are trying to keep up with overpowered priests right now will be a bit disappointed.

UPDATE: Atonement nerf was reduced to 10% from 20%.