Transition from FOL Style to HL Style
Feedback: Ok, so you've said HL is the bomb. While I won't even see ICC until later this Fall, I am Puggin' now and have the Tier 9 set (lev 232s) which gives the buff for FoL, and with Sacred Shield up, and Beacon of Light, I can effectively heal heroics.
With that said, I read a big post on another healing paladin website, that talked about transition. And it really talked of a transition from FoL healing to HL healing and the transformation of successful adoption to this HL healing style.
Right now, if I spam HL, I run out of mana, and the raid has a wipe from me. If I use FoL, and Sacred Shield/Beacon of Light, we are good to go.
I am using more and more Holy Lights, working them into the rotations.
So, rant as you feel you need to, but we would gain more if you talked about getting from FoL to Holy Light while staying on top of healing duties.
Response: No rant from me (well I hope you don’t call this a rant). I’ve always said to heal the way that works for you. If you’re not going to need to heal with that style then there’s probably no reason to switch or learn the other style. If you are going to need to heal with it, the earlier that you make the switch the better off you’re going to be…. I’ll talk more on this in a bit.
I do remember when my gear wasn’t that good (at a lower level than your gear already is) I had already switched from FOL to Holy Light style healing. I also remember that it was in Tier 7 (but the tier bonus really pushed HL well) when I switched.
There’s a misconception among most FOL spammers that it’s just about spell choice. It’s not. If you switch from FOL Style to a HL style by just casting Holy Light where you’d usually cast Flash of Light you’re going to be in for a world of hurt by running out of mana quick smart.
Gemming, enchantments, item enhancements, Glyphs, consumables and gear choices all play a part in HL Style.
Another common misunderstanding is that the Holy Light style is about casting Holy Light 100% of the time. While sometimes you’ll be doing that, it’s rare that Holy Light is the only healing spell you’re casting for an extended period of time. My gear is currently quite decent and without proper mana management and a good raid composition I’ll also run out of mana.
To transition from FOL style to HL style there’s a few things that work differently. FOL healers seem to stack a half decent amount of Mp5 so they can effectively ignore mana management. If you have the right raid buffs on top of that, you’re rarely going to have mana issues with FOL style.
With the HL style your mana is going to be an ongoing battle. I believe that learning mana management is going to be the first major step to the transition. (For more information read up on the mana management articles from a couple of months back). You’re going to get a handle on that and the majority of your transition will be complete. It’ll then just be learning when to cast HL, FOL or even Holy Shock.
Rotating HL more into your heals to get used to the mana consumption is a very good idea. It’ll help you understand more of where your limits are and how much mana management you need to do. I’d suggest doing it in heroics or even lower raids to try it out. Be careful especially if you’re the only healer. If you run out of mana, you’re highly likely going to wipe the group. Another option is to try to heal against a test dummy, but in my opinion, it’s really not a good option for a healer to practice on but at least you can get your judgments sorted out in a no-stress situation. You can also get a feel for how powerful your mana regeneration is when you run out of mana and melee the boss. (Useful for situations where you’re battle rez’d).
To practice you can even go into battlegrounds, but this is probably the worst of the possible solutions since you’re going to be missing a lot of buff’s you’d have in a raid. Similar situation with the test dummy too.
Ok. Now I’m going to talk about when you should do the transition from FOL style to HL style.
Do it BEFORE you need it.
Why?
When you get to the hard stuff, you’re going to need the HL style and you’re going to need to be able to use it well. The last thing you want when you’re a raider is for someone to be learning their role within the raid on top of learning the fights, particularly when they’re doing the cutting edge encounters. It’s a recipe for disaster.
We’ve currently got a Holy Paladin on trial at the moment who when he applied to us was a FOL Style healer. On his first night he was constantly unable to keep his assignment alive. It didn’t take him long to figure out that the FOL style wasn’t working and he switched to HL. The next raid that I saw him in, he was performing dismally since he was trying to learn multiple things at the same time: How to heal using HL style, the hard modes in ICC25 and how to raid with a new group. The poor guy was out of his league. He was often struggling with mana since mana management wasn’t part of what he was used to doing in his FOL style. He drastically improved in the next raid but he was still struggling lots. On the latest raid night he was just not used to playing as a HL style paladin. He lacks raid awareness, which you need in ICC25 hard modes. If you cannot play that style on auto pilot, your raid awareness will be lower than where it should be.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The HL Style is something that you’re pretty much only going to need to do the cutting edge content. As everyone’s gear improves you’ll need it less and less. If you do easier content, you’ll also find yourself in the situation where HL isn’t really needed. I was finding even in Ulduar and TOC hard modes FOL style (even when specced and gemmed for HL) is mostly enough.
Last but not least it’s sometimes about learning the encounters and what’s needed. Using the Holy Light style isn’t about casting HL 100% of the time, it’s all about using the right tools at the right time. For this, you’ll need to know the encounters. You’ll need to know when is the right time to heal your heart out and when you can take it easy and just spam FOL to top people off. Some of this comes from reading and watching about the encounters and some of it comes from experience.
So long as you’re in epics, your gear is good enough to use the Holy Light Style. It’s just learning the other parts that come along with it…. Oh that and actually making the choice to switch over.
Send us Your Feedback:
