Thoughts on ICC

So it seems the new 3.3 patch is coming tomorrow and with it some changes to the game and a new instance! Well a new area of instances I should say because there will be a set of 5mans, 10mans and 25mans to play through, which all in some way include Arthas, as has most things until now, come to think of it. That is what Northrend is all about after all :P

Anyway, what do we think about this new patch? What do I think about it? First of all, nothing interesting has happened to the class I enjoy the most - healing priests. I play most classes on a regular basis (except rogue actually) so I'm more or less interested in any class changes that happen. But I'm mainly interested in healing priests and unfortunately (or luckily) there hasn't been much action on that front. Last big change was probably with the Soul Warding talent to Disc which made the spec viable, and awesome, for raid healing. For this patch we get two minor buffs, and I mean minor. Divine Hymn gets its cd lowered to 8 from 10. I can't say I'll notice that much, but it's an awesome spell and any lowering of the cd is of course welcome. And secondly we can now cast Power Word: Shield on npcs. Wow, thanks. Unless there is some critical moment in the ICC instances where that will be extremely necessary and useful, I can't say I've ever missed that option. Maybe on Thrall in Old Hillsbrad Foothills or on Arthas in Culling of Stratholme gauntlet run. Maybe. But again, it is a buff and more welcome than nothing.
Somehow this makes me think that Blizzard think that healing priests are at a good place right now, not too good and not too bad, since they don't want to change anything. And I have to agree. Even if not getting any changes could feel a little boring, I can't really say where it would be needed (and still be fair and reasonable of course, I've always wished for an IWIN button though). Right now, both disc and holy work very well.

Ok I can think of one thing; they should change the mechanics of Lightwell. It's a great spell and a great idea of a spell, but no one likes it because of how it works. You have to target it to use it and honestly, how many dps like to retarget? Even for a split second? Even if it saves their lives? Not many. My dream come true would be if they made so it works like the lightwell in Trial of the Champion does. A beacon of sprouting heals. Yeah that would be completely awesome and sooo good from a healer perspective. And not likely to happen. But they could at least make it so that you don't have to re-target it to get heals. The mechanic is there, because you don't have to target the Mage-table or Healthstone-thingy to activate what it does (just click it, which is miles away from targeting it). Maybe it could have an aura of healing? So when you get close to it it heals you automatically? Yeah I wish...

And I know there should be a "secondly" after a "first of all" but I haven't looked into much more than that about this patch. I am of course totally looking forward to the new instances and what the new fights will hold in store for us, and especially us healers. I watched a short intro-video where you got to see some of the bosses in ICC and it looks really promising. Hopefully they've done some interesting fights too. Less Auriaya more Freya. Lots of stuff that happen and to think about is what I like best. I still enjoyed Malacrass the most because he was a serious pain in the ass, but for the right reasons. I hope they have something like that! I think I'll write something about that soon...