Healing changes for Patch 5.3

Patch 5.2 is still fresh on the live realms, with the final wing of the Throne of Thunder in LFR having been released quite recently. However this hasn’t stopped the Blizzard developers moving onto the next installment of World of Warcraft: Patch 5.3. With many PvP changes, including changes to stats such as resilience, a new Arena and a new Battleground, this patch is shaping up to be a somewhat PvP-focused patch. We say somewhat because there is also some new Scenarios, Brawler’s Guild bosses and other content such as an update to the Legendary quest. But what changes are coming for healers? Find out after the break…

Updated May 21

Below you will find all the patch notes that have an effect (directly or indirectly) on all healing specs in the World of Wacraft. We’ll soon release patch note analysis for each healing spec and once again provide a ‘what you need to know as a healer for patch 5.3’ just as we did for Patch 5.2. So without further ado, let’s get into it…

Please note: During the 5.3 PTR, not all the content listed may be available for testing, or may only be available during a limited testing window. Keep an eye on our PTR Discussion forum for details.

An important note to take… note of… All the changes listed for PTR can change at any time and may not even make it to live. We just want to make sure that you’re aware of this.

Experience needed to increase from level 85 to level 90 has been reduced by 33%.

May not seem important but for those running alts or for those levelling up a healer for the first time, this is going to make that exhausting grind from 85 to 90 just a bit easier to get through.

Classes
Healing abilities and spells which automatically pick targets now follow consistent rules for targeting logic. Targets with lower % health will be preferred, and players are weighted more heavily than pets.

This is a huge change for all healers, especially for spells that we have no control over, such as a Monk’s Renewing Mist, which would sometimes heal pets and summoned minions like a Shaman’s Totem Elementals. With this change these kinds of spells will finally follow logic and prioritise players over other targets.

Loot Specialization
Players can now choose to receive loot for specializations other than the one that’s currently active. This feature can be accessed by right-clicking on the character portrait and selecting the option from the drop-down list. Loot specialization is available for bonus rolls, Raid Finder, and Pandarian quest rewards.
Please check out the blog: Patch 5.3 Adds Off-Spec Loot and Rewards for an in-depth explanation of how the Loot Specialization system will work.

We have previously covered this point of Patch 5.3 in a featured post, but it’s another very important point for not only healers but all classes and specs. We can’t wait for this change as it means we can continue to heal LFRs and opt to receive DPS or Tanking gear instead of getting the same pieces of gear over and over again.A welcome change as we’re sick of doing dailies in questing-DPS greens or our healing gear! Also helpful to those aiming for particular transmog pieces!

Bonus rolls, Treasures of the Thunder King, Amber Encased Treasure Pouch, Cache of Mogu Riches, and Dividends of the Everlasting Spring now have a small chance to award a larger than usual amount of gold.

You know those Bags of Gold? The ones you get the majority of the time (let’s be honest), you’ll now get a “larger than a usual amount of gold”. What does this mean? Understandably it’s difficult to give us specifics, but this could mean an extra… 2g. Or it could mean an extra 100g(doubtful of course). It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Raids
Bonus Roll
Protection for bad luck streaks have been added to bonus rolls. Each bonus roll that does not provide loot has a progressively better chance to award loot to the player.
Reduced the number of Lesser Charms of Good Fortune needed for the Mogu Runes of Fate weekly quest to 50, down from 90.

These two changes are huge quality of life changes to receiving loot with bonus rolls. Somehow, we’ll be given protection against bad luck rolls (is there good luck?) for bonus rolls using Mogu Runes of Fate. On top of that, obtaining those Mogu Runes of Fate will become a lot easier with the required number of Lesser Charms of Good Fortune changing from 90 down to 50 for the weekly hand in. Another welcome change for us healers, as it means less dailies, a healer’s worst enemy; and less pet battles (if you’re not into that sort of thing) also.

There are many many things coming with Patch 5.3, to do with healers and other specs. The best thing to do outside of healer information is to head to the official website: World of Warcraft: Patch 5.3. Now we’ll be listing the notes for all healing specs below and we’ll be analysing each spec more in-depth very soon and will link to them from this page once complete.

Druid

You can read the analysis for the Resto Druid in patch 5.3 here.

General
Mark of the Wild had its mana cost reduced to 5%, down from 10%.
Symbiosis: Intimidating Roar had its cooldown increased to 90 seconds, up from 60 seconds.
Tranquility now targets 12 raid members (up from 5) each time it heals when used in a 25-player instance. This change also applies to players using the Symbiosis version of Tranquility.
Talents
Force of Nature is no longer on global cooldown and summons a single Treant. The Treant no longer has a control bar, immediately uses its special abilities on the Druid’s current target, and accumulates 1 charge every 20 seconds up to a maximum of 3 charges.
Restoration version of the Treant now casts Swiftmend on the Druid’s target when summoned. This version of Swiftmend does not require or consume a heal-over-time effect on the target.
Restoration
Ironbark now has a cooldown of 60 seconds, down from 2 minutes.
Swiftmend’s area-of-effect component now heals injured allies within 10 yards, up from 8 yards.
Wild Mushroom: Bloom: Healing from this spell has been increased by 100%, which includes all bonus healing from Rejuvenation overhealing. In addition, the radius has been increased to 10 yards (up from 8).
Item Sets
Restoration PvP 4-piece set bonus now reduces the cooldown of Ironbark by 30 seconds (down from 90 seconds).

You can read the analysis for the Resto Druid in patch 5.3 here.

Monk

General
Legacy of the Emperor had its energy cost reduced to 1%, down from 6%.
Nimble Brew now also removes horrify effects, and reduces the duration of horrify effects and fear, and is available to all Monk specializations (formerly only available for Brewmaster and Windwalker Monks).
Spear Hand Strike now locks a spell school out for 4 seconds, down from 5 seconds.
Talents
Ring of Peace had been redesigned. The ability forms an 8-yard sanctuary around a friendly target for 8 seconds, instantly disarming and silencing enemies within the area-of-effect for 3 seconds. Enemies that use abilities other than auto-attacks or cast spells on allies within the Ring of Peace will be disarmed and silenced for 3 seconds. Disarm and silence effects are subject to diminishing returns.
Mistweaver
Revival now has a healing cap of 15 raid members (up from 6) when used in a 25-player instance.

You can read the analysis for the Mistweaver Monk in patch 5.3 here.

Paladin

General
Blessing of Kings had its mana cost reduced to 5%, down from 22.3%.
Blessing of Might had its mana cost reduced to 5%, down from 22.3%.
Devotion Aura now clears all silence effects when used.
Holy
Mastery: Illuminated Healing now places an absorb shield for 10% of the amount healed, down from 12%.
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. Daybreak no longer incorrectly hits the primary target of the Holy Shock.
Item Sets
Tier-14 Holy Paladin 4-piece set bonus now reduces the cooldown of Holy Shock by 1 second, down from 2 seconds.

You can read the analysis for the Holy Paladin in patch 5.3 here.

Priest

General
Power Word: Fortitude had its mana cost reduced to 1%, down from 4.4%.
Mass Dispel no longer dispels magic effects that are normally undispellable. Cast time has been decreased to 0.5 seconds, down from 1.5 seconds for Discipline and Holy Priests.
Void Shift had its cooldown decreased to 5 minutes, down from 6 minutes for Discipline and Holy Priests. For Shadow Priests, cooldown has been increased to 10 minutes, up from 6 minutes, and the spell is no longer usable while in Arenas or Rated Battlegrounds.
Glyphs
Glyph of Mass Dispel has been redesigned and no longer reduces cast time. The glyph now enables Mass Dispel to dispel magic effects that are normally undispellable.
Glyph of Smite no longer causes the additional 20% damage dealt by Smite to transfer into Atonement.
Discipline
Atonement now heals nearby friendly targets for 90% of the damage dealt, down from 100%.
Borrowed Time now reduces the cast or channel time of the next Priest spell by 15% after casting Power Word: Shield (was 15% spell haste).
Penance now deals 10% less damage, but healing done is increased by 10%.
Holy
Divine Hymn now targets 12 raid members (up from 5) each time it heals when used in a 25-player instance.

You can read the analysis for the Disc & Holy Priests here.

That’s all the notes relevant to the healing specs available. Unfortunately nothing for Resto Shamans this time around, as they received plenty of love half way during Patch 5.2

That’s it for this post. Remember to check back later when we have analyzed each Patch note for each healing spec. What do you think so far? Have you got any concerns about the upcoming patch? Are you excited about the changes? If you have any questions or comments just let us know in the comments section below!