Healing changes for Patch 5.4

Patch 5.4 is iminent! 3 months after the initial release of Patch 5.2: Isle of Thunder, Patch 5.4 and the next (and possibly last in this expansion) tier of raiding has been released to the Public Test Realms (PTR) for testing by players. While Patch 5.3 was only released less than a month ago, we need to remember that it wasn’t a “Raid” content patch and was more of an “inbetween raid” content patch. It also focused more on PvP, Scenarios and Progressing the storyline in anticipation of Patch 5.4.

Updated 4th September 2013.

Blizzard has put up their official notes up on their website, which we have filtered through and taken the direct game play changes for all healing specs for Patch 5.4 and put them all in the one place below. There are many things being datamined but we’re going to focus on official patch notes for now, which as always, may change or may not go to live at all. So have a read through the patch notes for healers!

We’ll soon have our analysis of the changes for each healing spec.

Remember, these patch notes are not the full patch notes. They are only class patch notes with non-healing specific notes REMOVED. If you’re looking for the full patch notes you can go here.

Druid

For detailed analysis of upcoming changes for Resto Druids, to go the Resto Druid Patch 5.4 page.

General
Faerie Fire now has a duration of 20 seconds while in PvP combat (down from 40 seconds).
Innervate now restores mana based on the Druid’s Spirit.
Teleport: Moonglade now returns the Druid to a location near their original departure point when the spell is cast while in the Moonglade area.
Wild Mushroom for Restoration Druids now summons a single mushroom at the friendly target’s location. If the mushroom is recast, the mushroom moves to the new location and retains its accumulated bonus healing.
A single mushroom now heals for as much as what 3 mushrooms combined healed for previously.
The amount of healing stored on a Wild Mushroom is now reduced by Battle Fatigue.
Wild Mushroom and Wild Mushroom: Bloom now have a shared 3-second cooldown.
Wrath now deals 10% more damage, but has its mana cost increased by 50%.
Restoration
Genesis is a new Restoration spell learned at level 88. Genesis targets all party or raid members within 60 yards and accelerates the casting Druid’s Rejuvenation effects, causing them to heal and expire at 400% of the normal rate. Costs the same amount of mana to cast as Rejuvenation.
Living Seed effects can now stack, up to 50% of the casting Druid’s maximum health, and will no longer be consumed if the target is already at full health.
Swiftmend’s area-of-effect healing effect is now called Efflorescence.
Wild Mushroom: Bloom is no longer capable of critical strikes, and accumulates overhealing done by Rejuvenation by 100%, down from 150%. Overhealing bonus no longer benefits from Naturalist or Mastery: Harmony.
Talents
Dream of Cenarius has been completely redesigned to reduce complexity and increase usability, but maintain the spirit of the effects. Benefits now vary by specialization.
Restoration: Causes Wrath to deal 20% more damage and heals a nearby friendly target for 100% of the damage done.
Heart of the Wild when activated, now also provides a 25% bonus to healing for Restoration Druids.
Mass Entanglement no longer has a limit on the number of targets that could be affected, up from 5.
Nature’s Swiftness is no longer a talent, and is now an ability learned by Balance and Restoration Druids at level 30.
New talent: Ysera’s Gift. Ysera’s Gift replaces Nature’s Swiftness, and heals the Druid for 5% of their maximum health every 5 seconds. If the Druid is at full health, it will heal the most injured friendly target nearby instead.
Nature’s Vigil when activated now increases all damage and healing done by 12% (up from 10%), and causes single-target healing spells to trigger an additional heal on a nearby ally for 25% of the amount healed. This is in addition to the existing effect where it damages a nearby enemy target for 25% of the healing done.
Soul of the Forest has been partially redesigned to make it more attractive to Balance, Guardian, and Restoration Druids.
Restoration: Now causes the Druid to gain 100% haste (up from 75%) on their next spell after casting Swiftmend.
Major Glyphs
Glyph of Fae Silence will now cause Faerie Fire to interrupt when used on targets that are immune to silence effects.
Glyph of Innervate now causes Innervate to give both the Druid and the target 60% of the normal effect of the spell if it’s cast on a target other than the Druid.
Glyph of Lifebloom’s effect is now baseline and has been replaced with Glyph of Efflorescence.
Glyph of Efflorescence increases the healing done by Swiftmend by 20%, causes the Efflorescence healing effect to be triggered by Wild Mushroom instead of Swiftmend, and lasts as long as the Wild Mushroom is active.
Glyph of Master Shapeshifter now reduces the mana cost of all shapeshifts by 100% (up from 90%).
Glyph of Nature’s Grasp now reduces the cooldown of Nature’s Grasp by 45 seconds (up from 30 seconds).
New Minor Glyphs
Glyph of One With Nature: Grants the Druid the ability to teleport to a random natural location.
Glyph of the Sprouting Mushroom: Allows the Wild Mushroom spell to be placed on the ground instead of underneath a target.

For detailed analysis of upcoming changes for Resto Druids, to go the Resto Druid Patch 5.4 page.

Monk

General
Spinning Crane Kick now functions like a smart heal, healing the 6 most injured friendly targets within range, and minor guardians are no longer targeted (Wild Imps, Bloodworms, Snakes from Snake Traps, etc.). There has been no change to the total amount of healing granted by the ability.
Mistweaver
Mana Tea is now consumed at an increased rate of 1 stack per 0.5 seconds (up from 1 stack per 1 second).
Revival’s healing has been reduced by 30%.
Talents
Chi Brew now restores 2 Chi, has a 45-second cooldown (down from 1.5 minutes), and generate stacks of Brew/Teas based on the Monk’s specialization.
Mistweaver: 2 stacks of Mana Tea
Chi Burst no longer requires a target. It now travels as a 40-yard line in front of the Monk.
Healing Elixirs will no longer activate if the Monk is already at full health, and activate automatically when the Monk has less than 35% of their maximum health.
Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger now has a pet control bar for Xuen, and the talent is no longer on global cooldown for all Monk specializations.
Power Strikes will now activate from the following Chi generating abilities; Jab, Expel Harm, Spinning Crane Kick (when it hits at least 3 targets), Crackling Jade Lightning, and Soothing Mist.
Ring of Peace has a new visual effect that properly depicts its area-of-effect, and now disarms both enemies and those attacking allies within the Ring of Peace’s area-of-effect for 4 seconds (up from 3 seconds); the silence effect for casting spells remains unchanged at 3 seconds.
Rushing Jade Wind has been redesigned and replaces Spinning Crane Kick.
Rushing Jade Wind: The Monk summons a whirling tornado around them, dealing damage to nearby enemies (heals nearby allies for Mistweavers). Rushing Jade Wind has the same costs, Chi generation, and periodic rate as Spinning Crane kick, but, deals 80% of the periodic damage or healing, lasts 6 seconds, is instant, and not channeled.
Zen Sphere now deals 15% more healing and damage.
Glyphs
Major Glyphs
Glyph of Afterlife now increases the chance to summon a Healing Sphere by 100% (up from 25% chance).
Glyph of Crackling Jade Lightning has been replaced with Glyph of Nimble Brew.
Glyph of Nimble Brew causes Nimble Brew to heal the Monk when it clears a root, stun, fear, or horror effect.
Glyph of Expel Harm has been replaced with Glyph of Rapid Rolling.
Glyph of Rapid Rolling makes the next Roll or Chi Torpedo go farther after using a Roll or Chi Torpedo.
Glyph of Retreat has been replaced with Glyph of Fortuitous Spheres.
Glyph of Fortuitous Spheres causes a healing sphere to be summoned near the Monk at no cost when their health falls below 25%. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds.
Glyph of Stoneskin has been replaced with Glyph of Detox.
Glyph of Detox causes Detox to heal the target when it successfully removes a harmful effect.
Glyph of Targeted Expulsion now causes Expel Harm to heal for 50% as much when used on other targets.
Glyph of Transcendence now reduces the cooldown of Transcendence: Transfer by 5 seconds (used to increase the range by 10 yards).
Glyph of Uplift has been replaced by Glyph of Targeted Expulsion.
Glyph of Targeted Expulsion allows Expel Harm to be used on other players.

Paladin

General
Sanctity of Battle now also affects the cooldown of Holy Shock.
Seal of Insight no longer has a chance to restore mana on attacks.
Turn Evil now has a 15-second cooldown.
Holy
Mastery: Illuminated Healing no longer activates from periodic healing effects.
Divine Plea no longer reduces the amount of healing done, and now restores mana based on the Paladin’s Spirit.
Guardian of the Ancient Kings (Holy) now has a cooldown of 3 minutes (down from 5 minutes), and summons a guardian that heals the ally that the Paladin healed for 100% (up from 10%) of the amount healed, but no longer heals nearby friendly targets.
Holy Insight now increases the effectiveness of Eternal Flame, Light of Dawn, and Word of Glory by 50%. Effectiveness of other heals are still increased by 25%.
Holy Radiance now functions like a smart heal, healing the 6 most injured friendly targets within range, and minor guardians are no longer targeted (Wild Imps, Bloodworms, Snakes from Snake Traps, etc.). There has been no change to the total amount of healing granted by the ability.
Holy Shock’s mana cost has been reduced by 50%.
Judgment for Holy Paladins now costs 12% of base mana to cast (up from 5% of base mana).
Talents
Burden of Guilt has been replaced with a new talent called Evil is a Point of View.
New Talent: Evil is a Point of View. Evil is a Point of View allows the Paladin to use Turn Evil on players and beasts.
Eternal Flame’s periodic heal-over-time effect now heals for 40% more.
Execution Sentence will now immediately damage the target for 5 times the amount of damage that had been dealt by Execution Sentence’s most recent periodic effect when dispelled.
Stay of Execution will now immediately heal the target for 5 times the amount of healing that had been dealt by Stay of Execution’s most recent periodic effect when dispelled.
Hand of Purity now reduces damage taken from harmful periodic effects by 80% (up from 70%) and reduces damage taken from harmful periodic effects that cannot be prevented by immunities by 40% (up from 0%).
Light’s Hammer now functions like a smart heal, healing the 6 most injured friendly targets within range, and minor guardians are no longer targeted (Wild Imps, Bloodworms, Snakes from Snake Traps, etc.). There has been no change to the total amount of healing granted by the ability.
Sacred Shield
Holy: Sacred Shield now applies its damage absorption shield immediately, can be active on more than one target at a time, but the talent now costs mana and has 3 charges with a 10-second recharge.
Sanctified Wrath
Holy: Sanctified Wrath now also increases the critical strike chance of Holy Shock by 20%.
Selfless Healer in addition to its current effects, now also causes Judgment to generate a charge of Holy Power for Holy Paladins. Stacks of Selfless Healer now reduce the cast time, mana cost, and improve the effectiveness of Divine Light, Flash of Light, and Holy Radiance.
Bastion of Glory will now apply Selfless Healer’s bonus to healing to the casting Paladin as well as other targets and consume all stacks of Bastion of Glory in the process.
Unbreakable Spirit has been simplified. It now reduces the cooldown on Divine Shield, Divine Protection, and Lay on Hands by 50%.
Glyphs
New Major Glyphs
Glyph of Divine Shield: Removing harmful effects with Divine Shield heals the Paladin for each effect removed. This heal cannot exceed a percentage of the Paladin’s maximum health.
Glyph of Hand of Sacrifice: Hand of Sacrifice no longer transfers damage taken by the target to the Paladin.
Major Glyphs
Glyph of Denounce now causes Holy Shock to reduce the cast time of the next Denounce by 0.5 seconds, and the effect can stack up to 3 times.
Glyph of Divine Plea now reduces the amount of mana restored and cooldown of Divine Plea by 50%.
Glyph of Rebuke has been replaced with Glyph of Devotion Aura.
Glyph of Devotion Aura causes Devotion Aura to no longer affect party or raid members, but the cooldown is reduced.
Glyph of the Battle Healer has been redesigned. The glyph now causes Seal of Insight to no longer heal the Paladin. Instead, a nearby raid or party member will receive healing for 30% of the amount the Paladin would have received from Seal of Insight.
Glyph of Turn Evil has been replaced with Glyph of Burden of Guilt.
Glyph of Burden of Guilt causes Judgment to reduce the target’s movement speed by 50% for 2 seconds.
New Minor Glyphs
Glyph of the Exorcist: Exorcism will now appear to remove the evil from its target.
Glyph of Pillar of Light: Critical heals on other players display a small pillar of light at their location briefly.

Priest

General
Hymn of Hope now prefers to target healers when it grants mana. Healers will always be picked before non-healers, regardless of how much mana they have.
Leap of Faith no longer has a facing requirement.
Discipline
Grace can no longer be dispelled.
Rapture now energizes the Priest for 100% of the mana cost of Power Word: Shield When the shield is fully consumed or is dispelled (used to energize the Priest with mana equal to 150% of their spirit). This is the modified mana cost for Power Word: Shield, after being reduced by Rapture’s passive effect.
Spirit Shell duration has been reduced to 10 seconds (down from 15 seconds), and the damage absorption shield’s effectiveness can now be reduced through Battle Fatigue.
Holy
Holy Word: Sanctuary mana cost reduced to 3.8% (down from 6.3%), and now functions like a smart heal, healing the 6 most injured friendly targets within range, and minor guardians are no longer targeted (Wild Imps, Bloodworms, Snakes from Snake Traps, etc.). There has been no change to the total amount of healing granted by the ability.
Lightspring is now baseline for all Holy Priests and the ability has been renamed to Lightwell.
Serendipity’s mana cost reduction has been increased to 20% per stack (up from 10% per stack), and no longer displays a spell effect when in the UI when it’s active.
Talents
Angelic Feather now increases allies’ movement speed by 80%, up from 60%, and feathers placed in the world have a duration of 10 minutes (up from 5 minutes).
Divine Insight for Discipline Priests now has a 100% chance to activate its effect after using Penance (up from 40%), and now displays an effect in the UI when it’s active.
From Darkness, Comes Light
Discipline, Holy: Now also has a chance to activate its effect on cast for these following spells; Penance, Circle of Healing, Prayer of Mending, and Prayer of Healing.
Mindbender now deals 10% more damage, and mana return has been increased by 20%.
Psyfiend no longer benefits from Haste, and its health has been reduced by 75%, but fixed a bug where Psyfiend wasn’t being affected by base Resilience.
Twist of Fate’s damage and healing threshold to activate has been increased to 35% (up from 20%).
Glyphs
Major Glyphs
Glyph of Dark Binding’s effect is now baseline and has been replaced with Glyph of Focused Mending.
Glyph of Focused Mending causes Prayer of Mending to only bounce between the target and the caster.
Glyph of Fear Ward now reduces the cooldown on Fear Ward without reducing its duration.
Glyph of Lightspring has been renamed to Glyph of Lightwell.
Glyph of Lightwell causes Lightwell to heal for 50% more, but no longer automatically heals allies. Allies can click on the Lightwell to heal.
Glyph of Lightwell has been renamed to Glyph of Deep Wells.
Glyph of Deep Wells increases the number of charges on Lightwell by 2.
Glyph of Purify now causes Purify to heal the target for 5% of their maximum health after successfully dispelling a magical effect or disease (up from 3%).
Glyph of Reflective Shield now causes Power Word: Shield to reflect 70% of the damage absorbed (up from 45%).
New Minor Glyphs
Glyph of Feathers: Causes the Priest’s healing spells to momentarily grant angelic wings.
Glyph of Inspired Hymns: A spirit appears above the Priest while channeling Hymns.
Glyph of Shifted Appearances: Void Shift causes the Priest and their target to exchange appearances for several seconds.
Glyph of the Sha: Transforms the Priest’s Shadowfiend and Mindbender into a Sha Beast.

Shaman

General
Chain Heal’s effectiveness will no longer decrease with each jump (up from a 30% reduction to healing with each jump).
Earth Elemental Totem’s summoned Greater Earth Elemental will no longer taunt off players that are in a tanking specialization.
Fire Elemental Totem’s summoned Greater Fire Elemental now deals 10% less damage.
Healing Rain’s healing has been reduced by 30%, and the area-of-effect has been increased to 12 yards (up from 10 yards). In addition, Healing Rain now functions like a smart heal, healing the 6 most injured friendly targets within range, and minor guardians are no longer targeted (Wild Imps, Bloodworms, Snakes from Snake Traps, etc.). There has been no change to the total amount of healing granted by the ability.
Restoration
Purification now increases the healing done by Healing Rain by 100% in addition to the ability’s current effects.
Riptide’s mana cost has been reduced by 25%.
Talents
Astral Shift now has a cooldown of 90 seconds, down from 120 seconds.
Conductivity has been redesigned.
Healing an ally with Healing Wave, Greater Healing Wave, Healing Surge, or Chain Heal, increases the duration of Healing Rain by 4 seconds.
Damaging an enemy with Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Earth Shock, or Stormstrike increases the duration of Healing Rain by 4 seconds.
Conductivity can increase the duration of Healing Rain up to a maximum of 40 seconds.
Echo of the Elements’ spell duplication effect can no longer occur more than once every 4 seconds when used against hostile players, and their pets or guardians.
Healing Tide Totem is no longer a talent and is a baseline ability for all Shamans. Additionally, this totem will now heal 12 raid members (up from 5) when used in a 25-player instance.
New Talent: Rushing Streams. Rushing Streams replaces Healing Tide Totem talent, increases healing done by Healing Stream Totem by 15%, and causes the totem to heal 2 targets at once.
Stone Bulwark Totem’s initial damage absorption shield now absorbs an additional 33% in damage.
Totemic Restoration has been replaced with a new talent, Totemic Persistence.
New talent: Totemic Persistence. Summoning a second totem of the same element no longer causes the first totem to be destroyed. Only one non-Fire totem can benefit from this effect at a time.
Unleashed Fury
Earthliving Weapon effect now applies to the Shaman, not the target.
Glyphs
New Major Glyphs
Glyph of Eternal Earth: Lightning Bolt now has a chance to add a charge to the Shaman’s active Earth Shield. This cannot cause Earth Shield to exceed 9 charges.
Major Glyphs
Glyph of Chaining now increases the cooldown on Chain Heal by 2 seconds, down from a 4 second increase.
Glyph of Cleansing Waters now heals the target for 5% of the Shaman’s maximum health (up from 4%).
Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem now reduces the cooldown and duration for Fire Elemental Totem by 50%, up from 40%.
Glyph of Grounding Totem now increases the cooldown of Grounding Totem after reflecting a harmful spell by 20 seconds (down from a 35-second cooldown increase).
Glyph of Riptide reduces the initial direct healing of Riptide by 75%, down from a 90% reduction to healing.
New Minor Glyphs
Glyph of Astral Fixation: Astral Recall now takes the Shaman to their capital’s Earthshrine.
Glyph of the Compy: Hex now transforms enemies into a Compy.
Glyph of Elemental Familiars: Summons a random Fire, Water, or Nature familiar. Familiars of different types have a tendency to fight each other.
Glyph of Flaming Serpents: The Shaman’s Searing Totem now resembles Vol’jin’s Serpent Ward.
Glyph of Lingering Ancestors: Resurrecting someone with Ancestral Spirit causes a ghostly ancestor to follow them around for a short time.
Glyph of Rain of Frogs: Allows the Shaman to summon a rain storm of frogs at a targeted location.
Glyph of Spirit Raptors: Spirit Wolves are replaced with Spirit Raptors.
Glyph of Spirit Wolf: Ghost Wolf can be now be used while the Shaman is a ghost.

That’s pretty much it for the moment, we’ll have more detailed analysis of the changes soon. In the mean time be sure to Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter so you can stay up to date!

Why not let us know your early thoughts in the comments below? Are you excited for Patch 5.4? Do you feel that patches are coming out too fast, even if the last “raid” patch release was in March? Let us know!

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