It is nice that we have a (new) passive that is adding multi-target healing based on % to Holy Light… But Holy Light is compared in cost/use still behind to Flash of Light when it comes to its place in the rotation and usefulness.
Just to give a comparison (from the perspective a player sees ingame).
Holy Light
- 6000 Mana cost
- 2.1s Cast time
- 40 yards range
- 36.939 HP healed (in my UI)
Flash of Light
- 9000 Mana cost
- 1.3s Cast time
- 40 yards range
- 30.748 HP healed (in my UI)
If we put those numbers in comparison on a percentage scale
Mana: 6000 → 9000 = +33% more Cost
Cast: 2.1 → 1.3 = 60% faster Cast
Range: -
Heal: 36.939 → 30.748 = 20% less healing
Target: Single → Single = No benefit
It is clearly on paper a loss for the healing but in practical circumstances, it is more time-efficient to cast Flash of Light than Holy Light because you can cast 3 Flashes of Light in comparison to the same (or longer) time it takes to cast Holy Light.
Holy Light
Mana: 6000 * 2 = 12000 Mana
Cast: 2.1 * 2 = 4.2s
Range: -
Heal: 36.939 * 2 = 73.878 HP
Target: Single → Single = No benefit
Flash of Light
Mana: 9000 * 3 = 27000 Mana
Cast: 1.3 * 3 = 3.9s
Range: -
Heal: 30.748 * 3 = 92.244 HP
Target: Single → Single = No benefit
The only benefit between the spells is that Flash of Light casts faster and heals more in a short term than Holy Light. For Holy Light the only benefit is that it costs less Mana to cast while taking longer and healing less in short term.
So here is my suggestion now. With the addition of the passive “Resplendent Light” you should add the ability to heal more than one target to Holy Light by default (without the passive).
- Holy Light should by default be able to heal up to 3 targets for, lets say, 6% of the spells healing on the main target within a 12y range of it.
- In addition with the passive “Resplendent Light” the spell Holy Light heals now up to 5 targets within 12y of the main target, for 12% of the spells healing on the main target.
As compensation for that default utility on Holy Light you can chose one of the following options to even out the field again:
- Move the passive further down the talent tree
- Increase casting time of Holy Light slightly
OR - Decrease the Healing default value slightly
Holy Light as a spell should be more versatile other than just “oh, you save some Mana when casting this”.
In my opinion Flash of Light should serve the role of healing a single target quickly, while Holy Light should focus on healing multiple targets slowly. That way both spells have different roles and benefits in the combat rotation and don’t share the same role.
In fact, Elder Scrolls Online had 2 similar spells on the Templar class the same way I suggested. One that casts slowly and one that casts instantly. The instant one btw (and still can) be morphed to heal another targets around you. So you can guess what skill is used more in the end by most players. Considering in ESO you can quickly regain your resources through multiple sources. And in the end they removed the cast time of the slower one and made it also instant but more resource intensive, due to the way how ESO is more designed as an A-MMORPG.
Here the specific spells from ESO as reference:
https://eso-skillbook.com/skill/rushed-ceremony
https://eso-skillbook.com/skill/healing-ritual
In WoW we have not a single Morph/Passive that allows Flash of Light to heal more than 1 target. And as long as it wouldn’t be added, it would make Holy Light as a spell much more attractive for healers on Paper, while keeping Flash of Light still relevant. And if done right in balancing, this could be done WITHOUT making Holy Paladins any more powerful than they currently are
