More details on free Spell Damage for healers
by Robin Torres 
Oct 4th 2007 at 1:00PM
One of the many exciting changes announced at BlizzCon was that free Spell Damage would be added to healing gear. The purpose of the change is to make it easier for healers to enjoy the solo PvE content in the uber gear they have picked up in groups and raids. Too many healers change to lesser geared alts after raids are over, for example, instead of being able to quest in their +Healing epics.It was confirmed last week that the change will occur in Patch 2.3 and the extra Spell Damage will equal 1/3 of the +Healing stat on gear. So, for example, an item with +75 Healing will have +25 Spell Damage added to it without reducing any other stats.
Some confusion has occurred, however, about just how generous Blizzard was going to be with the free Spell Damage. Forum poster Bridge requested a link to prove that "this includes enchants, gems and set bonuses".
Drysc stepped up to the challenge:
It includes enchants, gems, and all other items. The only exceptions are temporary buffs, and some BC leveling greens with "of the..." stats, and some Zul'Gurub items, as there is a current limitation on how many different stats can be distributed on an item, which we're working to extend for the future.
It seems Blizzard is going to be very generous indeed: +Healing enchants and gem bonuses will now include Spell Damage.
It is unfortunate that some items have programming limitations so that the +Spell Damage stat cannot be added because there are too many stats already. There is no time frame indicated as to when the maximum number of stats on an item will be increased.
This is one of the changes I'm really looking forward to in 2.3. Specing and gearing for Restoration or Holy will no longer mean you are gimped whenever you're not healing.
I think that with so much Spell Damage being added to healer gear, there will be a greater availability of healers for groups. What do you think?
Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Patches, Items, Enchants, BlizzCon, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Epiny Oct 4th 2007 1:13PM
Honestly it will still be more productive to farm on a DPS alt if you have one. However this will make the Holy Priest more offensive in Arena. Our dots/nukes will hit for a little harder while still wearing our PvP healing gear.
Junzim Oct 4th 2007 1:15PM
Hurrah! This will give me ~500 Spell Damage in my PvP healing gear which will make for some more respectable Surge of Light Smites ;)
(Don't judge, it's damn funny to get the killing blow on someone after you've Crit Healed the person they were trying to kill)
That's just ~100 lower than my +Damage gear so it looks like I'll be wearing my PvP gear by default from 2.3 onwards :)
Warshok Oct 4th 2007 1:21PM
As a Shaman with over 2k +healing unbuffed, I'm pretty pleased with this. I'll actually be able to contribute some raid dps in my healing gear, and fire totems and fire elementals will do a lot more damage. Nice.
However, healing gear still lacks +hit, so overall dps won't be fantastic on raid bosses.
Gungolf Oct 4th 2007 1:22PM
So how does this work with priests "Spiritual Guidance", which increases damage and healing by 25% of your spirit. So if I have 500 spirit, I get 125 damage and healing, and for those 125 healing another 42 damage? It sure isn't that easy..
Vestras Oct 4th 2007 1:23PM
Makes me pretty happy. Kara's got nothing but healing drops for me, but hey, purp'd our is purp'd out. If I can get over 600 bonus damage on healing gear, hehe I'll be one happy guy.
Alkahn Oct 4th 2007 1:27PM
As someone who's ground up a very respectable 'grinding set' which later became my primary set (going from holy to shadow), there's one thing that is super nice about this, and that's mana regen.
Yeah I can grind out an +800 dmg set in misc blues with the spiritual guidance talent, but my regen is going to be relatively low when I do that. I'd much rather have my full raid regen, especially w/ spirit tap if you can sneak it in a spec, and have 600 +dmg and be totally topped up after every kill.
Healer gear is designed around regen, so having the extra +dmg will make it extremely efficient for grinding in some ways.
Sylythn Oct 4th 2007 1:32PM
Well crap - now my pally healing set really WILL out-dps my retribution set... :)
Dipstick Oct 4th 2007 1:39PM
Don't get me wrong, I think this is a move in the right direction.
BUT, think about it - Paladins and Shamans with ~1800+ healing and ~300 resilience, using their new spell damage to both outlast and burst-down anything that tries to kill them. It's gonna be pretty fun playing as Healer-killerdin but I can imagine the amount of QQ from all the other classes.
Ben Oct 4th 2007 1:39PM
I have around 2k bonus healing, which would give me around 666 bonus damage. Note, however, that my healing gear has no spell hit or spell crit.
Meanwhile, the DPS set I've acquired for my priest (blues, a few leftover greens, a few Kara drops that I got by default) has over 700 bonus damage, a decent bit of crit, a litte hit and penetration.
Meanwhile, my mage has ~560 bonus damage, 30% crit with fire and destroys mobs in about 1/3 the time.
In other words, the free damage buff is nice, but it won't replace a good DPS set for solo grinding. And regardless of how much gear you get, you're still extremely limited by spec. A healing priest with awesome gear is still just a healing priest.
Honestly the only thing that genuinely excites me is that my Shadowfiend is going to be a lot more effective in healing gear.
Mayo Oct 4th 2007 1:41PM
As a Holy paladin with over 2k healing who also solos and pvp's as a shockadin, this is very exciting to hear confirmed. I'll finally be able to do some damage in PvP and not have to switch back and forth between my gear sets.
Scott Oct 4th 2007 1:44PM
In response to post #4: Spiritual Guidance will have no effect on this change at all. All that is changing is that your +healing stat on gear is recieved damage bonuses as well. The talent Spiritual Guidance deals with spirit only, and adds a flat damage/healing to you.
So for example: You have 500 spirit and 1800 +healing from gear.
You will then get (500 x .25) + (1800 x .33) = 719 spell damage.
Fantastik Oct 4th 2007 1:47PM
Wonderful for all of you.
As a Protection warrior, when will my +Def gear convert to +Crit (or +AP, or +hit, or ANYTHING)?
Mystrana Oct 4th 2007 2:06PM
Well, yay!
The mana regen lost when I switched gear sucked. Therefore, mana regen plus almost twice as much +dmg is gonna be fun.
akks Oct 4th 2007 3:04PM
@ #12 - Amen brother. First filthy druids try take over our job with BC, then we hear death knights are being made to help with the lack of good tanks, and just today I heard that dps warriors are going to made into better tanks too, wtf?
So now healers will become viable for solo dps!?!, Does anyone at Blizz get it? Prot warriors need love too - thats why there are not any of them left to tank. Prot warriors have been put away in a box by Blizz and apprently will never be looked at again. Hmm let me see nobody wants to play a tank so lets just make all the other classes better and ignore tanks - that should help, BLIZZ wake up! and re-work prot warriors to make them fun too.
Guidinglight Oct 4th 2007 2:15PM
Finally that will give me an easy +500 spell damage, putting my holy priest at almost +700 - +800 spell damage. That would greatly help with questing.
Baluki Oct 4th 2007 2:28PM
They really seem to be doing this the hard way. What they should do is use 33% of (Heal - Dmg) and then make that a permanent, invisible, non-dispellable buff (like they do with the Second Sight hats).
ratmaggot Oct 4th 2007 2:31PM
As a priest with +1500 heal unbuffed, i just think this is great. Currently I *could* grind if I wanted but it just isn't worth the effort. But with a minimum of +500 damage, it's one of the best things to happen to my class in a long time. It'll certainly make the 70-80 much more pleasurable.
Epiny Oct 4th 2007 2:43PM
@12
I agree with you, tanks are sort of getting the shaft. They will still need 3 sets of gear to be independent. (Tank, DPS, PvP)
This is only going to be a benefit for me in PvP. I have a decent amount of DPS Purps from Kara now and a MS war to farm.
Tiamazzo Oct 4th 2007 2:51PM
I dunno.
1671 healing or
724 +holy damage. =X
Granted I have about 2k more mana in healing gear. Tough call.
mroctopus Oct 4th 2007 3:13PM
Let's compare apples to apples. My Holy priest (~1600 healing unbuffed) is never going to out-dps a mage or a warlock, but that's not a problem because my holy priest can heal a 5-man instance. So, in a group sense, my role won't change. Likewise, from a PvP role, I really don't think healers should be able to compete with mages for DPS - otherwise, why would anyone play a mage?
This edit was created to allow healers to solo more effectively, and I think it will meet its objective. I have difficulty killing anything, since I'm fully disc/holy specced and don't even have the +smite talents. Seriously, I kill things by shielding, casting a crazy +heal renew on myself and sitting on wand for a few minutes. That's not fun, it's excruciating. Instead, this patch will enable healers to do enough damage to non-elite mobs that they can enjoy their basic quest role.