Healing Style for ICC content

[Unclepally]

Fairly new to these forums but my question is inregards to healing styles for ICC content. IS there a defenite preferred style ie. FoL or HoL. I've read and researched alot about the two different styles and appreciate there strengths and weaknesses, but not come across a definative answer on which is better for the ICC content.

I usually run duel Holy Specs so if need be can alternate btw FoL/HL

HL Spec:52/17/2 glyphs are (Beacon,Holy Light, Wisdom)
FoL Spec:51/20 glyphs are (Beacon,FoL,Seal Of Light)

But atm am playing around with talent trees/Gems/Glyphs trying to find a medium btw the styles. This is what i enjoy about wow.

My Current Spec:http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Frostmourne&cn=Misspally

With my current setup i havent had any major issues healing or mana wise and although btw the glyphs/gems and build looks abit skewy it so far seems to work. Yes im aware im currently under the soft haste cap and yes i need to change my meta gem back. Looking ahead this build may not work as we further progress into ICC content.

I would like your thoughts on the preferred style and why. Do others use duel Holy Specs and find 1 better then the other for individual boss fights within ICC?? Also happy to hear any constructive critism on my curent build.

[vine]

There are many threads on FoL vs HL so I wont repeat it. Try a search here or check the plusheal forums http://www.plusheal.com/viewforum.php?f=7. In short: the damage in ICC is far too severe to limit yourself to FoL unless you are running with too many healers. FoL spec really plays support to HL specs, they work well together but FoL on its own is too weak.

[Tierax]

I've never been a fan of FoL, I only believed it viable in late ToGC with proper gearing and it absolutely required 4pc T9.

That being said, when in doubt rely on HL, its thoroughput is higher, and I haven't seen any evidence that a single FoL paladin on their own can handle ICC content; which means it requires to paladins. Even then, you are effectively gimping yourself by missing out on the HL glyph, especially on fights like Festergut and BQL. Each of these has melee taking ticking damage and clumped near the tanks, making the HL glyph hit, and hit often.

The debate in ToGC essentially came down to personal preference, I prefer HL and therefore am admittedly biased. In the end, if FoL gets it done for you, good job. Since I've never tested it, I cannot say it won't work. It probably does, so in the end stick to which one you like. There is no 'best' spec, since if I came here and said "HL is best, ditch FoL" there would be 90 people responding with "I healed with FoL only and it worked just fine!" or, "I heal with a balance of FoL and HL and it worked for me!". I chose raw thoroughput, which means straight HL. Pick your poison in the end.

[vine]

The only fight I've ever used exclusively FoL (other than 5mans) is when I solo heal Saurfang 10 man. The damage is predictable and small: adds never hit anyone, and we never get a mark. Any other fight needs more throughput.

[Soan]

While I'm generally geared towards more HL usage, I tend to use FoL on trash as I don't really need the throughput from HL there. Bosses are a different matter though. I guess if your raids healing setup allows for it, you're geared/gemmed/glyphed for FoL, and it works for in ICC go for it, if you're not entirely sure if it will then HL is the safer bet. The biggest challenge for HL will be managing your mana on some fights.

[Akrestus]

To be honest, what i do is that i have those points in Ret for the extra critical. Akrestus - Grizzly hills, I am not as geared as you but i know the Holy paladin class pretty well.
I believe if you want one or the other the safe bet is to go with HL, the biggest issue you will have is mana, If you can control you mana with HL, please contact me back and tell me how you did it lol.
other than that, stack int, everything else comes from the basic core stats.

[vine]

If you can control you mana with HL, please contact me back and tell me how you did it lol.

1] Use Seal of Wisdom with the SoW Glyph
2] Judge as often as you need mana. The more you judge to more mana you get back.
3] Get into melee range if you can and tap on the boss between heals.
4]Divine Plea on cooldown using 2pc bonus, trinkets, or Avenging Wrath to offset the deficit.
5] Choose the right heal for the right situation. There's no need to spam HL constantly if the damage isn't high.

It's really that simple. Also unless you are FoL specced/geared then crit is a pretty lacklustre stat in terms of both mana regen and throughput. The paladin class is a long way from the heady days of 60% Illumination returns when we were crit-fiends.

[Mr.Winkle]

@ UnclePally

As far as i can see you're running 1 holy spec and 1 ret spec, but the holy spec is certainly more HL biased than FoL. Regardless of the spec the style of play is really more gear dependant and unfortunately your gear favours neither.

I personally would advocate running a HL setup. As far as i can see you raid 25mans, as such your primary roll will be to heal the tanks, a HL setup is far more preferable for this roll than FoL simply due to the HPS it can produce. FoL has really only been optimal for 1 part of 1 fight (phase 3 HC Anub).

In gearing for a HL biased play style you should stack intellect above all else. The aim is to maximise your mana pool to sustain your HL spam for as long as possible. Spellpower is uneccesary due to the abundance already on your gear and the size of the HL heal. Haste is obviously desirable to reduce the cast time of your HL and hence increase your HPS. For regen Mp5 is favoured over crit simply because is provides more regen point for point.

[Unclepally]

Thank you for your response ive just recently xfered back to my old server and atm the only holy pally so have stuck with my generic HL spec. I appreciate the whole mana pool issue and can defeniately replace some more gems with +20 Int. I like to think that i have fairly good mana management and have not found myself totally with out mana for any encounter. I suppose what i wanna focus on now is improving my haste rating as im currently under the cap.