First PUG on Nagrand, My Healadin Spell Rotation

I ran my first PUG on Nagrand last night, an Obsidian Sanctum-25 run with a Guild named Viable. While it wasn't anything special - four wipes attempting Sarth+1, then a plain Sarth attempt - I was flabbergasted at my healing performance.

We had 5 healers for the run - a Resto Druid, Resto Shaman, and three Holy Paladins. The Druid topped the healing meters, as expected, followed closely by the Shammy (damn Chain Heal!). Then came the three Holy Pallies.

Of 5 healers, I came in fourth. And I had slightly better gear than the other two Paladins.

My ego bruised, I checked Recount to figure out exactly what had gone wrong. And there it was - the top Pally had been spamming Holy Light on the tank with no Beacon of Light. The bottom Pally had been spamming Flash of Light on the offtank.

And me? Holy Shock + Flash of Light on raid members, Beacon of Light on the main tank.

I had to stop and think about what led me to this style of healing and my healing spell rotation.

In a typical boss fight, I set up like this:

Tank throws up readycheck. I cast Beacon of Light. When readycheck is done, I throw a Sacred Shield on the tank. He charges in.

Once he takes a hit, I cast Holy Shock and follow it up with a Flash of Light (two if the first was an instant cast). At this point the tank should be getting heals from multiple sources, so I can take a break from healing and throw a Judgment on the boss (Wisdom if Jiz is in the raid, Light if not). I follow up with another Holy Shock and my first Holy Light of the raid.

It's a mana-efficient spell rotation that allows me to get important buffs (Judgements of the Pure and Light's Grace) while keeping the tank alive. Holy Light is a great spell, especially when glyphed, but it's a mana hog. I know we're in trouble if I'm doing nothing but spamming Holy Light.

After the PUG, in the comfort of a 5-man Bank of NiHao group, I opined that the reason I heal like this is that the folks I raid with seem to take less damage in the course of a fight. I mean, sure, they'll eat the occasional Flame Wall or run off Kologarn's ledge, but we're quite good at yelling at each other over Vent to get out of void zones.

I gave the lead Pally's style a try after I figured out what was going on. Instead of throwing out Holy Shocks and Flashes of Light, I just stood and chucked Holy Lights at the offtank. Sure enough, my healing performance on Recount started to improve. That growing pink bar lifted my spirits immensely. I was healing like a champion.

I ran out of mana two minutes into the fight.