Blizzard’s new plan for Monks.
I just read the Patch 5.1 notes and found some alarming, yet not altogether surprising new information about where monks may be heading
It shouldn’t come as a surprise though, that Mistweaver monks are getting nerfed. However, other changes make me wonder if Blizzard is hoping monks will change their healing style. Let’s go over some of the changes.
- All monk healing spells’ mana cost is being increased by 10%.
- Chi Burst and Chi Wave’s heals are being nerfed by 25%. Zen Sphere’s detonate heal has also been reduced by 25%.
- Renewing Mists now only heals 2 extra targets, down from 3.
- Healing Spheres have had their base healing increased by 20%.
- Soothing Mists and Crackling Jade Lightning will now have a 35% chance to increase Chi, and the cost of Soothing Mists has been reduced by 33%.
- Haste is now 50% more effective when in Stance of the Wise Serpent.
- You have a chance equal to your crit to generate double the amount of Mana Tea stacks.
- Tiger Palm now provides the armor reduction in one stack instead of 3.
A lot of interesting, and also scary, changes. Some of them I don’t really understand, but some of them don’t surprise me.
Mana Changes
The increase in mana to all spells is a scary change for me, but still not a surprising one. With proper use of Mana Tea, you do tend to last a lot longer than other classes. In LFR, I don’t have infinite mana, but I do outlast the other healers around me. I always assumed it was other healers being overzealous with their spells (which I notice happens a lot) or not using mana cds properly. This thought also has to do with the fact that if I mess up my Mana Tea use, I find myself in relative mana pain, so I don’t find it exclusively class based.
The Mana Tea leaf change is weird. From what I can tell, it’s saying we have a chance equal to our Crit to gain 2 Mana Tea stacks instead of just 1. Assuming that this happens a decent amount, this might offset the mana increase of our spells, because we would need to use less mana and chi to gain the stacks.
Ranged more?
The decrease in mana for Soothing Mists, as well as the increase in Chi generation by 10% so that it sits at 35% is interesting. While other healing spells got nerfed in one form or another, this one got relatively buffed. Does Blizz want us to use it more and be in ranged? I’m not 100% updated with priest healing, but I assume that Atonement (Smite Healing)for Disc Priests is relatively optional. I do not feel that way about Mistweavers being in melee and using Jab. This change though could make DPSing for heals more optional. I’ll have to see if 35% really makes Chi generation easier.
Healing Spheres rawr?
I think Blizz wants us to use Healing Spheres more. Or our mastery. Or both. The increase in Healing Spehere’s base was kinda nice. Originally they had made it so Healing Spheres would explode in a small area if they went unused, but I imagine on the PTR that change just made monks more op, specifically in long fights. They nixed that idea, and instead decided just to increase the base healing. I’m still not a huge fan of Healing Spheres. I hate relying on people to have to heal themselves.(Hello Lightwell. Aside–How come I don’t get a glyph to make it so it heals automatically. NOT FAIR BLIZZ)
Renewing Mist and Uplift 
Renewing Mist’s change is a nice big sad face. Once I’m only focusing on 10 mans, it really won’t bother me, but considering I’m mostly doing 25+, it’s a sad thing to think about. I’m not a huge math wiz, but with proper use of Thunder Focus Brew, this knocks our potential numbers from 12 players to about 9. This will also effect Uplift. This change is big because most Monks I know have Renewing Mists as their highest healer, alongside Uplift. We are essentially taking a nerf to both.
The Haste & Crit Thing
I don’t understand the haste addition to Stance of the Wise Serpent. Is it to help our Eminence healing? Or is it mainly so we can focus on other stats? It looks like Crit may have become even more important (although for people in 10 mans, Crit has slight advantages with Mastery as it is) thanks to the Mana Tea change. Maybe they want it to be easier to add Crit in as a secondary stat. I have not been on PTR nor am I a number cruncher so I could be totally wrong.
We shall see. Things can change in a day. These are all just thoughts from the little healing I’ve been able to do. It’s been nice essentially feeling like I’m carrying everyone, but it couldn’t last forever. (Seriously, the only time I got beaten in meters was by a Resto Druid with all 489 gear and I was wearing my fishing pole instead of my weapons. I still beat everyone else and just barely lost to the druid….you know what. We do need to be nerfed.)
In other news
For curiosity’s sake, I checked the druid changes, and there is no Tree love. And they do need it. Check out this post from Beru.
