Beacon

[Abaraxis]

Ive always been stringent on my beacon use, if your healing the beaconed target you're essentially wasting a heal. This being said i always assumed beaconing someone like melee then healing the tank(because it seems melee who seem to get the brunt of melee dmg mechanics, such as conal effects, pound etc to name a few. This being said, melee usually get a boost(beacon being swapped when needed) and the tank always getting 100% of my HL,HS,DL's etc with a supplemental beacon swap to tank and LoD the raid/party for the full healing effect of a LoD+BoL. Now to why im starting this.

Most, if not all Hpally's i see in randoms with my tank leveling up b**** that they are pro players yet all i see them doing is beaconing the tank and usually healing the tank. Is it just laziness, being bad, or am i using beacon wrong. Mainly wanted to see how other Hpally's utilize beacon in regards to healing.

[DiamondTear]

You should keep beacon on the tank, especially in heroics. Tanks take so much damage that you often have to heal them a lot, but you don't want tanks dying when you are healing the DPS.

[Glimli]

Beaconing the tank allows you to freely heal the DPS and yourself without fear of falling behind in tank damage. However, when you needt o heal the tank directly (Which is a lot of the time), and with large heals such as Divine Light, you gain Holy Power in which allows you to use a WoG or LoD on the tank or another raid/party member, allowing you to play "Catch up" much easier than if you were spamming an unbeaconed tank and then running dry on Holy Power.

Just my views on the issue, please correct me if I am wrong. ^_^

~Glimli

[Abaraxis]

I feel that my question was static beaconing in general and how it applies to raids. Yes there is a definitely need to beacon the tank and help heal the raid but i guess what im saying is the situational use of beacon swapping where needed. I feel like other Hpallies or setting themselves up to static beaconing the MT and just all out healing, and the other side is looking at the beacon and using it where needed, especially since the nerf. When only 50% of the heal is hitting the tank it isnt viable on a heavy tank dmging encounter.

Another fact is that with Riptide/Lifebloom/beacon etc on a tank, the role of Hpallies specific tank healing is really gone, and i should switch to more of a beacon tank heal raid/HR raid when needed and if those abilities alone isnt keeping the tank up then focus a DL or two on the tank.

[Glimli]

I think I see what you are saying now. Generally, I think that beaconing the tank is the most effective use of your beacon, because the tank should be the only person in your raid taking damage consistently (In otherwords he gets hit the hardest and takes the most damage). However, beacon can be used situationally. During our Al'Akir grind I found it extremely helpful to occasionally swap my beacon to someone who would otherwise be out of range, and heal the tank directly. Even on fights such as Ascendent Council it may even be viable to beacon the person with the lightning rod or a person getting hit by gravity crush. You can even swap it between tanks as they need heals, such as during Magmaw when tanks swap for when he nomnoms on their armor.

What must be kept in mind, however, is that it is Purely Situational. The best thing for you to do is use some self-judgement when placing your beacon, and decide where it can be best put to use, and most of the time beacon is best put to use on whoever is currently tanking, and taking the most constant damage.

~Glimli

[Abaraxis]

^^Makes complete sense, i guess in a sense of a ending comment and something that should also be added to my previous statements is i sort of always considered beacon either an extra heal if you will(50% of a 40K+ DL is great on a 50-75% health melee(but usually always keeping in mind, heal from the bottom up) to an extra wall of green on your tank. I just feel that Holy Paladins are overlooking the potential of beacon and just throwing it on there just because, though i suppose in retrospect i should focus on myself and get opinions on ppl that want to progress our class and playstyle and not a weekend wonder.

[DiamondTear]

i should switch to more of a beacon tank heal raid/HR raid when needed and if those abilities alone isnt keeping the tank up then focus a DL or two on the tank.

That's right. Forget about the rest of the stuff you said and definitely forget about switching the beacon whoever gets a debuff. The only boss I could see swapping based on debuffs or range working would be Al'akir ph3.