Ok, I just want to inform you before I start the guide, that the information I'm providing may be debateable in some forms, and there might be different approaches to some of the situations I am providing.
However, most of this information I've figured out from experience and playing with other people equally good or better than myself. If you, yourself, know a better sollution to the descriebed situation, please feel free to post this, and I will edit the guide in that mather if I am found completely wrong, or there was something you would like me to add.

This is a beginners guide, to how you should be playing a holy paladin at lvl 80.

If a word is marked with *, that meens it gets explained furder at the end of the page.

You can get all the mentioned addons at: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/default.aspx

These tips were made during 3.0.9

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Theme: PvE
Specc: 51/5/15 or 53/0/18. 51/0/20 (Tip provided by Turgil)
What kind of gear: intellect > spellpower > crit > mana per sec / haste > everything else.
If you are having problem healing fast enough, try: Intellect > spellpower > crit > haste > mana per sec > everything else.
Alternative to what kind of gear: Intellect > crit / haste > spellpower > everything else
Depends on playstyle, look furder down to see the debate.

Hotkeys*
1. Divine Shield
2. Hand of Protection.
3. Holy Light
4. Flash of Light.
5. Holy shock.
6. Cleanse.
7. Sacred Shield.

These are the abilities which will be used often or/and within a short reactiontime. And it's very important that you have a hotkey for them that you can reach from your movement keys. Attaching divine shield to nr. 9 when you use aqswde to move around (standar) will not help you reacting to it any faster seeing as your right hand is at your mouse at all times. Try attaching it to a closer button like r or t and learn to use them rather than the mouse.
Feel free to add more hotkeys as your skills improve, but it's these 7 are the basics for what a good healer have to learn to use.

Glyphs. Tip provided by Sweenster and Vathyar.
Minor: Lay on Hands. 20%+ lay of hands mana back. Prob the only usefull minor glypht out there today.
Major: Cleansing. 20% less manacost on cleanse and purify.
Major: Seal of Wisdom. 5% less manacost for each healingspell when seal of wisdom is active.
Major: Seal of Light. 5% extra healing when seal of light is active. Use eider this or seal of wisdom, not both
Major: Flash of Light. 5% extra crit with flash of light, good for early game encounters.
Major: Holy Light. 10% of each holy light heal is transfered to up to 5 friendlies within 8 yards.
So: Cleaning + Wisdom/Light + Flash/Holy

Addons:
Deadly Boss Mode.
Decursive.
Pallypower.
Healbot.

Gender: Tactics.

General: Your lvl 80, surly you have learned to see the signs of when you must heal someone right before they die. However, the trick about good healing is not just about keeping people alive. It's about thinking ahead, using the less costy spells when the needs are not so great, even though they take more time to cast for the same amount of healing.
It will for instance, be a waste to wait for the moment right before they run out of hp, then drain your manapool to the limit each time in saving the day, before you finally blame the dps for not doing enough damage because you run out of mana.
Simple abilities like Cleanse might save you for alot of mana based on how quick you are to use it, by cleansing a poison that lasts for 10 sec, which ticks for 3k every 2 sec, you will "heal" 12k-15k if you cleanse it right away. 200 mana for a 12k damage reduction or 1200 mana for a 12k heal. You make the math. Allways judge the maintarget, this will give you haste and increase +3 crit on the target aswell. If specced right.

Sub Category - Normal tank and spank.
In these fights your tank will be taking all or most of the damage at all time. You should try perserve your mana at the best of your abilities by using sacred shield + flash of light and holy shock if needed.
If your tank is spiking* or you see your healing with this tactick wont make it, dont suddenly start casting Holy Light, keep spamming Flash of Light until your next Holy Shock is ready. After the Holy Shock you may start casting Holy Light and spam it (note that this may be very manaconsuming, but necessary in order to keep the tank alive in sertain situations.) Return to using Flash of Light when you see the danger is over.

Sub Category - Normal partydamage.
Most fights dont mainly focus on 1 target, usually there are atleast 2 targets that are taking damage.
In these cases the tank should be one of the targets taking most damage. So you will put the Beacon of Light on him, together with Sacred Shield. Note that only what you accually heal (not overheal) will be transfered to your Beacon of Light target.
So if your tank aint in range of you, you wont be able to heal him by spamhealing someone with full hp.
Also if someone else heal the target before you, you will "miss" the heal on the tank. So be careful.
When you are in this situation, if under heavy fire you will switz in using Holy Light and Holy Shock on the party members and heal the tank only when he is the only one without close to full hp (note that the transfertime for beacon of light is aprox 1 sec.), if under light fire, you spam Flash of Light on the partymembers, and throw a accationally holy shock on the tank (or even Holy Light) to balance things out.

Sub Category - AoE*
Now, our ways are a bit different here than the other healing classes. We dont accually heal AoE, but we can build up defences against AoE.
If you know your party will be taking AoE damage, plan ahead. Buff everyone with Sacred Shield. This will reduce the aoe your team will be taking greatly, and it will be much easier to singeltarget heal everyone without someone dieing. Also Beacon of Light is a must, pref on the tank, seeing as they usually take more damage than the average partymember and need more attention.

More advanced hotkeys.
8. Hammer of Justice.
9. Beacon of Light.
10. Hand of Freedom.
11. Divine Illumination.
12. Judgement of Light/Wisdom.
13. Divine Plea.
14. Lay on Hands.
15. Healing Potion.
16. Exorism.
17. Holy Wrath.

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Theme: PvP
Specc: 37/0/34, 49/0/22, 51/13/7 (These are the most comon. Try look up the armory at wow-europe and search for high rated arenateams and look around for holy paladines to get some idea of what to get.)
Specc comment: It's very important that you, as holy, have Holy Shock. Also you should sidespecc so you got eider, Stoicism and Improved Righteous Fury or Divine Purpose.
Even though both may work fine, my advices will build upon you having Divine Purpose.
Gear: Intellect > Spellpower / Crit > Stamina > Mp5 (Mana per second) > Haste > Rest.
Alternative Gear: Intellect > Spellpower / Crit > Stamina > Haste > Rest. (If you got replenishment.)


Gender Battlegrounds:

Glyph:
Major: Turn Evil. Makes the Turn Evil Spell instant.
Major: Seal of Light.
Major: Holy Light.

Hotkeys
1) Holy Shock
2) Cleanse
3) Holy Light
4) Sacred Shield
5) Divine Shield
6) Hammer of Justice
7) Judgment of Justice
8) Hand of Freedom (Improved)
9) Trinket
10) Potion
Advanced
11) Consegration (to knock people who are running after you out of stealth)
12) Hand of Sacrefize (Good to prevent cc)
13) Divine Plea
14) Trinket Buffs.
15) Turn Evil (To get pets away)
16) Holy Wrath (Same)
17) Hand of Protection

General: Even though you are the defender of the faith and all the good stuff, you do you work best when you are left alone. Try not to be caught in the middle of something, if your fellow folks fall, you can do nothing by yourself, well nothing other than eider trying to help the battleground objective by luring the enemy away before they manage to kill you, or simply fall back in hope of some more fighters to come to your aid. Remember, you will gain nothing by wasting your divine shield when ambushed by 4-5 people only to face sertain death 12 sec later. Your most important skills is to fakecast* and stay out of LoS*. If you see that someone is going to target you with a fear or simular cc*, eider run furder away or behind something. dont let him hit you, because you will be no good running panicked around for 8 sec, while your teamm8's are dieing. Also you must fakecast in order to prevent interupts. This goes for stuff like counterspell, kick, punnel, etc. If you suspect they will try to interupt you, fakecast until you hear the "interrupt sound".

Sub Category - Wall on Wall.
Well, this is the most normal form you'll see. People of 5-10 bashing into each other and doing dps on whatever they can get within their attackrange. try figure out where the "safespotts" in a bg is so you stay out of range for their counterspells, sheeps, fears and blinds but close enough to heal a target moving forward. Use Holy Shock on people taking "side damage" and spam their maintarget with Holy Light. If you are left alone you can easily keep anything alive to push the line forward, 2-3 good heals will also make their foundation shacke and they will start looking for other targets, but then it's prob too late and 1-2 of their frontmen would be dead or put on the run.

The Guide Continues furder down.

Nice post, have read most of it, altho shouldnt be so specific on bindings.

Your forgetting judging, wich should be in range of your hand aswell in arena as its vital if your a jotw spec or retri paladin, if you pvp alot freedom is a must putting if its on number 8 will mean you'll never reach it on time, same with potions, you are prolly clicking those.

for soloing/helping dps shotr is nice aswell.

I have about everything binded, I do not swap much beteween pvp/pve binds as you can make mistakes easly.
Thats why I have the weirdest binds ever, like : shift e = fol shift r = holy light , shift 1= ss used to pvp alot when I started vanilla wow as ret, when this paladin was still an alt , diddnt need heals much , so binds were reachable but preferd judgement, seal etc close kinda sticked altho I am holy now since tbc.

Its just what you are used to

Ah, Sorry, I see half of the last post didnt make it. I will Continue the general guide for arena and the end of Battlegrounds on a new page.

EDIT: I will continue editing on this page, transfering some from the first page so you see where it was left off.

Sub Category - Spread Damage.
You have 3-4 people all taking damage on the frontline. try figure out who are in the most urgent need for help. Is one or two of them taking damage from 2 rather then 1? if so, focus you first heavy heals and holy shocks on them and leave the other to keep themselves alive. Cast Sacred Shield whenever you get the chance. and start healing the "lesser needing" when you got the situation under controll.

Sub Category - Falling Back.
Let me say this again, you might survive at the front, but it is NOT your place. If your front men is falling back, dont be the sacrefizial lam and run true em and popping Divine Shield and everything just to hold the line. Fall back, use Hand of freedom to get you out of stunns when running together with the trinket, you do not want to have 4-5 people swarming on top of you, use judgment of justice on whatever is running after you in order to slow them down while you make your escape. (pref dk, druid, rogue, retri)
Try heal the frontmen with Holy Shock and Sacred Shield, but for the Light's sake, dont stop for casting before the frontmen have begun fighting again.

Sub Category - Ambushed/Taking Control.
You are in the mids of chaos, together with 4-5 others, people are bashing on everyone including yourself and spells and cooldowns are blown like crazy. (Comonly seen at the flags in AB)
Try stick to your instantspells as mutch as you can, you have no LoS help here and if you get cc'd there are good chances that someone will break it. If not, dont waste your trinket / shield unless you see that someone will die if you dont. You'll prob have a rogue on you, or something simular irritating, remember, this is just as intensive for them as for you, they will prob be fooled by your fake casting quick because they have alot to look at, so the moment they see the sparkling holycast, they will hit their interupt key in 4/5 cases and then you have lots of healingtime. Allways use Holy shock before fakecasting though, if you read it wrong and are so unlucky to be interupted. you will have that instant Holy Shock ready for when you are back Online. However, if you dont manage to fool him/them by fakecasting, bubble, when someone is in desperate need. It's no point to take chanses and get locked out of the holy tree because that would be sertain death for eider you are some of your teamm8's. You wont find yourself in this situation too often if you play it right.

Sub Category - Behind Enemy Lines.
You are caught behind enemy lines, splitting you from your main team, together with 1-2 more players.
The group phycology of you team when they see that there are more friendlies ahead of them taking damage is to be descrieb as much more than comonly brave. They will come! Your job is then to keep yourself and possible whoever is with you alive until the reinforcements arrive. Try stick to Holy Shock and Sacred shield while you make your run back behind the frontline again, and try go out on the side for casting, to get less attention.


Gender Arena :

Hotkeys
1) Holy Shock
2) Cleanse
3) Holy Light
4) Sacred Shield
5) Divine Shield
6) Hammer of Justice
7) Judgment of Justice
8) Flash of Light
9) Hand of Freedom (Improved)
10) Hand of Sacrefize
11) Hand of Protection
12) Trinket
Advanced
13) Consegration (to knock people who are running after you out of stealth)
14) Divine Plea
15) Arena Potion/Rocket Boots.
16) Turn Evil (To get pets away)
17) Holy Wrath (Same)
18) Holy taunt (Good against totems)
19) Hammer of Wrath
20) Trinket Buffs.
21) Shield Bash.

Glyph:
Major: Turn Evil.
Major: Seal of Light/Wisdom
Major: Cleanse

Addon: Gladius.
Use ctrl + v allways, this way you can see people's nametacs true walls (so people cant hide) thuss making it appear on your gladius menu so you can see the classes (get mages 9/10 cases before they vanish)

General: There are alot of strategy guides for how you should play with different setup. And what you meet will tell how you should play. However, going into detail about how you should be facing each and every team in all the setups is far to much for a basic's intruduction to how to play arena. I will just stick to the general terms. If they target you, try run and LoS them asmutch as possible and only keep yourself alive with Holy Shock and Sacred Shield. Allways keep Sacred Shield on the one taking damage unless the other team can dispell it! It will save you for so much mana. Use divine plea right after they have blown their cooldowns and you got everyone topped off. Use your abilities to get mana back aswell, try do it in times when you are not pressured so you dont have to jepordize it later when you are in desperate need. And once again, LoS, LoS, LoS. That is how we do it. If you get caught in a fear, sheep or cyclone, it's usually your own fault!

Sub Category - Before the Match.
Buff everything and everyone with everything you got, even with righteous fury, even though you dont benefith from it. Because then the enemy has to dispell one extra "buff" which might save your other buffs from being dispelled at a crucial time. Also get Divine Favor, Because if you get ambush by a dps team, you will get the haste on your second spell (Which make it possible for you to use Holy Light) and that can be a saver.

Sub Category - Setup.
There are alot of different setups out there today. Check http://www.arenajunkies.com/ to get a clue about what works. However, the most comon teams right now are Holy/Death Knight, Holy/Hunter, Holy/Feral, Holy/Dk/Hunter.

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*Hotkey - A button at your keyboard which you can reach from your movement keys. If your movement keys are aqswde (standar) then it would not be a good idea to attatch something important to the nr. 9 key, seeing as you will probably not reach it, because your right hand will be glued to your mouse all the time, thuss not increasing your reactiontime. Try rather link it to something closer, like r or t.
Tip Provided by Parorina: you can dubble your set of close hotkeys by using shift + "whatever".

*AoE - Area of Effect. Usually refears to a given area where everyone within it takes damage.

*LoS - Line of Sight. From where someone can cast an offence spell on you, or where you can heal someone else.

*Spike - When someone is spiking they take accationally critts, thuss making the damage income inpredictable. that or suddenly go fast up and down in hp for some other reason.

*Fakecast - To start casting but manuel interupting the spell yourself before finished.

*CC - CrowdControll. Making a player unable to interact for a set amount of time. (Sheep, Fear, Cyclone, etc.)

Specclinks: PvE
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=sxAzxhzhVuMxRtaZVcbx
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=sxAzxhzhVuMxRtZVcbxbh
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=sxA0xGzhVuMtRtZVcbx0h
Specclinks: PvP
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=sxIbxhzhVdrZZVfrxrh0r0s
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=sxIbxhzhVdGpRhZVcbxbh0b
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=sxGbxhzGVzGtRhZVfMhbh0b
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=sxGbxhzGVuGkRtacbhZVM

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Q u o t e:
Nice post, have read most of it, altho shouldnt be so specific on bindings.

Your forgetting judging, wich should be in range of your hand aswell in arena as its vital if your a jotw spec or retri paladin, if you pvp alot freedom is a must putting if its on number 8 will mean you'll never reach it on time, same with potions, you are prolly clicking those.

for soloing/helping dps shotr is nice aswell.

I have about everything binded, I do not swap much beteween pvp/pve binds as you can make mistakes easly.
Thats why I have the weirdest binds ever, like : shift e = fol shift r = holy light , shift 1= ss used to pvp alot when I started vanilla wow as ret, when this paladin was still an alt , diddnt need heals much , so binds were reachable but preferd judgement, seal etc close kinda sticked altho I am holy now since tbc.

Its just what you are used to

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Thank you for the feedback Parorina, I wouldnt have noticed the error if you didnt point it out to me, also the tip about using shift + key, is very good for beginners becoming more advanced.
I think I've manage to add most of the missing stuff, including the arena introduction and * explaining words. (Where I explain why you shouldnt attatch something to the nr. 9 key.)
The 1-X numbering is only to make an indicator of how important the different spells are, not which keys they should be bind to (seeing as the nr. 10- key is quite hard to find! :p)
Also, I'm not going into detail about how to use every spell in every given situation, only to give them an idea of what are more important than other, just because I put something under "advanced" doesnt meen they shouldnt eventually learn to use it. It might be the difference between death and life on a higher rating, but on a lower competition lvl it wont be so important. I say this in a spirit of: Learn to use the most important spells first, then move on... :)

nice guide, i'm fairly new to paladin healing and this little guide confirmed + added a few things to what i learned myself

For someone who has not done any content Pre-Wotlk and VERY limited in Wotlk, writing a guide like this isn't really all that good as you haven't really had a chance to use these spells in the <hard> content.

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Q u o t e:
For someone who has not done any content Pre-Wotlk and VERY limited in Wotlk, writing a guide like this isn't really all that good as you haven't really had a chance to use these spells in the <hard> content.

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I havnt bodered to do all the old heroics and raids for achievements. I dont really see how this should bother you, or affect the truthness of the guide.
And for how the game is right now, I don't have anything left to do before Ulduar.
But enough about me, if you believe you can rewrite it in a better way, feel free to do so. It's far better than flaming me for beeing "too inexperienced" seeing as I have completed all there is to complete pritty much.
Also, making a guide for lvl 70's aint something I see the need for.

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Q u o t e:

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Theme: PvE
Specc: 51/5/15 or 53/0/18.
What kind of gear: intellect > spellpower > crit / mana per sec > haste > everything else.

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Specc: 51/5/15 or 51/0/20.

Reason: 51/0/20 is far better than 53/0/18 as you can have those 2 spare points to put in Pursuit of Justice from Retribution Tree which is a lifesaver and an amazing talent. Less running, faster reactions etc etc.

Correct order of stat priority is:

Intellect > crit > haste > spellpower > mp5

Reason: Intellect boasts all of our important stats (crit, spellpower AND mana). Crit gives us a bigger effective mana pool, haste gives us more throughput.

Spellpower is an okay stat, but you should never gem for it because 90% of the spellpower you add to your pool, is overhealing. Might become more important with Ulduar.

Mp5 is a wasted stat atm because we have intellect and divine plea / and refreshment (0.25% of total mana every 1 sec or something) in raids.

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Q u o t e:


Not done any Pre-Wotlk? I havnt bodered to do all the old heroics and raids for achievements. I dont really see how this should bother you, or affect the truthness of the guide.
And for how the game is right now, I don't have anything left to do before Ulduar.
But enough about me, if you believe you can rewrite it in a better way, feel free to do so. It's far better than flaming me for beeing "too inexperienced" seeing as I have completed all there is to complete pritty much.
Also, making a guide for lvl 70's aint something I see the need for.

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You have not done Malygos on neither Normal or Heroic, and haven't even tried Sartharion Normal/Heroic with drakes.

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Q u o t e:



Specc: 51/5/15 or 51/0/20.

Reason: 51/0/20 is far better than 53/0/18 as you can have those 2 spare points to put in Pursuit of Justice from Retribution Tree which is a lifesaver and an amazing talent. Less running, faster reactions etc etc.

Correct order of stat priority is:

Intellect > crit > haste > spellpower > mp5

Reason: Intellect boasts all of our important stats (crit, spellpower AND mana). Crit gives us a bigger effective mana pool, haste gives us more throughput.

Spellpower is an okay stat, but you should never gem for it because 90% of the spellpower you add to your pool, is overhealing. Might become more important with Ulduar.

Mp5 is a wasted stat atm because we have intellect and divine plea / and refreshment (0.25% of total mana every 1 sec or something) in raids.

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Ok, good we got a debate. I see you really believe haste to be an important PvE stat. This puzzles me, seing as if you only manage to think ahead, it wont ever be a problem. If you are considering output, then adding more Spellpower will do the same.
Mp5 is not wasted because we cant use Divine Plea inbattle as mutch as we used to. If you do it will kill your target or force you to spamheal and just draining true it.

Refreshment is something they have in the deep retritree, and you wont be using this for PvE, because that meens giving up divine illumation and Beacon of Light, which you need in many situations...
Also, I dont say that the specc are facts, if you want 15%+ runspeed, ok, but usually you wont need that for anything. Not if you manage to plan ahead anyways.

Edit: I like this post, Attack the guide and give me your ideas for what can make it better. But attacking me wont help anyone.

Talking big for someone on a lvl 19 alt.

I'm lvling a Holy Pali atm (lvl 64), wich i wanna play arena with.
I've never played arena before with any class so your part about Arena tactics was very helpfull!

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Q u o t e:


Ok, good we got a debate. I see you really believe haste to be an important PvE stat. This puzzles me, seing as if you only manage to think ahead, it wont ever be a problem. If you are considering output, then adding more Spellpower will do the same.
Mp5 is not wasted because we cant use Divine Plea inbattle as mutch as we used to. If you do it will kill your target or force you to spamheal and just draining true it.

Refreshment is something they have in the deep retritree, and you wont be using this for PvE, because that meens giving up divine illumation and Beacon of Light, which you need in many situations...
Also, I dont say that the specc are facts, if you want 15%+ runspeed, ok, but usually you wont need that for anything. Not if you manage to plan ahead anyways.

Edit: I like this post, Attack the guide and give me your ideas for what can make it better. But attacking me wont help anyone. (Btw, I dont see what Malygos (flying around as a drake and not a paladin) has to do with a paladin beginner's guide...

Just for the records, I do got the champion of the frozen wastes tittle... Which includes malygos, so your information is wrong.

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Heh. You are so wrong. Haste is a better stat than Spellpower as spellpower adds 90% of its "benefit" to your amount of overhealing done. Haste is better because you can land heals faster in at for example sarth 3d or patchwerk.

Mp5 is a wasted stat because it costs so much per item point. Its the most expensive stat on items where the item points could have rather been invested in some haste/crit on the gear instead to make it a better choice.

You seriously think I ment that we paladins should get replenishment / judgement of the wise ourselves? Learn to read. I said that you will have that buff in most raids from a retri paladin or a shadowpriest/hunter, and hence having a bigger mana pool (stacking intellect) will get you further ahead.

And lastly, you think Pursuit of justice is a non-important stat?.. Either spec 51/5/15 with Tuskar's Vitality on boots, or go 51/0/20 for Pursuit Of justice, as its a VERY good stat. Take it from someone who has seen its benefit a lot of times.

And you did Malygos after my post yesterday, so it was a valid one.

PS. Kill Sartharion with 3 drakes up on Normal and heroic, and you'll know what I am talking about regarding stat priority, pursuit of justice etc :)

Belah, as you can see, I specced 53/0/18. Reason? Our cleanse does not work like a Druid's Abolish poison. Sacred cleansing to me is worth a lot more than 15% movement speed, especially when you know the fight.
Those last two points are flavour and personal preference, there is no 'best' talent to put them in

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Q u o t e:
Belah, as you can see, I specced 53/0/18. Reason? Our cleanse does not work like a Druid's Abolish poison. Sacred cleansing to me is worth a lot more than 15% movement speed, especially when you know the fight.
Those last two points are flavour and personal preference, there is no 'best' talent to put them in

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Lol, and why is that an important talent (sacred cleansing)? The only fight I can think of is Maexxna during web wrap.

2 points in Pursuit of Justice will serve you a lot better. And perhaps stacking spellpower instead of intellect is personal preference, but in that case you should rethink what you prefer to be honest, as intellect is ten times better to gem than spellpower ;)

I was referring to the talent points ;)

I indeed see the value of intellect over Spellpower, and crit to go nicely with that spellpower.


As for heroic healing, a Paladin might want to prioritise MP5 a bit more, because Replenishment is not always available in heroic groups. I don't mean STACK IT, off course, but something like 300 mp5 selfbuffed (while casting) is a nice figure

EDIT: Also, you only see the value of Sacred Cleansing in raids, which, granted is not as high. But in heroics, the talent does shine

I haven't had the most experience, but I have played Holy Paladin for quite a long time now, and the way we stat has changed dramatically.

Spell Power is a nice stat to have, but healing for 14k or 15k crit is neither here nor there when on average you will be healing an 8k hp defecit on a tank. It is nice for those emergency moments when the tank is lower but if you are leaving it that much longer then you are a worrying healer.

Haste is a fantastic stat, being able to get that first heal out that little bit quicker means you don't have to pre-empt damage coming in quite as soon and when you need to FoL spam multiple people, when an AoE comes in, those little bits of time saved in casting are invaluable.

Crit is still more important though as high crit saves mana due to the way Illumination works. Most of our mana regen now is coming from outside sources as to stat regen would make us healers that can last a long time but struggle to heal effectively. MP5 just costs too much to be of any major help.

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Q u o t e:
I haven't had the most experience, but I have played Holy Paladin for quite a long time now, and the way we stat has changed dramatically.

Spell Power is a nice stat to have, but healing for 14k or 15k crit is neither here nor there when on average you will be healing an 8k hp defecit on a tank. It is nice for those emergency moments when the tank is lower but if you are leaving it that much longer then you are a worrying healer.

Haste is a fantastic stat, being able to get that first heal out that little bit quicker means you don't have to pre-empt damage coming in quite as soon and when you need to FoL spam multiple people, when an AoE comes in, those little bits of time saved in casting are invaluable.

Crit is still more important though as high crit saves mana due to the way Illumination works. Most of our mana regen now is coming from outside sources as to stat regen would make us healers that can last a long time but struggle to heal effectively. MP5 just costs too much to be of any major help.

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Aaah, good more debate here. Ok I see you also use the overheal argument, but dont you forget flash of light here? (Not talking about the AoE scenarios here.)
If you use sacred shield, that meens, if you healing something that gets hits heavy rather than fast, you will have the sacred shield "shield" up 80% of the time, which again meen 50% more crit on your flash of light, which you can stack up with your 30% crit = 80 % crit on flash of light which then heals for approx 5-6k not to mention they are cast alot faster than Holy Light + more return mana. Also you can back that up with Holy Shock and transfer to Holy Light if it's too heavy and return to Flash of Light afterwards. This is manasaving, and also allow the mp5 to work.

And when you are talking AoE. Use Sacred Shield there.
It absorbs 500 + (75% of spell power) dmg every 6 secs. That meens if you get spellpower rather then haste, you will AoE "Heal" more. You will sertainly "heal" alot more than any haste can ever give you. But once again, you need to plan ahead. If you can't do that, then sure, I guess Haste is the best option.
Also, Sacred Shield is instant, which meens you can cast it around on everyone swiftly.

PS: Lets not bring arch examples like "Patch" into this, we all know he is one fight much more different than all the others for us paladines. Ofcourse you will overheal there if you stack spellpower, but you might also miss alot of heal with haste aswell. Also this boss can be easly read, seeing as you got 1 hatefulstrike every 1 sec over 3 tanks... that meens if you coordinate your heal to hit every 3 sec you will allways hit with it. Maybe you have to followup with a extra heal if the others are slow, but it's still an easy match to eider fakecast or plan on. I once again dont see how haste helps you here. But lets talk general, not singular. This is a beginners guide. Not a guide to do "that" boss. Then I might have added frost resist gear and who knows what.

Edit: Correcting spell errors.

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Q u o t e:

Heh. You are so wrong. Haste is a better stat than Spellpower as spellpower adds 90% of its "benefit" to your amount of overhealing done. Haste is better because you can land heals faster in at for example sarth 3d or patchwerk.

Mp5 is a wasted stat because it costs so much per item point. Its the most expensive stat on items where the item points could have rather been invested in some haste/crit on the gear instead to make it a better choice.

You seriously think I ment that we paladins should get replenishment / judgement of the wise ourselves? Learn to read. I said that you will have that buff in most raids from a retri paladin or a shadowpriest/hunter, and hence having a bigger mana pool (stacking intellect) will get you further ahead.

And lastly, you think Pursuit of justice is a non-important stat?.. Either spec 51/5/15 with Tuskar's Vitality on boots, or go 51/0/20 for Pursuit Of justice, as its a VERY good stat. Take it from someone who has seen its benefit a lot of times.

And you did Malygos after my post yesterday, so it was a valid one.

PS. Kill Sartharion with 3 drakes up on Normal and heroic, and you'll know what I am talking about regarding stat priority, pursuit of justice etc :)

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If you say 90% of the healing benefith from stacking spellpower is overheal, then you are totally forgetting about sacred shield, fail at planning or forget about flash of light. Seeing as flash of light is healing for about 30% of Holy Light.
I am however glad to see that we all agree on intellect to be the best stat, it's no debate there.
Also, I'm interested in why you find the +15% movement speed to be so valuable. Please bring examples. As this might enrichen the guide.

Well, as stated, if you dont got it yourself, replenishment is not allways there. This is a general guide, which includes heroics and normal. Not everyone got full purples.

Ok, once again. I'm glad that you managed to down 3 drakes on your main (I presume) but this won't help a general guide. try make relevant comments that might aid the guide rather than "I specced +15% runspeed and took this boss down, so it works!". Also be polite to others views, as there might be alternative playing styles that all works, even though you might not agree.

Note: I have added a alternative suggestionment to gear to the guide, during the debate.

Edit: added more.