/target TankName
/cast [modifier:shift] Rejuvenation ; [modifier:alt] Regrowth ; Lifebloom

So for the cost of 1 button you can stack 3 different heals in there. So if your focused on a tank you can put 2 or 3 ranks of your big mana efficient heal in there.

The longer you run with the same group of people the better you get at predicting who is going to be taking damage and if that damage is going to continue our just be normal splash damage. To keep my life simple I put the tanks at one side of the line, followed by dps and then healers. I use healbot (gasp/shock/dismay) .. to track my buffs (gotcha) with a nice side effect that you can see who is taking damage.

If I ever switch to dreamstate Ill probably have down ranked healing touch in the macro, but for now as a tree I have full strength hots that are in a nutshell down rank heals.

Healing is far more than casting a spell. Hildi, you said that I may be under healing, but I usually top the healing meters with around 5% over heal and no deaths. I am not spectacularly geared or anything but timing in my experience has just as much to do with healing as the +heal you throw behind the spell.

You need to time the mobs attacks so you know when the next one is coming, and have your spell land half a second after (if req) it is also important to know how your tank mitigates damage, so you can judge things like shield block (Warrior) and know when that isn’t up yet.

My healing my look frightening to some people but those who trust in the heals usually don’t even think about personal healing unless I have called out that it isn’t coming for some reason, IE. I have been CC’d

Anyhoo not my Blog =) oh and I use Heal Bot mostly with a standard 3 button mouse =)

@Underdark – not sure what to say to that. I find in all instances but 1 (and I bitch about that one every chance I get) that I downrank gh. I run around in Sunwell these days, so that a lot of instances Im talking about. If you are using only max rank GH and then only when your target absolutely needs it, then it makes me think you are actually underhealing. For instance, my max rank GH will range from 5800 – 9800(crit) on a non warlock. If I am waiting that long to let the heal go, then (in general), I am waiting far too long. Sure, I might get *that* heal off in time, but if my target has accidental aggro, or is on a heavy hitting, high spiking damage, then then next heal may not be in time. Cancel-casting is a staple, but it is not 100% effective by any means. I’ve seen tanks get gacked because I canceled my heal because ‘he didn’t need it’, an then about a millisecond after that he gets hit by on of those bullet trains going at full speed (or the obligatory parry, parry, crushing blow string).
If I downrank, my heals go off in a more steady manner, creating a more stable encounter (also boosting my target’s confidence). Personally I think priests are more effective this way and more “in the game”.

The macro that I use is shift sensitive, so if I click on it I get life bloom, but if the shift key is held down I get my regen. Once I get back to my game machine Ill dig up that macro and send it to Ego or just do a follow up here.

I don’t use any fancy gui upgrades, so I just have what blizzard will gives you. Most people map these to a function key.

Applying this sort of macro to your priest setup may allow you to have your favorite healing target setup for your big heal or a down ranked big heal.

@Snuffy
I use a Nostromo for my frequently used spells, and I have one key for a “shift” functionality that almost doubles my keyspace. I have the same problem with bar space, but I try and keep things grouped logically so that when I have to click instead of press to get an ability, it’s easy to find.

I really only have one downranked heal at the moment on both my healers, so that’s only a single extra button. I don’t use any healing addons that would do what you’re talking about, but I know many people do. I think a popular one is called Clique, and I’ve heard good things about something called Grid which may or may not help.

Nibuca
Thanks for the pally view! That’s actually was how I’d imagined pallies did it, so it’s good to hear I’m not too far off the pally theorycraft!

Typhoon
There are other reasons that damage casters will downrank as well (some curses, and level one frostbolt to slow and level 1…aoe ice floor sticky thingy spell (hey, I’m not a mage, gimme a break)). It’s not common as a “use this as often as possible” but it is done. =]

Thanks for bringing that up!

@Underdark
For my priest, I pretty much agree with you there, mostly. *winks*

When I am healing a tank and I’m in a 5 or 10 man situation, I do not downrank my heal. As you said, I toss a hot and wait for their health to go down far enough to need the full heal.

If I am healing an undergeared or lower level tank, I will downrank so that they don’t have to be below 50% of their health in order to need a heal (potentially killing them because I’m waiting till they need the heal to cast, and they might die while I cast).

I use a downranked gheal for dpsers, because they don’t need a full max rank gheal.

I do downrank on my shaman, but they don’t rely as heavily on spirit for mana regen, and there’s another reason to downrank on them. But on my priest, I pretty much operate the way you’ve lined out. =]

@Lillend
Yes indeedy! Priests are the Batman of the healing world. =] I love hearing how people use the variety of tools we’ve been given! It’s my favorite part of priest healing, how much reaction and thought goes into which tool to use.

I also have a resto druid and never down rank anything. I want my HoT ticks as big as possible.

Underdark- I do use renew a lot of the time for small damage, but sometimes I’d prefer to top them off without the wait. I also sometimes use flash heal if I really want the heal fast. I base my heals off of what I want at any given time.

I never downrank anything, I am a Hybrid Disc/Holy Spec and I rely heavily on the FSR, so I keep renew ticking constantly and cancel cast my Gheal. If my tank doesn’t need the max rank, then he just doesn’t need a heal. I know you are thinking that “What if there is a lot of spike damage?” Well thats what the Cancel casting is all about, and the Renew is there to smooth it out, also any boss that can drop a geared tank by 10k or more per hit will never have just one healer (not in my guild anyway) so chances are he will have more than 1 hot ticking anyway.

I was in a raid with another priest on the tank and we had 2 Renews working away, we alternated Gheal and never got below 3/4 mana. I can see where saving mana is a good thing, I just don’t see how a downranked spell is more efficient than Renew, or a bandage for that matter if you are not in combat. I never heal out of combat BTW, thats what FA is for =)

Two examples: when your target is almost dead and a full blast would be overkill, and when you are very close to pulling threat. The changing spells or down-ranking is used to avoid overkill, so that later in the same fight or soon after you still have mana. It also allows you switch to another spell sooner of the spell you just cast has a shorter cast time. Threat pulling is obvious, and there are times (particularly in pugs) when a normal max rank spell would cause an aggro pull, but standing there is useless. So wand or downrank is the way to go.

And yes, you can aim to pull threat from a mob toward the end of its life, and I do so regularly; but only when I know I can kill it myself without help, without risk to other players.