Plenary Indulgence fix? Possible ways to make it a better spell.

Let's face it, Plenary Indulgence for a level 70 spell kind of sucks. The Confession mechanic, while unique and interesting to a point, isn't that useable. You can't use it as an AoE heal with any reliability due to how the Confession stacks, that don't proc that often, are on one target.

So.... I came up with this:
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Plenary Indulgence:

Cast: Instant Recast: 15 Seconds

Restores HP of party member with Confession; Potency varies with current Confession stack. Healing potency for party members in range is reduced by 10% for the second ally, 20% for the third, 30% for the fourth, and 40% for all remaining allies within range. Healing drop off determined by proximity to target with Confession. Allies healed in this manner do not require Confession stacks to receive healing.

(Rest of spell reads as it does now)
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This way, it can still be used as a single target heal, and has a side benefit of some, but not overwhelming, AoE healing ability.

WHM doesn't need any more heals let alone another single target heal. Either PI needs to be a heal + buff or something else entirely IMO.

I like your idea.

Personally, I came up with something else awhile back. I think I posted it somewhere, but I'll write a quick version here since I need to head off:

Basically, increase the proc rate of Confession to at least 80%, perhaps even 100%, while nerfing the potency of PI on targets with low Confession stacks. Meanwhile, this change plays in with a number of changes to the Lily system, which most notably included the ability to convert up to 3 active Confession stacks into Lilies, prioritizing the oldest Confessions. The idea here is to mitigate the 30s duration problem without removing the duration. The tank(s) would be getting a Cure more than once every 30 seconds, leading to high stacks on the target that needs it. Meanwhile, the DPS will occasionally get stacks which sit around gathering dust. Since the new Cure casts on the tank will quickly cause the DPS Confessions to become the oldest, this Confession conversion skill would allow the WHM to make use of the otherwise useless Confessions while also adding a large amount of control to the Lily system.

One of the other suggestions I had for the Lily system was to just add a skill that the WHM can activate to cause their next relevant skill to use all accumulated Lilies in exchange for reducing its cooldown. Combined with the ability to gain lily stacks with Confessions, the WHM would suddenly have almost maximum control over their Lilies. Throw in one more ability, allowing the WHM to generate a single Lily instantly (with a mid-range cooldown of maybe 30-ish seconds) and the WHM has full control over a system that has always been nifty, just severely lacking in the control department.

IMO we just don't need any more heals, whm has plenty to do the job already. What we really need is utility for the party like Presence of Mind being a party buff or Assize providing a damage boost to allies hit with the heal.

If we have to keep PI as yet another flippin' heal, then it should stay as-is. All PI is right now is another OGCD heal so we can spare a GCD spell like Cure I. Making it AoE makes its use cases less clear, since if it procs it will most likely be on the MT, and if it heals in an AoE then only the MT and maybe a few melee DPS will benefit most of the time. It's not reliable enough to suffice as an instant Medica, which would be its primary purpose if that was the case. May as well keep it as-is and up the proc rate slightly and/or increase the stack timer (preferably permanently or at least 1 minute).

If I had my little way it'd be the utility spell a lot of WHM have been asking for for ages. SCH already has AST encroaching on its turf with mitigation and AST already has party buffs covered, so WHM should get something unique but still very "healer" in feeling.

Even though this idea heavily encroaches on Scholar, I feel like Plenary Indulgence would have been much more useful as a barrier effect instead of a heal.

1. Ally takes damage
2. WHM heals ally and gets Confession proc
3. WHM uses PI and grants a minor barrier effect to mitigate a small amount of future damage

Now PI can be used freely when there are stacks to burn without having to wait for damage to be taken to use it. It could also have Paladin's Divine Veil barrier style, where "HP recovery via healing magic" dispels the barrier. Then, to make sure WHM isn't overflowing with barrier effects, turn Divine Benison into damage reduction for 10-15s (like PvP Protect) instead of a barrier.

TL;DR New Plenary Indulgence

Applies a protective barrier on all nearby party members that prevents damage up to a portion of the target's maximum HP. Potency varies with current Confession stack.
1 Confession: 6%
2 Confessions: 7%
3 Confessions: 8%
Barrier effect ends upon additional HP recovery via healing magic.
There is a 20% chance that party members are granted a Confession each time you heal their HP via Cure spells.
Confession Duration: 30s
Can only be cast when at least one party member has a Confession granted by you.

But that leaves most of the problems: Confessions are clunky, they don't work with the new UI, most people who aren't a tank will never get one, and far, far too many things proc off Cure, encouraging us to ignore 90% of our spells.