Possible Solution to Protect

[LittleLamb32]

Protect:
Is now WHM exclusive. (with the added idea that all defenses are indirectly raised to accommodate the loss of Protect)
Effect is now identical to current Divine Benison.
No longer costs at least one Lily.
Unlocked: Level 30

Divine Benison:
Requires 3 Lilies to use. Does not consume Lilies.
Cooldown: 150s.
Radius: 10y
Effect:
Grants a blessing to all nearby allies that causes all incoming heals to generate a shield equal to amount healed, up to 20% of Max HP.
Duration: 10s after proc'd.
Effect ends when shield disintegrates.


Essentially what this does is that it creates an "overheal" shielding effect without being (intentionally) extremely powerful.

[Aeducan]

WHM is my PvP job of choice and I personally love how protect works there. It's a great utility (essentially The Bole sans the RNG) and syncs pretty well with other WHM spells. I'd rather have this version of protect and keep Benison's effect as is, because shield generation based on heal % is kinda stepping on SCH and nocturnal's specialty. Moreover, given how WHM has the highest raw healing potential, the shield might turn out to be even stronger than SCH/noct's. However, I do agree with you that current version of protect needs a rework and preferably WHM exclusive cause Nymeia knows WHM has the least spells among healers by a pretty wide margin.

Working on your idea, here's what I propose:

Protect
WHM exclusive, OGCD ability. Reduce damage by 20% for 10s. I'm not a pro on theory-crafting so can't say how long the CD must be before it's considered balanced. Perhaps 40s? Preferably acquired before lv 50.

Benison
Same effect, but only costs 1 lily instead of all of em. I'd be careful with aoe benison because again, it steps into SCH/nocturnal territory. If they stack with galvanize/noct, TBN, and other tank shield stuffs, then WHM would have a guaranteed healer slot cause that'd be too good.

Just my 2 cents on the matter

[VanilleFang]

PvP Protect is really interesting and something I would like to see on WHM.

Changing Benison to require 3 lilies is ridiculous. I can go through a whole Hashmal only gaining like 1 Lily. Benison would be stronger than it is now I suppose but it would be a pain to gain access to.

[LittleLamb32]

(cut cause char length)

The intended effect of this version of Divine Benison was basically an overheal shield from all healing sources that only shields up to 20% of their Max HP. There's a few hidden aspects about this shield; namely that 20% isn't actually a lot, and the fact that you need to output additional healing to actually get the shield. Not to mention the indirect MP cost of having 3 Lilies; 3 Cure 1's or Cure 2's. On the other hand, 20% is probably a bit much because I didn't account for Succor or Aspected Helios; rather I accounted for Adloquium and sort of Aspected Benefic. Ultimately, it's meant more as a complimentary shield when running with another healer. It's probably rather weak to be fair, but better than nothing.


I actually did consider the Bole-like effect but I wanted to diverge from PVP, merely because Bole (and by extension, AOE/Enhanced Bole) already exists, yet not a %Max HP barrier.

[LittleLamb32]

PvP Protect is really interesting and something I would like to see on WHM.

Changing Benison to require 3 lilies is ridiculous. I can go through a whole Hashmal only gaining like 1 Lily. Benison would be stronger than it is now I suppose but it would be a pain to gain access to.

Using alliance raid is a poor example as not much single target healing is required; it would be more applicable to savage raiding scenarios. Inversely, having single target heals to activate an AOE shield does seem contradictory, but I digress.

[Sebazy]

O4S isn't that far off being as annoying as 24man content for lily generation tho =/

I'm instantly reminded of when we were first progressing on it, I wanted to use Benison for one of the early Aeros, but my Assize would come up a little before. Every time I habitually fired off my Assize as it popped, I'd have nothing to heal to get a lily back.

I quite like Benison as it is tbh, but the way it's poorly gated behind a system that doesn't really work well with optimised play just drags it down. Even something as simple as putting a bit of potency back on Fluid Aura and making that give a Lily would work wonders.

[Riyshn]

Even something as simple as putting a bit of potency back on Fluid Aura and making that give a Lily would work wonders.

Hm... Secret of the Lily II: Allows Regen ticks to generate your first Lily. Would reward actual optimal WHM play, without just giving you infinite 3 stacks.

[Sebazy]

That works nicely ya <3

[VanilleFang]

Using alliance raid is a poor example as not much single target healing is required; it would be more applicable to savage raiding scenarios. Inversely, having single target heals to activate an AOE shield does seem contradictory, but I digress.

True. But then what would be the point of granting a shield to multiple people? You could use it more easily in dungeons, maybe, but then only 4 people would benefit from the shielding effect you created and AoEs aren't that common. The way you have it written up makes it seem much more useful in situations with far more AoE damage. Otherwise it would be relegated to being primarily a tank shield which is what Bension is right now, essentially, but without needing 3 lilies + an additional heal.

@Riyshn: It boggles my mind that Regen doesn't grant lilies at all. It's the go-to healing tool for WHMs once they learn it. Why they locked lilies behind just Cure and Cure II is something I'll never understand.

[Aeducan]

Explanation on new Benison

My apologies, I must've dozed off a little cause I didn't think of it this way when I read your original post (it's way past midnight here, heh...). I understand where you're coming from and you seem to have put some thoughts into the balance for you ideas to work. However, I'm afraid our current lilies system is a mess for this idea to work as intended. The others have stated the problems and this would seem to encourage overhealing even more. Still, it's something to ponder upon cause WHM could use some co-healing synergy and this brainstorming might point to the right direction.

I still think damage reduction is more appropriate for WHM though, but I might be biased cause I main noct AST and raid with SCH. Also I might be mistaken, but I think the new shake it out is aoe shield based on %max hp, no?

Also regarding lilies generation, I agree with Sebazy that it's a hassle and doesn't encourage efficient play. There are so many times I've casted cure2 for lilies and not for actual healing, just like how I see ED as "the button that reduces lightspeed CD by 10s" (man, AST CD rotation/management could use some tweaks) but I digress. My favourite change to lilies generation is the idea someone coined back then; add % chance of that to stone. Though the regen idea Riyshn mentioned sounds good too.