Lightwell

Lightwell is the Tier 3 Holy Priest talent ability, conjuring a very shiny healing dispenser. Players clicking on the Lightwell - or the pillar of light rising from it - will receive a 6 second buff (Lightwell Renew) that heals for a notable amount while the buff is active.

Numbers

 * Lightwell receive a 30.8% spell power coefficient per tick, or 92.4% per charge if you prefer. This makes Lightwell the undeniably best scaling healing spell in the game considering that there are 10 or 15 charges to the spell.

Modified by

 * Glyph of Lightwell increases the amount of charges on a Lightwell to 15, up from 10.

Notes and tactics

 * Lightwell has the highest HPM (healing per mana spent ratio) of any healing spell in the game. However its effectiveness is entirely dependent upon players clicking the Lightwell in order to receive healing.
 * Lightwell costs around 10% more than a single Greater Heal (or Flash Heal) to cast, but if fully used will yield roughly 900% (1300% if glyphed) of the healing.
 * If used fully, Lightwell's mana efficiency is around 700% (more than 1000% if glyphed) of that for Heal, generally the priest's most mana efficient heal.
 * Even if only 2 charges out of 10 (or 15) are fully used, Lightwell will far outstrip Flash Heal, Greater Heal and even Heal in terms of mana efficiency, even if fully talented.
 * Like Renew, Lightwell ticks are affected by haste, but not by priest mastery. Unlike Renew, they cannot crit.
 * No talents improve Lightwell. This may or may not be intentional.
 * Travelling too far away from your Lightwell will cause it to despawn.
 * Location can be critical to the utility of a Lightwell. Selecting a location that is within practical range of the target players (especially important for melee damage-dealers) and out of danger (not too close to Bosses, lava, etc) is vital to encouraging their interaction.
 * You can click a Lightwell from up to 20 yards away.
 * You can click a Lightwell without de-selecting your current target.
 * You can click the entire pillar of light of the Lightwell, not just the base.
 * You can click to receive a HoT from a Lightwell even when you're:
 * 1) Stunned
 * 2) Sapped
 * 3) Casting
 * 4) Running
 * 5) Feared
 * 6) Falling
 * 7) Eating
 * 8) Drinking

PVE:
 * Lightwell is usually not needed by healers, as healers are good at keeping themselves alive. For a priest, the tools overlapping with Lightwell include Desperate Prayer and Binding Heal. If substantial amounts of self-healing is needed, then a Lightwell is not a bad choice for staying alive, but in those cases the priest in question is usually doing something wrong.
 * Lightwell is usually not usable by the tanks since it breaks on damage > 30% of a HP bar. While the extended healthpools of cataclysm mean that such hits are infrequent, they still do occur. Giving a lightwell to the tank often means most of it is wasted. Which is a shame, because most tanks really love the Lightwell.
 * Lightwell primarily serve the DPSers. Unfortunately, meleers are often too preoccupied staring up a mob's crotch to notice it. The primary recipients of Lightwell is usually the ranged DPSers. The Lightwell serve as a great complement or replacement for a bandage.

PVP:
 * Lightwell is useful as a rear line healing dispenser, allowing damaged players to retreat and heal up without taxing the healer mana pool. While it is easily killed, this doesn't often happen.

Controversy
Lightwell is situationally an extremely powerful healing spell, but it has a lot of bad reputation and stigma spanning from years of being oversold by Blizzard while being a rather underwhelming ability. The spell has often jokingly been referred to as "lolwell" by both priests and non-priests alike, and frequently saw more action as a location raid marker than a healing spell.

Since its conception, Blizzard has given multiple buffs to Lightwell, each often doubling the potency of the spell. Since the release of Cataclysm, the spell is genuinely useful since the healing model no longer require everyone to be topped off within 3 seconds, but its value is only there if the priest's group actually use it. There is still a lot of bad feelings connected to Lightwell, and it is very rare for the Lightwell to be used in pugs.

Lightwell has a rather massive healing potential, and a major topic of discussion is whether Holy Priests are balanced against having Lightwell. If this is the case, then Holy Priests will naturally have a lower output than other healers, able to reach the same potential as other healers only if other players actually use the Lightwell. This could mean that Holy Priests put additional workload on their group to achieve the same result as another healer. On the flipside, if priests are not balanced against having Lightwell, then Holy Priests are potentially the most powerful healers out there as long as the Lightwells are used. No conclusive evidence of either situation has been produced, but either case is perceived as bad from a balance point of view.

Education
One of the key factors affecting the success or otherwise of Lightwells is the awareness of other players. Many priests suggest using macros to both announce the placement of a Lightwell and to inform players of its purpose, and many example macros are available online. Within guilds many priests report good usage, once guild members are familiarised with its design, with many non-priests praising Lightwell very highly. Within pugs this is much harder to achieve, and requires routine explanation (for which macros may be excellently suited) in order to secure player interaction.

Without education, at present the majority of players in pugs appear to be unaware of the nature and use of Lightwells. Consequently Lightwells placed in such groups often go unused, or are used ineffectively, such as by players at full health. Many priests encourage a gradual process of education of the community, so that players will eventually become more aware of the functionality of Lightwells and make use of them when they appear. Some players however remain dismissive and hostile towards the use of Lightwells, citing difficulty in using them (especially for melee damage-dealers) and disagreement with placing the burden of responsibilty upon non-healers as some of their reasons.

Miscellaneous

 * One of the game starting up tips says "Click on the Lightwell!".

Patch changes

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