Holy Nova and Lightwell - Worth 1 Point?

I had an excellent discussion with Yimii concerning priest talents. She brought a lot of things back into my brain for me to keep in mind. I don't think I'll be respeccing anytime soon, but for next time, I'll keep it in mind.

A player only gets 51 talent points to use or abuse. Talents are truly where a player gets to customize their character. They can completely change who they are through their talents, and what their role should be. It's amazing to me to think of how important some of these talents are. I was thinking about it one day, how truly impossible it would be to have no talents at all and to see how the game would end up. There are too many essential talents though to even consider this.

As such, it would seem that you can't waste a single point. Even one point can make a huge difference in one's game plan.

Yimii's point was that Holy Nova and Lightwell are so situational, why even take them? Holy Nova is incredibly mana intensive, and it really doesn't do all that much. Lightwell is also very situational...I admit I really only use it for Attumen and Maiden, and we don't even really "need" it for these fights. SO why should I waste my talents on them? Instead of getting Holy Nova, I could get an extra 1% chance to crit on my holy spells. Instead of getting Lightwell, I could get 10% mana reduction on Prayer of Healing and Prayer of Mending. So why do I get them?

I think the reason is for utility. There are certain situations where there is no alternative but to use Holy Nova. Let's redefine what sucks about Holy Nova:
1. It's mana inefficient
2. It doesn't do very much damage.
3. It's mana inefficient
4. Like any other AOE spell, it breaks crowd control easily.
5. It's VERY mana inefficient.

However, there are times when it becomes very useful.
1. Priests have NO AOE otherwise. While mana inefficient, it can become useful if the mage dies and you absolutely need some AOE. Sure you won't be killing guys with 5K HP, but you can kill some things with 1K HP, like bugs and snakes. Holy Nova is huge in a BG or arena against a hunter that knows that snake trap means death for a priest trying to cast anything. Holy Nova those suckers and they are dead.

2. It's a spammable instantcast spell. Sure it's mana inefficient, but if you're trying to kite something, and your Renew is on you already, and your shield and POM are on cooldown, you don't have much of a choice. Holy Nova is your only other option (unless you have Circle of Healing, but no one has that.)

3. It does no threat. There are plenty of times when a mob does AOE, and I know threat is an issue. Prayer of Healing is a great spell, but it becomes an agro machine if you use it and everyone needs healing. Holy Nova is a way to heal everyone a little and generate no threat at all.

These three things make it worthwhile to me.

On to Lightwell, which will be shorter.

First of all, I need to remember to use it more often on trash pulls, and not just for bosses. I've been running a lot with Patricles lately, and tossing a Lightwell his way is just like Nermal or Murien tossing an innervate my way. He can refill his health and mana and I don't need to waste my mana healing him. Another nice thing it's used for is a DPS rogue who knows that just before he dies, he needs to get away and bandage. Usually bandages only go so far. A lightwell + bandage can usually fill a rogue up. This is why Maiden fight is very useful to have a Lightwell in. Healers don't have to worry as much with the melee classes.

As such, I personally feel that these spells are worth spending 2 of my valuable points. I'm not losing anything completely critical, and I'm getting some utility out of them. I hope I can keep thinking about every one of my talents and their value, because things change as people get different gear even. If I get more +crit, I may think about putting points in Inspiration. Until then, I'm content the way I am.