Druid Twinheal, Impress your Raid Leader

[Dimbly]

Well Okay,  Furro has asked me to expose myself and explain what I do (especially concerning proc'd twinheals) when I'm raid healing.  Maybe with some feedback I'll get to be a better healer through this excercize.  But better yet, I'll get Furro offa my back!  :duck:

My line-up:

Gem 1:  Invigoration Rk.II (lvl 95)
Gem 2:  Sanavida  Rk.III (lvl 92)
Gem 3:  Survival of the Prosperous Rk.III (lvl 93)
Gem 4:  Lunamelioration Rk. III
Gem 5:  Egress (lvl 52)
Gem 6:  Adrenaline Flood Rk.II
Gem 7:  Stonebark Skin Rk.III / Aura of Life (lvl 70) / Wildblaze Aura Rk.III (lvl 92)  --situational use--
Gem 8:  Promised Revitalization Rk.III (lvl 92) / corruption, curse, disease (whatever) cures --situational use--
Gem 9:  Hide of the Reptile Rk.II (lvl 92)/  secondary cures --situational use--
Gem10: Unfettered Growth Rk.III (lvl 92)
Gem 11: Sunbreeze Blessing Rk.II (lvl 94)
Gem 12: Preincarnation Rk.II (lvl94)

My Equipment

Logitec G15 (Programmable keyboard - It has 3 banks of 18 programmable keys)


I have hot-keyed a multi-bind heal button.  My multi-bind heal button seeks out the fastest casting heal that's currently available in my line-up and casts it.

I have programmed bank2 of the keyboard for the majority of my raid keys. 

My Left Hand

Keys G1-G6 I have programmed to target corresponding group members 1-6 and depress my multi-bind heal button. 
Keys G6-G12 I have programmed to target ETW slots 1-6 and depress my multi-bind heal button.
Keys G13-G15 I have programmed to target ETW slots 8-10 and depress my multi-bind heal button.
Key G16 repeatedly depresses my multi-bind heal button.
Key G17 casts spell gem 4 (group heal).
Key G18 casts spell gem 11 (assist/nuke/proc twinheal)

(Obviously I have my ETW filled with potential healing targets:  1-6 are usually tank-type, 7 is Raid MA, and 8-10 are filled with clerics, enchanters or knights situationally)

Hot-keys & shift/alt/ctrl + 1-6

My Right Hand

Mouse
Arrow keys/keypad
Hot-keys & shift/alt/ctrl + 7-12

Twinheals

Okay, so we're finally here.  Druids, like clerics, have the ability to proc a Twinheal on command.  What that means is that after casting the proc-producing spell, your next 2 healing spells will fork and duplicate the effect of that heal, provided they are both cast in the next 18 seconds - which is a LOT of time.  This works whether the next spells you cast is an individual healing spell or a group healing spell.  It doesn't differentiate as long as the spell heals.  With the same effort we would use to cast 3 spells, we can instead get the effect of 4.  The proc-producing spells are found under Direct Damage>Twincast and are available starting at lvl 84.  They are called Sundew Blessing (lvl 84), Sunrise Blessing (lvl 89), and Sunbreeze Blessing (lvl 94).  Our Twincast spells are actually easier to use than the clerical equivalents.  We can be healing the MT (or anyone that has a MOB targeted) and without having to re-target can cast one of the blessing spells.  The spell will automatically nuke that target's target, and cause the afore-mentioned twincast proc.  A word of warning:  Because of the nuke part of these spells, I NEVER cast Blessing when I have an Enchanter or Bard targeted (or situationally a necro) for fear of waking whatever mob they may have mesmerized.

Blessing spells take 1.0 seconds to cast.  Although they cast fairly quickly it takes some practice to know when to cast it.  A poorly timed cast can be disasterous.  I try to cast Blessing when the MT (or other target) has just been topped off and is not taking so much damage that they are going to die in the next 3.5 seconds.  I also try to cast this just before the speed cycle of my multi-bind button thereby taking up the slack caused by casting Blessing.  What I mean by that is as Invigoration only takes .5 to cast and Adrenalinie Flood takes 1.8, they always cast in that order, very quickly.  Whereas Sanavida takes 3.3 seconds to cast and will cast twice whilst Invigoration and Adrenaline Flood recycle.  If you cast Blessing just before the slow cycle of the multi-bind key you will have delayed an already slow-casting spell from landing and even though the healing potential is doubled, quite often the target will die before it hits.  Depending on the speed/urgency of my casting, I am usually able to cast Blessing, the 2 twinheal casts and usually 1 other non-twinheal cast before Blessing has refreshed and is available again.  Cast properly I've seen twinheals land for as high as 146k.  That's a lot of healing.  I also find it useful to cast Blessing just before I cast a group heal.  It fills the group with the potential healing power of 632k+ hps.  As blessing has a nuke component it also has the potential of triggering the necro spell Reluctant Benevolence which for me is another potential 168k of healing.  Gotta love that well-AA'd necro in your group!!

Now, the downside to this healing technique is that it uses a ton of mana and produces extra aggro.  To combat the former, I always try to have the AA Spirit of the White Wolf running, either single or group versions (I know, some of your groupees will not like to be in wolf form - Tough Luck.  When there's time, I'll target another healer -usually a cleric from my ETW- when I cast the group version, so they have white wolf as well, thereby reducing the bitching from the melee in my group and increasing that healer's potential as well.  It's also a great way to identify where my or another group is standing, White wolf is easy to see in a raid).  While in this form your healing spells take less mana, heal for more, have a greater chance to proc - including natural twinheals, and provide some resistance to cold.  This seriously reduces the volume of mana expended especially when Spam/Burn-Healing.  To combat the later I use the AA Silent Casting when I feel I'm starting to tip the aggro balance.  I hardly ever get summoned, until everyone else is dead.  As soon as you start to get summoned, it's time to Fade/Exodus/Egress.

So anyway, that's what I do.  There's probably someone that does it better or can make suggestions to my set up - that's evolved over 13 years of trained druid reflex - difficult to retrain, hence the strange spell gem order.  I'm in the process of replacing Gem 12:  Preincarnation as I have the AA version on an adjacent Hotkey bar, with another Blessing, but haven't experimented with it enough to know how it affects the timing of things.  I DO know however that the lvl 94 blessing is on a different timer than the lvl 89.  So it's very feasible to have 2 Blessings in the line-up... oh the mana it will burn...

- Dimbly, The Halfling.

[Ssark]

Love the post, so detailed and it actually shows where your hands are, because I always thought the right hand was doing something else.  I can't tell you how useful this post will be to future and wanna-be healers like myself.

Couple of things real quick, first on the twincast:

1) I think the twincast spells either don't have quite the same range as the heal spells do (possibly do to foci), or, you need to see the target's target.  Sometimes I had gotten an error message even though neither the tank nor I have moved.  But I find this to be a very rare occasion on our current raids.

2) If things are dicey (tank bar going crazy), I will almost always follow up the Twincast with the fast heal / long recast Invigoration line.  You kind of mentioned this, I was just being more specific.

3) On raids like Arthicrex I, where we had to move back and forth, I would time Blessing to land *just before* we were going to move.  Then on the move, I'd nail a fast heal halfway between North and South.  While a lot of other healers weren't healing while moving, I hit a double heal bomb right in the middle.  Thanks to Furro for the technique.

4) In group and in raid, I haven't seen the aggro and mana burn like you have, but it must be because I am not trying hard enough.  (And yes, that's even when I'm playing Eristie full time. )  I'm just saying that to let others know that, one, don't be scared if it happens to you, and two, it's a goal to be like a Dimbly and run out of mana!

5) The group heal twin'ed is indeed an awesome sight.  I've seriously used that many times for both groups and raids, and it's pure amazing.  Don't tell the devs.

6) The different level ones are really on different timers?  WHOA.  I might experiment with two of them, like you said, can almost always get 3 heals in between Blessing casts.  If the lineup could be Blessing-Heal-Heal Blessing-Heal-Heal... in 6 casts, it's 8 heals.  With B-H-H-H, B-H-H-H, it's 8 casts, 10 heals.  I'll take 8/6 vs 10/8, depends though on how the heal icons refresh and stack up.  Might be a waste of time, dunno, but worth a look.

Other questions unrelated, but just "My healer is my second character so I don't have the history you do" type:

1) I'm jealous of your Group Heal Rank III!
2) Why Egress where there is an AA button for that too?
3) How often are you using Survival of the Prosperous, and when (group and raid)?
4) How often do you use the Promised spell line?  I've been told in the past it's useless, though I tended to use it for events like Decon just before the tanks activated 6 clicknar.
5) You have it as situational, I just wanted to take a moment to inform folks that the druid auras have some very unfortunate conflicts with things like RB and CoL, which often makes me such a sad panda I've stopped turning them on during raids.

[Dimbly]

Ssark said, 1) I think the twincast spells either don't have quite the same range as the heal spells do (possibly do to foci), or, you need to see the target's target.  Sometimes I had gotten an error message even though neither the tank nor I have moved.  But I find this to be a very rare occasion on our current raids.

The nuke component is influenced by your Range Detrimental focus which is never been an issue for me.  The thing that does become an issue for me upon occasion, is the the Line Of Sight requirement for the spell.  You need to be able to see your target's target which is a drag if you are hiding behind a post or wall to avoid LOS AEs.

Ssark said 6) The different level ones are really on different timers?  WHOA.  I might experiment with two of them, like you said, can almost always get 3 heals in between Blessing casts.  If the lineup could be Blessing-Heal-Heal Blessing-Heal-Heal... in 6 casts, it's 8 heals.  With B-H-H-H, B-H-H-H, it's 8 casts, 10 heals.  I'll take 8/6 vs 10/8, depends though on how the heal icons refresh and stack up.  Might be a waste of time, dunno, but worth a look.

Although the second spell gem icon is not greyed out after casting the first, I suspect that the higher level spell will over-write the lower, but it could still possibly get one more twinned cast in there.  If I weren't such a slacker I'd know :chuckle:  So there's something with which to experiment.

Ssark said Other questions unrelated, but just "My healer is my second character so I don't have the history you do" type:

2) Why Egress where there is an AA button for that too?

I know, and although I've purchased it, I've never used it.  I can't seem to get it to fit into my spell gem.  No seriously, I can't seem to find a place for it in my primary Hot-key line-up and I don't want to go looking for it on adjacent bars.  I need it NOW!!  Though I could combine it with my Exodus button maybe, hmmm.... just thought of that.

3) How often are you using Survival of the Prosperous, and when (group and raid)?

I reserve the Survival line for group emergencies, to save that er try and save that ranger.  :duck:  I don't usually cast it unless someone has dropped to 10-15%.  I love to see that proc for 120k.

4) How often do you use the Promised spell line?  I've been told in the past it's useless, though I tended to use it for events like Decon just before the tanks activated 6 clicknar.

Yes, this spell has a lot of limitations.  I use it when someone else is not, which means that you have to be watching the tank's icons to know.  (Personally, I think it should stack like DoTs, but it doesn't.  It will over-write someone elses cast.)  I use it before we stage an attack, like just as we're headed into a room for Tick Tock.  I will also cast it on a puller just as they leave to grab a critter.  They one cool thing about the spell is that the target gets the aggro for the heal and not the caster.  Also it doesn't seem to mess with FD.  When I'm the sole healer in a situation, I cast it at the beginning of my fast cycle so that it goes off right at the end of my slow cycle.  That's where it's most effective.  I find that I use it much more in a group setting than in the raid.

5) You have it as situational, I just wanted to take a moment to inform folks that the druid auras have some very unfortunate conflicts with things like RB and CoL, which often makes me such a sad panda I've stopped turning them on during raids. Sad

Yes druid auras are mostly borked.  They don't play well with others - like most druids themselves.  I end up using Aura of Life most of the time as it will stay up there longer and it doesn't interfere with anyone elses auras.  As it's a lvl 70 spell it doesn't heal much, but every little bit helps.  I usually cast it before we start and replace it in the gem with Skin for combat rebuffing.  I've been frustrated with the fire and cold auras as I'm always having to recast them.  I want to cast them at the beginning of a long fight and have them stay resident throughout the duration, but alas.  They are more useful when I'm soloing or in group situations when I can more easily afford the spell gem.
      

[Huevos]

I know, and although I've purchased it, I've never used it.  I can't seem to get it to fit into my spell gem.  No seriously, I can't seem to find a place for it in my primary Hot-key line-up and I don't want to go looking for it on adjacent bars.  I need it NOW!!  Though I could combine it with my Exodus button maybe, hmmm.... just thought of that.

How are your macros setup to cast?

[Dimbly]

The macros capture and reproduce keystrokes. So <shift 6> selects hotkey bank 6 <shift F1> selects group member #1 and <2> casts my multi-bind heal key etc.  All of that would be in one macro.

Whatever keys you can depress (or hold down and however long you hold them) on your keyboard can be macro'd.

[Huevos]

The macros capture and reproduce keystrokes. So <shift 6> selects hotkey bank 6 <shift F1> selects group member #1 and <2> casts my multi-bind heal key etc.  All of that would be in one macro.

Whatever keys you can depress (or hold down and how long you hold them) on your keyboard can be macro'd.

So then what's the problem with egress AA instead of spell?

just make a hotkey that does /doability ### and the egress number.

[Dimbly]

It would mean changing macro banks as all of bank2 keys are populated, which takes time.  But your right, when I really need the spell gem, I'll work it out and reclaim it.

[Huevos]

It would mean changing macro banks as all of bank2 keys are populated, which takes time.  But your right, when I really need the spell gem, I'll work it out and reclaim it.

so then how did you hit the keys for spells? Your not using just the number on hotbar?

[Dimbly]

Spell gems can be cast by hitting alt #, you can also do it by typing /cast # where # correlates with a spell gem.  Or as you meant to say AAs can be cast typing /alt activate #. 

I'm not sure I understand your confusion.  When you program a macro to condense keyboard commands, you still need to hit the assigned macro key to trigger that series of commands.  Bank2 (18 keys) is full, so I'd have to change banks to hit the key assigned to Egress.  By the time I did that, I'd be dead.

[Huevos]

Spell gems can be cast by hitting alt #, you can also do it by typing /cast # where # correlates with a spell gem.  Or as you meant to say AAs can be cast typing /alt activate #. 

I'm not sure I understand your confusion.  When you program a macro to condense keyboard commands, you still need to hit the assigned macro key to trigger that series of commands.  Bank2 (18 keys) is full, so I'd have to change banks to hit the key assigned to Egress.  By the time I did that, I'd be dead.

So your using the alt # for casting on the macro?

What I'm getting at is if you were using the hot bar to cast with just the number then all you would have to do is replace the hotkey on that number instead of recreate the macro.

[Nuttann]

Well, since I was asked why I haven't used druid blessing on FL raids so far and failed to explain well in tells, I will describe here. I have used the method above in both groups and raids.  I find it is more effective in raids due to other healers landing heals while I am not healing due to the time casting the blessing, but not as effective as many have found it.

To be fair, I usually have max AAs a couple months into expansion.  This may make a difference as my heals do a fair amount on their own and crit as frequently as they can.  I have used the blessing method above and found it being less effective for me in many cases.

If the tank lives and heals always hit for full amount, then the math definitely works out to blessing being huge. There would be no reason not to use it unless some critical cure or debuff would have to go. Yes, I understand the math.

However, there are two factors depending on the situation that do lower that. 

If normal heals are maxing out the tank or the tank is returning to 100% based on all the heals hitting him, then a twin heal doesn't heal anymore than the normal.

The other factor is time between heals.  I find this is important to me.  The one sec cast of blessing plus recast is sometimes huge.  Yeah, I can follow up with invigoration, but that just turned my 0.5 sec heal that I try and keep up for real emergencies into a 1.8 sec heal.

Maybe it was just a different healing team, but I have found that I lost more tanks with the gap in healing to get the 2x twin cast proc than keeping heals going even though not doubled. This time between heals is crucial thing for me and why I use blessing less that others.  Especially times when I am constantly switching targets.

Yes, those twin casts give more chances to crit a heal which show up in the spam, but looking at my logs has shown a lot of them doing 0 actual heal or less than a full single heal total to target for me. And many of those time, ducking was not an options since the tanks health showed damage until after the heal, but someone else's hit first.

Are there times when it has benefitted me, yes.  But, not as much as it has for others apparently.

[Nuttann]

Re: Group spirit of the white wolf.

The group version has the illusion as a separate buff than the real buff.  The illusion appear in the song window and can be blocked.  You still get the benefits as below:

1:     Decrease Spell Mana Cost by 13%
2:      Limit: Spell Type (Beneficial only)
3:      Limit: Max Level(95)
4:      Increase Cold Resist by 100
5:      Add effect: Form of the White Wolf
6:      Increase Mana by 50 per tick
7:      Critical Heal (6%)

The 50 mana per tick is nice for anyone using mana even if using detrimental.  The mana press are only for beneficial and the crit for heal.  I have used group black wolf sometimes in a DPS caster group if I didn't have a mana issue and didn't need the heal crits.

Also: I still use the Anomalous Rock of Alteration augment for mana savings when healing.

Nuttann

[Furro]

 
Thanks for posting Nuttann! 

Btw, I'm probably going to cut/quote up your post here.  It's nothing personal either, we're just discussing more effective ways of healing.  So that's my disclaimer, and I'm sticking to it! <em runs>

To be fair, I usually have max AAs a couple months into expansion.  This may make a difference as my heals do a fair amount on their own and crit as frequently as they can.  I have used the blessing method above and found it being less effective for me in many cases.

If the tank lives and heals always hit for full amount, then the math definitely works out to blessing being huge. There would be no reason not to use it unless some critical cure or debuff would have to go. Yes, I understand the math.

However, there are two factors depending on the situation that do lower that. 

If normal heals are maxing out the tank or the tank is returning to 100% based on all the heals hitting him, then a twin heal doesn't heal anymore than the normal.

You appear to be describing a singular tank situation; whereas I assume you mean plural.  Because it's not just about a single tank.  Utilizing a twin at an opportune moment; doubling your next two heals has a huge impact depending where you choose to direct them.  That's the key thing here, it's not about whether your heal has landed on that single tank, but what you do immediately after with the twin power at your disposal.  You may quickly look at ETW and find two other tanks in trouble, and decide to drop a heal on each before going back to your initial focus.  Now, given your twin was up, your heals just had a potentially big impact on their survival, perhaps even enough time for someone else to cover them or finish casting their heal. 

Following the above example though, maybe everything is fine in ETW, but your current tank focus is getting ripped a new one, and getting a twin in there may pose too great a risk.  Obviously it's a judgement call.  I'm not saying twin or bust, but I'm saying a high priority should be given to making it in your casts if possible, unless you feel at the moment the risk of losing your tank is too great.  A judgement call, like we all make as healers.  Players die based on our calls.

I admit, I'm a very aggressive healer.  My mindset is, keep the twin up, always, period.  If I'm losing ground on a tank, between blowing every safety I have, I'll still maintain priority on getting the next twin up to regain ground on the tank that's having trouble.  Because RNG is not our friend (it's definately not mine, if you've ever seen me /random), we shouldn't be relying on it to save someone elses life in the virtual sense.  Twin removes the RNG factor; supplanting it with the power of heals that we know will crit, guaranteed.  Demi-god status is what it does.. Like after you eat pie.. Mm.mm, Hrmph, wha?  Oh yeah sorry.  moving on..

The other factor is time between heals.  I find this is important to me.  The one sec cast of blessing plus recast is sometimes huge.  Yeah, I can follow up with invigoration, but that just turned my 0.5 sec heal that I try and keep up for real emergencies into a 1.8 sec heal.

With the above in mind and twin up, your 0.5 sec heal will always crit if/when you choose to use it.  This is what I'm trying to get across here.  It's not about 0.5 sec turning into 1.8 sec.  But the fact is, if you're using your fast 0.5, I suspect your target is in deep shit, and having the heal do double is all that more important then doing half the heal and then having a fart in the wind chance of possibly gaining ground with what after that? A slow 2 second heal?  Sure we're talking hypotheticals here, but just saying.  Think about it.  Double heal, 1.8 sec, or that normal heal, pray it crits at 0.5 sec.  I'll take the double heal, any day, and I'd wager the tank would appreciate it as well.

The moment you start losing ground, you've already lost with conventional heal methods (ie, a patch and banking on RNG).  You need the twin there, always, so whether the tank needs that double heal or not, when the shit hits the fan, it's there, guaranteed.

Pardon my langauge btw, but it's late, and please don't construe the above as being sarcastic.

Maybe it was just a different healing team, but I have found that I lost more tanks with the gap in healing to get the 2x twin cast proc than keeping heals going even though not doubled. This time between heals is crucial thing for me and why I use blessing less that others.  Especially times when I am constantly switching targets.

I've saved more tanks with twin healing than lost.  But of course, we're going to lose tanks simply due to some situations not even we can pull a heal out of our ass in an epic scene of Halfling pie eating glory.  Ass, pie and glory all in one sentence.  I'll wait for Huevos to come in here with a funny retort.

I agree that the time between heals is crucial, but it's the judgement that matters.  Obviously misjudging a twin can potentially result in not landing a subsequent heal in time.  Whoopi do, the fact is, it takes practice to learn to make good judgement calls, and as healers, we both know this.  This type of healing goes against conventional form, but it's necessary to keep pace with the game by adopting and adapting to our environment; both group and raid.  I've been using twin for a long time now.  Coupled with the nuke/heal and heal/nuke lines; it's by far the most powerful method for healing in game.

Yes, those twin casts give more chances to crit a heal which show up in the spam, but looking at my logs has shown a lot of them doing 0 actual heal or less than a full single heal total to target for me. And many of those time, ducking was not an options since the tanks health showed damage until after the heal, but someone else's hit first.

Lots of your heals are going to land for zero.  I wouldn't stress over it.  What's important is, when it matters, the crit is there and there's no requirement to pray to your god to make it happen.

Are there times when it has benefitted me, yes.  But, not as much as it has for others apparently.

I'm glad it has benefited you at times, I hope in the future it does more frequently.

[Nuttann]

On tough raids, I am aggressively healing too.

Yes, I did not mean a single tank.  When I mention tank, I meant my target at that second.

Likewise to your latest post, don't take this wrong. Much of your post and discussions have been trying to educate me no how this works like I don't understand and that by explaining I will all of a sudden understand.  But I do.  Give me the cleric line and my answer would likely change.  It appears that I am not successful educating others as to my reasoning.

I don't worry about my heals landing for zero.  I only mention that because when my heal lands for less than full, doubling it means nothing other than I used twice the mana plus the gap that I am most concerned with.  If I could do the blessing without the extra 1.3 second gap, I would be all over it even with the extra mana cost.

Some of the strategy posted included using the fast heal right after the blessing to make up for the time to cast blessing.  For me that is a non-starter.  I need the fast heals as fast heals. They refresh too slowly to use them when not needed and then need it.  I usually use the fast heals right after switching targets to patch.  I normally start heals on one of the tanks tanking mobs when target is full. I keep an eye on ETW window and group and when someone takes damage, my normal spam is not as fast as I want. Remember due to the speed of the spells I start my heals on the mob's target prior to them taking damage.  I switch targets because someone has already taken damage so unless it is minor damage, they need a heal fast.

Using blessing followed by a slower heal means there is a bigger than normal gap and on tough healing fights, that gap can be big.  Especially with multiple tanks taking damage.  Healers that may have been tossing heals to the target I have at the moment may have switched to patch another target. Then my extra gap that may have seemed safe, no longer is.

There is a reason that CH lasted long after I had spam heals that did more than my semi-CH and were much faster.  The reason was that it was the only way to ensure that a real small gap could be ensured between heals.  With other heals, different casters had different speeds. When all the healers currently healing the target have their gaps align, it may be more than what you want.  SOE got rid of CH due to two reasons.  They let the newer HP and heal amount make the CH way too little and they had raids with mechanics that made keeping the CH going impossible.

Seriously, the situations that I have found it most useful is when the damage spikes are not that big.  Then I use it to get its nuke off on the target's target and then make up for the gap with a crit heal or two. Of course, on those, I can also use the manaflux line to get a nuke on the mob and a heal on the tank at the same time.  Yeah, no double, but shorter gap.

Do consider that multiple stratgies can actually help the process.  The most effective use of two healer mercs in the same group it to set them to different strategies.


Nuttann

[Furro]

On tough raids, I am aggressively healing too.

Yes, I did not mean a single tank.  When I mention tank, I meant my target at that second.

Likewise to your latest post, don't take this wrong. Much of your post and discussions have been trying to educate me no how this works like I don't understand and that by explaining I will all of a sudden understand.  But I do.  Give me the cleric line and my answer would likely change.  It appears that I am not successful educating others as to my reasoning.

Yeah, I was trying to articulate with some examples how it can matter, not meant to indicate you didn't understand the concept.  I believe you do, and you've even said in essence twin has a time and place (which I agree with also).  My angle is just to try and encourage the spell be taken into greater consideration is all. 

I don't worry about my heals landing for zero.  I only mention that because when my heal lands for less than full, doubling it means nothing other than I used twice the mana plus the gap that I am most concerned with.  If I could do the blessing without the extra 1.3 second gap, I would be all over it even with the extra mana cost.

I think the trade off is worth the risk, providing good judgement given the situation (that's the caveat as we both are aware I think anyway).  I've seen a twin'd heal save alot of situations.  Which isn't to say I somehow have more experience than another, just saying that's my experience. 

Some of the strategy posted included using the fast heal right after the blessing to make up for the time to cast blessing.  For me that is a non-starter.  I need the fast heals as fast heals. They refresh too slowly to use them when not needed and then need it.  I usually use the fast heals right after switching targets to patch.  I normally start heals on one of the tanks tanking mobs when target is full. I keep an eye on ETW window and group and when someone takes damage, my normal spam is not as fast as I want. Remember due to the speed of the spells I start my heals on the mob's target prior to them taking damage.  I switch targets because someone has already taken damage so unless it is minor damage, they need a heal fast.

I agree, it's a good tactic that I practice as well with regards to having heal lines in action prior to a tank visually taking damage.  Unfortunately, not everyone heals this way, and we do have some reactive healing, not anticipating the damage.  I'll bring up another point here, not related to you, but along the line of anticipating damage; in the hope others read, but layering heals is another avenue overlooked by those relying purely on reactive measures.  ie, HoT, PR (delayed direct heal lines) being placed and maintained.

Using blessing followed by a slower heal means there is a bigger than normal gap and on tough healing fights, that gap can be big.  Especially with multiple tanks taking damage.  Healers that may have been tossing heals to the target I have at the moment may have switched to patch another target. Then my extra gap that may have seemed safe, no longer is.

I think this can be argued both ways, and I have a feeling you understand that as well.  Every situation is going to differ, and as I've said previously, it's a judgement call whether to use twin at that moment, in order to reap the rewards from it.

There is a reason that CH lasted long after I had spam heals that did more than my semi-CH and were much faster.  The reason was that it was the only way to ensure that a real small gap could be ensured between heals.  With other heals, different casters had different speeds. When all the healers currently healing the target have their gaps align, it may be more than what you want.  SOE got rid of CH due to two reasons.  They let the newer HP and heal amount make the CH way too little and they had raids with mechanics that made keeping the CH going impossible.

It wasn't just ensuring the gap was minimized, but also at the time patch heals used a tremendous amount of mana.  Efficiency also played a big part, on long fights.  Nowadays, with the advent of huge modrods and regen lines, mana is not even an issue.  Going full out, I'd be lucky to use 3/4 of my mana, and most fights less than half.  I say this with no cockyness either, as my manapool is probably the smallest among all our healers.

Seriously, the situations that I have found it most useful is when the damage spikes are not that big.  Then I use it to get its nuke off on the target's target and then make up for the gap with a crit heal or two. Of course, on those, I can also use the manaflux line to get a nuke on the mob and a heal on the tank at the same time.  Yeah, no double, but shorter gap.

Funny here btw, because I find twin the most useful when damage spikes are large.

Glad you brought up your nuke/heal btw, your remote line is something I've wanted to put forth here to all our druids to encourage its' use more often as well.  Remote being a nuke; will proc RB, and that's 20k+ free heals across the group. 

Sucky part about your remote line though (unless it has changed recently?) is they're linked.  So you can't use several in conjunction for bigger impact.  Far as I'm concerned, Druids should have gotten the same versions as Clerics, without linking, including the bonus dmg for mob type.