So, I'm dying a lotFollow

I'm in a low level static group (we're all 27/28). I thought my problems with drawing healing aggro were gone when our pally tank got consecrate at 20, and for a while they were. But now I'm having lots of problems with mobs coming after me again, I'll die a couple times pretty much every run now, and if we wipe, it's always because I died first.

I was hoping for some advice from more experienced priests. I'm a new healer and it's entirely possible I'm missing something very basic, so don't be afraid of insulting me by suggesting something that should be obvious to a toddler. ;-)

First question: how am I drawing aggro? I wait until the tank has consecrated, then throw out my first heal when he's about 70%. I don't pop the renew on until after the first heal. This all works fine in fights with a few targets or easy mobs, but on a hard fight where I have to spam heals, mobs come after me every time. I'm not DPS'ing (even SW:P) at all on those types of targets, because I'm too busy healing, so that isn't a problem.

Second question: once I draw aggro, what's the best thing for me to do? Assuming my Fade is still on cooldown. Currently my policy is mostly to just stand there like an idiot, because I don't want to increase threat by healing myself or heaven forbid whack the mob with my stick. If the tank is in trouble, I keep healing him. If I'm in trouble, I pop a potion or Desperate Prayer. I use PW:S but probably not as much as I should (is this the first thing I should do?). It honestly doesn't seem to help that much.

Suggestions?

I would suggest this.... instead of starting with a heal follwed by a renew, try reversing that. I start with a renew once the tank gets down to about 90% or so. You're only building aggro based on the amount actually healed when renew ticks, so your pally has more time to build aggro. By the time the renew fades and you need to hit a "real heal" not HOT, your pally should have sufficient aggro to keep the mob with him.

If you're STILL taking aggro from the tank, assuming there are no adds, then either your pally isn't doing any damage, or he's not doing anything to BUILD aggro.

Lastly, if all else fails, and your pally loses the aggro, you have to train him to come and GET IT BACK!!! No excuse for letting a priest get beat on to death. Like you said, if you die, they all wipe.

Just my thoughts.... certainly not an expert!

I'm guessing your problems will vanish once he hits level 40 and gets Holy Shield. That helps with AoE threat a LOT. Pallies have a tougher time at lower levels keeping aggro, because they can't just tab-target/sunder like a warrior can, but have to wait 8-10 seconds between the big threat builders. I don't know a ton about pallies, but I'm guessing what he's doing is letting Consecrate get all the adds and just judging Crusader and then keeping Righteousness up and judged on the main target. It *might* be worth him getting off hits on as many guys as possible, and judging only on the main target, but I'm really not sure. Might want to ask over in the pally forums.
I'd say, at lower levels, it's probably best to CC as much as you can, until he gets Holy Shield.

His taunt gets 3 mobs off you, but has a 15 second cooldown versus a warrior's 8-10. That makes it a bit tougher on him as well.

How's the gear on your pally tank? Is the gear around his/her level? What seals is the tank using? Maybe judge SoR on targets not being focus fired on when judgement is up? Make sure Righteous Fury is up. What aura is the tank using? Retribution or Devotion? I prefer Retribution for the extra hate when I'm tanking.

When you do have aggro run to the tank, make sure he knows that you have aggro. Hopefully the tank as Righteous Defense up and have him/her judge SoR on the mob right after they turn around and run back to him/her to build hate.

Call me crazy or idiot if you like. From just the info I gotten from this thread, I'd switch over to disc until I have a few points in Silent Resolve and then go back to working on the holy tree. Upright priest with pitiful heals > than Spirit of Redemption.

Edited, Oct 12th 2007 3:50pm by azelia

So far I have my Disp/Holy preist up to 63 on Rexxar, and a few things I have learned from it:
1.) Bubble causes a LOT of threat, I know it is a knee jerk reaction but at level 63 it causes about 600 threat.
2.) HoT is your friend, try to use it as much as possible.
3.) Use your big threat stuff before the battle begins.
Example: Bubble yourself and renew the tank right before he aggros the first mob, then they will cause 0 threat, reapply the renew as needed and only pull off a major heal if you need to. If the bubble otherwise falls off do not re-bubble you can gain aggro from the bubble alone.
4.) Being Holy, you will have a problem with over-healing which causes more threat than a regular heal, so be mindful of that.
5.) if you pull aggro, Bubble, then Fade. so you get the new bubble for no threat.
Other than that, I agree with everything everyone else has said up till now.

Side note: I would suggest downloading Omen Threat Meter available @ Curse, it is a multi-target threat meter. And if you can convince the tank to download it too then it will let him know when he is losing threat and on what target.

Fade is a temporary drop of a large amount of threat. Once the 15 seconds are up, you will go back to the previous threat plus the amount of threat you gained during your fade. If your fade finishes and you are still higher in aggro than the tank, you are still technically safe until you do something else that will cause more threat.

tankadins can use Righteous Defense to pull mobs off you (with an awesome 40 yard range, unlike the 2 yard range of a warriors taunt).

check that your tank's Righteous Fury hasn't expired, and tell him to hit the other mobs, too. not just the primary kill target... (he doesn't need to hit the kill target until it's dead. he just needs to hit it long enough to get and hold its attention, then the tank needs to focus on keeping the other mobs' attention)