Now as some of you may know I am Disc specced atm. I love this spec and have now mostly got my rotations etc down to a fine art. However the time has come when I need to respec deep holy. I need to be able to raid heal to take the pressure off our solitary resto Shaman. The question is do I need to change my gear/enchants and does anyone hae any advice for a newb? I have only healed low level dungeons as holy and was never deep holy so haven't even used COH. I'm so scared lol.
Here's my armory link:
http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Quel%27Thalas&n=Lynaya
Any and all advice gratefully received.
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Deep Breath and into Deep Holy...Follow
My 2 cents...
My sense is that you want more spirit, as this is still an important stat for Holy and translates into Spell Power for you too. Your spellpower and crit look nice but your regen is pretty low and without Rapture you're going to feel that. Maybe swap a couple of gems/enchants for spirit?
Other than that, it's just a matter of getting used to different spells, which I'm sure you'll do pretty quick. Keep Renew up on the tank, keep PoM going all the time, Greater Heal is your big heal and Flash Heal is still Flash heal. CoH + PoH for AOE damage. I've been known to throw down a CoH every 6 seconds even when only a couple people are taking damage, just to proc Surge of Light. I like instant Flash Heals. :)
edited for typos
Edited, Feb 12th 2009 2:59pm by teacake
My sense is that you want more spirit, as this is still an important stat for Holy and translates into Spell Power for you too. Your spellpower and crit look nice but your regen is pretty low and without Rapture you're going to feel that. Maybe swap a couple of gems/enchants for spirit?
Other than that, it's just a matter of getting used to different spells, which I'm sure you'll do pretty quick. Keep Renew up on the tank, keep PoM going all the time, Greater Heal is your big heal and Flash Heal is still Flash heal. CoH + PoH for AOE damage. I've been known to throw down a CoH every 6 seconds even when only a couple people are taking damage, just to proc Surge of Light. I like instant Flash Heals. :)
edited for typos
Edited, Feb 12th 2009 2:59pm by teacake
hehe I'm sure you look lovely in a lovely red dress. As you're still gearing up just look out for new drops with plenty of spirit.
Its possible you may want to think about your UI. It helps me alot to have it nice and clear when I get surge of light and clearcasting procs - you don't want to miss them. Perhaps you're already using some addon to help monitor your cooldowns clearly that can do the trick.
Its possible you may want to think about your UI. It helps me alot to have it nice and clear when I get surge of light and clearcasting procs - you don't want to miss them. Perhaps you're already using some addon to help monitor your cooldowns clearly that can do the trick.
Hi, the other posters have well covered the change in gear etc for going deep holy, I just wanted to know, have you TRIED raid healing as Disc?
It is possible, you will be playing support to your shammy, but it is possible =)
In my guild we have a few Holy pallies, so i'm often asked to help raid heal instead of tank healing (I'm Disc). You can soak up a lot of raid damage by use of PW:S and a borrowed time Flash heal. If you ask to be put in the melee gp you can also do a lot by a gyphed Holy Nova, or a PI prayer of healing, and the shaman can diect CH more towards the casters.
Just passing this on because i specced Holy recently for malygos, found i had completely forgotten how to play Holy, missed penance, ran OOM because of L2P/gear issues (/blush), and respecced back as soon as i could o.O
It is possible, you will be playing support to your shammy, but it is possible =)
In my guild we have a few Holy pallies, so i'm often asked to help raid heal instead of tank healing (I'm Disc). You can soak up a lot of raid damage by use of PW:S and a borrowed time Flash heal. If you ask to be put in the melee gp you can also do a lot by a gyphed Holy Nova, or a PI prayer of healing, and the shaman can diect CH more towards the casters.
Just passing this on because i specced Holy recently for malygos, found i had completely forgotten how to play Holy, missed penance, ran OOM because of L2P/gear issues (/blush), and respecced back as soon as i could o.O
I'm wondering about trying it as disc as I keep going OOM and I am struggling. I miss penance for oh s**t moments and rapture/graces loss is huge for me. I am thinking of trying to raid heal as disc and see how far I get. I only use COH in terms of spells I didn't have before and I am finding it next to useless half the time as all melee are out of range so still having to mainly rely on POM and POH
It just takes time to adjust and you will ahve to accept that if your gear is disc biased atm you will struggle at first to heal as Holy in a raid situation.
It is worth sticking with it if only to brush up your holy skills (i don't have to as we have a very good Holy Priest and i'm the only disc spec raiding at the moment ~ but it is on the cards once i offspec roll some more Holy gear, purely for "just in case" i have to, but that situation has not come up yet).
I've raid healed succesfully in all content so far as Disc, and while it's not ideal it's actually a lot of fun. It gets easier when you are more familiar with where the raid damage is going to come, so you can presheild players. In the quiet bits you can spread power infusion around the mages and boomkins who will love you <3
I beleive in the end it just come down to which playstyle you enjoy the most, and making it work...no point in playing a style you don't like and not enjoying what you are doing. I loved playing deep Holy from Kara to BT, and now i love playing Disc which i specced from the moment we got Penance. Raid healing is more challenging as Disc but if you know your role you can make it work :)
Good luck and let us know how you get on :)
Edited, Feb 16th 2009 6:33am by Tulili
It is worth sticking with it if only to brush up your holy skills (i don't have to as we have a very good Holy Priest and i'm the only disc spec raiding at the moment ~ but it is on the cards once i offspec roll some more Holy gear, purely for "just in case" i have to, but that situation has not come up yet).
I've raid healed succesfully in all content so far as Disc, and while it's not ideal it's actually a lot of fun. It gets easier when you are more familiar with where the raid damage is going to come, so you can presheild players. In the quiet bits you can spread power infusion around the mages and boomkins who will love you <3
I beleive in the end it just come down to which playstyle you enjoy the most, and making it work...no point in playing a style you don't like and not enjoying what you are doing. I loved playing deep Holy from Kara to BT, and now i love playing Disc which i specced from the moment we got Penance. Raid healing is more challenging as Disc but if you know your role you can make it work :)
Good luck and let us know how you get on :)
Edited, Feb 16th 2009 6:33am by Tulili
On an aside from all of that (sorry, I have no input to make being deep shadow myself) why is there no Disc 101 sticky out there?
Surely one of you Disc priests have the time, enthusiasm and energy to pop together a quick guide to your class skills?
As I have said, I am deep shadow, and intend to remain that way, but when Dual Spec takes hold, I would like to know what the difference between Discipline and Holy is, what the strengths are and so forth.
At the moment, all the information I can get is that Disc is better for group buffs and single heals. I look at a couple of the talents and think, 'Hmmm, cool - when would I use that?' or 'Where does that proc again?'
Not being funny, but the Disc tree seems a bit er...dense? Thickly forested? :D
Dr Folly.
Surely one of you Disc priests have the time, enthusiasm and energy to pop together a quick guide to your class skills?
As I have said, I am deep shadow, and intend to remain that way, but when Dual Spec takes hold, I would like to know what the difference between Discipline and Holy is, what the strengths are and so forth.
At the moment, all the information I can get is that Disc is better for group buffs and single heals. I look at a couple of the talents and think, 'Hmmm, cool - when would I use that?' or 'Where does that proc again?'
Not being funny, but the Disc tree seems a bit er...dense? Thickly forested? :D
Dr Folly.
Quote:
As I have said, I am deep shadow, and intend to remain that way, but when Dual Spec takes hold, I would like to know what the difference between Discipline and Holy is, what the strengths are and so forth.
At the moment, all the information I can get is that Disc is better for group buffs and single heals. I look at a couple of the talents and think, 'Hmmm, cool - when would I use that?' or 'Where does that proc again?'
Not being funny, but the Disc tree seems a bit er...dense? Thickly forested? :D
At the moment, all the information I can get is that Disc is better for group buffs and single heals. I look at a couple of the talents and think, 'Hmmm, cool - when would I use that?' or 'Where does that proc again?'
Not being funny, but the Disc tree seems a bit er...dense? Thickly forested? :D
It's not that complicated really. Especially for a Shadow Priest Discipline will be the perfect 2nd spec because for the most part those 2 specs gear up in exactly the same way. Only real difference is that you can neglect +hit and focus on +int, + crit, and +haste.
The only talent that "procs of something" is Divine Aegis of crits. Disc priests use Penance instead of Greater Heal.
Main difference between Holy and Disc is that Holy is straightforward big heals, while your typical Discipline heal is composed out of heal + mitigation. End result is just about the same.
Holy is better at group heals (though not as good as Shamans) while Disc is better at single target healing (though not as good as Paladins).
Downsides? Holy is managing mana, Disc is managing cooldowns. Easy as that
drfolly wrote:
On an aside from all of that (sorry, I have no input to make being deep shadow myself) why is there no Disc 101 sticky out there?
Surely one of you Disc priests have the time, enthusiasm and energy to pop together a quick guide to your class skills?
Surely one of you Disc priests have the time, enthusiasm and energy to pop together a quick guide to your class skills?
Primarily because Mozared has already covered most of it in his Healing Priest sticky. He has done a good solid breakdown of both Holy and Disc. In fact he probably covered Disc a little more comprehensively being a Disc priest himself.
All my gear is so disc focused I have gone back. I healed raid as Disc last night and had no issues. I found penance for oh s**t moments was much better than COH. For the most part POM and POH can handle the damage and I flash healed and used Penance for huge damage like the cleave type effects. I really struggled as Holy to manage the casting time on the big heals and COH couldn't cut it for me. My raid leader has said I did a good job and as long as I don't spec Shadow he doesn't care so I will see how I go.
Thanks for all your help
Edited, Feb 16th 2009 10:25am by ysabellstohelit
Thanks for all your help
Edited, Feb 16th 2009 10:25am by ysabellstohelit
ysabellstohelit wrote:
I found penance for oh s**t moments was much better than COH.
o.0
Two totally different situational spell types.
CoH is meant for raid wide damage. Where you don't have to worry about flash healing or renewing right away, the raid takes damage you hit CoH to get in a more comfortable spot to cast flash, PoH, and/or greater heals on those that still need them.
Penance is for one person, the Oh sh*t spell in Holy to compare to it is Guardian Spirit. Take the tank as the example target. Tank is dropping fast, as a Disc healer you may put a bubble on him then begin channeling penance. As a Holy you pop GS on the tank and then begin casting greater heal. Even if the tank "dies" before you get the Greater Heal off Guardian Spirit will heal then to 50% of their health. The major difference of course being that you can cast penance, pretty much, at will, where you have to be much more selective about using GS because of it's long Cool down.
But, like your raid leader has already figured out, either spec is fine. Your more comfortable with disc, so stick with it.
PS: So far for me, greater heal is rarely cast. My 10-man naxx raid I run with a holy paladin and resto druid, and my Top 3 heals are PoM, CoH and Flash Heal. 10-man OS and Vault I only run with the holy paladin and have the same top 3 heals(I'm usually DPSing more than healing on both fights). In 25-man OS and Vault, PoM is king. Most of the time I don't cast a Greater Heal until Imp Holy Concentration procs, and even then it's if someone needs a big heal, and since the paladin is usually on tank duty, I rarely use it.
Edited, Feb 16th 2009 11:06am by SynnTastic
Oh, sorry, I must have missed that...
I didn't flick through it due to the 'healing' bit in the title, at that point I was pure DPS focussed in game.
My bad, and thanks for the pointer.
DrFolly.
I didn't flick through it due to the 'healing' bit in the title, at that point I was pure DPS focussed in game.
My bad, and thanks for the pointer.
DrFolly.
Found myself in the same situation as the OP now (at least at the time of the initial posting)
Now that our little guild is finally getting to the point of starting to raid, I just wanted to have more utility than what I got from Discipline.
I'm impressed. Healing is much more relaxed thanks to the plain HPS throughput. Fully talented PoM is just freaking amazing and does the majority of group healing without me having to do a darn thing. I also feel that I'm finally getting "my mana's worth" out of Binding Heal and Prayer of Healing.
Guardian Spirit is significantly better than Pain Suppression and all the shields in the world combined. Hell, I WILL have a tank with 50% health, no matter how long it takes me to do group maintenance. What more could you possibly ask for? It gets even better if you add the tank's own panic buttons into that, be that Shield Wall, Lichborne, Divine Protection, Icebound Fortitude or whatever else. Since it increases healing from ALL sources, there is probably no better spell a priest could possibly bring to a progressing raid - short of PW:Fort maybe.
Downside though is what I think a total lack of viability in PvP. Similar to how it was with my druid, I am back to watching people die just because I can't react fast enough. PoM does it's thing, CoH is somewhat useful too, and in the overall amount healed I can still do well in a BG or Wintergrasp, to the point of equal amounts healed. But those are heals that don't necessarily matter, and I feel like the only time I am actually truly contributing is during the 15 seconds of being in SoR form, when I'm safe to "do my thing", preferably within reach of the rest of the team.
Can't have everything, I guess...
On a side note, is there any way to get rid of the error sound when using a cancelcast macro? THIS is rather annoying.
Now that our little guild is finally getting to the point of starting to raid, I just wanted to have more utility than what I got from Discipline.
I'm impressed. Healing is much more relaxed thanks to the plain HPS throughput. Fully talented PoM is just freaking amazing and does the majority of group healing without me having to do a darn thing. I also feel that I'm finally getting "my mana's worth" out of Binding Heal and Prayer of Healing.
Guardian Spirit is significantly better than Pain Suppression and all the shields in the world combined. Hell, I WILL have a tank with 50% health, no matter how long it takes me to do group maintenance. What more could you possibly ask for? It gets even better if you add the tank's own panic buttons into that, be that Shield Wall, Lichborne, Divine Protection, Icebound Fortitude or whatever else. Since it increases healing from ALL sources, there is probably no better spell a priest could possibly bring to a progressing raid - short of PW:Fort maybe.
Downside though is what I think a total lack of viability in PvP. Similar to how it was with my druid, I am back to watching people die just because I can't react fast enough. PoM does it's thing, CoH is somewhat useful too, and in the overall amount healed I can still do well in a BG or Wintergrasp, to the point of equal amounts healed. But those are heals that don't necessarily matter, and I feel like the only time I am actually truly contributing is during the 15 seconds of being in SoR form, when I'm safe to "do my thing", preferably within reach of the rest of the team.
Can't have everything, I guess...
On a side note, is there any way to get rid of the error sound when using a cancelcast macro? THIS is rather annoying.
Kanngarnix wrote:
Downside though is what I think a total lack of viability in PvP. Similar to how it was with my druid, I am back to watching people die just because I can't react fast enough. PoM does it's thing, CoH is somewhat useful too, and in the overall amount healed I can still do well in a BG or Wintergrasp, to the point of equal amounts healed. But those are heals that don't necessarily matter, and I feel like the only time I am actually truly contributing is during the 15 seconds of being in SoR form, when I'm safe to "do my thing", preferably within reach of the rest of the team.
I dunno, I like Holy for certain battlegrounds. You have less survivability for taking direct hits, it's true, but between Circle of Healing, instant Flash Heals from Surge of Light, Renew, and Prayer of Mending, you've got a lot of instant spells that can keep you moving, and I always like the ability to heal six people at once. You're right that those instants aren't gigantic heals but they're enough to keep (some) people alive until you can get behind a tree or something and throw out a couple bigger ones. And Spirit of Redemption, as you note, is fun for PVP. I do think Holy is better suited for some bg's than others though. Something like WSG where you're protecting a flag carrier and getting smacked a lot, you kind of need the survivability of Disc.
There obviously must have been a way to play in BGs without Penance. I have yet to find it. Things work ok when there are plenty of other healers and PoM, CoH, and FH just kinda fill the gaps HoTs and Penance won't cover. Unfortunately I'm usually dead by the time I get to enjoy things :)
Oh well, only a few more months (weeks?) until dual-spec will take care of all that. The PvE gains more than make up for the loss in PvP performance until then. I always used to worry about party-wide AOE damage. Now I'm almost enjoying it to watch my PoM race across my unit frames, healing for huge chunks, and giving me free, instant Flash Heals.
Oh well, only a few more months (weeks?) until dual-spec will take care of all that. The PvE gains more than make up for the loss in PvP performance until then. I always used to worry about party-wide AOE damage. Now I'm almost enjoying it to watch my PoM race across my unit frames, healing for huge chunks, and giving me free, instant Flash Heals.
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