Help me decide...Follow

So Im just finishing installing WoTLK and then updates, and wanted some help deciding on my specc when I log in.

I levelled my priest from 0-70 as holy and stayed that way with a switch to shadow every once in a while.

Heres my question. Do you think I should stick with what I know best and level from 70-80 as holy, or take a new path down the disc tree and try that? Is healing as disc really as viable as everyone says? Can I start instanceing right away in outland purples? Id link an armory but its been so long since Ive logged in that the armory wont ping me.

Needless to say Ill do what feels right for me, but wanted perhaps a push in another direction from the community.

First of all: yes. You can heal in OL purples, Holy or Disc. You'll do fine.

Second of all: Disc is now PvE viable. And fun. It is, however, a completely different playstyle. Holy is more based around healing once the damage is done, while Disc is more about preventing the damage completely. Or most of it, at least.

Third of all: I recommend you switch to Disc and give it a shot. If you don't like it, switch back. Simple as that. And on top of that, you can have your cake and eat it too come 3.1. They will introduce the Dual-Spec feature which will allow you to be both specs at the same time.

EDIT: After you decide, don't forget to pick up glyphs!

Edited, Mar 20th 2009 4:09am by IDrownFish

Echoing a lot of what's already been said, but, you know how I love to hear the sound of my own voice.

I leveled 70-80 mostly Holy (a couple levels of Shadow just for fun) and it's no problem at all. MUCH easier than it used to be. You're not going to be setting the world on fire, but dang you're hard to kill.

You're fine to start healing level-appropriate instances right away. I don't think I replaced my Primal Mooncloth (yeah, that was the best I had, I'm not much of a raider) til low-mid 70's.

IMO, any priest who wants to heal and doesn't try both Holy and Disc at least once is cheating themselves. Both are viable, both are fun. They're very different. It's kind of a Yoda thing: find out what you are, and be that.

Whatever spec you level with, please remember that a fairy explodes every time a priest neglects to put Spirit Tap in a leveling build.

Spirit Tap is overrated, imo. I've leveled a priest as holy and one as disc and never took up Spirit Tap on either of them.

The thing is that you shouldn't run OOM anymore thanks to our increased DPS - everytime I got so low on mana I would've needed to drink, I had just finished up the quest I was doing anyway so I could regenerate while riding to some other place. I guess it's something personal, but I've rarely had mana problems while leveling - and Spirit Tap only has use if you would go OOM without it.

That said, I'd still recommend it anyway. It's not like those 3 points make a HUGE difference if you put them somewhere else. I'm just argueing for the sake of argueing now ;)

I never used spirit tap either in my mainly Disc spec as divine spirit is the dogs BUT I did include it in my mainly Holy build. I am "meh" about it, I like it but I can live without it.

I healed NR instances in Primal Mooncloth as well (I straight levelled to 80 so I have never raided at 70 on this toon) I got past Utguard Keep and Nexus for sure before it went, I think I also did the next one up (Azjol Nerub?? I forget the levels now)

I am Disc spec now but I have also been both as has the other priest in my guild. Now we heal together her as Holy me Disc and a Druid Resto as 3rd healer, it's an amazing combo. It all depends on your playstyle. I love my Disc spec I find it more challenging and fun than Holy although I do still occasionally curse for a lack of COH I cursed more when I lost Penance.

As for levelling since spellpower came in so you don't have issues with talents bumping just your healing levelling as any spec is far more viable. Shadow kills things faster but Disc/Holy live much longer. I have levelled all 3 specs along the way and all 3 are fine. Holy does provide some nice boosts to your smite/holy fire spells that I missed as Disc but Disc has other good talents such as increased stamina/spirit. The levelling balance may change a little when 3.1 hits but all specs are more than adequate to level.

WOTLK is such amazing content I for one didn't want to rush it, I was happy at my leisurely pace with my "lolsmite" esq spec as teacake calls it (I totally love that phrase btw) enjoy it for what it is and try the 3 different specs along the way, most of all have fun.

Regardless, for disc priests the spell is too good not to be used. Tell the warriors and druids to suck it up for now - as of next patch PW:S will no longer affect their rage generation in any way.

Your shields will be cheaper and more potent as disc, but you won't be blocking most of the damage. What you will be doing instead is giving some nice padding so your tank will be taking less damage, and you can finish the job with your heals. You'll still want to have renew up constantly and ProM bouncing constantly, but you'll also want to shield as often as possible and Penance when necessary (Penance is quite possibly THE best heal in the game, by the way).

And no, tanks should no longer have problems with aggro/rage/mana buildup with a disc healer. They fixed that, making shield viable now. :D

Thanks Moz!! Ill make the switch you suggested and fill out Holy as I level. One thing I'm doing different is forgoing getting Inner Focus. For all my time specing it I never remember to use it so I'hm not wasting my point this time round. ;)



Edited, Mar 20th 2009 6:59pm by VomicatheFaithful

I have a macro to cast IF and then POH bound to one of my f keys, amazing in a bind.

You'll still have to hit the key twice.

No you don't, since IF is off the GCD.



Edit:


I'm not Ysabell, but here you go;



/use 13 uses the trinket in the highest slot of the two. /use 14 uses the one in the lowest. You can leave this line out or add in automatic trinket use to the spell this way.

Edited, Mar 21st 2009 7:27pm by Mozared

This is my macro for PoH which you don't ahve to press twice and works fine

#show Prayer of Healing
/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide()
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/use 10
/use 14
/cast Inner Focus
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/stopcasting
/cast Prayer of Healing
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear(); UIErrorsFrame:Show()


/10 is use gloves (i have that engi haste enchant on). I have no idea what the script code does, i'm not ashamed to admit it's a straight copy and paste job ^^; but it works and that's all that matters :P

HTH

Sorry I wasn't paying attention. This above is what I use as I no longer have trinkets that are "use" It works as IF does not hit a GCD and is instant cast.