I started playing my Priest again. I've been Shadow spec from the start, and I'm about to ding 62. Most of my game play is solo, and I just started on some quests in Outland.
I'm wondering if I should respec to Disc, or stick with Shadow until I level up some more? I kill mobs very fast with Shadow. Typically I'll pull with PW:P, bubble, VT, MB, and finish with MF. I know I have a couple of other DOTs to throw, but the mob is usually dead too fast to need them at the beginning of the rotation. I have +585 bonus damage, and it goes up well over 600 if I use a shadow power pot and wizard oil. If I ever take any damage, I'll usually pop a bandage to heal. I almost always end a fight with full health, and downtime to drink depends on how closely packed the mobs are. OOM situations are rare since I upgraded gear and enchants at 60.
I've healed in a couple of instances, back in my 20-30's, and really enjoyed that role in the group. I always see people asking for healers in chat, and I'm wondering if maybe I should answer some of them and give it a try. I'm in a social guild right now, and we're just getting around to try and set up some raiding. What are some instances that I could suggest that would help us gear up, and maybe give me some practice as healer?
Edited, Apr 3rd 2009 8:30am by Kuthela
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Leveled fast to 58 as shadow.
At 60 after picking up all of the early quest items I switched to Disc and did a small number of ramps, BF, UB, etc. All the the toons in Hellfire P are DKs so a healing priest is in high demand and gets all of the good drops. With all of the good drops Mana Tombs, etc. are a piece of cake also.
Once I finished all of the instance quests and gotten all of the pieces I wanted I went back to shadow and back to leveling.
I will stop at 68 again and do the same thing. It is a good way to develop the healing skills which I intend to use at 80 and it seems to me to be the fastest way to level.
At 60 after picking up all of the early quest items I switched to Disc and did a small number of ramps, BF, UB, etc. All the the toons in Hellfire P are DKs so a healing priest is in high demand and gets all of the good drops. With all of the good drops Mana Tombs, etc. are a piece of cake also.
Once I finished all of the instance quests and gotten all of the pieces I wanted I went back to shadow and back to leveling.
I will stop at 68 again and do the same thing. It is a good way to develop the healing skills which I intend to use at 80 and it seems to me to be the fastest way to level.
If you're smart/good, you should be able to heal instances while spec'ed shadow (just be as efficient with your mana as possible) in the outlands. Healing northrend instances is much more challenging off-spec, but people will want you in parties as DPS, especially if you have VT (free mana for casters).
I recently just switched from Shadow to Disc healing at 80. The only thing I've been having trouble getting used to is how easy it is to heal now. It wasn't until I started doing Naxx that I had to start working as a healer, most other fights weren't hard to heal at 80. And, as a disc healer, I don't have mana troubles, which is an extra plus.
in short: Feel free to keep going as shadow, you can heal easy instances at 80 to get a general feel for healing as your spec and go from there.
I recently just switched from Shadow to Disc healing at 80. The only thing I've been having trouble getting used to is how easy it is to heal now. It wasn't until I started doing Naxx that I had to start working as a healer, most other fights weren't hard to heal at 80. And, as a disc healer, I don't have mana troubles, which is an extra plus.
in short: Feel free to keep going as shadow, you can heal easy instances at 80 to get a general feel for healing as your spec and go from there.
Quick question for you... do you PvP or more importantly do any of the World PvP because you are on a PvP server.
Why, healing up through the mid 70's is fairly easy even as Shadow spec. You may want to throw 5 points into holy for a faster casting time on your heals as well as 2 more for pushback protection, but you will be able to heal fine. Just be wary of those tanks out there that stack stamina gems and have low mitigation... as they will kill you. I have had the pleasure of dealing with DK tanks with almost 15k hp at lvl 70 thanks to gem slots, and on top of it they had barely any of the proper mitigation talents, so they were getting hit, and hit often, for 1500 or more. Made life miserable... sorry... I was starting to rant.
Back to you question, no need to change if you enjoy the SP. I recently switched over to Disc myself from Shadow for something new, and I enjoy it way more than I thought and it makes healing so much easier. I think you have a solid plan of running instances and then going back so that would work to. I guess I would tell you do what you want for what your end game build will be. IF you want to be a healer, might as well play it that way from now on. The 70's are a long climb when compared to all the other levels, but still possible, and everyone is looking for healers. Cannot tell you how many groups I am in that have 3 DK's, some other type, and then me. I have actually run several times with 4 DK's and been fine, but it can get dicey if they have ranged mobs and you get a bad pull, but all is good.
Why, healing up through the mid 70's is fairly easy even as Shadow spec. You may want to throw 5 points into holy for a faster casting time on your heals as well as 2 more for pushback protection, but you will be able to heal fine. Just be wary of those tanks out there that stack stamina gems and have low mitigation... as they will kill you. I have had the pleasure of dealing with DK tanks with almost 15k hp at lvl 70 thanks to gem slots, and on top of it they had barely any of the proper mitigation talents, so they were getting hit, and hit often, for 1500 or more. Made life miserable... sorry... I was starting to rant.
Back to you question, no need to change if you enjoy the SP. I recently switched over to Disc myself from Shadow for something new, and I enjoy it way more than I thought and it makes healing so much easier. I think you have a solid plan of running instances and then going back so that would work to. I guess I would tell you do what you want for what your end game build will be. IF you want to be a healer, might as well play it that way from now on. The 70's are a long climb when compared to all the other levels, but still possible, and everyone is looking for healers. Cannot tell you how many groups I am in that have 3 DK's, some other type, and then me. I have actually run several times with 4 DK's and been fine, but it can get dicey if they have ranged mobs and you get a bad pull, but all is good.
Oops... I forgot... at 62 you should be able to run Ramps and Blood Furnace with ease for some solid gear options for all classes in your guild. Once you hit 63 (64 is easy with about 4 or 5 runs through the above instances) you will want to swing over to Zangarmarsh and run Slave Pens and the other one that is escaping me right now.
Once you get up to 66 - 67, you can start running Mana Tombs and so forth, and you will then hit 68 right quick. Skip the rest in lieu of hitting Northrend. If you have not been yet, your first few quests are like TBC and you will dump almost all your blues. Epics may last you a couple of levels longer. You will fly through these. In one weekend with a DK alt, I leveled from 61 - 68 based on about 15 hours game time over 2 days. All running instance after instance with tons of loot. 70's, you should not expect that many levels over the same time frame... more like a level and a half or so.
Once you get up to 66 - 67, you can start running Mana Tombs and so forth, and you will then hit 68 right quick. Skip the rest in lieu of hitting Northrend. If you have not been yet, your first few quests are like TBC and you will dump almost all your blues. Epics may last you a couple of levels longer. You will fly through these. In one weekend with a DK alt, I leveled from 61 - 68 based on about 15 hours game time over 2 days. All running instance after instance with tons of loot. 70's, you should not expect that many levels over the same time frame... more like a level and a half or so.
This post fits perfectly for where I am with my Horde priest atm. I leveled him as Disc on follow behind my Druid and only really used buffs and heals when needed, I never really used him for much else sadly. I hit 60 and RaF's crazy xp ended :( and I left my priest sitting nowhere being unused. I switched him to shadow to give it a whirl and was gobsmacked at how easy it is to kill stuff. I haven't healed one instance while leveling and was asked within a few mins of hitting Outlands to heal BF, but my gear was seriously lacking (I was still wearing a lvl 20 robe I got from being dragged through SFK) I now have the early upgrades and need to get out of my bubble and go heal something.
There are a lot of good drops in BF. I'd run Ramps once or twice and the BF a lot of times until you are geared up.
11 posts
I tried it out, and healing while shadow spec is possible. I need to get a Mod to track my stats to see how much healing I doing, but I manage to keep the party alive.
I healed for Ramps, BF, and A guy in my guild asked me to heal for strat while he ran it with some friends. There are the occasional deaths, but I just rez and we move on. The hard part it getting some of these guys to slow down enough, so I can drink to recharge mana. I almost never have mana issues when I DPS, but healing is more of a steady drain with a couple of DK out front. I DPSed for the slave pens, and was able to keep us going a couple of times, because I could rez.
The thing I noticed, is that running in a group with 2-3 DK, I never have enough time to run through my cast rotation on anything but a Boss. I'm lucky to throw VE and then just MF until dead, then tab to the next, rinse and repeat. If I try and throw anything else, the mob is dead, before anything lands.
I healed for Ramps, BF, and A guy in my guild asked me to heal for strat while he ran it with some friends. There are the occasional deaths, but I just rez and we move on. The hard part it getting some of these guys to slow down enough, so I can drink to recharge mana. I almost never have mana issues when I DPS, but healing is more of a steady drain with a couple of DK out front. I DPSed for the slave pens, and was able to keep us going a couple of times, because I could rez.
The thing I noticed, is that running in a group with 2-3 DK, I never have enough time to run through my cast rotation on anything but a Boss. I'm lucky to throw VE and then just MF until dead, then tab to the next, rinse and repeat. If I try and throw anything else, the mob is dead, before anything lands.
Scholar
17 posts
If you're smart/good, you should be able to heal instances while spec'ed shadow (just be as efficient with your mana as possible) in the outlands. Healing northrend instances is much more challenging off-spec, but people will want you in parties as DPS, especially if you have VT (free mana for casters). qoute/
No way!
If your really smart, you will NEVER heal as a shadow priest. Why would you?!???!!!?
Shadow is one of the sickest dps'rs in the game.
As far as leveling I hit 80 extremely fast as shadow and tried the other specs a little along the way.
Stay shadow. Good groups will find you as you make a name for yourself with the outrageous dps you will be putting out.
I am raiding now and am always in the top 3 of any 25 man raid. ***** healing. We were so badly nerfed.
No way!
If your really smart, you will NEVER heal as a shadow priest. Why would you?!???!!!?
Shadow is one of the sickest dps'rs in the game.
As far as leveling I hit 80 extremely fast as shadow and tried the other specs a little along the way.
Stay shadow. Good groups will find you as you make a name for yourself with the outrageous dps you will be putting out.
I am raiding now and am always in the top 3 of any 25 man raid. ***** healing. We were so badly nerfed.
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