On my server I have noticed a weird feeling about disc priests. Sometimes the talk in trade bemoans disc priests as useless. Other times the sentiment runs pro-disc, as in good luck getting through ICC25 without one (yes, sometimes I turn off my filter and listen to the monkeys chatter in trade). I was in two different PUG runs last week, a TOC25 and an ICC25, and I can see where this sentiment evolves from.
In the ICC25, when I saw the healing team of 2 pallies, a druid a shaman and myself, I was about to go holy when the healing lead told me to stay disc and cover the tank groups. I was surprised, to say the least. The lead was one of the pallies and a good one that I knew from experience. He may be a bit mouthy in trade and has the habit of turning things into an e-peen contest, but he does possess skills that cannot be ignored. I stay disc and we proceed to down the first boss without incident. (I actually died at the end of the fight, trying to boost my numbers by casting Divine Hymn during Bone Storm in the closing moments of the fight while standing in Blue Flame... see, those meters are counter-productive!)
Re: Meters- I don't run Recount during 25s. I find that the initial surge of info when we engage the boss really bogs down my aging processor and causes me to lag during a crucial moment. Others run it though, and the pally healing lead asked for the healing meter after the fights. >.> (he's such a xxxx!) However, on the gunship fight, he made a comment that is really the cause of this post. He said something to the effect that it was nice to see a disc priest that knew how to play their class. /flex =)
I stay disc for the run and we wound up clearing the first wing to everyone's surprise... most 25-man PUGs on my server don't make it that far. One-shotting Saurfang was a real surprise, especially since the first mark came out around 75%. But the healing team had a good plan set up, with the pallies working their beacons and me tossing out shields as fast as I could. The dps was good enough that we get the achievement for the boss and all are happy. That group pretty much was done after that, time had taken its toll and many players were ready to call it a night.
Fast Forward to a TOC25 group. (I'm still looking for the OH drop in there!) With two other priests healing, one of them disc, I go Holy. The group is shaky but effective, and I can't help but notice that the disc priest is not shielding well. I actually wound up tossing shields on the tanks a few times and was beginning to wonder at the skill of the disc priest. We get to the faction champs... the bane of all fail PUGs, and my doubts are confirmed as we wipe during a prolonged engagement.
I can tell that the disc priest is not really up to snuff, this is one fight where disc can really swing the initial moments of the fight by shielding, mass dispelling and pain suppression on a focussed target until the mobs can be brought under control. I rarely heal anyone in the beginning moments of this encounter as disc. So I switch to disc and proceed to do that. Of course, I am the one who gets focussed at the onset, dispelling away their buffs. No problem, it happens alot and I pop fade and am situated away from the main group, but four mobs (hunter, spriest, warlock and shaman all took a chunk out of me according to my combat log) return to me and I die despite a pain suppression, shield, penance... The group wipes, tempers flare, and we are done. (I admit- I screwed up by dying, but my point is that I died doing what I should be doing instead of sitting around and waiting for someone else to take the initiative.)
Now I am not the kind of person to start telling people how to play their class in the middle of an instance (even though I really wanted to, lol). This really isn't the place to be learning that. But my point is that the two different groups illustrate the difference between a well-played disc priest and a person that is disc for fotm. Disc healing is like the duck coasting across the water. Even though it looks like nothing is moving it, a lot of action is going on that you don't see. Now take that duck out of the water and let it walk around... that's what a disc priest looks like when he doesn't use his shields.