(Priest) Healing in Cata

First of all, if there is already a thread for this, im sorry i didnt see one though

My question is two-fold

#1 is for any healers, just how much does the difficulty ramp up in the higher level dungeons as far as healing as you work through cata

and #2 any healing priests, do you suggest i stick with my plan to go holy/disc or should i go with my holy/shadow specs that im rolling now

i dont really like shadow, so i was thinking about going dual healy specs at 85 but im not sure.

From a healer perspective, I didn't find it too difficult healing wise moving up.

Biggest issue is the tank/dps. If they're dumb, they'll die. If they're smart, it'll be challenging.

The normal dungeons aren't hard to heal at all. Especially after you've had a taste of heroics, the normal dungeons seem like child's play. I wouldn't worry about healing any of the normals as you level to 85.

If you like healing, I'd definitely choose disc/holy at level cap so that you can change between specs as necessary in order to fit the healing situation you're in.

i love healing on my priest, but it was kinda hard to level as holy (did until 15 and ran dungeons til 45 or so)

disc is alright for a questing spec, but still a bit of a pain
so it looks like im shadow/dungeon crawling til 85 and then going holy/disc

and then ill start worrying about heroics lol

I leveled to 70 in BC has holy and to 80 as holy in Wrath. It was fine, just very, very slow. So I chose shadow to level this time around.

i wanted your opinions on this disc spec
i did the atonement/archangel think when 4.0.1 came out, didnt like it that much, but i loved the disc playstyle when i didnt use aa/a

do you think this is a viable spec?

any changes you would make?

edit: the point in desperate prayer is just there as an emergancy button (i think ive played holy too much)
i would have np putting it in surge of light, it mostly depends on how much i would have to heal myself fast

There has been some priestly discussion here: http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/ ... =viewtopic

There are quite a few useful links in that first post.

I think a really important factor in the holy/disc versus healing/shadow argument is what you plan on doing with your priest? If this is your main raiding toon and you are a dedicated healer than I would say go holy/disc so you can be as flexible as your guild needs. However, if your priest is your umpteenth alt (which I think it is) and you will mainly being doing regular dungeons and eventually moving to randoms I wouldn't suggest it. I don't think it is worth it to totally gimp your ability to solo quest and farm by having 2 healing specs. I don't know that there are any fights in non-raid content that so greatly favor disc over holy that I think 2 healing specs is required. Additionally if your guild wants another for a random and they already have a healer you may have to pass.

Now, if you hate shadow than by all means go holy/disc.

ty for the link, i looked but didnt see it
i thought i remembered one though

Both healing trees are completely viable.

In normal dungeons, I didn't really see any kind of issue with my mana until I hit about 84. I started to notice my blue bar sagging throughout my runs. You really want spirit on pretty much every piece you can get outside of trinkets. Mastery as holy is a godsend.

I find holy to be a crapload of fun right now. I've played disc and I couldn't get into it. There are just so many fun things about holy right now. Holy priests are getting a little nerf come 4.06 with our mana regen but 90% mana regen was a little over the top. Prayer of Healing was admittedly OP so we got a little nerf on that too.

95% of the time I find Chakra to be fine. Heal Chakra is just plain awesome. Lightwell is a raid/heroic saver. Even if I'm the only one using it.

And I just realized you were asking advice on Disc. So, meh.

If you're just tootling around on this toon and healing the odd heroic, I'd suggest having a shadow offspec for Tol Barad dailies. Stuff just doesn't die as fast as you need it to while going disc. Unless you're doing them with a partner then who cares.

I'd really recommend starting heroics as shadow and grabbing what gear you can. If you can put together guild/friends groups then sure, go holy.

I say this because most random groups these days have gotten used to ilvl 345+ healers so a fresh ilvl 329 one is not going to meet their expectations (pulling whole packs, eating avoidable dmg, etc.)

Your dps may be low, but you're probably less likely to get kicked as a low dps than as a healer.

just my 2 cents

Your other option is to put together a list of which bosses drop what and just queue for easier dungeons with drops toward the begining. You're more likely to be able to get off the ground this way than just queing for randoms.

Aanar wrote:
I say this because most random groups these days have gotten used to ilvl 345+ healers so a fresh ilvl 329 one is not going to meet their expectations (pulling whole packs, eating avoidable dmg, etc.)

Gah, has it gotten to that point already? My priest should be 80 tomorrow and then I'll be leveling up to 85 as quickly as my limited schedule allows. I had hoped that the more restricted access of high level gear in Cataclysm would keep people from getting spoiled as quickly.

I spent a few minutes on the AH this morning and bought about 6 Cataclysm greens that my 78 priest could equip at her current level. When I put them on I gained nearly 6k mana and who knows how much spirit and spell power. This makes me a bit less apprehensive about trying to heal reg cataclysm dungeons as soon as I hit 80. I had originally planned to quest for a full set of gear first, but this puts me halfway there.

It is pretty ridiculous, because of all the spirit on my gear I have 38% chance to hit in shadow.

Plenty of people are willing to cc if they know the healer is a fresh 85. Just be sure to ask them politely to do so. There isn't many that will flat out refuse to do it if you explain your reasons why.

And honestly, don't worry about early normal Cataclysm dungeons. I've healed them on both my priest and my shaman and they were no different than healing a level 80 heroic. You're never out of mana and you have no problems covering for bad dps mistakes. You won't need cc in normal dungeons.

I agree with Nika. The damage is light in normals and the combat ratings decline doesn't hit you hard until you get to 84-85. Up until then, it's quite easy as a healer. Do not sweat it.

Also, my healing gear isn't the best and if there isn't cc being used on a heroic and I feel like my mana pool or healing won't be able to keep up, I will ask for it. I haven't had any problems by just asking for it. Every dpser that I've run into will do as I ask since they're glad to be out of their 45 minute queue and want the run to go smoothly.

You need to take control of the situation. If you don't, then you only have yourself to blame.

i did ToT and had no problems what so ever

the only death was a fury warrior that refused to move out of poison from the big adds before the first boss
i could have healed him through it, but i was an ass and let him die, and he learned
he moved on the rest of teh mobs, and on every other dont stand in fire thing for the rest of the dungeon

the hardest one for me to heal was actually the 2 hallways before the final bosses
but boss-whise it was the 2nd, and just b/c my tank was a lil slow moving sometimes

i havent ran BRC yet, and i havent hit 82 to go to deepholm for stonecore

as far as gear i bought some, had random drops from my other toons, and made some
i think i was around 275 ilvl going into to ToT, not bad for a priest that was 73 at the end of wrath