[7.0] Legion Discipline Priest Guide and Discussion

[bluemoon]

I think you are doing something wrong, I did as much as the tank and was 2-3% behind on healing compared to the rest of the healers, that being said I died at the last 10-15 sec of each fight I played disc due to being extremely unlucky.

Maybe I am, it seems a whole new spec after all and we are having to use the pve talent system, have watched some videos though and i think the Disc priests automatic spot in the rbg team will now be gone, will see how I go on after a solid week of learning it.

[Deleted]

Plea, SM, PWR, PW:S, Penance, Smite, SW:P(PtW), (Schism, MB, Halo/DS).

Come one, be fair, don't exaggerate :P

Ok,ok, 6 :P

Bluemoon, I was speaking for PVE, cannot comment on the PVP content.

[bluemoon]

Ok,ok, 6 :P

Bluemoon, I was speaking for PVE, cannot comment on the PVP content.

Ah I did say in my post you quoted that I was running bgs, no probs

[Kergan]

The biggest issue I have with Disco is, that I have to manually apply the Atonement every 15s to multiple targets (that being those ideal 6 targets) and by the time I apply the last one, the first one already has some time off it. Imo, it would be better (read easier) to get them to refresh somehow (maybe on crits or something) or having it like Vampiric Embrace thing. But then again, I'm a noob so this could probably make the class broken.

[grizzlysaurusrex]

Played last night in some bgs, found it very clunky, low/moderate dps in return for low/moderate healing, felt pretty useless tbh

I think Disc gets a lot of important things from the PvP talents. That said, I've found that Disc does pretty well with Grace, the Penitent, and Twist of Fate in BGs.

[spungebobby]

Ok,ok, 6 :P

Bluemoon, I was speaking for PVE, cannot comment on the PVP content.

Really? Old disc was a lot easier on the binds. That was pretty much PI, shield, penance, solace, smite and archangel+poh repeat. Following that rotation you sadly played disc close to optimal.I'm exaggerating somewhat, but the repetition of that spec was way more boring than now.

In a PVE setting we use more spells than before. During a normal HFC clear you will use these spells if you want to be close to optimal:
PI, Rapture, Penance, Schism(if talented), Plea, Dispel, Mass Dispel, Barrier, PS, Halo, PI, Feathers, On use trinket if you got (which I think we'll be using more and more for another burst healing CD), Mindbender, SWP, Leap of Faith, PWR, SM and smite.

You used some of them as old disc naturally, but still, it is a lot of binds!

Now I have hard time fixing binds that I'm comfortable with as I feel I have to balance my CDs a alot better as well, because I feel that to play disc on the highest level you have to be smart when to pop them. That is the hardest part for me actually, spacing out my CD for when I want burst. That and Atonement up time of course

Sorry for my English by the way, it is not my first language

[bluemoon]

I think Disc gets a lot of important things from the PvP talents. That said, I've found that Disc does pretty well with Grace, the Penitent, and Twist of Fate in BGs.

Haven't tried penitent or grace yet so might give it a whirl, sad I don't feel like superman anymore, going to turn into a doddering old man repeatedly saying "remember when we could keep the whole bg team up single handed"

[anon5123]

With the Demoralized debuff being applied to Mythic dungeons, they actually seem very doable with Disc/Holy, now. Sure, it's still a bit challenging, but not horribly impossible like it was before, having to spam Flash Heal / Shadowmend nonstop on the tank and just barely keeping him alive.

That being said, I'm a bit dismayed that a vast majority of players seem to hate the new Disc. Official forums are just flooded with threads bitching and moaning about how much it sucks and they hate it.

I think it's a fun change of pace, but I will agree with them that Atonement needs some kind of duration buff. 15 seconds is far too short. I'd like to see it buffed to 20 seconds baseline, and change Contrition to be either +5 seconds, or something like "when you heal a target with Atonement using Smite or Penance, the duration of Atonement is increased by 0.5 seconds", something like that so you can extend Atonements but not keep them going forever.

[Gorsameth]

Disc has a high skill floor. A bad Disc is utterly useless and the average wow player is bad.
So yes there will be a stigma against Disc from the community that good players will need to fight against.

[Djriff]

Anyone else having a problem with Power Word: Shield not working with a mouseover macro? It just keeps casting it on me even when I'm hovering over another player.

try this one:

#showtooltip
 /cast [@mouseover,nodead,help][] Power Word: Shield

[zeula]

Disc has a high skill floor. A bad Disc is utterly useless and the average wow player is bad.
So yes there will be a stigma against Disc from the community that good players will need to fight against.

This is what I had been hoping to hear. I've read do much mixed on disc that I've just had a hard time deciding whether it was worth the time to spend on it. I think the idea is great and if good players can do well and have fun with it, I'm excited!

[Pearl1717]

That being said, I'm a bit dismayed that a vast majority of players seem to hate the new Disc. Official forums are just flooded with threads bitching and moaning about how much it sucks and they hate it.

Which is funny because you literally started two or three of those forum posts. I'm be about how bad disc is, and the other about how bad holy is.

[Nephthysis]

This is what I had been hoping to hear. I've read do much mixed on disc that I've just had a hard time deciding whether it was worth the time to spend on it. I think the idea is great and if good players can do well and have fun with it, I'm excited!

Disc also needs it's artifact far more than any other healer (which only makes sense, as it was the only healer to receive a total re-design alongside the introduction of artifact weapons). The Light's Wrath active and Sins of the Many give the spec it's niche, your only DR is on there, etc etc.

TLDR: Don't judge Disc in this strange WoD/Legion limbo we're in for the next 6 weeks. It works just fine in Legion.

[zeula]

Disc also needs it's artifact far more than any other healer (which only makes sense, as it was the only healer to receive a total re-design alongside the introduction of artifact weapons). The Light's Wrath active and Sins of the Many give the spec it's niche, your only DR is on there, etc etc.

TLDR: Don't judge Disc in this strange WoD/Legion limbo we're in for the next 6 weeks. It works just fine in Legion.

Is disc going to be viable for the next 6 weeks? I have raid tonight and assume I'll try both disc and holy but I am concerned about how it is going to go.

[Samvex]

How to apply PwR correctly? Just spam on non atonement buffed targets ?

[grizzlysaurusrex]

Haven't tried penitent or grace yet so might give it a whirl, sad I don't feel like superman anymore, going to turn into a doddering old man repeatedly saying "remember when we could keep the whole bg team up single handed"

If you're getting trained a lot (which I have been), Masochism works well with that combo too. You lose feathers, but hopefully one of your teammates will notice you getting wrecked and help you out. I really like the Penitent because it gives me an alternative heal for when I get locked out of the Shadow school. It's also nice for baiting interrupts so you can spam Shadowmend because everyone still loves to interrupt Penance.

[Djriff]

How to apply PwR correctly? Just spam on non atonement buffed targets ?

That's what I've been doing. Mouse over macros are almost a must for disc though.

[anon5123]

Which is funny because you literally started two or three of those forum posts. I'm be about how bad disc is, and the other about how bad holy is.

Please point to the post I made on the official forums stating that I hate the new Disc, playstyle-wise.

I can't seem to recall ever posting anything of the sort.

I pointed out how healing numbers were undertuned and/or damage taken was overtuned, not that I hate Disc.

And judging by how Blizzard has hotfixed the Demoralized debuff onto Mythic dungeons, it seems I was correct. Thanks for insulting me and accusing me of "just wanting to spam PWS every 10 seconds" though.

How to apply PwR correctly? Just spam on non atonement buffed targets ?

Pretty much, yeah. I'll also add that PWR seems to prefer targets who do not have Atonement, rather than healing people who are missing health. At least, that's my experience in 5mans.

[Totaltotemic]

Disc also needs it's artifact far more than any other healer (which only makes sense, as it was the only healer to receive a total re-design alongside the introduction of artifact weapons). The Light's Wrath active and Sins of the Many give the spec it's niche, your only DR is on there, etc etc.

TLDR: Don't judge Disc in this strange WoD/Legion limbo we're in for the next 6 weeks. It works just fine in Legion.

No that's not really true. Every healer gets similar bonuses from their artifacts. The artifact really doesn't even change much except even further emphasize the big bursty type of healing and move Disc even further away from sustaining healing on 7-8 people.

What will be worse is players' experience with Disc. It takes a while to get used to even if you're never played this type of healer before, and if you haven't then it takes even longer. Thankfully we have a good 2 months where nobody should really care how good you are...

[Leenaleena]

Thank you so much for the logs you guys provided so far! They've been really helpful to figure out where I stand. Now as for my two cents...

As a no Alpha/Beta Club person I only tried Disc once on PTR LFR, a single wing at that, so most of my knowledge came from browsing forums and watching "Oh let's look at this boosted/artifically created Disc and read the skills out loud" videos. Thus, the first thing we did after logging on before the raid was doing two myth dungeons -> Mines as Disc, Everbloom as Holy. My tank was a rerolled (semi-geared over the last couple IDs) bear and took almost no damage at all, in both instances.

(Holy was super boring, precisely how I played it back in Cata, with Serenity feeling like a low CD Lay on Hands, especially on that chunky bear. Otherwise very slow, strong, reliable. *yawn*)

Of course Disc threw me right towards the other end of the spectrum, with high blood pressure and twitchy hands. In mines my tank was almost entirely fine just getting the PW:S (mostly) on cooldown. The majority of the incoming damage hit the DDs and with a scrambled/botched rotation I went with gut instinct and either Plea'ed them or PW:R'ed them....but mostly focused on the damage spells. Add in the stupid trash packs that require you to dispel (lazy non-kicking guildies and WHY IS OUR SILENCE GONE? I never noticed *shrug*) and plonk down stupid silence fields I felt super stressed, making decisions and smashing buttons on a whim. Oddly enough (duh, outgeared much?) I managed quite fine. I love the PtW spread via Penance, though I always lamented the lack of damage when I muscle-memory-pressed Penance first, then PtW OR Penance'd right before the mobs actually came together, so no spread. On that note, can someone tell me what the range on that spread is AND if there is a way to track it in the future?

Initially I was afraid to apply too many Atonements at first, having read way too many 'Oh woe my Mana' threads the past months, so it took me a while to really use PW:R. Once I got over that hesitation, applying them to my 5-man group seemed ridiculously easy. I know I was outgearing the dungeon, but it still felt completely fine to heal throughout the entire dungeon. And despite being stressed and harried constantly, it felt GOOD to do significant damage, to contribute to two Skada windows.

Things got rather fun in the raid afterwards. My guild did a HC run only, so that everyone could check out their new specs/rerolled characters. We had two trial druids, a rerolled shaman, a paly and me on 22 man. I was always somewhere in the upper part of the logs, topping them every odd boss or something, trying to figure out the best balance between damage and healing. According to those awesome logs you posted, I'm definitely on the right track, I just need consistency and better tracking of PW:S. A.k.a. less panic and more planning ahead. Applying some simple logic might help as well (PW:S THEN Rupture THEN the PW:S spam to get out one more PW:S; fitting 4 PW:R within PI). Honestly, those things are brilliant and I never really noticed them until I saw the casts/timeline in the logs.