New priest looking for advice

[Huehuecoyotl]

so i decided i wanted a change from my druid, so i have dusted off the priest that hasnt been used for healing since Kara. i have bought a whole bunch of boe gear, had some items from holiday bosses and used some JP i still had to make a couple of purchases. bottom line is i now have an ilvl of about 363, which should be plenty for the older heroics and once i get some experience, enough for the DS ones.

i have done some reading in this forum, got a standard spec and glyphs and gemmed and enchanted all the gear. i have also been reading up on what i think the "standard" healing rotation should be.

so, tank goes in, i hit chakra and throw a heal. i then put up a renew and PoM and start regular heals. if he takes more damage i use a greater heal instead, or use the free flash heal when it procs. continue to use PoM when available. if party members take damage, use PoH if there are several that need it, otherwise throw a flash and get back to the tank.

so, i tried one of the DS instances (since i had the ilvl for it) and failed pretty miserably on echo of baine. i apologised to the party and left, and tried normal heroics instead. got ZG, and failed again on the raptor boss. then tried again and got HoL. got the first boss down, then the tank died on the trash pack following. at that point i apologised again, and left to let them get someone that knows what they are doing.

i am feeling a bit disheartened by this. the ilvl i have means that i should be able to overpower the early instances, but clearly i am doing something badly wrong. not a lot of information here i know, but can anyone offer some advice to a noob priest to help him make some progress?

[Tihr]

Practice. What you said you're doing doesn't sound wrong. You build up a lot of natural reactions when you play healer a lot, and pretty soon you'll know which heal to use without even thinking about it. Just keep at it, and don't get disheartened.

[Dyra]

Having an armory link would be helpful just so we can be sure the speccing, gemming and enchanting is as it should be.

It does look like you're doing most things right, but there's a few things I think you could be missing out on. You're getting into Chakra: Serenity, but you didn't say you were using Holy Word: Serenity. This is important as it's a cheap, fairly powerful, instant cast heal that also refreshes Renew and places a buff on the target that mean your heals have an extra 25% chance to crit. You should be using this on CD whenever possible. There is also no need to hit Chakra everytime the Tank goes rushing in. Chakras are now more of a stance/aura and last until changed or cancelled. There is also nothing stopping you from using Power Word: Shield. I find every little helps. :P You can also use FH other than when it procs, it's mana expensive sure, but as long as you're not spamming, you'll be fine.

Finally, what UI frames are you using to heal with? It's not mandatory, but sometimes it's so easy to lose your healing target to an enemy and end up healing yourself.

[Twoflower]

armory link.

But it sounds like you need to practice. The ilvl you are wearing should be plenty to heal even the new 5 man instances. I started healing them as soon as they were available at ilvl 353 and had no problems.

And I would recommend getting the addon "clique". Clique + some good party frames ( the latest version of blizzards party UI is actualy usable ) = win

[Guthric]

armory link.

But it sounds like you need to practice. The ilvl you are wearing should be plenty to heal even the new 5 man instances. I started healing them as soon as they were available at ilvl 353 and had no problems.

And I would recommend getting the addon "clique". Clique + some good party frames ( the latest version of blizzards party UI is actualy usable ) = win

actually i'd reccomend the addon Vuhdo, which IMO is far superior to Grid or Healbot paired with Clique

---------- Post added 2011-12-27 at 09:26 AM ----------

armory link.

But it sounds like you need to practice. The ilvl you are wearing should be plenty to heal even the new 5 man instances. I started healing them as soon as they were available at ilvl 353 and had no problems.

And I would recommend getting the addon "clique". Clique + some good party frames ( the latest version of blizzards party UI is actualy usable ) = win

actually i'd reccomend the addon Vuhdo, which IMO is far superior to Grid or Healbot paired with Clique

[Deleted]

Start with the basics. (I play Disc on my alt, but general healing principles are the same for any class/spec)

Have you healed before? I'm unclear which specs you've played on your druid.

- If you're new to healing, make sure you have a proper interface to cast heals: Grid, Healbot, Vuhdo, mouseovers - anything that allows you to cast heals fast.

- Start with a simple rotation, consisting of two spammable spells:
Greater Heal for single target throughput
Prayer of Healing for AOE
With your gear, in 346 and ZA/ZG dungeons, those two heals are all you need to keep everyone alive.

If people continue to die, there are three possibilities:
1) They make stupid mistakes -> can't help that.
2) You cast too slow -> you either waste too much time thinking (hence stick to only two heals, less thinking required), or your interface sucks (hence, get a proper healing addon)
3) You cast the wrong heals -> GH and PoH are not always the best choice, but they're never wrong.

Once you get comfortable keeping people alive with the simple rotation, you can weave in more advanced spells.
Remember: For a healer reliable output >> peak performance. Focus on keeping life simple for yourself, at least at first.

p.s. I second Vuhdo.
p.p.s. If you're worried about mana, consider reforging all secondary stats to spirit. When you become more adept and efficient you can reforge them back to optimal stats.

ETA:
p.p.p.s I cast a shield/hot before the tank charges into a mob. I start casting a big heal immediately when he has aggro, even before he has lost health - he will have lost health by the time the cast completes. I continue casting big heals, until/unless I'm confident small heals can do the job.
See the difference? You start small then escalate to big heals if required, I start big then reduce to small if I feel safe.

[Skygoneblue]

Two big things that were kind of "ah-hah!" moments for me as Holy:

1. Holy Word: Serenity isn't just a cheap, instant, awesome heal - it's a great way to buff a huge crit out of a subsequent heal. I almost always use HW:S followed by a Prayer of Mending or Flash Heal.

2. Discipline is very preventative in nature. Holy needs to be played more as "anticipative", if that makes sense. Your Mastery makes your heals add HoTs to your targets. Any seasoned Resto Druid will tell you that if you wait for your party to take damage before you start rolling HoTs, they'll die.

To continue #2, learn the instances. Learn when your group is going to take big AoE, and get a Prayer of Healing charged up to land right when the damage hits, and follow it up immediately with a Circle of Healing. If your tank is going to get slammed hard, hit him with HW:S, PoM, or use a couple Flash Heals in the moments leading up to it to charge 2 Serendipity stacks for a fast Greater Heal.

Holy is a very powerful spec, but it requires you to know the fights well, and requires that you know the ins and outs of your talents and abilities like the back of your hand. Keep practicing man - you'll love it before you know it!

[BuffaloSoldier]

Remember one thing child, your are blessed by the light with immense healing power! use it to cleanse, protect and heal your valiant companions as they vanquish your evil foes

oh and MAKE YOUR PARTY USE THE LIGHTWELL!

[ojg]

Can you link your armory?
TBH I think its the tanks that fail. If you have a friend or a guild member that is tank, and (s)he knows tacts, make him tank for you. If you still cant manage to hold him/her up, it might be something wrong with your stats and/or reforging. Also, I would recommend you to respec to Disc. It takes some time to get used to it tho.

---------- Post added 2011-12-27 at 04:27 PM ----------

Remember one thing child, your are blessed by the light with immense healing power! use it to cleanse, protect and heal your valiant companions as they vanquish your evil foes

oh and MAKE YOUR PARTY USE THE LIGHTWELL!

I got an addon called Lightwell timer. When i lay out a lightwell, I auto /yell: Click on the lightwell for tits. And when someone clicks on it, it autowhisper: *Show tits* It really works, especially in LFR.

[Deleted]

TBH I think its the tanks that fail. If you have a friend or a guild member that is tank, and (s)he knows tacts, make him tank for you. If you still cant manage to hold him/her up, it might be something wrong with your stats and/or reforging.

It might be a streak of bad tanks, but with a new healer it seems more likely the healing is somehow to blame.

And stats/reforging? We're talking about 346 dungeons with an ilvl of 363 - he could reforge everything to expertise, and it should still be fine!

Most likely the problem is something much more basic.

[ojg]

And stats/reforging? We're talking about 346 dungeons with an ilvl of 363 - he could reforge everything to expertise, and it should still be fine!

True, true. But it would still be nice with an armory link.

[Huehuecoyotl]

my armoury is http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...ormanus/simple

managed to make some progress with the older heroics today, and now finished two of the new ones. that let me get into my first LFR and give it a go. the advice is much appreciated, and i am starting to get more of a feel for what to use when; that was what was lacking, on my druid i know instinctively what to use, and stopping to think as a healer generally ends up with someone getting dead.

i use grid atm, did try clique once but couldnt get to grips with it.

the nice thing about the priest compared to the druid is that you seem to have a lot more tools to do the job. i think that was where some of the confusion was coming from...too much choice!

[Deleted]

While holy is not really my cup of tea (always have clicked more with the disc playstyle) I have to say your spec looks viable for dungeon healing. Some fights are just way out of balance compared to the other fights. You seem to be blaming yourself completely, but sometimes tanks and dps mess up have to take into account that they might have just behaved inappropriately and taken unnecessarily high amounts of damage. Otherwise I agree with everyone else, it takes a while to get a handle on what spells to use in what situatons, and it's more a case of reaction speed when "OH DEAR GOD FLASH SPAM" is required. Keep practising and don't lose faith Even the best healers have their party die sometimes. Heck, I heal DS10 up to blackhorn with a fair ammount of success and still get wipes in the heroics, or panic during some trash packs in the new dungeons.

[Lenoratte]

Practice, Practice, Practice! Your main healing spell should be serenity, prayer of mending, and heal. Honestly, in dungeons, if you know your rotation and what to do situation-wise, it's most of the time not the healer's fault. You could throw even a renew or heal spell on the DPS if it's only a person or two otherwise PoH is your best bet. Flash Heal isn't necessarily unless the DPS are spiking because otherwise it's a waste of mana. It sounds like you're doing things correctly, you just need to get the hang of things so you can better react quicker. Don't let the renew fall off the tank or the prom to disappear. With the serenity chakra, renew is almost always there because you'll be using serenity on cool down. You'll want to enchant your boots with lavawalker and gloves with +65 mastery. You can also give your belt another socket. Torrent is a better enchant for your weapon. You also haven't reforged anything so you could fix that.

[Dyra]

Good to hear you're getting to grips with the light and starting to swing it like a master. It is true the Priest toolbox is bigger than all other healers, but as others have stated it gets easier with practise. Tbh I find it's only in dungeons that you ever use anything near the full usage of your spellbook. Lfr you will get pigeonholed into raid healing and play about with the Sanctuary side of things. I wish you luck and if you need more help well we're only another post away

[Huehuecoyotl]

have to say guys, big thumbs up to everyone that has offered me some advice here. i have posted on various forums before (including this one) and i have never known such a friendly, helpful set of responses anywhere. i will keep practicing, and will certainly be back if (when!) i need some more assistance.