Priest or Shaman for Random BG's?

[Konah-Dunemaul]

Been playing my rogue a lot recently and been astounded at the lack of healers in the majority of games, you'll get many with no healers at all, and then suddenly a game with 5 on your own team.

So given that the only role i yet to play in a PvP perspective is a healer, i'm going to give it a try and see how i fare. :-)

I'm mostly looking for:

1. Something that is durable
2. Capable of standing their own
3. Has a viable off-spec for DPS (in PvP)

I've narrowed my choices down to a Shaman & Priest (As the title dictates) because i find Paladins too boring to play, and i already have a druid, and resto.. Well, they're garbage from what i've seen in PvP at the moment.

I've had some PvE healing experiences with a Shaman, but no healing experiences with a priest at all, Enhancement seems to be fairly viable at the moment, but i'm not entirely sure, just had my arse kicked by some, yet ripped others the shreds.

The same is said for priests, some give me trouble, others i completely dominate. Shadow priests look fun, by i have no idea how they play out, from what i've been reading, it seems they have a lot of trouble with quite a few of the classes.


That's pretty much all i know on both classes, from here on i'll be looking to you guys for information, cheers!

[cynical]

I have both with ruthless gear (enhance and shadow/disc). Disc priests are amazing and fun pvp healers. Enhance does decent damage and dominates casters with ease, but unfortunately has no finishing power, is very susceptible to cc, and gets destroyed by rogues. Shadow is similar, in that there is no real way to escape most melee. The burst you can do with mind spike + mind blast is sickening but you don't have much cc. Personally I think both classes have much better tools as healers than as dps but if you have to choose, enhance is the most durable and least frustrating of the two.

[Pelleas]

Interrested in feedback too.

I played a Disc priest in S10, was supossed to be a Shadow but defaulted back to disc after a little while.
Disc was fun to play, esp the set bonus that frees your movement when you shield yourself is amazing for survavibility.
The shaman set bonus in comparison pretty much sucks.

Leveled a Shaman last week and now starting to gear him up. I see differences between the two classes and honestly not super impressed with Shaman so far.

Shaman does not have a lot of "get the fuck out of here" tools. There is the slow totem which works okay but most guys you want to leave melee contact from (War and rogues) will charge you back after you create distance. The priest had a fear which I found really usefull to get out of creepy situations.

Shaman you also have to fake cast a lot which sucks in "I need a heal NOW" situations. Riptide I see more as a buff to your next heal than a heal spell by itself.
Fact that I can make my fast heal uninteruptible as a priest also beats that.

Haven't made an analysis on Earth shield vs Priest bubble, they feel similar in power even if as a priest I can bubble multiple targets.

Shaman seems better at defending a point thrugh healing rain and salve but imho for random BGs, priest has the upper hand.

[Itisamuh]

I would recommend priest. They're the most fun healer in my opinion, cause they're the most offensive, and they have plenty of tools to tank enemies while keeping others alive. You'll have a lot of utility to keep yourself busy and entertained when nobody needs healed. Plus, for those games where you don't need to be a healer, shadow is amazing in battlegrounds; I'd say it's the best caster spec in the game besides frost mage.

[Rawrii]

As a prot warr FC I say priest all the way tbh. Nothing more needs to be said.

[nwo]

Priests are more fun imo and they have more utility... when you get stuck with a bunch of retards that don't focus fire healers, you can take out the healer yourself with a couple of quick mana burns. Disc priests can also dps down some dps classes in a 1v1 situation and shadow is definitely dominant over enhance/ele. Also, don't forget you can MC people off of cliffs

Shamans are also very good in pvp they bring decent utility, although in random BGs, you're more likely to have most of the totem buffs or have someone 1 shot them (stoneskin totem can't protect them forever). They aren't as good offensively anymore now that they have a longer interrupt CD.

[wynterlyn]

Well I have played a priest extensively but have only limited experience on my Shammy. I will try and be as non bias as I can.

1. Something that is durable.

Priests are pretty durable low levels as Discipline. Their Shields absorb a ton of incoming damage. They can also but out a ton of burst heals every 10sec Glyphed with Penance. They can definitely hold their own till backup comes. However, I've noticed it is much easier taking out a Priest at level 85 than it is a Paladin. It is easy to counter a Disc Priest. Holy just isn't viable for PVP. You can get along fine but you ain't going to survive long enough. However, Paladins have a lot of Instant casts. On the other hand Shammies play similar to a Disc Priest but resemble more of a Paladin with more control. They are probably in between a Disc and a Paladin. They have Earth Shield, similar to PW:S and have an instant spell. Their mastery works very well as in they heal for more the lower their health is. Shammies are pretty good PVP healers. Theybring a lot of tools including different forms of CC. As a Disc Priest you only have fear every 20 secs.

2. Standing their own?

Priests are definitely one of the most offensive healers in the game. The only reason I continue to play one is because of Mass Dispel. It removes 1-2 beneficial buffs from the target. Pretty awesome to dispel wings and other magic. Shammies have a similar spell but you have to do 1 at a time. Shammies have an instant Ghost Wolf if things go south. Priests don't have that luxury. Shammies are like Druids during WTLK. I remember it taking around 6-7 people to take out this druid. Shammies hardly run out of mana compared to a Disc Priest and I hate rapture for PVP. I think Shammies win here.

3. Viable DPS spec.

Shadow is a pretty good spec. However, I've not been able to get the best out of it in PVPing. You play the role of a "pain" up your enemies ass most of the time. I have not been able to be competitive in DPS. Maybe I just didn't get use to it. But Shammies have a couple of viable DPS specs to chose from Elemental and Ehancement. Both are strong.

To sum it up Priests and Shammies are both very fun classes to play and have a lot of cool spells like, water walking, levitate, mass dispel, ghost wolf, totems, reincarnation, etc. Shammies have totems that can be very effective and bring a lot of buffs. However, I think totems are going away in MoP. Blizzard have not confirmed it. If it does, Shamans will lose their uniqueness. The one thing I found convenient as a Priest, is that it is easy switching to a DPS spec as Shadow share the same stats as Disc. A few tweaks here and there and you are good to go. Shadow Priests gain hit from spirit so you don't have to worry about gemming/reforing into hit. However, it would be a bit harder for Shammies if you plan on going Enhancement. You will have to farm twice the gear unless you plan to stick to Elemental.

[Pelleas]

What wynterlyn said!

But... Mind Control is very fun to play with in BGs and wins you games in some arenas. Worth adding to the assessment

[wynterlyn]

What wynterlyn said!

But... Mind Control is very fun to play with in BGs and wins you games in some arenas. Worth adding to the assessment

Oh yes Mind Control. How could I forget that. Pretty awesome spell for throwing people of the Hill in AB and in EoTS. Shammies have some kind of pushback spell. Not sure what that is. But Shammies and Priests have very similar abilities .

[Serenidade]

Oh yes Mind Control. How could I forget that. Pretty awesome spell for throwing people of the Hill in AB and in EoTS. Shammies have some kind of pushback spell. Not sure what that is. But Shammies and Priests have very similar abilities .

Shammies have Thunderstorm that in Eye of the Storm or Lumbermill in AB is alot of fun to use and see ppl flying all over the place.