Looking to heal

[dieball]

When i first started my priest (first toon) i was leveling as holy. Mind you this was when Wrath first came out. I really enjoyed playing a healer. The leveling wasnt much to fast, but hey, it was my first toon so i didnt know better. I did enjoy healing dungeons, even tho i had 0 addons. Everything seemed good...Then i hit 72. I qued up for a random, and got dropped into AN. Having never been there before, i didnt think much of it. All previous places i just had to watch the tank, and toss the occassional aoe heal when needed. Before the first boss, we wiped numerous times, and i was berated for being a shitty healer. I left group, and tried to get into another random. Same place, same issue. I had no idea about web's, CC's, what-have-you. Most places prior to AN didnt have anything of the sort (that i could remember, or that made a diff.)
I became so discouraged as i was once again belittled. I spec'd shadow soon after, and havent looked back. Now, while i love, love playing shadow (and consider myself well adapt to mastering the playstyle), i still regret not sticking with it.

I've always wanted to go back to a healer, but the guild im in now has enough healers.
However, I'd still like to have the option myself to heal. So basically, im looking in the forums and see lots of starter guides. My first question is, which is the easier spec to pick up and have sucess with? I understand they are 2 totally different styles. One being shields and absorbs, the other being HoT's. Which of the 2 healing spec's is most inducive to starting off healing? Mind you, I dont plan to make it main spec, but keep it in the back pocket, just incase.
I dont ask which is "easiest" b/c i realize both could be considered "easy". Which has the smoother learning curve? thank you in advance for any advice!! Fuu

[Maso]

I'd say go discipline and then just queue normal heroic dungeons. You've likely done them all before (unlike when you first did AN) as DPS and as such will have some idea where the damage is coming from and when it's going to be significant.

Most people doing normal heroics are way overgeared for them and get through them pretty quick and pretty smoothly.

Don't give up early. Just keep queuing. The more you do the easier it will become until you get to the point where you heal without even thinking any more.

edit: actually just do LFR where there are 6 healers when there only needs to be 2. You can get carried while you learn.

[babylon]

holy and disc are very different, as you said, and i dont think that one is easier then the other

i recommend trying both, in lfr and in some 5mans, and deciding which of them is more fun for you

[Sakamae]

Disc will be easier to share gear until you get some dedicated healing OS pieces from DS. Holy takes a lot more spirit than Disc, but if you're looking to just do LFR and heroics, you should be fine as either spec in your shadow gear. I am currently using a haste heavy holy build for my OS, since it compliments my MS shadow gear well. I dropped back to using 2 piece T12 and 2 piece T13 (healing tier) just for the extra regen so I could get by with less spirit (and fewer separate gear pieces), since I heal so infrequently. Try them both, and see how you like them. I've done a lot of PvP with Disc and PvE as Holy this xpac, they're both a lot of fun and very different from each other.

[lwalker8]

Disc will be easier with existing shadow gear. I have taken alt healers into AN while leveling a few times and wiped. That trash before the first boss is over-tuned.

Don't queue all Cataclysm heroic 5 mans. Queue for the Hour of Twilight ones, these are easier to heal.

[dieball]

Thank you all for your encouragement! I didnt think it was even possible to heal at all in dps gear (iLVL 403). But as you have all put, its more than possible. I plan to get into LFR as a healer and either just dps and roll on healiing gear, or just practice, knowing full well im not making a big difference. I think I'll take the advice and try Disc and see how things go.

While im typing, disc healing is mostly tank healing focused, correct? I know that they CAN be raid healers, but they are most efficient as tank healers, similar to pally heals?

Also, what addons make the transitions the smoothest? Ive heard Healbot, and Grid style healing helps ease the pain?

[babylon]

While im typing, disc healing is mostly tank healing focused, correct? I know that they CAN be raid healers, but they are most efficient as tank healers, similar to pally heals?

Also, what addons make the transitions the smoothest? Ive heard Healbot, and Grid style healing helps ease the pain?

disc priests are very efficient tank healers, due to grace, shields and stacking da on tank, but in ds raids (lfr) there isnt much tank healing so you will find yourself raid healing mostly, which discs are very good at as well.

as for addons there are 3 main raid frames (grid, healbot and vuhdo), all of them have ppl who like them and ppl who dislike them.
i like vuhdo the most, as it lets full personalizing and is only 1 addon, doesnt need any plugins and with the amount of tutorials, even on youtube, its quite easy to set up.
if you search archives on priests forums, theres one massive topic with discussion about those addons with cons and pros listed.

[Sepyshfan]

I'd say go discipline and then just queue normal heroic dungeons.

Wot? normal heroics lol

[Madam]

Wot? normal heroics lol

Running random heroics is IMO where you learn to use your cooldowns and manage mana.

If you want to laugh at heroics I would urge you to go back and queue for the starter Cata dungeons, where tanks are still under geared and DPS have no clue of boss abilities. Even geared healers can find them a challenge. (also rewarding to be able to help newer players learn fights instead of laughing or leaving a group when things might go a bit wrong)

[Maso]

Wot? normal heroics lol

Too dense to realise what I meant? Nice input.

[Tanthalas]

Get Ingela's Rapture Cooldown for disc, priests with it and w/o it are two different stories.

[Malmsteen]

buy spirit 377 pvp gear, get to know the tatics (5 minutes on youtube), queue to LFR has healer, be the worst healer, system WILL provide fresh shinny epics.

[Tanthalas]

buy spirit 377 pvp gear, get to know the tatics (5 minutes on youtube), queue to LFR has healer, be the worst healer, system WILL provide fresh shinny epics.

It's a myth. Just the most notable thing, when a baddie gets lucky with rolls.

[dryankem]

Yeah go into raid finder as a healer. It's very forgiving if your group has a really good healer or 2, plus try some BGs.

Back in the day I had the same issue, I had a shaman I was only leveling as a healer in dungeons but hit a wall around lvl 50 or 60 I think. Leveled that toon to 80 at the time as Elemental because I was frustrated with healing and couldn't understand what I was doing wrong (it turned out to be a gearing issue). Practice is the biggest thing, that and reading up on the spec. Queue up for the raid finder and/or BGs until you feel comfortable, or if you have guildies willing, grab a couple of them and hit a few randoms (would be the fastest way to gear up too).

I would recommend disc as well, I've heard of some disc priests running sub 2k spirit (although I wouldn't recommend it). I run just shy of 3k spirit and almost never have to stop to drink in random dungeons. The only fight I've come close to OOMing is the Madness of Deathwing but if I watched my rapture better and/or timed hymn of hope/shadowfiend better I might be able to lower it (plus if I actually ran with a decent guild I could lower it further).

By the way the only addons I use are recount, DBM, something for coordinates and a vanity pet mod. I easily hit 20k HPS in LFR (I'm usually first or second on recount but that's not always a good measurement of healing), so it's easy to heal using the standard raid frames. Although a truly specced out setup for healing would be the best, but it's not necessary to be a competent healer.