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  1. #1
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    Wink New to Priesthood :b

    Hey guys

    I've played wow since vanilla and I have ALWAYS played a hunter. At first it was because i really enjoyed the playstyle, later more out of habit and also because i never wanted to be one of the guys to take the blame. I've now grown older and i feel like i can take the "healer's fault" blame :b

    Since blizzard made a race entirely based on me (chubby with a great love of food and beer, lol), i felt it was time for a change. I rolled a pandaran priest and I want to heal when i reach 90. My question is then is there anything you can tell me? Any good priest or healing advice, any recommended guides and should i go disc or holy?

    Thanks in advance

  2. #2
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    Mistweaver.

  3. #3
    Epic! dryankem's Avatar
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    Welcome to the brotherhood. =)

    Try both holy and disc would be my suggestion and see which one you like better (if you aren't in a heavy progression guild you can play the one you like). I've only played shadow since the expansion but I'm looking forward to healing again on my priest. Healing is easy, at times stressful but still easy IMO, however I do it a lot and not surprisingly I find tanking the hardest which I do very little of.

    I don't use any addon raid frames (I just use the default raid frames, even for 5 man dungeons) or mouse over macros (although many people will recommend them), however I use HF and Smite macro to hit target of my target so that I never have to take my focus off the tank. The one addon I do use that I don't think I can live without as a healer is decursive which you can use to debuff things (which is something I was horrible at before I got the addon).

    Also IMO if you want to get good at healing, jump in some random BGs. Things are insane and you are forced to act quickly. It's a little different because there is no main target to keep up but if you setup your keybinds correctly you shouldn't need to look at your controls to react to incoming damage.

    Remember to gear correctly as you level (that's one of the big mistakes I made when I first started healing, didn't have enough int and spirit to keep up), but it's easy and I hope you have fun.
    Last edited by dryankem; 2012-10-04 at 07:52 PM.

  4. #4
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    Thank you Dryankem, that was really helpful

  5. #5
    I'm new to healing too! Just rolled a Panda Priest yesterday. Hit 15 and then started doing dungeons. I spec'd into Holy and I'm already level 21. I rolled a Night Elf Warrior to be a tank (another first) last week and I'm killing two desires with one stone here lol. Seeing a lot of old content at a brisk pace. Never did dungeons on my first Warrior DPS until like 60, so it's neat seeing all of this new stuff.

    Anyway, back on topic. The priest as Holy when I go into five-mans I have like one-spell at my level. Flash Heal. I guess my question is when exactly do you get another healing spell? 30?

    Thanks.

  6. #6
    should have renew by now and renew and power word should be all u need for a long time besides regular heal. after a short while u may need greater and flash but u shouldnt need them yet..

    what i did when lvling my priest i went disc while questing, and holy while doin lfg. and thats because for me disc at low lvl wasnt what i wanted and i couldnt stand it while in a group, now i can np but at lower lvls it just wasnt viable for me....i love holy priest, yea u dont get to "dps heal" on fights but u can still throw dots...but it is my favorite spec to play for heals. will always choose the holy priest over a holy pally thats for sure.
    Last edited by phirx; 2012-10-05 at 10:31 AM.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by phirx View Post
    should have renew by now and renew and power word should be all u need for a long time besides regular heal. after a short while u may need greater and flash but u shouldnt need them yet..

    what i did when lvling my priest i went disc while questing, and holy while doin lfg. and thats because for me disc at low lvl wasnt what i wanted and i couldnt stand it while in a group, now i can np but at lower lvls it just wasnt viable for me....i love holy priest, yea u dont get to "dps heal" on fights but u can still throw dots...but it is my favorite spec to play for heals. will always choose the holy priest over a holy pally thats for sure.
    Thanks for the reply. I just looked at my ability sheet. I don't get Renew until 26 and Heal until 28. So I guess I'm stuck with the Flash Heal for several more levels. That is... unless I'm misunderstanding something lol.

  8. #8
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    Welcome to being a Priest! My main was always my Hunter until I mained my Priest in MoP. As for healing, go for what you like to do. Disc is very much about absorbs and preventing damage, whereas Holy is more about AoE healing. I am personally Holy/Shadow (Shadow is my levelling spec). If you need any tips on Holy healing, feel free to ask.

  9. #9
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    I've switched from a resto druid main to a disc priest main (although after reading several posts recently about the state of priests in raids possibly i'll come to regret that =p)

    I'm still only 87, due to lack of play time, loving the disc play style though in 5 mans etc so far, really hope by the time I'm 90 and raiding there has been a small buff to priests if the numbers people are posting are true...

    as for healing advice, the disc play style is quite new to me, i'm used to hotting everything with my druid then chilling out =p

    but, as disc try to predict the incoming damage, if the tank is about to take a big hit, shield him first, to stop the damage, and not after wards to protect him while you return him to full health.

    use PoM on cool down when you get it.

    Pre-cast your heals, handy little habit to get in to. if you're just healing the tank, or the tank is the only person taking damage, keep casting your slow heals on him, heal or greater heal depending on damage done etc, if near the end of the cast damage has been done, let the heal go, if he's still at full near the end of the cast, cancel it and start another!, that way if damage comes in, especially big damage, you don't have to wait a full 2.5s for a heal to get to him etc (fair enough we with pennance heals are more readily available, but i've found pre casting helps keep me focused and not suddenly panic when the tank is on 15% yelling at me for not healing because i've been distracted by what my gf is watching on tv . . . lol)

    Heal in dungeons a lot while leveling! this is a great way to learn the role, even if there is fuck all to actually heal in lower level runs (90% of the time while leveling recently shield and renew was all i ever needed . . .) heal anyway! especially when you get new spells! try them out! try to avoid what i've kind of done at get to (or near) 90 and not really know what half of your spells (especially cool downs!) actually do and are useful for.

    MODS AND UI! some people play without any mods or UI adjustments, some people play with a few basic ones, some people play with an all singing all dancing UI that is so radical you'd not know they were playing wow . . .

    You've been playing a long time, but UI can be a lot more important to a healer than to a hunter. Party/Raid Frames are probably the most important thing to consider - you need it all to be visible, and accessable, but importantly not too far from your own character. I use Grid, just to the side of my HUD, so its not far off the side of my character, so I can still see whats happening around me - don't get drawn in to JUST watching the little squares varying between green and red =p

    Debuff tracking can also prove useful, find out what you can dispell, and find out if your frames track it or not, if not can they be modded to track it?


    thats about it, should probably do more qork, any more questions just ask xD

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    mainstreetcm, didn't you get a healing spell for picking Holy? I can't remember and unfortunately don't have access to a talent calculator to check.

    One more little piece of advice is to move your raid frames around till your comfortable (you may need to move other things as well to make room). I find with healing you need to adjust your screen more so than any other role so that you have quick access to everything. Personally I have most things on key bindings but do click a couple of abilities (rarely used or have long CD tend to get clicked) so I like to keep my frames close to my action bars.

    Finally don't panic when people start dying, it'll happen from time to time. Maybe you miss a heal, maybe they stand in stuff they shouldn't or maybe your tank just isn't that good. And speak up if you need mana, the group will stop for it's healer or they die. I've been called a bad healer before but I let it roll off my back, sometimes it's the other persons fault that they died and they just want someone to blame. A couple times it was my fault but I'm confident enough to say that I'm an above average healer and the fact that your on this site indicates you're doing your research which will make you an above average healer as well.

    Like I said, healing is easy IMO so have fun with it. =)


    PS - Healing can be a bit of a whack-a-mole play style staring at bars the whole time but the reason I enjoy it so much is because nothing is static when you're healing. When your DPSing, its follow your rotation/priority list, but with healing it's reacting and/or predicting what's happening or about to happen and you have to use your best judgement with your spells.
    Last edited by dryankem; 2012-10-05 at 01:58 PM.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by dryankem View Post
    Finally don't panic when people start dying, it'll happen from time to time. Maybe you miss a heal, maybe they stand in stuff they shouldn't or maybe your tank just isn't that good. And speak up if you need mana, the group will stop for it's healer or they die. I've been called a bad healer before but I let it roll off my back, sometimes it's the other persons fault that they died and they just want someone to blame. A couple times it was my fault but I'm confident enough to say that I'm an above average healer and the fact that your on this site indicates you're doing your research which will make you an above average healer as well.

    Like I said, healing is easy IMO so have fun with it. =)

    A very valid point there, OP - you said you're ready to take the blame, this is good because you WILL get blamed, even if its not your fault, people will stand in stuff, not move away from AoE, you name it if people can fuck up they will, and yet it'll still be your fault when they die! example in point - in jade temple the other day there was an arms warrior who i swear was moving into bad stuff on the floor on purpose, he was a real struggle to keep alive, the first couple of times i let it go, then a asked him to be more careful where he was standing, he didn't reply and carried on standing in the bad stuff, then i realised i had leap of faith, so next fight of course he's standing in the bad stuff, so i pull him out of it, he has a go at me and runs back to the same spot, so i stopped healing him while he was in the bad stuff . . .

    the important thing to know is if it IS your fault or not, if you have a fuck tard who doesn't know to move, or stands there in spite of the incoming 1 shot ability of the boss, while they might try and blame you, YOU know its not your fault. however IF something IS your fault, look into why, what went wrong, how can you learn from it - mistakes are the best way to learn! sometimes asking the group/raid will result in "LOL NOOB" sometimes a useful tank will be useful and say what went wrong, that the boss did something that needed a cool down using etc etc or whatever, if that doesnt help go to a forum, explain and i'm sure some friendly person will help figure out what went wrong.

    TLR - prepare to accept the blame, if its not yourfault ignore it, if it is your fault learn from it!

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    "Healing is easy, at times stressful but still easy IMO, however I do it a lot and not surprisingly I find tanking the hardest which I do very little of."

    I stopped reading after I read this. What a useless false statement.

    If you are looking to raid as a priest healer in MoP you will find things harder than they used to be. Right now priest are at the bottom of the healing chain. After looking at the recent logs (not much data yet) it is very disappointing concerning raw output. Now does this mean healing priest are bad? No. Just means we have to work a little harder. At 90 you will likely have to learn both Disc and Holy for raids. Currently, holy is theory crafted to be the "better of the spec's." Depending on the encounter and what you are trying to do you will likely have to switch between spec's early on.

    Once you get to 90 i would recommend rolling disc for the randoms as I found it was easier to heal with preventative bubbles for 5 mans. In all seriousness tho, if you have never healed before you might find the priest playstyle a little hard at the moment. So stick with it and check back for more theory crafting once MoP raiding gets underway.

  13. #13
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    Kipling, I am sort of doing the opposite that you are. In Cata my disc priest was my main healer but near the end of cata I had almost stopped using him and started using my Resto druid quite a bit (especially in random BGs).

    Going into MOP I was up in the air who to get to 90 first (it was actually between my priest, druid or DK) but I surprised myself with going back with my priest. There have been some nice changes (HF as an instant, and moving while casting penance) that have me intrigued. I was always enjoyed the attonement style so that wasn't going to be an issue (HF & Smiting when there wasn't anything to do was a nice way to keep people topped up).

    The big difference between the 2 is that priests have spells for every situation but less mobility (although the HF and penance change will be nice). It's nice having a lot of options and different choices and the ability to save someone on the brink of death is nice. However the druids mobility and a few of the hybrid options (stealth in BGs & dash come to mind) make them a lot of fun. Easily my 2 favourite healing classes but the others have promise too (I just haven't put enough time in them).

    I think you'll miss wild growth the most (love that spell) since PoH is a poor substitute but the nice thing about discs as well are crits aren't wasted.

    ---------- Post added 2012-10-05 at 11:00 AM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by mookspal View Post
    "Healing is easy, at times stressful but still easy IMO, however I do it a lot and not surprisingly I find tanking the hardest which I do very little of."

    I stopped reading after I read this. What a useless false statement.
    How is that useless or false? It's an opinion. I've been healing a long time and my muscle memory for my spells are ingrained, sorry if I find it easy and maybe you don't. Ignore the logs, unless you're in a top raiding guild then it doesn't matter. Most people in this game really aren't that good so unless you are in a really good guild with competent people (where everyone has relatively the same level of skill) then the rankings and classes don't matter as much as people say. Besides by the time he gets to lvl 90 things might have changed 12 times (especially at the start of an expansion).

    The OP may not even raid, so the whole point might be moot. It comes down to whether or not he enjoys healing and priests. Enjoying your class and role is far more important then WoL or what class is over powered at the time being.
    Last edited by dryankem; 2012-10-05 at 03:24 PM.

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    Comparing a disc priest to a resto druid is always going to be swings and roundabouts, I do love the HoT playstyle, but havent enjoyed it the same the last expansion, and the MoP changes didn't really excite me, not that i've tried them yet (i'll level my druid before long as well i'm sure) where as I have always liked the look of disc priests, and cascade REALLY excited me lol, the main spells I'll miss will be lifebloom (always been one of my favourite heals) Swiftmend and wild growth, although i kind of liken pennance to swiftmend.

    the main difference i've found is the cool downs of the priest are rather overwhelming compared to the NS+HT i'm used to (never ever ever liked the tree form cool down, as i've always concentrated on HoTs etc i felt the cooldown didnt make sense for me =p so i need to get used to using all the priest cool downs, play around until i know what is best for what situation etc which i look forward to doing.

    Its a different challenge for me and I look forward to tackling it at 90 in the new raids ^_^

    PvP will be very different as well, the lack of mobility and the fact i'll be using cast time spells will be a massive change there as well!

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    Quote Originally Posted by dryankem View Post
    Kipling, I am sort of doing the opposite that you are. In Cata my disc priest was my main healer but near the end of cata I had almost stopped using him and started using my Resto druid quite a bit (especially in random BGs).

    Going into MOP I was up in the air who to get to 90 first (it was actually between my priest, druid or DK) but I surprised myself with going back with my priest. There have been some nice changes (HF as an instant, and moving while casting penance) that have me intrigued. I was always enjoyed the attonement style so that wasn't going to be an issue (HF & Smiting when there wasn't anything to do was a nice way to keep people topped up).

    The big difference between the 2 is that priests have spells for every situation but less mobility (although the HF and penance change will be nice). It's nice having a lot of options and different choices and the ability to save someone on the brink of death is nice. However the druids mobility and a few of the hybrid options (stealth in BGs & dash come to mind) make them a lot of fun. Easily my 2 favourite healing classes but the others have promise too (I just haven't put enough time in them).

    I think you'll miss wild growth the most (love that spell) since PoH is a poor substitute but the nice thing about discs as well are crits aren't wasted.

    ---------- Post added 2012-10-05 at 11:00 AM ----------



    How is that useless or false? It's an opinion. I've been healing a long time and my muscle memory for my spells are ingrained, sorry if I find it easy and maybe you don't. Ignore the logs, unless you're in a top raiding guild then it doesn't matter. Most people in this game really aren't that good so unless you are in a really good guild with competent people (where everyone has relatively the same level of skill) then the rankings and classes don't matter as much as people say. Besides by the time he gets to lvl 90 things might have changed 12 times (especially at the start of an expansion).

    The OP may not even raid, so the whole point might be moot. It comes down to whether or not he enjoys healing and priests. Enjoying your class and role is far more important then WoL or what class is over powered at the time being.
    I ranked on most fights during DS and was likely one of the better healers on my server. If you dont understand why your advise is useless than I am wasting my time even explaining it to you.....but I will anyways. 1) Telling a new healer that healing is "easy" is setting them up for failure. I am fairly confident that even you in your AMAZING healing ways would struggle with some pug randoms. 2) We are talking about MoP here, not you healing half way through DS when ANYONE COULD HEAL. There is zero chance you find healing on a priest "easy" right now. You are so clueless it is embarrassing. I recommend thinking about the question before you answer.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mookspal View Post
    I ranked on most fights during DS and was likely one of the better healers on my server. If you dont understand why your advise is useless than I am wasting my time even explaining it to you.....but I will anyways. 1) Telling a new healer that healing is "easy" is setting them up for failure. I am fairly confident that even you in your AMAZING healing ways would struggle with some pug randoms. 2) We are talking about MoP here, not you healing half way through DS when ANYONE COULD HEAL. There is zero chance you find healing on a priest "easy" right now. You are so clueless it is embarrassing. I recommend thinking about the question before you answer.
    Oh Mookspal, you are an angry little priest. He's just starting out on a priest, unless he's power leveling the odds of him healing MOP raids anytime soon is pretty slim. Telling him healing is easy (which is my opinion) is not setting him up for failure, I am just letting him know there is nothing to be afraid of. Of course I can struggle with bad groups, I'm good but I can only do so much. And I also can only do as much as the class allows (which as priest is below the norm right now).

    Even the start of Cata with the introduction of the triage, healing was easy. Yes you're going to make mistakes, yes it can be hard but it's not like I'm pressing a million keys while sweating at my keyboard.

    As I said before the only thing that matters is whether or not he likes healing. If he does and gets to the point of ready to raid hardcore then yes your advice (and rankings) mean something, until then any healer will do and none of them are hard. It might be difficult to rank, but we are far away from that point and the fact that classes change so much focusing on that is....how did you put it....embarrassing.

    To me tanking is the hardest (although a lot of people say it's the easiest), I'm just not good at it and have little to no practice. DPS isn't super hard either but you must stay focused and keep your DPS up no matter what happens (movement, adds, gimmicks, etc..). So for me healing is the easiest, but I also have the most experience with it. Encounters can be hard especially when your group is under-geared or your class is a little gimped but that doesn't make healing hard. Timing and mana management come with time, as well as proper spell selection and knowing the inner workings of your class.

    So reading up on your class and experience are the 2 most important things to know as a new healer, not what the current raid is like.
    Last edited by dryankem; 2012-10-05 at 06:14 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by dryankem View Post
    Oh Mookspal, you are an angry little priest. He's just starting out on a priest, unless he's power leveling the odds of him healing MOP raids anytime soon is pretty slim. Telling him healing is easy (which is my opinion) is not setting him up for failure, I am just letting him know there is nothing to be afraid of. Of course I can struggle with bad groups, I'm good but I can only do so much. And I also can only do as much as the class allows (which as priest is below the norm right now).

    Even the start of Cata with the introduction of the triage healing was easy. Yes you're going to make mistakes, yes it can be hard but it's not like I'm pressing a million keys while sweating at my keyboard.

    As I said before the only thing that matters is whether or not he likes healing. If he does and gets to the point of ready to raid hardcore then yes your advice (and rankings) mean something, until then any healer will do and none of them are hard. It might be difficult to rank, but we are far away from that point and the fact that classes change so much focusing on that is....how did you put it....embarrassing.

    To me tanking is the hardest (although a lot of people say it's the easiest), I'm just not good at it and have little to no practice. DPS isn't super hard either but you must stay focus and keep your DPS up no matter what happens (movement, adds, gimmicks, etc..). So for me healing is the easiest, but I also have the most experience with it. Encounters can be hard especially when your group is under-geared or your class is a little gimped but that doesn't make healing hard. Timing and mana management come with time, as well as proper spell selection and knowing the inner workings of your class.

    So reading up on your class and experience are the 2 most important things to know as a new healer, not what the current raid is like.

    I NEVER mentioned once about healing a raid in MoP. Can you please reference where I said "current raids." I mentioned MoP as an expansion. Based on your first statement you have not even healed in MoP yet. What are you basing your "healing is easy on?" That you used to be ok at it? haha...ok. Do you even read what people write? What does tanking being hard have to do with anything in this thread? Stop before you embarrass yourself more. To many people just like to throw opinions without any thought. Respect yourself and answer questions properly. Dont respond to any tips about priest healing with " tanking is hard." WTF hahahaha

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    Then what are you talking about if you aren't talking about raids? Are you finding the leveling dungeons that hard? Or heroic dungeons? Everyone is mocking them about how stupid easy they are. Is it random BGs? Scenarios? I'm far from embarrassing myself, I'm not the one acting like a child. The process of clicking on a frame and selecting the right spell is not hard.

    I gave OP advice on healing not what the state of priest were.
    Last edited by dryankem; 2012-10-05 at 06:26 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by dryankem View Post
    Then what are you talking about if you aren't talking about raids? Are you finding the leveling dungeons that hard? Or heroic dungeons? Everyone is mocking them about how stupid easy they are. Is it random BGs? Scenarios? I'm far from embarrassing myself, I'm not the one acting like a child. The process of clicking on a frame and selecting the right spell is not hard.

    I gave OP advice on healing not what the state of priest were.
    "Tanking is hard" is OP advise on healing? HAHA Maybe you should also head over to a tanking forum and give advise on a role you are not playing also. I am done with this. I have proved my point.
    Last edited by mookspal; 2012-10-05 at 06:32 PM.

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    Thanks for coming, when you need advice I'm glad to help =)

    Oh I forgot to mention you mentioned raiding in your first post. Just an FYI

    Just for peace of mind, I just healed a couple of dungeons using holy (a spec I barely touched in cata), with only 1900 spirit at level 88 and had no issues. Got down to 15% mana on boss fights but I only had 1900 spirit and that was drinking a flask of flowing water. It was a challenge only in the sense that I had such low spirit so I had to be very cautious and popped mindbender as soon as possible. Had I actually had some spirit I don't think I would have even stopped to drink. Even had a couple compliments on my healing.

    Mookspal, you might be a better healer than I am (which is very likely true) but I still find it easy, even if you don't.
    Last edited by dryankem; 2012-10-05 at 10:03 PM.

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