[PvP] How much am I nerfing myself playing Disc

[Pelleas]

I've read a bunch of forums on how Holy is better than Disc.
Most explanations make sense but I did not get a good feeling on how much Holy is better?

I am not a pro-player.
I like to do a bit of everything 2v2, 3v3, 5v5, RBG and I'm pretty average at it (1.5k-1k8).
Seems to me that every player now is a 2k2 guy - good for them but that's not me
I don't have the dedication, the time and honestly the skill (I also see skill as a ratio of how much time you spend on your character to perfect how you play it) to do more.

With that constraint in mind - how bad is Disc PvP compared to Holy?
I much prefer the Disc gameplay to Holy which I find clunky. Also have more experience playing Disc.

If you tell me switching and investing time mastery Holy will help me win 30% more games at 1600 rating, I'd switch.
If holy would maybe help me win 1 more game out of 50 - will not

Anyone with similar experiences that can share feedback?

-P

[Deleted]

Its a weird one this. The all time PvP priest spec, disc, is now 2nd to holy and it feels weird. The benefits of holy are that you never really have to cast, so youll never get interrupted, everything is instant cast, healing is more powerful, you have wicked Cc and seem to be far less squishy than Disc.

Basically you can provide more pressure, more healing, far more burst healing, more Cc, more useful utility (lightwell, GS etc), chakra switching is kinda cool too, you name it Holy has everything over disc which is a shame because I love Disc but Holy is just so much better atm. And because of this Holy is far more satisfying to PvP with than disc. imo ofc.

I feel the amount of interrupts has gimped Disc somewhat, removal of Manaburn has also made everyone (with mana that is) unafraid of Disc now. Shame really but I guess we have to evolve and accept these changes when we can't do nothing about them.
Try it for a while and see what you think.
If you do try it out practice with these talents >
Void Tendrils,, Phantasm,, From Darkness Comes light (awesome free flash heals),, Angelic Bulwark (safety net, or Spectral Guise but I prefer Bulwark),, Twist of Fate and Divine Star. glyphs = PoM, Mass dispel, and Inner Sanctum I like but choice is yours I guess.. good luck.

[Illiterate]

As holy you are guaranteed a fear on enemy healer every 30 sec with chastise and spectral guise. You can pick your team back up much easier when they get low without having to cast a lot. Renew and lightwell will keep them alive when you are sitting cc. Holy also does more damage than disc.

[Deleted]

yes if your clever you can really mess the enemy healer (I guess were talking arena). I like to get a chastise on healers, run at them quick (if possible) fear them, follow them and then just as fear finshes root them, if they got feared far away from there team it really swings the odds in your favour. done this many times to great effect lol. you cant do this as Disc unless you use Guise and are lucky not to get caught but its nowhere near as effective as it is in Holy with chastise. im not a big fan of Guise though. but that's my preference really

[Nillah]

Interesting, I had no idea holy was so good these days. I just started my disc priest back up a couple weeks ago, I'll have to give this a try.

I've never really played as holy, what kind of healing spells do they even use? You said they mostly use instant casts, so is renew/shield/lightwell/PoM mostly it?

[Vilbu]

Back in time I used to play holy in PvE and disc in PvP but now it has turned around. I always played disc in arena and I really felt like holy was clumsy for me to heal with. This season my hand was forced and I had to pick it up. Took a little while to get used to, just focus on the healing at start, make some good macros to suit your needs.

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/7702200496 in this topic there's pretty good macros I'd say. Especially the ones that change your chakra depending on the ability you use. Also the cancel aura macro for chakras is pretty vital if you plan on going for a nice play.

[Rucati]

You don't take it seriously, it literally makes no difference. You can easily play Disc to 1800, so if that's all you plan to do play whichever is more fun.

Yes, Holy is better overall, by a very wide margin. But that doesn't mean you can't play what you enjoy more at your ratings. Just started playing Holy this season on my Priest, it's lightyears better than Disc, significantly easier, and in my opinion a lot more fun. But if you enjoy Disc, there's absolutely zero reason you can't reach 1800 as Disc.

[Deleted]

I've never really played as holy, what kind of healing spells do they even use? You said they mostly use instant casts, so is renew/shield/lightwell/PoM mostly it?

Pretty much yes. PoM kept on cd, shield ere n there, Circle, divine Star kept on cd. keep renew up at all costs as it acts as a dispel filler too but also it does mega healing overall. chakra switch to use serenity and chastise etc (don't bother too much about sanctuary, you always seem to get moved away from it). put lightwell down when no ones looking or it might get killed ;p... very rarely you'll find yourself having to cast. maybe for quick greater heal but careful use.

P.S (big ps this) don't rely on GS to avoid death, its buggy, doesn't take into account any server lag or something. so only use GS for the extra healing it gives when someones taking a beating or your Cc'd or something.

yea macros are good. I particularly like >
for chakra >

/CancelAura Chakra: Chastise
/CancelAura Chakra: Sanctuary
/CancelAura Chakra: Serenity

this avoids the cooldown when switching. (may take a bit to get used to)

also I like

#showtooltip
/castsequence !Inner Fire, !Inner Will (so you don't have to have 2 binds or action bar slots)

[Deleted]

What instants are you talking about for a Holy? Renew, Chastise, PoM, PW:S ... What else? These are not enough to keep people or yourself alive + you don't have Inner fire, 5 sec immunity to interupts and silences.
Interesting, that 1 or 2 months ago, they were all talking how Discipline and Resto druid were the best healers in PVP What has changed in these 2 months???

[Deleted]

What instants are you talking about for a Holy? Renew, Chastise, PoM, PW:S ... What else? These are not enough to keep people or yourself alive + you don't have Inner fire, 5 sec immunity to interupts and silences.
Interesting, that 1 or 2 months ago, they were all talking how Discipline and Resto druid were the best healers in PVP What has changed in these 2 months???

Um that's plenty to keep you and your mates alive. The 5 sec immunity in Disc (which isnt as good as it should be) doesn't do anything with the amount of other ways to interrupt i.e Stuns etc.. Disc has to cast far more than any other healer I find, which means your going to get locked out a lot against good teams. You need to be really on top of your game to go far with Disc and you need good teammates also to help you out more.. This is all imo ofc but I think Holy is far far better for PvP which really is a shame.

[Deleted]

@fly spray, so how do you explain that Disc (with resto druid) was the best pvp healer in patch 5.3, since nothing drastically has changed for disc/holy with 5.4 coming out?
They all cried how disco was op and how holy had no place in PvP ... Since when such a change?

[Deleted]

Well were in 5.4 now not 5.3? Things often change from patch to patch season to season, although Resto is still brill. Disc is good don't get me wrong but it requires much more effort to do a good job than Holy does atm. I don't really know why things fluctuate so much each patch, lots of classes specs have altered.

I think maybe when in patch 5.3 damage was manageable (it hurt but nowhere near the hits were getting now) so shields held longer aegis worked better etc etc, but as gear has improved rather a lot from tyrani gear to grievous gear then maybe it's the constant healing throughput you can achieve as Holy Vs Shields getting bashed off quick meaning you have to start casting spells then getting trained as Disc making things difficult ?

I don't know why it's better atm it just seems to be hehe.

[Ossandran]

I don't know, whenever I see a holy priest in arena everyone is always "go priest" and they die

[Deleted]

I don't know, whenever I see a holy priest in arena everyone is always "go priest" and they die

lol yea everyone loves to kill priests or try atleast hehe.

[Deleted]

The benefits of holy are that you never really have to cast, so youll never get interrupted, everything is instant cast, healing is more powerful, you have wicked Cc and seem to be far less squishy than Disc.

Basically you can provide more pressure, more healing, far more burst healing, more Cc, more useful utility (lightwell, GS etc), chakra switching is kinda cool too, you name it Holy has everything over disc which is a shame because I love Disc but Holy is just so much better atm. And because of this Holy is far more satisfying to PvP with than disc. imo ofc.

Not a pro player here, some arenas (1.6k) and love for bgs .
What I can say is,I'm still having fun with Disc and never had indecision.
Both specs are viable, rating?Holy maybe.Want to have fun ?Disc.
The only thing I would like to have as Disc is Chastise nothing more.
No more damage on Holy / No more CC (just chastise) / No more istant cast / Same talents

"The benefits of holy are that you never really have to cast (as Disc), so youll never get interrupted (as Disc), everything is instant cast (as Disc), healing is more powerful (healing Vs absorb?), you have wicked Cc (whats wicked Cc are you talking about,chastise?)"

This is just a point of view of someone is preferring Holy than Disc.

What spec play really depends by your play style, and by your ambitions.

This is just my opinion ofc.

[Deleted]

Yes I agree that Disc should have Chastise, some people have no idea how important and impressive this talent is for a priest in PvP, you can cause all sorts of havoc with it in Arena when you line it up with other clever stuff and Disc cant do this. If Disc had chastise id play that spec as I do prefer Disc for pvp. but atm I enjoy Holy style. This is my pov ofc, but I honestly see more Holy priests in Arena than Disc by far and I can see why that is.

I feel like an orchestra conductor as Holy sometimes, controlling everything nicely and feeling one step ahead of the opposition.
but I feel like a ferret as Disc as I feel I have to scurry around all peekaboo and ooh what can I do hehe.

[Teegs]

It's weird how much better you feel survivability wise Holy vs Disc in bg's.

I didn't believe it either until I tried it and now I understand the hype. All of the instants holy offers can get you and your partner topped quickly. Also, chastise is godsend <3

I lol'd at someone's ferret comment above, I know what you mean