WoD Leveling: Is Disc viable?

[Kuja]

Anyone miss this spec? http://www.wowhead.com/forums&topic=...riest-leveling

Was fun to top damage in raids. Shame that they had to nerf it so dramatically.

[Thirteen]

Actually, what's lame is the notion that healers should 'only' be able to heal. All specs really should be able to perform decently in non-instanced gameplay.

While this is true, I don't think they should be able to do both at same time (ie both with one cast). Just my opinion though, I'm sure tons will disagree.

[Zoldor]

Never understood posts like this.
if you paid attention to any posters at all or watched vids of streamers leveling vs raid geared players is very trivial
four things
1-if it can do damage its "viable" on live pally/monk are the only healer that cant swap spec and still eat some face (without swapin entire gearset)
2-why do you need someone to tell you if something is "the best way to level" ? are you really a mindless robot that needs programed to do what its told? What if holy was the best way to level hands down but you hated that spec more than any other in the game would you play it just to level? there is no server first now and no real reason to rush to max.
3- "shadow gear".. have you paid attention to anything thats came from alpha/beta notes at all? all that spirit gear you got will only exist on what rings neck? no more hit rating so you prob have "healer" trinks when 6.0 goes live far from a cry of getting leveling gear
4- can you not look at spell changes and say "hey they didn't remove all my damaging abilities i can still kill stuff yay"

No more hit / the majority of your spirit will go away - those two facts alone should have answered any concerns you had grab 2 trinkets if you feel leveling will be troublesome for you...

You have to remember level 90+ leveling content in WoD is tuned for newer fresher geared leveling players a person coming up through MoP levels in say ilv 442 blues and lesser greens isnt going to fight WoD questing mobs blizz tuned for ilv 580 players

I really can't stand the "best spec" crap. If you are one of those players that cant do anything without being coddled or instructed on every little thing... do what works for you sheesh

I never understand posts like this. It is a forum, where people can ask questions and get responses from the community. It is exactly what a forum is for and this question is just as viable as which spec is better for raiding for example. It is someone looking for a sample size and some input before they make a decision on their own and its a form of research. Yeah, the OP could have done some personal research, but the forum is just as viable a place to start as anywhere. Some people like a little review and input before making a decision it isn't be coddled.

OT; Every spec is viable, but as for being the quickest it is going to be shadow this time around. Leveling disc in MoP wasn't bad at all, but I'd take shadow this go round. Depending on what you have farm access to for gear I wouldn't worry much if you have most of your healing SoO gear. I'd switch my roll over to Shadow for the decent DPS trinkets and make sure I had a legendary DPS cloak to go. As others have stated the gear is going to be pretty flexible between disc/shadow as well. If you have access to the Heroic gear before 6.0 I'd get as much as I can because it lasts well into the upper 90s.

A lot of it will depend on your leveling process as well. Are you going to grind quests and mobs, do dungeons do pvp etc. Healing is always better for 5 mans soley based on que time leveling. I'd go shadow this go round with the was the healing dps model is at the start of WoD. Leveling disc was nice when you could pull most of the mobs in the area and dps them down and stay alive based on the healing from damage, but I don't think it will be that simple in WoD.

[Nioso]

One of my favorite healing classes I have played in an MMO is Age of Conan's Bear Shaman; a "healing" and melee damage role with emphasis on damage. I mained a Holy Paladin from Wrath up until Siege, but it never truly delivered the same feels as that Bear Shaman did.

[nobodysbaby]

I like questing as Disc and raid as Holy atm (I guess I just got used to it needing to go Disc a lot for progress, so no room for Shadow), but for the first time in years I think Ill go Holy with Shadow OS! Atleast until 100 :-)

[Succath]

I`m sucker but i`m staying shadow for leveling and sic for instances. just like i have done in the previous xpac

[Deleted]

Why would you want to level as a healer? The fact that people actually even consider this blows my mind.

Back in Vanilla, my brother leveled his Paladin from 10 to 60 strictly as prot. Solo and without dungeons. Some people like self-imposed challenges or are just masochistic.

Like people already said, if you want to level as a healer, it probably still would be better to go Holy.

[Mo Priest]

If you are not in a hurry to level to 100 then level with ever spec you want. All 3 specs will be viable, but each will take a different amount of time to kill mobs when questing.
If you are needing to level to 100 at a quick rate to get raid ready, the best method is always questing as shadow and doing bg's on the side as a healer (disc or holy).

[Succath]

Back in Vanilla, my brother leveled his Paladin from 10 to 60 strictly as prot. Solo and without dungeons. Some people like self-imposed challenges or are just masochistic.

Like people already said, if you want to level as a healer, it probably still would be better to go Holy.

Back in vanilla i leveled my druid resto, Call me crazy but that was basically what a druid di there was no boomkin or feral at that point :P
even all my mats and flasks i farmed as resto. it was a horrendous task but hey it worked, even then.

[TwoTapTimmy]

With alittle tuning I think Disc will be great

[Succath]

With alittle tuning I think Disc will be great

well there might be some number tuning but other than that i dont think there will be any major changes anymore.
If its viable well if your item level at the moment is high enough i guess but i would still go shadow.

On beta i can solo the hard tasks on which you would need 3 people but only due to my 575 item level in shadow. would i do the same in disc. i would without a doubt not be able to pull this off. or take ages while doing so.