Do I really NEED to go Disc?

[Araxie]

So, I'm leveling my priest to 100, and I'm really enjoying it. I've come across something strange though, apparently I "need" to heal as disc? I've been told that three times now as I healed, perfectly well I might add, dungeons as holy. I personally like holy, I prefer the play style, and I've healed as disc before with no problem at all. I honestly like Disc, but I want a DPS off spec to leveling, raid, etc, and I prefer to heal as holy. Are holy priests accepted into raids commonly? I know disc is nice for the absorbs and all the other perks, but is it really a requirement that any healing priest go disc over holy?


PS. obviously I know it's not an actual requirement. I'm just curious as to why it's hard to believe that a priest would want to heal in holy.

[Deleted]

Disc priest are easier to heal.. do more dmg ovrl its better to lvl up in dngs, you dont NEED to, its just better

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

Our priest is Holy, and he does an exceptional job.
The hots and splash healing Holy can do fits in MUCH better to this model than the previous one of 5.4.
I would say Holy is much better for progression raiding in some cases, but its impossible to discount the reductive abilities Disp possesses.
I suppose if you have 2 druids, then holy's hots are superfluous, but for dungeons I think Disp is still preferred. Holy's spread healing just doesn't do anything when there is only 1 target taking damage, ya know?

[Thelxi]

If you like holy a lot, stay holy. It's perfectly viable, disc is just better in some comps/situations.

[Simulacrum]

You don't "need" to go disc, any more than any other class "needs" to reroll disc.

But it's a lot better than holy.

Anyone who tells you otherwise is clueless or lying.

[Deleted]

You will likely find many players, especially raid leaders, that are stuck in a mindset of absorbs > healing. I can only assume they learnt this during previous expansions where mechanics had the potential to oneshot, or near 1shot your raid and absorbs prevented this.

In WoD however there is literally no unavoidable damage that will do this, the entire pace of healing has been slowed down so a HoT bringing someone back to full HP is just as useful as a shield that absorbs damage on impact.
At this point the holy vs disc debate should largely come down to the toolkit each spec has at it's disposal. Each spell still has strengths and weaknesses. For example; penance and clarity of will offer a lot more single target healing potential than holy has available. Absorbs still have niche uses like being used on the breath on brackenspore or preshielding soakers on ko'ragh.
Holy offers higher reactionary burst. If something goes wrong holy can pull out the stops and recover the raid, something disc will struggle to do. Overall throughput wise both specs offer similar (if not exactly equal) hps, if you look at the top 1% of healing logs then there's a much smaller difference in healing than if you look at the lower percentile logs. This could be attributed to 2 things; disc is easier to reach maximum potential. or, more priests are playing disc due to tradition / bossy raidleaders.

In conclusion, if you're at a level where you're not sure which is the spec you should be playing then either is viable and you should pick based on preference.

[Issalice]

Play what you like, don't let other's pressure you to play another class or spec because they think it's better. Unless you are planning to raid hardcore in a progression guild I would focus on what I enjoy vs what is the most viable.

[Araxie]

Thanks for all the input, it really helps clear some things up.

I understand that absorbs are nice and helpful in raids, but I really just prefer Holy's play style overall. I wish I could play both with Shadow as my offspec, but that's just wishful thinking. Thanks for all the insight everyone.

[Thirteen]

If you wanna be holy it's perfectly fine. Disc is generally better, but the difference isn't as big as it once was, so it's not "go disc or go home" anymore. In short, play what you want. You'll probably be doing a better job as the spec you enjoy anyway.

Disc priest are easier to heal.. do more dmg ovrl its better to lvl up in dngs, you dont NEED to, its just better

Disc is the worst spec for leveling tbh. Both holy and shadow do more damage than it.

[Gatao]

I love holy priest,but im currently playng disc becouse im the only priest in the core.

The ability to increase the effective hp of the raid is something unique do disc though everyone is telling you to go disc.Personaly i think every serious raid team should have a disc becouse of the awsome utility it brings to the raid.

But thats just me.play what you want not what others want you to.