Priest - worth it?

[Sarcasm]

Before I begin, I would like to clarify that this is not a "which class is better" thread.

So I'm currently running a rogue for DPS, but I'd like a dedicated healer as well. I've got the choice of: 80 paladin (never liked paladin healing), 80 priest (which I've started gearing as disc spec) or 26 druid (which I'm considering levelling to 80 and speccing resto with). Leaving out my paladin, this gives me the choice of choosing my priest or my druid.

I enjoy healing as disc but the idea of needing a whole seperate spec/set of gear to be able to raid heal as well really irritates me. I like a druid's ability to be able to focus heals or spread them out as needed, which a disc priest really struggles (by design) to do. I also don't like the idea of potentially clashing with caster DPS on gear rolls (surely not every piece of disc gear has MP5?), where a resto druid doesn't have to compete as much since there is only one other leather caster. On the other hand, I've already got four 80s, and the thought of dragging myself through Azeroth+Outland+Northrend for a 5th time really doesn't appeal to me.

So my question is: Do the pros of having a versatile raid+tank healer that has less gear competition than a priest outweigh the cons of having to level yet another character? Or can the priest community give me some reasons to stick with it instead of going bush?

I'd like your views.

[Kelesti]

The druid is literally more versatile with relatively the same spec (give or take like 3 talent points). You can Tank Heal, or you can Raid Heal, just like that. Sometimes, both!

A Holy Priest is versatile, just nowhere near their old effectiveness of the penultimate healer. In fact, we're the worst tank healers at the moment, and our raid healing just took a hard hit.

I love my Priest, to death. But I also see the advantages to having a druid. I unfortunately already have 2.5 resto druids in my runs. So that option's out for me even if I wanted to change.

[Deleted]

In fact, we're the worst tank healers at the moment, and our raid healing just took a hard hit.

Discipline is, together with Paladins, the most powerful tank healing spec there is. Nothing says tank healing like preventing 40% incoming damage using PW:S, Divine Aegis and not to mention PS.

[Sarcasm]

I think Kelesti was referring to holy priests being the worst tank healers, not priests in general.

[Deleted]

I'd say try out the priest, see how it goes and if you're not satisfied, then try the druid. It's awesome.

I've already got four 80s, and the thought of dragging myself through Azeroth+Outland+Northrend for a 5th time really doesn't appeal to me.

You can level your druid in the next expansion. Enjoy the new content and your druid in the same time

[Aedwyr]

Discipline is, together with Paladins, the most powerful tank healing spec there is. Nothing says tank healing like preventing 40% incoming damage using PW:S, Divine Aegis and not to mention PS.

I believe she was talking about holy priests, in which case i agree with her, they are very much the least effective tank healers there is.

My main is a resto druid and i wouldnt change for the world, i don't no whether i'm just stuck with crap healers or what but in terms of metersim always on top, and i know, most people say that its just the way druids work, but i sort of think thats the point, i can prop up tank heals while raid healing better than the holy priest next to me its up to you mate and having leveled 4 chars pass 70 i know how agonising the thought of another would be. I dont think the other healers are bad in anyway, in fact the one thing ill say about druids is we will rarely get the saving heal in, the one that really counts keeping others alive, our of shit button isnt always there, i usually find its the priest that gets those in, but then again maybe thats just me.

Good luck with your choice, it could just come down to style, healer classes play very differently

[sambethe]

I've been playing the same character since 2005; my beautiful holy priest! I went discipline once or twice, as did I with shadow, but I kept going back to holy.

Of course I can't heal the main tank worth crap, but there's so many AOE encounters that I shine no matter where I go. I've tried other healing classes, but it seems as though I've found my niche with the priest class. I'd say try it out, and if it isn't to your liking -- well, there's many more for you to try.

Although, I haven't tried druid healing... I might try that one of these days.

[Sarcasm]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll try and get my girlfriend back in to levelling her shaman and I'll aim for the druid as my healer I've been on and off my priest so I may as well just try something new.

You can level your druid in the next expansion. Enjoy the new content and your druid in the same time

Good idea but I'd prefer to level a character I'm already committed to through the expansion, as I did BC->WotLK.

[-Ethos-]

Priests have the best tier set designs. We're worth it just for that.

Tier 9 doesnt count because its bad for all three of us who use it.

[Danner]

@OP:

The only real advantage you have as a holy priest is Guardian Spirit, and whether or not you can healingwise "beat" a druid largely depends on how often you are able to save lives with it. Skillful use of GS will make druids green with envy. It's awesome. However, as a holypriest you are a crappy MT healer and will be needing innervates on a regular basis until you get a full T8 gear set. In terms of HPS, mana efficiency, versatility, survival and mobility the druid wins hands down. Also: druids are OP right now and in line for a nerf sometime down the road, so it's not nescessarily anything wrong with the holypriest. I think holypriests and restoshammies are fairly well balanced these days. Though a skilled restoshammy will beat out a skilled holypriest, the shammy kinda has to work harder for it to happen.

Discipline priests took a significant dip in HPS in the last patch while paladins took a big jump, making discipline MT healing capabilities reside significantly below those of a paladin. Shields are still the forte of the spec, but it's the only real good thing about it and it's still subject to weakened soul, making most discpriests i've seen spam shields on the raid of late. The biggest problem is that the lack of scaling is starting to hurt discipline priests badly in T9 content - their heals are still at heroic levels as far as output goes. Still, until you hit T9 content, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the healing capabilities of a discipline priest. Most priests agree that it's a fun spec. I just wish they could've nerfed penance in a better way!

That said - I too love my priest to death, and would never replace it with a silly druid! Priests of both specs can heal just fine within our specialized field, and when push comes to shove, we can always cover for a dying healer of the opposite specialization.

As far as gear goes; stack intellect. Discipline really don't get much out of spirit. But at T9 levels, it's the strongest stat for a holypriest. Until you hit T9 levels however, both specs work really well with intellect, and after the MP5 buff in 3.2, MP5 isn't a crappy stat for a holypriest anymore, so gear with int is great for you. But yes, expect casters to think the same.

Of course, by making a gear set avoiding spirit you are avoiding the strengths of the holy priest, but at least you have gear that works with both discipline and holy. As a priest, I recommend you find one healing spec that you enjoy and stick to it and gear accordingly. The fabled diversity of the priest doesn't really work well in practice. If you want that, go druid.

[Strykzor]

Priests have the best tier set designs. We're worth it just for that.

Tier 9 doesnt count because its bad for all three of us who use it.

Priests make fashion statements?

Also, I Dont know why OP is confused about 2 different sets of gear for holy and disc, both stack int...

[[-Spiritus-]]

I've called for an innervate once on hodir on one of our first attempts. It sent shockwaves through my guild of disbelief. I do not agree that holy priests need innervates to survive lower tiers of gear, rather, they have to gear/gem/chant properly and be very selective with their spells. Holy priests are the triage doctor of the healer classes. They must make quick decisions on multiple patients and prescribe the correct treatment from their arsenal to heal them.

Also, while most holy and disco priest will gem INT to get to a comfortable regen level, Disco priest will start gemming SP much sooner, as they are naturally more mana efficient. I, myself, switch between disco and holy regularly. I gear for holy, since its the spec I'm usually in, but when I switch disco, I wish I could swap out those INT gems for SP. +30K mana is just overkill.

[Veyne]

I was once a fulltime healbitch back in TBC. I can tell you that I really enjoyed Holy healing. I was really excited to hear Blizz would be making Disc a viable PvE healing spec in Wrath (apart from gimmick fights that needed Pain Suppression), but after trying it, I really still prefer Holy.

In my opinion, if you want a truly versatile and fun healer, go either Priest or Druid. Paladins and Shaman are a bit niched. Plus, Priests are the only class in the entire game that have two entire talent trees for healing.

[Kelesti]

I think all in all, I've asked for three innervates in the past 2 months; the first I can't remember, the second helping a PuG out in good ol' naxx25 and being the only healer on a heavily undergeared (recently reached crit immune, but never playing the spec) Prot Paladin MT.

To everyone's amazement in this epic PuG, I did it through a raid warning. Without missing or even slowing down a heal. The second time isn't Hodir, Hodir's fine. Steelbreaker sucks.

[Izenhart]

In fact, we're the worst tank healers at the moment

GS, PoM spam, Renew and Shield, of course with GH specced right, Resto Druids are nowhere near us in Tank Healing

[Belkan]

I have a 80 druid and a 80 priest, and I definetly like Priest's healing more than Druid's.
Its mainly the fact that priests got 2 compeltely different talenet trees for healing, which gives alot of "never get bored" expirience.

As for druids, it just gets really boring after a short while (for me, ofcourse) and the amount of useful spells are quite low (not as low as paladins, but not as high as priests).

I would suggest that since your priest is already level 80 you should try it first. If you dont like it, level your druid.

[Azyoulike]

GS, PoM spam, Renew and Shield, of course with GH specced right, Resto Druids are nowhere near us in Tank Healing

Erm, you have any idea how much nourish hits for with the tank fully hotted up? It's sick, and ludicrously fast, and extremely cheap. That's without even getting into the power of the hots themselves.

Guardian Spirit is great, but it's not a reason to put holy priests on tank healing, we just get used for cooldown assistance and then return to healing the raid. Think of it more as raid utility that we bring, rather than tank healing.

Kelesti is right, holy priests are arguably the worst tank healers in the game right now.

[Firegod1385]

Sadly its true. I outgear the resto druid alt we have in our guild by alot. And with the nourish talent (20% more spellpower coefficient?) and the glyph (+6% per hot of his) fully rolling hots he's had ~10k nourish crits.

Thats pretty damned beefy. There is no way our holy priest could keep up with that kind of raw healing on the tank.

Ontopic:

If you already have the priest at 80 and you're still unsure if you want to use her or not, then you probably dont have much of an interest in it. Give it a few tries and see if you like it. Priests and druids heal quite a bit differently so its hard to say which you'd like more.

[Sarcasm]

If you already have the priest at 80 and you're still unsure if you want to use her or not, then you probably dont have much of an interest in it.

This is exactly the reason why I considered a different healer. The main reason I kept my priest was for its professions, actually. ~430 in both tailoring and JCing. It felt like a massive waste to just let them sit there. But after trying multiple times to get in to my priest, I just can't. I decided on levelling the druid, and using the priest every day for Dragon's Eyes/specialty cloth :P

Thanks for all the replies.

[iLive]

I am healing as a Restoration Druid, and I have to say it's fabulous! I love the way Restoration Druids have been build, and the spells they have. We get updated models soon looking on something pretty, we only need to gem for one thing (spell power) and we are effective when running/healing and standing/healing unlike many other classes. Though you need to remember, that Restoration Druids are pure healing while Shamans, Priests and Paladins have some minor (Discipline Priest and Holy Paladin major) absorb effects. Restoration Druids might be on the top, but that isn't about it all the time. Remember since World of Warcraft (classic) Blizzard has balanced and balanced classes more and more, so I believe there will be many changes for our current healing classes for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. I think Blizzard example wants to bring the idea with AoE shield back in Cataclysm for Discipline Priests. BTW don't think Restoration Druids have noone to roll against. Our tier token group is the highest one, and generally there are like 50-60% of the raid from that group while those from Priest etc. are generally little. Priests are unique because there aren't many other Priests, and they are major buff for the raid.