Mana Issues in Reg. Dungeons

[Gestopft]

I just got my priest to Northrend, and my healing spec is holy, with enough points into Disc to get Meditation. I have been healing dungeons all the way up through the levels, and often have mana issues. I keep a ton of pots and use SF at every CD, but I still have to stop and drink all the time. If the tank is really geared for the dungeon it's usually fine, but if I have to heal him/her fairly consistently, added to the group damage that occurs, I'm practically oom after every couple pulls.

So my question is, would respeccing Disc alleviate my mana issues, or will I be fine as holy when I get some more blue dungeon gear?

[Nezoia]

Talents wouldn't make much of a difference, I think it comes down to playstyle. Can you tell us how you're healing?

PoM is the key to good mana longevity.

[snaek]

When I recently leveled my priest through Outland and Northrend I played discipline all the way, and it was a walk in the park up until I hit Utgarde Keep. It was surprisingly hard to heal at first, even with all blue gear from Outland. Respeccing holy actually made matters worse for me, although that's probably because I've never played holy before. However, once I got Penance it became a lot easier, but I still struggled with mana issues which weren't resolved until I had sufficient blue gear.

Now at 78, and for the past 5 levels or so, instances have been too easy again. Every now and then I get a tank in full dps gear blaming me for his faults and errors, but in most of the groups I'm above 80% mana at all times while the group is fully healed for the most part.

Just as a heads-up; Gundrak is hell with a shit group at first. Even as discipline with me shielding left and right.

[Gestopft]

Talents wouldn't make much of a difference, I think it comes down to playstyle. Can you tell us how you're healing?

PoM is the key to good mana longevity.

I keep the tank shielded as much as possible and shield on others if they have aggro/are taking a fair bit of damage. I use renew for spots, PoM when I remember (not very consistent with it yet, but I'll work on it), circle/PoH if there is a lot of damage getting thrown around, and for fillers and single target I use flash more than greater, binding if I need to.

[Nezoia]

Well, Greater Heal is the path to doom. And as you're saying, if you aren't consistant with PoM you *will* get mana drained.

Plus the fact that it's perfectly acceptable to drink in dungeons if you're not super geared. Personally I can heal heroics with just PoM these days, so I mainly use my mana for dealing damage (1500-2000 dps in heroics as healer, yarr!)

[Nezoia]

Just as a heads-up; Gundrak is hell with a shit group at first. Even as discipline with me shielding left and right.

Not as bad as Holy, if you got Body and Soul, since it'll allow you to abolish poison as well.

[Gestopft]

Well, Greater Heal is the path to doom. And as you're saying, if you aren't consistant with PoM you *will* get mana drained.

Plus the fact that it's perfectly acceptable to drink in dungeons if you're not super geared. Personally I can heal heroics with just PoM these days, so I mainly use my mana for dealing damage (1500-2000 dps in heroics as healer, yarr!)

Yeah, people are so spoiled by healers who overgear heroics that they don't realize that leveling healers will go oom. (I'm also spoiled by my resto druid, and as far I can tell, they use blue energy because I'm never oom)

[Danner]

So my question is, would respeccing Disc alleviate my mana issues, or will I be fine as holy when I get some more blue dungeon gear?

Your holy mana will be "fine" once you get to ilvl 245. Until then, mana will be a huge issue. More blue gear will not fix it. Having replenishment in your group will alleviate the problem somehow, vigorous use of the shadowfiend and manapots will help as well. But at the end of the day, holy is all but useless unless you know how to conserve mana tightly. You can easily spend 60 times more mana than you can regenerate at your gear level.

It's sort of a reverse learning curve, and it will be easier with awesome gear

Discipline is pure bliss in comparison. But I swear, Holy is just so much more FUN!

[Nicolette]

I just got my priest to Northrend, and my healing spec is holy, with enough points into Disc to get Meditation. I have been healing dungeons all the way up through the levels, and often have mana issues. I keep a ton of pots and use SF at every CD, but I still have to stop and drink all the time. If the tank is really geared for the dungeon it's usually fine, but if I have to heal him/her fairly consistently, added to the group damage that occurs, I'm practically oom after every couple pulls.

So my question is, would respeccing Disc alleviate my mana issues, or will I be fine as holy when I get some more blue dungeon gear?

I started to level my priest as holy going from 70-80 and had mana problems as well. Once I respeced disc I was a lot better off on mana. I went back holy at 80 and things sort of evened out.

[Ultima]

By chance, are all your healing points in the Holy tree?

Do you have 'Meditation'?

[Nezoia]

I just got my priest to Northrend, and my healing spec is holy, with enough points into Disc to get Meditation.

Read closer Ultima, lol !

[Restos]

I had the same issues when i first started doing heroics as Holy. And the first time i forgot to learn CoH ranks so it kind of sucked. I drank all the time, but who cares, my gear sucked.

With decent gear, you'll be ok, so tell everyone to fuck off if you oom every couple of pulls.

PS: I think i didn't use SF every CD though..

[Ultima]

Read closer Ultima, lol !

Woops.

To be honest, I needed to post and that was the first thing that jumped into my head.
This is the only topic the forum will let me post in at the moment and was test posting everywhere, could only post here, sorry!

[Frmercury]

If you can, respec to Disc. Much less gear dependent and easier in 5 mans both in hectic-ness and mana. SF then HoH on bosses, save an IF + DH macro for really tough places, and don't be afraid to /poke a Mage for food and ask for a stop between pulls so you can mana up.

[Azyoulike]

Holy priests have the worst mana situation of all specs when instance levelling. Disco is somewhat better, though not amazingly so. I healed all instances as holy back when wrath launched, it was doable but it was never as easy as on the other healers I've subsequently levelled. Disco will have fewer mana issues and is generally superior in 5 man content, not everybody likes the playstyle though.

Suggestions for if you do stay holy:

1) Spirit Tap 3/3. Quite easy to abuse, I used to blow my Spirit trinket whenever I got a killing blow for a mini-innervate, but even without that it's still worth it on most low level instances. It's downright hilarious on CoS.
2) Get a pocket retridin. Queue times for dps suck, you may be able to hook a retri and persude him to queue with you, between BoW, Replenish and drummed kings most of your mana issues will disappear.
3) PoM on CD is your most efficient tank heal.
4) Glyphed GS on CD will also make your life much easier.

[Zeuq]

What does your spec look like? I think the generally recommended Renew spec probably isn't a good idea for healing 5-mans. For instance, I think Improved Healing (which is generally a terrible talent) is actually worth taking for leveling in dungeons because it will make Greater Heal efficient enough to be worth casting on a tank rather than Flash Heal; moreso, considering the other options at that tier aren't terribly useful in 5-mans, like Holy Reach (CoH isn't terribly useful, and PoH ought to not need the extra range either). Similarly, I'd probably skip out of Body and Soul for leveling since I think getting the extra regen and throughput will be much more important until you get geared up.

Also, I noticed you said you were shielding as Holy. Don't do that, it's terribly mana inefficient. Cast it if you absolutely need to save someone now and you don't have an SoL proc, but that should be a rare case. Instead, keep Renew on the tank, and also try to use it whenever possible to heal up the party members; they usually don't need to topped off immediately so it works well.


As for the Disc question, yes, it will alleviate much of your mana problems, and you'll probably feel more powerful while leveling because it's less gear dependent, but I think ultimately you should play the spec you enjoy more, even if it makes some situations more difficult, because you'll get the much needed experience for later. In either case, regardless of the spec you're playing, you'll still need to drink a lot. Make sure the tank knows this, and if he's impatient and keeps pulling while you're not ready, there's no shame if he dies... better for just him to die and be ressed than for you to go in after him with no mana and have everyone die and force everyone to run back.

[Minia]

I was on my pld the other day and there was a priest there who used Prayer of Healing. Top used spell. Was oom every pull. Just pom,renew,Flash heal, and coh in regular dungeons. Prayer of healing is ewwww

[derkuli]

First off here is my Priest
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...n=Canttakeahit

I know I am missing a trinket....my sister thought she could play WoW and accidently sold it.

I Lvl'd as Shadow with Disc second spec. Now I heal full time, only in 5 mans for now as I havent found a guild that fits my needs. I tried Holy, didnt like it for the reasons the OP mentioned. I love Disc. Easy to manage mana, easy to heal both tanks and the whole group with incoming AoE damage, or when a DPS strips aggro/mob off tank. Great control, but really slow, inefficant AoE heals. I am at the point where with self buffs alone my shields cost 12 mana with Rapture.

When I was Holy i was spamming heals on the tank, keeping PoM up allways and generaly trying to keep up with damage instead of being proactive and preventing it. I like Disc more, but holy is more about fixing damage then preventing it. Pennance + IF + PW:S + Divive Aegis + Inspration + PoM= no heals needed for 25-30 seconds. almost 40% of my total healing is absorbs, allthough it doesnt show up on Recount if you are trying to run the math.

And to all of those who thing PoH is a crappy spell....when you have 1k regen and are smart in using it, it makes life SUPER easy. 1.8k mana for a 4k heal, 6k, crit heal and Aegis proc on 3 party members....better than anyother single cast heal other than druid WG.