Are you going Holy or Disc?

[Deleted]

Both disc and holy will surely be fine at 85. Blizzard won't abandon one specc, no matter what you might think.

The real question is, which one will be more fun. I hope disc, just cos i always liked disc, but holy is getting the new chakra system, and the most awesome disc talent (archangel)is not a healing talent...

Unless disc healers are supposed to heal by damage, but i don't think so. If i understood it right, archangel and such are only there to give you something to do if you overgear the content or solo (or in PvP). So basically, most of the starting disc talents are completely useless (at least until you start outgearing content, and that won't happen for some time).

[AlexGrey]

I'm going both once I level my priest to 80. If healing is your thing, and don't mind not having a dps specc, utilize your skills and become a master of your trade.

[Patton3d]

I will go disc barring unforseen changes. I always enjoyed playing it a little more and mana was much more of a non issue. Of course, that could easily change.

[Kelesti]

And Holy won't be?

Not the point. The worry is that Discipline won't scale, or it will be left behind, which is a belief that one shouldn't put much stock into.

That said, Holy is the new Discipline. A bunch of shiny things to draw people to it, immensely powerful for what it can pull off, but the average player is going to be so bad it's ridiculous. At least this time when they're bad it's obvious.

With the exception of Arthas, there is not a single fight that Holy "underperformed" on. Expect the same of Discipline, this time around.

[AlexGrey]

Both disc and holy will surely be fine at 85. Blizzard won't abandon one specc, no matter what you might think.

The real question is, which one will be more fun. I hope disc, just cos i always liked disc, but holy is getting the new chakra system, and the most awesome disc talent (archangel)is not a healing talent...

Unless disc healers are supposed to heal by damage, but i don't think so. If i understood it right, archangel and such are only there to give you something to do if you overgear the content or solo (or in PvP). So basically, most of the starting disc talents are completely useless (at least until you start outgearing content, and that won't happen for some time).

Well, they CAN heal by damage alone, spamming smite with a few heals in between. The general idea behind Disc is there are many options, whether you like Disc heals, spamming PW:Shield and Penance, or bringing dps heals.

Look at it this way; you bring 4 non-shadow priests to a raid. 1 or perhaps 2 can go holy. There isn't much variation in Holy, so it might just make sense to have 1 go holy and raid heal.

Another priest goes Disc for Smite heals, and can be considered the 'melee dps healer.' Another focuses on shields and helps the tank, and the last goes for Disc healing and occasional heals.

---------- Post added 2010-09-28 at 10:02 PM ----------

Not the point. The worry is that Discipline won't scale, or it will be left behind, which is a belief that one shouldn't put much stock into.

That said, Holy is the new Discipline. A bunch of shiny things to draw people to it, immensely powerful for what it can pull off, but the average player is going to be so bad it's ridiculous. At least this time when they're bad it's obvious.

With the exception of Arthas, there is not a single fight that Holy "underperformed" on. Expect the same of Discipline, this time around.

So you're saying that Holy will be immensly powerful, but take a good player to make it work? AKA difficult to learn, hard to master.

[AlexTheGreat]

Not the point. The worry is that Discipline won't scale, or it will be left behind, which is a belief that one shouldn't put much stock into.

That said, Holy is the new Discipline. A bunch of shiny things to draw people to it, immensely powerful for what it can pull off, but the average player is going to be so bad it's ridiculous. At least this time when they're bad it's obvious.


With the exception of Arthas, there is not a single fight that Holy "underperformed" on. Expect the same of Discipline, this time around.

Yeah I just specced into Disc recently and I'm loving it. As for Holy when I was specced into it, I have been doing fairly well on every fight, but Disc has more of a mana pool and mana problems are practically gone.

[Deleted]

I got both speccs.
I want to do some inis. As disc and then as holy.
then I'll see, what I'm going to play with cata =)

[Hagios]

I've been disc through ToC and ICC, was holy before that. I quite enjoyed disc, it was an interesting spec. I think the disc tree in Cataclysm looks absolutely terrible. The way I see it, talents like Evangelism, Archangel and Atonement do absolutely nothing for a PvE disc priest. You expect priests to stack hit gear? It is either that or go for Twisted faith in shadow, but then lose Empowered healing and Divine fury which really is not viable.

Add massive nerfs to Soul warding and Borrowed time and you have a wreck of a spec, for PvE at least. This smite business seem like a novelty that really can not work in a raid environment, it is random in the way it only heals the lowest health target, you have no control. So in my eyes disc has now new mechanics worth talking about, there are only nerfs to shield spam. That would be justified if they gave a viable alternative. Right now I see disc as little else than a support tree for Shadow and Holy and possibly PvP. It would seem deranged to take a disc over a Holy Paladin in PvE given the current state of discipline.

[S@thi]

I stay Disc.
Holy / Shadow not sure yet

[Selerious]

Always been Holy, going to stay that way. Not sure on my offspec yet. Currently I'm shadow for dailies. Might try Disc again, but I always found disc boring as hell.

[dekadron]

One of the reasons disc may seem weaker is that disc has a lot of prehealing (shield with bubbles). It's hard to preheal content that you're not very familiar with, and they probably can't simply spam bubbles like before with the mana changes.

I predict that disc will be stronger than ever at single-target healing thanks to the new talent that lowers the duration of weakened soul when you heal that target. Perhaps THE strongest single-target healer, though with pallies having their own divine aegis as a mastery that will be hard to compete against.

That said, I'm sticking with holy =) I feel like it's more versatile.

[Newspaper]

Stay holy ms and grab disc for dual spec (bai bai shadow).

Staying holy cause for one i've always been holy and the revamped tree looks awesome. Even though there's no aoe shield there. Revelations also seems cool.

[Splenda]

I will be what my guild asks of me, so long as it's healing :P

Which means dual spec holy/disc depending on the needs of the raid that day/encounter.

I would prefer to always be holy, as thats what I love (insane versatility, great AoE healing capabilities, guardian spirit, spirit of redemption, etc), but I like disc fine and will enjoy healing no matter what I'm playing at the time.

[dekadron]

I've been disc through ToC and ICC, was holy before that. I quite enjoyed disc, it was an interesting spec. I think the disc tree in Cataclysm looks absolutely terrible. The way I see it, talents like Evangelism, Archangel and Atonement do absolutely nothing for a PvE disc priest. You expect priests to stack hit gear? It is either that or go for Twisted faith in shadow, but then lose Empowered healing and Divine fury which really is not viable.

Add massive nerfs to Soul warding and Borrowed time and you have a wreck of a spec, for PvE at least. This smite business seem like a novelty that really can not work in a raid environment, it is random in the way it only heals the lowest health target, you have no control. So in my eyes disc has now new mechanics worth talking about, there are only nerfs to shield spam. That would be justified if they gave a viable alternative. Right now I see disc as little else than a support tree for Shadow and Holy and possibly PvP. It would seem deranged to take a disc over a Holy Paladin in PvE given the current state of discipline.

Thank God you don't have to take any of those smite-based talents you just mentioned!

http://wowtal.com/#k=veNE8o.a2y.priest

Don't overlook the intriguing talent tree buffs of Strength of Soul and Power Word: Barrier. Renewed Hope got a big buff, too. All in all, I don't think the tree is in as dire shape as you make it out to be, cheer up!

[Hagios]

Thank God you don't have to take any of those smite-based talents you just mentioned!

Don't overlook the intriguing talent tree buffs of Strength of Soul and Power Word: Barrier. Renewed Hope got a big buff, too. All in all, I don't think the tree is in as dire shape as you make it out to be, cheer up!

Yeah, of course I do not have to pick them It is just that I think the tree has too many talents that either affects smite, damage reflection on shield in addition to the pretty much PvP only talent Focused wil. That is 6 (or 5,5) talents that serve little purpose in PvE, Train of thought is not bad, but I would rather have Flash heal or Heal reduce the Penance cd by 0,5 sec. Maybe the could have had a talent further down (to prevent Holy from being able to pick it) that added a stacking healing buff to evangelism which also triggered the Archangel effect that increases healing done and restores mana for 18 seconds.
I think it is a bit silly that the cool new spell in disc is not very useful for PvE disc priests, it could have been the Chakra for disc priests. Do not like that Paladins get a Divine aegis ability either, why give them one of Discipline's unique features?

I have to agree though. The Renewed hope buff is very nice, so is Strength of soul and the new Grace. Not very excited about Barrier though, cooldown seems to long. Not a big fan of big cooldown situational spells as a final talent in a tree.

By the way. Anyone know if Mastery: Shield discipline increases the Divine aegis shields?

[Aliahna]

I'm going to play, and try to master, both holy and disc. I agree with the others that have posted above about the increased skill required to be a really good holy priest, but I think it will be the same for discipline priests. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

[Deleted]

Just thought I might tell you there's a glyph that'll provide 18% hit.
But more on the usefullness or not of atonemtent, I recommend reading Tales of a Priest last post.
I'd link if the site didn't take hours to load.

[Aliahna]

Just thought I might tell you there's a glyph that'll provide 18% hit.
But more on the usefullness or not of atonemtent, I recommend reading Tales of a Priest last post.
I'd link if the site didn't take hours to load.

Here: http://talesofapriest.com/

The only difference between her spec and the one I am taking is that I am only putting 1 point in SoS, and I'm taking Inner Focus. She may have missed the reduced CD effect of IF in ToT, but having a free, 25% more crit PoH or GH every 45 seconds (or less if you cast GH) seems well worth one point to me. I'll be macroing Inner Focus to PoH and GH just like I have it macroed to PoH and Divine Hymn today.

It doesn't make sense to me, to put two points in SoS and NOT take Inner Focus. I'm definitely more in agreement with Dawn Moore over at Spiritual Guidance than Ava at ToaP with regard the the power of Inner Focus in Cataclysm.

http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/26/sp...-for-patch-p1/

[grimkiller]

I am not very impressed with Chakra in it's current state, and have always played Disc.
I enjoy the utility and damage absorption of Disc and the playstyle is more enjoyable, but looks to be changing in Cata.
It will come down to which spec plays better to me, but I'm gonna start with Disc first.

[Honen]

I'll go Holy at first for Chakra but if I fail at the new healing style I'll go Shadow


Just being honest....