Healer for Rated BGs / Disc alternative

[TaurenNinja]

Hey,

I'd like some recommendations for a healer.
I currently have 3 level 80 chars - Priest, Mage, Rogue - in order of how well equipped they are currently.
The priest is Discipline only in PvE and PvP - I just love that spec even with the new changes. And I hate Holy. However, survivability in BGs as Disc is complete shit at the moment. I have full Wrathful gear with almost 1500 Resilience, like 3700 Spellpower self-buffed, and so on, but similarly well equipped Rogues or Warriors for example can kill me fairly easily, completely on their own. What I like about healers is that they're hard to kill - or should be. Disc is far from that at the moment.
I'd like to continue playing a healer in Cataclysm RBGs. But I'm not sure if Disc will get buffed in time. I think everyone knows that Disc is weak right now, but Blizzard is so slow with those fixes - it'll probably take months. Enough time to roll a new healer and try that out.
So I'm not looking for a healing class which is currently "OP" or something like that. Just one that will *probably* be in a good position for Cataclysm launch, and is a good alternative to a Disc priest.
What I like about Disc priests is their damage mitigation, shields, and offensive capability. I'm not a big fan of direct heal casts. I guess that rules out the Paladin. But what about Druid and Shaman? I like HOTs, I like chain heal, I like earth shield, I like stealth, I like versatility. I don't know - it seems like both classes would be great for me.
Which of those two has the most offensive capability as a healer? Which of those two would be a pretty safe bet for Cataclysm?
I know almost nothing about Shamans, so maybe I should just try that class so I can at least get a better idea of them...
But still, what can you recommend?

[Omnus]

Your experiences at 80 don't necessarily mean you'll have the same issues at 85, however I do agree that priests are a little below the other healers in terms of PvP. You shouldn't be having big problems with that much gear, and I have a feeling until you practice a little more you'll have the same experiences with other healing classes - the game is still very bursty at level 80.

I play Priest as well and I plan on staying Disc for Cataclysm. If you reroll to another class you'll have to spend time learning that new class when you could be getting better on the class you already have, plus if/when they buff Priests you'll be even more OP!

If you really must reroll, Paladins seem to be the current flavor of the month. They have casted heals but they also have powerful instant cast heals. They also have great offensive ability now, probably even more than a Priest unless Smite gets buffed in some way. If you hate casted heals, Druid or Shaman is a better option. Either one can be fairly offensive. The Druid can burst quite well in Tree Form, and the shaman has a large array of offensive abilities.

[Radux]

Since you wanted a few thoughts on Druid and Shaman --

Druid:
- HoT's are super powerful right now (in general, not just a Druid thing).
- Unfortunately they have a lot of 'mandatory-ish' talents. Makes it a little bit more difficult to get the free wrath talent.
- They're the most mobile of the healing classes by far. Add in Cyclone + Roots + Bear stun and you've got great CC + self mobility.
- Since health pools go up a ton and healing + burst haven't increased by a crazy amount, then you'll end up using more than just HoT's. You'll have to use your direct heals anyway.
- Travel form = awesome in terms of flag carrying. HoT yourself up, and keep powershifting out of snares.

Shaman:
- Probably the more offensive healers of the bunch (possibility), especially with LB potentially being a mana regen tool + FS-LvB.
- Very short interrupt cooldown.
- Purge. So amazing.
- Unfortunately not a lot of escape tools.
- Along with the previous point, only have Nature's Swiftness for an 'oh shit' cooldown.
- Totem twisting really distinguishes between great players and bad players. Totems themselves aren't for everyone.
- A lot of casted heals (most). ES and Riptide can only do so much, even though they are great tools.
- Instant Ghost Wolf is great for flag carrying. ES yourself + totem twisting (glyphed stoneclaw + earthbind + grounding) + wolf shifting = great.

I personally play restoration shaman. I love the totem system. Utility totems are awesome. I also love the versatility available; meaning I am able to heal just as well as any other healing class, but I can provide more pressure on the offensive end without really giving anything up (i.e. penance).

As Omnus stated, Paladin is really the new FotM healing class. It had something to do with the sheer power of their instants + great HoPo generation, thus giving them several powerful (instant and free) heals.

It will all come down to how comfortable you are with each style of healing. They all play quite differently. I also have a druid, but can't stand the way they heal. It all comes down to personal preference. So what my rant comes down to is to try out each class for a while and see which one fits the mold you want.

[DiscoGhost]

my main is a disc/shadow priest pvp. i was disc in season 8 but afterwards i like doing shadow alot more because disc really wasnt nerfed, but the other healers and dps were buffed too much. my main spec that im gearing for first off is disc. and if that doesnt work off the bat ill continue to use the spirit gear and just spec into shadow so i get hit from it. i wana run some kinda shadow cleave in arenas but im gona end up running disc mostly for rated bg's. but im sticking with my priest, im pretty sure disc will get fixed.