WoD Leveling: Is Disc viable?

[MysticFFS]

So beta folks, question for ya: what is the current consensus on the best way to level in Warlords?

Is disc a viable leveling spec over shadow? Should I start putting together some shadow gear for leveling purposes if I only have healing gear right now?

Thanks in advance

[Deleted]

Why would you want to level as a healer? The fact that people actually even consider this blows my mind.

It does not matter what gear you have for leveling, just spec shadow and kill mobs.

[Zka]

I tried it and it was painful. Go shadow imho.

[TrapVillain]

I went disc and leveled from 1-90 using RaF and dungeons. Please do yourself a favor and get shadow gear. It really comes in handy when you're running away from mobs you literally can't kill.

[sargior]

i pull over 100k dps as shadow in my full set of healing gear. that is plenty to level with and you will replace what ever you farm now with quest rewards. i wouldnt bother farming shadow gear.. also dont forget that your healing gear will become dps gear in 6.0 when you respec. with the exception of trinkets and jewellery.

Id use your healing gear to get yourself a heirloom and not worry about the rest.

[Noradin]

It is definitively possible and save (unless gankers jump you), but incredibly slow. Holy is faster.

Your own shields will keep your 10% more damage Dreanor-Peak from activating, ToF is useless, and your casts feel very slow.
Feels like doing damage as healer in Classic, that is to say you will feel like it is an oversight that you can do it at all.

[Deleted]

Hey there, i want to share my experiences leveling my ilvl 582 priest from 90 to 98.
I testet mostly disc and holy and the most efficient way for me to quest was mass pulling everything you see -> mind sear -> loot, as a holy priest (ofc in dmg chakra). The only limit was mob densitiy (and some mobs who stun or pushback, meh). I would not recommend disc, singletarget dmg ist nearly the same but aoe of holy is much better. Mind sear from holy is doing more dmg than the equivalent from disc or shadow. I cannot compare my lvling style to a shadow with the same ilvl, i only leveled a premade lvl90 shadow ilvl 502 to 91 and i had problems staying alive with 3+ mobs hugging me so it was much slower. Maybe im just bad, didnt play shadow since bc but self heals feeled too weak to stay alive. Only advantage as shadow are lvl 90 talents doing dmg but i doubt the impact of this is high.

My todo list for leveling:
- get leg dmg cloak
- get dd trinkets

[Dilbon]

Why would you want to level as a healer? The fact that people actually even consider this blows my mind.

I've always leveled as a healer because that's what my character is. RPG, man.

[Ethas]

Why would you want to level as a healer? The fact that people actually even consider this blows my mind.

It does not matter what gear you have for leveling, just spec shadow and kill mobs.

This. Also, the whole idea of damage dealing healer is lame.
OT: this is less pleasant than previously, yes.

[Bryntrollian]

i pull over 100k dps as shadow in my full set of healing gear. that is plenty to level with and you will replace what ever you farm now with quest rewards. i wouldnt bother farming shadow gear.. also dont forget that your healing gear will become dps gear in 6.0 when you respec. with the exception of trinkets and jewellery.

Id use your healing gear to get yourself a heirloom and not worry about the rest.

100k dps? What is that, is that supposed to be impressive?

[SonsofDisaster]

Why would you want to level as a healer? The fact that people actually even consider this blows my mind..

Some of us just sincerely do *not* enjoy the gameplay of Shadow and/or like a challenge (even if it's self-imposed) while leveling. I've been specced Disc/Holy since late WotLK and haven't switched to Shadow at all, nor do I intend to start come WoD.

Though, I have to admit, I fully plan on doing my own thing and definitely wouldn't make a topic about it...
@OP, leveling as Disc or Holy WILL be viable and doable, but will be significantly slower than leveling as Shadow.

[Noradin]

I've always leveled as a healer because that's what my character is. RPG, man.

In this case you should do it as holy, it is still a healing spec but much more efficient for leveling.

[Thirteen]

In this case you should do it as holy, it is still a healing spec but much more efficient for leveling.

Pretty much this. Though I'd personally still recommend shadow. You won't need special gear for it - you'll probably end up replacing a lot of it with dungeon stuff anyway [citation needed].

[Lahkesis]

I love Disc and leveled my first priest as Discipline because I had never leveled a priest before. So I wanted very much to understand each spell and how it was useful inside 5mans, outside 5mans, solo, raiding etc. That's just my mindset when learning a whole new class. I would not do it again. As much as I hate shadow, it's way faster for leveling even in healing gear. I go shadow for my 50 epoch stones on both my priests each week. (one is 575, the other is 520).

My experiences in the WoD beta were similar to those posters above, Holy and Shadow were both a bit better for leveling and that was with my sort of fumbling experience with both of them. Although I don't feel any real need to grind out leveling gear, I have swapped to shadow loot to try to coin a couple DPS trinkets when doing SoO. I will probably level shadow on my 575 priest to get to know the new set up for it to make it my alt spec in the expac. (Still on the fence regarding which healing spec I'll be taking)

[tru]

So beta folks, question for ya: what is the current consensus on the best way to level in Warlords?

Is disc a viable leveling spec over shadow? Should I start putting together some shadow gear for leveling purposes if I only have healing gear right now?

Thanks in advance

Never understood posts like this.
if you paid attention to any posters at all or watched vids of streamers leveling vs raid geared players is very trivial
four things
1-if it can do damage its "viable" on live pally/monk are the only healer that cant swap spec and still eat some face (without swapin entire gearset)
2-why do you need someone to tell you if something is "the best way to level" ? are you really a mindless robot that needs programed to do what its told? What if holy was the best way to level hands down but you hated that spec more than any other in the game would you play it just to level? there is no server first now and no real reason to rush to max.
3- "shadow gear".. have you paid attention to anything thats came from alpha/beta notes at all? all that spirit gear you got will only exist on what rings neck? no more hit rating so you prob have "healer" trinks when 6.0 goes live far from a cry of getting leveling gear
4- can you not look at spell changes and say "hey they didn't remove all my damaging abilities i can still kill stuff yay"

No more hit / the majority of your spirit will go away - those two facts alone should have answered any concerns you had grab 2 trinkets if you feel leveling will be troublesome for you...

You have to remember level 90+ leveling content in WoD is tuned for newer fresher geared leveling players a person coming up through MoP levels in say ilv 442 blues and lesser greens isnt going to fight WoD questing mobs blizz tuned for ilv 580 players

I really can't stand the "best spec" crap. If you are one of those players that cant do anything without being coddled or instructed on every little thing... do what works for you sheesh

[Dundebuns]

Remember the gear dependency for leveling will be a lot easier in WoD, since the onyl specific healer items are now rings and weapons and trinkets. All other gear will just eb caster stuff.

[blackblade]

So beta folks, question for ya: what is the current consensus on the best way to level in Warlords?

Is disc a viable leveling spec over shadow? Should I start putting together some shadow gear for leveling purposes if I only have healing gear right now?

Thanks in advance

While leveling 90% of your gear won't have spirit anyway, making you effective enough at shadow.

[Deleted]

Why would you want to level as a healer? The fact that people actually even consider this blows my mind.

leveling as a healer is the only way to go!!
did it in vanilla & all xpacs since & will do it once more in WoD.

[hugemidget47]

I just set secondary to shadow on my (Holy) Priest today.

I leveled her 1-70 Holy back in TBC, but have done shadow for Xpac leveling since WotLK; it just simply takes to long quest in healing specs.
I still switch to Holy to queue for dungeons during leveling when the dungeons have quests...

[melodramocracy]

This. Also, the whole idea of damage dealing healer is lame.

Actually, what's lame is the notion that healers should 'only' be able to heal. All specs really should be able to perform decently in non-instanced gameplay.