Druid vs. Priest complexity

[Wispleaf]

Overall they are both complex and interesting playstyles.

It is a bit hard to choose which is more complex, I play druid and never had a high lvl priests, but due the vaster amount of spells for diffrent situations, I would say priest is more complex.

Vaster amount of spells in different situations would not make it more complex but give more freedom of choice, yes. But freedom of choice do not make it complex.

Do Priest have any healing ability they cannot use before they have used for example, Renew, Penance or Greater Heal?

Druid have Nourish and Swiftmend. (More complex.) I would think so, yes.

[Toogood]

Easy is far too overused for discussion about this game. It is not easy to pump out the highest HPS possible (with pre-casting, pre-HOTing, pre-shielding) during 25 Hodir while avoiding falling ice, breaking novas (either through mass dispel or shapeshifting), avoiding flash freeze, covering heals and protecting those caught under ice during frozen blows. It is easy to perform at poor or 'acceptable' levels in most fights. To perform optimally it is never as easy as trolls like yourself like to claim.

^Coming from a troll!

Healing, is easy

[dakm]

^Coming from a troll!

Healing, is easy

I like the comma in that 3 word sentence. You continue to contribute intelligently.

[Wispleaf]

If you do not include effectiveness in complexity then the answer is neither are complex. Just spam your biggest heal on the MT over and over. Any discussion on complexity without looking to perform at your highest effectiveness is a waste of space.

As for people just checking information themselves, what I am asking is why you posted some information that, tbh, is out of context without talents and glyphs and is really no use to anyone.

So you say a Druid can spam the biggest heal over and over again? I would not think they can.
I believe you have to maintain Nourish, Swiftmend with Rejuvenation and Regrowth to be able to heal, that is what I would see as complex.

As with a Priest you also say they could just spam their biggest heal over and over, that I do believe.

[Aureact]

Both are hard, but priests have a lot of different ways to deal with situations, due to the difference between Holy and Discipline.

I.e. a good healing priest will see the damage before it happens, and shield someone to minimize the damage taken.

Also you forgot that priests can with a high rate of succcess spam 3 Flash Heals to get a Greater Heal with a very low cast time. This is essentially the same process as rolling Lifeblooms.


I'd say overall - in PvE - druids can be pretty stressful to heal if you have to keep multiple Lifeblooms rolling, but if you only do it on a tank, a focus macro that resets every X seconds to reapply hots will esentially do the job for you.

I think druids have a much larger stress level when multi-tasking, but I believe that Priests have more complexity to it. Not only because of the fact that priests have two healing specs that are different from eachother, but also that it requires you to make a lot of decisions and monitor certain buffs and whatnot to be very effective.

[Toogood]

I like the comma in that 3 word sentence. You continue to contribute intelligently.

^Well, isn't your post great. Dick head, how about start being intelligent!

[Tarien]

I have both a priest and a druid, I've taken both through Naxxramas25 as healers many times over, they're both in T7.5 gear.

I would have to say that the priest is the 'easier' to heal with. Part of that may be the fact that I have logged significantly more hours with my priest than my druid, who I only levelled at the end of TBC. But even if I hadn't, I would say that a priests more direct and immediate heal style makes it easier to heal a group or raid. If someone takes 10k dmg, you spam penance or a couple of flash heals and the damage is repaired. Job done, next target please. You have Prayer of Healing and Circle of Healing for some AoE heals too. To me, Priests represent the basic bread and butter healer.

With a druid, you're all about HoTs, it's harder to see how much your HoTs are going to heal the target, and if that target takes another 10k damage, he may be in serious trouble. I mean sure you have Nourish and Healing Touch (altho I never use that spell, same for greater heal) for some direct healing, but compared to your HoTs they aren't as efficient. A druid is all about preempting damage, constant topping up. The HoTs are massively mana efficient, even when the druid was just starting in Naxx, he was often top of the heal meter and lowest overheal. You can, and should, be spamming out HoTs all the time on people likely to be taking damage. You have nourish and swiftmend for some instant healing if someone gets low. But it's a much more complex job, there are far more heals being cast, where as a priest will toss out big solid heals every couple of seconds, a druid is a constant torrent of low grade healing. You could say that a priest is the flash flood, where as the druid is heavy rain (water being the healing).

Just my 2p.

[Wispleaf]

I think druids have a much larger stress level when multi-tasking, but I believe that Priests have more complexity to it. Not only because of the fact that priests have two healing specs that are different from eachother, but also that it requires you to make a lot of decisions and monitor certain buffs and whatnot to be very effective.

Yes, Priest have alot of freedom of choices and decisions.

But you say Druid have a much "larger stress level" when multi-tasking, but that is one way to say it's a complex healer.

You want to use Swiftmend? You need Rejuvenation and Regrowth.
You want to use Nourish? You want Rejuvenation, Regrowth or Wild Growth, or Lifebloom on the target.

With Priest are there any healing ability you can't use without having another healing ability on it.
I don't think they do.

So how are they more complex then a Druid? When a Druid have that to maintain that. As you said yourself a Druid have a much "larget stress level"...

[dakm]

So you say a Druid can spam the biggest heal over and over again? I would not think they can.
I believe you have to maintain Nourish, Swiftmend with Rejuvenation and Regrowth to be able to heal, that is what I would see as complex.

As with a Priest you also say they could just spam their biggest heal over and over, that I do believe.

Maintaining HOTs and using all your spells based on the situation to heal well is EFFECTIVENESS. How you still seem to be arguing with me over this point is absurd. You just don't seem to understand the very question you are asking.

^Well, isn't your post great. Dick head, how about start being intelligent!

As for you, most of you're posts on these forums merely are short unhelpful quips attached to a quote. You haven't given any discussion into why you believe effectively healing is easy and not complex but continue to add nothing. That is trolling. It's quite sad you have already had to resort to name calling.

[Aureact]

Yes, Priest have alot of freedom of choices and decisions.

But you say Druid have a much "larger stress level" when multi-tasking, but that is one way to say it's a complex healer.

You want to use Swiftmend? You need Rejuvenation and Regrowth.
You want to use Nourish? You want Rejuvenation, Regrowth or Wild Growth, or Lifebloom on the target.

With Priest are there any healing ability you can't use without having another healing ability on it.
I don't think they do.

So how are they more complex then a Druid? When a Druid have that to maintain that. As you said yourself a Druid have a much "larget stress level"...

Well. Depends on talent choices really, but a Discipline priest does indeed need to apply shield before healing when it gets sticky. The PW:S debuff actually increases the discipline priest's crit chance on the target, which helps get the target to full health faster. That is a bit reminiscent to rejuv+swiftmend, only it's usually 3 GCD's for a priest, where rejuv+swiftmend is 2.

Also, stress does not equal complexity.
Complexity is when you have a wide selection of choices you need to make, in order to get things done properly.
Stress is when you have to focus a lot on certain things for a period of time.

[syanid]

For Wispleaf: you're obviously a druid, and yes, if you want to use Swiftmend - you have to have Lifebloom on the target and so on.
It is different for priest, so priests were made proc based a bit so they're prevented from spamming.

You don't want to go oom? Don't spam large aoe healing spells.
You want to maintain mana? Watch for Surge of Light procs and heal people who need it (it's instant mana-free 6k heal).
You want to top the raid off quickly? Stack Serendipity 3x.

But again, it's nothing hard or complex for priest or druid to maintain those pre-requests for some things to work.

[gilfanon]

My major objection to this thread is that the OP has posed an ostensibly neutral question while clearly already having reached his conclusion. I assume you play a Druid rather than a Priest, and are looking to justify your superiority as a player by suggesting that Druids are more difficult to play than Priests? Any time anyone objects to your view of Druids being more complex you come up with some specious argument betraying your fundamental lack of understanding of the Priest class. Are you trying to prove a point to a Guildy or something? Why not just be honest and up front and say "I believe the Druid playstyle to be more inherently complex, and thus more difficult, than Priest healing. Therefore I believe Druid healers to be more skilled than Priest healers"- that's effectively the subtext running through all your posts...

Anyway, your assertion is nonsense. The difference in complexity between Druids and Priests is marginal, particularly considering Priests usually have to learn to heal using 2 markedly different specs (Disc/Holy) based on who they are healing, and therefore have a much higher array of spells and abilities to learn, have to adjust to scenarios in different ways. For example in Holy they spam Flash Heals to keep serendipity up, so that they get the Spell Haste for slapping on a Greater Heal or PoH- that's functionally not a lot different from having to keep HOTs on a target. Disc is a completely different playstyle, meaning Priests have to react and change completely differently if they're MT healing vs Group healing.

This is ultimately a pointless discussion though- if your raid is clearing content then why do you care one person's job is more complex than anothers?

And before you ask, my main is a Resto Druid...

[Wispleaf]

My major objection to this thread is that the OP has posed an ostensibly neutral question while clearly already having reached his conclusion. I assume you play a Druid rather than a Priest, and are looking to justify your superiority as a player by suggesting that Druids are more difficult to play than Priests?

I'm expression my point of view on the way, as any other.
Your obviously trying to go deep into my soul right now!

I do want to play a character that is more difficult, challenging and forcing you away from being able to cast one healing spell over and over.

So if you don't like my point of view, that is okey.
But for you to judge my intentions to be about "superiority as a player". Are rather weak.

I have the right to express my own opinion and to try to damage my opinion or me. As you clearly saying that I am seeking superiority as a player or saying I am clearly playing a Druid is sad. And totally over the fence.

Both are very wrong. You are also wrong Syanid, I am not a Druid.

But let me get to my point here.
I want people to express their own opinion, without getting personal.

I feel people take this personal as they maybe love their Priest or Druid.
That is not the point. Point is simply I'm none of them
I want to be a healer.

- Just because someone express something else then what you do - You DO NOT have to go attack the person by doing something weak as saying they are a Priest or Druid. Or other personal attacks.

[AetherMcLoud]

No class is really complex in wow. It all comes down to "press button - stuff happens".

Arguing which class does push more buttons with more skill is rather pointless.

[PVE point of view, PVP wise there's a lot of difference, lolret...]

[dakm]

There seems to be a theme emerging at the moment within the community that Druid healing is somewhat 'harder' than Priest healing. Specific reasons are of course unavailable.

The reasoning seems to be that the druid style of healing (involving a large amount of preparation to effectively heal) is more complex then the priest holy style of healing (largely reactionary). Generally I don't feel either is true. Druids perform better in situations with predictable controllable damage (particularly raid wide) while priests are better at unpredictable and fatally bursty damage. Both perform better at healing raid damage then the other 3 heal specs in almost all pve situations.

[AetherMcLoud]

The reasoning seems to be that the druid style of healing (involving a large amount of preparation to effectively heal) is more complex then the priest holy style of healing (largely reactionary). Generally I don't feel either is true. Druids perform better in situations with predictable controllable damage (particularly raid wide) while priests are better at unpredictable and fatally bursty damage. Both perform better at healing raid damage then the other 3 heal specs in almost all pve situations.

Well Priests have 2 wholly different flavors of healing, one as you said rather aoe centered and reactionary, but the other, while singletarget centered can also do good at raidhealing/shielding and plays completely different from a holy priest. Disc priest is just about as much if not more than a druid about preperation to effectively heal.

Oh and while we're at it, Druids have 1 healing spec. Priests have 2. Complexity galore!