Priest Healing 5.4 - Other healers

[mookspal]

I am just coming back to the game after a 2 month break. Just wondering what classes are going to be topping the healing meters in 5.4. I have heard rumors that holy is the flavor (behind druids) in 5.4 but disc is still pretty strong. Anyone have any PTR logs or links that discusses healing in 5.4. My google searches have returned very little information.

Thanks

Xan

[nobodysbaby]

Disc will always be strong, even if they don't (and imo shouldn't either;P) top healing. I agree Druids will do good on the meters, but they also have weaknesses and shortcomings. Holy are doing good on PTR, however I am disappointed nothing had been done about Chakra mechanics yet wich will (continue to) hurt 10m. The new FDCL is interesting and potentially a boost in hps and ST healing. Also, mana for Holy has been buffed by Serendipity and some minor manacost reductions. But then again, both Shamans and Druids gained massive buffs! So I would definitly hold an eye on Shamans aswell, and they got a lot of other goodies besides hps to It will vary from fight to fight aswell, as usual.

You do understand balance is constantly undergoing changes, so ofc; play what you enjoy, you can't stay at the top for too long anyways.

[Isheria]

Priests are currently the worst healers on ptr and it's already release flagged, so don't expect miracles to happen until the patch hits live and everyone see for themselves just how bad priests of either spec are when compared to the rest of the healers. If you wanna be safe i suggest you have a shaman or druid alt ready to go cause your priest will be a waste of a spot pretty much without changes for a 25-man at least, for 10-man it may be half worth it although i wouldn't be so sure about that.

[Deleted]

Priests are currently the worst healers on ptr and it's already release flagged, so don't expect miracles to happen until the patch hits live and everyone see for themselves just how bad priests of either spec are when compared to the rest of the healers. If you wanna be safe i suggest you have a shaman or druid alt ready to go cause your priest will be a waste of a spot pretty much without changes for a 25-man at least, for 10-man it may be half worth it although i wouldn't be so sure about that.

if you think priests are the worst healers you are certainly to dumb to heal with a priest. reroll blood dk and heal with bloodworms instead, should fit you better...

[PhillieB]

if you think priests are the worst healers you are certainly to dumb to heal with a priest. reroll blood dk and heal with bloodworms instead, should fit you better...

Yeah becuase coming from Method he obviously have no clue what he's talking about

[Callypso]

if you think priests are the worst healers you are certainly to dumb to heal with a priest. reroll blood dk and heal with bloodworms instead, should fit you better...

If you think the T15 state of priests has anything to do with the T16 state of priests, maybe you should try doing your homework before you post. PTR rebalanced a LOT of things with regards to healers.

[Deleted]

There is still some more time until Patch will show up yourself..

Blizzard will bring new changes before final build. :]

[Deleted]

Yeah becuase coming from Method he obviously have no clue what he's talking about

and that saying obviously doesn't go both ways

[Isheria]

if you think priests are the worst healers you are certainly to dumb to heal with a priest. reroll blood dk and heal with bloodworms instead, should fit you better...

Maybe playing on ptr first before commenting would be a good idea.

[Deleted]

There were some PTR logs in this thread: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...1#post22219240

[Deleted]

What exactly is making priests fall behind that much tho? because all the damage sofar is spread aoe pulsing damage? Would a restoshammy in lfr gear perform better then a priest in 530 ilvl gear? (ten man perspective)

[xdmemes]

From what I've personally tested and the logs I've seen, Priests are most certainly not at bottom. 5.4 seems very anti-Disc by design, but it will be a strong spec regardless. It'll likely be best to maintain both Disc and Holy sets/specs.

[Deleted]

People don't understand a few things. Unless the damage has a high one-shot potential, absorbs do not justify a healer spot. Disc is still ok on 10man, but on 25man in many fights you won't want a disc priest at all, if their output is too low compared with other classes.

I think isheria is panicking needlessly, holy might not be at the top of the meters anymore all the time, but it will be close to the top. In some fights you will have druids topping the meters in others shamans, but holy will be close behind. It is hard to make a consistent conclusion from so few logs, without having a clear idea of the damage patterns. I have had no problems competing with shamans and druids in the PTR both with PuGs and when filling a spot for other healers, so its not like shaman and druid will be automatically on top regardless of skill.

Priests without a dual spec will struggle in 25man though as from what I can see there are a few fights where holy is just terrible.

I think efflorescence and healing rain are a bit too strong but lets see it will be like on release.

[Deleted]

What exactly is making priests fall behind that much tho? because all the damage sofar is spread aoe pulsing damage? Would a restoshammy in lfr gear perform better then a priest in 530 ilvl gear? (ten man perspective)

Holy seems to be alright when they can get everything in order, but most fights have something that restricts them where any other healer can laugh over it. Disc seems to just shy in comparison due to raw output being so strong, however I don't have a doubt they'll be quite a strong choice still for 10's.

[Basmothh]

Holy may be able to keep up with numbers, but it doesn't change the fact that its going to be mechanically limited on quite a few fights in SoO due to PoH's 30 yard radius. With the degree of raid spreading on many fights, it's going to be frustrating trying to optimize PoH usage and I don't see Holy doing as well as the other classes on those fights. We'll just have to see if DI will be able to get us by next tier.

[Brightmist]

Renew proccing SoL now on PTR.

[Kitmajere]

Holy may be able to keep up with numbers, but it doesn't change the fact that its going to be mechanically limited on quite a few fights in SoO due to PoH's 30 yard radius. With the degree of raid spreading on many fights, it's going to be frustrating trying to optimize PoH usage and I don't see Holy doing as well as the other classes on those fights. We'll just have to see if DI will be able to get us by next tier.

How viable is renew-spam for 25 holy for the fights where PoH just fails? Probably with a haste build to that 13163 breakpoint if your gear can handle it. Obviously it neuters DI-PoM as well as mastery stacking...

[Brightmist]

I don't think renew spam with 13163 breakpoint @ 25s will be viable at all, yet, 4721 looks more appealing with the slightly more dynamic encounters at SoO. It's also nice to fit 2 bindings on a meta proc and considering 2pc giving some leeway for aoe healing when you're at serenity chakra, I'll probably go for it.

[nobodysbaby]

People don't understand a few things. Unless the damage has a high one-shot potential, absorbs do not justify a healer spot. Disc is still ok on 10man, but on 25man in many fights you won't want a disc priest at all, if their output is too low compared with other classes.

I think isheria is panicking needlessly, holy might not be at the top of the meters anymore all the time, but it will be close to the top. In some fights you will have druids topping the meters in others shamans, but holy will be close behind.

First off, I am a little surprised Isheria, that you give Pri of both specc thumbs down, to put it mildly. And ofc, that is scary, since you have tested and did a lot more research than I did. Holy never was superstrong overall compared to other healers when you take utility & flexibility into consideration. They aren't looking bad on the meters atm, but Holy lacks in many areas. And yes, Druids and Shamans got absolutly ridiculous buffs idd, I especially dislike turning spells smart as a way to buff them. Besides that; buffing HR this hard, when it is already the nr1 heal, seems weird.

@Havoc I have two things to say about this;

Absorbs. Hm, how can you say they are useless unless bosses have oneshot abilitys? It's like saying the extra hp gained from Shamans are useless unless you should've died from an attack but the extra hp saved you. It's pretty hard to tell just how valuable absorbs are, but you can do better than this.


Regarding the statement Holy is in a good place behind both Shamans and Druids; Give Holy more utility then, and remove our stiff way to having to choose ST or AoE power, then I would gladly accept this. There is only 1 reason you will want to bring Holy, and that is smartheals (wich now both Druid and Shaman will do better?) and raw healing output (and the same goes here then). Utility wise I would bring a Druid & a Shammy over a Hpri anyday.

[Deleted]

It is pretty sad that Holy Priests have no interesting utility like the others and in 5.4 will have even a harder time justifying their spot for progress. Sure we're viable and those who love the spec will stick to it, but it still sucks being the one spec that brings nothing unique and just washed down versions of what others have.