Should I feel obligated to go disc for my team?

[Deleted]

Heres the situation, I'm rerolling from hunter to a healer priest for 5.4, I used to heal both disc and holy back in tbc and wrath...obviously quite a bit has changed but I'm feeling comfortable with the specs now, unfortunately I have been asked to have a dps offspec for certain bosses (2heal fights etc).

I was wondering if I should feel obligated to have my main spec as disc because of the absorbs and such or whether Holy is going to be solid enough...I've been reading a lot of the forums posts here and theres a lot of discussion but I wouldn't say a definite answer for me. I'm in a 10man semi-hardcore thats cleared 6/13 hc and i know its not world first so you could say I shouldnt worry too much but I obviously want to perform at a good level to help my raid progress.

Personally I prefer Holy over disc but I don't hate disc.

EDIT: the other healers in the team are 2 holy paladins and a resto shaman

[Spoonman]

I would say im kinda the same situatione as u. Loving Holy over Disc. Ive played Priest for quite some time and in MoP I have been playing Disc since the launch.
Disc has been very superior thru this expansion tbh, mostly imo, because for some reason u dont seem to go oom. I havent played in PTR anything but I havent seen any Major buffs for Holy in 5.4 yet, maybe ive missed it?

[Deleted]

Holy received major buffs and disc received minor nerfs. The FDCL change, the set bonuses and the legendary cloak proc are all much stronger for holy than they are for disc.

In 10man if you only have one healer spec I think you might be better off as discipline. In 25man if you only have one healer spec you can pick the one you like, but I think holy will be better.

[Ezekiah]

For multiple fights in SoO, even with just one priest in a 10m setting, Holy will prove more viable if you play them with equal skill. This assumes that you have not favored spirit/crit and crit/mastery gear so heavily that you won't be able to get to comfortable levels of haste/spirit/mastery for holy.

Even more noteworthy, however, is that Disc only feels essential on a few fights, at least from my testing and analysis. Dark Shaman heroic is a good example, but beyond a few fights on heroic, I think you could very safely (even at a competitive level) play holy consistently and not feel like you're "underperforming" in 5.4. On 25m, I think you'd probably feel like you're underperforming if you didn't go holy for most encounters this time around. I would not be surprised to see multiple guilds do heroic encounters with 0 disc priests on heroic 25. It was the case today for Norushen heroic testing for both the streams I watched. Disc will not be able to compete with resto shamans or holy priests on that fight in 25m. Probably not even on 10m tbh. This doesn't mean they're useless, HPS isn't everything, it just means that you're certainly not gimping yourself by not bringing a Disc priest on that fight. Rather refreshing, really.

[Deleted]

thanks a lot ezekiah I mean with this i'll probs stick with holy, then go disc where I really need to, like a mechanic in heroic which would make it silly not to go disc, and then its just a case of a bit of reforging/gems etc (if thats viable enough with the same gear) hopefully. I mean our team has coped well with 2 holys and a shaman for a while now, so i know its not out of the question to go through a tier without the almighty absorbs from disc. always good to get opinions from people who probably know what theyre talking about better than me hehe

p.s thanks for the other replies havoc and spoonman too

[snaxattax]

disc is generally stronger, especially as a 3rd healer, because of absorbs, stronger cooldowns, and the fact that your filler during low damage phases pumps more damage into the boss. holy is getting significantly buffed going into next patch, but i'm not sure that means that holy would be a better choice as a 3rd/swing healer in a 10 man.

[Deleted]

Holy is pretty decent at doing damage with a haste/serendipity build for 10man. However it is only better at disc at combined healing and damage on fights with more than one target or if AoEing adds is a major part of the encounter.

[Haywire5714]

In your situation, since your guild is in the casual to semi hardcore range, I think that you would perform better if you play the spec that you enjoy the most; in this case holy.
Looking at SoO; no fight comes to mind where discipline has an enormous advantage over holy, in fact it's quite the opposite. Disc seems to be abysmal compared to holy on Malkorok and maybe Norushen.

So ya I would go with holy, good luck next tier

[Blachshma]

I remember these threads just before 5.2. Disc priests were terrified about the nerfes and holy priests were finally going to have their moment to shine. Then, holy was almost a none-played spec in 10s and the least played spec in 25m, while disc was the most played sepc at both modes.

I somehow get the feeling that despite holy buffs and disc nerfes, people are still going to be playing mostly disc and only switch to holy for fun or when they overgear content.

[Deleted]

I think holy is going to be better this content. With enough Spirit holy feels pretty good. The changes in FDCL complete the missing part of Holy: Crossheal and flash if necessary. We'll see, but I'm gonna clear SoO with my holyspec the first week and decide depending on HC-encouter which spec I prefer.

[Deleted]

i love disc and pls god never be worst than holy its soooo lazy healing like me XDXDXDXDXD!!!!

[Thirteen]

i love disc and pls god never be worst than holy its soooo lazy healing like me XDXDXDXDXD!!!!

See, this would normally make me think very little of you, but to be honest, this is the opinion of every discipline priest ever. Personally, the idea of playing discipline disgusts me, but the sad truth is that discipline is much easier to play than holy. And getting bigger numbers with less effort makes discipline far more desirable in raid environments too. I mean, who would you rather have in your raid - a healer that does X healing, negligible DPS and can screw up really badly, or one that does 1.5X healing, great DPS (for a healer at least) and even if he screws up, it's much easier for him to push through.

[Kacie]

I agree with thirteen, I've been a holy priest since classic and i'm still one but due to some core members of my guild leaving we are starting 10m for seige, which means i'm going to have to play disc, and no offence to you disc priests but i just find that specc the most boring specc, i don't enjoy it one bit, i liked it in wotlk but my love is for holy, holy has never been strong since tbc days but disc has been op for several expansions, but i stick to holy

[Thirteen]

holy has never been strong since tbc days

At least Ulduar/ToC was kind to us :C

[Kacie]

Yeah, heard from some were weak as is disc for 5.4 not a good sign for us

[Blachshma]

See, this would normally make me think very little of you, but to be honest, this is the opinion of every discipline priest ever. Personally, the idea of playing discipline disgusts me, but the sad truth is that discipline is much easier to play than holy. And getting bigger numbers with less effort makes discipline far more desirable in raid environments too. I mean, who would you rather have in your raid - a healer that does X healing, negligible DPS and can screw up really badly, or one that does 1.5X healing, great DPS (for a healer at least) and even if he screws up, it's much easier for him to push through.

Disc doesn't do more healing than holy. Holy's throughput is way bigger when played right. Problem is, holy's throughput is the only thing it has to offer, something that monks and druids can do just as well, if not better, without having to stay in that cage called Chakra. Add disc's dps/absorbs, and there's very little reason to go holy unless you main a disc and a fight totally favors holy (Tortos).

[iKrow]

While Disc is the "stronger" spec, but there's nothing wrong with playing Holy. Holy is going to be very strong next patch compared to Disc, about what Disc is right now actually. Honestly looking at your raid comp, you already have absorb healers so play what you enjoy the most. I doubt there will be a fight that requires 3 absorb healers, so unless you feel like you want to play Disc, just don't.

Also don't use Renew. It's just bad.

[Deleted]

Also don't use Renew. It's just bad.

An odd generalization. Some people use renew to great effect:

Rank 7 world on 10hc durumu: http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/r...=15433#Alduron

[Anastacy]

An odd generalization. Some people use renew to great effect:

Rank 7 world on 10hc durumu: http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/r...=15433#Alduron

At first, after clicking your link, I thought, "Why in God's name would both healers be above 100k HPS?"

Then I realized you linked a Dark Animus kill.

Also, was that killed with the "zerg" method? Those rarely accurately portray numbers.

[Thirteen]

Disc doesn't do more healing than holy. Holy's throughput is way bigger when played right. Problem is, holy's throughput is the only thing it has to offer, something that monks and druids can do just as well, if not better, without having to stay in that cage called Chakra. Add disc's dps/absorbs, and there's very little reason to go holy unless you main a disc and a fight totally favors holy (Tortos).

Yes, holy does have more throughput. That's plainly obvious as holy has access to Chakra, which is largely more efficient than Archangel, Rapid Renewal and Serendipity (will affect throughput as of 5.4). But the thing is, Smite will always be topping people off while holy has no exclusive spells that are as efficient at it (Renew comes to mind, but it won't work with random raid damage; Circle of Healing is nowhere near as goodfor single target damage). Not to mention that holy priests, lacking Rapture, are more likely to run out of mana.