Help a returning priest.

[Deleted]

Hey guys.

My account got hacked way back in march or so, and I've only just decided to get to get it back and resub (I got hacked in a window of time during which time was still left on my account, but I'd taken cancelled for a break, so didn't even know for months.)

Anyway, was just wondering if I could have a couple of questions answered regarding changes rather than digging around the internet: I play Disc by the way, and will probably be looking to get back into 25 man raiding.

1. Is disc still equally viable/better/worse than holy ?

2. What are the new stat priorities ? Is spirit still king?

3. Are there any significant rotation/spell changes ?

4. Is it, in your opinion, worth gearing up now or is it really late on in the patch cycle, should I just wait for 4.3?


Thanks in advance.

[babylon]

1. in 25 man both do fine, with discipline seeming to be favored one. discipline is viable both as a tank and as a raid healer.

2. there is no easy answer to stats for discipline priests. there seem to be as many opinions as priests out there. amount of spirit you need highly depends on your gear level, higher the intellect you have, less spirit you need. priests with high gear level reforge out of spirit or simply pick items without spirit.

as for other stats - this is where the discussion starts. i personally like mastery and haste with some crit, usually you want to have haste if raid healing, mastery/crit for tank healing. im a fan of balancing and i would never recommend totally neglecting one of stats.
the best choice of stats for you highly depends on your playstyle. you have to do some tests first, see what are your top, say, 3 healing spells and then think what would benefit them most.

3. i dont remember what was in march, was it before shields become super powerful? was it before crits became +100%? generally you have prayer of healing as a raid heal, prayer of mending worth jumping, greater heal is your best friend. and then there is penance and shields, discipline must haves. then filler, if you want one, heal in sos spec, smites/hf in atonement spec (this is a very brief description for raid environment)

thankfully there is no such thing as a stable constant rotation for a discipline priest

4. depends, do you have better things to do with your time? :P

[Deleted]

Thanks for the replies babylon.

Glad to hear not too much has changed, as I too like to balance my secondary stats out, would have been dissapointed if I had to super stack mastery or something tbh. And yes the shield changes came in just before I stopped, so it looks like I should be able to get away with my old style of healing if nothing has changed since then.

Cheers !

[Micquel]

1. As babylon says Disc is very effective in 25 mans and Heroics 10 or 25 because of how its damage reduction scales, and because of how PW:Shield adds that extra preemptive HP. I roll with a Disc and Holy spec, and if its a fight that consists of heavy burst damage I use disc, if its a fight where its constant lower damage I switch to holy since in my opinion disc does not handle constant AOE damage as efficiently as holy.

But if you have other good AOE healers in your raid Disc does provide better over all utility for a Raid.

2. What babylon said.

3. Holy is purely reactive, IMO there is no spell rotation. For Disc its PW:S, Penance, Heal twice to remove PW:S (Weaken Soul Debuff) and repeat, that is if your spec'ed properly.

4. Quit now and wait till 5.0 IMO, That Deathwing Tier armor looks like crap IMO and isn't even worth collecting or going through the trouble of acquiring it.

[Themos]

1. Is disc still equally viable/better/worse than holy ?

Disc is strong this expac.

2. What are the new stat priorities ? Is spirit still king?

Depends on the size of the raid and what your role is.

3. Are there any significant rotation/spell changes ?

Nothing has really changed since you stopped playing in March.

4. Is it, in your opinion, worth gearing up now or is it really late on in the patch cycle, should I just wait for 4.3?

Honestly, this is all you. If you want to play now,... run some heroics/zandalars and have your fun. If you really want a very fast way of getting the JP gear, do BGs.. and convert the HP -> JP. Running heroics is a dice roll, and while some runs go very smoothly you're at the mercy of your group's DPS. BG farming, you can get everything off the JP vendor within a day or two tops..

gl

[Arlee]

Also if you can get into pugs and raid (even the bot/bwd) that would be worthwhile as well. All the raids give valor and it does help you get back into practice and all the content on normal is quite pugable.