Which priest (or healing) spec are you interested in for WoD and Why?

[Deleted]

Let's just get this disclaimer upfront: This is not intended to be based on class changes reminiscent of a FoTM decision, although the "look" of where a class "might" be going can pique your interest. Obviously Alpha changes are not final, and basing decisions on them currently would be silly.


Personally, I only started playing very late cata (reaching 85 just as the MoP pre-expansion patch hit) and have enjoyed all three priest specs throughout the expansion, though I quickly discovered that my skills were much more suited to healing than to DPS, and over the course of the expac I've levelled one of each healer to enjoy and study. I simply love healing, and learning alternative styles, specs and methods. My main, is a priest, however. I do try to play all of my healer alts, but it can get a bit tedious, so I've sort of been Priest (main), Resto Shaman (main alt) throughout.

I've always really enjoyed Holy spec, though at 85 played mainly disc before MoP hit, so I continued to do so. At the release, disc was absolutely horrific, so I attempted to play holy but didn't quite understand what was going on with it so left it aside for a while. Upon learning holy properly, I found I absolutely loved the spec, but generally, I didn't have much opportunity to play it until late ToT and into SoO on farm (or if there was another disc priest). So for WoD, I am looking forward to dusting off my Holy spec and perhaps giving it my attention as a "go-to" as I feel given the power disparity, I've not had enough opportunity to experiment with the spec as my most familiar thus far. Of course I'll still run Holy/Disc, but I'd like to give holy a bit more attention!

In terms of alt, I'd quite like to give my druid some love in WoD, since it was the last healer I got to 90, and I never got too far with it, bar a few casual normal siege kills. I really enjoy the style, and the utility, and I'm quite excited to delve deeper into its nuances.

The thing is most healers also have at least one other healing alt. What healers and priest specs are you interested in for WoD, and why?

[AlereanJr]

The most recent chakra change has rekindled my hope for Holy. It's been a long time, and I've really missed it. Coupled with the nerfs to smart heals (mainly atonement lol) and absorbs, and I'm pretty excited to see how it all pans out.

[Moonbow]

Imo Holy is best for me anyway, anytime.

[Adinora]

I've been disc since Wotlk, so I'm looking forward to playing holy in WoD.

[Alextros]

For priest, I am not sure. Can't really tell as I have not seen the numbers/tried out the changes. The whole picture, I am not sure which healer to go personally. Just hard to tell for me at the current times. Might aswell stick with the Shaman as I always has

[Deleted]

I was playing Disc since the star of MoP and now I'm really interested in Holy. Mainly because the chakra changes and that Word of Mending talent combine it with FDCL and you have a nice combo.

[nobodysbaby]

Lovely to see what I knew; many Discs interested in playing Holy.

Myself Holy, but had to play Disc a lot the last years, so looking forward to play my MS non-Chakra-restricted Holy Priest.

[Bonkura]

As it looks now I'll probably go back to Shadow if anything for my Priest. If I for some reason will heal it will be as Resto Druid because they seem to become the strongest. I've got no interest whatsoever in playing Holy. I don't even enjoy Disc atm, just playing it because it's OP and Shadow is so weak.

[Alfryd]

My priest was my main from Vanilla to half way through Cataclysm. The entire way, I was Holy at heart but was briefly forced to spec Disc to actually be competitive. But for the first time in forever, I'm actually very interested in Shadow.

So interested that I'm thinking of making my Priest my main again, and main spec Shadow. All because of Clarity of Power; I'm imagining it to be a sort of Shadow themed big-hitting based playstyle. Apart from the original incarnation of Destruction Warlocks, there hasn't been a big hitting Shadow based class since TBC, they've all been DoT based (shadow/affliction/unholy). So I honestly cannot wait to try Shadow out with Clarity of Power.

I read someone say that the 100 talents for Priests made Shadow more versatile than all the Hunter specs combined. Genuinely really agree; it's made them so versatile that as a player, I used to despise Shadow and now I can't wait to play it. xD

[Deleted]

Lovely to see what I knew; many Discs interested in playing Holy.

Myself Holy, but had to play Disc a lot the last years, so looking forward to play my MS non-Chakra-restricted Holy Priest.

I personally did suspect this which is half the reason I made the thread. I had a feeling there may be a bunch of people who got to know priest during disc's "prime" and despite the FoTM reputation disc has, be overall of the "priest personality" equally interested in both specs, but for the timebeing pigeonholed into disc as it is the spec they learned first and best, with holy being both A.) so unforgiving and B.) so restricted.

I think it will be lovely to see more holy representation, and perhaps some of the FotM rollers going doing something else, leaving the priests4lyf to continue priesting!

[l33t]

Greetings, my name is l33t, and I'm a Holy priest.

Well, I love Holy, since it was my first healing experience in BC, where Holy shined and was just an absolute model of healer. Was totally amused how much versatility Holy offered to group/raid healing compared to other healers available that time. Then, age of absorbs came in, and healing model was totally destroyed. It was not bad in Wrath, but in Cata all Holy priests were basically forced to go Disc if they wanted to participate in any serious progression. So did I, sadly, though I always hated Disc with a passion. In MoP situation didn't change, basically it even got worse with even greater amount of absorbs. I grew tired of Disc gameplay as well as absorb-based absurd a healing turned into, and went Shadow. Shadow was fine at the start, but turned to be a complete disaster in a later tiers in MoP.

Now, with all the changes incoming in WoD, I have high hopes for Holy. The returning of triage healing model means hots will shine again, chakra changes totally made my day when they were posted, and with all that stuff I hope I will be healing in Holy next year or so.

Now, Shadow seems fine too; but I know devs have too much hate for Shadow spec to be competable against their beloved mages/locks, so I don't believe WoD changes anything about Shadow being middle-pack. Though I totally love that Shadow have no HoH anymore, I hated the situation of...
"Hey, our healers have no mana, use HoH nau!"
"B-b-b-b-but I just pumped DP out, I need to channel MFI to DPS!"
"I don't care, use your HoH now!"
"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! /cry looking at meters while channeling that shit"
...that one particular situation. Curse it. Thanks God it is no more.

That's my story, thank you for reading.

[emni]

I'm patiently awaiting more Holy info to see if it's really a spec I want to play. It's looking promising, but I feel like it's not quite there yet. I'd prefer if Blizzard scrapped Chakra altogether and brought the spec closer to what Holy used to be before it was introduced, but that's pretty unrealistic, so just hoping for the lesser of all the evil

[Dyra]

I'll probably be maining Shadow again, but Holy will be put back into it's rightful place as the partner spec for those times where I need to off-spec heal. Still not delighted at Chakra being around, but it looks a lot more manageable now, so I'm sure I'll adapt.

[Deleted]

Why should we have to choose between holy or disc ?

I'm personnaly very happy with those changes because it means I'll be able to play and have fun with both specs.
Seems to me that holy's gameplay will not change that much from what we currently see in 10man (yes, swapping stances and dps during downtime is a thing in 10). hopefully, the spec will get more in line with the other classes (and disc). TBH I'm kind of glad because playing that spec is fun so if it's also competitive, then it's awesome.

Disc on the other hand... I've always loved my precious bubbles. The visual effect itself is enough for me. It seems that the spec as we know it is going to change drastically. I find it also good because, let's face it, the spec has a lot of issues right know and those need to be adressed. I don't really care about atonement, so as long as they give me right tools to cope with the WOD raiding environnement (holy nova is really cool btw), I'll be fine I guess (we'll see about the gameplay when the dev finally set their mind for disc). But looking at the alpha patch notes, I'm worried that they nerf the spec too much so that the priest class stays in the shape that we currently see : out of our 2 healing specs, we only have one that is really viable in serious raiding...

But I want to believe

[Kacie]

Holy played it since classic and will continue to do so in WoD although it is nice to see more interested with the recent chakra change and sanctuary buff quite excited now for holy.

[Shockeye]

My Priest (alt) in MoP has been Disc, and I think I'll keep him as Disc, I'm liking the look of the WoD design there, but I'll definitely be checking out Holy as well since it's been much improved. What really kept me from Holy was the punitive nature of Chakras, locking myself out of one healing boost option in order to get one somewhere else. And I hate "stance dancing", that's just crappy design, plus the absurd mana suck which made no rational sense.

So I'll go with a Disc/Holy dual spec for sure, looking forward to trying out both.

[AaronZen]

Since healing is my one and only pleasure in this game, I probably play holy as my first spec and disc for the second .

[Nzete]

Discipline always gives me the "blahs" after a while. Sooner or later my mind goes back to the Lich King encounter. Holy looks like it should be a lot better than it has been in a couple of expansions because the punishing Chakra mechanic is being changed.

[PosPosPos]

Disc is fun, but I, and probably many others, feel shoeboxed into playing it because it's vastly superior to holy.

Holy should be a viable option to play that doesn't feel like a liability(and it isn't even in it's current state, it's just a healer spec that gets sniped too hard by other healers).

Once excessive absorbs are out of the picture and people hover below 100% more, holy should look a lot better not only on the meters, but in practical situations.

[Qubix]

I started playing priest as my main in WotLK. (I've taken a few extended breaks along the way...) I've always done Holy for my raiding and Disc for my PvP, and I think I'm gonna stick with that in WoD. I haven't been an active progression raider since ICC, and plan to start up from the beginning in WoD. Don't want to get behind in gear like I did this expac. Holy looks like it will be a ton of fun. I just hope it doesn't become FotM.

- - - Updated - - -

Once excessive absorbs are out of the picture and people hover below 100% more, holy should look a lot better not only on the meters, but in practical situations.

This has been my biggest issue with Holy. I was out of the game for a full year. I recently came back and have only been dabbling in LFR to get some gear, and I find it hard to ever get top 1 or 2 on the Healing Meters.. People stay at max health a ton, and when they do lose health, they get topped off so quickly. My HPS definitely should be higher.

Before I get any grief comments, I promise I'm not some baddie. I'm not the greatest healer ever, but I am not your "village idiot" PoH spammer. I would like to think I had enough experience back in my progression days to still be a very formidable priest. Back to PosPosPos's comment, I am glad to see it isn't necessarily just me who has an issue getting overshadowed by other healing classes.