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  1. #1
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    Does holy lacks identity/utility?

    Greetings.

    First of all, i only started playing priest a month or 2 before WoD so my experience is very limited.

    Now that the magic of the new class wore off i started to get sorta bothered and confused by something. I got the feeling that i as a holy priest brings nothing unique a raid. Resto druids got same raid healing, combat rezz and stampeding roar. Pala's are kings of tank healing, disco priests are absorbs monsters, shamans got totems and of course bloodlust. But what does holy bring that makes it unique and a nice tool to have over another class/spec?
    I just get the feeling i might as well gear my resto druid and start playing that one instead but i might be missing something so i am asking for advice here.

    Note this is not about healing output, this is about the utility/identity of the spec.

  2. #2
    Holy has had the unique aspect of being the best spread out raid healer. In addition to that, our burst heals are second to none. As for actual utility. We have Divine Hymn, Lightwell (very nice little totem), and we have Guardian Spirit which can be used to bypass certain mechanics. Additionally we also have Holy Word: Chastise to disorient our foe as well as an AoE snare or fear. We also have fear ward which can prevent a fear from ever happening (once every 3 mins unglyphed of course). Holy has a lot of utility but in the current raid tier it just doesn't see that much use. A good fight for us to use Dominate Mind is blast furnace to control the add that needs to be blown up next to the other add. While not ideal to have a healer doing it, it is our utility none the less.

  3. #3
    to go off djriff, you also have life grip, which is one of my favorite spells in the game. Can literally save a baddy from certain death, or prevent an entire raid wipe. Additionally, angelic feathers are helpful in high movement fights. Bouncing off that, our ability to move and heal at the same time is incredibly useful, especially in this new raid.

    PS if you melee or tanks have any issue. glyph into the click lightwell and bask in the whispers to you of how awesome it is.

  4. #4
    Holy's identity has also been sort of the Swiss army knife of healers. They didn't necessarily dominate any one area, but they had tools for any job. They still shine at aoe and healing on the move, and its still a solid healer, just its often overshadowed by the OP'ness of Disc

  5. #5
    Grunt Desanya's Avatar
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    I also re rolled to Holy Priest from a Resto Druid to help make a better healing core! At the beginning of the expansions we had three Druids, two shaman, one priest (Disc), and two paladin. As you can see we had a huge healing roster but I wanted to bring something unique to raid so I change over to a holy priest. My thoughts now are that the priest heals are very underwhelming, but we do have a ton of utility! I appreciate DjRiff explanation of utility since it gave me some insight on Dominate mind!

    Best of Luck, Desanya

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by eraticusresto View Post
    to go off djriff, you also have life grip, which is one of my favorite spells in the game. Can literally save a baddy from certain death, or prevent an entire raid wipe. Additionally, angelic feathers are helpful in high movement fights. Bouncing off that, our ability to move and heal at the same time is incredibly useful, especially in this new raid.

    PS if you melee or tanks have any issue. glyph into the click lightwell and bask in the whispers to you of how awesome it is.
    Or you can glyph Leap of Faith and use it to pull yourself out of danger. I'm not sure if its a passive for holy, but I know as disc when I life grip someone they get 50% increased healing from me for 4 seconds which is nice to just do some burst healing on them.

    Click lightwell is amazing if used properly. I remember when progressing on heroic iron jug in siege that was one of our raid CD's for the knockback and saved our healers a ton of mana.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Desanya View Post
    I also re rolled to Holy Priest from a Resto Druid to help make a better healing core! At the beginning of the expansions we had three Druids, two shaman, one priest (Disc), and two paladin. As you can see we had a huge healing roster but I wanted to bring something unique to raid so I change over to a holy priest. My thoughts now are that the priest heals are very underwhelming, but we do have a ton of utility! I appreciate DjRiff explanation of utility since it gave me some insight on Dominate mind!

    Best of Luck, Desanya
    Honestly and truthfully, if I ever have to choose between a Holy priest and a Resto druid, I would take the Resto druid. They do pretty much everything a Holy priest can do and offer added utility. The unique aspects Holy bring are not enough to outweigh everything the Resto brings.

    Efflorescent > Sanctuary
    Swiftmend > Serenity (and they don't have to stance dance!)
    Rejuv > Renew
    Wild Growth > Circle of Healing
    Tranquility > Divine Hymn

  8. #8
    I am Murloc!
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    Quote Originally Posted by Torch068 View Post
    Wild Growth > Circle of Healing
    Well that one is actually debatable... but then again, Sanctuary more than "makes up" for anything CoH has to offer. Our actual supposed advantages are Lightwell and Prayer of Mending. The former is ok, the latter might be quite good with both set bonuses.

  9. #9
    Holy "have" greatest set of utilities among all healers.
    Bad thing is all this utilities are weaker - and a lot weaker! - than the similar utilities from other classes to point no reason to take holy in progress raids...

  10. #10
    Holy definitely has a role in progression raids. Holy loses ground on other healers when you start to leave progression due to an inability to 'snipe' heals. They are great, mobile, throughput healers.
    Our main difference from resto druids that would separate us from them would be our direct healing capabilities (ie prayer of healing, mending, circle of healing), which is only currently gated by mana regeneration. I would personally say that we are a blend of a resto druid and a resto shaman, and can change how we might play based on each fight.

  11. #11
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    I'm honestly still waiting for the supposed "best burst hps on demand" - that would be an actual 'identity'. I suppose that's double Serendipity + PoH spam, so *maybe* with 4pc, but until then, this statement is kind of a joke. Or maybe it's back from beta, when we were still using old set bonus for +100% on PoH.

  12. #12
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    Holy brings the biggest throughput in the game when it comes to raw raid healing, Lightwell/Lightspring and Guardian spirit, the only "you're totally fine" tank CD in the game.

  13. #13
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    They have the best single target HoT in the game. Purely from multistrike. My renew is always my top heal. I've had many a resto druid cry about how "broken" renew is...but when they pop tranq it's fine haha...

    holy is a very strong healer on targets below 60-70% health so your renew, echo of light, light have a chance to tick and multistrike, (being low on haste is a big thing, resto druids, resto shamans chain heal etc) will top targets up faster than your renew can at higher health %. On progress fights I have no problem topping the meters, but like others said, when progress dips off you will find yourself lost on what to do...every other healer will top targets up before you.

    And there aren't burst healers...we aren't a resto shaman who can pop tide and other cds, we don't have a monk cd. They are good sustained damage healers, they can dominate the meters, throw out a cascade, circle of healing on cd, throw out renew renew renew, lightwell active. heals multistrike around 40-44% of the time its crazy

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Torch068 View Post
    Honestly and truthfully, if I ever have to choose between a Holy priest and a Resto druid, I would take the Resto druid. They do pretty much everything a Holy priest can do and offer added utility. The unique aspects Holy bring are not enough to outweigh everything the Resto brings.

    Efflorescent > Sanctuary
    Swiftmend > Serenity (and they don't have to stance dance!)
    Rejuv > Renew
    Wild Growth > Circle of Healing
    Tranquility > Divine Hymn
    Renew is a thousand times better than rejuv, you couldn't be more wrong. Everything else is right. But renew is what makes holy along with the passive heals. Renew might look weak on paper but holy should be stacking multistrike to the eyeballs which makes it so strong

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Medipac94 View Post
    They have the best single target HoT in the game. Purely from multistrike. My renew is always my top heal. I've had many a resto druid cry about how "broken" renew is...but when they pop tranq it's fine haha...

    holy is a very strong healer on targets below 60-70% health so your renew, echo of light, light have a chance to tick and multistrike, (being low on haste is a big thing, resto druids, resto shamans chain heal etc) will top targets up faster than your renew can at higher health %. On progress fights I have no problem topping the meters, but like others said, when progress dips off you will find yourself lost on what to do...every other healer will top targets up before you.

    And there aren't burst healers...we aren't a resto shaman who can pop tide and other cds, we don't have a monk cd. They are good sustained damage healers, they can dominate the meters, throw out a cascade, circle of healing on cd, throw out renew renew renew, lightwell active. heals multistrike around 40-44% of the time its crazy

    - - - Updated - - -



    Renew is a thousand times better than rejuv, you couldn't be more wrong. Everything else is right. But renew is what makes holy along with the passive heals. Renew might look weak on paper but holy should be stacking multistrike to the eyeballs which makes it so strong
    https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/Axj47LqNYhTZpnDR#type=healing&fight=9

    https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/Axj47LqNYhTZpnDR#type=healing

    https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/Axj47LqNYhTZpnDR#type=healing&fight=4

    Renew is god

  14. #14
    Deleted
    The problem i have with holy is the fact that you have to specifically gear towards it. Mastery is absolutely useless for renew.
    The sad fact is that the mastery of holy doesn't work for you most healing spell. Blizzard should really adress that.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Thaigr View Post
    The problem i have with holy is the fact that you have to specifically gear towards it. Mastery is absolutely useless for renew.
    The sad fact is that the mastery of holy doesn't work for you most healing spell. Blizzard should really adress that.
    Have you seen the 4 set? While multistrike will still be your number 1 secondary stat. Mastery is right behind it once you have that.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Torch068 View Post
    Tranquility > Divine Hymn
    I really don't think so. More like Hymn = Tranquility + Amplify Magic. Also, Lightwell is REALLY sexy, CoH is instant and more mana efficient than wild growth, and Guardian Spirit eats Ironbark for breakfast. I'd argue that the only thing rdruids bring that holy priests don't is stampeding roar. Sure, Efflorescence >>> Sanctuary, but holy doesn't even need sanctuary to get the job done.

    PS. Yes, I've fallen in love with holy.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Medipac94 View Post
    And there aren't burst healers...we aren't a resto shaman who can pop tide and other cds, we don't have a monk cd. They are good sustained damage healers, they can dominate the meters, throw out a cascade, circle of healing on cd, throw out renew renew renew, lightwell active. heals multistrike around 40-44% of the time its crazy
    Holy is a burst healer. No other healer can push out ~500k healing in 2 GCDs without using a CD.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dierdre View Post
    I really don't think so. More like Hymn = Tranquility + Amplify Magic. Also, Lightwell is REALLY sexy, CoH is instant and more mana efficient than wild growth, and Guardian Spirit eats Ironbark for breakfast. I'd argue that the only thing rdruids bring that holy priests don't is stampeding roar. Sure, Efflorescence >>> Sanctuary, but holy doesn't even need sanctuary to get the job done.

    PS. Yes, I've fallen in love with holy.
    No tranq is hands down a better CD than holy. That fact has been debated quite vigorously. The only strong point of Divine Hymn is you can pop cascade right before it to benefit from free healing on that and immediately after use CoH to benefit from the 10% increased healing.

  18. #18
    Deleted
    Renew heals for more than rejuv once you factor in the initial heal, CoP it near as well, will be better when we'll start stacking mastery. But both of them are way cheaper on your mana, not to mention that priests have decent ways to regenerate mana with solace. I've never went oom before our druids, even when I was 10 ilvls behind and using only 3 spirit items. Druids will probably dominate the meters initially, especially if they get to use their tranq (it's ridiculous how much healing it does, I'm so jelly) but our healing shoots up by the end of fight, when everyone else wasted their mana by sniping us before and now you have 0-5% overheal on renew. Also holy can do decent healing when OOM, much like paladins used to be, just by switching to single target stance for cheap single target heal and cutting down on CoH usage.

  19. #19
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by djriff View Post
    Holy is a burst healer. No other healer can push out ~500k healing in 2 GCDs without using a CD.


    No tranq is hands down a better CD than holy. That fact has been debated quite vigorously. The only strong point of Divine Hymn is you can pop cascade right before it to benefit from free healing on that and immediately after use CoH to benefit from the 10% increased healing.
    Dat disc priest giving lessons to holy priests.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by djriff View Post
    Holy is a burst healer. No other healer can push out ~500k healing in 2 GCDs without using a CD.
    Um, what are you casting to get that 500k healing in 2 GCDs? Also, part of that would come from T90s and/or EoL that take time to heal the full amount. I wouldn't exactly call that burst healing IMO.

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