When does Priest levelling become more fluid?

[harky]

I'm curious too. Have a level 32 priest as my next project, and all I've bin doing since lvl 1 is SW:P + wand untill I got Devouring plague, which altered my rotation to SW:P, DP and wand.

Oh the joy :P

This is a mistake a lot of new players make. At 32 you should be opening with Holy Fire -> Mind Blast -> Mind Flay and then wand. Drop Mind Blast if mana becomes an issue. SW:P/DP are huge wastes of mana/time when leveling. Early on you should be using Mind Blast, then wanding. Later on Holy Fire gets introduced, along with Mind Flay. You kill with just nukes until mana becomes an issue, then you work out how much nuking you can do to never OOM and wand after that. If you have targets living long enough that DP and SW:P finish their durations then you're leveling really slow. SW:P is worth casting on two pulls until you're around 20. DP is worth casting only on pull of 3+ and even then it isn't too great. Save the DoTs and stuff for elites where they may be useful. On normal mobs you're just wasting mana.

[Pythagoreant]

Gonna have to agree with "80".

Though leveling shadow wasn't bad after 30. It was less painful, at least. Or maybe I just think it was cause I rolled a priest to learn Mind Control, and don't regret it at all.

I leveled 70-80 as Holy, and I don't recommend that to anyone. That was back before dual-spec, though, so I'll be leveling shadow/disc dual-spec from 80-85 (hooooooraaay dual spec!).

[Naphta]

Just tried disc in a dungeon, and it is so much easier, my mana regen is better. Loving it.

[Iselia]

This is a mistake a lot of new players make. At 32 you should be opening with Holy Fire -> Mind Blast -> Mind Flay and then wand. Drop Mind Blast if mana becomes an issue. SW:P/DP are huge wastes of mana/time when leveling. Early on you should be using Mind Blast, then wanding. Later on Holy Fire gets introduced, along with Mind Flay. You kill with just nukes until mana becomes an issue, then you work out how much nuking you can do to never OOM and wand after that. If you have targets living long enough that DP and SW:P finish their durations then you're leveling really slow. SW:P is worth casting on two pulls until you're around 20. DP is worth casting only on pull of 3+ and even then it isn't too great. Save the DoTs and stuff for elites where they may be useful. On normal mobs you're just wasting mana.

Oh, I've bin told SW:P, DP and wanding was the shizzle untill 50ish. Maybe I should start thinking for myself? ^^, I'll try your mojo and see if it's less mindnumbing then SW:P, DP and wand :P

[Maxpowr]

I would say when you get shadow form at level 40. The bonus damage done is huge and you will notice right away. Until then, priest leveling can be quite painful. Healing doesn't get fun as disc until you can pick up penance (around 60 if you go full disc). I would personally avoid going holy while leveling because it is just really mana inefficient and nobody wants to kill 3-5 mobs and stop and drink. Just think of the respawn timers in caves :'(

[Fenixdown]

Just tried disc in a dungeon, and it is so much easier, my mana regen is better. Loving it.

People hear "easier leveling" and most nowadays think "solo play", forgetting that some people that play a priest actually like two things. One, healing and two, grouping.

Meditation is THE necessary talent for any healer. I about had my jaw hit the floor when I saw a holy priest, at 80, that didn't even have points in Meditation. I leveled as holy from 1-70, mostly in vanilla and the rest done in BC. Holy was a pain until Meditation, I could go through about a stack of water per hour. I leveled 70-80 as discipline. While I still couldn't solo most group quests (being squishy), leveling was a joke and I didn't even have to buy water. Between conservation and regen talents, the only way I could have gone oom leveling was doing quests like I do dailies now (round up a ton of mobs and Holynovaspamftw).

So, that being said, most will tell you to go shadow because you kill stuff faster, but the downside then becomes either you will queue for random dungeons and sit in queue for up to half an hour at a time, or you will have to heal with a very inferior healing spec. But even at earlier levels, killing mobs for priests isn't even that much easier after 40 for shadow because your gear, at best, barely supports your spec in the first place. Plus you'll encounter quest points where mobs have pesky amounts of shadow resistance.

[Iselia]

How about specing down to mind flay in the shadow tree, and then go disc for dungeon leveling/questing? Or should I just go disc without MF?

[Daez]

Well, I'm currently spamming dungeons and quietly questing my priest which is now 34. I was just wondering when it becomes fluid and a complete joy to play. (All classes have this boundary)

It actually always is. You just have to know how to do it. Until level 40 (shadow form) you might as well go discipline to level (heal in dungeons, solo epic quests easily). At 40 you get shadow form which makes leveling as shadow the much easier way to go. Once you get to 61 you get dispersion which really helps your downtime as shadow.

[chuck123]

I started to lvl a priest somewhen during tbc, but i got very very sick and tired somewhere in wetlands at lvl 20.
So, I abandoned it for over a year, till i picked her up some weeks ago.
I respecced shadow, took some heirloom and joined rndfinder. Personally I have to say that till lvl 70, it went very fast and fluent and the tree is very rewarding in terms of lvling up for your next cool spell or huge improvement.
I never had so much fun lvling a char, than i had on the priest and i can only advice you to try disc since i didnt find it tideous at all.

[CyborgOctopus]

for soloing, outlands.
did some pvp in hellfire and it was quite fun too
before lvl 60 it is a bit dull

[Daez]

Minus side is that you will have to drink more often than as a healer you would. Its still worth it in my opinion =)

Actually, that build has more regen than a normal healing build. The only reason you would drink more is that you are casting more.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#bVcbuhhioh:Va

Is the discipline build (and glyphs) that I would use till 40. This build is built around shadow word: pain on multiple mobs and spamming holy nova while keeping your shield up. After you get reflective shields it gets even better.

If you wanted to be able to get into dungeons as a healer while leveling and still be able to easily solo you might even want to consider leveling as discipline.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#bVcbu...ot0xxf0bZh:Vau

Level 80 discipline farm build (you should be able to level with this build -- I would fill out discipline talents first). You could still heal normal dungeons and probably easier heroics (once you get decent enough gear) with this build as well.

[Deleted]

It gets a bit less terrible around 40, and then even less bad at 50, but 60 is when it gets fun. At least that was my experience.

[Daez]

Well, i'm playing as holy in dungeons and I oom like crazy. Was just wondering when I oom less and can rage less at tanks and dps that don't understand MB :P

Your problem is that you are trying to level as a holy priest. If you want to level as a healing priest then go discipline to level. Its more than enough healing without the mana usage.

[Daez]

I'm curious too. Have a level 32 priest as my next project, and all I've bin doing since lvl 1 is SW:P + wand untill I got Devouring plague, which altered my rotation to SW:P, DP and wand.

Oh the joy :P

Seriously...If you have this as your next project that is going to lead me to believe that you are using heirlooms. If you are using heirlooms on a priest and having mana issues (which is the only reason why you would wand) then you are dong something insanely wrong. Smite is faster casting than any other spell of a similar level. Holy fire hits hard as hell. Holy nova allows you to aoe 5-6 mobs quite easily before they rip through your bubble if you are discipline.

People tend to make it harder than it is, but honestly, SWP DP wand went away in TBC.

[Sansai]

I didn't enjoy before I hit 60 on mine and dispersion.

[rahzgarrh]

When you hit 40 it will begin to be fun

[Daez]

This is a mistake a lot of new players make. At 32 you should be opening with Holy Fire -> Mind Blast -> Mind Flay and then wand. Drop Mind Blast if mana becomes an issue. SW:P/DP are huge wastes of mana/time when leveling.

You couldn't be more wrong. Either cast HF or MB not both. They are supported by completely different schools of magic. Glyph of SWP means that SWP gives you more mana than it will ever take away from you (especially if aoe grinding which you should be doing with Holy Nova, Devouring Plauge, SWP on everything while your bubble is up).

The beauty of shadow has always been those dots combined with shield and self healing that let you run through a camp dot everything up and come out with a dead camp of mobs, 100% health and 75% mana (and that was without heirlooms and before glyph of SWP).

[Daez]

How about specing down to mind flay in the shadow tree, and then go disc for dungeon leveling/questing? Or should I just go disc without MF?

MF is not worth it for leveling. The only reason to get it is if you are shadow. If you are disc the only shadow spell you should bother casting is SWP.

[Iselia]

Seriously...If you have this as your next project that is going to lead me to believe that you are using heirlooms. If you are using heirlooms on a priest and having mana issues (which is the only reason why you would wand) then you are dong something insanely wrong. Smite is faster casting than any other spell of a similar level. Holy fire hits hard as hell. Holy nova allows you to aoe 5-6 mobs quite easily before they rip through your bubble if you are discipline.

People tend to make it harder than it is, but honestly, SWP DP wand went away in TBC.

Heh, I guess it's stuck from my 20 first levels of hell :P It was the combo I did most dps with (I checked ) so I just haven't gotten around to using my other spells xD

But what prio rotation do you use as a disc priest dps wise then?

[Fenixdown]

Heh, I guess it's stuck from my 20 first levels of hell :P It was the combo I did most dps with (I checked ) so I just haven't gotten around to using my other spells xD

But what prio rotation do you use as a disc priest dps wise then?

Soloing, I would go SW:P, Holy Fire, MB, Smite.

Once you get Plague: Plague, SW:P, Holy Fire, MB, Smite

Once you get SW : Plague, SW:P, Holy Fire, MB, SW (by the time you get Death you have a vast portion of your disc tree filled, Smite becomes less and less necessary and should be used only as a filler if needed)

Once you get Penance: bubble, Penance, Holy Fire, MB, SW. At the stage you get Penance, even dots become less and less necessary. The reason I include bubble in your "rotation" is by now you have 5/5 Borrowed Time. Once you have 5/5 BT, Penance is your pull spell, as it does not use your BT charge, so your Holy Fire is still at a 25% additional haste cast time.

Odds are you will not solo many (usually 3-man)group quests as a non-DPS squishy. My suggestion for those is grab a buddy or someone who needs the quests with you and just heal them while they do all the work.