Why 2 healing trees?

[raubez]

Other classes do just fine with 1 healing tree

[Huntaer]

disc's main priority is not healing..

[Pendulus]

Diversity is nice.
It allowed people to have a choice of four healing specs instead of three.
Priests are generally (in and out of WoW) seen as the "men of god", they divine in the light, perform exorcisms, baptisms, cleansing, etc, it seems only realistic to give them an additional healing tree. Besides, what else would you prefer, melee priest?

[Powerlamer]

Other classes do just fine with 1 healing tree

Because "The priest is the master of healing and preservation" source http://www.wowwiki.com/Priest

Beside that, what else may we do? Melee Dps as Monk?

[Dylis]

exactly what else would you see a priest do, beat people with there wands. Holy is deadly and disc is just a god send on most fights so really I don't see the complaint!

[Alcsaar]

Discs are there for damage mitigation, not really healing.

[Gaskal]

Because priests are priests and other classes are other classes...

[felinapian]

Diversity is nice.
It allowed people to have a choice of four healing specs instead of three.
Priests are generally (in and out of WoW) seen as the "men of god", they divine in the light, perform exorcisms, baptisms, cleansing, etc, it seems only realistic to give them an additional healing tree. Besides, what else would you prefer, melee priest?

you mean 5 instead of 4.

OT: yea, I can't even think of anything else they could be. I guess you could have a ranged "holy" dps. but really, priests are associated with healing. So, it just makes sense to offer that healing diversity.

[krysak]

I actually liked the idea of a melee priest , think D3 Monk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31VpcWV2R9E

[Pendulus]

you mean 5 instead of 4.

Sorry, forgot Resto Druids existed.
/brainfart

[harky]

In Beta Discipline was a melee tree. If you check your original WoW user manual you'll even see fun things like Inner Fire increasing Attack Power.

It is about diversity though. Remember that all the other healers have 3-4 play types and while Priests have two healing specs, they only have one DPS spec. Compare to Druid: 1 Melee, 1 Tank, 1 Caster, 1 Heal. Why do they get two DPS specs and a tank spec? Shaman is Melee + Caster + Healer. Paladin is Melee + Tank + Healer. Melee Priest sounds fun, but it doesn't fit the class at all.

Oh and everyone saying Discipline's priority isn't healing... welcome to WoW, absorbs and heals are interchangeable in nearly all scenarios. The only time when there is a difference is when someone is hit for more than their maximum health, or the absorb prevents a debuff. Otherwise healing, or absorbs have identical functions.

[terrih91]

Diversity is nice.
It allowed people to have a choice of four healing specs instead of three.
Priests are generally (in and out of WoW) seen as the "men of god", they divine in the light, perform exorcisms, baptisms, cleansing, etc, it seems only realistic to give them an additional healing tree. Besides, what else would you prefer, melee priest?

monk class ftw! wtb wtb wtb lol id love to see that tbh they scale with healing cloth gear in their talents or sumthing like that. itd be great.

[Baganzai]

tbh warriors should have 2 tanking specs :P

[Maxpowr]

exactly what else would you see a priest do, beat people with there wands. Holy is deadly and disc is just a god send on most fights so really I don't see the complaint!

RIP wand specialization.

[Izenhart]

Pure DPS Classes: Why 3 DPS trees?

Other classes do just fine with 1 and 2.

[Tueland]

How is 1 tree going to heal and have 12 old kids climbing it?

[hawciu]

disci in pve is situational because this tree isn't healing, its supportive(becomes offensive in pve in cata) tree
and in pvp its: absorb, best dispeller, sum smites and shit-offensive supporter(look at mlg stats, disci can outdps mages in rmp)

means first priest's talent tree is something+situational healing, just like ele shammy, moonkin, shadow priest(!), even ret pala but less

from my point of view its support/healing/dps tree, go flame paladins, priests are fine

Because "The priest is the master of healing and preservation" source http://www.wowwiki.com/Priest

Beside that, what else may we do? Melee Dps as Monk?

"The mage is a DPS caster that specializes in burst damage and area of effect spells." http://www.wowwiki.com/Mage
aoe my ass, wowwiki should update more often(like the description on character creation in wow did)

[Fallacy]

Honestly, what doesn't make sense is that they have a spec that doesn't heal. Shadow as a spec makes little to no sense as a priest. Especially given that it's faith based and that most of it's attacks focus on the mind.

Why doesn't shadow make sense? Lore-wise, when the undead wake up, they can't wield the Light anymore so they created a religion around "The Forgotten Shadow." So, technically Undead and Troll priests should only be able to be shadow and only Alliance or BE priests should stick to healing. But that's just lore, gameplay mechanics don't work that way.
tl;dr Shadow makes perfect sense, Undead holy priests make no sense.

[Kelesti]

tl;dr Shadow makes perfect sense, Undead holy priests make no sense.

Undead Holy Priests make sense, to the extent that they're not looking to use the Light. They're manipulating the Light, so they can better understand their own connection to the Shadow.

Human Shadow Priests work. Night Elves, Draenei, and Dwarves not so much.

[tilgare]

Pure DPS Classes: Why 3 DPS trees?

Other classes do just fine with 1 and 2.

Exactly, just because other classes have 1 healing, 2 dps specs or 1 tank, 2 dps specs doesn't mean that it needs to be the cookie cutter layout. It adds diversity to a game that already has become quite homogenized. I very much like the idea of priests having two healing specs. They both have completely different styles of filling the same role, both of which have a very strong presence and usefulness in endgame raiding.