Interesting Disc Idea

[mcpain]

I was thinking about the changes regarding the importance of mana conservation in cataclysm and had an idea of recreating the mana battery.

I thought that a fun use for disc would be to greatly nerf their healing, but in return buff bubbles (and maybe other absorbs) and also grant them mana battery abilities.

For example instead of casting a heal, you would cast a mana heal!
Disc is already master of the mana burn so this just seems like it would fit in and it would be a unique way to support a large raids without simply being the top healer or dps (kinda like posting who had the most cleanses on heigan).

There was one spec that served as a mana battery in BC, the shadow priest, and as a result they felt like a requirement for raids. To balance this you could add similar utility to another class, like demo locks or arcane mages.

It would certainly be a completely different playstyle, but would anyone else enjoy this as an option?

[Rayella]

There is a talent already that sounds alot like what you describing. Rapture - When Power Word: Shield is fully absorbed or dispelled the target gains 2% mana.

[Nisala]

I've always loved ideas like these but really they're not viable because of Blizzards new ethic of bring the player not the class. In my opinion, they've got it the wrong way round. I'm playing this game as a priest and I want to be valued as a priest, and I want to feel I bring things to raids that no-one else (or very few others) do. So this sort of concept is really appealing. I like the idea of maybe mana burning the boss and that mana becoming a reserved resource system which you can distribute amongst the raid (that's one example, obviously there'd have to be others that don't require a target with mana). I like the idea of restoring mana and energy to people. It's fun.

Sadly, as I said, this simply can't work in the environment Blizzard have created. Tank, DPS, healer. There's no utility role. And that won't change unless Blizzard change.

[Vanaheim]

[...] In my opinion, they've got it the wrong way round. I'm playing this game as a priest and I want to be valued as a priest, and I want to feel I bring things to raids that no-one else (or very few others) do. [...] Sadly, as I said, this simply can't work in the environment Blizzard have created. Tank, DPS, healer. There's no utility role. And that won't change unless Blizzard change.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Currently, I'm more than proud to be the only class who can heal myself (to the point of rarely needing heals) and the party (not much, but enough) via DPSing while in shadow and the only class that has more mana-regen methods than most other healers. (Yes, as unreliable as it is, once you get skilled with using shadowfiend, that thing can be a BEAST.) With the removal of Improved VE and the emphasis on making sure healers have to worry about going OOM, I'm worried that the only thing that will make priests unique in relation to other healers will be the combination of their bubbles and PoM. Admittedly, this is alot of me going "THE SKY IS FALLING" without much proof, but hey, that's why it's called worrying.