Levelling a Priest

[Tucows]

So..I'm sitting here at work trying to decide if I want to level a priest to 80 before Cataclysm comes out and I had a couple questions if I plan on doing so. I do not plan on doing anything but leveling up to Cataclysm, possibly some heroics but I don't know for sure.

I just wanted to know what spec is the leveling spec now (I assume it's Shadow but with all the 4.0 changes there may be better). I'll mainly do questing though I may PUG some instances. Also is there a race that is better for priest?

Thanks.

---------- Post added 2010-10-28 at 06:34 PM ----------

I chose to do a blood elf. Currently level 8. Still tossing between shadow and disc...

I think I should go disc since I want to heal as well. I've read around this forum and it seems like many people feel that disc can solo effectively.

Anyone care to chime in if they feel i'm going the wrong route?

Thanks.

[Aiurwyn]

They both can be good for leveling. Shadow will kill stuff faster, but you won't have to stop as often to heal with disc. Or drink for that matter. For lvling disc you will want to make sure to pick up the smite talents and reflective shield though.

As for healing disc is perfectly fine. I did the whole dungeon grind as disc in BC so it should be almost easy now.

[Tucows]

Thanks for the response. I got my priest up to 15 last night and it's quite enjoyable (and easy) right now. I usually just throw my dot, use penance, and a smite or two and whatever I'm fighting is dead.

At this point I think I'm going to stick with disc and grab shadow as a dual spec at 40.

I haven't done any dungeons yet, but I plan on trying a couple tonight.

Thanks again.

[Deleted]

the smite healing thingy doesnt work for yourself so that makes it quite useless to take the smite healing talent. just saying

[harky]

Disc is a bit harder to level as now due to not being able to get early Holy/Shadow talents until much later. Until 4.0.3 it should be workable. When the Archangel change hits it's most likely going to be off-spec at 40 bait unless you purely want to do dungeon crawling. The DPS difference is just too high now, especially with Mind Flay at 10 making Shadow worthwhile at a level where it used to suck and Shadowform at 29 so Disc is no longer better at 30-40 either.

Shadow > Disc > Holy currently, but if you have a friend with a tank leveling I'd go Disc anyway. Instant queues are fun.

[allaiva]

Disc is easy to solo quest, holy is harder, but with things like holy word: chastise it's not nearly as hard as it used to be and shadow is effective by how fast stuff drops. Honestly, I loved leveling my priest so much it has stayed my main and never really changed.

The key is finding the spec you love to play. Some love holy, others love disc, and some others prefer to melt faces (shadow). Regardless of what you choose they all can be fun if you make them and none are gimped to any large degree. As for dungeons they all are good choices as well, shadow has some mana issues at lower levels with the current pull everything as fast as we can mentality, but a lot of mana using dps classes do. Otherwise sit back and enjoy the awesomeness of priests ^.^

[Tucows]

Otherwise sit back and enjoy the awesomeness of priests ^.^

Hahaha. Yeah so far so good


So the way i'm reading it, disc can be a good levelling spec, but shadow is just faster (as long as I'm ok with sitting and drinking every once in awhile).

[Tucows]

...in shadow you are drinking every other mob.

Is it really that bad?

Thanks again everyone for providing tips and information

[Rizzoti]

the smite healing thingy doesnt work for yourself so that makes it quite useless to take the smite healing talent. just saying

Um, yeah it does. You just need to be within 8 yards of the target. But it only heals half.

[harky]

Is it really that bad?

Thanks again everyone for providing tips and information

No, it's not. Just don't think of it as if you were raiding or something. You'll go OOM quick if you're using DoTs constantly on things that die in <10 seconds. Mind Blast -> Mind Flay til dead -> Next mob. And so on. Shadow is pretty efficient.

[vazar-da-priest]

go shadow till duel spec
(you can porbably heal some lower lvl dungeons since mana is basically a joke for healing at low lvls)

pick up disc

shadow for questin
disc for dungeons

TADA! LVL 80

[sonicacid]

I am currently at 65, and grabbed dual spec when I hit 40. Shadow is definitely fun, but can be mana intensive at the lower levels. I have found lately that whether i am questing or LFD, disc is the premier way to go. Full atonement heals you for whatever your smite hits for, Evangelism returns mana to increases haling, and the more you Smite, the less your spells cost mana wise. I had been running dungeons only as Shadow for a better DPs feel, but I routinely am #2 in DPS when I am running Outlands dungeons as Disc, plus your groups will run faster due to the fact that you are DPSing and healing at the same time. Get a little crazy like I do, randomly throw bubbles on people and Holy Nova occasionally with a fully upgraded Divine Aegis, and nothing will slow down your group. I found that with me hitting 64 and gaining Hymn of Hope, no one will be low on mana, and everyone will be fully healed. I still occasionally run Shadow just to change it up and make the "feel" different, but Disc is too much fun to pass up.

[Foibles]

So Holy smite leveling is dead?
/sad panda

[Dethric]

Atm me and my GF is leveling two priest as disc and shadow, doing pvp, quests and dungeons.
I'm disc and she is shadow.
In dungeons she does about 2x as much dps as i do (i often have 50% attonement and 50% shield as healing)
When questing i do slightly more damage than her due to holy nova+reflective shields.
When in BGs we both have fun.

She had mana problems at low levels, i didn't i could basicly go forever if it didn't get very intense on the healing side, but this changed fast when we got past 60, at 70 she never has to drink.
My tip would be go disc, it's efficient, does ok damage and on lower levels it often does the same damage as shadow, but it does it more efficiently.

Anyways, both specs works, depends on what playstyle you like.

[Tucows]

Again, Thanks to everyone for all the information.


Now I'm frustrated with the class... I'm enjoying both specs and I have to wait til 40 to dual spec hahaha!

[harky]

So Holy smite leveling is dead?
/sad panda

You can do it, but almost all the support for Smite is moved over to Disc. Smite specs in general are hard to pull off before 69 now because of how the trees work. Because Disc gets +Int, which is SP and Healing, it winds up being the better spec for leveling. Holy can solo about as well as Disc around level 49-69, but before 49 and after 69 Disc is better. At about 81 Holy out DPS's Disc again. Kind of pointless though with how quick you'll get randoms at that point.

[calinass]

Disc kills shadow from 69

You have selfhealing and nice dps, with little to no downtime.
At 69 you get dispersion on a 1.25 min CD...its pretty sexy
Couple that with that spell that gives you mana and a 15% increased mana pool, consider yourself good.

Also, damage is meh and your talents arent as exciting in shadow until you get to level 40-60
disc is fun. Ill leave it at that. I leveled quickly.
5 days 2 hours.