How Are priests?

[Nab]

as the title says, how are priests in Healing PvE and Shadow@Disc for PvP At the moment, are priests needed in bg's/Arena and Dungeons/raids?

[Deleted]

Just commenting on things I have experience with here -

Holy is healing absolutely fine/good as far as heroics go, and have done BH too, no probs (and I mostly PUG) - beyond that someone else will need to answer.

BG's, Disc is underpowered at the moment but will be getting buffs. You can do a good job healing/shielding from the sidelines as long as no one goes for you, if they do, then you will need team-mates to take them off you before you die. That's my experience with about 2.7k resi. It's still fun with a good group.

[Danner]

Short answer:

Healing priest, PVE:
Discipline is a bit on the weak side, but can do the job. Holy is a lot better, and has a decent amount of manaregen right now. We're not paladins, but then again neither are anyone else*. You can do any content of the game, but pugs and farming will give you serious headaches.

*) except the paladins.

Healing priests, PVP
RMP now means rogue/mage/paladin. The priest is out and very weak in arenas in general. Discpriests can't take the punishment it used to take, and dies easily. Holypriests can take even less punishment, has more of a mana issue in PVP, but is better at getting away from trouble. Holy movability is actually great fun in battlegrounds. Until you get caught, because then you die. Healing priests in general should not attempt any PVP until you have 3k resilience, survivability is just that bad. Problem is that you need to to a huge amount of PVP to get there.

In general, I wouldn't recommend a priest if you are primarily going to PVP right now. Things are likely to change though.

Shadow priests, PVE
Good at dealing damage and survive, very bad aoe damage. Mind Control is potentially an awesome CC, potentially a very bad CC. It depends on the encounter. Interrupts not frequently taken. Massive cost of spells means spriest mana bars go up and down more frequently than a retardin's. At least spriests have the tools to regain that mana.

[DomBomb1]

I disagree with these assessments of PVE healing. Disc is in a very good place right now for PVE, particularly as a tank healer, and Prayer of Healing with automatic Divine Aegis is an excellent tool for certain types of raid damage. It is also a tool that works well when other class's AOE tools don't (great for healing ranged that are spread out somewhat).

Disc also has excellent mana regen - between Rapture (when used properly. Hint: get a rapture cooldown tracker and only cast PW:S when the cooldown is up), Replenishment, and properly timed shadowfiend+Hymn, all of which are greatly enhanced by the 15% extra intellect that disc priests get over holy priests.

Holy definitely has better tools for AOE healing, but from what I've seen, their mana regen is lacking. Sure, they get more from their spirit, but the mana return from Rapture alone gives way more than that, not counting the other regen benefits Disc gets from 15% intellect. Holy priests, imo, are highly dependent on having at least one resto shaman who calls out when mana tide is coming so you can pop spirit trinkets (valor points trinket, JC trinket, etc).

[zenkai]

I agree with Dombomb, in 25 man Disc priest seem pretty pro, what you don't see is how effective power word barrier on big AE hits and the fact disc healing multiplies everyone else s healing.

[tehmark]

I can't speak for anything but holy but I've been holy since 2005 and we started out very weak this expac. We've had mana regen buffed a bit and that has made us able to compete in raids. We are still incredibly dependent on replen classes however. We have to be more mindful of mechanics during fights that allow us to regen than a few classes but it is quite enjoyable where we are right now for me. If I had a chance to do it all over from the start I'd honestly have gone with a druid or paladin but my priest has always been my main and will always be my main. I have a fun time playing it no matter how good or bad it is. Find a class that is like that for you, plenty of options to let you find what you enjoy the most regardless of all the numbers.

[ariatas]

As for holy its pretty ok and if you know how to play ir properly and handle your cooldowns you can really dish out aloooot of healing.

As for shadow which i play myself its ok, we aren't top but on certain fights SP can get pretty high on the meters though our aoe is absolutely terrible:P but they said they noticed Sp's aoe was to low so hopefully that will get buffed^^

[Ynna]

I can only speak for Holy, and Holy is okay. Not amazing, nor terrible. Just okay.

[Siri]

Holy is amazing in 25man raids, only topped by paladins. (overall grading, certain fights favor different types of healing)
Disc has very nice utility in PW:B and PS.
Atonement Disc is also insane on Halfus heroic.

[Stickmenz]

Shadow is awesome pve.

Holy works fine pve.

Disc is harder to play but works great once you figure everything out.

Pvp-wise priest lack mobility & survivability, and every class has some sorta slow/lockdown that can kill a priest quite easily. More resi won't solve the problem, especially if SP dots hits 2k dmg (average resi/buffed opponent, around 2k resi).

[shaa]

I don't understand why people say holy's regen is better than discs? Can someone explain this to me please because by the time my holy priest asks for 3 innervates, I'm still at > 50 % mana [as disc].

[Ynna]

I don't understand why people say holy's regen is better than discs? Can someone explain this to me please because by the time my holy priest asks for 3 innervates, I'm still at > 50 % mana [as disc].

Maybe your Holy Priest isn't that good?

[Alaska]

Holy Priest have a lot of regen but their AOE spells cost a lot compared to disc spells. You can easily burn your mana as a holy priest if you do not use the right spells at the right time.

Both holy and disc are fine in my opinion. Disc is more of tank healer where holy is raid/ AE heals. Disc is also good utility healing as someone mentioned.

[Zka]

Atonement Disc is also insane on Halfus heroic.

I think that was nerfed. At least Atonement no longer ignores the MS effect afaik.

Opinion from a 8/12 disc/shadow priest:
Disc feels very good and also pretty different than in LK. I'm topping meters everywhere and generally I'm not feeling weak at all.
PBW is extremely good: it's a second oh shit button for the tank and/or a cool button to mitigate "pile up the raid in one spot" type raid damage, which is pretty prevalent now.
Shadow feels cool, it's very complicated and rewarding to play now. Mind sear sucks horribly, that is maybe the only bad point with priest PVE right now.

[Purno]

Holy is still incredibly fun to play. Spamming Heal to save mana (Flash Heal and Greater Heal will make you go OOM). Stacking lots of spirit.
Oh, and lightwell is pretty imba.

I have no clue on how it plays compared to other healers, but I chose a Holy Priest because of the playstyle, not because of imbaness or HPS.