Are Disc Priests more than just Tank healers?

[Relente]

I have been raiding on my Disc Priest and I find it a lot more fun then Holy, but I see a lot of people in heroics saying "oh its a disc priest" and I have been removed from FL trash raids before we even started, and I am guessing because the leader doesn't like Disc Priests.

Are Disc Priests only meant to be tank healers? Could a raid work with two or three disc priests healing it? I haven't healed as a Priest since Wotlk and just started up a few weeks ago and I haven't had any trouble healing. I know Disc was focused more as Tank heals in previous expansions, but I feel like they can do both roles fine. I have been keeping up with other healers that are much better geared than me in raids as well, but I feel like I am not healing that much on AoE damage though.

[Liliyah]

I think Firelands is the first expac that I have been primiarly tank healing since, well, the days before Soul Warding.

I wouldn't necessarily say I'm tank healing again because disc priests suck at raid healing(because we don't) so much as there isn't much raid healing to be done. The majority of damage in FL is tank damage with the occasional raid-wide damage abilities going out at set times and spot damage on ranged.

As far as the apparent weakness with AoE damage, our heals seem to hit for a lot less than other class'. However, we do get those auto-procs of Divine Aegis, which is a fairly nice cushion during those periods where AoE damage is fairly regular (last bits of Beth, for example). We fall short on actual direct heals, but DA helps make up for it.

[Vook]

The way I see it, Holy is the "almost-druid", and Disc is the "almost-paladin". Holy can AoE heal very well, and single target decently, Disc can single target very well, and AoE heal decently. I find Holy's aoe healing to be better for burst AoE healing like Beth'Tilac's aoe, while Disc's aoe is good for constant steady aoe like Ryolith with 2-3 volcanoes up.

For 10man, you don't really want more than 1 disc priest if you want to be effective.

For 25man, no more than 2. Their AoE healing is decent, but nowhere near a druid or holy priest's.

[Verth Aeyta]

Disc priest are fantastic raid healers, don't let yourself get stuck in that "Disc is this spec and Holy is this spec" I was that way for quite sometime and after spending a little research and practice, Disc became my favorite spec hands down, the spells are quicker and really I mean the AOE capabilities aren't as strong as Holy but it is by no means not viable for a raid in fact my raid runs a Shaman/Holy Paladin/Disc priest and it works out GREAT!

[Relente]

What is the best thing to do for AoE Healing as Disc? PoM and PoH?

Also is this a decent build? http://www.wowhead.com/talent#bfGoMRsbcRMochr

[Zuziza]

Could a raid work with two or three disc priests healing it?

Others have made good comments on the rest, but I wanted to pick this one out.

I raid 10man, and we've tried 2 disc priests (2 non-main-group raiders are disc/holy and we'd bring them in to test things), and it is horrible. Bubble sniping is a pain and 1 disc priest can usually do enough mitigation in a 10man for other specs/classes to manage straight up heals without falling behind. That's not to say a disc priest in a raid is bad, it's that having multiple disc priests is going to be a pain in the ass (mostly in pugs) because they do occasionally toss bubbles, and missing a GCD because another one tossed a bubble just before you is aggravating in a raid healing situation.

I say this because I'd switch to disc to help heal through trash if a healer was running late. Don't have the gear/experience to manage a full boss fight, but we're not going to sit around waiting for someone either. The main disc priest and I were constantly sniping bubbles and PoM on the tank and whoever had been fixated. The loss of GCD's made it a higher risk to lose someone who needed healing and had very little to do with anyone's HPS. It's not just some asshole bubblespamming, it's when you're legitimately trying to bubble the tank or a dying raid member to heal/catch up or for rapture, and you get beat to it by the other priest, and you could have totally cast another spell on someone else.

I'm sure a group that has had multiple disc priests (particularly 25s) would develop a strat that works between them. Who uses PoM on who and when, and who's in charge of bubbling tanks vs. raid, or for which groups. However, going in without something like that worked out (whether it's a PuG or a substitute healer) is going to frustrate the shit out of you.

From the sound of what you said, the trash run already had a disc priest in it; that's probably why they didn't want you if you were disc.

[Deleted]

I did a FL trash run the other day with my self Disc and another disc priest and some other healer can't remember what it was, healing was slightly painful for me as the other priest was doing the whole tank healing part bubbling away and debuffing the tanks with weakened soul so I just went pure raid healing it worked fine but I felt slightly gimped with less to do and gained no benefit from my shield, normally I would tank heal and raid heal equally so being unable to make the most of my tank healing talents just felt wrong.

I could not even imagine what healing would be like if there was 3 disc priests in one 10 man it would be chaos unless they all had pre assigned targets to shield.

As for the whole are Disc priest more then just tank healers in my opinion we are, at the moment Disc is quite strong at tank healing ( normal modes I haven't done heroics ) but they can also raid heal decently in the same spec we are also pretty good doing both at the same time for example:

In FL on sharnox I tank heal the main tank who pulls the boss away from the off tank with the dog and the raid sits between both tanks it is pretty easy for me to keep the MT up while also PoH the raid and even running off to penance the OT ( our pally healer isn't very good hence why he is on the OT ) I generally don't find my self needing to constantly cast heals on the tanks so I have loads of time to help out the other healers.

Aside from me enjoying being a tank healer I think the best role for disc is a non static one, in a 10 man group if you already have a strong tank healer and raid healer then a disc can stabilize out damage on the entire raid and should make it so your other healers don't always have to be active.

[zakaluka]

Are Disc Priests only meant to be tank healers?

No. Disc AoE has maybe slightly less utility than Holy AoE, because disc has fewer tools for raid evening. But, in any situation where your whole raid is taking short pulses of blanket damage, Disc can perform EXTREMELY well.

I feel like I am not healing that much on AoE damage

Disc takes a different mindset than Holy. Anticipating incoming damage is huge for any healer, because a healer that knows how to time pre-casts is invaluable, but it's even more important for disc because you NEED your DAs and PoH shields to count. With holy you can react to outgoing damage after it happens and get by. With disc the only way to get high throughput figures is by timing pre-casts.

OFC the mana return mechanics are a little more involved for disc - you need to learn how to get a rapture proc at least every 15 seconds. Use IF every single time it comes up.

If you're specced to raid heal you'll have Atonement, probably at expense of SoS. You HAVE to be saving up for those wings, and using them every time heavy AoE goes out. That usually means at the very minimum using holy fire on cooldown all the time.

There are more things you have to remember to do as disc, to make it viable for raid healing. It feels different, and in some ways it's less forgiving than Holy. But if you spend the time and learn how to do it, you might find you can get more healing out of disc than holy.

[Vook]

What is the best thing to do for AoE Healing as Disc? PoM and PoH?

Pretty much. Keep PoM on CD and spam away PoH.

[Deleted]

Do not forget our ways to prevent damage too. The barrier, although slightly nerfed is godlike on the Ryholith transition and the beth AoE phases for example.