Current State of Priests and Healing

[Samusfury]

Hello Folks,
Looking at firing up a healing class at long last, have my priest very modestly geared, ilevel 352 atm, and just wondering how their performance is in a raid enenviroment as of patch 4.2. How are they in relation to the other healing classes, especially in relation to a resto druid, as for me its an option of Holy Priest or Resto druid, just looking for feedback,
cheers

[Irisel]

Apparently Holy is under performing and disc seems to be in a sweet spot, but I don't raid on my Priest, so it's just word of mouth.

And as for Druids, they probably take the cake for best healers this patch, and if you're comparing your Holy Priest to a Druid, the Druid probably wins.

My vote is for Disc, if you want to raid on your priest (this is coming from which spec is said to be better and which spec I enjoy more on my Priest). But, you should just pick whichever healer you enjoy playing the most. Unless you're trying min/max (which doesn't seem likely for alts) play what will get you the most for your $15, imo.

edit: If you're main switching, and trying to pick up on whichever healer is more powerful, it's up to many things. Your personal playstyle probably is the most important aspect to consider. And, by the time your get this toon in BiS, Firelands will be over and I'm sure the king of the healer hill will change. Again, play whichever you enjoy playing.

[Danner]

Again, play whichever you enjoy playing.

This is the truth. Despite Holy being the decisively weaker priest spec, it is still the most fun in my opinion. Go with fun.

Or failing that, druid. You can't go wrong with a druid. Top of the hill, 6 patches in a row

[Minto44]

If it's a choice between Resto Druid or a Priest then I'd go for the Resto Druid. I personally think healing on a Druid is far more fun than healing on a Priest, despite my main being a Priest. They can also push out better HPS than a Priest can, but the Barrier from a Disc priest can be very handy.

[Irisel]

OP: Is Disc totally off the table, are you only between Holy Priest (and Resto Druid)?

If it is not, and you are still between Priest or Druid, I would say Priest. The reason is that you can swing specs as a priest, and fill a more specific roll, depending on which boss or what your raid needs. As a druid, you only get one spec, and at most you can only alter your talents to feel more AoE-y or tank healy, but not anywhere near as drastic as switching to an entirely different spec.

---------- Post added 2011-09-05 at 05:30 PM ----------

Go with fun.

Diversity is a great way to have fun.

[Deleted]

If you got the choice between a druid and a priest you should definatly be going for a druid. The HPS from druids is superior to any other healing class atm.
Though I play a discipline priests myself and I do manage to stick close to the druids, but I do get outhealed on nearly every fight.

[Ascend]

I'd say Dpriests are much more fun, they're more challenging than lolgrowth and rejuvenation spamming. Instead, you can play with a couple of tank healing specs, atonement, SoS and so on.

[Irisel]

I'd say Dpriests are much more fun, they're more challenging than lolgrowth and rejuvenation spamming. Instead, you can play with a couple of tank healing specs, atonement, SoS and so on.

I would agree that disc priests have probably the most room for play, when speccing. Druids have to make a lot of hard spec decisions, but in the end it's either more mana or more output. As for a disc priest, the way they spec drastically changes their heal style, much more than any of the 5 healing spec, imo.

[Jenzali]

If it is not, and you are still between Priest or Druid, I would say Priest. The reason is that you can swing specs as a priest, and fill a more specific roll, depending on which boss or what your raid needs. As a druid, you only get one spec.

A druid has only one spec? News to me. Last time I counted, there was bear, kitty, moonkin, and restoration.

[Clickers]

A druid has only one spec? News to me. Last time I counted, there was bear, kitty, moonkin, and restoration.

hes talking in terms of HEALING. where a priest has 2

[Derpyhooves]

A druid has only one spec? News to me. Last time I counted, there was bear, kitty, moonkin, and restoration.

A druid only has one healing spec, a priest has 2. Since the the thread is about healing it's pretty obvious what was meant by the one spec comment.

Sucks when you try to be a smart ass and just end up looking stupid right?

[Holy]

Vampiric Embrace does fine healing.

[Deleo]

If you got the choice between a druid and a priest you should definatly be going for a druid. The HPS from druids is superior to any other healing class atm.
Though I play a discipline priests myself and I do manage to stick close to the druids, but I do get outhealed on nearly every fight.

Disc priests bring barrier, PS and 10% raid-wide physical damage reduction. Add those to meters and disc priest will be out-healing the druid. People should really stop watching meters if they don't know what they mean. The only healer not pulling its weight atm are shammies, but not to the point of being broken.

[Nanaboostme]

I'm currently main holy priest-specced and focusing on 10man firelands. People always tell me to respec to disc and I can understand why although I don't see how holy priests are underperforming since I always have the best heal output with a paladin/resto shaman and even resto druids at times in different pug groups. The biggest weakness with Holy Priests is our mana regeneration but I don't see it as a problem at all after you've gotten at least your t12 2-piece bonus or a ilvl past 370.

Like many people have said, play what you enjoy more, that's what counts. I keep a disc offspec as ultimately some fights in FL are better with disc, but if you have a good non-struggling group, i don't see why you can't play holy.

[iDot]

I personally love disc.. atonement is amazing in 5mans.. and most of the raid fights.. PW:S 30k damage shield.. and awesome aoe heals with PoH.

[diothar]

A druid has only one spec? News to me. Last time I counted, there was bear, kitty, moonkin, and restoration.

It's funny because you were trying to be a smart ass but ended up looking like a jack ass.

[iero]

I've played holy since TBC, and i tried disc during ulduar but it never seemed as fun, i think as long as you know your class well enough you can perform just as well as most other classes. I'm currently doing 25 man heroic fireland content and i manage to keep pretty close to the resto druids somtimes beating them sometimes not.

So i guess in the end like im sure 90% of people here are saying just try playing both for a bit and see which one you like healing with more :]

[caveslug]

Disc priests bring barrier, PS and 10% raid-wide physical damage reduction. Add those to meters and disc priest will be out-healing the druid. People should really stop watching meters if they don't know what they mean. The only healer not pulling its weight atm are shammies, but not to the point of being broken.

Pretty much this, My main has been a resto druid for 3 years. And trust me LOLmeters don't mean anything when you can bring damage mit to the table, even more so on hardmode fights. Healing in cata as a resto druid has made me feel like nothing more then a huge raid wide diaper, soaking up all the healing. While others really save people, from dying or wiping.

[Deleted]

I didn't defeated Ragnaros normal yet, but I find specific specs better to specific fights.

If I heal tank on Shannox, Beth'tilac or Majordomo fights - I prefer disco.
If I heal tank on Baleroc or Alysrazor - I prefer holy in Chakra single target mode.
If I heal any fight as a raid healer, or tank on Rhyolith - I prefer Chakra more targets mode.

I think that every spec have its pluses and minuses, I just want to heal the best I can on different fights.

[iero]

Healing in cata as a resto druid has made me feel like nothing more then a huge raid wide diaper, soaking up all the healing. While others really save people, from dying or wiping.

Couldn't agree more with being a holy priest you get the same kind of feeling