Disc Poh Spam....?

[cobweb]

Hi

Have recently joined a 25man raid guild as discipline priest (which I have played for around 3years now. Have come from a ten man guild where I was mostly tank healing - raid was covered by a resto druid and a resto shaman. The healing officer has assigned me to mostly raid healing - specifically wants me poh spamming for DA shields (unless I'm tank healing - so far just on shannox hc). The heal team mostly is 3 resto druids on raid, two palis on tank/s and me poh spamming.

The problem I have is this - I am being told my healing is too low (which it is doing this), and I am getting the distinct impression that my trial is on the line here. I have always felt a disc priest is best left to weave in and out of the other healers, unless full time on a tank. This very rigid view of shielding thru poh isnt my usual style. Is the problem with me? Should I vary or change my playstyle? Atm I cant compete on WoL against three very good resto druids who can heal the raid up very quickly, so my poh just counts as very high overhealing (admittedly with DA shields on all). The groups aren't being set up properly to allow me to target one person from each group, sometimes the target is the only one benefitting from the heal and shield.

Any advice would be welcome.

[Naturae]

1) Healing meters don't mean anything anymore
2) Disc priests' niche isn't a raid healer who bombards the raid with constant heals (that would be a resto druid)
3) That guild's opinion on healing is stupid and the fact that they have 3 of the least effective healers and don't have a resto shaman shows they're probably not worth your time!

Someone who raids full-time on a holy paladin (for example) won't know the ins-and-outs of disc healing and they shouldn't be expecting you to do X amount of healing or Y amount of absorbs.

[Edog720]

I currenty heal as a disc priest in a 10 man. I'm partnered with a better geared resto druid and either a holy priest or resto shaman. All 3 healers have SMART AOE heals, meaning that when they cast a heal that hits 5 people, it goes to the 5 people that need it most. PoH hits everyone in that persons group. Meaning only 3/5 of the people that need the healing the most get the healing, and the other two healed arn't hurt/damaged to the point where it was worth it (unless the groups are specifically designed to maximize my healing). Likewise, on some fights where there is massive AOE damage coming out, PoH spamming tops the charts secondary to Tranquility.

Its the nature of the discipline tree. Try to get assigned to tanks as you benefit the most from that spot, otherwise try to be a little proactive with your heals. Throw out your PoH before a big AOE is going to hit (hell, DBM has timers for most boss abilities). That way the shields at least maximized, even if the healing portion wasn't.

And realize its about knowing how your synergism with the raid. If every class is expected to be top healer, then none of them will. 1st or 5th, the boss went down right? (so long as you weren't carried).

[Verth Aeyta]

Tell your group they're being stupid, though I would say that in 25m holy might be a strong spec for you but seeing as you have.... 3 resto druids that might not be a good idea. Anyway they shouldn't worry about your healing as they should your use of CD's from Disc. I would say if they can't get over that then they're not worth your time.

[cywang86]

If they want you to be mostly raid healing, go holy or you won't even come close to what the raid needs.

Disc is stronger on tank healing due to inspiration and dmg prevention.

If you're only being brought for the 2 CDs though, that's another story.

[Cellery]

Disc can quite viably raid heal--and keep up with druids or holy priests. The trick is knowing what damage is coming and how to get at it. I know people say meters don't matter... but to some raids they do. Meters mean you have a stable raid spot. So I know it's not the best use of your time or mana, but here's a couple ways to get a little padding on the meters:
H Shannox: You know when the spear is coming because you're a good raider & have timers. Get a few bubbles out before it hits.
H Rhyolith: You can get a little head start if you do something like put 1 HF on a leg (I do this because of trinket & AA), then you can get 10 bubbles off before stomp happens. Nobody was at a deficit, so you have 10 bubbles head start on the silly resto druids. You can do something similar by getting PoH on groups that aren't at full health just before stomps in p1.
H Alys: If you wanna look good on meters, don't let the bleed fall off and just heal through it. When stack time comes, smite yourself to full mana, then pre-bubble/DA a few people. Put down your PWB at the very start of the aoe dmg, start PoH, pop PI, PoH more... and prosper.
H Domo: Smite harder.

Just a quick disclaimer: These are not SMART healing practices, these are looking good on meters. If you feel you must look good on meters to keep your raid spot, try it. But don't pad meters to the point that you're not doing your job effectively.

[Deleted]

stack crit to pad meters, cast as many PW:Ss as your mana will allow.

With 3(really?) resto druids your actual healing will pretty much be pointless, so just pad the meters sniping shields. If that's what you need

[Deleted]

Evangelism/archangel helps if you're raid healing as disc. I mention it as it's not often used if you've come from 10mans.

[Sgtsparkles]

If they have 3 Resto druids and 2 holy paladins, what the fuck is left to heal? At that point, being perfect about CD usage on the raid/bubbles during gimp damage (which is where druids struggle) is all you really need to do/should be expected. If you're getting through the fight with ease and the first thing your GM does is look at healing meters and say you're low, he's a moron.

[cobweb]

Thanks for all your replies - very helpful Shall try all the above suggestions tonight and see if they make a difference. Tnx again

[Ultima]

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...e-and-sure-way!

Do you have any raid logs?
An armoury?

It may just be the case that the raid doesn't need 6 healers (especially with 2 Paladins and 3 Resto Druids, bloody hell!). You can't really stack up DA in 25 mans anyway, can you? Unless they want it on a specific group or two.

I'm not sure why we keep having to use extremes. No, healing meters are not the be all and end all. However, healing meters should not be disregarded. By looking at it, you can see where healing has clashed (multiple people trying to snipe) or where a healer just has low activity, be it for skill, slack or whatever. When I see a healer complain about mana, first thing I check/ ask is healing spell use, which usually finds Flash of Light/ Flash Heal/ Regrowth and such top and by checking the actual log to find they wait until 30k health to start healing.

[[-Spiritus-]]

There really is a lot of mess-ups in this thread. First, there is a mess-up on the part of the OP's guild in healing comp.

Second, there are mess-ups in many of the suggested ways to deal with the first mess-up. "Gaming" the meter is never, ever the solution. A good raid healing Disc priest should be able to be competitive with a resto druid, without resorting to such shenanigans. Believe me, if that's what you need to do to keep you're raid spot, the raid spot isn't worth it.

Third, there is little we can do to really help you without logs and/or armory.

[cobweb]

@ Spiritus - ty for your reply. Managed to get sorted out with some advice with a very good priest on here

I wouldnt have resorted to any 'shennanigans' at all. I was just puzzled by the assignment and wanted some advice as to its veracity and my position. I was just a bit annoyed that i was on poh spam, and then my position on meters was questioned i.e., low effective healing and high overheal when i have to match the speed of 3 raid druids on raid. Seems a waste of a disc priest to me, but thank you for your interest

[FieryBull]

Just use your tools to deal with the damage patterns appropriately and you'll be up there in the meters anyway. Spamming a single ability is almost always counter-productive.

[Deleted]

Disc priests that are not needed to have an assigned roll be it tank healing or focused on some other raiders should always be allowed to float as we are best suited for reaction based healing and playing it by eye. Even though I am a tank healer in 10 mans I tend to watch over the raid like as if I am playing an RTS and by knowing exactly what kind of damage all mechanics do we can best predict what spells to use and when to prevent stressful encounters.

In regard to the whole disc priests are all about absorbs which I believe your raid / guild leader believes to be the case its totally incorrect Disc priests are 50/50 absorb / healing on a standard encounter so if you are doing 100% absorb 100% over healing then in reality you are only doing 50% of your potential healing.

For example here is a log of me PoH spamming on beth normal with a druid http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/z...?s=5375&e=5785 personally I had 64% healing 36% absorbs and that was with mainly PoH spam and yet I was still 12% behind the druid so if I had less healing more over healing I would be in a much worse position 30% or more behind the druid.

So basically expecting DA to do all your healing and match the performance of a druid is impossible and imo your raid leader has no idea what he is doing.



Side not I'm not talking about those who still PW:shield spam sure you can get more absorb then healing that way but I don't personally consider it a good way of healing.


You could try ignoring the raid leader when you start to think they are going to ditch you and play how a disc priest should and not as they want you to chances are though he will get all powertripie on you even if you did a better job but at least then you can get a stab in on him in front of his raid by calling him a noob :P