Holy priestin'

[Sarayana]

Hey guys!

I've decided to dust off an old alt and respec her heals (I'm a sucker for healing, what can I say). I have a bunch of questions about it though.

I've decided to go with holy after reading up on the differences between holy and disc.

I'm super confused about the stats, but from what I'm reading, the priority goes: spell power > intellect > spirit (shouldn't lack too far behind int) > haste > crit. Does that make sense to those of you that are more confident in priestly knowledge than I?

There are a few talents that specifically benefit from crits (Inspiration, Holy Concentration, and Surge of Light). Does that mean one should grab crit over haste?

For reference, the main source of my information are the following three posts:
Help me, oh plusheal.com
You're my only hope!
These are not the stats you're looking for.

After looking at different armories and guides and such, and playing around a bit with the talent calculators, I've come up with this spec. Anything you would change?

Thanks. I'm kinda new to this..

ETA: I see the irony in asking a hunter forum for help about healing while linking to a healing forum. But gosh dang it, you guys will actually help if you can! Don't know if I can say the same about any other forum.

Also, for URL fail.

[Talody]

On my priest I opted out of improved healing. I just never cast Gheal enough to make it worth it. Most fights in raids go too fast to get one off. Desperate Prayer is very useful. I have lightwell, and have my raid trained to use it. Drop it in a convient spot and DPS can heal themselves.

Spirit -> Int -> SP -> Crit are what I usually look for, since they work with the way I play holy, and makes it easier to switch to Disc when needed.

Take a peek at my priest.
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-tale ... lacklisted

[Sarayana]

Thanks Tal!

I was under the impression that disc is totally uninterested in spirit, since the spirit => spell power conversion talent is halfway down holy?

I should also add that I'm not looking to raid anytime soon, she's at level 50 right now. I doubt I'll ever do anything but 5-mans on her. (Which should also effectively exclude lightwell, since most pugs don't think/know to use it. I've seen it go wasted sooooo many times while running fives with holy priests.)

It's funny, cause when I sat down and looked at what to do for my shaman to heal, I basically ended up with 3 point I could put in one of two talents. The rest was just completely obvious. Here, I just don't know... and the more I read and compare specs and choices, the more up in the air everything seems... /confused. >_<

[Talody]

Disc priests don't get as much outta spirit as holy, but it's still useful for mana regen. When Disc, I'll go more for Int and crit.

Yes, priest speccing can be a bit confusing at times. A lot of it is personal taste and style. Some things will be standard, others optional. Like Lightwell. I found it works for me and the groups I usually run with, so it's worth the talent point. Others avoid it like the plague.

I found what worked for me by pugging, respeccing a lot and reading Elitist Jerks.
http://elitistjerks.com/f77/

[Sarayana]

See, I looked at that page on elitistjerks and what I see is raiding, disc, raiding, haste, shadow. I don't know why there are only five topics (aside from the FAQ, which I'll admit I didn't read because I hate slogging through long, multi-page faq posts) but I don't see any holy how-to there... I was surprised.

Thanks for confirming that a lot has to do with personal taste. I'll try out the spec I made and see how it works for me, and move stuff around if I see the need for it.

ETA: and thanks a ton for the input on stats. That stuff confuses me.

[Talody]

Check out the 3.3 raiding compendium.
http://elitistjerks.com/f77/t83203-wotl ... _downfall/

There's a nice little FAQ right at the beginning that covers a lot of what I"m sure you're thinking when it comes to spec. EJ is mostly about raiding, but there's a lot of useful info for non-raiders too.

Good luck with holy healing! I'll do what I can to answer questions and help.

[Sarayana]

Doh! I'll read up on it, I swear! *goes to do her homework*

Thanks for all the help.

[Talody]

I loves my priest, even tho I've been taking a break from healing. I'm more than happy to do what I can to try and help.

[Sarayana]

I ran a quick Sunken Temple on her last night. I had mana issues at first, until I realised that I shouldn't be shielding unless it was an emergency. Once I got into renew, flash heal, CoH, so on, I was golden. (I just gotta have faith in my renew.) xD Thank you so much!

I seem to be a sucker for healing, I've got my druid at 80, a shammy that just hit outlands, and now my priest is holy. And now I'm debating whether to level a holy pally. ... or maybe a disc priest to run around on Nesingwary... We can always use healers in the guild, no?

[Talody]

Holy bubbles suck. For uber bubbles, Disc is the way to go. Be sure to give Disc a try at some point. It is loads of fun and Penance is hands down the best spell in the game. Only way to make Penance better is to give it some Star Wars blaster noises when used. *pewpewpew*

Most of my 80's are healers. Two priests (horde and alliance), a Tauren druid and a shaman. The shaman confused me at first. Going from a holy priest with more heal spells than I could ever use, to just a few heal spells, I was lost and got bored easy. It got better when I got chain heal and earth shield, but it seemed to take forever to get there.

[Ryno]

We can always use healers in the guild, no?

For time down the road, yes. We can certainly use more healers.

[Sarayana]

For time down the road, yes. We can certainly use more healers.

I know, Rynoh... it was a rhetorical question. I must admit, the thought of guild runs with the Petopians crew makes me excited and want to get to 80 NAO DAMMIT! >_< I also reeeeeeally want to transfer my druid over, but I'm strapped for cash and want to see if I want to do a race-change to troll at the same time. Can't wait for Cata!!!

Talody, the more I think of it, the more I'm leaning towards a little disc petopians priest. Now to choose a race, hmm...

I only specced my shammy resto at level 45 (long story... she's my second toon and was abandoned for a loooooooong time cause I just sucked at ele and thought it meant shammies sucked. Or that I sucked at shammies. I then got curious about enhance and respecced her and fell in love all over. Now, as enhance and resto, she's dynamite! ) so I have earth shield and chain heal, never had to worry about healing with LHW/HW as my only tools. I can imagine that'd suck, though. Now, I'm pining for the moment I can grab riptide. Only 2 more levels! *eyes the experience bar...*

I have to stop myself from rolling a shammy on Nesingwary too. Really, 5-6, no wait, 7 lowbie alts to level.. that's enough, no?

[Talody]

I've been tempted to bring my druid over to Nesingwary. She's left on a server I rarely play on anymore, since most of my friends there quit/transfered. I too am looking forward to Cata and making my druid a troll. (I like trolls, can't ya tell? )

An you can never have too many lowbie alts. I've found they help a lot when it comes to needing a break from endgame. I've lost track of how many I have at various levels.

[Sarayana]

Haha true! ... I made that priest on Nesingwary *blush*

[Kalliope]

HOW did I miss this thread?!

My priest was disc forever....up until ICC, when I gave up on healing more than the first wing of ICC on alt runs when paired with other primarily single-target healers. *sigh* I miss it.

When I *was* disc, I was gemming for sp and int. SP buffs your bubbles and int feeds your mana pool as well as giving you crit.

What I've learned about priests in general...

Holy tends to favor haste more than crit. Disc favors crit over haste. Both need both, and both are gemming for int again.

I went through MAJOR shellshock going from disc to holy because I never ever evereverever used renew as disc. Disc bubbles everywhere instead.

I miss the mana efficiency of disc so badly. >_< I also miss playing my priest, but my druid was needed to heal instead (because having two priests on a run, even of differing specs, is a PAIN IN THE ASS).

I digress.

Up until 80, it kind of doesn't matter which spec you go. It's only at 80 that you really have to make gear choices, since there's not a hell of a lot of real gear itemization until then. The only real advantages to picking which spec you ultimately want to go now are that you get to practice and get into good habits...and you can have all your binds set up properly.

Holy bubbles are actually worth it on occasion. My bf plays an arcane mage and he LOVES bubbles of any kind from my priest. (Although they're nerfing that, SIGH. Mages will only get incanter's procs off of their own absorbs. ) I digress again. If you pick up Body and Soul, your bubbles will give a little speed boost. This an absolutely AMAZING feature on some fights.

Basically, the lowdown:

• Holy is raw healing. Disc is absorbing damage.
• Holy is great at healing raids and not so great at healing tanks. Disc is great at healing tanks and not so great at raid healing. This does NOT mean you can't do the opposite in either spec, merely that your toolbox is slightly less efficient.
• Both work equally well in five man instances.
• Disc is marginally better for soloing, but let's face it, soloing stuff as a healer sucks in general.
• Your main spells as disc are PW:S, flash heal, and penance. Your main spells as holy are renew, CoH, and flash heal. Both use binding heal and PoH, but differently, due to the differences between serendipity and borrowed time. Disc really doesn't use gheal at all, but holy can when desperate. It comes down to who you're healing.

Hope that helps, or is at least food for thought. ^_^

[Quru]

My priest:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-shee ... n=Downfall

As disc, avoid spirit. MP5 is superior mana regen in every way
As holy, spirit is acceptable

If you have mana issues, stack more intellect.

[Sarayana]

Thanks for the input guys! I linked a holy spec up top that I'm testing out right now, and although I'm already considering whether to switch some points around, I'll stick with it as is for a bit longer to get more of a feel for things.

Kal, I know gear isn't a big deal at this time, I just guess I wanted to know if I should grab some of that stuff with spirit on that drops everywhere or run to the AH for something with slightly different stats. No harm in trying to eke the most out of the stats I've got.

[Kalliope]

Spirit doesn't do much for disc, but it's not a BAD thing to have. MP5 is more efficient.

This is my priest's holy spec. I like having the option to cast Inner Focus/Divine Hymn. (Carryover from disc.) About the only point in my own spec I could swap is the third in empowered renew vs. test of faith. Desperate Prayer is another personal ohshit button.