I’ve been noticing when I enter BG’s and sometimes raids, I don’t see too many disc priests, in fact it is a rarity. If there is a priest in these groups, they are shadow, sometimes holy.
Did 8.1 kill this spec?
Edit: come to think of it, the priest forum seems kinda dead too.
im try it out see if its ok i luvd disc back in the day
Disc’s fine in organised raiding and Mythic Plus. Pretty dead for PvP though.
It’s far from dead, but I also wouldn’t say it’s fine. There’s less than half as many raiding Disc priests as the next lowest healer, and it’s the least played mythic+ healer. I am not arguing it’s dead or dying, but it’s completely reasonable to say it’s rare, and more rare than it was in 8.0.
It’s the spec I find the most fun (have all healers at max level with some M+ besides paladin).
It’s pretty powerful if played well, but if you have other people using their CDs when you’re ramping, it sucks.
I feel like I am working twice as hard as other healers in almost all content. Slowly been losing interest in disc as I’m wanting to spend more and more time on my alts.
I’d say raiding its fine but underrepresented, I’d say for M+ it’s just not Rdruid.
Disc is a mana hog on boss raid fights.
I wasn’t talking about performance, I’m talking about representation. The OP said he doesn’t see many Discs, they seem rare, and the data absolutely backs that up. They are the most rare healer, and even more rare since 8.1. Again, that doesn’t necessarily mean the decline will continue and the spec is dying. It’s not black and white - either dead or good. It’s alive, and viable, but obviously dropped in popularity.
I personally didnt have much fun with the spec after Cata/Mists.
I loved when holy and disc had similar enough toolkits but each specs mastery and atonement/smite healing/cooldowns changed how each worked.
They could never keep it balanced though and with how many restrictions there are now on swapping specs during dungeons and with gear/traits it took the fun of swapping specs mid dungeon away.
Back then I would frequently swap specs seamlessly/quickly between holy and disc and it was a choice between reactive or proactive healing back then. Sooo many fancy bubbles with the mastery and prayer of mending toooo! If I thought shields were better for a boss I swapped, if I was new at the dungeon and dmg patterns I ran holy ( which was also good for covering mistakes with new people ),
Hymn was also MUCH stronger back then in dungeons <3
It was nice being able to enjoy both specs so much that if a raid group had one spec already I could swap to add variety to the group. ( holy’s cooldowns or discs shields/bubble/extra dmg )
*Note: Im not knocking anyone who enjoys disc right now btw and I personally love how holy works now and has evolved compared to past versions. ( less so in dungeons )
I enjoy Disc in M+. Being able to contribute damage to the group without even trying is nice. Feel it has a good toolkit for that aspect of the game.
Although for raiding I just don’t enjoy it much. I feel Holy can pull better numbers with 1/2 as much effort.
I actually just started playing Disc again the last few evenings. It’s not the flavor of the month anymore which is why you might not see as many out there. I was having a lot of fun with Holy and couldn’t get Disc to quite feel right for me. A few days ago I sorted out my talents, key binds and macros and have been having a great time in random dungeons and battlegrounds. I’m a long time casual player and while Disc has changed over the years right now I find it engaging, fun and very capable. Just have to find your sweet spot with style of play.
Enjoy!
Yeah its dead. I play it in my guild when we raid. Its a casual guild so there’s no coordination so other healers outheal me with little effort. They nerfed it based on a few top performers in Mythic Guilds and totally obliterated it for PVP as everyone was angry that they couldn’t kill a disc priest. Dead spec atm. Leveling up my pally but Disc was my thing for years. Really don’t feel like playing the game much anymore.
Holy and shadow is much easier to play that is main reason you see more of them, as for me disc ftw love the spec.
Yeah, I’ve been thinking of reforging the gear to try shadow, but I can’t bring myself to do it yet. I have a +13 key I want to do tonight, and only feel confident healing it through as disc.
If so, I missed the memo. I’ve been cycling through a bunch of alts, leveling in BGs and my most favorite and reliable toons are my Priests (specifically Disc) and Druids. I only play Disc in PvP, though. I like Holy best, in dungeon settings. I know nothing about end game and have no interest in that, really, but I don’t think “dying” is an apt description of the spec. 
I think the lack of Disc is still related to the nerf a couple of patches ago. I know that is when I stopped playing disc. I played all thru Legion and early in BFA… felt like I was a PVP god. TBH it probably needed tuning, but the difference between disc then and now is huge enough that I was turned off form playing it. I have only recently started to revisit this spec.
I’m still playing it, I don’t know what it was like before since i started my bfa experience in 8.1. About to reforge my gear and try shadow.
Holy has stronger numbers than Disc right now so most people will play the more optimal spec.
Disc isn’t in a bad spot outside of PVP though at the moment. Holy is just in a very good one. I think at the highest percentiles you’ll still see Disc performing very well.
I hope so.