This post is from an arena 2v2 perspective, but all feedback is welcome and I think necessary.
My partner and I have been playing since late legion as double dps. We hit duelist last season as sp/destro. It was a pretty miserable experience to say the least. We’ve tried a few different comps this season, without much success.
It finally occurred to me that I’ve been playing this game off and on since wrath and I’ve never healed.
Since I already have a level 60 shadow (this guy), i’m going to stick with priest. Yes I am aware that holy is OP, but for all of you experienced, long time healers out there what’s the more fun and overall better experience, disc or holy?
Please take me through the learning process. Dungeons, then battlegrounds, then keys then skirmishes? Jump straight into skirmishes?
I’m still in the brainstorming stage and don’t exactly have any specific questions, so please hit me with whatever tips or ideas you have. Thanks
Edit: my partner is a long time destro, but he messes with enhancement, outlaw and some fury
If you have patience to learn, Disc is a fantastic option. Not because it is meta (thats resaerved for holy) but because - although far more challenging to learn, it teaches a stronger foundation of proactive healing. That foundation will make you a much stronger reactive healer if you ever switch to any other healer (other than resto druids).
If you dont want the disc challenge, holy will make your life incredibly easy with how simple and powerful it plays. Holy is amazing for people new to healing, in general, because the reactive nature allows you to respond with very straight-forward spells. And holy has an answer to anything.
No one was clamoring to join the ranks of hpriest in 9.0 or 9.1 for a reason… baseline the spec continues to lack CC, utility, mobility and survival. If it’s finally caught up in 9.2, it’s largely thanks to borrowed power that’ll disappear in 10.0.
(The issue with disc still being punished because of their failure to balance talents in 9.0 is something else altogether… actually shocked disc didn’t get another OP talent by now… which leads me to strongly suspect disc will be overhauled again in 10.0).
The way I look at it, hpriest, rshaman and rdruid all have similar skill floors… there’s really not much difference when you line up the abilities by priority and recognize the HoT style of druid needs a bit more set-up, with the main difference being the CC/utility/mobility options each then bring to the table. And if your main goal is arena honestly if we go back to core specs again in 10.0 rdruid has the superior mobility/survival and CC.
And to the 2nd responder:
I do have a leveled feral sitting on the shelf🤔
I don’t like to admit it (not sure why), but I still have some small remnant of fantasy interest left and I think I prefer the priestly/holy/religious motif more so than an upright cow. Idk, druids just aren’t my thing, but I agree, in 2s they’re pretty scary. A good rdruid anyway
Haha, well for sure the archetype is the RP standard, from cleric to white mage through to white wizard and hpriest today as the bread and butter “glass cannon” healer.
In reality, my experience with WoW is that the devs have always favored the druid and shaman classes in terms of actual utility, and we’re lucky if one or the other spec (holy vs. disc) gets to be throughput leaders that tier. It was actually a shock when I dipped in 9.1 and saw disc had been burned to the ground and hpriest was minimally buffed and both priest specs were still mediocre at best… first time I’ve seen that since, well ever, going back to Cata.
I suspect the introduction of the first new healer since MoP, plus the abandonment of most borrowed power, will change the future healing meta more so than we’ve seen since the Legion revamp.
Disc is bad in all forms of content based on posts but especially in pvp, play holy.
Holy is also more skillful despite the other post as it has a lot mote buttons and ways to outplay. Either spec will feel ez if youve been playing dbl dps tho
Not being best != being bad. A least reference said posts for a more constructive argument.
Again 0 argument.
Honnestly, both specs are fine, holy is the meta right now, sure, but both still have their strenghts and weaknesses.
Coming from a dps, disc might be easier to learn in pvp. Pvp is its own beast for healers and I wouldnt say holy is that much easier tbh.
Honnestly, I would start in bgs. Familiarise with both spec and experiment a while to get used to both. Both these specs will feel different.
You want to be the meta right now. Go holy. Holy is a well rounded healer with a really versatile toolbox while disc is a bit less versatile but on a more aggressive kind of playstyle with a toolbox that is different yet similar.
I personnally prefer the flavor of disc. I really enjoy the light and shadow theme more focussed around dmg to heal.
That’s encouraging to hear that it will feel easy after playing dbl dps. Some of the macros (even for something simple like flash heal) are like 3 lines long, so there’s been kinda nerve racking. But if all I’m doing is healing and cc’ing, then yea I could understand why you’re saying that
I understand you like disc its just weak though even without comparing it to holy…
holy is also insane tho so thats why everyone plays it.
Disc is s good beginner healer compared to holy as it has way less spells and less mechanics. Holy has gfade, cc ward, guardian, ray, aposethis, chastise and serenity cds to manage cd/time of which makes a huge difference.
Disc has less CC, throughput and damage and youll lost most games simply by going OOM. It has no advantage and was affected alot by the night fae mana regen nerfs.
Until this patch, hasn’t disc been the pvp healer? I’m relatively new to PVP, but wasn’t there A reason disc has synergized with rogue/mage so well over the years, Or was it just because holy has been garbage for so long?
Holy was actually doing very well in early Shadowlands too - the playstyle is very good in PvP in general, and it’s got very good PvP talents nowadays. Holy’s tier set works incredibly well in PvP because you can pretty much always have a serenity, and your followup heals are way more powerful as a result, too. It just bumped it up to the best healer as a result.
Disc has always been good because Pain supp, Barrier and Trinity were traditionally very VERY good in arena comps. It’s still decent, but Holy’s the best healer in the game at the moment, so most priests just play it.
Reading everyone’s input, I’m wondering what’s the better 2s healer if there were no legendaries/tier?
Generally speaking, is one better with a caster and one better with a melee? Historically, which one performs better in 2s? After Holys “explosion on the scene”, are people thinking that holy is going to be the priest pvp healer moving forward etc?
I have limited time to play these days and am trying to make the best informed decision haha
Anyone telling you to go Disc over Holy as a new healer this season must not like you very much. Lol
Disc is definitley viable, especially coupled with a DPS who has big CDs you can Dark Arch for one shots, but Holy is just better in every single way at the moment. Better damage, better healing, better survivability, better mana, etc.
I havent played highly rated with priest really, but disc in 2s is a different beast than in 3s. I’ve had some fun with the trinket that makes you immune to cc with boon. If you play in a comp that doesnt have a lot of control it’s really bursty and fun. Does it work well in 2k+ rating? Probably not as well. Then again, if you want to be in that range, meta is always best, and hpriest is where it’s at.
I think you just need to play what gives you more fun. A tried to Holy last season and it’s just not fun to me.
I love disc and disc is far away from be bad. Dpri have less cc but have two healing schools, it’s tanky, can do as much dmg as holy if you play very ofensivily. It’s very fun.
Im beating lots of Hpri that are running the same DPS as I am. People are just meta slaves. You can play whatever you want. Can be disc and still beat any meta healer.