Spiritual Guidance: Too many Disc Priests?
by Matt Low 
Feb 22nd 2009 at 5:00PM
Every Sunday (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of PlusHeal, a new healing community for all restorative classes. Are there too many Disc Priests? Is it becoming overwhelming?
The popularity of Discipline has started to spread. I don't believe it's been entirely adopted just yet. There's still a few hold outs who continue to think that Discipline is not able to hold it's own against the other specs and classes. By hold its own, I mean stand up and compare to. Now obviously other healing classes will believe that their class is superior and they should because we do have a certain loyalty to ourselves. I respect the capabilities of Paladins, Druids, and Shamans. I don't think they're inferior. But I'm still going to be a Priest for life.
There can never be enough Disc Priests!
I am proud to be a Discipline Priest. It is not just a style. It is not a simple technique. It is a way of life. I know that there are closet Discipline Priests out there. I get emails and messages from them often. There's always questions out about differences between a Holy Priest and a Disc Priest.
The messages usually starts off sounding something like this:
Dear Matt
I'm a Holy Priest. And I'm tired of it! I want to be Discipline but I don't know how to tell my guild leader that. The rest of the raid still believes Disc Priests are inferior and are unable to handle the rigors of healing.
Please help!
From,
Wannabe Disc
A typical response from me would be something like this:
Dear Wannabe,
From a technical standpoint, a Disc Priest is more than capable of holding their own against other healers. I'm sure you know that otherwise you wouldn't have sent me this email.
Understand that the conceptions regarding Disc stretch back a long time. Disc was the bonafide PvP spec back in the day. It's not that your guild leader thinks that Disc sucks. It's that they think Disc isn't suited for raiding.
The other day I was sitting around trade chat looking for an instance group to heal. I used the LFG tool and sat in a heroic halls of lightning. I got a whisper asking if I was Holy. I responded that I was a healing Priest and received an invited promptly. To make a long story short, we blew threw that instance. No one died. I even encouraged them to stay in during Loken and that I could brute force heal that encounter. Suffice it to say, at the end of the run, one of the fellows said I was one of the best Holy Priests that they have ran with. I politely pointed out that I was Discipline and he became even more impressed.
Turns out one of the Priests in his guild wanted to go Discipline but he had his reservations. After seeing what a Disc Priest could do first hand, he decided to give him a chance.
So go ahead and switch to Discipline. Then run a few normal or heroic instances. Try to include your skeptical players in there. Show them that you can handle that. And you better stand on your head when you heal. The proof, as my grandma used to say, is in the pudding.
Just be advised that switching from Holy to Discipline is going to be a fairly expensive process. Some enchants will have to be redone and your gems will need to be reconfigured with more Intellect.
Good luck!
From,
Matticus
I do consider myself an evangelist for the Discipline Priest. I try to promote it as enthusiastically as possible and I try to help players new or unfamiliar understand the power and capability of Discipline.
Am I overdoing it? Have I alienated Holy Priests? Not my intention at all. I've been the staunchest supporter of Holy for the longest time. After playing the class for over 2 years, I felt that a change of pace was in order. Losing a Holy Paladin to real life essentially forced me to switch my spec (and what a blessing in disguise that was).
But perhaps Discipline fever is running at an all time high. One of the latest posts that got sticked in the Plusheal forums? Switching from Holy to Disc: A Basic PvE FAQ. There's nothing about going from Disc to Holy (probably because there isn't a need for it).
Seri from World of Snarkcraft believes that the Discipline mania is becoming overwhelming! To help figure out if your love for Discipline is unhealthy, she has devised a list.
6 questions to ask yourself if you've become too attached to Discipline:
- Do you own a Discipline Priest t-shirt, bumper sticker, mouse pad or coffee mug?
No, but I got the Disc hat and I wear it at all times! - Do you have any of the Discipline talent icons tatooed and/or shaved on your person?
...My beard is sort of shaped like a Penance bolt. - Have you decorated your home in "Penance colors"?
My walls are painted in Penance white. - Have you registered DiscPriest.com?
No, sadly, the idea never occurred to me. Otherwise I might have! - Have you attended a Discipline march/rally/convention?
I tend to be at the center of those. - Have you ever passed out pro-Discipline literature at your local gaming shop?
I write those, too!
So I'm 3 for 6. Guess I'm not too attached yet. I don't think I'm addicted yet, either. Besides, it's not like there's a program out there. Discoholics anonymous anyone? There is nothing wrong with being Discipline! Speccing Discipline is not akin to supporting Communism! Don't let the naysayers get you down!
Got any ideas, question, comments or suggestions for Spiritual Guidance (or Raid Rx)? Send a Direct Message or reply on Twitter to @wowinsider.
Want to find more great tips for carrying out your Priestly duties? Spiritual Guidance has you covered with all there is to know! And don't forget to check out our other Leveling Guides as well as our Wrath Guides and Galleries!Filed under: Priest, Analysis / Opinion, (Priest) Spiritual Guidance
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Faze Feb 22nd 2009 5:16PM
Damn Disc priest trying to steal the spot of the holy paladin! >.<
I'd still outheal a disc priest anyday :P
Kraf Feb 22nd 2009 5:36PM
because we have shields that take away dmg =P
Kaphik Feb 22nd 2009 6:05PM
Outheal all you want, pad your meters. At the end of the day, the tank will still be standing, and priests just look cooler than paladins do.
>:D
bean Feb 24th 2009 7:27AM
Holy pally does heal a lot. But then again, when you look at overhealing done.......
pincopiones Mar 11th 2009 1:16PM
Holy Paladin heals a lot, and i feel they are the best suited to heal main tanks, yes they can heal raid too and easier with the upgraded Glyph of Holy Light and a Judgement of Light here and there.
Discipline Priest in the other hand will make fights like Patchwerk in your first runs a breeze increasing Tank's Effective Health 25%(Divine Aegys and Power Word: Shield) & Total Damage Reduction by 7%(and 7% is a lot) with Inspiration (25% extra armor) and Grace (3% Damage reduction).
Source? http://www.tankspot.com/index.php?pageid=Calculator
The only thing I miss about holy is Circle of Healing, feel kinda useless when AOE raid damage.
skreeran Feb 22nd 2009 5:22PM
D:
But I love being Holy! Not to mention that my raid heals brings all the boys to the yard.
kozom Feb 22nd 2009 5:27PM
And they're like, thier heals are better than yours.
Tumleren Feb 22nd 2009 6:00PM
damn right, disc's better than yours
I could teach you, but I have to charge
gigi Feb 22nd 2009 5:28PM
damn right, they're better than yours...i could respec you, but I'd have to charge.
joey_da_bubbles Feb 22nd 2009 5:31PM
@Faze
kudos to you for not saying first.
Rathon Feb 22nd 2009 6:32PM
Matt,
I'd really like to see some more indepth articles for priests in the future. While i appreciate you put a lot of time and effort into your articles over the past few months i've found spiritual guidance to contain nothing of any significance to the priest class.
Dedicating this article to answering a fans email, yet providing no break down of how disc priests work, mitigate damage, and how they're equally effective healers vs holy leaves this article rather shallow.
All you've said is disc is good, i healed an instance as one with no problems, others in the party said i did well. How about raid situations, i know for 3D Sarth a lot of guilds like having a disc priest, how about a beak down of a disc priests core moves and talent builds.
Just like last weeks article where you said holy priests should stack haste over crit..... Something that many players commented in the article was incorrect, as crit brings a lot to holy priests.
Shallow article...
Gibby Feb 22nd 2009 8:47PM
Disc, how I love thee... My oh my, Compared to holy, Disc is just so much more fun! Far more efficient, capable of massively quick heals, and when the next patch comes, Power Word: Barrier should be fun. Holy just doesn't hit the spot anymore, Disc is new, fun, and extremely potent! I'm too good with it, last night me and a resto shaman competed in raid heals on Saph10, and I topped him (both epicced out 200+). Definatly a sign of OPness or skill. either way, it's great!
DeathPaladin Feb 22nd 2009 5:41PM
"Now obviously other healing classes will believe that their class is superior and they should because we do have a certain loyalty to ourselves"
This is true of us all, regardless of role. We all believe our class is better than anyone else's. But also our class is horribly gimped and will be permanently ruined if we don't get buffs soon. :p
zOnk Feb 22nd 2009 5:47PM
With a 27K mana pool and 35% crit raid buffed, what's not to like about discipline?
Sure, I'll never out-heal a holy pally, but I don't have to -- my tanks take less damage:)
Stopthat Feb 22nd 2009 5:51PM
I always thought the stigma associated with disc has been that they steal rage/mana from tanks.
Seeing as how they've been changing those mechanics (and tanks in general,) I wouldn't be surprised if disc was actually going up in popularity.
Rollo Feb 22nd 2009 6:50PM
A disc priest can keep a tank up without using shields (other than divine aegis procs) in many fights, just keeping renew up and spamming penance, flash, POM.
If the tank takes enough damage that the priest needs his shields, then the tank probably will get enough rage anyway.
But yeah, rage through shields will be nice whenever it comes. :)
ClayMask Feb 22nd 2009 6:02PM
All of the priests in our guild have converted to discipline. I wonder whether it is effective though to have 4 disc priests in a raid?
Nellius Feb 22nd 2009 6:21PM
No. Disc priests are great, but they really don't stack well, due to the fact that Divine Aegis doesn't stack, and that the weakened soul debuff means only one priest can cast PW:Shield on the tank every 15 seconds. For fights like four horsemen, 4 disc priests would be fine. But on a standard single-tank fight, no.
VSUReaper Feb 22nd 2009 8:19PM
Prolly not. Its cool to have 1 or 2, but having 4 disc priests in the same raid means your prolly dont have any aoe heals, other than holy nova/prayer of healing spam.
4 disc could prolly brute force through a raid, but they would have to out gear the entire raid.
Vendrill Feb 22nd 2009 10:22PM
It's important to have both. Right now, I'm the only disc priest in my guild. It works out really well, having both.
Remember one thing: Every Holy priest that switches to Disc = 1 less group healer. This could be an issue, seeing as how Resto shammies don't seem to be in abundance.
With that said, I love how effective the Disc spec is.
I've gotten over going from top on the meters to 4th.
When Dual specs hit, I'm doing Disc PVE / Holy PVE. This way I can go from mitigator to group healer depending on our raid population.