My dps (except on gimmick encounters) while healing using Atonement maxes out at about 6k. I guess if I spec'd and threw in DoTs to maximize dps output instead of healing I might manage something a little higher? For raiding there's no way anyone would fill a dps slot with an Atonement priest, though. The dps simply isn't high enough. On a healing-intense encounter, maybe an atonement priest could be a nice tradeoff if you have a ton of dps from your other dps players. Maybe.

Heeeeeeeeeeell no. That is all.

atonement priests should never queue as dps... in the same gear I do 12K+ as shadow but only 4 to 6k as the atonement healer. I would not hesitate to kick a "dps" in a healing spec. That said, a bored over geared healer will have a much better time cranking out dps during the easy bits of a 5 man, instead of standing around waiting for someone to need a heal. It makes 5 mans faster and more fun to have an extra half a dps.

Gerard: The last part of your post is what I had in mind. I like to play a support/utilitarian role, so I found being able to dps while also healing to be very appealing (I don't really have the attention span for main healer or dps... too much time playing resto druid pre-cata).

Jeremy: That was pretty much what I was doing; just queuing for Wrath 5-mans to lvl the priest and no one seemed to care that I was atonement dps. I did queue as healer and do the same thing, but sometimes that didn't go so well, as you can imagine...

I've been queing up as heals and just smite/holyfire spaming since it has no issues keeping the groups up.. Though i can't count all the times i've had people bitching at me to heal instead of dps lol.. So funny and so sad at the same time.

I had a lot of fun smite healing from 80-85. Most of the time I was doing half of the damage of the dpser's. It was a nice bonus and kept me from getting tunnel vision and from feeling like whack-a-mole.

I might just roll a lowbie priest to try leveling that way.

You'll never get close to matching a true dps, but you can still atonement heal your way through a lot of fights. Queuing as heals and dpsing as disc in Heroics makes them a little more interesting for me. On single target encounters, you can match or even beat the tank in dps and typically keep him topped off.

On Alysrazor, I keep one of my tanks up primarily with HF/smite on the hatchling he's kiting. I shield him when I can and penance on cd. And when the boss lands, you can add an extra touch of dps and top off your raid automatically at the same time (since atonement healing is "smart"). On our last kill, I did 6.3 million in healing and about 3 million dps over the encounter. Nothing to write home about, but it does add up. This is perfect for any boss fight with moments of light incoming damage, damage focused on the tank, or when the raid is stacked. And having archangel ready to pop for moments of large incoming damage is great, though I tend to use it on cd for the mana return. This leaves it active almost half of the time anyway. I also take Train of Thought, since it typically lowers the cd of Penance by 1.5 seconds or so.

The one warning for anyone trying out this playstyle is don't get tunnel vision. HF/smite to your heart's content, but nobody should die while you're at it. Go to your stronger, less efficient heals when you need them.

Depends on level. At low-level, Disc does as much damage as shadow, and has fewer mana problems and is a better off-healer in Oh$#!! moments. I'm not sure at what level there's really much of a difference, but you should be good through level 40 at least.