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Hey wonderful healing community, I'm currently debating what healer alt to make and wanted some input.

I'm thinking either a resto shammy or disc priest.

I have leveled a disc priest to 72 and did LFD from 20-72, he really liked the inside of stormwind haha. I loved healing on him and he's fully decked in heirlooms, there is just one problem, he's on a different account :( So do I really want to do that all over again? Or...

Do I level a resto shaman? I have the hunter ish heirlooms on this account so I could do enhancement as the offspec and resto as the main spec or when I hit 60 (to avoid hellfire for the umpteenth time heh) My only concern is that is he too similar to my current resto druid Main?

Also races are a factor (I like diversity on my account, NE druid, human mage, dwarf hunter) So i was thinking gnome priest perhaps? Worgen seem a tad aggressive for priests dont ya think? Dwarf shamans are epic but I literally just did those quests with my hunter, but i'm not the biggest dranei fan?

Any comments would be appreciated :)

Priest!
(I may be a little biased)

Really, a holy priest is the closest to a Druid. And Disc is NOTHING like holy.

Resto Shammy is all about the BIG HEALS (Seriously, I've seen a 120k GHW before), Riptide (a minor HoT), and dat chain heal. They feel nothing like Druids.

Also, Dranei Priest, you can't get more stereotypical.

Haha now that you mention it, I really didnt like holy. Maybe that's why, it was too similar to my druid. I offspec'd it on the disc priest and went immediately back haha. Absorbs are such a fun mechanic. Penance to the face is hilarious as well. I'm a fan of atonement but I know a lot arent.

You think dranei priest is stereotypical? I think shamans for them and a plate class are more since they're so huge? I had a human male priest before cuz that was what I wanted to roll way back in vanilla, they look good as an archangel as well. I really dont want to duplicate the exact same character though.

That's good to know about the shammy, I wanted to make sure he felt different enough. Thanks for your input.

04/13/2012 11:09 AMPosted by Edâs

You think dranei priest is stereotypical?

Velen is a priest, so ya.

Draenei do look very silly with wings.

haha k I'll keep that in mind. I was thinking a gnome shooting penance would be kind of amusing? Little wings might be kinda funny too.

Shaman is a little trickier. I want him dwarf over drainei, but I've played through those quests twice, I guess I could just fly him to human lands?

Hmm so 1 vote for priest, anyone else?

a

Hmm can I ask why? Just what you prefer?

2 for priest, no shammy love?

Priests have 3 healing specs to choose from, Holy, Non-AA Disc, and AA Disc. From a purely healing PoV it's hard to argue for any other class to choose from to get the most variety out of healing. They are THE healing class.

Now if you look at other variables such as offspec choices Shammies have an edge in that they can do both ranged and melee dps. But other than that priests will be the way to go.

Course you could be like me and just roll one of each. >.>

I say screw both and make a holy pally.

Priests have 3 healing specs to choose from, Holy, Non-AA Disc, and AA Disc. From a purely healing PoV it's hard to argue for any other class to choose from to get the most variety out of healing. They are THE healing class.

Now if you look at other variables such as offspec choices Shammies have an edge in that they can do both ranged and melee dps. But other than that priests will be the way to go.

Course you could be like me and just roll one of each. >.>

How do you like AA disc? I'm trying to choose between that and holy for a pve heal spec.

04/13/2012 11:01 AMPosted by Gijora

Also, Dranei Priest, you can't get more stereotypical.

Please don't make a male draenei, they are hideous.

well I have a healing druid, shaman and this is my priest healer I am posting on.

When I leveled my shaman i found it extremely easy, mana management was a breeze, cd's are powerful and the totems are an endless source of benefits in raids.

Shaman feels easier, but to me its less dynamic than healing a tough fight as my priest, I will personally feel better for having kept things together on my priest, whereas on my shaman its just 'meh, another fight healed' -it gives me no satisfaction.

Healing as my druid is even easier lol, at first it was tough because druids heal primarily through their HoT's, but when you hit the 70's it gets ridiculously easy, only to be rebalanced by the item struggle which starts at 80 until 85.

So, its up to you, really, I still find each one fantastic to heal with, really depends what I'm in the mood for.

Also, don't listen to Parsnip; my shammy is a male draenai and he looks awesome when he's casting things.

They have some very energetic animations for heals :D

Genexis out.

haha see I really dont like male draenai models. And the starting area is a little stale for me. I had one that I race changed even though I enjoyed the drainei racials. I suppose I dont have to keep the racial diversity on my toons, but it makes it seem more fun to lvl something new. I dont mind the female drainei forms but i'm leaning towards gnomes. Also cuz I never see them anymore, minus the occasional gnome tanks.

haha @synu the problem with that is that int plate gear is harder to come by. Also pallies are the most common class and my RL friend has a capped out pally. I enjoy prot on them but they would probably be the last healer i'd try out.

Think i'm leaning towards the shaman, mostly because I have the heirlooms haha and then i'll keep saving up JP on this guy for heirlooms for the priest. Was gonna do enhance 1-60 and then 60-85 as resto. I suppose its dumb to grind on this guy to "save" time on my alts haha but I like them.

Don't roll male Draenei, every male Draenei I see is bad. Go female if you must.

Going from Resto Druid to Disc Priest was very easy for me.

You trade in your rejuv for PW:S, Wild Growth turns into PoH but spammable with a cast time, Swiftmend turns into Penance but no goofy Efflo to tell you that you should only use it on clusters. On top of that, all your single target heals are much larger, you retain 2 raid cooldowns, and get a tank cd. On top of all of this you can spam smite when you're bored and its a good thing!

But I hear shamans are cool too :P

Every time I go back to my druid I feel gimped.

haha this turned into much more of a debate than I was expecting :)

Its also good to see a gnome priest! I was beginning to think they weren't out there. I'm not the biggest gnome fan but having a pint sized little toon shooting pennance made me laugh.

I can echo that sentiment on feeling weak, sometimes I feel ineffective in raids. All my hot's seemed to get sniped by direct heals, and when efflo & WG are on cooldown, I dont feel like i'm contributing much. I've only raid healed on a resto druid though so I dont have too much for comparison. Disc priests seem to be schooling me on meters though :)

Perhaps I'll have to roll both heh, I may do the shammy first though. I may also have to fly him to human lands for a change of pace. I think I like dwarves too much :)

I can echo that sentiment on feeling weak, sometimes I feel ineffective in raids. All my hot's seemed to get sniped by direct heals, and when efflo & WG are on cooldown, I dont feel like i'm contributing much. I've only raid healed on a resto druid though so I dont have too much for comparison. Disc priests seem to be schooling me on meters though :)

Agreed, my druid occasionally heals the other group in our guild, so usually is paired with a holy pally. Me and him put out about equal hps numbers on the high damage fights, but druids seem to have a set hps that they maintain and can boost it with tree form and tranq. Pallies on the other hand have some serious clutch healing. Its plain to see when a paladin is going all out on raid healing.

Disc a good mix of both, PoH isn't amazing by itself, but if you know damage is coming you can stack DA to blunt it. Or if caught off guard you can pop Power Infusion start spamming. PW:S is just amazing for protecting people with low hp (or raid shielding), my current gear gives a 35k shield and a 7k-ish instant. Rather amazing for a spammable instant spell. No one has ever said "It sure is a good thing I threw that Rejuv on you or you'd be dead" but I've thought a thousand times "He'd be dead if it weren't for that shield."

That's just my experience between these 2 classes. I played resto druid since the beginning of Wrath. In Wrath it felt overpowered for much of the content. Now it feels as though hots are under-valued with the large health pools.

yes go priest, shamans are for the horde!

You raise a lot of good points koban, but I think the main point is that I DEFINITELY need more healer alts haha.

I always did feel powerful on my priest, granted he was decked in heirlooms, but his healing felt impactful? You're right on the druid, we kinda have this high, flat river of healing that we can maintain efficiently and on the move. But if damage is overcoming that stream, we feel a tad stressed. Yes I have tranq and tree, but I prefer things to stay in my comfortable river that I can cast while jumping haha.

As far as evolution. I felt stupid in wrath, I'd spam hots hoping my targets took damage, that felt awkward. I much prefer the larger health pools and triage. It wasn't quite polished but I at least feel blizz is moving in the right direction. Agreed on shield being lifesaving, when I have burst damage I'm like uh oh they could die haha. On the other hand, its fun to watch lifebars little fight on hots healing vs incoming damage, so I feel like it balances out?

@bean, haha but you gotta admit dwarf shamans are pretty awesome? I do think drainei are awkward, as well as BE paladins, but what ya gonna do.