Post by cawfee
I can only speak for Disc. here, but Disc and Holy gear fundamentally different. Disc focuses a lot on Crit and raw SP, while Holy focuses on longevity and things like Spirit (for talents like
Spiritual Guidance). Their spells cost more mana than ours do, and using one set of optimized gear and expecting it to perform well for a very different spec is a setup for disappointment.
From looking at your armory, you're decked out entirely for Disc, which will mean you're going to run into mana issues in Holy, especially if you're not used to a Holy play style. The
Sticky has some good info on how each stat works for the specs in detail, and is a good starting point.
Post by Aldones
The only thing I would change in your build is to find a point to put into Lightwell. The spell is actually amazingly effective and cheap...if your raid knows how to use it. Since it sounds like your primarily guild raiding, you have the option to "train" your guild to use this.
If your raid doesn't like this, Lightwell is usually used in one of two other ways. You can set it up by yourself and use it as self healing, or set it up by a tank for on-the-spot extra healing.
No matter what you choose, Lightwell is the way to go. ;)
Also, you never mentioned using
SoL procs. This alone will save you thousands of mana. When using this, if you get a proc, but don't have any dps to cast this on, just throw it on a tank, it can't hurt any and it's free!
As cawfee said, your gear is more Disc based than Holy. I'd recommend asking your guild to let you heal as Disc for a week or two, and use that time to gather as much Holy gear as you can. The biggest thing you should focus on right now is getting lots more spirit.
Post by Camis
Alright I'll give you my 2 cents. (amg long post) These are some of the strats I use to heal, with this I outheal some of the better druids in my guild; and that's saying a lot.
I healed Disc for a LONG time (and still do pvp), I healed Hyjal as Disc spec in fact. Disc specializes in single target heals, pennance + inspiration = epic tank heals. That being said, the main advantage of holy is sweet ass raid heals.
I'm geared with 25man naxx/10man naxx/10man ulduar gear (got my first 25man uld belt today), and I PRIMARILY use Prayer of healing, Flash heal, and Prayer of Mending (not utilizing CoH well, I'll be the first to admit). The other priest in the raid equaled my healing stats by mostly using Circle of Healing, Prayer of Healing and Flash Heal.
Healing in raids goes like this.
Step 1: Prayer of mending before the pull on the MT/OT initially. Keep it up on the raid. PoM is f***ing amazing, it's about 500 mana give or take for 15000 in heals if it jumps the full amount (assuming 3k per hit). Those returns are effing sweet. If you have to heal when raid is taking a lot of damage (XT tantrums, Ignis Flame Jets, Saph in Naxx 10/25man), this ability is godlike. Not only does it heal a ton, it jumps to the lowest health within range. IE, GREAT for preventing deaths.
Step 2: Keep a renew up on the main tank. If you have a paladin healer, 9 times out of 10 they will be spamming heals on the MT and you won't have to worry too much about the MT/OT, but the renews help out, no matter what. Instant cast, and you can forget about it for 15 seconds. Otherwise renews are pretty useless except in pvp and for a lock that wants to lifetap between pulls.
Step 3: Circle of healing should always be on cooldown. It's super effective, targets the lowest health in the range of your target, 2k heal per each person. Target the melee group or caster person, CoH, instant 10k heal without crits.
Step 4: Raid heals made easy with Prayer of Healing. Get the glyph of PoH, you'll heal for like 4k per person, and then it ticks for another 1000 or so. This only works on groups, (heal group 1, group 2, group 3), so you'll have to pull out the raid bars to see the group's healths effectively. I use healbot and simply go Alt + Middle click on a person within range in group 3, and now I've healed all of group 3. Sweeto.
Step 5: Don't be afraid to use Guardian Spirit. I got the glyph, but you don't need to have it. It's like a shield wall for us priests. If I see a tank going down, a bubble won't help them. GS, and usually some pally has a huge heal coming anyways. Instead of 15k it's a 30k crit heal or something. Crisis averted!
Additional Note : Greater heal is actually growing on me. As a former disc-priest who spammed flash, I wasn't a huge fan, but now that my haste is up past 400, a GH only takes 1.8 seconds. That's pretty darn quick for a 10k heal! You'll get a better feel for it as you heal more though.
That's about it.
GEAR CONSIDERATIONS.
Meta gem - Get teh
Insightful Earthseige Diamond!
This baby ticks for about 600 mana every 15 seconds (is what I've read), but all I know is that my mana problems have all but vanished. Disc almost never has mana issues, but spamming aoe heals drains you very quickly. Unless you're absolutely cooking your Prayer of Healing button and have decent spirit, any mana issues will slowly waft away.
Glyphs - Mostly a 'pick your favories' area, but personally i'll swear by the Glyph for Prayer of Healing and Guardian Spirit. Throw that down on any tank, and each flash heal is practically a greater heal.