Monday, December 7, 2009

Raid healing: to disc or not to disc.

  • 3.3 on the doorstep, 'tis the season to get informed.

Whether you're a champion healer or just struggling to keep up in your family guild, you can only take what you read so far. The proof is in the pudding, so let's get down to it.

Topic Problem:

"Holy or disc, which is the better raid healing spec?"

Standard Response:
"Disc is NOT an optimal choice for raid healing. It is however the only choice for raid mitigation so switching specs isn't optimal. Weaving PW:S onto raid members, well timed PoH, and PoM are more than enough to allow Disc to fill a niche in any raid. All this can be done while healing the MT if necessary."
- The doctor, Discipline Healing Compendium v3.1
"First, you are primarily a tank healer."
- Sinddir, WotLK Healing Compendium v3.3: Arthas' downfall!
The Doctor's opinion sounds reasonable, but the answer is ambiguous. If disc on raid not optimal, then why not go holy?

A common (little contested) assumption from the days of old is to put disc on tank and holy on raid, if given the choice. But how do we test the efficacy of either move?

My response (Go Disc):
I will argue that, generally, disc is choice for healing the raid.

Evidence:
The best test for our basic claims are the healing meters. Numbers matter -- as Codi, over at "Moar HPS!," rightly points out (link). Solid provisos and points.

However, we need more reliable numbers than recount. While meters reveal guild trends, they don't reveal general trends quite so well. Even if your in-guild comparison priest is also a top ranked priest on the scoreboards (see: lifebind on twins), because the sample size is so small your guild's trends can easily miss the general trends.

So on what basis can we reasonably defend our claims?

Enter scoreboards:

This is the grounding upon which many an assumption about class mechanics comes to die. Including "Holy>Disc on raid." Let us observe.

Looking at the numbers relative to assignments, we see Disc holding competitively against Holy Priests for every 25 man ToGC fight, save for Anub and Twins where they more or less balance each other out.

While holy may seem to have greater representation on the whole, keep in mind that in most guilds holy has greater raid-healing representation than disc does; so it stands to reason holy has more representation on the scoreboards -- more attempts increase the odds of getting record numbers. This only means that the disc priests we do see up there ought to be taken as representative of disc's potential standing more than their actual standing. The exceptions prove the rule, in this case. Disc is a strong scoreboard contender, given it's underrepresentation in the playing field.

Tip: If you're wondering about the assignments in more depth, look at each log individually -- check spell rotations and the Healing Target Analysis and make an educated guess. Or, where Adorno is ranked, you can just ask me in a comment bellow.

Taking stock:
Our WMO data reasonably indicates that disc priests are generally able to raid heal as much as their holy counterparts. Importantly then, this means disc isn't at a disadvantage at the outset -- and thus falls the "disc is primarily a tank-healer" theory.

Critical Review:
A further look reveals more: because of their class mechanics, disc may well be the stronger spec for raid healing in most situations.

So far our analysis hasn't account for absorption vs healing; and it neglects Renewed Hope (disc's %3 raid wide damage reduction buff), and divine aegis(DA). These can be significant variables.

If you're the only healing priest in the raid, Renewed Hope may give disc more weight since, notwithstanding renewed hope disc is already a competitive raid healer against holy.

Then there's absorption, the defining feature of the discipline raid healer: DA makes every crit an HP buffer, and each PW:Shield normally grants 6-8k HP per target (talented and according to your spell power).

Absorbs>Healing: between healing 6-8k HP on ranged or protecting them from the damage in the first place, the safer option here is pretty obvious.

Last Words:
If you had to choose between the two, go disc.

It's an easy call. Scoreboard data is collected over thousands of successful attempts from hundreds of guilds, and it clearly shows that disc is able to raid heal on par with holy.

More than that, it's a fact that much of disc's "healing" literally absorbs would-be damage that otherwise would bring our target's health much closer to death -- those are 'last words' one can live with.

Further reading, gear stats for disc on raid:
Penance Priest developed an informative Q&A session, 'formidable opponent' style. It's a great little discussion on this topic, well worth the read.

Future of this blog:
Stay tuned for 3.3 topics, where I'll discuss raid healing in ICC. And expect to see reviews of the leading views hitting the e-waves, such as from EJ Healing Compendium v3.3, BobTurkey, Matticus, among other 3.3 priestly authorities.

Until then, happy healing.



About the author:
Healing priest named Adorno, in the guild 'Play' on US-Hellscream.



Posted by Adorno at 12:07 PM
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

7 comments:

  1. Mama GMDecember 17, 2009 at 11:08 AM

    first! :) To be honest I used to come from the school that disc priests are solely meant for main tank healing but after watching you play and with the back and forth we had on the topic I know such is not the case. I now expect much more from my disc priests dependant on their assignments.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 23, 2009 at 5:11 PM

    I'm with you. Disc are great raid healers, especially in 25 man raiding.

    Gobble gobble.

    ReplyDelete
  3. oomjard-dalvengyr-usDecember 29, 2009 at 9:09 PM

    Disc priests are more useful in 25 mans than ten mans, wouldn't you agree.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownDecember 30, 2009 at 12:45 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AdornoDecember 30, 2009 at 12:51 AM

    Just the opposite, I think the benefits of disc are more noticeable in 10 mans.

    In general you should notice a safer and more stable raid. But there are a few specific points you should really notice in 10 mans:

    HPS: head to head disc offers as much hps as holy. Check the WMO scoreboards for 10mans for example: icc: http://www.wowmeteronline.com/rank/clazz/ehps/pri/9/6/1/0)

    Versatility, safety, and power: Agalon 10man is sort of an ideal case for disc, it proves disc's strength in heavy spiky RNG laden raid healing. Check the log bellow -- penance gives you snappy tank support, and you can out healing any holy priest on the raid in a strict hps sense: http://www.wowmeteronline.com/rank/clazz/ehps/pri/7/6/1

    Most of all, youre pre-shielding prevents inc dmg and rng hits from making gibs of your already low HP raid members.

    ReplyDelete
  6. PaoloJanuary 2, 2010 at 2:28 PM

    Hi, and glad to find your blog!

    In my interview with Matron (in Nov 09), he went so far as to say: "Discipline is such a strong raid healing spec, every raid’s first priest should be disc." I won't try to argue this point further here, but just to lend support to your premise.

    Blizzard's idea of the role of disc has certainly changed over time (see the recent blue post on the matter). It's been fascinating to find our way with this, not only as an individual healer trying to get the job done, but as a healer on a team that's trying to stay light and tight. Shifting from primary tank healing to primary raid healing, and floating back to hybrid tank/raid... Maximizing our utility requires us to be as versatile as a tight end, in the way we gear, the way we think, and the way we work with our team.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousJanuary 9, 2010 at 1:00 AM

    I agree wholeheartedly, I hate how my guild simply does not understand Disc mechanics and often assume I should be stuck wholly on tank healing.
    I'm excellent as a hybridae between them, in an ideal raid 10 man for me I am with a holy pally (mostly on tank, but spot raid healing if needed), a holy priest or resto druid (mostly raid, spot tank), and me being disc.. The other night on Festergut (I think? The one with the gas) -- while we didnt down him in the end due to slightly undergeared tanks, I was holding a competative 5.7k in healing including absorbs with the resto druid taking in 4.3, and holy pally at 3.8.

    It's my hope that soon my guild will see and respect me as a hybrid healer, able to do both jobs well, even if at the same time.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)