Paladin vs priest healing - Vanilla

[PriestInOurTime]

http://realmplayers.com/RaidStats/Ranki ... &realm=NRB

If you want to heal a lot, go priest.

[DLXX]

LF current version of RDX
+ INCOMING HEALS

cheers
DLXX

[Dr. Doom]

Priest is the strongest, most polyvalent, funniest, most challenging healing class in vanilla. And the only class worth playing overall in vanilla PVE. Also we can smite.
Druid is a PvP class and is only brought in raid to buff, innervate a priest, and not DE the loots.
Paladins are RDX spammer, which is ncie if you want to watch the champion's league while raiding.
Sham=CH bot. Totems are nice to have tho.

What do these 2 acronyms mean?

[Imbaslap]

depends on comparison.
since this is pally vs priest. I assume you're referring to Alliance faction. (no pallies on horde side herp derp)


here's the thing with holy pallys.
they are very linear in healing. they don't have much healing spells that cover outside of single target healing.
they have unique buffs and bring utility in regards to being a healing bot(loads of mana) and cleanse bot. they kick but on cleansing and pumping out flash of lights like its nothing.

priests have much stronger single target heals over pally, group heals, a hot, and a 1k+ damage absorb.

this provides great tank healing along with the talent inspiration. the bonus armor and damage absorption used on certain mechanics and encounters actually shave off excess damage the tank takes. (shadow flame casts every 15seconds on 3drakes, you can pre-bubble the tank prior to shadowflame completing its channel to shave off 1k+ damage.) this is a great tool for preventing damage on tanks.

in terms of scalability and long term healing.

pallies do amazing early on in content, but begin to plateu out come later content and in Naxxramas. they start feeling "behind" when fights like saph and KT bring in loads of raid damage. this gets crazy to handle as a single target only spell user for heals.
priest's get the small advantage here, they battle mana/+healing issues early on. once they acquire a set amount of gear and required stats, they become very strong healers. in Naxx content they absolutely do a ton of healing for Tanks and party.

another factor people forget.
Druids scale very poorly in beginner content. they face low mana, low +healing and difficult cast times against other classes. once a druid gets the idol from Viscidus in AQ40 and starts touching T3 dreamwalker, they become the best raid healer in the game. they have the fastest heal to snipe heal a raid member. they have very strong hots, nature swiftness, innervate and tons of mana conservation. this is ofcourse in Naxxramas tier.

to rate it simply like this for raid healing:

T1 content:
pally > priest > druid

t2 content:
Pally & priest & druid about even depending on situation.

t2.5 content:
Priest & druid > pally (pallies don't change much while priests and druids become favorable in AQ)

t3 content:
Druid & Priest > Pally. (priests do amazing, but druids in t3 become mana batteries with hots and quick healing touch's.) pallies stay the same.. as always. (the linearity for the lose) this may be debatable because I think t3 druids are absolutely insane. but priests in naxx gear are ridiculous as well. I would probably call it a dead even until Naxx is out on Nost.(might be priest as #1 though)

tank healing will always be a priest's forte. they have the tools to back up a tank and keep them alive. pallies provide great buffer healing for the raid and tanks. they provide that consistency you need for healing targets.
druid's provide the fluff or "buffer" with their hots and quick healing touches. they have the tool to snipe heal a tank during spike damage (swiftmend) while staying mobile.

if you want more of a cleanse/buff management job and very few healing abilities. go pally.
if you want huge diversity in healing, but require more effort and gearing then pally. go priest.
if you want the most diverse class with lots of gearing and effort. go druid.

all 3 are needed, just pick what you feel like you want to play. (pallies are linear and sometimes feels boring to play since its the same 2 abilities to heal over and over again.)
priests will keep you busy that's for sure.