Leveling question

[Anthilia]

After the announcement of the release of a pve server I instantly knew I was going to be coming to nostalrius to play once the server was released. Now with a release date announced and approaching quickly I have been talking some of my family and friends into joining in on the fun once the server goes live. I have decided to main a priest this time around, as opposed to rogue which I played during classic, since it became my favorite character on live from BC onward. My girlfriend has decided to give it a whirl with me this time around and experience for herself what classic was like since she didn't start playing WoW until early WotLK. She is going to go with a rogue for her main. One thing I was wondering though is what I should do about spec for leveling up.

I plan on being a healing priest for group content and raids once I hit 60, but I know usually the preferred leveling spec for priests is shadow. I also know, from maining a rogue during classic, that a rogue has plenty of dps to level rather quickly and the only thing that limits them is their survivability as they have no way to heal themselves besides bandages and potions, leading to a lot of downtime between killing to regain their health.

Would it be worthwhile to spec shadow for leveling through quests and dungeons with my girlfriend still, or would a heal oriented spec from the start be more beneficial? I ask this because as a healer I would be able to keep my girlfriend's rogue alive easily during quests while she mows through mobs and have an easier time healing dungeons. I also feel trying to DPS in shadow spec while my girlfriend kills mobs as well as healing her so she doesn't need to eat as much food will just end up draining my mana more, and lead to me needing to drink more, than if I just let her kill stuff while I sit back and heal.

I guess what the question boils down to is, with a priest/rogue duo for leveling is it better to try to take a more efficiency focused play-style (Mainly healing and throwing in a bit of smite etc when mana is high) to keep our time killing mobs higher, or more of a rush focused play-style (Spec shadow and do as much dps as I can while also throwing in heals as needed) to speed up kills and rest when we need to. I feel that a healing spec may end up being faster over-all as it should almost completely eliminate any down-time we would have as I should not need to med very much and she shouldn't need to stop to eat at all, as well as having the added benefit of making dungeon runs even smoother as all of my talents are focused around healing. Would love to hear what others opinion would be on this matter, or if anyone has any experience playing a priest while leveling with another person.

[Crono]

If you plan on going priest, it is recommended that your g/f go warrior. The warrior/priest combo will allow you take on any mobs/some elites with just the two of you, if you are on top of things and the warrior has good agro control.

My buddy and I did this on the pvp realm from 0-30. Was awesome what we could take on, just the two of us.

[Anthilia]

We already have another person in our gang who is going warrior and we don't want to double up. She is going to play rogue and we will spend most of our questing time together, and when we do dungeons we already have someone to tank.

[Easyon]

Priest rogue is also a pretty nice combo to level up together. Rogue should go combat with swords no doubts about that. Priest should probably spec shadow and help with the dps and just throw a heal and shield whenever needed.

[Acousticferret]

Any class with heals can heal dungeons, group quests etc..just fine without being species for it

[hakuyi]

Props for the big wall of text, must have taken you some time to write

I highly recommend leveling as shadow. I recently leveled a priest to 60 on nostalrius and not only did I hardly have any downtime drinking, I could heal dungeons up till lvl 58 fine (didnt dare to heal scholo, etc. as shadow and non-60). I think going healing spec would not be worth it as you would only be using 1 heal every 2 mobs or so (at higher levels rogues dont need that much healing anymore from what I have seen). If you go shadow you can passively heal the rogue with vampiric embrace which should heal for quite a bit. The only "downside" I see going shadow is that you might have to ask your gf to let you last hit the mob for the spirit tap proc (first talent tier 1). Other than that, with your dmg and the rogue's dmg youre a pretty good duo. Shadow priests are also good against elites, especially with a rogue. For example, I solod Mukla (42 elite) at lvl 44. The rogue's stuns with your fear and power word shield are a great combination.

So, to sum it up: go shadow as it brings way more benefits than healing spec does.

[paparia]

wile leveling shadow priest healing is ok (you may have to drink a pot more often than a speced healer but it is ok)

[Lizelle]

If you're going to play as a group of 2-3 I would spec healing for leveling up. It will be easier to do dungeons too. I usually play a healer and my husband plays a tank. It works out well for leveling.