Start Instance Training Before Level 20

Priest is a class-type which is in high demand on World of Warcraft right from the beginning because of its ability to heal others and therefore keep party members alive during challenging battles, and its ability to resurrect the dead when all else fails. In general, Holy-spec’d priests are in high demand within guilds and Instance parties compared to Discipline or Shadow-spec’d ones, but the downside is that Holy-spec’d priests advance through the levels more slowly when playing Solo because Holy focus is on healing, not dealing damage.

In order to stand out as a quality Dungeon/Instance priest, you will need to become a solid healer who doesn’t waste mana through over-healing and knows how to keep “threat” ratings to a minimum during battle. It is recommended that you practice these healing and threat-management skills in Dungeon/Instance Pick-up Groups (PuGs) regularly as soon as you’ve reached level 13 or so, as practice is the main way you’ll learn and improve.

By the time you reach level 40, Instance party members expect you have a decent grasp on your class’s role within a team, and thus will be less forgiving of errors or lack of preparation. It is at this point that a Shadow priest may find themselves being hasselled by partymates: “Why are you in Shadowform?”, “Your job is to keep us alive, not deal damage!”, “Stop generating so much threat/hate, I can’t get these guys off of you!”

By the time you reach level 55, quality guilds who have members going into Instances on a regular basis may actively blacklist you from their parties, raids or the guild itself if you’re not already beginning to show a solid understanding of your healer role. Many guilds are regularly on the lookout for Holy-spec’d priests with instance healing experience, but may deny the recruitment of Shadow priests who have focussed on PvP or dealing damage within solo fights but haven’t practiced healing very much.