Quote Originally Posted by unit187
well we werent talking about 5 shadowpriests
and after all swp is dot and it takes time untill it kills the target.

ofc as 5 priests you can stand on one place, dot everyone and self heal but it isnt effective timewise and also you will just use all your mana on self healing. Also reduced damage from dots because you are out of shadowform...
Also sw:death against 1 target? I assume 4 of your priests will get damage returned because only one can kill a target
ive never found the damage difference between shadow and holy priests to be all that huge. possibly 15% or so extra damage.. but your damage is already 500% higher considering you have 5 toons. ive played and leveled 4 priests to 60 (beta and pre-bc) and have found primary disc is superior to both shadow and holy. i would only reconsider now because of how awesome multiple circle heals are in a group, which requires a large investment in holy. shadow form is a horrible ability that i never used even when i specced shadow. it completely eliminates the priests biggest strength.. ie: being able to heal.

the damage returned from SW will be easily healed by one circle heal and renew combos youd keep up while healing combat damage.. and mana usage from healing is far more efficient than DPS spells =) i guarantee in a caster fight Vs. DPS mages i will easily survive and have mana left long after their casters are OOM.