Level as Shadow or Discipline and still heal your friends? Beta Priests described different routes

On 26 October a player who plans to main Shadow Priest while dabbling in healing asked r/wowforever a practical question. Is it better to level as a healer, mostly using Shadow Word: Pain and a wand and finding dungeons easier to heal, or to commit to Shadow even before Shadowform? The replies show why there isn't one answer: the same goal led beta players to different preferences.

Turnspit says they tested many specs around levels 20 to 25 in the beta, from full Discipline to full Shadow and several hybrids. For them, taking Wand Specialization, then Spirit Tap and further into Shadow gave the smoothest solo leveling while still letting them heal dungeons comfortably. notsofarawayy also tried both and felt Shadow's hit chance and longer Shadow Word: Pain were worth more than somewhat bigger shields. Terrible-Shock7535 went the other way, describing solo kills of same-level elite quest mobs as full Discipline. Others suggested staying Discipline until Shadowform, or planning several respecs.

These are individual beta experiences, not controlled comparisons, and Turnspit's covers only levels 20 to 25. Talent costs and level breakpoints mentioned in the thread are the commenters' claims, which we have not checked, and we are not picking a winning build. What the thread gives a Priest who wants to heal friends is a sharper question: how much of your leveling will be solo, and what do you want that time to feel like?