I enjoyed my priest a lot back when I played WoW – got him up to level 55 before my regular play group melted away and I lost interest. I really like wands in simple fights because they let me feel like I was contributing something without burning precious mana. However, back then (this was right at the time of release), you had to continually click the wand to fire – there was no “autofire” function. That got old fast… has it changed?
I was mainly shadow spec early on, and I liked that a lot. In the low 50s, right before I stopped playing, when my group was hitting tougher dungeons like Mauradon and Sunken Temple, I switched over to a Disc/Holy build. I definitely noticed an improvement in my ability to keep everyone alive in a tough fight, but I really missed the solo power of Shadow. It’s too bad they can’t find a way to make all 3 spec lines include a roughly equal mix of group utility and soloing utility. I’ll be curious to hear how the priest spec tree changes with the next patch.
How about all the male NEs with that twitch in their left shoulder? You should be able to buy more padding for the armor.
The paladins always beat me to it anyway, but you’re right.
Yes, wands autofire now. At first they were a pain because you had to click on the Shoot button to stop them from autofiring before you could cast another spell, which usually meant waiting another round of the global cooldown. In 1.9 they fixed it so selecting another spell automatically cancels the autofire.
I won’t ever play a human male character because the sighing is much more noticeable - and annoying - on the male character model.
I won’t ever play a NE male because of the very twitch you mention.
And I hate gnomes.
So for the alliance, that means all my characters are dwarves (both genders are equally cool, but I prefer the dwarf women since they’re not as short), NE females, and human females.
I’d say female dwarf is my favorite character model, but I couldn’t roll a warlock (my current) with a dwarf so I’m stuck with a sighing human there.
Again, if you’re not running out of mana while healing, who cares if you’re overhealing? What’s stupid is having mods installed that auto-magically turn gameplay and skill into pushing the right buttons when it spams you with a message. That’s unfortunately the most efficient way to play.
I’d much rather see players overheal and have inferior specs and have learned how to do their job by doing so than maximizing efficiency by running all the mods through the optimal spec. The latter may yield more in terms of loots per time period at upper end raid runs, but the former means I can trust the player to accompany me into places that saner folk would fear to tread. Skill > optimization. And, unfortunately, when you remove the need to react and maximize sub-optimal builds through normal play style, you tend to find atrophied skill.
(There’s no real way to know which rank heal to use on a player without doing all sorts of rediculous mental math to maximize heal efficiency, unless you’ve played with that player enough to have innate knowledge about where decrements on the HP translate into real HP. Promoting optimal healing, therefore, is tantamount to promoting offloading skill onto computational UI mods. One of the reasons I really despise the custimisability of WoW’s UI scripting interface.)
I disagree. I think nerfs and buffs are for egregious differences in power. (e.g. Druids pre feral-talent changes.) There will always be an “optimum” build; there’s simply too many people who believe in the sanctity of a few % difference and will strive for it. The problem isn’t with folks who seek out that few % difference, the problem is solely with people who think the folks who don’t are somehow poorer players/of less use.
I’ll take a shadow specced priest as main healer any who knows what they’re doing over a “properly” specced raid healer who’s gotten used to getting by on their spec alone, because I have a good indication that the shadow spec is going to know how to make it work. (IF they know what they’re doing; if they’re shadow specced and want to get a priest slot for a loot run and have no clue, that’s a different story.)
Of course, if you’re running mainly in PUGs, you’re far less likely to find people who are competent in general, so there’s more safety in specs that back up what you need. But I think the trees are generally balanced enough that a good player can overcome most marginal deficiency issues for any single-group content. And in large raids you generally can obtain enough overlap among abilities that you can get your bases covered.
There were very few druid nerfs in 1.8, though. I think mainly shadow priests are going to need to be nervous. If they’re really topping damage meters, though, maybe that’s not completely unwarranted. I’m thinking that one tree on a non-primary damage caster might not ought to allow them to outdamage primary damage casters who have multiple trees devoted to damage enhancement.
speaking of Druids, Im thinking of getting back into the game and I have a level 46 one. Back when I stopped was about version 1.6, so Druids had a reallllllllllly low DPS, could outlast anyone except for pallys MAYBE (I had some real good duels against some), completely useless cat form, a not bad bear form, and were only useful at high levels for healing/Innervate. Has anything changed? Anyone have good sites for info on this? I picked the class because it was versatile, and I didnt like the idea of being straitjacketed into a backup healer role at 60.
For soloing I didn’t find cat form useless at all. I could take down mobs quite quickly with it, and the “ambush” equivalent (“ravage” I believe it was called) could do some serious damage. With a level 36 druid my ravage was sometimes critting for about 570, which isn’t peanuts at that level.
Toward the end I found cat-form preferable for soloing, though sometimes I would mix it up by pulling with star/moonfire first, then popping on a rejuv and going to catform. If adds came I would switch to bear for better survivability.
I’m not sure why priests need more CC than they have (shackle). Proactive humanoid cc = rogue. Reactive humanoid cc = mage. Undead cc = priest. Elemental cc = warlock. Beast/dragon cc = druid. I really like that model.
Now, that being said, there probably need to be a few more isntances of undead needing CC at the high end. I think most of the others get worked out somewhere. Though if you limit things to the 5-15 man instances there’s a decent amount of undead (strath, scholo…)
If you’re going to really reduce shadow DPS it should be for increased shadow healing since the priest is still basically a healing archetype. I think a full shadow priest doing near warlock/mage DPS is fine though. Theoretically if they spec all for DPS they should be able to, at the least, match balance druids while healing passably well.
It isn’t so much a CC that priests need, but a better aggro/escape mechanism. Fade doesn’t work in PvP, and as I noted before, takes 17 points in Shadow to get the improved version for PvE. Fear is generally too dangerous to use in PvE, and it has been trinketed away in PvP (plus was already reduced by Fear Ward and WOTF). PWS doesn’t scale, so it doesn’t last long versus well-equipped opponents or multiple high-level mobs. Fade also gives you back all your hate when it ends, so it isn’t an aggro dump like Feign Death or Vanish, just a temporary reduction.
So, once you’re under attack you basically have no options in PvP, and you get one try with Fade in PvE. Healing aggro affects every mob within range, so you’re often high on the hate lists, and you are usually first to draw any adds.
I quit for a while for the exact same reason. I came back near the 1.8 patch, respecced heavily into the feral tree, and had a blast. Cat form is great for beating the snot out of stuff lower than you (greens) where the damage you take will be minimal due to damage modifiers. Bear form is really a solid tank (at least with feral talents), and formed the basis of what I spent most of the levels from about 45-60 in. Caster form is what you shift to in between to rebuff yourself or heal yourself.
There’s also an ultimate balance form that leads to increased damage from offensive spells at the expense of being able to heal. IMO going into the feral talents allows all that versatility that I originally liked in a low level (sub 30) druid to return very nicely at the high levels. There’s probably similar versatility between the nuker/healer trade-off specializing in balance as well. In all cases bear form is a decent damage taking form in a pinch now, regardless of spec (at least with a minimal point investment - not sure how much not having those points works). There are a couple of viable hybrid builds as well now. (I’m currently set up as a tank/healer depending on need. I could easily be a DPS/healer with the same talent point allotment.)
Anecdotally, I was on a 20 person raid last night and at least 2 druids were in forms 90+% of the time. One was 100% of the time, the other had to shift out on occasion to help with crowd control by hibernating things on pulls.
I’d say it’s worth $15 or so for a month to try out again if the main reason you quit was because druid turned into pounding on stuff interminably with a melee weapon while waiting for OOC to fire and heal yourself for free; never being in danger and never having any interest in the fight.
In PvE though, the idea is that if you’re under attack and not expecting to be (i.e. not soloing) you’re either a: mobbed and should fear, shield, renew, all while running to reset mobs or b: dealing with a group who’s not so good. THe group is your aggro control in PvE, fade is an “oh shit!” button only. (In the same way that warriors need aggro control help from the group and the AE taunt is an “oh shit!” button.) The trick to surviving 5 mobs at once in PvE is not to have 5 on you at once. That’s not supposed to be a survivable situation without luck/extroardinary synergistic play.
PvP it sounds more like they need to back off some of the fear controls they originally put in given that a lot has changed in terms of equipment/gear/etc that helps people mitigate the insanity of perma-fear.
There’s still MC as a priest. I’d rather see them make it more reliable/last longer or such with a talent. Nothing says “efficient” like killing two mobs with each other at the same time. I rather like that type of pro-active crowd control. (And it probably ought to figure into a few more set pieces in dungeons and the like…places with tough clusters of mobs that are significantly neutralizable by MC.)
I think over time Druid came to be one of my favorite classes, along with warrior and (!) priest. I never played an endgame druid though, never had the experience of being asked to be an enervate bot or whatever. It’s pretty cool in the pre-60 game to know you can do a respectable job of mainhealing or maintanking in most instance runs.
I absolutely agree with you. My big issue with the priest class is how easy it is to silence. I can win one on one fights against most classes (well played hunters and druids are now impossible). I think there is a good amount of balance in game, though, since I can beat any mediocre player of any class. The good ones illuminate which class has an advantage, and damnit that’s fine balance for me.
The issue is, I have to dance, feign heals (heal, and then stutter step to cancel), to work through their spell interrupts. I can do that in a one on one situation. In a group PvP situation, there’s no escaping it! If I meet a warrior and a mage head on, or literally any class + 1 that can silence me in some form, I’m generally boned. My only prayer (Sorry!), is that I have another healer nearby. I like relying on other players in group situations, because that promotes group thinking and organization. I dig that. What I don’t like is the ease with which I can get taken down.
There’s just so many abilities that can lock me out of my spell schools for too long. I think the interrupt mechanic definitely needs to be there, otherwise PvP really is just glorified games of Whack-a-mole. It’s just, slanted too harshly at the present time.
I really think blizzard needs to put Desperate prayer on a 3 minute timer, and make it cost actual mana, or something else. So, at least you can heal and survive longer than 2 seconds when you have those interrupts flying your way. Or do something else. I’d gladly trade a 30 second cool down insta fear for a 30 second cool down 2 second interrupt free zone. THAT would be sweet. I don’t care if stuns still work during that period, but having kick, pummel, and counter-spell on you is just harsh.
There’s no amount of strategy I can apply to get around those interrupts.
For my purpose, I do not think of it as a nerf or buff to resolve differences in power. I think of it as a nerf or a buff to increase the variety of characters played (and thus characters and situations encountered) in the game. I don’t think it should be done because “X does more damage than Y, and that’s unfair.” I think it should be done because I’d rather see some X players, some Y players, and some Z players than just X players. Admittedly also because I like to try different things, and don’t feel like being a freakish outcast or being punished in-game for doing so.
Yes, I’m a socialist, I have a five year plan for character types. You are allotted charcter type X, because we have too many of Y and Z. :)
EDIT: I agree with your thoughts on skill versus min/max, and not needing the have the perfectly ticked out equipment/skillset to do something right. I wish more did. That’s not the reason I’d advocate for some sort of balancing. Basically, I just think it’s a waste that there is so much content per character in game that seems to go unused, and I’d like to see more variety of play.
My guess is that most shadow spec priests want to be damage dealers who can heal rather than healers with scary-sounding spells. In fact, I’d say you can count the number of priests who want to be healbots on one hand. That would be all the folks who were holy spec 1-59. Actually, I take that back – the folks trying to level as a holy spec are probably just now dinging 43 after a solid year of play!
In short, healing is important but just healing is boring to all but a very small percent of the playerbase.
Heck, look at City of Heroes and how few people chose to be Empathy Defenders. A certain type enjoys that role but most find it dreadfully unfun.
Plus, it seems like shadow spec priests need better dps than a warlock since warlocks get pets to mitigate damage.
By the time 1.8 came out, I’d spent most of my 50 or so levels in resto (yes I was insane) so I didnt bother going feral for just a few final levels. It did help in feral form damage though, such that cat form was generally a decent damage form even with resto spec. I didnt have to switch back n forth to heal so much anymore.
If you run a lot of end game stuff though, I dont see how you can’t be resto at least somewhat. Too many benefits and if you know your stuff, you are primary healer for many 5-10 man raids (you just generally need a pally for rez). Depending on the situation I’m usually a backup healer only in MC for the tanks and the main healer for my 5 sub group. Now, it’d be nice if Blizz would give us druids wands so we could get mana back when pallys judge wisdom or whatever.
Of course, like any class/skills a good druid (even feral or balance) can be waay better than a priest. I’ve “pwned” shadow and holy priests in healing many times. Worst was a 54 shadow spec priest who died all the time in a full stratholme run when I died twice at lvl 50 (both had been there many times). Also, healing meters mean jack. Cast heal on yourself enough and you’ll top out the chart. How many people die and how frequently is what matters along somewhat with efficiency. Healing does get boring though, which is why I have hunter and rogue alts.
Anyone have or know of a good leveling guide for priests? Quests, zones, fast grinds? :)
