No fear! Updates are forthcoming!

Haven't updated in a while mostly because there are so many talents to describe, rank and explain. I managed to finish all the Discipline talents yesterday so the rest of the Talents, Explained section should be done soon and put up for everyone to read and comment on. The talents section is where I'd love feedback as my ratings of talents are only from my own play style and would love to know how other people view them and try to offer 1 differing opinion per a talent. 

Its the end of the Hallow's Eve event so back into the game I go to try and get the last 2 achievements I need for the holiday. I'll post a wrap up of the holiday thru the eyes of a priest once its over. Completing all the achievements gives the priest a very fitting vanity title, The Hallowed, great for Disc priesting :) 

Enjoy your spooky Halloween's and steer clear of haunted horsemen!

Professions for Your Priest

Last updatedL 10/26/2010, patch 4.0.1

The one profession that really shines for priests, and I cannot recommend it enough, is Tailoring, especially when you reach level 70-80 and can make epic crafted sets that are better than some of the gear you’d find in many end-game raid instances. Good leveling gear is bit tough to find on the auction house for decent prices, so it is nice to be able to make your own along the way as well. Tailors also have access to Embroidery which allow them to place powerful proc buffs on their cloak. If you are not leveling with tailoring, but think you might switch to it later, be sure to try to stockpile some cloth either in your bank or on a bank alt to make the switch easier later.

Blacksmithing and Leatherworking are near useless for priests. There are next to no items craftable with these professions that are of any use to us. The caveat here is that during endgame some players may elect to chose these professions for the additional custimization options such as the ability to add an extra gem socket to bracers and gloves from blacksmithing or the ability to add Fur Lining enchants to bracers from leathworking which are more powerful than the Enchanting versions.

Gathering professions (Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning) are always nice, as they provide a steady way to make money. If you are working on your first character on a new server picking up 2 gathering professions while you level is a great way to fund yourself now that you are able to track multiple types of nodes at the same time.

Engineering is favored for PvP. In addition to the nifty gadgets and explosives you can make with it, there are a number of very good goggles (head armor) that are better than what you would find in most instances, and can also be used at low levels when head armor of any type is elusive or non-existent.

Other primary professions, in particular Enchanting, Alchemy, Inscription and Jewelcrafting, all have their unique benefits for priests. Enchanting will let you boost your stats by enchanting your equipment, Alchemy will allow you to increase your combat capabilities thru buffing with potions, Inscription will give you stronger spells, and Jewelcrafting allows you to make your own rings, necklaces, trinkets and gems.

Keep in mind that certain primary professions have synergy with others. For instance, with the Enchanting profession you can disenchant the items you create while leveling your tailoring skill and sell results for a fair profit on the AH.

Other primary profession synergies:

• Mining / Engineering
• Mining / Jewelcrafting
• Herbalism / Alchemy
• Herbalism / Inscription
• and (less typical for priests) Skinning / Leatherworking and Mining / Blacksmithing

 As for secondary professions, First Aid is a must. Players often mistakenly assume that since priests are healers, they will not need another way to heal theirselves. First Aid could be the difference between life and death when playing in a group; it is, essentially, a mana-free self-heal. Also, the ability to cure poisons at low levels can come in handy as priests lack the natural ability to do so.

Cooking and Fishing have their benefits, especially once you reach higher levels when you get the ability to make some really nice stat bonus buff food. However, these professions are not necessary, especially if you have another character that already knows these professions on the same server and faction.

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Priest Races

Last updated: 10/26/2010, patch 4.0.1

There are four different Alliance races that can be priests (Dwarves, Humans, Night Elves, and Draenei) and three different Horde races (Trolls, Blood Elves, and Undead). Previously priests (and paladins) also received 2 racial-specific spells but these spells have now been turned into regular spells, become unlocked via talents, or removed entirely. Below are the snapshots of the racial traits along with a call out of traits useful to priests.

Dwarves:

Racial Abilities:

Callout: Stoneform is very useful in the 75-80 level range in the harder instances. Frost Resistance can take a little of the edge off of soloing in Northrend and other dungeons where casters favor icy damage.


Humans:

Racial Abilities:

Callout: Human Spirit helps the priest boost their Spirit stat which increases our mana regen. Diplomacy can be a significant edge in reputation grinding in the 75-80 level range when trying to unlock the ability to buy advanced equipment and enchantments. Every Man for Himself lets the priest break out of a fear effect and immediately jump back into DPS or healing which may be the difference between living and a walk from the graveyard.



Night Elves:

Racial Abilities:

Callout: Nature Resistance and Quickness are the most combat useful traits here.



Draenei:

Racial Abilities:

Callout: Gift of the Naaru gives the priest another healing spell, which gains potency based on the amount of spell power you have. Heroic Presence increase hit chance for shadow priests, and is also very useful for your groups. Shadow Resistance is situational useful.



Trolls:

Racial Abilities:

Callout: Regeneration helps out with lowering your downtime and Da Voodoo Shuffle can come in handy when you are trying to escape from a bad situation.



Undead:

Racial Abilities:

Callout: Will of the Forsaken can drop you back into the fight and avoiding some nasty surprises. Cannibalize will help reduce your downtime in between fights and Shadow Resistance will help a bit with all the Shadow using mobs late in the game.



Blood Elves:

Racial Abilities:

Callout: Arcane Torrent can help stop you from running out of mana in a critical fight. Magic Resistance helps take the edge off every spell the game might throw at you.



Starting Stats

Each race starts with slightly different starting stats. These differences are insignificant in the bigger picture and are just listed for the sake of completeness and showing the new classes that will be joining the priest ranks in the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. They should probably not be considered when choosing a race for your priest.

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Is a priest right for me?

Last updated: 10/26/2010, patch 4.0.1

Priests can be excellent damage dealers or healers.

 If you like to be in the thick of the action:

• A melee or tank class might be better for you.

If you want to be a damage dealer:

• Shadow priests excel at dishing out constant damage, have high single-target DPS, and an even better multi-mob damaging ability through their Mind Sear spell(Currently being reviewed based on changes to all AoE damage and Mind Sear itself) . Doing damage as a shadow priest is largely similar to playing an affliction specialized warlock; it involves managing your damage-over-time (DoT) spells and ensuring that they remain active your enemies. At higher levels, shadow priests more commonly fill the role of a damage-dealer (DPSer) in groups, but are still commonly asked to heal. That being said, you probably should not select the priest class if you think you will never want to be asked to heal in groups. Shadow priests are desirable in raid environments due to the Replenishment (mana regenerating) buff that they can bring and the ability to pass on some healing to the raid while doing damage.

 If you want to be a good healer:

• A priest is a very powerful healer. They have a wide range of abilities at their disposal to keep their party members alive: large heals, small heals, a shield, a heal over time, and multiple group and multi-target heals. However, a priest specializing in healing will not have the ease of defeating enemies in solo play that shadow priests or other damage dealers might. They may rely more on doing instances or groups to gain levels. Fortunately, a priest with many talents in the shadow talent tree can still be an excellent healer in groups with the proper skill and gear. A priest’s naturally powerful healing is usually sufficient, and you should not feel required to specialize in talents that increase your healing ability in order to be a good healer while leveling. Many priests will level with a shadow talent spec and will respec or dual-spec in the higher levels to a more healing-oriented spec, if that is their objective. Priests are the only class with two trees aimed at healing, and the only type of healer that can specialize in damage prevention.

 If you have high latency:

• Healing is very tough if your computer or internet connection is such that you have high latency, but it can be done. I’ve found that healing at high latency is a bit easier as a paladin, due to the spam-heal mechanics. A shadow priest at high latency is at a large disadvantage compared to other casters. Most all shadow damage spells are either instant casts or have short casting times. A mage suffers a lot less from high latency as their spells have longer cast times. Warlocks do as well (depending on talent choices). Even elemental shaman and balance druids have longer casting time damage spells than shadow priests.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

Last updated: 10/26/10 for patch 4.0.1.

Strengths:

• Good buffs and damage mitigation
• Can resurrect fallen comrades
• Has a damage absorbing shield spell
• In groups, is able to stand back at a distance from enemies
• Can perform some “crowd control” on enemies
• Able to heal quite well, regardless of talent specialization
• Have the option of specializing in doing damage or healing
• At higher levels, are one of the best AoE damage dealers in the game - This is currently up for review as we wait to see how Blizz works out the Mind Sear changes
• Priest healers are one of the best healers in the game, making them high in demand for groups
• Shadow priests increase magic damage done by other casters, and can regenerate other players’ health and mana while doing damage to enemies (making them a great “utility” for groups)

Weaknesses:

• “Squishy” (low in HP, can only wear cloth armor)
• Crowd control abilities are situational, and can hard to use if expected to be healing at the same time
• Have no permanent loss of threat (“aggro dump”)
• Healing requires constant attention
• Often targeted first in PvP, regardless of spec
• AoE damage spells are mana-intensive - Again up for review based on Mind Sear changes
• As a support class, priests often have little control over the pace of group play
• Shadow priests may have trouble finding groups as priests are sometimes expected to heal in groups. The introduction of the Dungeon Finder tool has gone a long way towards being able to be a full time DPS purple death dealer. 
• Shadow priests have a shorter range on their spells than other ranged damage dealers - Thankfully this was addressed and you can melt faces at the same general range as the other classes.

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What is a priest?

Last updated: 10/26/2010, patch 4.0.1

A defender of the light or champion of the darkness, all priests fall into essentially two categories: healers or ranged damage dealers.

Apart for some very special and bizarre circumstance, priests are not meant to be tanks, nor melee DPS.

Shadow Priests:

A priest with the majority of their talent points in their “Shadow Magic” talent tree specialize in dishing out the damage to enemies. At higher levels, shadow priests gain a bit of utility by gaining talents that will let them continue to pour on damage while regenerating their party’s health and mana. The ability to replenish group HP via Vampiric Embrace is a nice gift to your group's healers.

The one thing that perhaps sets shadow priests apart from other priests is the newly moved now 11-point talent in their shadow tree: Shadowform. This gives the priest the ability to change form into a shadowy, purple version of their previous avatar, granting an increase in damage given, reduction in physical damage taken, and giving out spell haste to your group, but rendering them unable to cast any spell in the holy school. This talent used to double the damage from your critical spell hits but that was pruned away in favor of pruning the talent tree and combining talents.

Unfortunately, many non-priest players regard priests as healers and nothing more, so should you choose a damage (shadow) talent build, you may encounter some “lol priests r 4 hael n00b” attitudes. Do not be deterred, though: it is possible for shadow priests to out-damage other damage-dealing classes when played well. Thankfully this attitude has lessened alot since the release of Lich King, you can thank all the face melting end game raiders going for the Kingslayer achievement for that.

When it come to end game raiding keep in mind that a Shadow priest does suffer from the 5% hybrid tax. Many times you won't notice it unless you are in completely optimal gear and can't understand why you just can't quite reach the optimal damage output of a mage.

Many players level as a shadow priest for the ease of doing damage to their enemies. This leads to faster experience gains, and hence, faster leveling.

Healing Priests:

One of the strongest healers in the game, priests focused in healing are able to keep party members alive with ease.

Holy priests are considered to be the hybrid of the healer classes: paladins specialize in spamming heals to keep party member(s) alive, druids specialize in using heals-over-time (HoTs) to keep party members’ health stabilized, and shamans specialize in keeping their entire party alive with area of effect (AoE) group healing. Holy priests can do all three of these things well. This gives us great flexibility in end game raiding and keeps priest healers in high demand.

Priest healers specializing in the discipline tree instead of the holy tree focus more in damage prevention than raw healing power. This unique role makes them the ideal healers for tanks, the soakers of damage. Disipline priest also can use their damage prevention spells to mitigate damage raid wide to create a lot more breathing room for the other healer's in the group. Discipline priests can also hold their own very well in PVP if you are so inclined.

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When one door closes, another opens

Let me start off by saying that I am very sad that the orginal Dwarf Priest as shuttered her doors. We shall miss you and your high quality information.

This blog is created in tribute to Dwarf's amazing Priest guide. Her guide is what got me started on priesting and helped me learn a tremendous amount. I've decided that I would like to attempt to update her great guide for all the new priests and keeping it up to date with the post 3.1 patches.

The original guide can be found at Dwarf Priest's orginal site.

It was well written and formatted so I will be keeping most of her style and information. I encourage anyone happening upon this blog to help me update and write by leaving comments or sending me an email.

I hope you enjoy the guide and we will miss you Dwarf!