Priest Spec?

[Fabricated]

Out of boredom I rolled an undead priest on an RP server, and I'm pretty clueless when it comes to their talents.

I have two friends playing Priests. One went holy spec to begin with, hated it, and then switched to shadow. He now loves playing as his priest.

The other is still holy spec and enjoys playing his priest still since he actually enjoys healing people.

I've heard a lot of things. One is that holy spec, while neat, isn't all that useful and even a 100% shadow specced priest can heal plenty well enough in the endgame. That, and with shadowspec soloing is much easier.

So, any advice here?

http://worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/priests/talents.html

[Strazos]

My 40 priest is 100% Shadow atm.  Soloing can be annoying, but it's ok. You're also pretty good in PvP. I can also heal perfectly well in Instances. Eventually, I'm going to get a few ranks in Discipline, but that's about it.

I don't plan on playing long-term anyway, so how I would do in "omg teh uber" high-end instances means jack shit to me. I probably wouldn't do them much, because I hate the kind of people I would have to group with; Just ask anyone from here who is in our new guild on Moonrunner.

[Sogrinaugh]

Don't worry about end-game anything, respec is a mear 1g and thier is no reason to suffer under a holy build, weather you enjoy healing or not, untill you are 58-60.  Even if you have a regular group you play with, periodically you need to do shit yourself and a shadow build is about 2-3x more powerful in this regard then holy, while holy is only marginally superior at healing... i can tell you with complete honesty that in no instance did i ever really feel like my healing ability was inadaquate untill i tried 10-man ubrs... which was difficult mostly due to the degree to which everyone was fucking off and not paying attention.

Your first 5 points should go into spirit tap, this increasing your soloing ability so greatly that no one should be without this.  Since you're not on a pvp server you can go for a maximal +int/spirit build and kill without drinks for long periods of time.  From thier just continue down the shadow tree to shadowform which is just.... amazing.  I've only played mage and priest to a high level but it is easily the best 31 point ability in the game as best i can tell, 15% damage mitigation ON TOP of armor bonuses (and inner fire gives quite abit), 15% more damage.  I used bandages to heal once i got this (not shitting you).

[Zane0]

Yep, you'll want to stay shadow until level 60.  Something to think about, is if you want to dabble in the disc tree.  The first two talents aren't so good- Silent Resolve is better for small teams, whereas Unbreakable Will is better for raids, but both are fairly inconsequential.  Improved Power Word: Shield and Fortitude are pretty useful talents to pick up though, and they may be worth it compared to a pure shadow spec.

This is actually a bit silly, because you'll have enough talent points to eventually pick these up anyways.  You may want to consider if you'd like a bit more oomph on your shields and fortitude sooner rather than later for early-level emergency survivability.

[Sogrinaugh]

Only consider disc post-40.  You want Godmode... i mean shadowform, asap.  Actually its more like 42 or so, because you'll take silence asap as well, which mean you won't have 5/5 in darkness yet.  After you finish up darkness and have shadowform, then get imp PW:S and mental agility.

[Dren]

I'm running a 34 priest currently and I agree with the thoughts above.  Dark until high 50's.  Then I'd only spec towards healing if you want to be a Raid whore.  I expect to stay dark on mine throughout.  I can heal just fine.

[Jobu]

I concur. Make a beeline for Shadowform. Do whatever it takes to get it at exactly 40. Your solo ability goes through the roof. And the only important thing before level 58 is to kill another foozle for another drop as quickly and efficiently as possible. The only thing keeping me from plowing through red-con mobs with Shadowform is their resists. The damage mitigation from fear+shield+shadowform is freaking amazing. Contrary to what idiots will tell you in a PUG, you can heal perfectly fine in an instance.

I've also ditched trying to get +dmg/+healing equipment. The amount gained from them is insignificant. You're much better off trying to build up your int and spirit for extra longevity when casting.

...and don't waste money training Feedback. And you can skip Smite once you get Mind-Flay if you want.

[Flood]

56 Dwarf Priest here.  (Retired from a PvP server.)

Most of the advice here is spot on.  Holy will give you more healing power.  However, when you look at the larger equation of the number of talent points spent to gain a relatively small increase in effective Healing power - versus what 20+ points could get you in the other 2 trees... ehhh yeah.

- Shadow is teh w1n for levelling.
- Best Priest Talents: Improved PW: Shield, Inner Focus, Spirit Tap, Blackout, Mind Flay, Silence and Shadowform.
- Get yourself the Autobuff Plugin.  You don't really want to melee, but if you have to, Inner Fire is our best mitigation.  (Technically Psychic Scream is the best, but that's another story)


For Talent Progression I would go:

5/5 Spirit Tap
2/2 Improved Shadow Word: Pain
3/5 Blackout
1/1 Mind Flay

Then -

5/5 Unbreakable Will
3/3 Improved Power Word: Shield

Then -

5/5 Blackout
5/5 Improved Mind Blast
2/2 Improved Psychic Scream
1/1 Silence
5/5 Shadow Weaving
4/5 Darkness
1/1 Shadowform

 
After that I'd pick up the last point in Darkness, and spend the rest on Discipline.  Discipline is a GREAT tree but most of its benefits are subtle involving mana eficiency and making you tougher overall as a caster.  You can spend your remaining points in a few areas and still get a good return (Shadow Reach and Improved Fade for example) but I recommend Discipline.  At 56 I re-spec'd from 33/14 Disc-Shadow to 26/21 Disc-Shadow.  Simply because you move away from grinding situations to more instancing.


That all being said.  In my experience levelling is fairly slow until 40.  Then 40-60 you pretty much melt faces.  (see WoW Priest Forums). 
For PvE grinding: Get yourself some +Shadow gear.  At 56 in Shadowform I chewed through mobs at an amazing rate.  Caveat mobs that ARE NOT immune to Fear and/or Shadow Damage. (IE - undead type mobs or demons)  SF + Shadow Weaving + Darkness = PvE Win.  Try to train yourself to observe the 5 Second Rule, and not rely on PW:S too much.  It's a fat hog for mana and you have other tools at your disposal to save your ass.  (Like a well timed Fear.)
 
In PvP unless you get the jump on someone most people will have the Honor Trinket and have seen all your Shadow trickery before.  The tables can turn for or against you very quickly. 
     

[Phred]

I respec'd my priest alt to get improved  powerword: shield around 22 or so and it was so easy to solo from that point on I didn't miss shadowform for the extra 10 levels. With pw:s you can sit inside the bubble and wand most mobs down in reasonable time and end every fight full mana. Between a wand and mind flay my priest literally flew to 60 mostly solo, and still heals fine when he runs instances. I didn't start working on him until they put in the auto wand patch though. would have sucked prior to that.

[Evil Elvis]

As nice as improved power word: shield and fortitude are, I'd get shadowform asap, and then pick up my disc talents.

[Strazos]

I don't have the heart to really play my priest anymore. After getting Shadowform, it's like, "What's the point?"

Soloing sucks, PUGs suck, uber-catass guild instance runs suck. The only viable option is grouping with friends...and they're not around.

[Morfiend]

I think a lot of the problem is that a lot of shadow priests think they are mages who can heal. Yes a shadow specced priest can heal pretty good, the real question is will they?

In pvp a priest is almost always more useful healing than nuking. On the pvp server I play on a bunch of the shadow priests totally refuse to heal anyone except them selves while in pvp.

[Strazos]

It's kind of silly to expect a priest to run around and spot heal an entire raid.

[Phred]

I think a lot of the problem is that a lot of shadow priests think they are mages who can heal. Yes a shadow specced priest can heal pretty good, the real question is will they?

In pvp a priest is almost always more useful healing than nuking. On the pvp server I play on a bunch of the shadow priests totally refuse to heal anyone except them selves while in pvp.

The nice thing about healers in WoW is unlike EQ, they don't have to be melee's bitches. They can stand on their own in PvP, solo fine, actually killing stuff faster than some other classes manage and generally are quite self sufficient. A general complaint I've heard from priests is, at least in AV, no one sticks around to deal with the npc adds that aggro the priest when he heals, so why should they.

[Ironwood]

No.  The trouble is healing in PvP is seen as Useless.  That's why they don't do it.  The reason is the Tarran Mill Zerg.

Way back when that was the only PvP option, they didn't bother healing because keeping some other chucklefuck alive gave no HK or CP whatsoever, so fuck them, right ?

Nowadays they haven't adapted their thinking to "I will get Honor if we complete and win this game.  To complete and win this game, I really ought to heal the flag-carrier or possibly the warriors trying to take the graveyard."

People are selfish fucks.

When I meet a priest in PvP who heals (and they are out there) I am the nicest, most curteous and generous Rogue you will ever meet.  These people are Gold.

[Dren]

I may stick to the dark path, but when in a group (especially one with a warrior or rogue) I will heal constantly and not even touch my damage spells (unless I feel I have the mana pool for it.)

The best duo is Priest/Warrior with second best being Priest/Rogue.  The first is for taking down large numbers at once.  The second is good at plowing through 1 - 2 mob encounters non-stop.  I haven't been in an PvP with my priest yet, but I'd imagine it is much the same.

I'd attach myself to some melee characters and be their shadow healing them or buffing them as needed.  When I'm solo, I'll use my dark powers to melt faces.  If I spec Holy, I won't have that flexibility and I won't be all that much better of a healer either.

If I just nuke beside a rogue, the result is a priest with low mana and a rogue with low hp's. -->Easy Target.

[Sogrinaugh]

You should definately nuke when grinding with a rogue, the synergy is rediculous.

Rogues starts off with ambush, you throw on SWP, VE, and then mind blast, which causes and insane amount of threat, pulling the mob off the rogue and twords you.

Rogue backstabs, you mind flay.  Mob approaches melee range,  you Inner Fire if its not already yup and wack with staff unless mob turns attention to the backstabbign rogue, in which case you toss another mind blast, and its dead.

If you pay attention and have a rogue that does too, rogue/shadow priest is a GREAT grinding duo, only  slightly inferior to priest/mage.  You should barely need any healing spells.

[Dren]

I did forget about bouncing agro like that.  I did that once with a rogue and we did kick much ass.  The mobs were so confused between my face melting and the rogue's backstabbing they would never really deal any damage.  That was actually fun.

[Morfiend]

I got invited to a WSG group, and the first thing that was said was our priest "I dont heal in WSG, I only nuke". Coming from our only priest in the group, thats horrible. You NEED heals some times in PVP. I have seen it first hand, the major difference a really good PVP healer priest can make on the outcome of fights.

[kaid]

No.  The trouble is healing in PvP is seen as Useless.  That's why they don't do it.  The reason is the Tarran Mill Zerg.

Way back when that was the only PvP option, they didn't bother healing because keeping some other chucklefuck alive gave no HK or CP whatsoever, so fuck them, right ?

Nowadays they haven't adapted their thinking to "I will get Honor if we complete and win this game.  To complete and win this game, I really ought to heal the flag-carrier or possibly the warriors trying to take the graveyard."

People are selfish fucks.

When I meet a priest in PvP who heals (and they are out there) I am the nicest, most curteous and generous Rogue you will ever meet.  These people are Gold.

I am sure there is some of that but when I play my shaman I find healing anybody but the flag carrier pretty trickly mainly because A>I am usually not in that persons group B> they are running around like headless chickens trying to get into or out of pvp. This drives me batshit crazy healing people in the flag room cause they insist on dodging out of los every freaking time the heal is about to go off.

The healing interface in wow is pretty craptastic compared to eq2 and if there is one thing I wish wow would steal it would be implied targeting.

kaid

[Dren]

You don't have one of the group/raid healing AI mods?  It IS impossible without them.

[Jobu]

I think another reason so many people avoid Holy is the talent tree really sucks. There's not much usefulness in it. Improved Smite, Holy Nova, Spirit of Redemption? Crap. I hope they look into those talents soon, as they did with Hunters and Warlocks. I'd consider respeccing if it was as much of a leap in effectiveness compared to the shadow talents.

[Dren]

I think another reason so many people avoid Holy is the talent tree really sucks. There's not much usefulness in it. Improved Smite, Holy Nova, Spirit of Redemption? Crap. I hope they look into those talents soon, as they did with Hunters and Warlocks. I'd consider respeccing if it was as much of a leap in effectiveness compared to the shadow talents.

I'd guess they won't do a whole lot with it though.  If you made it so that tree gave both better healing and better damage, now you would have made shadow useless.  Perhaps they could make it more useful from a healing standpoint and move the damage talents to a different tree all together.  Then you would truly be choosing between being an uber healer or an uber nuker or somewhere in-between.  Right now you can choose between uber nuker or in-between only.

[Sogrinaugh]

Holy priests have been complaining about thier tree... gee, pretty  much since forever.
The other 2 trees have choices and value, even if divine spirit is rather underpowered.

Shaman get sexy things like Nature's Swiftness and Mana Tide
Druids get Nature's Swiftness and Enervate
Priests get Stiff Dick and Bubblegum.

[Zane0]

I don't mind holy that much, actually.  It certainly isn't very useful for soloing, or even small teams, relatively, but I think it makes enough difference in raids.  Here's my spec, if ye be curious. 

Subtelty will make the difference between a dead and living priest in some cases.  Spiritual Healing improves your heals by 10%, and when combined with IR, increases renew by 25%, which is quite nice considering that renew is your 'safest' and second most efficient heal.  My favorite holy talent however, would have to be improved flash healing- it's actually quite useful in many PvE and PvP situations, which runs counter to the mindset that holy isn't useful when fighting other players.

[Phred]

I think another reason so many people avoid Holy is the talent tree really sucks. There's not much usefulness in it. Improved Smite, Holy Nova, Spirit of Redemption? Crap. I hope they look into those talents soon, as they did with Hunters and Warlocks. I'd consider respeccing if it was as much of a leap in effectiveness compared to the shadow talents.

Be careful what you wish for. I for one wish they'd never looked into hunter's talents because we got our dps nerfed because of it. A holy tree fix would probably lose shadow priests 25% of their dps.

[Calantus]

I think another reason so many people avoid Holy is the talent tree really sucks. There's not much usefulness in it. Improved Smite, Holy Nova, Spirit of Redemption? Crap. I hope they look into those talents soon, as they did with Hunters and Warlocks. I'd consider respeccing if it was as much of a leap in effectiveness compared to the shadow talents.

Be careful what you wish for. I for one wish they'd never looked into hunter's talents because we got our dps nerfed because of it. A holy tree fix would probably lose shadow priests 25% of their dps.

Can I get a hooray?

To be honest, if they stripped every damaging spell and ability from priests when they hit 60 and gave extra healing, defensive, and utility abilities to compensate I'd be playing a priest right now (hell, if they NEVER had offence I would force my brother to babysit my ass to 60 and like it). But as it is now... they die too quickly, and a squishy nuker/healer hybrid with no kiting ability is not as fun as a melee/healer hybrid to me. As of now I have 3 priests at 40, 1 abandoned on a server move, one abandoned for a shaman, and one abandoned for a paladin. I WANT a dedicated healer but priests give up too much (except for damage) in order to be only slightly better than the others. In PVP what they give up is immense.

[Strazos]

When I meet a priest in PvP who heals (and they are out there) I am the nicest, most curteous and generous Rogue you will ever meet.  These people are Gold.

I would do this if WSG wasn't such a clusterfuck for Alliance.

Also, the priest class Calantus describes is great for the catassing uber, but sucky for anyone else.

If anything, Shamen, are the ones who need a nerf.

[Calantus]

Also, the priest class Calantus describes is great for the catassing uber, but sucky for anyone else.

Hyperbole. It's great for anyone who wants to be a pure healer and can semi-expect to have group pvp/pve on demand (and there are alts for when that isn't available) That doesn't require an uber catass guild, that can require a small group of friends that tend to play at the same times, or anything of that nature. Also, why do all classes have to appeal to everyone?

[Dren]

Calantus, why would you make it impossible to melt faces just so you can strictly be a healer.  My thought was make the trees so that you have to make that decision for yourself.  That also allows you to get your healer to 50-60 solo or in groups much easier.  Once you are there, dump your damaging spells and go all out healer.  I have no problem with that. 

Right now, you can do heavy damage or be moderate in healing and damage.  Yes, there are some nice healing talents, but not enough to make a marked difference (although improved flash heal is the bomb.)

I really have issues with a number of the talent trees for most classes.  They don't give them enough bite in different areas.  They should really give an advantage in certain areas, but force you to make that decision on what you want that particular class to do.  Most trees fail in this I think.  The only trees I've been happy with so far is Rogue and the new Warlock trees.  The rest are plagued with mediocrity or that "one template beats all" problem.

[Ironwood]

Hmmm, I'd say the problem is the same with rogue too.

You've only got 3 possibilites really, endgame;  the combat rogue, the BS rogue and the instance rogue.

Admitedly, that beats only having one choice, but still...

[kaid]

You don't have one of the group/raid healing AI mods?  It IS impossible without them.

If you need a group/raid healing AI mod to do this job effectivly then I stand by my statement that the healing interface in wow is totally craptastic. The fact people feel compelled to get an AI mod to automate this just is further indication for how shittastic the interface in wow is for healers.

I have never once not once felt the need for a mod for healing in EQ2 nor felt like I was having trouble doing my job as a healer. WoW's interface for healers is just shit which is in general why you don't see much healing in WSG. Most people either don't know about the AI mods or find them offensive and won't use them other than the raiding priests. Ya this sucks but bitch at blizzard for making healing so fugging frustrating in this game people try to bot it.

kaid

[Dren]

Hmmm, I'd say the problem is the same with rogue too.

You've only got 3 possibilites really, endgame;  the combat rogue, the BS rogue and the instance rogue.

Admitedly, that beats only having one choice, but still...

Yeah, that is what I meant really.  Rogue trees do a better job at giving you a choice than the others.  If they want to improve them even further, by all means do it.

Played my rogue again last night for 1 1/2 hours ===> fun.

[Dren]

You don't have one of the group/raid healing AI mods?  It IS impossible without them.

If you need a group/raid healing AI mod to do this job effectivly then I stand by my statement that the healing interface in wow is totally craptastic. The fact people feel compelled to get an AI mod to automate this just is further indication for how shittastic the interface in wow is for healers.

I have never once not once felt the need for a mod for healing in EQ2 nor felt like I was having trouble doing my job as a healer. WoW's interface for healers is just shit which is in general why you don't see much healing in WSG. Most people either don't know about the AI mods or find them offensive and won't use them other than the raiding priests. Ya this sucks but bitch at blizzard for making healing so fugging frustrating in this game people try to bot it.

kaid

No argument there from me, but I'll still choose to use AI mods to help me instead of being frustrated.  Keep charging the windmills though. 

[kaid]

Heheh more like shooting at them with my gun. The whole sucky healing interface is one of the main reasons I went hunter. I had started off trying both shaman and druids. I liked both but I felt like gnawing my arm off every time I tried to heal in a shitstorm.

kaid