Leaked Priest Changes?

[cevik]

Or total rubbish?  YOU DECIDE:

-New Spell: Disease Resistance (Level 20) - Increases the targets chance of resisting disease debuffs by 10%. Lasts 3 minutes. (Dwarf only)
-Desperate Prayer - Amount healed and cooldown decreased slightly. This ability has been expanded to allow targeted casting. (Dwarf and Human only)
-New Spell: Spiritual Clarity (Level 20) - The target is infused with spritual force, removing the weakened soul debuff. 15 minute cooldown. (Human only)
-New Spell: Elune's Serenity (Level 20) - Enters the caster into a regenerative state, restoring 1100 mana and 600 health over 30 seconds. Must be used out of combat. 5 minute cooldown. (Night Elf only)

-Starshards - Damage slightly increased, range decreased slightly. This spell was incorrectly avoiding range checks during channeling, this issue has been fixed.
-Devouring Plague - Damage slightly decreased, mana cost slightly increased. The amount healed by this spell has been reduced to 40% of the damage done to the target and has been expanded to heal all party members.
-Touch of Weakness - Target damage reduction significantly increased, damage significantly increased, cooldown added. The damage reducing ability of this spell will now affect all party members. This spell can now be triggered through spellcasting.
-New Spell: Dark Presence (Level 40) - When active, mana will be drained from the target equal to 5% of all damage done over the next 30 seconds. 3 Minute cooldown. (Troll only)
-Hex of Weakness - In addition to the damage reduction modifier, the target will now have all spell resistance values reduced significantly. This change should make Hex of Weakness a more attractive option for Troll priests.

-Inner Fire - The attack power and armor bonuses for this ability have been removed and replaced with a moderate increase in all spell resistances and a 5% increase in wand damage. These changes should make this ability more favorable to priests.
-Greater Heal - The dynamic of Greater Heal has been completely readjusted to make it a channeled heal over time. It now functions similar to channeled damage spells (blizzard etc.) except that it heals the target player progressively throughout the 4 second cast. As with other channeled damage spells, the full mana cost of the spell will be lost if the cast is stopped or interrupted at any point.
-Power Word:Shield - Power Word:Shield can now be modified by a small percentage of + healing gear based upon the skill points used in the new discipline talent, Inner Resolve.
-Fade - In PvP combat, use of the fade ability now causes any unit that has the caster targeted to lose target, much like if the caster were to stealth. The caster can be aquired again by retargeting, as is intended.
-Prayer of Fortitude - Mana cost slightly reduced.
-Holy Fire - Damage slightly increased.
-Mana Burn - Range slightly reduced.
-Psychic Scream - A new system of checks has been instituted now allowing for a percent chance that psychic fear will not be canceled by other abilities. The percentage chance is dependent upon the targets shadow resistance and level.
-Abolish Disease - Range slightly reduced.
-Divine Spirit - Mana cost reduced.
-Focused Casting - Duration decreased to 6 seconds.
-Mind Soothe - Mana cost increased. Maximum rank of targets affected reduced to 65.
-Mind flay - Target movement speed is now reduced to 60% of the normal value.
-Fear Ward - This spell is no longer a dwarven racial ability. This talent can now be found at 31 points in the discipline tree.
-Levitation - An appropriate error message now appears if the caster attempts to use it while submerged.
-All +mana/5 second regenerative items have now been changed to function within the normal passive tick system that spirit operates in. This change should fix numerous lingering issues regarding incorrect threat gain. The Prophetic Aura will also now enter this passive state.
-Starshards - The animation has been changed to prevent the reversed fall issue.
-Updated various spell tooltips to be more clear (grammatical errors etc.).
-Mana Burn - Mana Burn now correctly interrupts the capture of a flag.
-Mind Flay - Spell animation altered to fix an issue with no display during repeated casts.
-Power Word:Shield - Fixed an issue with animation display while in shadowform. The shield animation should now display as intended. Polymorph now removes the weakened soul effect.
-Mind Control - Mind Control now functions correctly if canceled while the targeted unit is attacking a friendly NPC.

[Morfiend]

I would say garbage, due to the fact that why would they give alliance a bunch of spells, but not horde?

I would like it if Fear Ward was possible for all priests though.

[cevik]

I would say garbage, due to the fact that why would they give alliance a bunch of spells, but not horde?

I would like it if Fear Ward was possible for all priests though.

That part is believable to me, since Priests are the only class with race specific spells.  If you look through, they basically have fixes all all the various race specific spells, removed one from Dwarf, added one to replace it, and nerfed the good undead racial and buffed the useless undead racial.  All of that makes sense, since the Undead priests are considered "teh best" and everyone believes that undead priests racials are 1)  way over powered and 2)  not trivial gimmicks like all of the other priest racial spells.

There is also what I consider to be a major shadow priest nerf that is hidden in there.  It's clever, which makes it look somewhat real to me:

-Inner Fire - The attack power and armor bonuses for this ability have been removed and replaced with a moderate increase in all spell resistances and a 5% increase in wand damage. These changes should make this ability more favorable to priests.

Basically, make Inner Fire good for holy priests by upping the spell resists (for pvp) and wand damage (for pve soloing), but at the same time, nerf the hell out of the HUGE damage reduction my shadow priest gets when stacking this and shadowform (I can get up to ~50-60% damage reduction with inner fire and shadowform both on)..

The thing is, the greater heal thing looks good, but also seems like it will be rather unbalancing.  Basically Priests will be the ONLY allowable healer on high end raids if that patch note is true.  Just have a priest group of 5 priests, all channeling greater heal all the time at the mt.  Raid strategy will change drastically...  I guess it will finally stop the "but who needs a priest when you can have a <insert X healer class here>" but it will drastically increase the "but MY DRUID IS USELESS IN THE END GAME" posts..

Overall I give it a 20% chance of being real..

[Paelos]

They have to make fear ward non-racial sometime. It's been screamed about for a while now.

[Zane0]

Garbage, I'd say.  Nothing jumps out, but a lot of niggles; a lot of trivial "changes" that have no conceivable rationale.

-New Spell: Spiritual Clarity (Level 20) - The target is infused with spritual force, removing the weakened soul debuff. 15 minute cooldown. (Human only)

Next to useless, and human priest racials are good enough.

- Mana Burn - Range slightly reduced
- Abolish Disease - Range slightly reduced.

Slightly reduced range on seemingly random abilities simply doesn't make any sense.  Abilities are always in 10 yard increments, at least for priests, and I wouldn't call that "slightly".

All +mana/5 second regenerative items have now been changed to function within the normal passive tick system that spirit operates in. This change should fix numerous lingering issues regarding incorrect threat gain. The Prophetic Aura will also now enter this passive state.

There aren't any items left that do this anymore.  Only the enchants, I believe.

-Mind Soothe - Mana cost increased. Maximum rank of targets affected reduced to 65.

Stupid.  70 vs 65 is not a distinction that means anything.

Fear Ward - This spell is no longer a dwarven racial ability. This talent can now be found at 31 points in the discipline tree.

Where does Divine Spirit go?

Anyways, channeled Gheal would be good, I spose, but that might ironically change it into a less mana efficient spell than flash heal.  The only other alternative to Gheal would be to turn it into something like a Druid's healing touch, which obligates me to stick to FH, since half the power of a priest is in his/her ability to heal the most amount of health in the least time of all healing classes with it, in conjunction with PW:S.

[jpark]

There are some nice adjustments there but if this is true - certainly the Thread of the Day should be focused on the Priest board.

Priests have been ballistic for sometime that the Holy Talent tree is near useless after spending 10 points on it - had have assumed for sometime that when the priest revamp comes - that this talent tree would be the focus.

Making the greater heal a channel ability concerns me - too few priests as it is lack the skill to get this off with its 4 second cast time - with it being channeled - even fewer priests will use it.

The inner fire and fade changes are great ideas - but in aggregate - it is the holy tree users have been waiting for in this class.

[Calantus]

A channeled heal would make for the most boring fucking job ever.

[jpark]

A channeled heal would make for the most boring fucking job ever.

I don't follow.  They are making the 4 second cast time a channeled heal.  The total time for this ability, channeled or not, remains basically the same.

But it makes a spell hard for most priests to use - even harder now.

[Merusk]

If fewer priests use it as a channeled spell, well I dunno, they're goofy.  Mana efficiency plus not worrying that you're going to kill the tank because the heal JUST misses the cast are nice attractors to me.  Plus it's counter to the idea of heal rotations, and after doing that for 2 years in EQ I'm all for anything anti heal-rotation.

A channeled spell doesn't fix the 'burst healing' problem though, and that's where druids would fill-in assuming any "adjustment" to the flash heal talent.  They'd still be useful, but not the primary healers.  Also, so many bosses have AOE damage effects with debuffs that you need druids to patch heal so pallies/ shaman can cleanse.

Divine Spirit, I'd imagine, would become a 21 point, or perhaps a 25 point talent.  I can't imagine it dropping any lower than that.  Perhaps Force of Will would go away.  I can't imagine getting that over any of the shadow talents if I were concerned about doing damage.

The implied holy tree changes look really good, though.  I'll have to get a bunch of time on test if they're true so I can see what I want to do.  Fear Ward is a BIIIG attractor (guild's been pushing folks to roll dwarf priests.. even to the point we're offering gold/ dkp to do it.)

[Calantus]

What I mean is that you basically hit a button and boom the person is getting health. No need to land the spell correctly or anything. Just have a renew up and a few gheals running... healing strat done. Yawn.

[Righ]

I thought the healing strat was to install the heal and decurse mods and just click the same button whenever the mods selected the next target to heal or decurse, then pour scorn on other classes for playing in easy mode.

[cevik]

But it makes a spell hard for most priests to use - even harder now.

No way, this would make it the easiest heal to use in the game.. :)

[Sachant]

I hope it's a joke.

[Jobu]

I like the (fake?) stuff about Fade and Fear Ward. I'd like to see PvP-Fade work like a rogue's evasion though. Big, temporary buff to dodge and spell resists. Having to retarget me isn't really much of a way to convince me to use it in pvp.

I haven't even played my priest since I hit 59. Healbot sucked, and shadow-disc is fun for battlegrounds... but not as fun as my mage and rogue. I'm anxious to see how much they change the class, considering the huge boosts hunters, warlocks, and pallies got with their revamps.

[Calantus]

I thought the healing strat was to install the heal and decurse mods and just click the same button whenever the mods selected the next target to heal or decurse, then pour scorn on other classes for playing in easy mode.

In raids yeah... but I don't know anyone with the autotarget healing mods so it's basically 2 buttons and mouse clicks throughout. Most of healing strat in raids is knowing when to heal and when not to heal, the actual healing is typically brainless unless you're healing an offtank and can gheal.

The most fun I have in PVE as a healer though is to land a really nice Gheal that gets the tank to 99%+ without any overheal. I also like to drink as little as possible, going so far as never drinking on a couple 5-mans, and Gheal as it stands now is exactly perfect for that. Channeling that big heal just wouldn't be as skillful/fun for me.

Also, I'd be very fucking unimpressed if they did that to inner fire. That spell kicks so much ass for not getting reamed by melee and hunters.

[Driakos]

Multiple human priests, with lots of + Healing Gear, using their new Racial in succession, sounds dirty to me.

-New Spell: Spiritual Clarity (Level 20) - The target is infused with spritual force, removing the weakened soul debuff. 15 minute cooldown. (Human only)

-Power Word:Shield - Power Word:Shield can now be modified by a small percentage of + healing gear based upon the skill points used in the new discipline talent, Inner Resolve.

That (fake or not remains to be seen) would make them invaluable when compared to Night Elf and Dwarf Priests.  Throw in Fade, and why bring other healing types to your raids?  Well, I can see why Paladins and Shamans, because of their buffs.  But, I think Druids would have it rough.  They'd get to buff the Raid, and then be swapped out for another class.  Summoned back after an hour, or a wipe.  Though, I don't know, some guilds might have them sit around with Leader of the Pack on for the crit bonus?  Maybe?  Hopefully for them?

[Phred]

Garbage, I'd say.  Nothing jumps out, but a lot of niggles; a lot of trivial "changes" that have no conceivable rationale.

-New Spell: Spiritual Clarity (Level 20) - The target is infused with spritual force, removing the weakened soul debuff. 15 minute cooldown. (Human only)

Next to useless, and human priest racials are good enough.

In what bizarro universe is feedback good enough? A weapon buff? For a priest racial spell? You must play horde.

[DevilsAdvocate]

Any time you see patch notes purportedly giving your class exactly what you think the class needs, you should automatically assume they are fake. I know you want to hope that Blizzard does it right this time, but their history says otherwise.

The major changes they have made to the other classes were not what the players asked for, but instead were made with a basic idea of what would be good for Blizzard's perception of the class. Hunters, for example, had their Beast Mastery tree buffed, but not in ways the players asked for. Instead, Blizzard saw it wasn't being used and did what they thought would make it more effective. Is it more effective? Anecdotal evidence seems to say yes.

If Blizzard is going to change the way the Priest plays with their Talents, I suspect it will be changes in the Discipline tree. Most characters spec Holy or Shadow and use Discipline as a secondary tree, from what I have seen. I think they will attempt to make that tree stand more on it's own.

The Inner Fire change is sucky. Playing as a priest up to 40, the bonuses from Inner Fire save you from overusing your shield. It makes it easier to solo for sure.

The whole Fear Ward from Talent to Skill, I just can't see. The only talent I can think of offhand that became a skill was Hurricane for Druids. Hunters asked for Counterattack as a skill when it had been completely removed from the Talent list and replaced with a Talent that removed cooldowns and were roundly rejected by Blizzard. Instaed, they added Counterattack back and moved the new Talent onto a necklace you get in ZG.

[jpark]

What I mean is that you basically hit a button and boom the person is getting health. No need to land the spell correctly or anything. Just have a renew up and a few gheals running... healing strat done. Yawn.

Agreed.  Burst healing is the challenge to being a good priest - especially at a 4 second cast.

[jpark]

If fewer priests use it as a channeled spell, well I dunno, they're goofy.  

The problem with any spell that is channeled is the vulnerability you have to interruption.  I can interrupt non-channeled spells constantly - never pay the mana for it - until I let the casting go the full casting time before the spell is released.

This is part of the reason I think druids complain their group heal is not viable - channelling any heal makes you vulnerable to interruption with consumate mana loss.

[jpark]

Most characters spec Holy or Shadow and use Discipline as a secondary tree, from what I have seen. I think they will attempt to make that tree stand more on it's own.

What?

I think any casual perusal of the priest board will indicate it is almost unanimous the holy tree is useless outside spending 10 points.  I see Discipline and Shadow all the time (I was a 60 priest - Discipline spec) - but Holy tree specialization?  On two servers I have failed to see this - and again the class board on this tree concurrs.

[Zetor]

Disease resistance? It should be immunity at the very least.. disease is rare as heck, and 10% resist when mobs that DO have a disease attack usually proc it on every hit doesn't help.

Spiritual Clarity just sounds nasty when stacked. Starshards will still suck if it doesn't do at least mind flay damage; Elune's Serenity just sounds gimp. IF it worked in combat but mezzed the user and broke when being attacked (like a dreamless sleep potion), we might be on to something, but this... no. Just eat/drink, this ability would be even worse than elune's grace.

Dark Presence is interesting, but sounds a bit underpowered. Hex of Weakness sounds good.
Devouring Plague wouldn't be any less uber with these changes assuming grouping; with the new ToW, undead priests would still be far and away #1.

No armor from inner fire? wtf mate? I kinda like the wand damage bonus though.

New fade = 100% useless in pvp. Retarget mods are already included in most major UIs and enabled by default.

Divine Spirit and Fear Ward at 31? Something's gotta go!

<vault>Assuming this is real (which it is probably not), PvP as a lock is going to be even worse now with undead having fear ward AND wotf AND a trinket. Make WOTF non-racial too! Or better yet, remove WOTF and shadowmeld from the game. Frigging broken abilities. :p</vault>


-- Z.

[Merusk]

Most characters spec Holy or Shadow and use Discipline as a secondary tree, from what I have seen. I think they will attempt to make that tree stand more on it's own.

What?

I think any casual perusal of the priest board will indicate it is almost unanimous the holy tree is useless outside spending 10 points.  I see Discipline and Shadow all the time (I was a 60 priest - Discipline spec) - but Holy tree specialization?  On two servers I have failed to see this - and again the class board on this tree concurrs.

You mean that same board that says G. Heal is worthless because of the long cast time?  Yeah, I stopped reading that board after the first time I read it.  Timing a 10 sec cast spell all that time in EQ makes a 4 sec spell almost easy, even with the faster  combat in WoW.  The challenge I've come across comes in with the additional AOE/ multi-target attacks that mobs have in WoW.*

Ignoring the holy tree beyond 10 pts means no Improved Flash Heal, no Sublty and no improved Prayer of healing.  There's no way I'd spend 31 points in it, as there's too much damage and too many garbage abilities, but those 3 are very good for my playstyle.

Shadow?  I don't give a flying fuck about soloing or farming now that I'm 60, I have another character for that.  When I got the urge to nuke I rolled a mage and fiddle with it from time to time.  My priest is for raiding and keeping folks alive, and shadow doesn't do much to help that.   I'd feel differently if I were on a PVP server, but I'm not.  There's 3 trees and they need some tweaks, but Holy isn't as worthless as the board warriors (Who are primarily focused on PvP I've noticed from the Hunter and Warrior boards) would have you believe.

As for g-heal being a channeled spell and therefore interruptable.  PWS yourself first, then cast it if you're worried you're going to draw aggro. 



* Well that, and the reduced number of people who don't understand aggro management and push, push, push for DPS without the tools to not get squished.  I'm not blowing a full bar of mana saving some Mage who wanted to see how many times they could get fireball to crit, or who decided that blizzard was the appropriate tool for a 3 mob pull.  They bitch at me about their 2-3g repair cost afterwards, but better them than the tanks, IMO.

[SurfD]

If fewer priests use it as a channeled spell, well I dunno, they're goofy.   

The problem with any spell that is channeled is the vulnerability you have to interruption.  I can interrupt non-channeled spells constantly - never pay the mana for it - until I let the casting go the full casting time before the spell is released.

This is part of the reason I think druids complain their group heal is not viable - channelling any heal makes you vulnerable to interruption with consumate mana loss.

Hate to say it, but any druid makeing that claim is should be quite litterally told to learn2play.  There is a reason Druids got Barkskin.  It's a castable buff on a short cooldown that prevents interuption on all spells, reduces damage taken, and has the negative side effect effect of increasing cast time on spells by 1 second (totally irrelevant on any channeled spell) .  Any competent Resto Druid has Barkskin and Tranquility worked into the same macro.  One click activates Barkskin, second click activates Tranquility, and no fear of interuption from an errant mele mob.

Hell, as a mage I would KILL for a spell like barkskin.  The only thing we have that comes close is IceBarrier (only acchevable through lots of points in frost talents) or Mana Shield, which sucks up your mana AND is completely useless against most mobs your level for any kind of real interuption prevention.

[Dren]

Looks like changes for 60th level priests doing raids.  As for my lvl 45 shadow priest, these suck.  I fully plan on switching to more of a healing priest at 60, but for now I'm mostly solo'ing.  Right now shadowform and inner fire suits me just fine and saves my butt constantly.  As a human priest my only complaint is having a lot harder time managing mana stores than my paladin, mage, or warlock.  I was hoping to see some changes that could address that.  Now, my main problem is that I do not have any items that increase my mana regen, so I'm not all that disappointed.  I know it will only get better as I get better items.

As for lvl 60 pvp priests, do they stick with shadow?  I guess I thought people would still expect them to serve as healers.  Although, I wouldn't expect pvp healers to just stand in one place healing just one person like they normally do in PvE raids.

Yup, seems to only address PvE uber raids.  Thus, a wet dream from some forum whore.

[cevik]

Yup, seems to only address PvE uber raids.  Thus, a wet dream from some forum whore.

You do realize that is the issue right?

Here, I'll sum it up for you:  Shadow Priests, even at 60, are currently (considered to be) too uber.  Holy Priests, at any level, are currently way to fucking weak.  1.10 is going to be the priest revamp.  What will happen in 1.10 is going to be one of two possibilties: 

A)  Shadow Priests get HEAVILY nerfed, to the point of uselessness, and holy priests will be slightly buffed, so that it will become viable in raids (but not in pvp).  Priests will be dead to PvP.

B)  Shadow Priests will get slightly nerfed, enough to be weak but not 100% useless but they will not be the 1v1 gods they are today (and they will still be gimp in group pvp), and holy priests will be slightly buffed, so that they will become viable in raids (but not in pvp).  Priests will be dead to PvP for mediocre players, but good players will still find a niche for them.

Those are the only two choices on the table.  You should expect a major nerf to Shadow Priests in 1.10 and be happy if you only get mostly nerfed.  There is no possibility Shadow Priests will escape without a nerf of some kind.  1.10 is a patch for holy priests only, one of the things holy priests are crying is "Nerf Shadow, we don't want that anyways!!1!"..

[Merusk]

This disc-holy priest says, "Leave shadow the fuck alone.  In fact, take the holy damage stuff and stick it in shadow where it belongs, or at least Discipline. 31 points in the healing tree for an AOE nuke? WTF?"

But I know that won't happen either.   I feel bad for shadow priests, because I expect what Cevik's saying.  Holy priests have been bitching that exact "we don't want shadow" line for a long time now. Even other classes have started to shout-down the L60 shadows becaise 'they don't heal. lrn ur role nub!' or 'they're too uber.'  Blizz may SAY they don't listen to forum whines when considering design balance, but there's been too much contrary evidence.

[cevik]

But I know that won't happen either.   I feel bad for shadow priests, because I expect what Cevik's saying.  Holy priests have been bitching that exact "we don't want shadow" line for a long time now. Even other classes have started to shout-down the L60 shadows becaise 'they don't heal. lrn ur role nub!' or 'they're too uber.'  Blizz may SAY they don't listen to forum whines when considering design balance, but there's been too much contrary evidence.

Which is why I rerolled to warlock.  Same types of damage, same basic design as a shadow priest (only SL means 30% dr and only 3% damage increase, unlike the shadow 15%/15%), 100% less "ZOMFG HEAL NUB"..

I'd like to point out that I re-rolled to warlock back when they were "gimp" and before they were considered to be teh uber.  And I re-rolled to warlock BECAUSE my priest was eating them alive and I wanted to see if they really sucked that much (they don't, but they are hard, and aren't nearly as overpowered as people claim they are).

[Dren]

I don't get that though.  Basically you said the only thing Shadow Priests are good at is solo pve up to 60 and 1on1 pwning.  Who cares?  They don't do well (out of place) for group PvP and they are kicked out of PvE raids.  So the reaction is to make it even harder to level that class to 60 and then only leave them with the option of being the healing bitch forever after (even though that is really their only option anyway?)

I did say I can solo quests pretty well, but I didn't say it is better than any other class.  It is STILL the slowest of the 5 I've been working (Paladin, warlock, rogue, druid....ok, druid is probably slower.)  I constantly hear bitching about there not being enough priests available.  The main bitch I hear is that it is just too painfully slow to level them and I somewhat agree since I have other alts to compare to.  (mana always gone, can't make water, health always low, spend too much time resting between fights, etc.)

It looks like it comes down to people being pissed because s-priests pwn in 1on1's.  That is not a reason to balance.
/boggle

[Dren]

But I know that won't happen either.   I feel bad for shadow priests, because I expect what Cevik's saying.  Holy priests have been bitching that exact "we don't want shadow" line for a long time now. Even other classes have started to shout-down the L60 shadows becaise 'they don't heal. lrn ur role nub!' or 'they're too uber.'  Blizz may SAY they don't listen to forum whines when considering design balance, but there's been too much contrary evidence.

Which is why I rerolled to warlock.  Same types of damage, same basic design as a shadow priest (only SL means 30% dr and only 3% damage increase, unlike the shadow 15%/15%), 100% less "ZOMFG HEAL NUB"..

I'd like to point out that I re-rolled to warlock back when they were "gimp" and before they were considered to be teh uber.  And I re-rolled to warlock BECAUSE my priest was eating them alive and I wanted to see if they really sucked that much (they don't, but they are hard, and aren't nearly as overpowered as people claim they are).

I like my warlock way more than my priest, but I agree, they aren't uber.  If you play them just right though, they can do quite well in many situations.  Locks are just plain fun to play.

[Zane0]

In what bizarro universe is feedback good enough? A weapon buff? For a priest racial spell? You must play horde.

[/i] I have no idea what feedback is, but a 10% spirit bonus and desperate prayer puts humans in pretty high standing already, I'd say.  The theoretical Elune's Clarity changes very little, and is rather stupid as well.

I usually strongly disagree with the priest boards when it comes to their weighing of stats, but I do think they are correct for generally disliking Gheal.  Its mana efficiency compared to Fheal simply isn't worth the associated risks of having such a long cast time.  Furthermore, overhealing is more punishing on Gheal than Fheal, and often nullifies its theoretical advantage.  Right now, our priest team can essentially spam FH all through BWL, a very safe strategy, and run into mana difficulties in only the rarest of occasions, in which case an innervate quickly solves the problem.

Long healing is more a realm for the Druids at the moment, who have a much nicer spell, Healing Touch, that is in fact, more mana efficient than Gheal.

This mock patch is obviously a creation of the community.  I do think that having a channeled Gheal would be a good idea however, so long as it wasn't too overpowered.  Instead of the current dynamic where some people try to make Gheal a sort of esoteric wonder spell that no one understands, Priests would have an actual choice: Gheal would be good in controlled conditions with a single target and no interruptions to the cast.  Fheal would be good in chaotic conditions with multiple tanks, squishies to keep up, and a lot of movement.

[cevik]

It looks like it comes down to people being pissed because s-priests pwn in 1on1's.  That is not a reason to balance.
/boggle

The general (and stupid) argument is this:  Shadow Priests pwn in 1v1.  Holy Priests suck.  Holy Priests must suck because Shadow is Overpowered and the Developers are concerned that if they buff Holy Priests, it will make Shadow Priests WAY overpowered.  Holy Priests Don't Care About Shadow Priests.  Holy Priests respectfully request a Shadow Priest nerf so that there is "room" for the developers to buff Holy Priests.

The problem of course is that the ONLY Holy Priests (well.. 95% of all Holy Priests) have already used Shadow to get to  level 60, and don't have to worry about leveling anymore, don't PvP, and thus are perfectly fine with nerfing Shadow to support their cause.  They don't have to sit in bgs and get one shot because of the nerf, they don't have to grind on mobs to get level 45, the only thing they do is play heal bot in raids.  Shadow priests are, for the most part, comfortable with their power (but are hardly overpowered like Hunters), and thus the vocal part of the priest community is the "Nerf Shadow and Buff Holy" part..

In the end, I've resigned my Shadow Priest to Heal Bot status (I'll wait for the patch to get the free respec for him) and I'm already almost rank 6 on my lock (in 40-49 bgs right now) and will probably make it to rank 8 before I head on up to 60 (thus I'll have some good gear banked for the 60s bg when I get there.. and I have a good pvp team to work with as well!)..

As for the rest of the people, pwning in 1v1 means an immediate cry for nerf.  Just go read the Warlock boards any day of the week.  Even though warlocks are really good at (one) 1v1, but balance out well in group pvp, warlocks are going to get a major nerf in the next couple of patchs (mark my words)..

[Phred]

I did say I can solo quests pretty well, but I didn't say it is better than any other class.  It is STILL the slowest of the 5 I've been working (Paladin, warlock, rogue, druid....ok, druid is probably slower.)

I didn't particularly find the priest I leveled slow. With bubble and wand and mind flay I made it quite quickly to the low 50's where my build finally got shadowform. Only thing I had to do was make sure I was well stocked with water all the time.

 Now my druid, on the other hand, I wait for full rest bonus to even play.

I constantly hear bitching about there not being enough priests available.  The main bitch I hear is that it is just too painfully slow to level them and I somewhat agree since I have other alts to compare to.  (mana always gone, can't make water, health always low, spend too much time resting between fights, etc.)

It looks like it comes down to people being pissed because s-priests pwn in 1on1's.  That is not a reason to balance.
/boggle

Nope but that's been how Blizzard has done it every time.

[cevik]

I like my warlock way more than my priest, but I agree, they aren't uber.  If you play them just right though, they can do quite well in many situations.  Locks are just plain fun to play.

Yeah, warlock has the same abilities as priest, plus a whole bunch more that makes them much more dynamic killing machines.  WSG is THE reason we're going to get a major nerf though.  WSG is the IDEAL place for a warlock, wide open areas with people filing through in clumps of 1-3 at a time.  Because of the layout of WSG and the general stupidity of the PUGs I encounter, I can easily kill 3 at a time in there (fear + seduce + kiting + wide flat areas + stupid people == pwnage).  The problem is, of course, that I can't do that anywhere else.. wsg was just designed as a warlock meat grinder and thus, because people stupidly jump right into the trap every time (and don't use a single fucking bit of sense), they will cry "omfg warlocks pwn" until we get nerfed.. :(

I swear to god, twice now I've stood in front of the alliance tunnel in wsg (waiting on my flag runner to provide mid support for him) and killed the exact same warrior 10 times in a row.  I mean literally, without a single other person coming along, killed THE SAME GUY 10 times in a row without him ever standing a chance against me.  It's not that I'm good, it's that he didn't change his strategy (spawn, jump off cliff, run directly at me while I sick my felpuppy on him, fear, dot, sbolt, fear, sbolt, fear, dc if he closes the gap, sbolt, shadowburn, dead).  There are a dozen things he could have done to combat that (even without a single anti-fear skill (which he has) he could have just not jumped directly off the cliff and ran at me, use some common sense, go tunnel or ramp and try to catch me off guard or take me from a direction that doesn't let me use range to my advantage), but instead of using skill he just kept trying the same pointless exercise.  Stupid people like that are the ones you see crying nerf on the message boards, and those guys are the ones who are going to get us nerfed.. :(

[Zetor]

Actually, I think the Death Coil buff was a bit too much (and I've been playing my warlock since november 2004). It is supposed to be THE defensive skill for 'locks, but (while fulfilling that role adequately), it's far too effective as an offensive weapon. I wouldn't mind the range getting nerfed to 10yd or so. Make it the 'warlock scatter shot' if you will. Oh, and remove wotf. :P


-- Z.