Talk:Starting a priest

The information in this page is extremely biased in some parts. Since when do we start using "I have found this to be..." or "I have never seen this used correctly, and this should ONLY be used like this...". This page should be to offer suggestions or common playtypes, NOT tell somebody how to play a class.

Power Word: Shield
The following extensive discussion of Power Word: Shield was removed to here as it's out of place on a "Starting a Priest" page. If someone wants to put it somewhere else, be my guest.


 * An important note about using Power Word: Shield (PW:S) in group situations:
 * I have repeatedly run into priests who over-use and mis-use this powerful, yet specialized spell. It's extremely important to realize that this spell is limited in it's use and can be spell devastation if used incorrectly.
 * First and foremost, PW:S is NOT, I repeat, NOT a heal spell... and as such, should not be use in place of one. If PW:S is cast on a player who will not be taking damage in the next 30 seconds, it is a >>>waste of mana<<<. If PW:S is cast on a player who has less than full health, that health is only healed when: 1) you use more mana to cast a heal on him; or 2) combat ends and he begins regenerating health on his own... which brings me back to the second sentence of this paragraph.
 * Second, PW:S should be reserved for three, and ONLY three situations (NO EXCEPTIONS!):
 * 1) When there is no possible way in all of heaven and earth that you will be able to heal your target before he dies. This means he will die within the next 2 seconds if you don't use PW:S. If he isn't going to die in the next 2 seconds, you had better be casting a heal spell.
 * 2) When spell casting, channeling and (god forbid) fleeing cannot afford to be be slowed. Occasionally, there are times when you will be under attack. Yes, it happens to the best of us. IMPORTANT: When this happens, cast Fade. Sometimes, albeit rare, that will not be enough to make the attackers divert their attention. During these rare, unfortunate times, it is permissible to cast PW:S on yourself to allow for a brief moment of uninterrupted spell-casting. -OR- Some classes (mages and warlocks) have spells that are cast over a specific amount of time called channeling spells. These spells can be easily interrupted when damage is taken, so a shield can help them channel the entire spell. -OR- When you turn your tail and flee from enemies, it is useful to cast PW:S on yourself or a friend to help him avoid the Dazed effect.
 * 3) When you are about to start a tough fight and your warrior or mage/warlock needs all the extra HP he can get. Called Pre-Shielding, this tactic can give you that extra edge at the beginning of a tough fight and should allow you to take some time to regenerate the mana used before the fight during the fights opening moments (when the warrior should be generating aggro on the bad-guys. IMPORTANT: You may have noticed that casting PW:S causes a lot of threat and can make things more likely to attack you. As such, DO NOT begin applying PW:S when 1) your puller is shooting his gun; 2) your mage is casting his first spell; 3) at any time after the bad guys start running towards you. If needed, request that your pullers not pull until they see the shields in place. IMPORTANT (#2): Even for the biggest boss fights in the world, you don't have to shield your entire party. Please read the second sentence of the paragraph beginning "First and foremost" if this confuses you.


 * Like I said before, PW:S is an amazing and powerful spell when it is used correctly. However, it is mana intensive and should be used in special situations, not general healing.


 * And a contrasting opinion to the above
 * Power Word: Shield can be extremely useful when you are the sole healer for your party. It is an instant cast spell that will keep someone alive longer.  If you have two party members near death, you can opt to Shield one and Heal the other.  This buys you time to heal them both.


 * And another contrasting opinion: Power Word: Shield should not be cast on warriors, especially at the beginning of combat, as it makes it more difficult for them to gain aggro. --JiangShi


 * To contrast again: Power Word: Shield as a pre-shield on warriors. Despite the above opinion, there is marked division in the healer and warrior community as to whether this is a good or bad idea.  Some priests love it...gives aggro-free hp to warrior, giving him more time to gain aggro; some think it a waste.  Some warriors love it, others hate it, because it does mean he needs a little more time or he may not be used to it, since it reduces his rage gain a small amount.  So, best advice is to consider your views on it and discuss with the tank, coming to an agreement.  I have some who ask for it, others who say don't and most who don't care.  Of course, if your tank is not a rage-based character, e.g. Paladin,...then by all means go ahead (you will most likely regenerate the mana by the time you need to heal anyway).


 * Warriors generate a lot of their rage by taking damage. They will not generate this rage when they are shielded.  If the warrior uses bloodrage he should start with a small amount of rage to get the pull going, even if shielded.  However, if there is a large amount of dps at the start of the pull, the warrior will quickly loose aggro as he won't have enough rage to really start spamming aggro skills. If the pull starts off slower it wont be a problem.


 * To contrast even further: The following EU forum's post denies that Power Word: Shield reduces rage generation.


 * Upon personal experimentation, I have found that as of November 28th, 2006 (v1.12), a warrior that is not attacking a mob does NOT generate any rage until the shield is broken. The experiment was using a warrior in protection stance starting with 0 rage.  A priest shielded the warrior, and the warrior began combat by approaching the mob.  All incoming damage was on the warrior the entire time.  As soon as the shield was broken, the warrior immediately began generating rage.  This appears to be a point of misunderstanding as this behavior has (and probably will continue to be) changed with various patches to game mechanics.


 * Regardless of all this discussion, it is important to note that the shield is very useful to have when the fight involves the Veil of Shadows, a 70% reduction in all healing spells applied to the target of said curse. If there is no mage with a timely decurse in your party, a shield is the only viable and mana-efficient way to keep the tank alive.

Levelling guide
I noticed some new additions to the levelling guide, but they are biassed towards horde (naming horde quests), namely in the Blood Elf starting area. Some equivalent additions would be welcome for alliance (I don't know what the quests are so I'm afraid I can't add), or basically cleaning up and simplifying the early levelling tips. --Grynd (talk) 15:51, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

Choosing a Race
I'm looking for stuff like what is on the Starting a warlock page (under race), something like this (which i found on the bz forum: ( http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1710372806#13 )

BLOODELF - arcane torrent gives you 6% mana, 2min cooldown. In most bossfights you can use it 3-5 times (depending on how long the fight is and how well you set your cooldowns). So in the end it's (for example) 4x6% of mana. Somewhat ~25 000+ mana per fight for me if it's a longer one and that is about 1/4 or 1/5 of my mana. Combine it with Hymn, fiend and manapot and you get yourself a nice mana "regen" during fight. About the silence effect of arcane torrent - no much use for that one in PVE, except maybe on Nefarian Phase 2 fight but even there you might use it more for manaregen than for it's silence effect.

TROLL - berserking gives you a castspeedbuff, increases your casting speed by 20% for 10 sec, 3min cooldown. This one is pretty nice since it takes down somewhat 0,3 - 0,4sec from all casts, depends what your Haste is aswell. Spamming 1,6/1,7 sec Heal spells instead of 2,1/2,2 is quite nice, even without Bloodlust. No much use for it with Bloodlust (spellcast increased 30%) though since you will run against global cooldown mostly, but that is my opinion. Good to use it when you don't have BL or it is already used. I felt it somewhat usefull even in PVE though (I have been a troll on this character for some time). The troll's passive racial - healthregen - is not that big of a deal.

GOBLIN - passive racial hastebuff is nice, meaning you can get into your PVE hastecap sooner and you can reforge other stats as you wish. Also rocketjump is nice tool to fool around with :P

UNDEAD - from PVE point of view cannibalize is pretty nice trick since it regens you health AND mana, even in combat, but it requiers you to find a corpse to chew on first (this might be a tricky part in PVE bossfights where you only face the boss and no adds). Regenerates 7% of total health and mana every 2 sec for 10 sec BUT it's a "cast" so it means you can't do anything else at the same time (DPS or heal) and if you get in some AOE damage, it interrupts the cannibalize process. Will of the Forsacen is somewhat "OMGOMGOMGFUUUUU!!!" when you get feared in a bossfight and you forgot to set Fearward on yourself or cast it on tank who is now getting his a** delivered to him by the boss because you are feared and can't heal his "clothy" butt. Mostly happens in 5man HCs, haven't seen any use for it in PVE thought.

TAUREN - well nothing really for PVE for tauren. Except 5% extra HP but for priest it's not something THAT usefull. So tauren is just for looks, if you ask from me.

;&gt;jamvaru (talk) 06:29, 25 February 2011 (UTC)
 * still looking for Alliance stuff, any ideas?