Deadmines killed my priest or at least my desire to play one.

[Quixfire]

Originally posted by: ggnl
I'd like to triple reconfirm what everyone else has said. Your group was way too low and you didnt have anyone to control agro. My suggestion: don't just jump into any group that invites you. Priests are in high demand, so you should be able to demand that the group picks up a tank (warrior preferably, but hunters will do in a pinch). If the group sucks, just leave and save yourself some frustration.

First I organized the group for my wife and me to complete the Van Cleef quest. Second it took an half hour to get five people together for this run into Deadmine. So the fault must be mine and therefore I have no one to blame but myself.

In closing I don't think I'll play a priest anymore. I don't care for the long time it takes to level up, the cost of the spells, or the lack of support I have found in groups. It seems to me everyone would rather have a Paladin on there team than a priest anyways.

See you in the realms.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
In DAoC, healers were treated like royalty. The split second they drew agro, the tanks were on the mob and the casters began nuking......ANYTHING to get the mob off the healer. But, in reality, that was seldom needed. I played a Hero (warrior), obviously and drew all the agro. Someone would mez the adds and the healer would be careful not to heal me too quick or too often. If it got to the point where I was taking too much damage to be healed without the healer taking agro, then the party began backing up and the casters would start chain nuking. As soon as the healer or one of the casters drew agro or I died, the group was lost and everybody was running for the server line.

I think the problem is that you had a paladin with you. The game is made to be very easy, so having a hybrid healer was enough and you were just extraneous healage. The joys of a kiddie MMO.

The problem Hero is Palys do not have taunt.. nor can they heal very well.. just like DAOD or EQ you MUST have a holy spec priest for instances.. (shadow is only good for soloing and PVP)
the paly here cannot build enough agro to hold taunt.. they are not a DPS class and thier heals are small.. therefore every time the OP casted his large heal he got beaned like he was a Wizard casting Ice Comet...
the mob charges him and wants him dead...
also note his level... 18-19 is VERY low for the DMs... most groups woulndt go in unless being power leveled by a higher char at that level...so his agro was EVEN HIGHER than it should be...

Bottom line Hero... they did not have a proper group makeup.... they had low levels and were not playing thier chars with the proper techniquies... in other words CRAPPY GROUP.. not a crappy game..

why must you continue to post in WoW threads when we know you havent played it enough to judge it.. and we know you hate it for no good rason.. other than you think its playing on EASY mode..

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: Quixfire

Originally posted by: ggnl
I'd like to triple reconfirm what everyone else has said. Your group was way too low and you didnt have anyone to control agro. My suggestion: don't just jump into any group that invites you. Priests are in high demand, so you should be able to demand that the group picks up a tank (warrior preferably, but hunters will do in a pinch). If the group sucks, just leave and save yourself some frustration.

First I organized the group for my wife and me to complete the Van Cleef quest. Second it took an half hour to get five people together for this run into Deadmine. So the fault must be mine and therefore I have no one to blame but myself.

In closing I don't think I'll play a priest anymore. I don't care for the long time it takes to level up, the cost of the spells, or the lack of support I have found in groups. It seems to me everyone would rather have a Paladin on there team than a priest anyways.

See you in the realms.

If the peeps you are playing with would rather have a paly over a priest.. get a better group .. palys are NOT healers... they cannot support an entire group unless they are MUCH MUCH higher than the group IE powerlevling....

Priests are a cornerstone class.. IE without one there is no raid/instance.. period... no discussion... at 20 you have no idea how important and how powerful priests become in the later levels....
dont give up casue of one bad group....
you are the ONE class in the game that is flat out guanrteed a spot in a raid over someone else....
you will never have to shout LFG for more than a few minutes.... or as a priest I would simply invite the key classes I needed and then fill the group and make my own raids...

every other class in WoW is not mandatory and is easliy replaced by another class for the most part..
Sheild Defence spec warriors at L60 are the only other mandatory class for high level raids...

put a couple points in shadow spec to make yourself more powerful to solo just dont go overboard if you want to be a healing priest...
there is a pretty good balance build you can make...

 

[RealityTime]

As mentioned earlier pickup groups do tend more often than not to really bite the big one. Another thing, and I hate to say this, is everyone should be of an appropiate level to be doing the instance. Often times there are one maybe two folks a bit low. I have been one of these folks before BTW . But in all honesty when you are closer to a decent level and have a whole party as such it works out much better. Definately a good instance party consists of a paladin, priest, warrior, a mage or rogue is also nice. I am a hunter and nobody sees any use in me .. lol. But I can hold my own now that I am getting up there in the levels. It's really important to know how to play your character as well as play together. My first time in Uldaman with a pickup was a complete farce, second time round I got lucky and got a decent group of folks and we did it just fine. No one died once. Its usually a great idea that at least one person has cleared the instance before as well. You usually can find someone like this who just wants to do it again for a certain item or loot etc. It shouldn't be super hard to complete so long as you work out a decent strategy and take your time about it. As soon as my 16hour maintenence server comes up later !!!! I will be going through Zul for the first time. Wish me luck!


btw, blizzard hits another home run again with wow. Seems they really can do no wrong, every title they have released has been absolutely stellar and better than the last. major kudos to them.

 

[FlasHBurN]

Originally posted by: Quixfire

Originally posted by: torpid
What level is your group? Sounds like they were reckless and impatient, or too low level. There are only a couple of places where you should be fighting more than two enemies.

I was 18-19, Wife 19 Gnome Rouge, 19 Gnome Mage, 19 Human Mage, & 23 Human Paladin. We were very cautious but the times I died was when mobs spawned behind us while engaging another and each of the last three mini bosses. I didn't have any trouble when we battled 1-3 mobs, but anything over that I was left out in the wind.

Malladine, thanks for the tips. I did not know that shield created so much threat.

ROGUE ROGUE ROGUE ROGUE!

 

[Velk]

Originally posted by: onza

Originally posted by: Malladine

Originally posted by: bunker
I played a priest to 46 in beta.

1. I never ever never used holy shield....just too much aggro generated by it (unless I was the only one left running for my life)
2. I used renew religiously
3. Used flash heal almost exclusively, rarely used the main heals when in combat
4. Never used an offensive spell while in a group.

Those tactics kept me alive through damn near every instance I went in to....remember, you can always rez after a battle, if someone falls to save the group, so be it. I also made sure the group was aware of that philosphy before starting.

EDIT: thought of something else...I also never healed anyone until they were at least past the halfway mark on their hit points.

I used 50% greater heal in maraudon on the 60 pal and it worked great. And I never say never

well in regaruds to thsi statement...

"I also never healed anyone until they were at least past the halfway mark on their hit points"

I would heal early and small, reason... agro management.. cause if you cast a few 200-300hp heals.. it helps with agro management instead of a HUGE 1000-1500hp cure.. but that is my own opinion, and i think that it does help reduce hate.

5 300 hp heals have the same threat as one 1500hp heal, just spread over a longer timeframe. This is a reasonable approach, but there are two serious limitations :
1) 5 300 hp heals take a long time to cast - if the tank is taking damage faster than that, they will die before you finish.
2) Warrior taunt is on a 10 second timer - if you dump a huge heal and get aggro, they can taunt and get it back straight away. If you use lots of little heals, then you run the risk of getting aggro twice within 10 seconds, which will make it very hard for the warrior to get the mob off you the second time.

 

[Quixfire]

Thanks for all the replies. I going to stick with my priest for a few more weeks and see if I still enjoy playing the class.

 

[Quixfire]

Update:

Last night my wife and I completed Deadmines and the Van Cleef quest on our second try. I took all your tips and practiced them from level 18 to 22 and I tried again in a pick-up group. 23 Paladin, 2 23 Rogues, 22 Warlock, and myself 22 Priest. We didn't have much trouble because we had a good leader this time too. The only problem we encounter is one of the rogues had to leave just before we got to Mr. Smitty. I recently joined a guild and sent a request for a member to help us and sure enough a level 36 Hunter cam to our rescue. We finished the quests and mines without any trouble.

I really like to say thank you to Malladine. Your tips helped me enjoy the class even more and now I get requests all the time to assist players with quests.

Thanks again guys and see you in the World of Warcraft.

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: Quixfire
Update:

Last night my wife and I completed Deadmines and the Van Cleef quest on our second try. I took all your tips and practiced them from level 18 to 22 and I tried again in a pick-up group. 23 Paladin, 2 23 Rogues, 22 Warlock, and myself 22 Priest. We didn't have much trouble because we had a good leader this time too. The only problem we encounter is one of the rogues had to leave just before we got to Mr. Smitty. I recently joined a guild and sent a request for a member to help us and sure enough a level 36 Hunter cam to our rescue. We finished the quests and mines without any trouble.

I really like to say thank you to Malladine. Your tips helped me enjoy the class even more and now I get requests all the time to assist players with quests.

Thanks again guys and see you in the World of Warcraft.

you're welcome man

 

[abaez]

Originally posted by: Malladine
49 priest here

I do find that I die more often than the rest, mainly because I protect my party before myself, but usually when I die the party is wiped. People tend to remember that and anyone who can taunt, distract, etc, does so frantically should anything attack me. If a standard party (one not heavy with healers/rezzers) doesn't protect their priest they won't make it very far.

Having said this, the best defense against death is your own ability to manage threat level. I have a few tips for you, hope you can make use of them:

1. Use fade before you cast a big heal and make sure the heal goes off while you're faded.
2. Renew generates negligible threat but imo is really only useful if you are holy/disc spec'd, with the renew bonus and mental agility talents. It's good on the meat shield at the start of a fight.
3. Psychic scream as a last resort (in instances even more so)
4. Shield generates lots of threat so use sparingly, but it can be a life saver (as designed). Also remember that Shield can be cast just before battle is joined, thereby avoiding threat issues.
5. Priests can contribute to damage by using Shadow word: pain due to it's low overall threat, but never cast it on a creep nobody else is attacking, at least not in an instance
6. Hold back at the beginning of fights for as long as possible to allow everyone else to build aggro

Myself, my wife (49 hunter), a 60 paladin, 49 mage and a 44 mage conquered maraudon last night. We burned 3 times before we worked out a strategy

Great adivce I can just add my experience:

1.Fade can also be used to reduce your threat level after you've cast a spell. You can actually have the mob running at you, use fade, and he turns around and goes back to the tanks. It's been a lifesaver countless times.

2.Being shadow spec, renew is also not something I use it all.

3.Agreed, psychic scream is almost never used, the only times I've used it is obvious times when a mob ran away and pulled more mobs and its a total cluster f. Screaming two mobs buys you some time (you risk the chance of them fearing into another mob, but there is also good chance that you won't) and it's probably 70/30 that you'll survive a total meltdown of aggro'd mobs (70 being death ).

4.Shield definately is lots of threat, but it really helps when there are 2 or more mobs on you, buying the other members some time to help you out. Has also saved me a bunch of times.

SWain is the only real attack spell I use on mobs. I basically use SWain and spam my wand constantly. Give's me a good 40-50dps at 26 and a wand doesn't use mana saving it for heals. Be careful though, I hit Arugal in Shadow Keep with SWain and Devouring Plague (another 19/sec dot), that along with the 40/sec Pain had him glued on me and the wars were not able to get off at all and that=dead.

Also, don't forget mana burn, it kills casting mobs (use it mainly on bosses) not to mention in pvp mages are so funny when they have no mana (I had someone jump off a cliff rather than get killed by me when I mana burned him out).

Priest is awesome, I'm having a blast. Use everything in your arsenal, your dot is the best in the game, you have dedicated healing spells along with several other helpful utility spells. Don't give up because of one bad instance.

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: TheAudit
It sounds like the group just wasn't paying you enough attention. When I am grouping, I try to always leave the front if our mages or priests come under attack.

Actually, from my experience in the Deadmines, our priests are always one of the first to fall, too!

:thumbsup:

You were being too generous with that first group... if healing them was causing you too much aggro and they weren't doing anything about it, then you should stop healing them.

The other members wouldn't put themselves in danger to save you, but they still expected you to put yourself in danger to save them? That's garbage.

In higher level groups, this game isn't about healing and damage. It's about aggro management. If a group isn't good at it, the group won't work.