YAWoWT: Why are priests like pets?

[Quixfire]

I truly believe the major problem with priests is most other players treat us like a class instead of what we truly are, a pet.

Priests are the most expensive pets in the game. We constantly need drinks to replenish our mana and require a large amount of gold to purchase new spells. We also seem to get the short end of the loot table when grouping. There are several ways to assist your priest in this area, you can offer them money to assist you on your quests, ask them what type of items they need when looting bodies, and provide them with drinks to replenish their mana.

A priest main function is to assist our master, group leader, by either casting DOT on the mob or healing and buffing the other players. We cannot effectively assist in combat due to our low strength and weak armor status and our spells generate more threat than a mage?s flamestrike. Nor can we take an additional pulls alone without reducing our ability to assist the other players. If your priest is engaged in combat it?s because he is trying to save his or her own life. Common phases your priest will use to get your attention are OOM (Out of mana), Help (I being attacked), OMG WTF (Why did you let me die?), Bite me (I didn?t heal you because I was trying to save the group), and Why??? (Why did you roll on the blue cloth armor when I am the only one in the group that wears cloth?).

Priest also needs to be protected during combat because we are not tanks. Although we are used to seeing the face of death, in fact death and I are on first name basis, we still don?t like dying all the time and letting your priest die too often can cause their loyalty to drop. If their loyalty drops low enough the priest will abandon their owners and seek safer zones to travel. Even standing just out of agro range picking our nose can cause more threat than a paladin, rogue, or warrior?s critical strike. So please watch your priest and protect him or her from the mobs that seek to do them damage.

Priests also level at a slower rate than most other classes due to the amount of downtime when soloing and due to the need to be grouped for better or worse. The best way to assist a priest with their leveling is to keep them with you at all times. Sharing quests, dungeon runs, and general combat are all good ways to help your priest gain experience. It?s also very important to maintain your priest?s loyalty level so they will stay in your group longer thus gaining more experience.

I hope this clarification will assist future priest owners in the proper care and maintenance of their pet so the game will be more enjoyable for all.

P.S. This is in no way a complaint against any of the AT members I have played with on the Bronzebeard server, yet.

 

[torpid]

Well, I agree and disagree. Solo problems with the priest are not at all related to downtime for me. I have spirit tap maxed so the downtime is not a problem. At least not exactly. The real problem is in handling adds and being basically unable to escape. The warlock has a pet and if using voidwalker can sac the pet to survive. The rogue has vanish (albeit an imperfect escape). Mages have blink, sheep, AND frost nova. Druids have entangle and cheetah form. Hunters are more durable, have pets, wing clip, concussive shot, and traps. Paladins... no need to tell you. I don't know what all the warrior has but it seems to have some form of fear (make enemies except target flee), hamstring, and in general is more durable.

Priests have... a fear that works on 2 random enemies and is resited about 1/3 of the time. Yeah they have power word shield, but it's almost never up when I need it, and anyway 2 enemies will burn through it in seconds. Which kind of relates to what you are saying about the common sayings of the priest. People don't seem to realize that priests can't really survive if one of the adds is on them. Eventually after 4 or 5 priest deaths they will realize (usually they offer "advice" like "move around more").

As far as groups go... I find that I am almost always out of mana, no matter how hard I try to conserve it. This is because of some of the things you noted, such as people not realizing priests need to recover mana, or having to cover my own ass a lot (yes, I do use fade). I too find that people almost always roll on items that only I will use, though they seem to do this no matter what class I play.

All in all I find priest to be BY FAR the most frustrating and least rewarding class. But yet still a lot of fun just for the challenge. I suppose warrior is second in that regard, but it's not really all that close.

 

[Mareg]

Should warrior ask money for protection ? - mmmmh, moneeeeeyyy.

 

[ggnl]

I have mixed feelings on priests. On one hand they are very powerful characters when played correctly and they are essential to higher lvl groups. On the other hand, it seems like they just aren't as fun to play as other classes. I liked my priest while I played him, but when I decided to switch factions I found myself saying "There's no way I'm playing another fscking priest." Fortunately for priests it looks like blizz is currently evaluating them. I wouldn't expect any major improvements, but I wouldn't be suprised to see convenience improvements in the near future.

And before you priests complain too much, just remember that your one of the only classes that get more useful as you progress in the game. Priests have the luxury of being in demand for groups, while everyone else except mages and warriors are considered filler.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: Quixfire
I truly believe the major problem with priests is most other players treat us like a class instead of what we truly are, a pet.

Priests are the most expensive pets in the game. We constantly need drinks to replenish our mana and require a large amount of gold to purchase new spells. We also seem to get the short end of the loot table when grouping. There are several ways to assist your priest in this area, you can offer them money to assist you on your quests, ask them what type of items they need when looting bodies, and provide them with drinks to replenish their mana.

A priest main function is to assist our master, group leader, by either casting DOT on the mob or healing and buffing the other players. We cannot effectively assist in combat due to our low strength and weak armor status and our spells generate more threat than a mage?s flamestrike. Nor can we take an additional pulls alone without reducing our ability to assist the other players. If your priest is engaged in combat it?s because he is trying to save his or her own life. Common phases your priest will use to get your attention are OOM (Out of mana), Help (I being attacked), OMG WTF (Why did you let me die?), Bite me (I didn?t heal you because I was trying to save the group), and Why??? (Why did you roll on the blue cloth armor when I am the only one in the group that wears cloth?).

Priest also needs to be protected during combat because we are not tanks. Although we are used to seeing the face of death, in fact death and I are on first name basis, we still don?t like dying all the time and letting your priest die too often can cause their loyalty to drop. If their loyalty drops low enough the priest will abandon their owners and seek safer zones to travel. Even standing just out of agro range picking our nose can cause more threat than a paladin, rogue, or warrior?s critical strike. So please watch your priest and protect him or her from the mobs that seek to do them damage.

Priests also level at a slower rate than most other classes due to the amount of downtime when soloing and due to the need to be grouped for better or worse. The best way to assist a priest with their leveling is to keep them with you at all times. Sharing quests, dungeon runs, and general combat are all good ways to help your priest gain experience. It?s also very important to maintain your priest?s loyalty level so they will stay in your group longer thus gaining more experience.

I hope this clarification will assist future priest owners in the proper care and maintenance of their pet so the game will be more enjoyable for all.

P.S. This is in no way a complaint against any of the AT members I have played with on the Bronzebeard server, yet.

Um k.. you are aware that with shadow spec you become a damage machine...
with super high survivablity...
priests solo just as well as most classes in the game..
if you cant afford your own spells and drink you got problems...
Farm some greens for cash... farm isntances over and over.. great money and loot to sell..
get free drinks from mages..
WoW is by far the easiest game in the world to get money and gear in...
do your quests farm some... but there is nothing that expensive about a priest...
btw i can speak out of experience on this one... i regularly use an L60 raid priest that is on the guilds shared account.

 

[GasX]

Quix - the next time we play together, I will cast Searing Pain on anyone near you. Just heal me when I get the resulting massive aggro...

 

[torpid]

Priests are terrible solo so far. I expect them only to become good in the high 30's. I also want to note that spirit tap seems to have been nerfed in the recent patch, as I no longer gain mana/health until 5 seconds after casting a spell, which reduces the time to 10 seconds, which is not enough to recover from a battle. This is our only regenerative property really. We have no food/water like mages, no stones like warlocks, no innervate like druids. Nothing. Spirit tap is pretty much it, unless you count the somewhat weak feedback. I have been trying to compensate by finishing the enemy off with a wand or staff, but that ends up being a questionable trade as my health will be reduced significantly.

Priest is the only class I've played that struggles to kill things 2 levels above it in the 10-20 level range). If more than one spell is resisted, I flee or I die.

 

[Quixfire]

Originally posted by: Mwilding
Quix - the next time we play together, I will cast Searing Pain on anyone near you. Just heal me when I get the resulting massive aggro...

No problem there that is what we priests do best.

 

[MrBond]

get free drinks from mages..

As a mage, I am more than happy to conjur water for you if you ask politely. Feel free to cast PW:F on us in return .

If you run up to me and go "u geiv water now" I'm just going to blink away. Ask nicely and you might be surprised at how many mages will help you out. Gotta help out our cloth-wearing brothers and sisters

 

[Quixfire]

Originally posted by: Mareg
Should warrior ask money for protection ? - mmmmh, moneeeeeyyy.

I would gladly pay a warior or any other combat class if they would protect me during combat. But that is where the problem is warriors, paladins, hunters, and rogues focus more on killing the main mob or elite and forget about the adds that like to kill all the caster classes. I understand this is part of the game when playing a caster that you will not be able to melee and that you generate threat when casting certain spells. But why can't one of the melee classes watch for us priests when in combat and pull the mobs off of us when we are attacked?

 

[abaez]

I don't know what you are talking about.

For the guy who says we can only fear 2 enemies, get the higher level psychic scream, it fears four enemies at once, and it's rarely resisted on mobs my level (and almost never on mobs below me). Of course higher level mobs will resists as with all spells. Power word shield gives you a good 5 seconds for higher level stuff, MUCH longer with same level stuff, upgrade it and the time to recast on you is only 15 seconds. This gives you plenty of time to get away from adds (if you can't handle an add of the same level you are fighting then something is wrong).

I do not need a group to level. I cast mind blast, my swain, and use mind flay and before the enemy even reaches me they are at about 60-70% hp. Then get a fast dagger in conjunction with my wand (the dagger swings as the wand recharges) dagger is crappy damage maybe 20-30 per hit, but with the wand specialization (I have the 5points in wand specialization +25% damage), it often hits 100+ each time. This is all with your ps:shield casted beforehand, absorbing almost all damage (by the time it goes away the enemy is dead or nearly there). This results in very little downtime with practically no mana usage.

In groups you are there to heal, period. (Again you do not need groups to do most regular non-elite quests). You don't cast DD spells in groups, that's just silly. To save mana, just use your swain and wand. It's not much, about 60dps, but again, very little mana usage, very little hate, gives the wars time to get hate, and any little damage bit helps and you save mana for heals.

Priest is an awesome class if you play it right. People need YOU, you don't need them.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: Quixfire

Originally posted by: Mareg
Should warrior ask money for protection ? - mmmmh, moneeeeeyyy.

I would gladly pay a warior or any other combat class if they would protect me during combat. But that is where the problem is warriors, paladins, hunters, and rogues focus more on killing the main mob or elite and forget about the adds that like to kill all the caster classes. I understand this is part of the game when playing a caster that you will not be able to melee and that you generate threat when casting certain spells. But why can't one of the melee classes watch for us priests when in combat and pull the mobs off of us when we are attacked?

You need to play with a more skilled organized group...
set a puller (warrior) and an MA..(rogue paly)
the puller still pull all the mobs and taunt.. then the MA targets one of the mobs.. everyone then assists him kill those mobs... while the warrior stays on any other mobs tautning as necessary to maintain agro...
repeat till all mobs are dead...

if you are having problems at such a low level with your group things are gonna get MUCH worse before they get better...
this is the MAIN reason I will not join non guild pickup groups...

guild is very strict about this.. you cant assist you can go on raid..
breaking mezzes and chains and novas etc is 100% unacceptable.
healers should almost never get hit ever... unless they have to overheal someone to keep them alive.. then the warrior will taunt and the paly will heal to keep the healer alive.

mandatory raid group
for main party
Paly.. Warrior, Priest, rogue and mage/warlock w soulstone on paly.
all other groups have more flexibility for group make up...
the main assist and puller are always in group 1 as well the the Crowd Control mage or Warlock.

Teamspeak also helps tons...
real life communication beats typing any day.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: abaez
I don't know what you are talking about.

For the guy who says we can only fear 2 enemies, get the higher level psychic scream, it fears four enemies at once, and it's rarely resisted on mobs my level (and almost never on mobs below me). Of course higher level mobs will resists as with all spells. Power word shield gives you a good 5 seconds for higher level stuff, MUCH longer with same level stuff, upgrade it and the time to recast on you is only 15 seconds. This gives you plenty of time to get away from adds (if you can't handle an add of the same level you are fighting then something is wrong).

I do not need a group to level. I cast mind blast, my swain, and use mind flay and before the enemy even reaches me they are at about 60-70% hp. Then get a fast dagger in conjunction with my wand (the dagger swings as the wand recharges) dagger is crappy damage maybe 20-30 per hit, but with the wand specialization (I have the 5points in wand specialization +25% damage), it often hits 100+ each time. This is all with your ps:shield casted beforehand, absorbing almost all damage (by the time it goes away the enemy is dead or nearly there). This results in very little downtime with practically no mana usage.

In groups you are there to heal, period. (Again you do not need groups to do most regular non-elite quests). You don't cast DD spells in groups, that's just silly. To save mana, just use your swain and wand. It's not much, about 60dps, but again, very little mana usage, very little hate, gives the wars time to get hate, and any little damage bit helps and you save mana for heals.

Priest is an awesome class if you play it right. People need YOU, you don't need them.

Have you ever played another class? I am not sure that you have, at least not enough to know the difference. I don't care how many enemies psychic scream works against, the point is that it's our only viable escape mechanism. And it does fail against higher enemies, which are often the thing you are trying to escape.

Also, when two or three (more depending on the fates of fear) enemies are after you, if your power shield is still working long enough for you to escape without major damage then I question what level monsters you are fighting.

I did forget divine prayer or whatever. So every 30 minutes you can gain about 1/3 to 1/2 of your life back. These tactics are a FAR cry from what other classes can do to escape.

The tactic you described for killing enemies is severely lacking. Maybe it becomes magically viable at higher levels, but at level 20 it will not kill the enemy before PW:S runs out. As it is, right now I must cast psychic blast and smite in order to be "ahead of the curve". This is with a relatively high DPS wand.

Also, you failed to mention that wands get resisted frequently by enemies above you in level (or even equal, sometimes) even with skill maxed.

 

[Vortex22]

Originally posted by: torpid

Have you ever played another class? I am not sure that you have, at least not enough to know the difference. I don't care how many enemies psychic scream works against, the point is that it's our only viable escape mechanism. And it does fail against higher enemies, which are often the thing you are trying to escape.

Also, when two or three (more depending on the fates of fear) enemies are after you, if your power shield is still working long enough for you to escape without major damage then I question what level monsters you are fighting.

I did forget divine prayer or whatever. So every 30 minutes you can gain about 1/3 to 1/2 of your life back. These tactics are a FAR cry from what other classes can do to escape.

The tactic you described for killing enemies is severely lacking. Maybe it becomes magically viable at higher levels, but at level 20 it will not kill the enemy before PW:S runs out. As it is, right now I must cast psychic blast and smite in order to be "ahead of the curve". This is with a relatively high DPS wand.

Also, you failed to mention that wands get resisted frequently by enemies above you in level (or even equal, sometimes) even with skill maxed.

Priests are trash below level 30. Once they reach 40+ a shadow spec is unstoppable in PvP. A good player who knows what he's doing will NEVER lose an equal level duel against any other class. I have lots of experience fighting priests and watching them fight in both duels and other faction PvP, and I can say with great confidence that they are the best 1v1 fighters in the game. They are slow levellers solo though, probably second only to druids, which is why you should play in a group as much as possible.

 

[Vortex22]

Originally posted by: Quixfire

Originally posted by: Mareg
Should warrior ask money for protection ? - mmmmh, moneeeeeyyy.

I would gladly pay a warior or any other combat class if they would protect me during combat. But that is where the problem is warriors, paladins, hunters, and rogues focus more on killing the main mob or elite and forget about the adds that like to kill all the caster classes. I understand this is part of the game when playing a caster that you will not be able to melee and that you generate threat when casting certain spells. But why can't one of the melee classes watch for us priests when in combat and pull the mobs off of us when we are attacked?

Your groups just suck. I am usually the primary healer when I do instances (druid) but I play with people in my guild who I know and trust. I usually don't even get adds because they are either sapped/sheeped or hitting the warrior. I have a chat macro that I hit whenever I get an add to let the warrior know to taunt it off me... I almost never have to use it though since my group is always paying attention to their healer.

 

[Dacalo]

I have a level 43 priest on a RP server and she is getting boring. Shadow specced. It may be because my guild is still young (the next high level is lvl 33) and I have not played with them yet.

I just started a mage in a PVP server and I am having a blast.

 

[CVSiN]

I must say shadow priests are indeed a strong opponant we and duel fest this weekend.. and i dueled a shadow priest... just wow...
talk about getting pwned...

she beat everyone including the top rogue on the server... yes he has Deathstriker and alkors sunrazor (lucky sob) and she still raped him...

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

Hey, get over here and give me some heals!

A priest main function is to assist our master, group leader

I find that they usually tend to BE the group leaders.

 

[torpid]

Just wanted to pop in and note that I did a couple instances as a priest this weekend, and it was a lot of fun. There is hope for my life as a priest after all. I still am not too fond of soloing, but it does seem to be getting better - mostly because I now have about 120 spirit at level 23.

 

[Quixfire]

I've given up playing a priest and switched to a class that I truely enjoy a Warrior. At least my experince playing a priest has made me a better player in general especially being a warrior protecting the caster classes.

 

[Argo]

Do priests have "conjure water" spell? As a mage I used to run out of mana quite often but it's getting better as I'm levelling up and finding +intelegence items.

Also, as a mage it's pretty hard to solo as well especially in caves and dugeons.

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: Argo
Do priests have "conjure water" spell?

Nope. We rely on spirit or in my case, have guild members constantly give me drinks.

 

[Schadenfroh]

When we are the only healer in a group and it is half way into an instance, we have a good deal of power.

 

[Argo]

Originally posted by: WobbleWobble

Originally posted by: Argo
Do priests have "conjure water" spell?

Nope. We rely on spirit or in my case, have guild members constantly give me drinks.

As a mage I have tons of conjured water lying around, I conjure them 8 bottles at a time. Make sure you have a mage in the group and you should be good.

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: torpid
Priests are terrible solo so far. I expect them only to become good in the high 30's. I also want to note that spirit tap seems to have been nerfed in the recent patch, as I no longer gain mana/health until 5 seconds after casting a spell, which reduces the time to 10 seconds, which is not enough to recover from a battle. This is our only regenerative property really. We have no food/water like mages, no stones like warlocks, no innervate like druids. Nothing. Spirit tap is pretty much it, unless you count the somewhat weak feedback. I have been trying to compensate by finishing the enemy off with a wand or staff, but that ends up being a questionable trade as my health will be reduced significantly.

Priest is the only class I've played that struggles to kill things 2 levels above it in the 10-20 level range). If more than one spell is resisted, I flee or I die.

I'm a level 50 Shadow Priest on Archimonde (PVP) and I find I do pretty good soloing.

Always have your PW:F and Inner Fire on. You pretty much need to have your talents mainly in Shadow to solo. It also helps to max out talents in your shield to reduce the timer down to 15 sec.

Always start with your Shield, Mind Blast, then SW: Pain, Mind Flay Mind Blast then Mind Flay and repeat. You might want to throw in mana burn if appicable. Vampiric Embrace is a nice addition, but not really needed since I usually like to recast shield on myself. This makes sure the mobs don't interrupt my Mind Flay. Once you get Shadow Form it gets quite fun. You look cool and are quite powerful.

I can duel guys 6 levels higher too. Lots of horde (I'm Alliance) simply don't even bother trying to fight me when I'm glowing in Shadow Form

But as being a pet, I kinda agree. While we are needed, priests get a lot of the blame for missing heals and letting someone die. It's like being a goalie in hockey or soccer. If you do good, ok whatever. If you screw up you get all the blame. Party members need to let you drink/regen mana, not run off too far ahead and I hate it when they run behind corners.