Spriest vs Mage

[Angarin]

How are they compared at 502 ilvl

528 ilvl

540 ilvl

and lastly

560 ilvl (I believe thats normal SoO)


My friends guild needs a dps & I'm getting bored of just about everything else so I'm willing to jump back into WoW and transfer my mage or spriest.

Problem is

I hear alot of bad things about spriest. But I don't really hear any complaints about mages. Just, if you're low gear level go frost. If you're high go fire or arcane.

I honestly prefer to play spriest, because its simple enough for a DoT class (which I prefer) and warlock is a little to much work, at least affliction and I always felt warlocks were far to much work & the playstyle didn't feel comfortable to me.



So overall, whats your guys stand in PvE between Spriest in those varied ilvls and a mage.

Please no suggestions to healing. I'm kinda done with healing after 4 1/2 years of it.

[Erolian]

If you want damage pick mage every time in that situation. If you want less damage and more raid utility pick s priest every time. That's really all it comes down to

[Angarin]

If you want damage pick mage every time in that situation. If you want less damage and more raid utility pick s priest every time. That's really all it comes down to

What is the gap in damage between the 2 in the gear levels if you can please?

Assuming I learn to play mage well (have some extensive spriest knowledge from cata/mop unless something drastic changed in 5.4), what are the differences in damage?

Extremely noticable like 15k+?

[Erolian]

What is the gap in damage between the 2 in the gear levels if you can please?

Assuming I learn to play mage well (have some extensive spriest knowledge from cata/mop unless something drastic changed in 5.4), what are the differences in damage?

Extremely noticable like 15k+?

Usually more than 15k at higher ilvls unsure about low ilvl but it's totally random depending on boss with the gap mostly growing the fewer targets available to dot for extended amounts of time. That being said enrage timers are mostly not an issue and if this guild is 10 man raid CDs are sometimes in extremely short supply so a VE can count for a lot in some instances.

[maizensh]

Right now mage has better multidoting capabilities, and better single target damage. This gap grows with ilvl.
At 570 a well played mage becomes a lot better than spriest damage wise, either on multidot fight or single target. On single target it just gets worse for spriest.

With all this said, mage is genuinely annoying to play right now because of the L90 buff upkeep talent (frost and fire), while arcane is shackled to a circle.

For below hc raiding you can go with either one, and the difference shouldn't matter much.

[Deleted]

If you want to be able to run a marathon and have a chance of actually winning it, play mage.
If you want to participate the same race but prefer to roll around in a wooden wheelchair, play Spriest.

[doobypls]

I'm currently 576 ilvl, while not being perfectly BiS itemized and only 2 peice (oh the woes of a 10m guild), I'm still using the proper stat weights for reforging/gemming, and hitting my breakpoints....and I sim out around the same dps as a 563 ilvl mage, if that tells you anything. Let's just say there's a reason the #1 simmed spriest in the world isn't even top simmed dps on his realm.

[Saphyron]

If you want to be able to run a marathon and have a chance of actually winning it, play mage.
If you want to participate the same race but prefer to roll around in a wooden wheelchair, play Spriest.

Sadly this is not too far from the truth.
If you want a reliable damage dealer that can actually deal damage go mage.

My ilvl 515 mage does around 180-200k dps in 25man.
My ilvl 548 spriest does around the same
Mage does not have tier gear priest has 2-set bonus

In single target with dps gear on and dps cloak i can almost do more damage as disc than shadow.

[Quenden]

We're at a point where it is hard to give you an answer; I mean with beta coming soonish, I would almost tell you to pick what you find fun now and make a final decision later. Shadow is likely to see many changes with our utility shifting toward raw damage and mages are getting a ton of new talents. Whatever you play now might not necessarily be what you want to play in a few months.

That being said, I love my priest and if you're okay with trading damage for utility, go Shadow. If you're worried about pumping out as much damage as possible go Mage...or warlock. :P

[Caliph]

Listen Op the spriest is always 2nd fiddle to any other pure dps spec. It's kept that way by blizzard purposely because we can do some off healing. If this is a pure dps thing just roll mage. The priest will be bad again in WoD while the mage will continue to be top3. If the mage isn't top 3 then blizzard will buff them. The priest will always be middle of the pack at best.

Your guild will soon be telling you to step it up because of poor dps. Save yourself the headaches and buff, nerf cycles the priest always goes through.

[Relapses]

Do what you like the most. I raid on both a SPriest and a Mage (and have multiple competitive parses on both characters) and they each have their nuances, strengths and weaknesses. Yes, it's indisputably true that in similar gear you'll do more effective DPS as a Mage; but SPriest isn't quite as ridiculously underpowered as most people on this forum would like to contend.

[tiporispit]

If you want to be able to run a marathon and have a chance of actually winning it, play mage.
If you want to participate the same race but prefer to roll around in a wooden wheelchair, play Spriest.

It should be stressed that that chair has square wheels.

- - - Updated - - -

It's kept that way by blizzard purposely because we can do some off healing.

That doesn't even have anything to do with it. They removed the so-called "hybrid tax" like 2 expansions ago. It's not even possible to off-heal as Shadow on current-tier content anymore. Divine Hymn is gone, access to Holy-school is limited, and the ones that are left are either cost-prohibitive or numerically ineffective.

[FluFF]

Play what you want to play and what you see yourself still playing in 2 months time.

Sure mage may be better but you gotta ask yourself if you wanna play any of the 3 specs, or if you can live with the extremely hated lvl 90 talets that mages got, don't forget that Fire doesn't really get rolling until your ilvl is 540 or close by, that arcane is as immobile as spriest and frost, well you gotta like the playstyle.

A lot of people act like if the sky is falling on spriest but fact is that in raidbots ( yes horrible measure tool ) they are like in the middle of the pack atm, while 6 months ago they were always last.

What I'm saying is that a lot will also depend on the guild you are in.
On my rogue during T11 T12 and T13 I was in a non hardcore guild which still got a new hc kill every week and I was always 1st or 2nd on the meters, despite some fights being totally shit for melee.
Yes if you are in a hardcore raiding guild were every hunter, mage rogue warrior or lock sims his char to perfection you will probably not end above any of them, but if you still pull weight and enjoy the playstyle who really cares.