Playing a Priest seriously in WoD

[Deleted]

Hi there fellow Priests, after recently leveling up a Priest and finding much enjoyment in the Shadow spec I have decided to try and play seriously as a Shadow Priest in WoD. And by seriously I mean clear the raid content before the next patch hits etc. I was just wondering if any of you Shadow Priests of MMO-Champ could help me out with what addons that are useful? I've never been big on addons but realize they're a great help if you want to play seriously, so, tips on which ones to download? Any type of help would be useful, thanks!

[Ayanamii]

http://howtopriest.com/

The greatest tool in the Shadow Priest arsenal. Bookmark it, donate to it, love it!

[mag07]

Hi there fellow Priests, after recently leveling up a Priest and finding much enjoyment in the Shadow spec I have decided to try and play seriously as a Shadow Priest in WoD. And by seriously I mean clear the raid content before the next patch hits etc. I was just wondering if any of you Shadow Priests of MMO-Champ could help me out with what addons that are useful? I've never been big on addons but realize they're a great help if you want to play seriously, so, tips on which ones to download? Any type of help would be useful, thanks!

You may get a lot of suggestions as there are a lot of addons that take care of the same things, it's a matter of preference.

For someone that hasn't used many, I'd recommend Quartz - it serves as a cast bar and dot tracker, and practically shows you important info out of the box with no need to fiddle around unless you want to. The only think that needs enabling post install is target castbar, unless you are happy using the Blizz default one under unit frames (it's not turned on by default for some strange reason)

Apart from your dots it's good to see cooldowns on your abilities in a user friendly way. Some people are fine with Blizzard's default, I personally prefer to be able to see the time in seconds - OmniCC takes care of that.

That and a boss mod, be it DBM or BigWigs or any other alternative and you're practically good to go.

As you get deeper into your role you may see the need for more info.

As a shadow priest you will be multidotting - being able to track your dots on different targets can be useful - not so much on trash mobs, as they don't live long enough to be bothered about ideal timings, but on council style fights. Again, several alternatives.

Another useful info that Blizzard's UI fails to convey in a proper way, is buffs on you. Trinket procs, enchant procs - it will be less relevant in WoD as dot snapshotting is practically gone and dot ticks will automatically inherit increased stats when applicable, however, it's still useful to see various buffs as it helps in decision making on the fly when determining ability priority. Once you are comfy with your spec, you'll start seeing the need for it.

A good unit frame addon gives you the ability to display all the above information exactly where you want it (I use Stuf, or an equally good alternative Pitbull), there are also addons dedicated to just displaying buffs and debuffs, like Raven. It's a matter of personal choice. They can be overwhelming to setup at first.

How far into customizing your ui do you want to go? How min/max your approach to playing is? You'd be surprised how many raiders massively under-perform despite clearing content because they can't see stuff on their screens.

When raiding, the ability to see what happens to other raiders and not just tunnel vision on your own role is paramount - you are a priest, you may need to dispel, off heal in those oh shit situations - for that you need to see the need for it. Blizz's default raid frames are fine, just make sure you use them. Alternatives are abundant - grid, grid2, unitframe addons come with their own setups as well. Pick and choose.

Will you have a viable healing offspec? IF yes, good unit frame setup for healing is quite important (I use Grid+Clique combo, in both specs for anything related to healing or cleansing)

It may be a good idea to start of with a UI pack - a popular one is Elve UI. There are pleanty out on WoWInterface.com, generic and class specific.

And last but not least, the addon that can practically do it all - Weak Auras(or for old school players, PowerAuras). It has a learning curve, takes a while to get used to using it, but there aren't many things you can't do with it. And there are imports from other players all over the net, that can savea begineer a lot of time, or give you ideas about how you'd like things set up.

Also, be sure you lurk around howtopriest.com. There aren't many classes that have such an excellent web resource, all in one place, as priests.

[Doakes]

Cheers will check that out Ayanamii

[Deleted]

You may get a lot of suggestions as there are a lot of addons that take care of the same things, it's a matter of preference.

For someone that hasn't used many, I'd recommend Quartz - it serves as a cast bar and dot tracker, and practically shows you important info out of the box with no need to fiddle around unless you want to. The only think that needs enabling post install is target castbar, unless you are happy using the Blizz default one under unit frames (it's not turned on by default for some strange reason)

Apart from your dots it's good to see cooldowns on your abilities in a user friendly way. Some people are fine with Blizzard's default, I personally prefer to be able to see the time in seconds - OmniCC takes care of that.

That and a boss mod, be it DBM or BigWigs or any other alternative and you're practically good to go.

As you get deeper into your role you may see the need for more info.

As a shadow priest you will be multidotting - being able to track your dots on different targets can be useful - not so much on trash mobs, as they don't live long enough to be bothered about ideal timings, but on council style fights. Again, several alternatives.

Another useful info that Blizzard's UI fails to convey in a proper way, is buffs on you. Trinket procs, enchant procs - it will be less relevant in WoD as dot snapshotting is practically gone and dot ticks will automatically inherit increased stats when applicable, however, it's still useful to see various buffs as it helps in decision making on the fly when determining ability priority. Once you are comfy with your spec, you'll start seeing the need for it.

A good unit frame addon gives you the ability to display all the above information exactly where you want it (I use Stuf, or an equally good alternative Pitbull), there are also addons dedicated to just displaying buffs and debuffs, like Raven. It's a matter of personal choice. They can be overwhelming to setup at first.

How far into customizing your ui do you want to go? How min/max your approach to playing is? You'd be surprised how many raiders massively under-perform despite clearing content because they can't see stuff on their screens.

When raiding, the ability to see what happens to other raiders and not just tunnel vision on your own role is paramount - you are a priest, you may need to dispel, off heal in those oh shit situations - for that you need to see the need for it. Blizz's default raid frames are fine, just make sure you use them. Alternatives are abundant - grid, grid2, unitframe addons come with their own setups as well. Pick and choose.

Will you have a viable healing offspec? IF yes, good unit frame setup for healing is quite important (I use Grid+Clique combo, in both specs for anything related to healing or cleansing)

It may be a good idea to start of with a UI pack - a popular one is Elve UI. There are pleanty out on WoWInterface.com, generic and class specific.

And last but not least, the addon that can practically do it all - Weak Auras(or for old school players, PowerAuras). It has a learning curve, takes a while to get used to using it, but there aren't many things you can't do with it. And there are imports from other players all over the net, that can savea begineer a lot of time, or give you ideas about how you'd like things set up.

Also, be sure you lurk around howtopriest.com. There aren't many classes that have such an excellent web resource, all in one place, as priests.

This is basically just what I was looking for, cheers mate!

[Symmone]

Best thing to do is just get in some LFRs and get the feel for everything. You might not need all the addon suggestions everyone gives because you'll find your own particular play style might not need them. Or you may find your play style might need something that wasnt suggested. Just play with it!

[Deleted]

TellMeWhen - track dots with it and other major small cd abilities (esp mind blast) easy to configure, i was using shadow priest dot timers up to the recent patch but i don't think it has been updated recently so just swapped to tmw tracking as i was using it for trinket/banner/other forms of tracking to re-apply my dots with snapshotting but now that has been removed from the game no need.

http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/tellmewhen

Quartz - use this to mind flay clip, minor dps boost but well worth doing/practicing (think you can find some info about clipping if you don't know in this thread http://howtopriest.com/viewtopic.php?t=2162)

http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/quartz

Threat plates - can be used to track dots on multiple targets (requires Tidy Plates addon)

http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/tidy...-threat-plates

Halopro - Shows when you are at the optimal distance to get max damage from Halo, a lot of people use this but i don't bother really you may want it

http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/halopro

Some extremely helpful macro's that you can use are cross dot macro's, basically set one target as your focus and cast these macro's to dot the focus without changing target (you don't specificatly ask for macro's just addons but i'm guessing these will help if not disregard)

#showtooltip Shadow Word: Pain
/cast [@focus] Shadow Word: Pain

#showtooltip Vampiric Touch
/cast [@focus] Vampiric Touch

dispersion macro, must have when you don't want to be sitting in a full duration dispersion when it's not needed just make sure you don't spam it or it will pull you out when you don't want to ending up with a dead spriest

#showtooltip Dispersion
/stopcasting
/cancelaura Dispersion
/cast Dispersion

Also i recommend a must have! life grip mouse over macro for those newbs you can save.

#showtooltip Leap of Faith
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][] Leap of Faith

Hope it helps

[Drye]

First off, never use Quartz. It doesnt update in real time. Use gnosis. It's the best cast bar addon in game.

Realistically you only need.

Weak auras
Sptimers
Gnosis
Tidy plates with plate buffs

Everything else is personal preference.

[djack210]

Realistically you only need.

Weak auras
Sptimers
Gnosis
Tidy plates with plate buffs

Everything else is personal preference.

True facts right here. Sptimers is excellent with some customizing. You can get the same nameplate buff functionality from ElvUI if you decide to go that route.

[Symmone]

I havent played shadow MS since wrath, but the one thing I liked using was actually X-perl only for target frames. It allowed me to customize the size of my own debuffs on the target such as dots and what not so I can easily see their tick timers and refresh when needed.

You can get those specialized addons that time your dots as a countdown bar on your UI somewhere, but I preferred the more simple approach by simply watching that actual debuff on the target.

[Drye]

Pitbull and shadow unit frames allow you to customize your targets debuffs

[LanfearSP]

Thanks for posting this Naxx, I am also planning to play Shadow seriously as well in WOD. Let me know which addons work for you!

[ThrashMetalFtw]

Sptimers

For those unaware, this is basically an updated and improved version of ForteXorcist. It also works just fine for all classes, not just Priests.

[solshine2510]

For those unaware, this is basically an updated and improved version of ForteXorcist. It also works just fine for all classes, not just Priests.

But since it is placed in "Priest addons" subgroup in Wowinterface, lots of potential users are just unaware of its greatness, unless this for some reason is fine with Author, but IMO such gem shouldn't remain almost secret

[Servbot]

H2P is your #1 go-to source for info. I keep it bookmarked and regularly check it.

[Nefarious Tea]

H2P is your #1 go-to source for info. I keep it bookmarked and regularly check it.

Except none of it is updated.

[Drye]

Except none of it is updated.

*bangs head repeatedly against wall because of the amount of pure ignorance*

[Nefarious Tea]

*bangs head repeatedly against wall because of the amount of pure ignorance*

Practise what you preach. None of the H2Priest guides for healing have been updated since early September. That is, pre-6.0.

[Drye]

Practise what you preach. None of the H2Priest guides for healing have been updated since early September. That is, pre-6.0.

What exactly am I preaching here? H2p will never update guides that are being updated because of an expansion or content patch before it actually comes out or within a week to the public. We never have and never will. You can however donate and see them in their rough draft form

[Veiled]

What exactly am I preaching here? H2p will never update guides that are being updated because of an expansion or content patch before it actually comes out or within a week to the public. We never have and never will. You can however donate and see them in their rough draft form

This has been the norm for, like, ever. Unless something is so game breaking that it just has to be in a new guide.

P.S. 6.02 guides have been up for weeks for healing. Those will be edited into WoD. Alas, we never update!