Spriest pvp? and PVE?

[frozenshade]

i havent been following priests much, however i do have a 70 priest that i might take to 80.

my question is, how does everyone think Spriests are going to hold up in raid and in PVP (arena)

[Geckomayhem]

I can only speak from a raiding point of view.

My impression of shadow priests at 80 is that they are still lacking in the DPS department. The addition of Mind Sear gives them an AoE quality, but when it comes to raiding, having nerfed the shadow bonuses to their key moves has only made DPS worse.

Mana return -- both personal and corporate -- is really nice. I would like to do a bit more testing with level 80 on beta before I truly come to a conclusion about the DPS aspect of spriests, but my initial reaction is that I want to stay as Holy rather than make the change, as I originally intended.

Mind Blast can give some really nice crits but the whole tree seems to be lacking something that gives spriests that extra "oomph" to make them competitive DPSers. At least they bring amazing utility to raids!

Gaiwyn aka Ilyaena of Proudmoore

Edit: typo from ghey, 500-year old keyboard.

[Doomwalker]

Mind Blast can give some really nice crits but the whole tree seems to be lacking something that gives spriests that extra "oomph" to make them competitive DPSers. At least they bring amazing utility to raids!

Gaiwyn aka Ilyaena of Proudmoore

Edit: typo from ghey, 500-year old keyboard.

"At least they bring amazing utility to raids!" ????? Have i missed something?

[Bluetoez]

In beta atm, you won't find any shadow priests round for pvp in wotlk when it goes live, it's very bad for pvp. For pve in a 10 man naxx the other day i was 5th on meter, which is pretty crap, considering we were all around the same geared. So basically i don't see us having a future in pvp or pve unless devs wake up and relise we need some serious fixing.

[mutantboy]

Spreist mechanics in Wrath are not dissimilar to current - I don't really see too much that makes them better. Which is to say they will be about as viable as they currently are

And raid DPS - well every pass they see to flip flop from massively OP to mediocre. So the potential is there. realised? Not right at this moment.

Now that so many classes offer utility that the raid needs I think it will come down to things like survivability. And if a Pally or Hunter (who often have better stats when it comes to things like Base health) can offer the utility while being more robust you would have to be silly not to take them.

I was the sole remaining S/priest in my guild. Our raid leaders have said they are unlikely to actively recruit the class for wrath - and I am pretty sure this is an attitude that has come from other guilds. I can't see them as being the best option and won't be suprised to see a surplus of ret pallies running around. If my own guild is any judge I can see s/prest pop as minute - simply because pallies will be PvP/PvE viable

[DevouringDark]

Mutantboy summed it all up very nicely. The core of the shadow priest is still going to be the same... BUT WITH DEVOURING PLAGUE!!!! OH YEAAAAAAA!!!! TAKE THAT!!!! Woosh. No, but really, shadow priest dps in the beta atm is, in most cases, where it is now. Below everyone else (Including demo warlocks atm it looks like :'( ), with the exception of course of the elemental shamans.

[Anglarana]

perhaps you never heard of a mana battery?

Which is gone with the patch? go read up a bit...... we hardly give mana back now

[Demoness]

Mutantboy summed it all up very nicely. The core of the shadow priest is still going to be the same... BUT WITH DEVOURING PLAGUE!!!! OH YEAAAAAAA!!!! TAKE THAT!!!! Woosh. No, but really, shadow priest dps in the beta atm is, in most cases, where it is now. Below everyone else (Including demo warlocks atm it looks like :'( ), with the exception of course of the elemental shamans.

All I have to say to you is that a skilled demo warlock can keep up in nearly every situation. I myself raid as felguard currently and through Black Temple and Hyjal. I consistently stay top 3 dps, even above some of our better geared destro locks. My Spriest friend IRL is one of my best competitors currently. This is not to say you are wrong about what is going on post-patch, but I believe that Spriests have been given more of a dps upgrade than a demon warlock on ptrs and beta. This causes me to assume that you just havent mastered your new rotations yet, while mine dont change at all. At 80, I wont be gaining any new raid spells, and talents dont change my rotations whatsoever.