[Priest] Open Letter to our Beta Testers!

[Kelesti]

So this, right here, is a compilation of questions that we, as a class, want to ask our Beta Testers.

This will be mechanics based. Numbers will be tweaked at least 18 times a build, so no one can really say how things will work out.

"Does Mind Spike do more damage than X" is especially useless, so let's keep those types of questions out.

Alright, so what're your questions?

[Kelesti]

Raid Buffs/Debuffs:
With the loss of Misery, Divine Sprit, and Improved Fortitude, are Priests (specifically non-Discipline) going to see any sort of Raid Buff/Debuffs to help balance things out? Not Magelust, just anything in general.
-- Shadowform offers 5% Spell Haste, shared with Wrath of Air and Moonkin Form
-- Discipline has lost 3% reduced damage taken, placing Healing Priests on par with no talented secondary buffs.


Glyphs!
When the glyphs finally get laid out, what are we looking at?

Mastery:
What kind of increases do we see from Mastery on gear towards Absorbption? How does this stat affect Echos of Light, and what Mastery Rating converts to what percent chance to spawn a Shadow Orb, and off of what spells?

Spirit:
Will Shadow gain the hybrid’s Spirit to hit conversion? Or will they be able to use the already existing cloth gear with hit on it?
~~**UPDATED**~~--Shadow now has 100% Spirit to Hit, and is able to use both Hit Cloth and Spirit Cloth (whichever is better itemised).

What is the current Regen formula?
--Unknown, would love to calculate

Intellect/Spell Power:
What kind of “Spell Power” will we be seeing from Intellect? Is Spell Power still present as a stat on weapons?
--Intellect grants 1 Spell Power, but Spell Power is in large quantities on weapons.

Does Intellect still give the same amount of mana, and/or scale with active regen (cooldowns and/or Replenishment)?
--Currently, yes.

Wands:
Is anything being done to actually make these better than a third ring slot?
--Unknown. Relics are now Wands without DPS.



Level 10 Skills/Passives:
What do we gain upon Specializing at level 10?
~~**New**~~-Discipline gains Penance as an Active, with Enlightenment (+25% Healing), Meditation (50% mana regeneration in combat), and Holy Focus (Spell Pushback Reduction)
~~**New**~~-Holy gains Holy Word: Chastise as an active, with Holy Focus (Spell Pushback Reduction), Meditation (50% mana regeneration in combat) and Spiritual Healing (+25% Healing)
~~**New**~~-Shadow gains Mind Flay as an Active, with Dark Thoughts (Threat and Spell Pushback Reduction), Shadow Power (+25% Shadow Damage) and Blackout (Crits do double damage)



Shadowform:
At what level can I reach it?
-Currently, level 29. This is subject to change.

Shadow Orbs:
What do Shadow Orbs actually do while active, and how high do they stack? Do they interact with your spells, or just a passive damage buff?
-- Current iteration has them stacking (unknown max? likely 3), unleashing bonus damage on your next Mind Blast/Mind Spike

Mind Spike:
How does this spell interact with others talented or otherwise?
~~**Updated**~~--Casting Mind Spike increases the chance for your Mind Blast to crit. One can also talent that Mind Spike reduces the cast time of Mind Blast by 50% (stacking twice).

Vampiric Embrace:
How does this benefit from the dropping of "groups" within the raid?

Shadow Word: Death:
What are the new mechanics about this spell? Is the Backlash still there (all the time/above 35%/above 20%), and does it still scale with damage done (possibly one-shotting yourself on buff-fights?). Can you even cast it above stated Execute range anymore, and is there possibly any interaction with other spells, talented or otherwise?
--Having my beta testers answer this question would be awesome.

Shadowy Apparition:
How do these work? Also, can they be damaged? Avoided? Do they eventually despawn, or are they like a bolt that has been launched, eventually going to hit the target? Do they have range limitations?
~~**Updated**~~--These have been updated, and now target the enemy of which Shadow Word: Pain's tick spawned them. This looks like a "Shadowform Mirror Image". Spawning while moving seems to be intended as a way to continue damage, when you are unable to during mobile fights. However, if the target dies, this does not despawn, but returns to you, to seek out another potential enemy (Classified as "Guardian).
--Clarification is required for the other questions

DoT/HoT refresh:
How does reapplying an over-Time effect work, when cast halfway through a duration? Near the end? Near the beginning? Is there still a Shadow Word: Pain refresh mechanic? Does it now work similar to the new refresh (if applicable)

Additional Ticks:
How much haste is required for additional ticks from Mind Flay? Divine Hymn/Hymn of Hope (if possible)? Renew/Lightwell Renew? Penance?
--Needing Clarification



Inner Fire/Will:
What changes are there to Inner Fire?
--Inner Fire currently has a 90% bonus to your armor

Echoes of Light:
~~**NEW**~~
I thought this was called Radiance?
--Apparently they changed "Holy Hands" for Paladins to "Holy Radiance" and didn't want to confuse Holy Paladins and Holy Priests. Or something.

Will the ticks of Echoes of Light (and to a lesser extent, Lightwell or Blessed Recovery) be subject to Haste and/or Crit? What spells actually trigger the effect?
-Haste/Crit is still unknown, but everything seems to trigger it (including trinket effects and Lightwell's application.) "Ticks" of Renew (or Lightwell Renew) do not seem to grant Echoes of Light. Power Word: Shield is unknown, needing further clarification.
~~**New**~~-Given the stacking nature of Echoes of Light, they are already implied to scale with Haste and Crit, in that your crits trigger bigger radiance, and with the rolling nature of it you can apply it faster, thus haste inclusion by default.

Lightwell:
Is there any hope for this spell?
-Answer 1: It no longer clears your target!
-Answer 2: Negative
-Answer 3: Lightwell is the "Wesley Crusher of WoW"
~~**NEW**~~-Answer 4: No longer required for Chakra

Leap of Faith:
Does it break Shadowform? Is it on the GCD? Can you cast while being "Gripped"? Is there a Threat Drop associated with this ability, or any other secondary effects (including Cooldown) possibly related to spec? Is there a debuff, to prevent multiple Priests from chaining the effects, and does it suffer from Diminishing Returns?


Hymns:
Do these have their target caps removed? Are they also affected by haste for additional "ticks"?
--Needing Clarification

Flash Heal:
With Heal stepping up to the plate, are we still going to see talents meshing with Flash Heal?
~~**Updated**~~--Currently seeing Serendipity, Twirling Lights, and Grace still affecting Flash Heal. It looks like we're intended to keep this on our bars.

Chakra:
~~**NEW**~~How does Chakra work? Can it be sustained for an entire fight, or can we be in more than one?
What spells are affected by Chakra? Is there a visual effect, or a new UI?
--Chakra is an instant cast, non-Global Cooldown spell, like Inner Focus, that is consumed on your next spellcast. After activation, the buff given to your spells upon entering Chakra is active for 30 seconds, and Chakra itself is on cooldown for one minute. State of Mind (new talent) allows you to extend your current Chakra's duration by an additional 4 seconds (capping out at the original 30). The Chakras are "Heal" "Renew" "Prayer of Healing" and "Smite". There's no UI improvements, but there is a quite snazzy animation that pulses under your feet while in the chakra, shifting and changing colors as you flow between them. The activation itself retains the glowing hands from Inner Focus.

Revelations:
~~**NEW**~~What about Holy Word: Chastise? How is this a useful spell? What are its Diminishing Returns? Are there animations for any of these effects?
--Holy Word: Chastise is a root that will help you while levelling, and in PvP, on a 45 second cooldown. But depending on the Chakra you are in (Heal, Renew, Prayer of Healing), Chastise will become another Holy Word, with differing effects: Serenity (Heal Chakra) Instant Heal, with increased chance to crit on the target, 45 second cooldown. Aspire (Renew Chakra) Instant heal, with an additional Heal over Time effect placed on the target, 15 second cooldown. Sanctuary (Prayer Chakra). Ground-Targetted (Like Mass Dispel) Heal over Time for 15 seconds, 10 second cooldown, but limited to one-per-priest.

Prayer of Healing:
What are the new limitations placed upon this spell?
--Currently Unknown

Archangel:
What is the cooldown on this?
--15 seconds

Atonement:
How does the healing work? Can this proc Divine Aegis?
-This healing apparently targets the closest person to the Smite Target. It cannot crit independently, so therefore cannot trigger Divine Aegis.

Holy Nova:
How will the heal of this spell work?
--Apparently this is Raidwide?

Weakened Soul:
Will there be less problems with Weakened Soul between multiple Priests (crossover between Holy and Discipline, especially with Body and Soul)
--Subjective. Unknown at this point.
--Power Word: Barrier does not seem to cause this.

Power Word: Barrier:
What are the mechanics and limitations on this spell?
--An area-effect "Sacred Shield" type buff, where it is a weaker shield, absorbing small damage off each hit until the entire shield breaks.

No longer valid:
What are the percentages for going 51 points into a tree?

[fabian]

On the beta i have 16% haste and when i cast power infusion penance ticks for 4 times.

Woah, that does not make sense if haste affects dots, and channeled spells like it currently does. I looked for more info and found this thread: http://www.shadowpriest.com/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=28494

[Surea]

My boyfriend got a beta invite this morning, so I will also be trying out on is account then. I won't have a lvl 80 priest but I'll try and help out with making a troll priest ? Hopefully I'll get some questions answered.

[Zoros]

I've recently entered the beta 8)

[fabian]

What is your regen as shadow? as holy/disc? <-- Top priority
What is your regen as a warlock/mage? <-- Comparison for shadow
What is your regen as 0/0/0 druid/shaman/paladi? as a resto shaman/druid or holy paladin? <-- Comparison for priests in general

[Lysdexic]

I am a lvl 81 premade priest. Full 251 gear.

As holy in my healing gear: 628/314 ||| 1631 int / 935 spirit
As holy in my shadow gear: 147/73 ||| 1531/226

Will do more, I just popped on the boat that takes you to Vashj'ir and my mind exploded. INCREDIBLE questing experience and atmosphere. It sucked me right in.
DEFINITELY choosing that over Hyjal (and I was super gung ho about Hyjal).

[fabian]

SO holy definitely has 50% meditation, but what if you were in your spec shadow?

[Lysdexic]

Holy shit I completely forgot to mention, there are new party frames!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can move them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCC9A-09kYE
There's a video for example where you can see them. There is no frame for yourself, so you still have to deal with your own health bar being up in the corner, but this is a huge step forward.
They're really decent, but maybe a little too cramped for my taste. Buffs line up with icons on the right and debuffs on the right. And the person with aggro gets this really big & obvious red border around their frame. It shows incoming heals as well. Super happy with the change.

[Kelesti]

Updated.

[Abandon]

SO holy definitely has 50% meditation, but what if you were in your spec shadow?

Then you would not have Meditation at all and all of your Mana should be restored through appropriate use of cooldowns, the same as other DPS classes.

[derevka]

Some of this information is redundant to my latest blog post.

Divine Touch (giggity) - Does not seem to benefit from crit; thus cannot proc Holy Concentration. Unsure if this is intended.

Mp5 to Spirit Conversion on existing gear seems to be 1 MP5 = 2 Spirit. For example if an item had 30 MP5 (ie. Heroic Frigid Eye) it now has 60 spirit.

Any other questions, or things we can test?

[derevka]

Did a fairly comprehensive write up regarding channeled spells/hots/dots and haste.

http://talesofapriest.com/?p=942

Haste will add ticks to all over time spells at set breakpoints. (penance is 25, 75, and 125%) in between those breakpoints it will just shorten the duration of the cast, until an "additional tick" breakpoint is reached.

Hello complicated gearing/gemming!

[fabian]

Did a fairly comprehensive write up regarding channeled spells/hots/dots and haste.

http://talesofapriest.com/?p=942

Haste will add ticks to all over time spells at set breakpoints. (penance is 25, 75, and 125%) in between those breakpoints it will just shorten the duration of the cast, until an "additional tick" breakpoint is reached.

Hello complicated gearing/gemming!

When was it tested? Because Penance does go with the model given in the thread I posted earlier, although conventional thinking would say otherwise.

[Nox165]

With veil of shadows moved to tier 1 i have a feeling that it will be mandatory to pick it up. 2 mins off shadowfied and 6 secs off fade seems to go to pass up imo

[Sny]

Did a fairly comprehensive write up regarding channeled spells/hots/dots and haste.

http://talesofapriest.com/?p=942

Haste will add ticks to all over time spells at set breakpoints. (penance is 25, 75, and 125%) in between those breakpoints it will just shorten the duration of the cast, until an "additional tick" breakpoint is reached.

Hello complicated gearing/gemming!

Borrowed Time is going to mess that up, along with any other haste buffs that may be active, it seems strange to go from 3 fast ticks to 4 slow ticks, although it sounds interesting managing Borrowed Time to get a faster or more efficient heal from the same spell.

[Xelestial]

How long do the Shadow Orbs stay around? Are they like charges or a buff?

How does the longer Mind Flay affect the feel of the rotation? Shadow is meant to MOVE- How does 5 seconds of standing around seem? Or with talents and haste, is it not really a noticeable change from 3?

[Kaesebrezen]

How long do the Shadow Orbs stay around? Are they like charges or a buff?

They're currently disabled, so the information is based on the last time they did work.
Orbs did have a 1 minute duration and stacked up to 3. They're shown in the buff bar.

How does the longer Mind Flay affect the feel of the rotation?

Currently bugged, still channels 3 sec, doesn't show any damage done, but has the new description.

[Siri]

I saw that a bit of stuff is outdated here so I figured I'd fill some in though not everything I wanted to test works right now.

DoT/HoT refresh:
How does reapplying an over-Time effect work, when cast halfway through a duration? Near the end? Near the beginning? Is there still a Shadow Word: Pain refresh mechanic? Does it now work similar to the new refresh (if applicable)

Refreshing a dot before it ends sets the duration to it's original plus whatever time was remaining until the next tick. For this example assume that we have 0% haste so the duration of DP is exactly 24 seconds, if you refresh it with 2 seconds remaining (and thus 2 seconds until the next tick) the duration will be set to 26 seconds and the first tick occuring at 24. Same goes wherever during the duration you refresh it. Time until next tick + 24 = new duration.

SW:P works the same way it does on live, except that it is now also affected by haste (but maintains as close to an 18 second duration as possible, the same as other dots)

Inner Fire/Will:
What changes are there to Inner Fire?
--Inner Fire currently has a 90% bonus to your armor

Inner Fire grants a 60% bonus to your armor and no longer uses any kind of charges.

Holy Nova:
How will the heal of this spell work?
--Apparently this is Raidwide?
-- Holy Nova critical strikes do not proc Surge of Light. Possibly a bug.

Holy Nova heals do indeed not proc Surge of Light, Holy Nova damage does though.
Healing numbers are the same as on live, damage is significantly lower to put it in line with the changes to all the other aoe.

[syleth]

Not exactly a question, but could someone please beg Blizzard to uncouple Improved psychic scream (a crappy talent in PvP and PvE anyway IMO) from Silence.

Silence is good, but it's not worth wasting 3 points to get. It's a very useful spell in leveling and in 5 mans (silence the caster to bring them to the tank). Other classes get a silence baseline, and I'm not complaining if I have to spend a talent point on it, but having to waste 2 points to get to it isn't fair IMO.