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  1. #21
    Thank you so much, found this so useful. I was able to heal my first group and no wipes, even got great feed back from the group when they found out it was my first time Keep it up!

  2. #22
    What's this about a Spirit cap that I keep hearing about? Yet I can't find ANYTHING on it...

  3. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Baelic View Post
    What's this about a Spirit cap that I keep hearing about? Yet I can't find ANYTHING on it...
    Spirit cap isn't a real number, but it's a "real" thing, in that you have "enough" spirit to make it through an encounter with a little bit of fumbling.

    Pick your hardest fight you're working on right now, say it's nef, say it's hard modes, hell make it Shadow Labs just because everyone hates shadow labs. If you do the fight perfect you should probably have 15-20% mana left, maybe a cooldown, so potentially more give or take.

    If you do the fight not perfect, but relatively successful, you know what you're doing but you're losing members early on, and spending too much mana on inefficient heals (and not cross-healing effectively either), you should be able to scrape through that hard encounter with you know, the bare minimum mana. You're not being the best you can be, but you have the strong grasp on what needs to be done and can accomodate for a margin of error.

    If your group's half dead, you're at 40% of a boss fight, it's not really ideal to try and gear yourself to last another 8 minutes while you try to pretend to kill that boss. It's just not going to happen. Soft enrage mechanics or berserk fits in long before that matters, or you'll just bleed out more and more members as you go along.

    The "Spirit Cap" is a theoretical number that changes per person, depending on their raid composition and external cooldowns, the item level of their gear as well as playstyle and skill level. For some people, that can be as low as 1750 in normals, 2400 in heroics. Others want to give up mastery and/or haste to make a larger buffer and that's alright too (2200-2900 seem to be the norm for this tier of normal-heroic content)

    What's not alright is walking around with 4000 spirit thinking that it's beneficial at that point, when you should start looking at different strategies and playstyles; these changes would help you manage with less, thus gearing for higher output at no real cost. Being able to cast those Flash Heals is one thing, actually needing them when other spells would have worked just fine is another.
    Last edited by Kelesti; 2011-03-27 at 07:37 AM.
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  4. #24
    Thanks for the long and informative explanation, I appreciate it

  5. #25
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    Personaly, I prefer to skip Body and Soul and rather put those points in Veiled Shadows, which reduces the cooldown on Shadowfiend by 1 minute. Helps a lot on fights longer then 5 minutes if you use it early, it will be off cooldown when your running really low on mana.

    Good for raiding

  6. #26
    Haste or Mastery?
    This, I can’t really help you with. It’s personal preference and is up to each individual player and playstyle. Some Holy Priests choose to stack Haste or Mastery, others prefer to balance both stats.
    I'd settle it this way:

    Mostly depends on your current gear level, and the best option will always be going to a site such as Rawr or Mr. Robot. However, this holds PARTIALLY true for beginners that haven't tailored a healing style of their own.

    STACK MASTERY:

    - If you're doing 10 mans and have mana issues.
    - If you're doing 10 mans and are sure your other 2 healers won't overheal your hot.
    - If you're doing 25 mans and people are staying alive.
    - If your healing style revolves more around instants (glyphed PW:S, Renew, CoH, Inner Will).

    STACK HASTE:

    - Until you're done with 5 mans.
    - If you're doing 10 mans and need more than 1 PoH and 1 CoH to get the raid up to desirable health (Heroic Modes for example).
    - If you're doing 10 mans and end up with +40% mana.
    - If you're doing 10 mans and are tank healing.
    - If you're doing 25 mans, have no mana issues and people are DYING.
    - If you're healing style revolves more about cast time spells (double PoHs, Heal on low targets, Inner Fire).

    Or in a nutshell:

    MASTERY FOR MANA CONSERVATION
    HASTE FOR THROUGHPUT

    Do correct me if I'm wrong and feel free to add more. Also let us know when you plan to make an encounter-specific tips section so we can help
    Last edited by Slutty; 2011-04-11 at 07:44 PM.

  7. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by abb93 View Post
    Personaly, I prefer to skip Body and Soul and rather put those points in Veiled Shadows, which reduces the cooldown on Shadowfiend by 1 minute. Helps a lot on fights longer then 5 minutes if you use it early, it will be off cooldown when your running really low on mana.

    Good for raiding
    The likelihood of Veiled Shadows helping is actually very low and completely dependent on fight length and when your first Fiend is used. It's actually very situational and rarely helpful. Basically you get windows of usefulness. If you use it let's say 20 seconds in there is a window from 275 seconds to 335 seconds where Veiled Shadows helps. The next window is at 515 seconds to 635 seconds. If the fight ends at any other point Veiled Shadows literally did nothing.

    Meanwhile Body and Soul is one of the best utility talents in the game and you decided to pass it up. Not even one of the best utility talents for Holy Priests. One of the best in the game for any spec of any class. Passing on Body and Soul is like raising your hand and saying, "Teacher, can I have a helmet? I fall down a lot."

  8. #28
    Awesome guide, thanks!

  9. #29
    Brilliant Guide, many thanks!

    BR,
    Andrei

  10. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by Ynna View Post
    I would also like to ask the more veteran priests to drop little bits of info or tips and tricks, so I can add them at a later time.
    Tips & Tricks

    When your Prayer of Mending has bounced onto yourself, use Shadow Word: Death to keep it bouncing & add a bit of damage.

    Utilize levitate when it happens to annoy you that party members are jumping all over the place.

    Time casting of a 'Speed Bubble' when a player is running towards the edge of a elevator, while having ./point & /lol ready.

  11. #31
    As an update, doesn't a crit now heal for 200%?

    I have not seen anything on this so i'll ask here. PoM used to give the agro from it's heal to the person hit, not the priest making it an awesome way of increasing tank threat and lowering your own. Is this still true?

    Tips:
    Use any and all +mana cooldowns for best shadow fiend use.
    Drop a lightwell before the fight starts, regen the mana cost as or before tank pulls, enjoy free heals even if only you use it!
    For better AoE heals, binding heal yourself and the tank before using PoH to get the cast time reduction. (mana and time permitting)

  12. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by ajanu View Post
    As an update, doesn't a crit now heal for 200%?

    I have not seen anything on this so i'll ask here. PoM used to give the agro from it's heal to the person hit, not the priest making it an awesome way of increasing tank threat and lowering your own. Is this still true?
    Crits won't heal for 200% until 4.2 goes live.

    Mending hasn't given tank threat since 3.0.

    And you should never use a heal to get Serendipity. Serendipity's a bonus, not a reason to cast a spell before hand.
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  13. #33
    Herald of the Titans Ynna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ajanu View Post
    As an update, doesn't a crit now heal for 200%?

    I have not seen anything on this so i'll ask here. PoM used to give the agro from it's heal to the person hit, not the priest making it an awesome way of increasing tank threat and lowering your own. Is this still true?
    I think the Crit change will only happen in 4.2.
    And if I recall correctly they changed PoM so it doesn't give the tank threat anymore, around WotLK.
    Resurrected Holy Priest

  14. #34
    Thanks Kel and Ynna. I stopped playing in 3.0, hence missing that one.

  15. #35
    You can go on spirit of redemption and cast Mass Ressurection (if you're the last person being killed on a messy pull, and a guild lvl 25 ofc). Its a good tip to remember, and might be useful for those new begginers who are entering heroics.

  16. #36
    Great initiative, Ynna!

    Quote Originally Posted by Ynna View Post
    Binding Heal: Heals both you and your target. This spell is as fast as Flash Heal, but cheaper to cast. It also saves you time, since you only need to cast one heal in order to heal two people.
    Actually, Flash Heal and Binding Heal cost exactly the same. The major difference is that Flash Heal heals for around 20% more and scales slightly better, but of course only on one target. If the devs ever decide that priests have too many buttons to press (which is arguably true, but also half the fun), merging these two spells are probably going to be the first course of action. On many fights where damage flies liberally, spamming this spell is far superior to spamming flash heal if you want to keep yourself and the tank alive.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ynna View Post
    Prayer of Mending: Puts a buff on the target, providing healing when the target takes damage, then jumps to another player. The spell is more or less smart in that it seems to (mostly) jumps to people who have recently taken damage, but for some reason it favors the priest that casts it.
    This is actually a GOOD thing, because you can then just throw a Shadow Word: Death around, and damage yourself a bit, but send the buff back to the tank. As opposed to if it just landed on the hunter pet where it would never be seen again.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ynna View Post
    Circle of Healing: Heals up to 5 (6 if glyphed) players within 30 yards of the target. It heals the people who have taken the most damage within its range. It doesn’t heal for that much but has the advantage of being instant. This spell is great for following up a Prayer of Healing.
    Keep in mind that they buffed it quite notably in 4.1 (while nerfing PoH), so this spell is actually somewhat on par with Prayer of Healing these days.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ynna View Post
    Holy Nova: Deals damage to all enemies within its range and also heals up to 5 friendly targets within the blast. Doesn’t heal for very much, causes no threat and can be cast while moving, which is pretty much the only reason to use it.
    I think you can safely say that it is completely useless. If you want to do aoe damage as Holy, Mind Sear is the way to go (since it was buffed in 4.1 at least). If you want to heal 5 targets for miniscule healing, Sanctuary is outperforming this one badly. Which is saying quite a lot considering how little sanctuary actually heals for.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ynna View Post
    Divine Hymn: A channeled spell that heals the three people who are most damaged and also increases healing done on those people each tick. While it isn’t the gamebreaker that it used to be, but it can still make a bad situation a lot better.
    I find that the primary reason to cast this spell is actually to get a mana break. The spell doesn't really heal for more than spamming Prayer of Healing would do, and while it is smart, it's as you say not a tableturner. But it's a great way to not do anything for 8 seconds. And that means 8 seconds of free manaregen!

    Quote Originally Posted by Ynna View Post
    Hymn of Hope: Channeled spell that restores mana to the 3 people with the lowest mana and increases their total mana by 15%. The mana restore isn’t that good, but the increased mana also increases the mana gains of everything else that scales with total mana such as Replenishment and Shadowfiend.
    No Holy guide should avoid talking about the required synergy between Shadowfiend and Hymn of Hope. As far as humanly possible, try to cast these two spells at the same time - ie, cast Shadowfiend and immediately start channeling Hymn of Hope. If you are in a raid setting, keep on channeling, but if you are healing yourself, just abort it immediately after you have the regen buff. If you are a blood elf, use Arcane Torrent at the same time too. The synergy really makes a notable difference, and can be the difference between a 2% wipe or not.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ynna View Post
    Leap of Faith: Pulls the target to your location. Useful for people who are standing in bad things, or help people position.
    And griefing! =)

    Quote Originally Posted by Ynna View Post
    Holy Word: Chastise/Serenity/Sanctuary: Holy Word: Chastise is the spell you get when choosing the Holy spec. It deals damage and disorients the target for 3 seconds. On picking the Revelations talent Holy Word: Chastise changes when entering Chakra: Serenity or Chakra: Sanctuary. In Chakra: Serenity it becomes Holy Word: Serenity. This heals the target for a good amount, costs little mana and increases the critical strike chance of your healing spells on the target by 25% for 6 seconds. In Chakra: Sanctuary it becomes Holy Word: Sanctuary. Holy Word: Sanctuary puts a glowy effect on the ground that heals the people in it for 18 seconds. This costs a lot of mana and heals for little, but is steady healing that happens while you can do other things.
    Serenity is actually EXTREMELY cheap (cheaper than Heal, even!). And it crits for a ridiculous amount of healing compared to the effort it requires to cast (today I had a 30k crit, though that was probably with Test of Faith enabled). Truly one of the best healing spells in a game.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ynna View Post
    Guardian Spirit: Places a buff on the target increasing healing done to that target by 40%. If the target dies while the buff is active he comes back with 50% of their health. This spell is immensely powerful, but can bug out, letting the target die.
    They've actually fixed most of the bugs (only took 2 years!). But nowadays it only prevents damage for up to 2x the HPbar of a target. So don't expect it to counter mechanics you aren't supposed to be able to outheal. Also: make sure to cast more than it 0.3 + netlag seconds before the tank dies - that is the window the server need to notice the buff.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ynna View Post
    Fade: Removes all threat for 10 seconds, but you regain all this threat when the buff ends. When one or more mobs are hitting you it’s a good idea to push fade.
    Proper Fade usage is really one of the biggest strengths of a healing priest compared to other healers in PVE. Yes, we are squishy clothies, but thanks to this spell, we should NEVER be hit by any direct attacks. Hotkey it to a keybind you can reach in 0.02 seconds, get some unit frames that show when you have aggro, and make sure to use it the moment you get it. This spell more than makes up for any lack of armor, and I pity restodruids when I see them being unable to shake a mob.
    If you ever find yourself being oneshot, you didn't use this spell. Do so!

    Quote Originally Posted by Ynna View Post
    Spirit of Redemption: When you die you become an angel, able to heal for another 15 seconds. While opinions are divided on this talent, most priests probably have a story about how this talent saved an encounter.
    Five years of healing, still don't

    Quote Originally Posted by Ynna View Post
    Blessed Resilience: When you get hit for 10% of health all incoming healing is increased. You’ll get hit by unavoidable (and avoidable) quite a lot in dungeons, so extra healing after that is always nice.
    I would go as far as saying that this talent is mandatory for raiding. AoE damage is flying low all over the raids, and this talent is going to dramatically increase your survivability.

  17. #37
    Is it safe to assume that Holy is better for low level PvE? I am currently leveling and in the low twenties.

    Noob priest here.

  18. #38
    Herald of the Titans Ynna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phenetix View Post
    Is it safe to assume that Holy is better for low level PvE? I am currently leveling and in the low twenties.

    Noob priest here.
    No quite. Both specs are perfectly doable. It just a matter of personal preference.
    Resurrected Holy Priest

  19. #39
    Quote Originally Posted by Ynna View Post
    No quite. Both specs are perfectly doable. It just a matter of personal preference.
    Thank you kindly. I was speaking to a high level priest in game. He was pigeon holing me pretty hard into thinking that I only has one option. Holy for PvE and Disco a better suited PvP spec. Thank you for your time sir/mam.

  20. #40
    Herald of the Titans Ynna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phenetix View Post
    Thank you kindly. I was speaking to a high level priest in game. He was pigeon holing me pretty hard into thinking that I only has one option. Holy for PvE and Disco a better suited PvP spec. Thank you for your time sir/mam.
    Sir, actually . Not that I care, I've been mistaken for a woman for too often to let it bother me.

    It used to be like that, Discipline for PvP and Holy for PvE, but nowadays the specs are pretty close together (except for Holy in Arena), so it's a playstyle preference.
    Resurrected Holy Priest

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