[Priest] 5.2 PTR notes

[snaxattax]

hoping they change SW:I and PI so that shadow can have a competitive single target dps setup.

either that or they make the thunderking's tier 15 elegons and recycle the +55% SWDeath set bonus again.

[Venaliter]

For those that don´t know how to read...the new patch will be a BIG NERF to Disc Priests!
the last blow is the nerf on Rapture.

The nerf to Rapture was completely justified. It even is a slight buff to PvP mana...At least for Disc.

There is NO solid changes here. Disc priests on PvP will have no love....none.

This unfortunately, is true. These changes pretty much suck all the way around. Disc in PvP gets screwed, Shadow gets screwed in PvP, and Holy is screwed in both.

[shanthi]

So Power Word: Solace should be an atonement heal, since the official notes says that it interacts with other spells and abilities in the same manner as Holy Fire, which it replaces. That makes PW:So a mana-free heal plus 1% mana back. Used on cooldown, that would seem to be worth 16.8% base mana per minute (1% per cast, plus the Holy Fire atonement healing without the 1.8% base mana cost = 2.8% mana gained/saved per cast * 6 casts per minute).

[Venaliter]

So Power Word: Solace should be an atonement heal, since the official notes says that it interacts with other spells and abilities in the same manner as Holy Fire, which it replaces. That makes PW:So a mana-free heal plus 1% mana back. Used on cooldown, that would seem to be worth 16.8% base mana per minute (1% per cast, plus the Holy Fire atonement healing without the 1.8% base mana cost = 2.8% mana gained/saved per cast * 6 casts per minute).

That makes PW:Solace a mana-free instant heal plus 1% mana back.

I'll have to wait for the number crunching, but this iteration isn't as bad as the last one - except in PvP. Insanity still useless. Back to the drawing board on that one.

[Kelesti]

So Solace now works with Atonement. GG Blizz, what are you doing? That is of course, ignoring the same exact mana/sec as Mindbender when both are used on cooldown (except that Mindbender needs a lot less GCDs to get that mana).

Rapture buff/proc removal nerf is more than justified. It's long as sin overdue. But that Spirit Shell nerf...

"Yo guys, we heard you like absorbs, so we gave you a cool spell to be nothing but absorbs. But even though your mastery is absorbs, this won't actually increase with it."

Spirit Shell is getting to the point where at this time next tier it won't be classified as "really really good", but defined gamebreaking. I'm not denying that. But tearing Mastery off of the Mastery defining spell (well, excluding Shield, which they don't want spammed for what should be obvious reasons) seems like... Blizz? Blizz, stahp. Stahp, Blizz. Wat r u doin.

[Thehealbus]

Wow, a spell that only does absorbs doesn't benefit from mastery which increases the effectiveness of absorbs? How confusing is that.

How many absorbs will we even have after this that mastery will be used for? Divine aegis and PW:S I guess. I'm guessing pure crit next patch will be the way to go with increased DA proc.

[KaPe]

Kinda strange they didn't touch Spirit Shell cooldown or duration. They better hope boss abilities are less predictable or reactive, or it will still be a powerhouse - except this time, it will be done by switching to Crit over Mastery.

Still doesn't look like Holy is able to match Disc, but it's just a first draft, so I guess we'll see later.

[Kelesti]

They also haven't touched Holy's damage output yet, either. And we know that's coming thanks to tweets from GC.

[Venaliter]

...But that Spirit Shell nerf...

"Yo guys, we heard you like absorbs, so we gave you a cool spell to be nothing but absorbs. But even though your mastery is absorbs, this won't actually increase with it."

I spent a great deal of time thinking about how to redesign it when they said they wanted too. The BEST thing I could come up with is "Shield everyone within 40 yards for X, lasting for Y seconds" so that it continues to scale with Mastery but be a little less broken then it was before - and different from PoH. It wasn't a perfect solution (it lowered the skill cap, quite honestly) but it was far, far better then this. So Mastery scales with Shield, and a little with Aegis..and that's it?

Wow, a spell that only does absorbs doesn't benefit from mastery which increases the effectiveness of absorbs? How confusing is that.

Pretty damn confusing.

How many absorbs will we even have after this that mastery will be used for? Divine aegis and PW:S I guess. I'm guessing pure crit next patch will be the way to go with increased DA proc.

That was my assumption too. Mastery went from our best stat...to our worst? I'll wait for the theorycrafters to crunch the numbers.

Still doesn't look like Holy is able to match Disc, but it's just a first draft, so I guess we'll see later.

Holy is barely competitive in PvE, and outright broken in PvP.

[Sparkiee]

Its a fact that Spirit Shell needed nerfing, and im perfectly aware this is the first round of ptr but that nerf is once again rushed and clearly not thought through atall, which is generaly the same with all of blizzards balance decisions these days but hey.

"Hey Mr.Priest, here is your mastery, it increases the absorb amount on all your spells that use absorb mechanics, except the best one, sorry."

It also brings up the question, what are the better stats now if SS is not effected by mastery? A better nerf would of been a cooldown increase, or if they still wanted to go down the mastery route, making it only effect a % of your mastery.

Couldnt care less about the solace change / holy fire, yeh slight pain its not instant anymore but what the hell.

Rapture nerf justified, not sure why it got increased to 250%, wasent needed imo.

[Venaliter]

Rapture nerf justified, not sure why it got increased to 250%, wasent needed imo.

Priests desperately need help with mana in PvP. But it's not just Disc; Holy too. It's like they aren't even attempting to make Holy viable in PvP, and Disc barely so.

[Clebane]

Pretty damn confusing. I'm lost on how big a nerf to spirit shell this actually is. I made a two second calculation at something like 50%.

It's not such a large nerf with PoH, some numbers.
My mastery: 38.56%, crit 11.02%.
Tooltip value for GH: 77,993. Spirit Shell GH: 124409. With the nerf: 86588
Tooltip value for PoH: 29,813. Spirit Shell PoH: 59891 (~tooltip*1.3*mastery*crit). With the nerf and DA/crit fix: 49647 (~tooltip*1.5*crit)
So SS stacking with PoH is still WAY more than viable. Just a tiny nerf IMO.

But to others saying DA has a better proc, it's already in game. It's just a tooltip fix and a fix with Spirit Shell.

[Sintea]

Spirit Shell no longer benefits from Mastery, and now properly includes the benefits of Divine Aegis and critical effect chance.

Ok so correct me if am wrong. Spirit shell doesn't benefit from mastery = nerf. BUT, Spirit shell now benefits from divine aegis and critical effect chance = a buff? Divine aegis now shields for 50% of the amount healed which use to be 30%. Even though spirit shell itself isn't affected by mastery, Divine aegis does use our mastery and divine aegis is now counted towards spirit shell. So in the end mastery should still be helping spirit shell.

[Chimaera]

That was my assumption too. Mastery went from our best stat...to our worst? I'll wait for the theorycrafters to crunch the numbers.

Mastery goes back to being what it was in Cata, only slightly better because DA is 2/3 higher.

[Venaliter]

It's not such a large nerf with PoH, some numbers.

SS Now: (~tooltip*1.3*mastery*crit). SS in 5.2 (~tooltip*1.5*crit)

I have no theorycraft skills, but that seems about right. The % will of course depend on your mastery. The higher the mastery, the larger the nerf. With your numbers, it's about a 20% nerf.

[Clebane]

I have no theorycraft skills, but that seems about right. The % will of course depend on your mastery. The higher the mastery, the larger the nerf. With your numbers, it's about a 20% nerf.

Good thing about Disc is we scale incredibly well with the main stats.

[Sparkiee]

Priests desperately need help with mana in PvP. But it's not just Disc; Holy too. It's like they aren't even attempting to make Holy viable in PvP, and Disc barely so.

Sorry, good point. Was mostly looking at it from a PvE point of view

[Tw33k]

Spirit Shell no longer benefits from Mastery, and now properly includes the benefits of Divine Aegis and critical effect chance.

Ok so correct me if am wrong. Spirit shell doesn't benefit from mastery = nerf. BUT, Spirit shell now benefits from divine aegis and critical effect chance = a buff? Divine aegis now shields for 50% of the amount healed which use to be 30%. Even though spirit shell itself isn't affected by mastery, Divine aegis does use our mastery and divine aegis is now counted towards spirit shell. So in the end mastery should still be helping spirit shell.

Spirit shell always included divine aegis and crit. It just does it "properly" now.....which is basically their way of putting a positive spin on a devastating nerf.

edit: Also, divine aegis has been a 50% absorb since before 5.1. It was hotfixed a long time ago, but the tooltip wasn't changed. So that isn't a buff either.

[Venaliter]

I know you guys are going to lose all respect for me, but I don't think I know exactly how Divine Aegis interacts with Mastery. Does Mastery increase the Divine Aegis Shield? I didn't really think it did. In my defense I just PvP almost exclusively now.

[Tw33k]

I know you guys are going to lose all respect for me, but I don't think I know exactly how Divine Aegis interacts with Mastery. Does Mastery increase the Divine Aegis Shield? I didn't really think it did. In my defense I just PvP almost exclusively now.

Mastery increase the effectiveness of absorbs by it's value as a percentage, so....
Assuming 30 mastery: If you healed for 50k, divine aegis would add an absorb of (50000 / 2) * 1.3 = 32500 on top of the 50k heal.

Edit: ^^ That's also assuming you crit or use prayer of healing