New priest, some tips?

[Phyrion]

Hello fellow priests.

During my entire wow carrier, starting release of vanilla wow all the way up to now, I've always played a warlock as a main, and made it to Kalecgos. In my spare time, I leveled alts and such, and now I have a 70 priest (and a 70 warrior) as well.

Due to the fact that I don't like what blizzard is doing with warlocks, come wotlk, I'm planning on leveling and playing my priest. The thing is I don't really have all that much experience with this priest, I've never healed anything other then 5-mans for instance. So my question here is simple, first of all, shall I go shadow to level to 80, or go holy and farm instances, and secondly, I'd love to aquire some insight into how the hell raidhealing works now, and how it will work in wotlk raids, since certain mechanics have been completely changed.

I'm not expecting anybody to tell me exactly how to play my priest, part of the fun is figuring that out myself, but I'm pretty sure some of you priest veterans could give me some mighty handy tips and tricks.

[Nezoia]

Go shadow to 80, and yes you can heal while being shadowpriest, it's not like your heals magical disappears from your spellbook.

I leveled two priests to 60 healing instances as shadow. (I never done instances from 60-70, so can't talk about that).

secondly, I'd love to aquire some insight into how the hell raidhealing works now, and how it will work in wotlk raids, since certain mechanics have been completely changed.

Ask again in a few weeks, today is a REALLY bad day to ask.

But in general for TBC, it's been spamming instant AoE heals, shields, renews , PoMs, and stuff.

It gets more interesting with the potion sickness, and Hymm of Hope at level 80

Priest is definitive the healer that uses most abilities in a raid. Druids come close, but druid healing is far from as direct as priest is, so as a priest you feel more in control of the raid healing that you do as druid. (I tried both)

[Phyrion]

Well I assume with the spellpower change healing as shadow will become even easier, and with dual specs in 3.1 the choice shadow or holy won't even have to be made anymore, but I hope to reach lvl 80 before 3.1 hits.

[Nezoia]

Yes

If you plan on healing alot in instances, pick up Healing Focus in the holy tree after you got Spirit Tap.

And then continue to get shadow talents. But I personally wouldn't recomend it before after getting Shadowform and Improved Shadowform, but each to their own.

[Donjohn]

I healed alot in 60-70 as shadow it was npnp. I will for sure go shadow and then heal in 5-mans, with the new spellpower system it will be cake.

[Phyrion]

What shadow build should I go for to level then?

I came up with something like this: http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?prie...12325152301351

Any suggestions?

[Ntrails]

What shadow build should I go for to level then?

I came up with something like this: http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?prie...12325152301351

Any suggestions?

Improved fade (or veiled shadows) is a must. 2 minute reduced cooldown on shadowfiend is absolutely awesome.

[Nezoia]

Improved fade (or veiled shadows) is a must. 2 minute reduced cooldown on shadowfiend is absolutely awesome.

Considering it's in Tier4 , which is at level 25-30 , I wouldn't put points in it, as you don't get Shadowfiend before level , 62? or 64? Can't remember.

Either way, Vielded Shadows is worth it WHEN you get the Shadowfiend ability, not before, for obvious reasons ;-)

Of other notes, I wouldn't get Pain&Suffering for leveling, as you won't need the refreshment (If you spend 24 seconds killing a mob, you failed).

Other than that, it looks good. Personally I think Blackout is a waste of points, but each to their own.

[Righteousone]

Quetions on Imp Fade (Veiled Shadows). I see that it is in the priest talent tree on MMo-Champion but not on the WoW.com website. I have noticed that they appear here first before there but any ideas on this?

[Ntrails]

Considering it's in Tier4 , which is at level 25-30 , I wouldn't put points in it, as you don't get Shadowfiend before level , 62? or 64? Can't remember.

Either way, Vielded Shadows is worth it WHEN you get the Shadowfiend ability, not before, for obvious reasons ;-)

Of other notes, I wouldn't get Pain&Suffering for leveling, as you won't need the refreshment (If you spend 24 seconds killing a mob, you failed).

Other than that, it looks good. Personally I think Blackout is a waste of points, but each to their own.

He has a level 70 priest, about which he was asking, if I read the OP correctly - so he has SF already ^_^

[Nezoia]

Quetions on Imp Fade (Veiled Shadows). I see that it is in the priest talent tree on MMo-Champion but not on the WoW.com website. I have noticed that they appear here first before there but any ideas on this?

Blizzard never update their talent calculators. Don't worry about it, MMO-C have the most updated calculator so far.

He has a level 70 priest, about which he was asking, if I read the OP correctly - so he has SF already ^_^

Oh meh, I read it as the OP still were leveling sub 60.

[devilbesideyou]

Ultimately, I would use this spec for raiding at level 80:

http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?prie...10325152301351

[Akita]

For Raiding you need Shadow Affinity. Threat reduced by 25% is really nice. Dont need the imp shield. If your getting hit use your VE and heal yourself.

http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?prie...10305152301351

There that should be the right one. Thats mine if you dont need the threat reduction.

[devilbesideyou]

For Raiding you need Shadow Affinity. Threat reduced by 25% is really nice. Dont need the imp shield. If your getting hit use your VE and heal yourself.

I havent seen the beta, but on the PTR tank threat has been really good and I didnt need to spec into it (I'm in BT/t6 gear, no sunwell though, to give an idea of the sort of threat I'm at). The innate threat reduction in SF seemed to be good enough. VE is situational imo, if you're getting hit directly in a raid its likely your VE wont be enough, might help with some small periodic damage though.

PS. akita, did you link the correct build?

[sharpy]

There is going to be a dual-spec interface introduced in a content patch after the expansion. The talent spec process will be revisited at the same time. (Confirmation boxes to prevent misplaced talents, etc ...)


So just have 1 shadow spec and 1 holy spec.

[Akita]

Im not in the beta so i dont know the threat gen or anything so its possible it wont be needed at all. And no i got the wrong link, fixing it in a sec lol.

[devilbesideyou]

My dual spec will be shadow (for sure!) and probably deep disc/holy.

[devilbesideyou]

http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?prie...10305152301351

There that should be the right one. Thats mine if you dont need the threat reduction.

I think improved inner fire is worth getting, more spellpower after level 70

[dman32]

Leveling use to be the easiest with shadow, and EXTREMELY painful in holy/disc.
I would recommend leveling shadow, as I doubt that much changed in the new patch (besides penance).

As far as end game. Pick out what you like doing: for me I have found that playing my warlock is more fun then my spriest so I went healing route with my priest and use him for raiding. My lock is my main pvp. I also have a hunter and rogue at 70 so I wanted a different aspect of the game (aside from just dps'ing all the time)

[Akita]

Just read the patch notes so yeah its really nice to get now.