Thinking of leveling a Priest...

[gotmilk0112]

Post can be ignored now, already done.

[naquada]

Lvling priest is quite easy. Can easily pop mages, warr,locks in pvp, during lvling. and hunters....well they just give up.

It is obvious that you should not be wasting mana as a priest on those targets during raids, if the pally can handle it well. You need to get used to cancel a spell if it's not needed on a target.
You have very powerful burst healing spells as a priest, and should be used as such. On the other note you can drain your mana quite fast so you need to manage it.

Healing is harder in vanilla and therefor may feel less fun in the start when you are used to a different play style. Especially with large changes done between expansions.

For me, i find priest healing quite relaxing. Even in intensive situations. One hand on the keyboard and the other in the popcorn Ask other priests for help if you struggle with something. Tell us what exactly you feel is going horribly wrong.

[Garfunkel]

Was I just doing it horribly wrong or what? I was successful in healing, managed to heal BRD, Strat, Scholo, and DM West, but it just didn't feel as fun as Burning Crusade healing.

You're doing it wrong.



Or rather, raid healing is different from dungeon healing and it can take a while to get used to it. You won't be using Renew because Druids have way better HoT's. You won't be using Flash Heal because Paladins OR you won't be using Prayer of Healing because Shamans. So you have to adjust your healing habits.

Note, this is all from my POV as an Alliance-side raiding priest.

1. Learn to cancel your casts. You're not there to get the quick 400hp heal in, that's a job for the paladins. I still have Flash Heal binded for emergencies but I honestly have used it only few times, usually after all pallies have bitten the dust. So get in the habit of casting Heal (you don't usually need to use Greater Heal unless your talents/gear sucks donkey balls) while keeping a finger on W/A/S/D buttons to cancel it if someone else tops them up. LunaUnitFrames shows me how much over/under healing my spell would do at almost realtime, meaning that I can decide whether to let the spell land (if it's only little overhealing) or cancel it. Get it or something similar.

2. Organize the healers. Discuss this with your healing lead or the raid leader if there is no healing lead (you really should have one though, especially as harder raids become available). Every healer should know exactly what they are doing during trash AND bosses. Each tank should be looked after by 2-3 healers, depending on situation, the warlocks should have 1 healer keeping them topped up, melee might have a dedicated healer or two and so on. If your raid leader is busy and just tells you to "heal raid wide", you could always discuss with the other "raid wide" healers to split the groups between you. Why? Less overhealing, less wasting mana, less stress and annoyance since you're not competing with other healers. Poor organization shows in raids where one rogue gets overhealed while the second rogue is killed - because all healers started casting on the first one.

3. Remember the 5-second rule. You don't want to be spamming heals all the time, unless it's a boss encounter and it's really required. Your massive amount of spirit should mean that you get 90+ mana per tick outside the 5-second limit, but your talents mean that you still have decent mana regen inside it - I think mine is now around 35ish or so. Combined with down ranking, you really shouldn't be going OOM except for those boss fights where you are needed to spam greater heals. If you're really struggling, discuss with other healers and check stats - someone might be slacking off while you're pulling double-duty. I've been in a pug UBRS where the second healer had more than 60% mana left after each pull while I was between 5% and zero.

4. You should stack up on Dark/Demonic runes for emergencies in any case.

So yeah, leveling a priest is not that bad and raiding can be fun - it's just the adjusting from 5-mans to 40-mans that takes a while. I think I got comfortable with it after 3-4 raids or so.

[gotmilk0112]

1. Learn to cancel your casts.

Yeah, I know how to cancelcast. Problem was that even when doing that, the tank would always seem to get a heal before mine went off.

2. Organize the healers.

I suppose this was the problem. In the ZG I ran, I kept asking what the healing assignments were, but nobody said anything.

3. Remember the 5-second rule.

Yeah, I know about the 5sr.

[Botmaster5]

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=16652

best way to spend your talent points for the first 44 levels

[gotmilk0112]

http://forum.nostalrius.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=16652

best way to spend your talent points for the first 44 levels

Why not just go shadow the whole way? You can shadow heal dungeons all the way up until BRD or so.

Right now I'm full Disc (5/5 wand spec, 3/3 imp shield, 1 point in spirit tap). Was planning on respeccing Shadow at 20 for Mind Flay, but I got my mitts on the wand from Cookie which does more dps (considering it can't be interrupted) so I suppose I'll just max out Spirit Tap, put a couple points in Imp SWP and then do w/e from there. Maybe respec Shadow at 30 if I don't find a better wand.

[Botmaster5]

Why not just go shadow the whole way? You can shadow heal dungeons all the way up until BRD or so.

Right now I'm full Disc (5/5 wand spec, 3/3 imp shield, 1 point in spirit tap). Was planning on respeccing Shadow at 20 for Mind Flay, but I got my mitts on the wand from Cookie which does more dps (considering it can't be interrupted) so I suppose I'll just max out Spirit Tap, put a couple points in Imp SWP and then do w/e from there. Maybe respec Shadow at 30 if I don't find a better wand.

5/5 imp wand > mind flay, plus youll be back in the spirit mp5 regen faster

youll be stopping to drink a lot more if you level as shadow. im not saying it cant be done, it just wont be as efficient

[Syphonize]

http://forum.nostalrius.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=16652

best way to spend your talent points for the first 44 levels

Why not just go shadow the whole way? You can shadow heal dungeons all the way up until BRD or so.

Right now I'm full Disc (5/5 wand spec, 3/3 imp shield, 1 point in spirit tap). Was planning on respeccing Shadow at 20 for Mind Flay, but I got my mitts on the wand from Cookie which does more dps (considering it can't be interrupted) so I suppose I'll just max out Spirit Tap, put a couple points in Imp SWP and then do w/e from there. Maybe respec Shadow at 30 if I don't find a better wand.

I suggest Gravestone Scepter from BFD for your wand upgrade!

[Espur]

I suggest Gravestone Scepter from BFD for your wand upgrade!

This. Currently level 39 and have been using mine for 20 levels. It's starting to get old, but upgrades are few and far between - I could ask one of the 60s in my guild to help me get the one from RFK (farmable escort boss), but currently I've been more busy grinding basilisks for mount money. 3 levels down, only 15g~ left!

But seriously, it's beautiful. I'm not entirely sure if the Scepter's shadow damage receives the bonus damage from Shadow Weaving though.

[varth]

The people saying holy levels faster are out of their minds, shadow tree gives more efficient and reliable dmg output than holy, and that's all that matters for leveling speed. Once I get off work I'll type up a point for point comparison on why its better to level as shadow