MoP Beta: Priests (Pic Heavy)

I got my invite over the weekend, so, I’ve been testing the classes that I play the most and I’ll be covering those in the next few postings. I’ll include some screen shots and such. The first up for coverage is the priest.

There have been some exciting changes to the priest class. Some I hope stick, and some I’m sort of “meh” about.

One of the first things that should be said about beta is that Blizzard has cleaned up a lot of the excess baggage with the new talent trees. Instead of having a lot of useless crap on our bars, they see more streamlined to me. That’s a welcome change in a time when bar space is a hot commodity.

I copied two priests over for this because right now you can’t unlearn your specs, so I needed one for shadow, and one for disc and holy.

Here is what you get when you choose the shadow specialization.

A couple of very interesting changes that should be noted by dedicated shadows everywhere is that Shadowy Apparitions are now an instant castable by the priest, meaning we can control where and how they’re used. This comes with good and bad issues as one would imagine. First, they’re currently the only spell we have that uses shadow orbs, reminds me of an orb dump and makes me curious why even keep the stupid mechanic. Second, and thankfully, it means we no longer have apparitions standing next to us just idle because the mob died already.

Another thing that’s changed is Vampiric Embrace. It’s no longer a castable buff and is now a castable instant buff that lasts 15 seconds with a 3 minute cooldown. Situational at best.

We get Silence right out of the gate which makes LJ a happy, happy little priest. I get sick and tired of people asking me if I have silence in stances, knowing that the number of shadow priests who have it outside of PvP is staggeringly low.

Mind Soothe is gone……thank the Gods. No one ever used it that I have ever met, so I’m glad it’s gone off the bar. Mind Control is also gone. We also lose a good many of the healing spells, cutting down on our “save the day” affectiveness if the healer dies. Shadow Orbs don’t decay right now. I hope that stays.

Here is the talent tree, alone with my present choices for the shadow spec.

Void tendrils seems to be the only one I’d choose outside of pvp. I don’t want anything that fears targets because in instances this is a huge no no. I also am not really wanting to Mind Control any targets, particularly, although it’s situationally useful. Dominate Mind replaces Mind Control.

Phantasm is the only I would choose from tier 2 in any of the 3 specs. Archangel is a no brainer for shadow and disc, although it no longer does anything for your mana. I’m not very happy with that.

I chose Voidshift, here, but Angelic Bulwark would also be useful for a shadow spec. I haven’t had to use it, yet. I see Desperate Prayer as an extra “Oh shit” button, but I wouldn’t choose it in any spec but holy, if even then.

Divine Insight makes the most sense here for shadows for Shadow Word: Death, although PI gives you a 20% mana reduction for 15 seconds.

The glyphs I chose were pretty standard for a shadow from where I sit. Dispersion for the CD reduction, Mind Blast for the stun. The only one I find iffy is Mind Spike. The problem here is that Mind Spike cancels your debuffs on your target if you casting it without it being proced. This is a big deal, especially when mana is a hot commodity and you don’t want to be wasting it on recasting debuffs.

The Minors are negligible. Nothing new or fun. Booooo.

Here, you can see that I’m in holy spec. Quite a lot of the heal spells, as well as circle of healing, and a new spell Guardian Spirit that prevents a target from dying and then heals it for 50% of it’s damage upon sacrificing itself. Lightwell is also standard. Chakras now have a nice little pop out menu.

The talents I chose for Holy Spec are really straight forward. Void Tendrils for CC, Phantasm for freedom of movement. This time I chose From Darkness Comes light for the 15% chance for a free, instant Flash Heal. It procs a lot from my tests. Next is Angelic Bulwark for shit hit the fan situations and Divine Insight because with FDCL, that free, instant Flash Heal just earned me a 20% cast time reduced Prayer of Healing or Greater Heal, for 10% less mana!

Here’s where it gets really interesting and people will be going “huh?!” and it brings into focus some other very interesting changes.

Atonement is now a glyph. That glyph now works with Holy Spec. So, if you’re a disc priest and really want to try Holy Spec and still keep Atonement healing, you can.

Proof that Atonement works in Holy Spec. I hope they keep this because that means I can have two healing spec and max level with only a couple of differences. Coupled with Holy Fire glyph that makes HF instant cast and you have epic Atonement healing for Holys. SOME Holys will scoff at this, but I know some who are crying tears of joy into their wheaties.

The rest of the Glyphs for Holy are standard, Renew because….well Renew….. This could probably work for Disc, too since the talents for it aren’t in the Holy tree anymore. Mass dispel and Fade are still good choices for those that want to grab those.

I’m not actually IN Disc Spec, here, but this is what you get. Inner Focus, Pain Suppression and a new heal, Spirit Shell. Spirit Shell seems to be the new spamable heal for Disc priests. It puts a shield on the target that blocks 10k damage for 8 seconds and then heals the target for 80% of what’s remaining when it drops. Sort of like Lifebloom for priests except in shield form?

Both Holy and Disc get Evangelism as a passive.

For Disc Spec, my choices on talents would be the same as for Holy Spec, except for I would choose Archangel instead of FDCL. This would come at a price. No free, instant cast Flash Heals so I can see how some Disc priests might find Archangel negligible.

Mana seems to be an issue in beta. I don’t if that’s purposely or if it’s because they don’t have the mana costs tweaked yet, but I plan to revisit priests more down the line of the beta and I’ll post when I know more. The Shadow spec is very mana efficient from what I’m seeing right now, but Disc and Holy have some issues.

I really like the new talent trees, they are very liberating and allow people to bring different things to the table for raiding and pvp. I’m hoping we see less cookie cutters!

 

 

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5.0 Priest Talents: A Casual (and Largely Shadow) Perspective

Another day, another talent tree for Mists of Pandaria. Today is the priest tree. I’ve recently changed my Alliance main to a shadow priest, and am enjoying that class and spec a lot. I’ve also toyed with Holy and Disc somewhat, but this will be mostly from a Shadow Priest perspective.

Level 15:

Void Tendrils: Summons Shadowy tendrils out of the ground, rooting all targets within 10 yrds. for 20 seconds. Killing the tendril will cancel the effect. (4800 mana cost, Instant, 30 sec CD)

Initially, I can see PvE Shadows wanting to take this. Priests lack real CC, Mind Control causes you to lose sight of your own action bar spells and unable to keep your dots up, and shackle undead is only usable…..well……on undead. Don’t even mention Psychic Scream. For two reasons, the first being that, unglyphed,…..Psychic Scream is a complete /fail for CC. The second reason: read on farther.

The only problem with this one is that killing the tendril removes it. This makes it unlike Druid roots, which can’t be killed. In which case, that pretty much negates it for PvP, although, I suppose it’ll be marginally useful in that portion of the game.

The problem with this, for me, is the mana cost. At level 15, 4800 mana. Do level 15 priest even have 4800 mana??? Maybe heirloomed they do. I sure hope that’s not going to be the set in stone mana cost on that. Cripes, even with Dispersion that sucks.

Psyfiend: Summons a Psyfiend that stands in place. The Psyfiend casts a Psychic Scream on a nearby enemy within 40 yrds. every 2 seconds lasting for 10 seconds, preferring anything attacking the Priest or her friends. (4800 Mana cost, Instant, 1 Minute CD)

Purely PvP unless that Psychic Scream it casts doesn’t cause the mobs to scatter in all directions like unglyphed Psychic Scream does for a Priest, right now. Again, 4800 mana. Where on Earth are they getting these numbers?! It’s a lvl 15 spell, but we’re seeing mana numbers from lvl 50!

Psychic Scream:  The caster lets out a psychic scream, causing 5 enemies within 8 yards to flee for 8 seconds. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. (4800 Mana cost, Instant, 30 Second CD)

This should have just been called the PvP tier, because nothing in here will benefit a PvEer, except possibly the Void Tendrils. They also should have labeled it, “the suck all the priest mana we can get” tier. 4800 mana is lol for these. It costs me 11k mana to cast the version of Psychic Scream we have, now. If the lvl 15 version of this one is going to be 4800 mana, wtf is it going to look like at lvl 90?! It had better not be too out of whack, that’s for sure.

As I just pointed out, we have Psychic Scream right now and this tells me we’re going to lose it and it will be talented only. Fine. If you don’t PvP, you don’t cast this as a general rule unless it’s glyphed. Because mobs that scatter, pick up yet more mobs to bring over and rip your face off. And, that’s shitty.

For me, I’d be choosing the Psychic Scream spell. I don’t do much PvE, but I’d choose tendrils for PvE.

Level 30:

Body and Soul: When you cast Power Word: Shield or Leap of Faith, you increase the target’s movement speed by 60% for 4 seconds.

Lots of PvP potential in this one. Especially, arenas! I have never once cast Leap of Faith though. I think that’s probably PvE, more, but again, I don’t arena yet. it might be pretty useful if PvE for movement boosts on shield.

Path of the Devout: Increases your movement speed while Levitating by 25%. 

Ummmm…..lol? Why? When do people levitate other than for fun while waiting to pull Drek or when jumping off the cliff at the Lumbermill trying to get to the Blacksmith?? If you get hit, Levitate goes the way of the Dodo bird, so what’s the point? Fun, I guess. I can now move 25% faster when I jump off the cliff at the Lumbermill.

Phantasm: Anytime you fade, you remove all movement impairing effects from yourself and your movement speed will be unhindered for 3 seconds.

Okay, well, the first two increased movement speed. This one just says your speed will be “unhindered” for 3 seconds. WTF does that mean? What if Joe Hunter hits me with Concussion shot? Does it mean I’m immune??? But, that’s only when I Fade.

Currently, PvP specced Shadows, have a talent that gives us this, but doesn’t include the incredibly vague movement speed lingo.

Whatever the case, Phantasm is my choice, here.

Level 45:

From Darkness Comes Light: 

Surge of Light: You have a 6% chance when you Smite, Heal, Flash Heal, Binding Heal or Greater Heal to case your next Flash Heal to be instant cast and have no mana cost.

Surge of Darkness (Shadowform): You have a 6% chance when you deal damage with Mind Flay to cause your next Mind Blast to be instant cast and have no Shadow Orb cost.

I can’t stand the name of this talent. Couldn’t think of anything else? It’s hella long. Not to mention, it’s really not all that great from a PvP standpoint. Most of the time, in PvP, I’m dotting……not Mind Flaying.

Divine Star: Fires a Divine Star in front of you, traveling 20 yrds doing damage to all enemies and healing all targets in it’s path.

After reaching it’s destination, it will return to you also dealing damage and healing all in it’s path. (Instant, 30 sec. CD)

Wow, really?! That sounds a little OP to me, but who am I to argue?? I’m sure it will be for some almost paltry amount, but sounds fun! Heh.

Archangel: Archangel (Caster form) – Consumes your Evangelism, increasing your healing done by 5% for each Evangelism consumed. 30 second cooldown

Dark Archangel (shadowform) – Consumes your Shadow Orbs, increasing the damage done by your Mind Flay, Mind Spike, Mind Blast, and Shadow Word: Death by 5% each Shadow Orb consumed. 90 second cooldown

Okay, why would the shadow form of this spell have a cooldown that is 3 times what the regular form of it is?! Who the hell thought that up?!

This means we’re losing Archangel as we currently have it, which is actually fine with me. Less buttons to click. I’ll probably choose Divine Star. The ability to heal people in PvP in shadowform is attractive.

Level 60:

Desperate Prayer: Instantly heals the caster for 30% of their total health. (Instant, 2 min CD)

Currently, a talent in the holy tree, this is the exact same thing, only available to all priests, now. Attractive, it’s an “oh shit” button. But…….it’s one more button and most of the time I forgot to cast this as a holy.

Angelic Bulwark: Increases the effectiveness of your own shield effects on yourself by 30%.

For Shadow, Meh. Has good PvP implications, marginal PvE implications, but is this the best we’re gonna get?? For Disc, this could be absolutely fantastic, though, think of the healing!

Final Prayer: Anytime a damaging attack brings you below 30% health, you gain an absorption shield equal to 20% of your total health lasting for 20 seconds.

This effect cannot occur more than once every 90 seconds.

Basically, an automatic “oh shit” button, every minute and a half. If I were a Disc priest in PvE, this is the talent I’d choose because of the fact I already have my own shields with healing on them. 30% better shields might be attractive, but this would be better on fights where I’m already busy and my own health reaches the breaking point.

As a Shadow, in PvP, again, this is the talent for me. One less button to remember to click, and I’m not worried about my own shields, really.

Level 75:

Twist of Fate: Increases damage and healing done to targets at or below 25%. 

A completely different version of this talent than what we currently have, but I like this one better. I’d rather do 25% more damage to an already dying target in PvP or PvE. Or 25% more healing to my tanks who are going down fast.

Power Infusion: Infuses the target with power, increasing spell casting speed by 20%, and reducing the mana cost of all spells by 20%. Lasts 15 seconds.(5120 Mana cost, Instant, 2 minute CD)

Same as the talent we currently see in the Discipline tree. Looks great upon a cursory glance, and I suspect that most priests will take this. But, I intend to do a little bit of testing on a raid dummy. Because I want to know just how much of my rotation I can cast in 15 seconds, and how much mana that would cost me. Then I’m going to reduce that mana by the 20% from the tooltip above and see if it’s far more mana than the wallop they’re trying to give in the mana wallet with this one.

20% casting speed increase would probably be great on boss fights for PvE. Although……as a Shadow, I spend a good portion of my time watching cooldowns, dots and mind flaying. None of which would be affected by cast time. Plus, this is yet another button to slap on the already crowded bars. Purely PvE, no PvP aspects at all, I don’t think.

Serendipity: When you heal with Binding Heal or Flash Heal, the cast time of your next Greater Heal or Prayer of Healing spell is reduced by 20% and mana cost reduced by 10%. Stacks up to 2 times, lasts 10 secs.

Mindmelt (shadowform): When you deal damage with Mind Spike, the cast time of your next Mind blast is reduced by 50% lasting 6 seconds. Mind Melt can stack up to 2 times.

A holy talent and shadow talent all rolled up into one thing for everyone. However…….it’s pretty useless to me in PvP. Mind Blast is great, but as I mentioned before, my time is spent dotting, not casting most of the time. It makes Mind Blast a .75 cast time, which is great, but only marginally useful because the mana cost is still unaffected. It would be a fabulous way to go OOM fast. So, I don’t think I need any help in that department.

Twist of Fate wins out, here for me as a Shadow. Power Infusion for Disc/Holy.

Level 90:

Vow of Unity: You create a Vow of Unity with the friendly target. Whenever you heal the targets through spells and effects, you are also healed equal to 20% of that amount.

In addition, when the target is attacked, 50% of the damage is redirected to your over 6 seconds.

If your target is a victim of an attack greater than 30% of their total health, the Vow of Unity effect ends. (Instant, 3 minute CD)

For a Disc or a Holy, this is a no brainer. This thing is awesome for them. But, has zero for me as a shadow.

Void Shift: You swap health percentages with the current friendly target. After this effects ends, you are instantly healed for 25% of your total health. (Instant, 3 minute CD)

Interesting. Could be fun for 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5 arenas! PvE could also benefit from this. Swap percentages with a healer and save your raid! I can’t see me using this in battlegrounds. But, one never knows. 1/4 of my health isn’t all that much though.

Vampiric Dominance: When you deal damage or healing, 15% of the amount is healed on up to 3 low health nearby allies.

No button, no cooldown, and I can heal nearby allies for 15% of my damage output? O’rly?! Lots of potential for this in PvP…..and PvE frankly! I would go with Vampiric Dominance, here.

 

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