I'm a priest now!
sanyonebr...@googlemail.com
I'm only 16 but I feel very underpowered compared to how I remember my
mage or warlock to have been at that level. As far as I can tell my
damage comes from mind blast, smite and PW:Pain. Nothing wrong with
these except it takes forever to cast them becuase of all the
knockbacks. Yesterday I was taking on some prowlers 2 levels below
and suffered upto 4 knockbacks per cast of smite. I also have a
shield which generally fades before I have even cast 2 smite (the mage
ice barrier has never been this bad!). I also have a fear affect which
causes a mob to charge off out of range of any spells before you can
cast them, then change direction and go aggro something else. Then I
have some heals, a castable one that often results in death before
you've got past the knockbacks or an instant renew that heals nowhere
near enough while in combat. Also I am out of mana after every 2
fights and cant even conjure water so am having to cross faction trade
gold to buy stacks and stacks of milk.
As an example at level 15 I tried to do a green quest to kill a lvl 11
and a lvl9 guard. I put a shield up and cast a mind blast on the
target. He and his guard run over, knock the shield out within second
and then I am left trying to cast smite with 2 mobs knocking me back.
I was able to get the 11 but had no health or mana left for the 9 and
nearly died.
I always wondered how hard a mage would be with no aoe damage,
frostbolt slowdown, frostnovas or blink. Now it seems there is a class
thats just that. So do things improve or have my expectations got a
little too high from levelling my mage killing 10+ mobs my own level
at once?
Ashen Shugar
like...
I forget about the lower levels now, but at 70, while my mage can kill
a dozen mobs of whatever level if they're melee only, can keep them
controlled and all together and doesn't mind using up near all his
mana, my shadow priest is just about fearless. While he won't go out
of his way to pick up as many mobs at once as he can (unless he's
competing with other characters for the mobs), add's aren't the
problem they are for my mage. My shadow priest will quite happily
start a fight with only about 1600 mana out of his pool of 9000 odd.
To be honest, as best my hazy memory recalls, I had more trouble with
my mage at lower levels than I did with my priest.
*shrug*
Ashen Shugar
--
The lions sing and the hills take flight.
The moon by day, and the sun by night.
Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool.
Let the Lord of Chaos rule!
lcpltom
Don't know what you are doing wrong, I had no problems with my priest.
If you want something that will really help you out, get some nice
cloth pants, hell, they don't even have to be nice. They can even be
gray trash pants if you want. Send them to a level 70 of your own, or
if you don't have any 70's, find one to do it for you. Get some
mystic spellthread and have your 70 or someone else's 70 apply the
spellthread to the low level pants, and give them to your priest. Its
a nice boost in not only spell damage, but also a boost in stamina,
and makes low level grinding so much easier.
My priest is only level 17, so similar to yours. My approach to
attacking a mob is to make sure I am at max distance from them. Lead
off with Mind Blast, since it has a cooldown. Immediately follow that
with SW:Pain, which will allow you to continue to do damage despite
spell pushback while casting smite. Cast smite until MB cooldown is
up, then cast that again if you need to. If the mob's health is
already low, switch to a wand for the last bit of health. If this is
still giving you trouble, lead off with PW:Shield, giving you a little
bit of a buffer to get that smite off and time for the cooldown on
Shield. So PW:Shield, Mind Blast, SW:Pain, Smite, Wand.
Save Psychic Scream until you get yourself into trouble and really
need to heal. Psychic Scream, then Renew, then cast one of your
bigger heals. Pray that your fear didn't aggro more mobs, and be
prepared to make a break for it if it does.
Ashen Shugar
like...
Good for starters, though I wouldn't wait too long before starting to
use offensive fearing. Though I guess with WotLK nerfs to down
ranking, it might not be as useful in the future. But for the moment,
it will often be more efficient to use a rank 1 fear to stop incoming
damage rather than using a max rank shield.
John Salerno
news:43fae6c7-3de7-4b0f...@k7g2000hsd.googlegroups.com...
> I'm currently trying to level a priest but having a hard time of it.
I never had that much trouble as a priest. What is your spec?
Maybe you should try not fighing more than one mob at a time for a while. My
shield always lasted me through a single mob fight (or at least long enough
to allow me to cast what I needed to cast and switch to my wand).
For your mana trouble, it helps to get a lot of spirit gear and have Spirit
Tap. Also, do you switch to a wand at the end of a fight? Because for 5
seconds after you cast (unless this has changed in the past year), you do
not regain mana normally. So if you switch to a wand and kill the mob that
way, this gives you time to get out of the 5 second zone and when the mob
dies and Spirit Tap procs, you get its full benefit.
sanyonebr...@googlemail.com
> I never had that much trouble as a priest. What is your spec?
I think I have 4 in imp spirit tap and 3 in imp wands.
> Maybe you should try not fighing more than one mob at a time for a while. My
> shield always lasted me through a single mob fight (or at least long enough
> to allow me to cast what I needed to cast and switch to my wand).
Yeah I am sticking to 1 mob, just made the mistake of thinking i could
handle one 6 levels lower and one 4 levels lower at the same time.
> For your mana trouble, it helps to get a lot of spirit gear and have Spirit
> Tap. Also, do you switch to a wand at the end of a fight? Because for 5
> seconds after you cast (unless this has changed in the past year), you do
> not regain mana normally. So if you switch to a wand and kill the mob that
> way, this gives you time to get out of the 5 second zone and when the mob
> dies and Spirit Tap procs, you get its full benefit.
Yeah I wasnt in the best gear. Ive since swapped to all the AH greens
I could find with spirit and int on. Not tried the new gear yet
though. Yes I wand at the end.
People seem to talk about being fine with multiple mobs at once. Does
the shield get to the point where it can hold of loads of beating mobs
while you cast all your spells?
Urbin
> I'm currently trying to level a priest but having a hard time of it.
> I'm only 16 but I feel very underpowered compared to how I remember my
> mage or warlock to have been at that level. As far as I can tell my
> damage comes from mind blast, smite and PW:Pain. Nothing wrong with
> these except it takes forever to cast them becuase of all the
> knockbacks. Yesterday I was taking on some prowlers 2 levels below
> and suffered upto 4 knockbacks per cast of smite. I also have a
> shield which generally fades before I have even cast 2 smite (the mage
> ice barrier has never been this bad!). I also have a fear affect which
> causes a mob to charge off out of range of any spells before you can
> cast them, then change direction and go aggro something else. Then I
> have some heals, a castable one that often results in death before
> you've got past the knockbacks or an instant renew that heals nowhere
> near enough while in combat. Also I am out of mana after every 2
> fights and cant even conjure water so am having to cross faction trade
> gold to buy stacks and stacks of milk.
It's been a while since my priest was that low, but the only tough levels I
remember were 60-62.
[Next block moved up]
> So do things improve or have my expectations got a
> little too high from levelling my mage killing 10+ mobs my own level
> at once?
A priest is certainly not made for AoE grinding like a mage. 10+ mobs of
your level is certainly too much to expect. Fighint 2-3 mobs of my level is
ok for me now, but I recall having trouble with adds at lower levels. Even
at 70 I'm not all that certain I'll survive with more than 4 mobs, but then
my priest has become my least played 70 char.
I am of the "shielded" variety of priest (as opposed to the "fearing"
variety :-) but if you want to use fear as crowd control, make sure you have
cleared surrounding mobs so your fear does not pull even more adds.
Also, if your shield is limited by the damage it can soak up instead of its
duration (15 secs), I suggest you wait for 15 secs after casting it, then by
the time the mobs hack it down, you can recast it immediately.
> As an example at level 15 I tried to do a green quest to kill a lvl 11
> and a lvl9 guard. I put a shield up and cast a mind blast on the
> target.
So far so good. Wait for 15 secs before casting MB, this will let you recast
the shield straight away.
> He and his guard run over,
while they do this, cast SW:Pain on *both* of the mobs, then switch back to
the mob that was already hit with mindblast. If your shield still lasts, try
a smite, or another MB if the cooldown is ready.
> knock the shield out within second
by waiting before your first mindblast you can now reshield immediately.
Or, if you cleared the area, cast a fear (how many mobs does it fear at
level 15? one? two?) that should give you some breathing space.
> I was able to get the 11 but had no health or mana left for the 9 and
> nearly died.
Try varying which mob you want to go for first. The level 11 as it is your
main target needed for a quest? It may take a little longer, but if you
manage to kill it before dying, at least the quest is completed. The level 9
as it will die sooner, leaving you with just 1 mob pummeling you. Try what
works better.
> I always wondered how hard a mage would be with no aoe damage,
> frostbolt slowdown, frostnovas or blink. Now it seems there is a class
> thats just that.
I don't remember when you start getting other spells, but at least while you
are fighting single mobs, you should be fine, on pairs you might have to
practice a bit.
Cheers
Urbin
--
Dun Morogh-EU (PvE)
Urbin (70), Dwarven Hunter | Surana (43), Draenei Mage
Mymule (70), Gnomish Warlock | Juran (33), Nightelven Druid
Sunh (70), Nightelven Priest | Gera (26), Human Paladin
Mark (newsgroups)
> I'm currently trying to level a priest but having a hard time of it.
> I'm only 16 but I feel very underpowered compared to how I remember my
> mage or warlock to have been at that level. As far as I can tell my
> damage comes from mind blast, smite and PW:Pain. Nothing wrong with
> these except it takes forever to cast them becuase of all the
> knockbacks. Yesterday I was taking on some prowlers 2 levels below
> and suffered upto 4 knockbacks per cast of smite. I also have a
> shield which generally fades before I have even cast 2 smite (the mage
> ice barrier has never been this bad!). I also have a fear affect which
> causes a mob to charge off out of range of any spells before you can
> cast them, then change direction and go aggro something else. Then I
> have some heals, a castable one that often results in death before
> you've got past the knockbacks or an instant renew that heals nowhere
> near enough while in combat. Also I am out of mana after every 2
> fights and cant even conjure water so am having to cross faction trade
> gold to buy stacks and stacks of milk.
>
> As an example at level 15 I tried to do a green quest to kill a lvl 11
> and a lvl9 guard. I put a shield up and cast a mind blast on the
> target. He and his guard run over, knock the shield out within second
> and then I am left trying to cast smite with 2 mobs knocking me back.
> I was able to get the 11 but had no health or mana left for the 9 and
> nearly died.
It depends on your spec. First 5 points should be in spirit tap. After
that I would go for imp wand in the disc tree, and then imp shield and
imp fortitude. That makes a robust character to start with and you
should 100% get the lesser and then greater magic wands on sale at the
AH. They're not expensive. You should be relying on wanding as your
primary damage for the lower levels, especially with the spec above.
The damage from the wand, especially with the talent, will easily
match or out perform the damage from spells. Shield yourself, pull
with Mind Blast if you want, or merely pull with SW:P to save mana,
then wand, fear if you need to, but use the lowest rank fear.
You can respec around level 30ish if you want to try shadow, although
my feeling is that before 40 it's probably better to stick with disc/
holy for a more robust character. Some people will even recommend
going holy/disc all the way, concentrating on the damage talents.
Brent Stroh
>My priest is only level 17, so similar to yours. My approach to
>attacking a mob is to make sure I am at max distance from them. Lead
>off with Mind Blast, since it has a cooldown. Immediately follow that
>with SW:Pain, which will allow you to continue to do damage despite
>spell pushback while casting smite. Cast smite until MB cooldown is
>up, then cast that again if you need to. If the mob's health is
>already low, switch to a wand for the last bit of health.
I tend to lead off with Mind Blast, SW:Pain, then PW:Shield while the mob
is running in. Then, I switch to wand to maximize mana regen.
I just hit 30, and trained a huge list of stuff on all 4 of my lower level
alts - I'm sure I'll be spending some time reviewing my spellbook on all of
them and making some adjustments.
-Brent
John Salerno
news:928b2a17-e2b0-4fee...@r66g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> People seem to talk about being fine with multiple mobs at once. Does
> the shield get to the point where it can hold of loads of beating mobs
> while you cast all your spells?
Hmm, as low level as those mobs were, the shield shouldn't have been a
problem. And yes, it lasts pretty much throughout an entire fight of a mob
of equal level (and sometimes one or two levels higher). Improved PW:Shield
helps, but I recently respecced out of it and my shield is still fine.
It could also be that you are a level away from gaining the next rank of
PW:S and the current version is slightly subpar for the mobs you are facing.
steve.kaye
> To be honest, as best my hazy memory recalls, I had more trouble with
> my mage at lower levels than I did with my priest.
> *shrug*
I'm fairly sure that I did too.
steve.kaye
John Salerno
news:p15ja4hgul1410a4b...@4ax.com...
> I tend to lead off with Mind Blast, SW:Pain, then PW:Shield while the mob
> is running in. Then, I switch to wand to maximize mana regen.
I don't understand. Why don't you shield before the fight if you plan to do
it anyway? You are wasting time by doing it in the middle of a fight.
NarKoMechBass
> I'm currently trying to level a priest but having a hard time of it.
> I'm only 16 but I feel very underpowered compared to how I remember my
> mage or warlock to have been at that level. As far as I can tell my
> damage comes from mind blast, smite and PW:Pain. Nothing wrong with
> these except it takes forever to cast them becuase of all the
> knockbacks. Yesterday I was taking on some prowlers 2 levels below
> and suffered upto 4 knockbacks per cast of smite. I also have a
> shield which generally fades before I have even cast 2 smite (the mage
> ice barrier has never been this bad!).
it useless
> I also have a fear affect which
> causes a mob to charge off out of range of any spells before you can
> cast them, then change direction and go aggro something else. Then I
> have some heals, a castable one that often results in death before
> you've got past the knockbacks or an instant renew that heals nowhere
> near enough while in combat.
perhaps bacause priest can heal himself? :P
> Also I am out of mana after every 2
> fights and cant even conjure water so am having to cross faction trade
> gold to buy stacks and stacks of milk.
>
>
John
> "Brent Stroh" <bmst...@gmail.com> wrote in message
Here's my routine:
Holy fire (the one with long cast and DoT)
PW:Pain
Mind Blast
at this point the mob is on me and usually knockbacks 1 or 2 times
before the MB lands.
then I might use PW:Shield I wait to do this because with 1 or 2 lvls
lower mobs, I don't even need it. If I lose 10% or 20% health before
the shield, it is easily make up with spirit tap, or even base health
regen. I also have PW:Shield in case there is an add that I didn't
see.
I don't use smite much as it has a longer cast time and lower damage
than MB or mind flay.
I am specced disc/shadow (50/50) the levling is easily 2 or 3 levels
faster than my warrior main ever was.
I love lvling my priestess!
Baristina - lvl 39
NarKoMechBass
> > I never had that much trouble as a priest. What is your spec?
>
> I think I have 4 in imp spirit tap and 3 in imp wands.
>
>
> > Maybe you should try not fighing more than one mob at a time for a while. My
> > shield always lasted me through a single mob fight (or at least long enough
> > to allow me to cast what I needed to cast and switch to my wand).
>
> Yeah I am sticking to 1 mob, just made the mistake of thinking i could
> handle one 6 levels lower and one 4 levels lower at the same time.
>
make them run, after focus on one of them and nuke him down, then PW:S
and nuke the other/others
>
> > For your mana trouble, it helps to get a lot of spirit gear and have Spirit
> > Tap. Also, do you switch to a wand at the end of a fight? Because for 5
> > seconds after you cast (unless this has changed in the past year), you do
> > not regain mana normally. So if you switch to a wand and kill the mob that
> > way, this gives you time to get out of the 5 second zone and when the mob
> > dies and Spirit Tap procs, you get its full benefit.
>
> Yeah I wasnt in the best gear. Ive since swapped to all the AH greens
> I could find with spirit and int on. Not tried the new gear yet
> though. Yes I wand at the end.
>
> People seem to talk about being fine with multiple mobs at once. Does
> the shield get to the point where it can hold of loads of beating mobs
> while you cast all your spells?
ONE mob of your level, two of them (@ 10-30 level range) can nuke your
shield too fast
Zil
>
> Here's my routine:
> Holy fire (the one with long cast and DoT)
> PW:Pain
> Mind Blast
>
> at this point the mob is on me and usually knockbacks 1 or 2 times
> before the MB lands.
The spell pushbacks are the very reason I like to cast PW:S before
engaging. It can save you several seconds of combat time, which more
than makes up for the extra mana it requires.
My usual combat sequence (as Holy/Disc) is:
Shield
Holy Fire
SW:P
Smite, Smite, Smite ....
> I don't use smite much as it has a longer cast time and lower damage
> than MB or mind flay.
True, but MB has a long cooldown, and when you're not shadow spec and
don't have Mind Flay (like me!), then Smite is the way to go.
> I love lvling my priestess!
I loved levelling my priest - it was much more fun that levelling my
mage or druid. About the same as my hunter, though.
All this talk about priest levelling is tempting me to level another
priest, but having just hit 70 with my 4th character, I think I'll
resist.
--
Zil
steve.kaye
> <sanyonebronzebe...@googlemail.com> wrote in message
You get the full benefit from spirit tap regardless of whether you are
in the 5 second rule or not:
Spirit Tap boosts your Spirit by 100% and allows 50% mana regen whilst
casting.
If you are out of the 5 second rule you will get 200% mana regen with
spirit tap (100% from normal regen and 100% bonus from spirit tap)
where you'd just get the normal 100% regen without it. A bonus of
100%
If you are in the 5 second rule you will get 100% mana regen from
spirit tap (200% spirit x 50% in combat mana regen) but you'd get 0%
mana regen without it. A bonus of 100%
Also, the Meditation talent plays a part in this and I believe that
you actually get more bonus mana regen in the 5 second rule than out
of it if you have this talent maxed out too. I can't remember the
theory exactly but I think that it might be because the 50% in combat
mana regen from Spirit Tap is in addition to the 30% in combat mana
regen from Meditation giving a total of 80% in combat mana regen. I'm
not totally sure that my memory is correct on the details but I am
sure that you do get more bonus mana back from ST in the 5SR than you
do outside of it in with Meditation.
Also, if you have the holy talent to get a percentage of your spirit
as spell damage and healing then you'd be better to continue casting
and chain pull through spirit tap to get the extra damage buff.
The key word in this is "bonus". You will get more mana back if you
wand at the end of the fight so you end it out of the 5SR but it is
not affected by spirit tap.
steve.kaye
John Salerno
news:83132883-ef63-4645...@m44g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
> If you are out of the 5 second rule you will get 200% mana regen with
> spirit tap (100% from normal regen and 100% bonus from spirit tap)
> where you'd just get the normal 100% regen without it. A bonus of
> 100%
>
> If you are in the 5 second rule you will get 100% mana regen from
> spirit tap (200% spirit x 50% in combat mana regen) but you'd get 0%
> mana regen without it. A bonus of 100%
Blah, I'm too confused. The above makes it sound like you regen mana at the
same rate whether you are in the 5 second rule or not. That can't be right.
All I know is you regen mana faster if you are out of the 5 second rule when
Spirit Tap procs, right?
steve.kaye
> "steve.kaye" <nos...@giddy-kippers.co.uk> wrote in message
>
> news:83132883-ef63-4645...@m44g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
>
> > If you are out of the 5 second rule you will get 200% mana regen with
> > spirit tap (100% from normal regen and 100% bonus from spirit tap)
> > where you'd just get the normal 100% regen without it. A bonus of
> > 100%
>
> > If you are in the 5 second rule you will get 100% mana regen from
> > spirit tap (200% spirit x 50% in combat mana regen) but you'd get 0%
> > mana regen without it. A bonus of 100%
>
> Blah, I'm too confused. The above makes it sound like you regen mana at the
> same rate whether you are in the 5 second rule or not. That can't be right.
No, it isn't right. You get the same *bonus* mana from ST regardless
of whether you are in the 5 second rule or not. It's just that your
base mana regen is more out of the 5 second rule so you will get regen
more mana whilst outside of it.
If you have a spirit based mana regen of 100 mp5 then in 15 seconds
you'll regenerate the following amounts of mana:
Out of the 5 second rule will give you 300 mana (100 mp5 * 3).
Out of the 5 second rule with spirit tap will give you 600 mana (100
mp5 * 2 * 3)
In the 5 second rule will give you 0 mana (no in combat mana regen).
In the 5 second rule with spirit tap will give you 300 mana (0.5 * 100
mp5 * 2 * 3)
In both cases it is an additional 300 mana.
> All I know is you regen mana faster if you are out of the 5 second rule when
> Spirit Tap procs, right?
Yes you do. But it is purely because you regen mana faster out of the
5 second rule anyway and has nothing to do with Spirit Tap.
Excluding other talents, Spirit Tap just gives you a flat 100% boost
to spirit based mana regen so if you are in the 5 second rule it takes
you from 0 to 100% and if you are outside the 5 second rule it takes
you from 100% to 200%.
steve.kaye
John Salerno
In both cases it is an additional 300 mana.
Ah, I see. I guess I was thinking more along the lines of maximizing mana
regen, so it always seems like a good idea to avoid the 5 second rule, even
if you are still regen'ing 100% mana while you are in it. I'm thinking more
like "yeah but you could be regen'ing 200%!" :)
steve.kaye
But the mob lasts longer and so does more damage to you. It's a
compromise really.
steve.kaye
Urbin
> "steve.kaye" <nos...@giddy-kippers.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:83132883-ef63-4645...@m44g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
>
> > If you are out of the 5 second rule you will get 200% mana regen with
> > spirit tap (100% from normal regen and 100% bonus from spirit tap)
> > where you'd just get the normal 100% regen without it. A bonus of
> > 100%
> >
> > If you are in the 5 second rule you will get 100% mana regen from
> > spirit tap (200% spirit x 50% in combat mana regen) but you'd get 0%
> > mana regen without it. A bonus of 100%
>
> Blah, I'm too confused. The above makes it sound like you regen mana at the
> same rate whether you are in the 5 second rule or not. That can't be right.
No. What he says is that you always get the Spirit Tap bonus. So outside the
5 second rule you will get 200% (100% normal + 100% bonus), without Spirit
Tap this would be 100% (100% normal + 0 bonus). Inside the 5 second rule you
will get 100% (0 normal + 100% bonus), without spirit tap this would be 0 (0
normal + 0 bonus).
> All I know is you regen mana faster if you are out of the 5 second rule when
> Spirit Tap procs, right?
Of course, in order of increasing mana regen speed:
inside 5 second rule, no spirit tap: 0 regen
inside 5 second rule, spitit tap: 100% regen
outside 5 second rule, no spirit tap: 100% regen
outside 5 second rule, spirit tap: 200% regen
So, you see that you regen mana twice as fast outside the 5 second rule but
that you get the same bonus from spirit tap, no matter whether you are
inside the 5 second rule or not.
Not sure, how +spi modifies the above example, I think Steve Kaye posted an
example with some numbers below.
Cheers
Urbin
--
Dun Morogh-EU (PvE)
Urbin (70), Dwarven Hunter | Surana (45), Draenei Mage