Priest talents (Majria)Follow

a whole post just for me, cheers chap!! most appreciated indeed=)

Seems from looking at talents, that even a full shadow spec priest should still beat any druid, at least with heals(not regen!)
I have been concerned with the "priests should ONLY heal" crowd that has increasing numbers of idiots jumping on the band wagon, I wish to be able to heal well, and still deal some dmg when healings just not needed. Way I figue it is, shadow priest would still be the best back-up healer in the game.
If it turns out bad, I'll go for Shaman, but I much prefer the idea of a troll voodoo priest, casting nasty dark spells at all those goody-goody two-shoes=)

Once again sir, you have been a gentleman and a scholer, thank you very much indeed.

Majria Airjam

Edit : With the new priest race-spells, it would seem trolls do alright, wonder if the shadowguard dmg effects shadow weaving and/or blackout, how're the night elf ones working out for you mate?=)



Edited, Sun Nov 7 22:01:31 2004 by Majria

They aren't increasing, except insofar as perhaps some non-MMORPG people are getting into it with this game. It's just a trend in the genre.



They aren't so hot. I can reduce damage taken from ranged on myself, or use a six-second channeling spell that only has mildly better mana efficiency than Mind Blast or Holy Smite without talents. (The key words in that sentence are 'six-second channeling'.)



You have some...unconventional choices. I've never seen a build that used both tier 1 discipline talents before. Most people don't feel either are worth getting, and just grab them as prerequisites.

You also passed over two of my favorite skills in shadow - improved pain and shadow reach. Shadow Reach is useful for Mind Flay because it only has a 20 yd range instead of the 30 nearly every other spell has. Improved Pain is a must though. There won't be a single solo fight you don't cast that spell once, and this ups the mana efficiency by 33%. The only time I wouldn't get that talent is if you're stressing yourself in the other two trees and can't spare the 7 to get to it.

While I did suggest it in my talent build, I want to make sure you're aware that Martyrdom and Focused Casting do NOT work with channeled spells. (Read: Mind Flay.) I'm not a *huge* proponent of Shadow Focus, but there are some other people that like it, so I don't want to act like the one-stop authority and tell you to do exactly as I do, especially since I don't know what your pvp tenets are.



Two times zero is still zero. But if you want this talent, and some people legitimately do, just drop three of the points in the first row of discipline, or martyrdom/focused casting if you find yourself relying heavily on Mind Flay.


Other food for thought: they left the other two trees alone, but reworked the holy tree a little bit. It's a little less wasteful now. Going to do my job as a tester there, although not having shadow talents is making me feel naked. lol

No, once you start the spell, it will continue, however unless you feared him, the odds are more likely the mob will run up and smack you, which knocks one second off the three second cast time. (Shield will block this usually.)




This is where I stop leading you by the nose and let you decide for yourself. I've slowly been steering you toward the talents I use. As much as I think you're considering the intent of each of the talents, I don't want to brainwash you too much. I could make a case for removing the one point in Vampiric Embrace, but that's a personal taste, and I know some people figure "1 point for an ability is worth it" - the logic I used to justify Silence in my own picks.

Here's the thing: by the time you need to fret over these decisions, you'll be level 53 or 54 probably. I think you have enough to make up your mind where to go until then. Just start off with Spirit Tapx5, Painx2, Blackoutx3, Mind Flay. After those 11, you might want to divert to discipline...but you'll be level 21 and had time to play with stuff.

Overall, I'd say you've got as good an insight into playing as you can have without actually playing. In-game experience is what's going to make those last points for you, I think.