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Why become a Priest?Follow

#1 May 30 2004 at 4:16 PM Rating: Decent
I mean this is a healing class, but at what level can you resurect the dead. I mean I may be the first to post here, but someone will see it eventually.

Edited, Sun May 30 17:19:27 2004 by Alistair
#2 Jun 09 2004 at 2:23 PM Rating: Decent
28 posts
According to the ability list the answer to your question is: Level 10 :)
#3 Jun 12 2004 at 12:12 PM Rating: Good
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6,678 posts
Why become a Priest?

For some, the answer may be as simple as they played a cleric in other games and feel that's their calling. For the rest of the world though, there are essentially four healing classes - Paladins, Shamans, Druids, and Priests. Paladins are the melee-centric healers and wear plate. Shamans and druids are closer to being hybrid in their non-healing capacities and wear leather.

Priests are what I like to call the "caster healers." They wear cloth, their weapon choices are limited but include the use of wands, their mana grossly outweighs their HP in raw numbers.

Technically, other classes have more mana efficient heals, but the priests are stronger, and the priest has an additional tool that they don't called Holy Word: Shield. Shield, which some people call bubble, is the staple spell for the priest, as it prevents all damage up to a preset amount that it is set to absorb. This acts as a sort of a pre-heal, but it also lets the priest cast on herself to be able to cast spells uninterrupted, and as an instant cast, to buy the time to heal someone who is nearly dead.


Even if you aren't into playing a cleric/white mage group healer-type, the priest is still an enjoyable class, and enjoys one of the best soloing capabilities in the game right now. While not the absolute most offensive class in the game, the priest can put out some decent damage, especially over the short run. Besides damage spells, the priest also can use wands, which are ranged weapons that have no ammunition to fire, and since they are magic-based, tend to put out some very nice damage. You can "melee" fairly effectively with a wand, albeit you have no special skills that a rogue or warrior would to augment the damage.

In addition, the priest has a number of utility spells that can be very handy. A self-only mem blur. A lull. An AE fear spell for getting 3 creatures to leave you alone for a few seconds. A mana drain spell (that doubles as a nuke). At level 30, they get Mind Control, which enables them to charm humanoid creatures for up to a minute. They also get a few buff spells, most notable of which is an indirect HP buff.


The priest is a fun class to play, powerful to solo with, and well-appreciated in a group setting. Anyone who says the priest is nothing more than a "bubble healer" is dead wrong. The priest is a powerhouse class that surprisingly few people play.
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#4 Jun 16 2004 at 9:49 PM Rating: Decent
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6,678 posts
With the new patch, I should point out that a few things have changed regarding the above post. Priest heals are more mana efficient, while Holy Word Shield is not. I'm not sure exactly what impact that will have on the game until I can really get back to playing. Offensive output is also lower now, with reduced damage on Mind Blast (a nuke) and a nerf to wands. But every class got hit hard with the nerf bat this push, (especially warlock,) so I wouldn't focus these downsides strictly on the priest.
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Only the exceptions can be exceptional.
#5 Jun 17 2004 at 2:43 PM Rating: Decent
17 posts
Im thinking I like the Priest(ess)

^_^ I ask, Why not become a priest?
#6 Jun 27 2004 at 9:21 AM Rating: Decent
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I just started playing, around june 26, 2004, in beta 3.

The holy word shield thing seems very efficient, as does the heals that I have including a heal over time. That is, if the holy word shield is that shield that absorbs damage.

I found that I used much less mana casting that, then beating on a mob with the mace and that Shadow Word: Pain
Rank 2, then having to heal myself or cast direct damage stuff.

Like the heal over time(Renew Rank 1), its instant cast which is great. I'm only a level 10 priest but they seem VERY powerful so far. I can get attacked by a couple level 9 wolves and hold my own, continually Holy Word: Shield Rank 1 as needed and the Mind Blast Rank 1(nuke like instant cast spell) , as well as
Shadow Word: Pain Rank 2, then one wolf dies fast and I mostly melee beat the other with Shadow Word: Pain Rank 2 on it.

I can't use a wand yet, the ones in the store I see require a higher level (was either 12 or 16, forget.) Mace seems pretty okay, though. I just bought a 17 silver one which is for level 9. Its okay damage.

Armor seems pretty affordable and I am finding it some in drops. I also took up tailoring and have made some shirts and vests. So far it seems that my tailoring is lagging behind the next stuff I could buy, so I have to fight a lot more humanoids to get more linen cloth I guess. Meanwhile, you get meat so often that my cooking is around 45. The next set of armor I get is at level 12.

The holy shield thing is really the strong point, so far. It really seems to use very little mana; if I continually use it in a melee fight when the thing dies I'll still be nearly at full mana. If I use it, then choose to shadow DD instead, I use a lot more mana. Lately what I do is get near the mob, cast holy shield on me0, cast Mind blast(seems like big damage on that)on the mob followed by shadow word pain (both are fast cast), then I beat the thing down and holy shield more as needed. When my defense is not maxxed, which it is pretty fast after leveling, I'll let myself get hit some while casting renew on myself.

This is a funky class. I'll try to stick with it because my guess is that it is pretty darn powerful in the long run. Everyone and his brother will probably be gun toting hunters, for the pets and guns, or shape changing druids. So this will probably be a rarer class desired for grouping while still able to solo well enough.

Even going overland, through areas with foes that can beat me down, I can keep holy shield on most of the time for very little mana and then easily outrun something that starts beating on me.

Edited, Sun Jun 27 10:33:36 2004 by natsuko
#7 Jun 30 2004 at 2:07 PM Rating: Decent
With all of these spells and powers I would have had to restate my original question ^^, but oh well. If priest is anything like whm in ffxi I know its the class for me. sounds like I'll be quite a powerful healer and my soon to be clan shouldn't have a problem with my abilities. This whole can't get a wand stuff is terrible though, how can that occur, who can allow that. I mean its what usually saves my mnd in ffxi, so I wonder what the difference will be. See you all in there (when i get it)
#8 Jul 02 2004 at 3:47 AM Rating: Decent
Why will I become a Priest? MIND CONTROL ;)
#9 Jul 19 2004 at 2:01 AM Rating: Decent
One thing i noticed that makes me think twice about being a priest is the fact that most other mages have some spells that make traveling for them alot easier. I saw "Levitate" on priest, i'm not sure what it does, but unless it increases movement speed, priests are at a loss compared to a mage's Teleports, Druid's Forms, Warlock's Mount spell, and all that great stuff. I was a Paladin on FFXI and i think that it is time i gave a main healer a try, as melee is beginning to be a bit monotonous.
#10 Jul 22 2004 at 6:42 AM Rating: Decent
It seems like Levitate only lets you fall like a feather without getting hurt, hover or walk over water (which is cool). No teleport spells for Priests. ;(

But maybe with mind control, you can get in control of a mage and make him make a portal for you, hehe. Well, I was very optmistic on that thought, hehe. But who knows. I guess Mind Control will also work at PvP.


Edited, Thu Jul 22 07:44:23 2004 by psignore
#11 Jul 22 2004 at 4:36 PM Rating: Decent
I know this is for priests, but people that seem to know what they are talking about have posted here, so i have a few questions. I am considering both mage and priest, and i heard that mages must choose to be fire/ice/arcane mages.
1. Is this true?
2. Can I obtain ALL the spells listed on the Mage's spell page?
3. If so, will they all be weak? I'm very confused as to how the mage is implemented into this game.

I know i should wait til open beta and test it myself....but i'm very impatient and want to know and plan before the game even comes out, lol. My friend already knows hes going Warlock and I'd like to decide on Priest/Mage sometime soon. Someone PLEASE help me out, lol.
Thanks.

Fedoraz-64 Paladin on Shiva, as of this post date.


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By the way, i dont care at all whether i do damage, or cure, i would just like to know how the mage system works.

Edited, Fri Jul 23 15:46:39 2004 by Fedoraz
#12 Aug 28 2004 at 6:17 PM Rating: Decent
Well, i was reading the Tester Thread and it seems that if you wanted to be dedicated to combat skills/spells and not spend skill points on actual trade skills you could in theory advance all spell lines to their maximum. It seems that skill points are used for combat skills, spells and trade skills, so you could advance all spell lines but not be so good at trade skills or the (rare) melee/weapon skill. However, they also talk about Talents, and these Talents seem like permanent specialisations which you "spend" on skills, if you spread these talents amongst 3 spell schools rather than one, it would seem logical that no one school could have as much specialisation as if these Talents were all put into just one school of magic instead of three.
#13 Aug 30 2004 at 10:02 PM Rating: Decent
I am going to be in the stress test, and i plan on being a hunter but if i feal like making a second account, i will be a priest, i lied the fact that a priest can handle his own, and also be a healer, i was a WHM in FFXI, th eonly thing i dont want to happen, is ppl telling me to heal them, i dont like being told wut to do
#14 Sep 14 2004 at 7:55 AM Rating: Decent
You get the resurrect spell at level 10 for the priest.
#15 Sep 14 2004 at 6:00 PM Rating: Decent
Talent points.
You now get 1 talent point for every lvl up after Lvl 10 (I assume you get 1 at lvl 10)
Basically what it does is like mages are able to deal more damage with ice/fire/arcane spells with talents. OF course, it all depends how many points you put into each talent tree (The talent tree has it that you get a few at lower lvls and you can put a Max in one like some are 1 some are 5..)but inorder to advance outward you need to have at least 1 in that tree..
Now considering the max lvl right now is 55 (going to be 60 with next patch) thats currently only 45 talent points, so you want to be carefull how you spend em, IF you can (not sure, my main (class) doesnt have talents yet.) it could be possible to Master one branch and still get a few in others.. (if there are enough talent points.) Of course, In beta at this time, you can untrain you talent points (for free) and try different combo's.. But its said when game goes gold this wont be the case.
#16 Sep 29 2004 at 6:07 PM Rating: Decent
I'd just like to point out that if you don't like being told to heal people, you definately shouldn't of become a WHM... I mean, yeah it gets annoying if someone doesn't think you WILL heal them, but most people I've met aren't that stupid.

In FFXI the focus is on group leveling. This doesn't seem to be the case with WoW. I personally think that the Priest will either have really bad white magic because of the ridiculous ability for something as frail as he/she to take on mobs of nearly the same level easily, or they will be horrendously overpowered.

If soloing is the thing of this game, I'm sticking with a fighting class.
#17 Oct 14 2004 at 1:03 AM Rating: Decent
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4,520 posts
Soloings not really the major focus of the game, its just that its much more casual gamers and such. Grouping is still much needed for quests and the such, but soloing can be done if you dont have time.
#18 Oct 25 2004 at 1:46 PM Rating: Decent
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451 posts
I was looking at starting mana supply for Priests in order to get a better understanding of the differences between each race. I have to believe that humans getting 160 mana to start and everyone else getting basically 84 is a typo. If this isn't a typo then explain to me why that is.

Basically, as a priest why would you wanna try any other race but human if you get that large of a mana pool?
#19 Oct 27 2004 at 11:41 PM Rating: Decent
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1,073 posts
Simply put, starting stats mean virtually nothing. Human priests may start with more mana, but that difference disappears as you level up and get good equipment. If you want to be a priest, your race is an independent decision. It doesn't matter in the slightest.

As to why play a priest: they solo just fine, not dependent upon a group except for instances, where EVERYONE needs a group;
they're a class everyone wants to have in their group, because of their terrific healing spells and ressurection;
you like healing.
#20 Nov 07 2004 at 9:49 PM Rating: Decent
In everquest clerics were boring as hell.. wow.... really boring........ at high levels you sat there and stared at the wall and watched the groups health bars... some people like playing them but not for me >.< i hope WoW priests will have something interesting to do :/
#21 Nov 18 2004 at 1:01 AM Rating: Decent
Hello all,
I played a level 21 priest during this last beta and I have to say that I loved it! As stated numerous times above, power word sheild is godly, and with the numerous Damage Over Time and Heal Over Time spells, you can keep your party alive quite well, and still inflict some major damage! One thing i foud usefull was the talent that allowed 5 seconds to be shaved off the weakened soul effect. well, just thought i'd share my experiance,

safe huntings
#22 Nov 19 2004 at 9:10 PM Rating: Decent
Hello, I was just wondering...
In FFXI, the whm class was mainly a healer, but the benefits down the road were well worth the wait.. I.e., Teleporting(for gil), Raising (for gil also) and in some cases using Sneak/Invisible for high-profit mining. My question is:

In Wow, Will the priest get abilities like these to make up for its lack of...you know. If not the priest, are there other classes that have access to certain benefits not available to others at lower levels?


Edited, Fri Nov 19 21:11:09 2004 by Metalelf
#23 Nov 20 2004 at 7:37 PM Rating: Decent
i was in open beta, and played up to a lvl 14 priest. I really like the look of priest, especially since its a great class to go tailoring in, and great to party and be in a guild with. Maybe even a good enchanter (i tried this in beta, and its REALLY hard and expensive). Although they made it harder to solo with, VS. a druid or hunter, i think its fairly equal to them in groups.
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