priest
Latest
Raid Rx: What druid and shaman cooldowns would you like to see?
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community and the new healing, raiding, and guild management podcast, Matticast. No beating around the bush today. There were some upcoming healer changes that were announced earlier in the week. I can tell you as of right now, I'm worried about the Power Word: Shield change -- not because I think discipline priests will remain overpowered, but because holy might go the route. I'll explain that later on in the post. The main focus of today's post is defensive cooldowns for shaman and druids. I'm sure a number of players don't believe there's a need for the two classes to get defensive cooldowns, but in order to compete for utility, I think druids and shaman would benefit greatly from having those spells available. The argument here is that since the four healers are approximately the same across the board (from a throughput perspective), the edge might be given to paladins and priests because of the additional cooldowns they have to offer. Shaman and druids might end up being even more attractive in 10-player raids.
Gods & Heroes details classes and releases new screenshots
The devs at Heatwave Interactive have given Gods & Heroes fans a bit more information to mull over as they wait anxiously for the title's debut. In a press release dated earlier this morning, Heatwave detailed the game's four character classes and released an accompanying batch of screenshots. While the classes don't stray too far from MMORPG norms, it's nonetheless instructive to see exactly what the game has in store. First up is the Gladiator, who, as you might surmise, exists to do massive melee damage at close range. The Soldier is your basic tank archetype, responsible for juggling aggro and taking a beating for his friends. The Mystic is Gods & Heroes' answer to ranged DPS, while the Priest is, crazily enough, the main healer. You can get a full rundown on Gladiators, Soldiers, Priests, and Mystics at the game's main website, and don't forget to check out the new screens below. %Gallery-118322%
TERA unveils new class information and its plans for GDC
For a hack-and-slash-type MMO, TERA doesn't skirt around with the lore. Each of the player races has its own distinct personality traits. This week, En Masse Entertainment is talking about the High Elves. As a player race, the High Elves reward ambition and intellectual prowess yet frown on emotional outbursts. Despite being the last members to join the Valkyon Federation, these accomplished Sorcerers, Mystics, and Slayers will probably be running things for a while. Speaking of classes, En Masse revealed more information about the Berserker and Priest classes. The team claims that, although a Berserker rages through his enemies, it is still a very tactical class to play. And despite the Priest's adept healing abilities, this class is still a terror on the battlefield, dishing damage one second then turning around the next to help keep his friends alive. Nine new images of these classes were added to the gallery below. If this lore or these classes interest you, then you will be pleased to know that key members of En Masse Entertainment, along with a brand new demo of TERA, will be available at GDC in San Fransisco on March 2nd - 4th. If you are attending, you can be one of the first in North America to get your hands on this action-MMO. %Gallery-105090%
In defense of gear simulations
Josh Myers is not a scientist. The closest he's ever come to being one is winning the Science Fair in 8th grade and getting straight As in physics in high school. Despite these clear signs telling him to look for a career in science, he decided instead to go for a degree in English. His wallet hasn't forgiven him since. "Just sim it" is a phrase almost everyone who has played World of Warcraft in the past few years is familiar with. Should my enhancement shaman use Tunic of Failed Experiments or Voltage Source Chestguard? Sim it. How much of a DPS increase is the four-piece Firelord's Vestments bonus? Spreadsheet it. How much DPS am I losing since I can't afford a Flask of the Winds on my hunter? SIM IT! I'll be the very first to say that saying "just sim it" isn't a constructive thing to say. Beyond being slightly rude, it doesn't explain why simming is such a good idea. However, while I find "just sim it" to be in poor taste, the actual act of simming or spreadsheeting gear choices is a really good idea. This post aims to address why we encourage spreadsheeting your DPS choices.
TERA class videos explode from Frogster!
Bluehole Studio has been a bit silent as of late regarding its action MMORPG, TERA. But today, European publisher Frogster treated us with not one, not two, not even three, but eight trailers from the lands of TERA. These stunning videos give us a taste of each player class: Warrior, Lancer, Slayer, Sorcerer, Archer, Priest, Mystic, and Berserker. Despite what it may look like, each teaser is shot using TERA's in-game engine and textures -- there's no outside studio work here. Never-before-seen class features are showcased, and Frogster hopes to whet your appetite with these action-packed videos. Follow after the break to judge each class video for yourself. So, truthfully, do these videos make you more excited about TERA?
Raid Rx: Patch 4.0.6 healing thoughts
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community and the new healing, raiding and guild management podcast Matticast. Even though I wasn't responsible for it, its nice to believe that my little story in last weeks column might have influenced the Mana Tide change. What is the change, you ask? Mana Tide Totem has been redesigned. The totem no longer multiplies the Spirit of those affected by it. It instead gives a flat amount of Spirit equal to 400% of the casting shaman's Spirit, exclusive of short-term Spirit buffs affecting the shaman when the totem is dropped. In addition, its effects are now raid-wide. It won't be an overpowered mana reset ability anymore. I have to admit, I do miss having that synchronizing aspect that all the healers share. Having a shaman give a 3-second warning that he is going to drop a Mana Tide cued the rest of the healers to activate their spirit trinkets. I thought that was a neat little interaction. I wouldn't mind seeing more of it somehow later on -- little ways that help promote (but not so much require) healing coordination would be a cool addition. I'm just not sure what other ways methods can be explored. On the bright side, I don't need to figure out which players have the lowest mana regeneration in order to stack them into the healing group. But hey, enough about resto shaman already! Some additional healing changes (both nerfs and buffs) will be coming soon. No idea if any of this stuff is going to stick. Tell me what you think.
Raid Rx: Handling healer mana in raids
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community. Nothing brings a healer down more than realizing that he screwed up. It gets worse when the healing lead is the one who messes up such a simple oversight. I'm really beating myself up over this, because it was such an easy fix. In fact, it should be the first thing that should be checked before entering encounters. I'm going to share the conversation I had here with my fellow columnist Joe Perez. I hoped that confessing to him might help alleviate the despair. (It didn't.) Matt: Hey Joe, can we talk for a sec? I think I goofed yesterday. Joe: Again? What did you do this time, son? Matt: ... I uh, forgot to put the resto shaman in the healer group. Joe: <10 seconds of silence> ... You know how bad that is, right? Matt: Yeah. Realized it after the fact. I'm surprised the WoW Insider editors haven't fired me yet for making such a rookie mistake. Joe: I think you need a re-education. Take a seat. By the way, my guild scored the Critter Kill Squad achievement finally. Next step? Crittergeddon. Personally, I've found mana management in 25-player raids to be far more forgiving in comparison to 10-man raids. Would you agree with that? I'm basing this on my own experience, but it does make sense. With more raid slots, it means there is a higher likelihood that additional players can be brought in for mana cooldowns.
Spiritual Guidance: Professions for healing priests in Cataclysm
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers healing for discipline and holy priests and is trying to find a good recipe for Lamingtons. Is everyone excited? How about anxious or intimidated? Cataclysm comes out tonight at midnight, and by tomorrow afternoon, everything will be different. Before you know it, there will be level 85 priests running about your respective realms and spam requests in trade chat for Inferno Rubies. Everyone's priorities are about to change -- but for now, we're still in the calm before the storm. In this calm, I though I'd focus on professions for priests. There have been a lot of small changes to professions that I think we need to give some attention before we get further invested in them. Plus, the start of the expansion is when professions get the most use, what with all that new, easily accessible gear. Let's get started.
Lost Pages of Taborea: Spam heal is the enemy of strategy
Last week, I spoke a bit about whether Runes of Magic was too easy or not. In that article I harken back to the mana strike that players held to remove part of a patch that added a percentage-to-cost modifier on all spells for all classes. This week I wanted to flit around the same subjects, but from the viewpoint of healing and strategy. I want my readers to be well-versed in RoM 101. Just like I set out to do with my community guide for new and old players, I want to educate players today on the fine art of button-mashing. Let's start by covering what spam healing -- or spamming any skill -- is, and why it's not always fun. I'll put this into the context of dungeon-running, cover some fun strategy that results from not being able to spam heal, and give my opinion on how well (or not-so-well) all this works in RoM.
Spiritual Guidance: BlizzCon players tell about their first priests
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers healing for disc and holy priests. This week, Dawn and her shadow priest rival, Fox Van Allen, faced off at the WoW Insider reader meetup in a battle of quips, and it would seem that Dawn came away victorious. Originally this weekend, I had planned on writing a direct address to Blizzard concerning holy priest healing and mana in beta raids. The topic has been a large area of concern for priests on the forums lately, and I thought I should give the discussion a little boost by addressing it in my column. However, I am currently at BlizzCon 2010, and I happened to get the opportunity to talk to Ghostcrawler (lead systems design) in person for a few minutes. During that time, I relayed the general message of our problem (HPS is jank, mana needs work) and figured I'd give the Blizzard developers a week to attend to it before assailing them with complaints. Until then, I ask that my fellow priests not panic for a little while longer. In the words of Toby, who is pictured above, "Keep the faith!" By the way, I'm starting a donation fund for BlizzCon 2011 to buy Ghostcrawler a fedora. Ghostcrawler would look awesome in a fedora. Anyway, to tide you guys over until then, I figured this week I would attempt to entertain you all. At first, I thought I might try to be humorous, and then I remembered I'm not funny. (A priest walks into a bar and ... yeah, I got nothing.) So instead, I've decided to go with priest story time. Hit the jump to see what I mean.
Cataclysm Beta: Build 12942 for healing priests
Priests received a handful of changes with the latest Cataclysm beta build that was released Thursday afternoon. There were little changes, such as a new animation for Archangel (as seen above), and big changes, like tweaking the talent Improved Inner Fire so that it's no longer mandatory. A preview for tier 11 was also released. Let's have a look at the talent changes first. Power Word: Barrier has had the amount it absorbs increased. It will now absorb a total of 6 percent of spellpower plus 21,225 damage (up from 5 percent of SP plus 11,000.) It will still only absorb a portion of incoming damage if the damage exceeds 20 percent of the total absorb value. Borrowed Time will no longer increase the amount absorbed by Power Word: Shield. It will just increase your spell haste. Renewed Hope will now apply to targets with Grace. This means any target you heal with more than one spell (or more than one tick of Penance) will gain an additional 10 percent chance to be hit with a critical Flash Heal, Greater Heal, Heal or Penance. Inner Focus no longer costs mana. Improved Inner Fire has been renamed to Inner Sanctum. The new talent will no longer increase the overall effects of your Inner Fire, instead it will cause your Inner Fire to reduce all spell damage taken by 5/10/15 percent. The talent will now also affect Inner Will by increasing the movement speed bonus by 2/4/6 percent. Improved Healing will no longer affect Lesser Heal. This is just a tweak to the language of the tooltip for consistency. Now on to the glyphs!
Know Your Lore: An'she and the Holy Light
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. When considering the new race and class combinations that Blizzard has to offer, some are immediately recognizable, such as human or Forsaken hunters. It stands to reason they'd exist; they already have in game since the very beginning. Some take a little more research, such as the history of the Shen'dralar and how that effects new night elves that would like to study the arcane. However, some of these new race and class choices are so far out there and so inconceivable that the very mention of them existing seems completely out of place. The tauren race has long been a follower of nature, the spirits of the elements and the mysterious "Earthmother," as well as the elusive Mu'sha -- also known as Elune by the night elves. Yet in Cataclysm the tauren will be following the path of the Holy Light -- the paladin and the priest class. At first, the announcement seemed entirely out of line for the nature-loving race, but examining the tauren a little more closely gives the answers and the explanations we're looking for. To explain the tauren paladin and priest class, we first have to go way, way back to the dawn of tauren civilization and the only know records of tauren history, the Thunder Bluff scrolls. WARNING: The following post may contain some spoilers for the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. If you wish to remain spoiler free, do not continue.
Addon Spotlight: Helpers for priest healers
Addon Spotlight focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. This week, Addon Spotlight gives priest healers some suggestions for awesome healing helpers! Since there is still no beta addon news to cover and most of the user interface changes have been well documented, I continue to hang my head in shame, waiting feverishly for new word about addons in Cataclysm. Instead, I have taken to occasionally playing a human priest named Helicopter. Back in vanilla WoW, I was a raid-healing priest who basically played like the speeds of a tractor: a turtle for "slow" and a rabbit for "fast." The entirety of my existence consisted of picking one of two heals for the job, and that was that. When I popped into beta, rolled up a priest and set to work, I had no idea what I was doing. This week's Addon Spotlight is all about the things that I wish I had in beta -- an amalgamation of some awesome healing priest addons that can hopefully help out all you aspiring holy and discipline priests. Shadow, I don't hate, I promise. You'll have your day in the ... shade? You get enough tough love from your majordomo already, anyhow. Healer priests, this one's for you, with some vanilla priest stories thrown in for fun, of course.
Wings Over Atreia: Living la vida Asmo
Now, it is oft heard that "Asmos don't get no lovin'!" Perusing threads, or even listening to faction-hoppers in game, you hear many complaints that Asmodians have it just that much harder than their fair-winged counterparts -- that Asmodae is harder to level in than Elysea, the Elyos have better mobs, easier quests, better loot, more press time, and so on. Basically, that the Elyos race is the "favorite child." In the interest of representing both factions in Aion, I gave readers the chance to choose my class as I ventured into Asmodae as a black-winged beauty (sorry folks, I just can't bring myself to create a male character). And the votes are in! Your choice for my new persona is --drum roll -- priest! While I was excited to delve into the class, a part of me wondered if there was an ulterior motive to this choice... a cry for more healers among the Asmodians, perhaps? Regardless of the reasoning behind it, yours truly slipped out of Elysea and into Asmodae. While it will take me a while (since I am not a power-grinder), I am going to take you along with me as we journey through life on the dark side, comparing the leveling on each side of the planet. In this installment, we are looking at Asmodian life from creation to ascension. Follow across the cut to join me in my very first clawed footsteps, as well as a hint to maximize your experience at beginning levels.
Raid Rx: No pally? No problem
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host, Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus, is on vacation. Hello readers! Your favorite Canadian priest is off on some sort of an adventure this week so I'm here to cover for him. (I don't know the specifics, but I heard something about a Princess Leia metal bikini and twenty boxes of tropical flavored Fruit Roll-Ups. Your guess is as good as mine.) Usually I just handle priest healing over at Spiritual Guidance (thus, don't be surprised by the heavy priest bias) but I figured I could take a stab at this. I should warn you though: I'm no phlebotomist. I might need to stab you multiple times. No big deal right? I've got Flash Heal. Anyway, when I asked Matt what topic I should cover, he relayed a story to me on how his raid leader refused to start their 25-man ICC because the group had no holy paladin. The raid leader wanted someone who could "heal the tanks." This forced them to wait 90-minutes for a healadin while available healing priests, shamans, and druids were turned away. Sounds frustrating, yes? Matt suggested I tackle the topic in his place (probably so I can take all the flames), so here I am. So here's the situation: you're putting together a raid and either your normal pally is absent, for some reason (read: debauchery), or you're in a pug and there are no paladins to be found in ye ol' trade chat. What do you do? Can your other healers handle the tanks or are you doomed to a wipe fest?
Raid Rx: Healing talents trimmed
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. First, I just want to say that members of my guild and I scored ourselves a set of drake mounts from Glory of the Icecrown Raider. Took a few weeks, but we managed to pull it off. Hard modes and other achievements are an excellent way to keep your healing in form! Anyway, those experiences can come at a later time. Some big announcements this week about talents! Have you seen the new looks yet? They're by no means finalized. We're still months away from anything resembling completion. Many talents have been removed from the tree entirely.
Lost Pages of Taborea: Building a rogue/priest
One thing I've been slacking on is looking deeper into all the class combinations that Runes of Magic offers. I've tried rolling other characters before, but I've barely dinged 20/20 on any of them. They have been left collecting dust for too long. So, I've been rummaging through all the guides, asking questions in-game, visiting the forums, and playing alts to write on a specific class combo. As I'm always attracted to the weird and unusual, I had to start with a lesser-used pairing. I think the rogue/priest combination is one of the most intriguing classes in RoM. At first glance, it's a super-squishy pairing that runs out of energy fast. Looking a little deeper will show it to be a deadly mix of DPS, healing, and group support that allows a lot of freedom to how you prefer to play. It's a fun, funky combo with a lot of versatility for soloing through the game and partying in high-level instances.
Spiritual Guidance: So you wanna play a priest, part 2
The word priest is derived from the Greek work presbyteros, meaning "elder." While Dawn Moore is neither Greek nor an elder, she has 300 days played between her various priests (two-thirds of which was probably spent AFK) and will do her best to relay the information learned in those days each week in Spiritual Guidance. This week instead of one of my typical, eloquent (ha!) introductions, I am going to tell you a story. A story about a machine. The machine was an ancient treasure, crafted by the titans and unearthed by a young priestess. The machine was very powerful and was said to hold the answers to all questions, even the ultimate ones. The priestess honored this machine with her life and wished only to do good with it. One day, while traversing the icy northern valleys of the Storm Peaks, the priestess crossed paths with a leopard. A snow leopard. The priestess slowly took guard, not wishing to agitate the beast. It seemed to be of no matter, however, as the beast was furious with hunger, and it leapt at her without hesitation. The priestess scrambled to her right, calling up a protective shield as the leopard came at her. It seemed she would have to do combat; she began to recite the words to a holy prayer aloud. Unfortunately, before she could finish her prayer, the beast broke her barrier and tackled her to the ground. As she fell, she panicked, thinking of the machine tucked carefully in her satchel. The sound of metal crunching and contorting split through the sounds of the leopard's growls. Or maybe it was just the sound of the priestess' heart? Whatever it was, the priestess screeched in anger, frightening the animal off of her as she called forth the shadows. A protodrake later dined on the leopard's broken corpse. The priestess hurried to Mimiron, master tinkerer and watcher of the titans. She begged him to repair the machine but he shook his head sadly. The machine was ruined, and only the absent titans themselves could restore it. The priestess lowered her head solemnly. Don't understand what that story is about? Don't worry about it. It's time for the second installment of my holy and discipline healing guide. Let's get started.
15 tips for brand new healers
This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. So you're ready to venture into the thankless realm of healing? It's not for the faint of heart. You will be begged to heal an instance you hate and blamed for deaths that aren't your fault, only to lose gear upgrades to DPS -- all in the same run! On the other hand, healing can be a nice diversion from faceroll macro-mashing, and it's definitely nice to have instant dungeon queues. Whether you're changing specs at level 80 to help your guild progression, stepping into The Deadmines as a level 18 healer or twinking out a battleground medic -- here are some helpful hints as you prepare to make those health bars greener.
Spiritual Guidance: Priest gems for raid roles
Every Sunday, Spiritual Guidance takes a step into the light to reflect on the subtleties of healing for discipline and holy priests. Your guide, Dawn Moore, enjoys bubble wrap, bubble milk tea, Bubble Bobble, watermelon bubble gum, water bubbles in space, and dolphins blowing bubble rings. She is lukewarm toward bubble spamming. I have a 6140 gear score. Don't get excited though; I just said that to rile some of you up. I loathe the concept of the gear score addon, and I actually had to look it up just to know what mine was. The real reason I bring up my gear score is to give you, my fair readers, an idea of what kind of gear I typically work with as a player. If you have no idea what that number translates to, it is full 264 item level gear with a few 277 level items sprinkled in. So for the most part I have a fantastic set of gear. If I walk into a PUG 5-man, most players will glance me over and immediately feel at ease about their fate for the next 15 to 20 minutes. This is ironic though, because despite the quality of my gear being well above average, I am currently rocking a gear set far worse for healing heroic dungeons than I was 3 tiers ago. Why, pray tell, is that? Because my guild and I have spent the last three weeks working on the heroic Lich King encounter and I've been slowly optimizing my gear for the past month in preparation for this one, single fight. How's my mana regeneration? Pathetic: I get all of my mana return not from trinkets, flasks or mustache-twirling meta gems, but from carefully timed Power Word: Shields and the Rapture trick. What about haste? Awful: my GCD isn't even close to 1 second if I cast two spells back to back. My sole purpose in the Lich King fight is to cast one spell, on as many people as possible, for about 10 minutes straight. As such, all my gear, gems, enchants, and glyphs are selected to work in this fight alone, even if it cripples me in every other aspect of the game. And it is quite crippling. I used to love spoiling myself with haste. I loved the 1 second GCD; but now, because of my gear, I find myself having to smash my buttons frantically and repeatedly in the easiest of 5-man dungeons, because my inner sense of timing is all thrown off to what I'm accustomed to. I have trouble healing Halls of Reflection! (If you could hear me, there was a cry of shame in that last sentence.) So, what are we going to talk about today? Gems. That was obvious before now, right?
