Patch 3.2.2: Priest changes and bugs
Attention all raiding healing Priests, this is a public service announcement.
There is a serious bug regarding the Power Word: Shield glyph at the moment which appears to be an unexpected consequence of patch 3.2.2. Stratfu has managed to confirm the bug listed on MMO Champion.
This bug could wipe your raid. I urge raid leaders and guild leaders to inform Priests the Priests in your guild so that they're aware of it
So how does it work and what does it do?
The screenshot above is a World of Logs analysis on damaging spells I've cast. You'll see the standard Priest DPS spells on the left. But the right side shows abilities like Shield-Breaker, Swipe and Fireball. Sorry guys, unfortunately we did not gain every spell or ability that every class has access to in the game.
It's best if you read on to find out more details.
Step 1: Cast a glyphed Power Word: Shield on a target
Step 2: The next action/attack will be credited to the Priest along with any extra side effects
What does that mean?
Effects like taunt will be credited to the Priest. Which means that if I shield a tank and they use a threat cooldown, the boss they taunted is going to make a beeline for me. I watched this happen last night on Acidmaw and Dreadscale. I simply thought I dropped a large amount of healing but it wasn't the case. As the worms were emerging from the ground, I managed to pull Dreadscale and he started slithering toward me. I have never pulled threat from a raid geared tank in a long time which is why I found this extremely peculiar.
If you noticed something similar, now you know why.
Another example Stratfu lists is that if a Priest shields a Warlock who happens to be casting Drain Soul, the Priest will gain a few soulshards.
This creates some rather interesting possibilities. It might be possible to shield a teleporting mage, for example.
Actually, this explains why I received Focus Magic instead of other DPS casters. I was wondering why that was.
For the time being, I would strongly recommend overriding the Power Word: Shield glyph with another one to minimize any problems when raiding. For Discipline Priests, try these:
Update: A hotfix seems to have been applied. The shield glitch doesn't seem to be in effect anymore. Still, I strongly suggest you test this out on your server with another player to determine if the shield is still glitching.
Other changes
I mentioned this in my Shadow Priest post a few weeks ago, but Shadow Priests have gained some slight damage buffs to their talents:
Improved Spirit Tap: Mind Flay periodic critical strikes have a 50% chance to trigger this talent.
Twisted Faith now grants spell power equal to 4/8/12/16/20% of Spirit, up from 2/4/6/8/10%.
In short, Blizzard really wants Shadow Priests to lean towards Spirit gear. My Shadow Priests have reported a slight increase in damage, but it's going to take some more time and more log scanning to see what conclusive effects it has.
For Priest glyphs:
Divine Aegis: Ranks 1 and 2 will now work with Holy Nova.
Glyph of Power Word: Shield now correctly uses the Priest's spell critical chance instead of the target's.
Let's hope that shield glyph bug gets resolved as soon as possible. I suppose the alternative is for Priests to continue using the glyph but watch who they shield instead. Either way, it's a fairly significant bug for raiding Priests and it could result in serious consequences.
In any event, there are no other major changes for Priests in this content update patch.
2n - 1 go left, 2n go right. I don't see enough DoTs! More DoTs now!
Are you ready for the return of Onyxia? With the Brood Mother being revitalized as a 10 and 25 person raid, you'll need to be sure you know everything that's coming at you. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2.2 will make sure your set for the next patch!
