Sep 22, 2008

A Note on Posts

Sorry I haven't gotten a new post out in a while, I've been busy with school and other things. I'll try to get a new post out in the next few days! Thanks for bearing with me.

Sep 17, 2008

Why Priests are the Best Lovers

Alright Matticus, you challenged me to make a list of why my class is the best lover, so I decided to take on the challenge!

3. We are Huggable

Ever try hugging through plate or mail? It doesn't exactly work too well. Luckily robes are nice and soft, and much easier to get out of too if you know what I mean.

2. Mind Soothe

Nothing helps settle down for a nice romantic evening than a little Mind Soothe. Gets the worries off your mind and helps you focus on your love.

1. Power Word: Fortitude

Increases Stamina by 79. Every woman loves a guy with good stamina, if you know what I mean, ahem, making for some enjoyable nights with your love.

Sep 16, 2008

Priest Racial Changes!

After hearing the new racial changes announced not too long ago, I've gotta say it's about time!
  • - Desperate Prayer - This is now the 11-point talent in Holy, Holy Nova is now a base ability. Cooldown also reduced to 30 seconds.
  • - Devouring Plague - Now a base ability. Cooldown reduced to 30 seconds, mana cost greatly reduced.
  • - Symbol of Hope - Now a base ability. Now restores 5% base mana every 2 seconds for 8 seconds to your party. Renamed "Hymn of Hope."
Priest racials have long been a total mess, with lots of whining all around by the priest community. Priests were the only class for a while that had different racials for different races of that particular class. Blizzard tried it with horde and alliance paladins, but just like priests they realized that it should be changed.The only difference is it took them much longer to figure out the Priest racial problems.

I must say as a Human priest, I was extremely happy to be getting these racials, especially the new version of Symbol of Hope. That was until I realized that it only restored 2% of base mana. At level 80 this comes out to just over 700 mana. Basically one greater heal. Not very impressive I must say.

From another point of view, these changes could be pretty painful. Draenei and Dwarves will doubtlessly be missing their chastise, and the main appeal of picking a Draenei over a human is now gone with Symbol of Hope. Draenei priests will no doubt wish they were human for the 5% extra spirit now that their unique spell is no longer...well...unique.

You have to read a little bit of the fine print to see it, but the second big beneficial change here is the change to Holy Nova. Nova will now be a baseline talent, being replaced by Desperate Prayer on a 30 second cooldown. Priests have been waiting for a change to Nova for years and it is finally here.

All in all these changes make me look forward to playing a Priest in Wrath, although there is still alot of work that needs to be done to the class before I would consider it balanced.

Sep 10, 2008

How to Fix the Disc Priest in Beta

I know at the end of the last post I said that I would get a post off about kiting melee, but that will have to wait. What I have on my mind right now has to do with the state of the Disc Priest in beta for PvP purposes.

Disc Priests didn't gain too many new tricks in Wrath, but they did get some improvements on what they already had. Most of our new talents focus on Power Word: Shield in some way, and it is pretty clear that we will be relying heavily on the shield for our damage reduction and mana regeneration.

This sounds good to me, and I honestly don't have any problems with it except one. If a Priest goes against a Paladin, Shaman, or another Priest who spam dispel on our shield, we are basically screwed. All it takes is a class that can dispel magic effects, and we are reduced to nothing. Blizzard can buff PW:S as much as they want, but that doesn't change the fact that if it is dispelled we are helpless. If we spec into it we can get a 30% dispel resist by way of Silent Resolve, but even with that small resist chance, the shield is still way too easy to get rid of.

Blizzard recognized this problem with the Druid class, giving them Lifebloom. The "on dispel" effect on Lifebloom made it almost pointless to spam dispel on, effectively giving them protection against dispel spamming. I think it is time that Blizzard includes an "on dispel" component to PW:S, either by adding it to the spell itself, or taking an even easier solution and making a glyph.

Here are some ideas I have to prevent dispel spamming:

  • While Weakened Soul is active, dispel resistance increased by 50%.
  • On dispel, Heals target for 100% of shield absorbtion.
  • On dispel, increases chance of a critical heal on target by 50% for 10 seconds.
  • On dispel, removes any harmful effects on target along with PW:S.
  • On dispel, Grants target 50% extra resistance for dispel for 1 minute.
  • On dispel, refunds priest 200% of the mana it cost to cast PW:S.
  • On dispel, reduces damage done to target by 10% for 15 second.
Any of the above would fix Disc Priest in PvP, and go a long way toward making it viable against other classes with dispel.

Sep 9, 2008

The Magic Number

Now that I've gotten the first few posts out there, I think it's time that I try to create some kind of method to the madness. The way I see it I can either try to post on certain days a week, every week, or try to get a certain amount of posts in every week on whatever day I decide to get it done. I definately don't want to overdo it and put out all my ideas at once so that I have nothing left, but at the same time I want to give the readers something interesting to come back for.

Currently I think I am going to shoot for 2-3 posts a week, 3 if I decide to write some short posts, or 2 if I write an essay like the last post. What do you guys think is the magic number?