Forum post of the day: "The Priest Class: Game Design, Philosophy"
by Eliah Hecht 
Mar 6th 2007 at 7:45PM
Special thanks to Kamakahema of Shadow Council-US for tipping me off to this thread. Today's thread of the day tackles the question of whether a healing priest is as fun to play as it could be (WoW is a game, after all, and one of games' major goals is fun). Voryk/Kryvor of Matheridon-US approaches the philosophy of the class as a whole and, in one of the best written forum threads I've seen in a while (especially in the unruly Priest forums), determines that at least in a healing role, the class is just too monotonous -- you can only play whack-a-mole for a certain amount of time before it gets dull, generally speaking. Most of our talents are passive, for mana efficiency, extra strength for a particular set of spells, etc.; as players, our job is relatively simple and limited.
All well and good, you ask, but does he have any constructive comments? Why, yes. He suggests expanding dramatically on the "Power Word" motif, giving us short (15s) mutually exclusive (only one up per target at a time) active abilities that a smart priest could use to negate incoming damage (PW: Arcane Protection, for instance) or buff up group members in the short term (e.g. PW: Haste on a rogue); the Discipline tree could then be used to house talents relating to these instead of being the catch-all tree it is today. Another spell that would seem to fit into this mold is Brainwash, which Priests had in the WoW Beta, that would reduce the threat level of the player you cast it on. I know threat management is a big part of group play these days, so they'd have to make sure it wasn't overpowered, but I'm sure Blizz could come up with something.
I feel it's important at this point to stress that the OP doesn't want to hybridize Priests away from being great healers, per se, he just wants to make that job more active and fun, instead of reactive and repetitive. Or at least that's my interpretation. And as far as that goes, I agree with him pretty well. I love healing, it's why I rolled a Priest, and Prayer of Mending was a big step in the right direction, but the class could use a lot more work.
Oh, and by the way, Circle of Healing may be up for more changes. From Neth:
Circle of Healing may also have an additional change to targeting. This is in consideration for sometime in a future patch.
Filed under: Priest, Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
iamdexx Mar 6th 2007 8:50PM
That could really add to that class - personally i roll a druid, my girlfriend has a priest. Her main complaint is that it does get very monotonous - taking the PW idea and expanding it really could add to the class. As for the different specs - i cannot comment on that, though i am not sure if in the post it was indicated this would be for all priests or just a certain tree, ie 21,31 point talents etc.. IMO if implemented it should be for all.
That is my $0.02
Deathlike Mar 6th 2007 8:54PM
I really believe that World of Warcraft's priests should be changed to something that actually does use buffs more often.
In any other MMORPG, that's the case. Take Ragnarok Online, for example, and just go look at the skills available to a priest class in that game. There's at least ten different buffs that can be cast in different places, they last short times, and have different applications. I remember playing RO and having a lot of fun playing a "battle-priest," which was basically a build using the equivalent to Trinkets and all the priests' buffs to maximize survivability and DPS.
In a summary, Blizzard CAN make changes. And I, for one, believe they should. Druid's Mark of the Wild and Paladin's Blessing of Kings should NOT be generally the best spell-based buffs in the game.
Deathlike Mar 6th 2007 9:01PM
Edit to my last post, #2..
There's 19 or 20, I just counted. That's actively cast buffs on either an area, target, or your party, and not counting the heals/debuffs and attacks the priests in RO have.
Can't Blizzard take just a tiny bit of that?
Robert Mar 6th 2007 9:06PM
Priests aren't fun because none of their abilities are synergistic. The classes that are usually considered most fun to play (and the most popular) have abilities that can work together in creative ways to sometimes unexpected results. That isn't the case when healing: you cast a spell, and then another, and then another, until the battle's over.
Priests need the ability to chain their spells together such that the end result is greater than simply casting one heal after another.
Gist Mar 6th 2007 9:15PM
Playing a priest PVP or in a Raid does get very boring, agreed. But I love playing one in the new lvl 70 5-mans. I think we very often have to make decisions as to who to let die (happens all the time in the kill fest which are heroics), to start a heal even before the tank gets hit, to know to shield the tank and get ready for a mass fear/MC... I would much rather do that then wait 3 sunders and start DPS.
BeardedFerret Mar 6th 2007 9:36PM
@ #4 - You mean, like, a combo system for Heals? That would be -the shit-.
drew Mar 7th 2007 1:39AM
I think TBC has improved healing. In pre-TBC priest healing used approx 4 spells (Greater Heal, Flash, Renew, and Shield). The real meta-game was all about managing mana regen with how much healing was needed to ensure group members did not die.
TBC has added a couple new healing spells which add some more vareity in to the mix. Oh yes, and I love stacking renews. :)
chimera Mar 7th 2007 1:53AM
I can't see how healing is whack a mole or boring.
People who don't like healing should not heal, or at least should not post that it's boring. It's not for them, nothing wrong with that.
I healed the MT on Maiden of Virtue yesterday, it was one of the most exciting challenge in the game :) It's way more interesting and entertaining than spamming damage spells with my mage. (I have one)
amasen Mar 7th 2007 3:13AM
I would probably not limit this to being the post of the day... week... month...
This is the post of the year. It is not a QQ. Not complaining about changes made. It is a discussion about what is fun, about a philosophy of game play.
One of the biggest complaints about the recent patch is that ProM was fun. In comparing to the other healers... They are all fun... They all allow for something more than click target and heal target
Palidans have their seals, auras and blessings
Shaman get their totems and amazing Group/AoE healing
Druids get the different animal shapes and some very interesting ways of healing (HoTs that heal over time, heal a little at the start and a lot at the end, heal a lot at the start and a bit later, and a command that consumes the HoT turning it into a full heal.)
Priests had ProM. And Power word sheild is interesting but no longer scales.
atr Mar 7th 2007 4:18AM
The guy seems to like complaining about having no CC too. I guess he's yet to discover psychic scream and shackle undead.
(Admittedly they're not awesome CC, but they do invalidate statements like 'the class has no crowd control mechanisms')
Tigraine Mar 7th 2007 4:51AM
I would really really love a combo system be in place.
Like, Flash Heal + Great Heal + PoM + Flashheal = Free Prayer of Healing or something.
Give them 5 or more combinations that will somehow fire off a instant-cast 0 mana heal and you will really take that healing to a new mutch more interesting level.
Now you just cast your heals so everybody isn't dying. If you know what you need to cast to get a new instant heal, a lot more thought is involved and you get a lot more feeling of accomplishment after a tough fight when you know, you did it right by using everything you've got.
priest Mar 7th 2007 8:00AM
Just want to say that there are those of us that enjoy being priests, enjoy healing and, TBH, arn't too upset with the current state of the class. Hell, in instances who really doesn't just hit a couple of keys to get the desired effect?
daniel Mar 7th 2007 8:32AM
@12: count me in, I'm not happy about the nerfs but they would have to be really brutal with the nerf stick to make me quit my priest.
@10: it's true that we do have CC but the author probably means that they're not useful to us from a healing point of view. how often can shackle undead be used as opposed to sheep/sap? how often does an instance allow the use of fear in a safe way?
Orizon Mar 7th 2007 8:48AM
Although I don't play a priest, I do know that I never see Lightwells used so I think some talent revamp could introduce some fun in the healing tree.
My suggestion would be to remove Lightwell and bump the 41-point holy tree talent to 31-point. A new 41-point talent like "Touch of the Blessed" could give a 5-10% proc chance when you land a healing spell of giving the friendly target a "blessed" state that lasts for 8-10 sec. At that point, the priest has 3-4 short duration buffs to choose from to cast on the "blessed" target. For example, you could cast a offensive buff to increase haste/spell haste rating, a mana regen buff or a armor increase. These buffs could last 30 sec and cause a forbearance-like debuff to the target so it cannot be spammed in raids by multiple priests or be to OP in PvP.
This would probably make things more intresting while offering them so way of bringing battle oriented buffs. I also like the PW options out there and I hope they can be added with future expansions but I doubt you could really see any of those introduced at this point.
Kaylek Mar 7th 2007 10:59AM
I'm sure I'll get a "QQ plate healer" from this, but that particular expansion on the Power Word theme seems a little infringing on the Paladin blessing system. The excuse for our low duration and high potency is that it's intended as an active buff, where Paladins can switch up blessings according to the immediate need without a significant hit on our mana pool.
That's just referring to the 5 minute blessings. We also have Blessing of Freedom and Blessing of Sacrifice, both being short duration active buffs (10s and 30s respectively) similar to the proposed Power Word system. Paladins have been asking for a longer primary blessing timer (15m and 30m seems to be the most common consensus as opposed to the current 5m and 15m format) and/or a larger variety of short duration active buffs like BOF and BOS.
I know this is about Priests, and I should be QQing in the Paladin forums about our impending DPS nerf or whatever. But like I said, an expanded Power Word system to such a degree would potentially step on the toes of our intended functionality in regards to buffs (one that's arguably not working quite as intended). The same could be said in regards to totem functionality, and lord knows that's a big can of worms.
Kaylek Mar 7th 2007 11:11AM
I will say, though, that a Priest Power Word that increases stun/disorient/fear/charm/polymorth resistance chance, say 15s duration (consumed with a successful resist) a a 30s-1m cooldown, would be something every Priest could rightly deserve. I'd sooner break it into two words each with 2-3 possible resists however, not one with 5-6 possible resists.
Furthermore, the emphasis here should be on *chance to resist.* I'm talking 25% chance maximum. I sort of consider Will of the Forsaken and Fear Ward as existing counter-balances, at least in regard to Priests, so I wouldn't so likely see this as introducing an imbalance. Furthermore, a solution similar to the Forbearance scenario (doesn't Power World: Shield already have something similar?) could prevent immediate consecutive use of WOTF/FW and the Power Word that increases fear resistance.
Roguerhunter Mar 7th 2007 11:28AM
OK GUYS you want to be heard and there are plenty of ways of doing it and posting here is one way. About a month ago there was a way to create your own talent trees for characters. How about someone posts that link here or maybe I can check my Guilds website if its still on there to make some Priest talents of our own and summit it. You guys really want to be series lets make a different and post a Priest talent and comment to see if perhaps Blizzard will see what we created for priest talent wise!!!
Plus it is a sad day today! Capt. America has finally been killed!!!
Flit Mar 7th 2007 11:39AM
I don't see the difference between:
target tank: heal, renew, heal, flash heal, remove curse, PW:Pain, PW:Shield, heal, heal (etc etc)
and
Target mob: serpent sting, concussive shot, steady shot, autoshot... arcane shot.... arcane shot.... arcane shot... (etc etc)
Strongmark on Arthas Mar 7th 2007 12:13PM
@2,3 Deathlike
I totally agree with you. I would like to see a couple extra buffs as well from priests, I am surprised they dont have extra buffs. They have some good healing abilities, and veen a combo system would be better, but other than Stamina, and correct me if I am wrong, they dont have any other buffs really. Even just one or two more buffs that will last 30 minutes would be pretty sweet for the class to have. I dunno, I would play my priest way more if she had some extra buffs... what do I know though... she must hate me I play her so little.
Blah blah blah Mar 7th 2007 12:22PM
I have been playing a healing/raiding/PvE priest for almost 2 years now, and call me nuts, but I love it. Even the whack a mole end of things. To me it's the funnest role in a group (I personally prefer 10-20 man raids over 5 mans) - and it's just as exciting as killing something. I get a rush out of saving the tank with that last second PoM/Renew/FlashHeal combo when he's at 5% health and starting to sweat, to me it's the same kind of rush i think when a mage lands a huge nuke on a mob terminating its virtual existence (at least until respawn :P). Sure, priests get yelled at a lot, we take unnecessary blame, there aren't enough of us, yeah yeah yeah, but all in all I like the role and the class. Just remember: YOUR LIVES ARE IN MY HANDS AHHHHHH.
:)