The latest on Priest racial abilities
by Elizabeth Harper 
Aug 9th 2007 at 5:18PM
I think the general consensus among the designers is that ultimately priest racials were ... a poor choice to make... I'm not sure how many remember, but priest racials were created because there was player concern over how an Undead could appropriately wield the healing powers of the light, and the racials were added to give flavor which could back up some of those player concerns. Aside from some probably poor decisions on what that flavor should be, ultimately it was a concern that players would ultimately have benefited from if we had simply ignored it. It could be addressed any number of ways (everyone is given everything, or it's cut down to a small pool of abilities which everyone has access to, or only specific abilities are passed to different races, etc.), and I don't believe a final decision has been made at this time.
So it looks as though Priests are looking forward to a future without distinct racial abilities. And while I'm sure that some Priests are happy about that, I'm thinking that those who picked their race for a specific skill (Dwarves and Draenei, in particular) might not be. Which side of the camp do you fall on -- are you glad that Blizzard is addressing the issue, or wish they'd just leave it be?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Guttermouth Aug 9th 2007 5:26PM
just leave them. Work on them individually but don't spread fear ward around.
Give trolls an ability to increase party stun/fear/silence resist for 8 seconds. 5 min cd.
That should balance the horde priests greatly.
Guttermouth
-UD priest
emberwild Aug 9th 2007 5:33PM
The whole point of racials was that if you choose a particular race, you'd be able to cast a race specific spell, thereby further differentiating that Priest from another. Since differences between each character are far and few between, this was one simple way of making your character different.
The lesson here is if you b1tch enough about a mistake you made during character creation, Blizzard will accomodate. One day each race will have all classes open to them also. Go Gnome Priests in expansion 4!
Mark Aug 9th 2007 5:33PM
spread the love!
Coherent Aug 9th 2007 5:34PM
Picking your race for specific racial skill means ultimately that you're not playing a race you have any real affinity for.
My thought is that the character look and style should be what draws the player to the character, not the "uberness" of the characters racial stats or abilities. You should be able to be what you want to be, whether tauren, troll, undead, or blood elf.
If the races don't look particularly cool, then the designers know what they need to strive for next time. Ideally they should mix the racial traits up between tough, cute, sexy, muscular, stoic, sinister, serene... all of the various racial traits there can be.
REALLY ideally they should allow some character customization beyond face and hair and skin color, but they've apparently taken a fairly minimalist approach to character creation. Which is unfortunate because it makes it difficult to identify personally with a generic character of skin color X and face Y, especially when everybody's wearing epic equipment of Tier Z.
Guttermouth Aug 9th 2007 5:35PM
I don't see that happening Emberwild. I'm pretty sure the classes aren't going to migrate into any other races.
Rich Aug 9th 2007 5:53PM
Just make Fear Ward a spell for all priests and give Dwarves and Draenei something else. That is really what this clamor is all about.
Lokse Aug 9th 2007 5:54PM
Although I am happy that priest racism (LOL, you noob you rolled a Nelf/Troll priest!) will be reduced, I am sad that they have had to take such drastic measures.
Daedahl Aug 9th 2007 5:54PM
@4 "My thought is that the character look and style should be what draws the player to the character, not the "uberness" of the characters racial stats or abilities."
And you would be wrong in a lot of cases. A lot of people choose their race due to the "Uberness" of the character's racial stats and abilities. People ask all the time, "What's the best race for ?" People who chose a race based on looks are the ones who complain about the imbalance of racial traits if they are at a disadvantage (in their own eyes).
Racial traits are not limited to priests. What's next? Everyone can get warstomp because they really want it but don't like looking like a minotaur? Any race can choose diplomacy?
Wait a minute you might be on to something here. Choose your race, then choose the racial traits you want based on a cost formula. You want to be a gnome with Warstomp and Diplomacy instead of Escape artist and all the other gnomish traits (like looking eminently puntable), just spend your points in those categories.
On second thought, I don't think gnomes could ever give up that puntability trait.
Scruffy Aug 9th 2007 5:55PM
Yay! Fear Ward with 10% spirit buff!
And so long as lore is going out the window, we get devouring plague, too, right? Hex of Weakness? Uh, whatever them Draenei get, that mana regen thingymabob?
qwerty321 Aug 9th 2007 6:00PM
I stopped playing my 60 raiding ally priest and went and created a horde one and got her to 48 or so because it was SOOOOOO much more fun with the added racials. They should just make em all available, and let us choose 3 or so to train. I would probably pull my ally priest out of mothballs if that happened.
Scimitar Aug 9th 2007 6:02PM
Think they should just leave the racials alone. People picked certain races for a particular racial to have, and the fact that people complain about it, does not mean that they should give Horde Fear Ward, or Alliance should get War Stomp. Blizzard does this crap all the time, where they piss down everything that is different and makes everything the same. That is not the point of class diversity. They did this to hunters pets, and made every pet the same which was a horrible idea, and now they are doing it to races as well. KNOCK IT OFF BLIZZARD!
Michael Aug 9th 2007 6:04PM
@10 I agree. Let us pick 2-3 special skills from the selection of racials. I have a dwarf priest, but with so many reputations now, I would rather have a human for diplomacy and then keep fear ward.
Larinda Aug 9th 2007 6:06PM
It might be educational to note that there is NO mention on the character creation screen that priest racials even exist, much less what they are. Nor is there any mention in the literature.
If they had made fear ward self-only, they could have avoided all the noise, honestly, and it would have been a nice PvP ability.
Someguy Aug 9th 2007 6:06PM
I play a Dranei priest, which I chose because of the priest racials and the mana-free HoT (on 3 min cd but nonetheless.) However I think it's about time Blizzard spread the racials around a bit...I don't think that every race should have every ability, but rather I think both factions should have each ability available to at least one of their races.
For example, we all know Night Elves got the short end of the stick on priest racials...big time. So why not give them Hex of Weakness instead of Elune's Grace and buff Starshards a bit. For Undead, get rid of Touch of Weakness (and stick it in the discipline talent tree) and give them Fear Ward...and so forth
Ugkul Aug 9th 2007 6:10PM
I think racials aren't too bad an idea and every class should have different racials as well. Makes the game a little more interesting. A gnome warrior might rely on a different bag of tricks to fight than a Tauren, for example.
java Aug 9th 2007 6:10PM
/Mouth hits floor
Ok, if we're passing out Dwarf racial fear ward like a mage handing out water before SSC, let me know where I start the quest line for dwarf priests to get plate armor. Sound ridiculous? You're right it is.
It's nice when you're starting a character and you say I really want to be a priest, a team player, so I will pick dwarf because fear ward is a tremendous asset in 5 mans, pvp, and raiding. You pick dwarf even though being a human priest gets a +5% rep bonus which makes life so much easier in Outlands. Now Blizzard is gonna make you look like an idiot for being a team player.
Way to go blizzard, reinforce the theory.... never think about a team, always think about yourself.
Baluki Aug 9th 2007 6:23PM
Argh, I think they're moving in the wrong direction. Don't spread/ditch priest racials. That's one of the coolest things about the class: that different races have different spells.
I think it'd be awesome if they gave each class its own racial spell or two. I know it'd be difficult to balance, but I'm willing to let them try. :D
Christian Stricker Aug 9th 2007 6:29PM
This was an awful idea. When I first started playing my Human priest, I had not considered or known of any "omg feedback is sux0rz" complaints, hell, I didn't know of the priest racial traits at all.
I say f*ck it all, there's no need to differentiate the races so much on one class, unless all other classes are also treated as such. Remove the priest defined racial traits, and give it to all and everyone. Fear Ward, Devouring Plague, Starshards, Touch of Weakness, Feedback, every priest should be able to perform nearly identically as other classes already do.
Epiny Aug 9th 2007 6:30PM
Priest Racials didn't have the effect 2.5 years ago that they do now. People shouldn't have to reroll because the game changed. The game should just be balanced.
What's the point of have any other Priest besides UD for Horde then? Trolls are under represented in all classes any how, lets just remove them.
Martel Aug 9th 2007 6:31PM
As someone who deleted a human priest and rerolled a dwarf, I hope they find some reasonably fair way to handle this. I'd be in favor of reducing the racial spells to a small number and giving them to all priests. Or perhaps they could give priests the option to "specialize" in a certain god or belief system and give them certain spells based on this. This would let them retain most or all of the current racial spells but let each priest make a choice separate from race.