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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsSpiritual Guidance: Don't be that priest
by Matt Low 
Oct 20th 2009 at 6:00PM
Every week (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a UI and addons blog for WoW. Ever wonder what separates good priests and thoughtful priests to downright annoying priests and careless priests?
This week's post is inspired by a post about shamans I read the other week from Healing Way. It was about typical things that shamans sometimes do which they should not do. Just for kicks, I felt like compiling a similar list for priests.So without further adieu, don't be that priest:
...Who blows Hymn of Hope when everyone's mana is topped (or is too far away). Your raid frames are up aren't they? My frames are set to display the mana bars of everyone in the raid. Browse through it and check once in a while to determine if it really is needed. If the mana's still full, there's no sense in using it.
...Who is way off on Pain Suppression or Guardian Spirit cooldowns. I admit, coordinating cooldowns with big attacks can be tough to do. You're too worried about healing the raid and sometimes you might be off from dropping a defensive cooldown on the player who needs it the most. This used to be me.
...Who never dispels on a fight like Hodir. When I play on my alts, it continuously pains me to see players stuck in Frost Nova or in a constant state of fear when such effects can be easily removed. Priests have an AoE dispel at their disposal. It's not difficult to point and use it. Sometimes a simple Dispel Magic can be more important than a heal.
...Who Power Infuses melee. I saw a priest cast Power Infusion on a ret paladin once. Please don't do it. There's other casters who will benefit more from it.
...Who Pain Suppresses a tank with an extremely minor threat lead. This is frustrating. I understand that some tanks take a huge beating and you can't bite back the urge to drop a cooldown on them. It's even worse when they have such a colossal time generating threat. Keep an eye on your threat meter for this one. If there's a DPS that's just under the tank, a simple Pain Suppression could tip that DPS player over and cause a bunch of problems.
...Who drops the Psychic Scream fear bomb on trash when there is no need to do so. There is absolutely no need to fear on trash. Raid groups should have plenty of crowd control already without a priestly need to fear. By screaming, who knows where the feared mobs will run to, right? They could pick up even more trash mobs. Or worse, they could yank the boss over. Do yourself a favor and don't voluntarily fear unless your raid leader green lights you to do so.
...Who comes into the raid completely devoid of candles in their bags to buff. I make an effort to keep a stack of 60 candles on my priest at all times. There are times when I've run out mid raid and it's embarrassing. It also sucks when you have to cast 50 individual buffs (between Fortitude and Spirit).
...Who just stands there. Do something! Heal! Dispel! Look productive! Don't stand there and look AFK! Run around and keep players alive!
...Who forgets to Fade when new mobs crop up. Whoops! I pulled threat once on an incoming mob. Fade is your friend. In fact, keep hitting fade every chance it becomes available. Watch as your survivability increases.
...Who forgets to activate Inner Fire. It's an extra spell power buff. Have it keybound to something handy and convenient. For me, I like to use Shift C. Don't ask why. It just happens to work out.
...Who loves to jump into melee range of trash mobs and Holy Nova spam. Don't be like me. I once ran into a group of trash after the tank gained aggro on them all thinking I would be safe. I figured I could keep shelling out Holy Nova and do some damage as well as heal right? Well 3 seconds later, I found myself face planted on the ground. Turns out those mobs like to whirlwind. I learned my lesson and kept my DPS to a distance.
...Who like to chain Levitate people especially when triggering Anub'arak. This is actually really annoying. And yes the debuff is removable by clicking it. Still, it does irritate people especially those who can't click it off if their UI doesn't display it. There's no real reason to levitate the entire raid. Doing it to run across the ocean is one thing. But don't do this crap during raids.
...Who don't remember to buff Fortitude after someone gets back up during mid combat. When players are dead, their buffs are wiped. When they get resurrected mid combat, they're going to be weak. It causes me to lose precious time when I try to look for them on my frames. I just slam Prayer of Fortitude and rebuff everyone in the raid to guarantee they've been hit.
...Who forgets they have anti-disease spells. So we've got two dispels. One removes magic and another removes disease. Keep it bound on your bars. I like to have Dispel as my E key, Mass Dispel as my Ctrl E key, and Abolish Disease as my Shift E key.
...Who continues to heal after a wipe has been called. You're slowing the raid down! Your leader just called for everyone to die! Stop healing and wasting time! Run to the nearest fire and die!
...Who doesn't realize they have mana potions and flasks for tough encounters. Unprepared raiders who are tackling bosses without the necessary consumables? What's up with that? Get some flasks when you're working on progression stuff. You might not need mana potions now, but it's better to have it just in case you do.
...Who never heals hunter pets. Want to really stand out from the rest? Have some pet frames shown. Watch as hunters lovingly gaze at you as Spot The Wolf manages to live.
...Who doesn't DPS during burn phases. If it's a straight up max DPS phase, don't simply stand there twiddling your thumbs waiting for someone to take damage. Be proactive and start healing. Chances are, your raid is alive. Take the time to pile on some DPS.
...Who DPS's when they shouldn't. Know when is not a good time to DPS. Stop tossing Holy Fires when the raid is taking massive AoE damage.
...Who fails to use Fear Ward when it is known there are mobs that fear. This is me. I sometimes forget to use Fear Ward. I'm a Dwarf too! I've had access to this spell since forever! Don't be like me! Make notes on which bosses fear and use it then. Faction Champions is a great time to use it.
...Who rolls on hit gear with no intent on ever DPSing. Don't rob another player in your raid of gear that they will use. If you're a healer for life, stay that way.
...Who rolls on PvP gear without future plans of setting foot into battlegrounds or arena. Again, same thing as above. Give it to the players who intend to PvP.
What else would you add to this list?
(Thanks for your help, Wyn!)
Want to find more great tips for carrying out your Priestly duties? Spiritual Guidance has you covered with all there is to know! And don't forget to check out our other Leveling Guides as well as our Wrath Guides and Galleries! Filed under: Priest, (Priest) Spiritual Guidance
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 6)
Lyraat Oct 20th 2009 9:38PM
If players are topped off, please heal my pet. Mend Pet is a very slow and weak HoT: about 6500 (raid buffed) over 15 seconds. Players are always more important heal targets. But telling a hunter to "STFU and Mend Pet" is insulting considering that in 15 seconds, a healer can heal every pet in a raid three times over. We don't want our pets to die, but many times, we can't save them. Or, if we do, it's only because we pulled them back to our sides and are furiously bandaging and Mend Pet'ing. Either way, by not going the extra healing mile, you just gimped our dps. Throw a group heal on one pet, heal all the pets, and receive hugs from their owners.
Bronwyn Oct 20th 2009 11:32PM
I don't think that they meant "heal pets at the same priority as everyone else."
But if the rest of the raid is doing OK and you don't need to use your heals elsewhere? Please. PLEASE heal my pet. I keep mend pet up, and I pull back when I feel I have to, but that isn't always enough and it's really really wonderful to have a random heal thrown here or there. Even a small one. I am not asking the priests (and shamans, paladins, druids) to keep my pet alive above all else; obviously, players come first. But healing the pet isn't a bad thing.
Chris A Oct 21st 2009 12:31AM
I thought the same thing reading this article. I understand pets need to stay alive to help with dps, but they are on the bottom of my list. I'm there to keep the players alive.
Rob Oct 21st 2009 12:37AM
I'm mainly heals now, but i have two 80 hunter and played a raid hunter. So I see both sides of the fence. It's really impt for the BM pet to live through. Now the imp, or the ghoul, or what have you, not all that critical as far as dps goes (although hmm i think that's debatable since lock pets provide raid buffs). Anyway...point being, pets *should* be at the bottom of the triage list. But they should still get heals when you can.
About the dps thing, i pretty much disagree at least for my druid. We're really not made to dps and heal at the same time. Nothing sucks up mana quickly like alot of dps spells, and they are slow and very low dps to boot. I'd rather save the mana for later in the fight.
Skonged Oct 21st 2009 10:10AM
"Hunters have Mend Pet for a reason. "
^^ This
Jafari Oct 21st 2009 1:35PM
As a pally healer, I like the new and improved beacon of light. A LOT. The pets are great targets for a Glyphed Holy Light because they're always within Glyphed heal range of the tank. That way the tank gets the 10% from the glyph, plus the full heal from beacon.
It also really makes hunters happy. I think many of them watch the pet's health more than their own.
jellyphish Oct 20th 2009 6:16PM
If you're holy, and there's a disc in the raid, avoid using pw:shield.
Prissa Oct 20th 2009 6:37PM
I never thought of that, and it's such a good point. Having never rolled disc I won't pretend I know exactly how frustrating it is, but I imagine trying to cast your extra awesome bubbles on someone with weakened soul would suck.
Brew Oct 20th 2009 6:43PM
Not only does it prevent us from tossing our shields on our targets, but that can throw off our haste, rotations, timing, etc.
Kaphik Oct 20th 2009 7:00PM
"If you're holy, and there's a disc in the raid, avoid using pw:shield."
That cannot be said enough. ONLY throw it on yourself, or use it as an emergency measure on a dps who is close to dying. Disc priests gain a Haste buff when casting PW:S, and the four piece T8 bonus for those who still have it gives an extra 250 SP when PW:S is cast. But mainly the Haste buff is HUGE for Disc.
Prissa Oct 20th 2009 7:34PM
To be fair, holy priests don't get a choice in 4pc bonus, they got that 250sp boost when casting shields too, so don't get too ticked off when they throw one or two shields around.
Brew Oct 20th 2009 7:52PM
Sure, holy priests casting a shield gets them the sp bonus as well.
You should be shielding yourself on cooldown.
If there's also a disc priest in the raid, find out who they are shielding, whether it be MT, all tanks, or if they're going to be doing raid wide shielding.
Just don't interfere with their shielding, and you're golden.
Voodie Oct 20th 2009 9:23PM
Yes.
Yes.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Amak Oct 20th 2009 10:19PM
I am not sure why Weakened Soul debuff still prevents other priests casting PW:S on the same target - it is outdated and a hinderance to priests playing nicely together. I remember when renews didn't stack and it was a red letter day for me when that change was made.
As a holy priest with Body and Soul I am often required to boost the tank for kiting, etc. To ask my fellow discipline priest to gimp their rotation by not shielding for 15 seconds before the event is stupid.
redothree Oct 21st 2009 6:12AM
I agree; just remember the speed boost the Holy Priests can talent into can be extremely useful at certain times. (Paralytic poison during the Jormungar encounter, Gravity Bombs on XT Deconstructor... etc.)
Diogenes Oct 21st 2009 1:53PM
The 4 piece bonus is a purely disc bonus. If you were to activate that bonus as a holy priest, you would have to trade about 1/3 to 1/4th of your cooldowns to PWshield a highly suboptimal way to play as holy given bubbles are only about 4-5k and hugely suboptimal for the raid if you are interfering with the disc priest's bubbles.
Holy has so much spellpower raid-buffed anyways that % wise the increase is much less for a well-geared holy nowadays that it is simply much better to break 4 piece and go for a better balance on gear rather than the relatively minor 250 sp bonus.
For disc, this is an entirely different story as disc priests have much less spellpower than holy priests. Once you get more TOC25 stuff (basically all your pieces), then I would suggest breaking the set bonus simply for the survivability alone.
Banndit Oct 20th 2009 6:22PM
"...Who rolls on PvP gear without future plans of setting foot into battlegrounds or arena. "
This is really for everyone. If you're doing VoA and PVP gear drops and u know you won't PVP, let it go to someone who will.
Turtlehead Oct 21st 2009 12:29AM
...unless it is a PvE upgrade you will use in raids. It can be at lower gear levels or if you've had bad luck on drops for the slot. Goes the other way (I'd say more so) too, taking tier pieces for PvP.
Not disagreeing at all, but it's not cut & dry. The basic rule applies: don't be a jerk.
Tholomyes Oct 20th 2009 6:27PM
For buffs, I highly recommend the smartbuff addon. It binds all your buffs (as chosen in a menu by typing /sbm) to the scroll wheel. Once installed, I got in the habit of pulling back on the scroll wheel all whenever combat ended- automatically rebuffs people as needed, and makes sure you have inner fire up. For SP's, it will be even better in 3.3, when Vamperic Embrace becomes a straight buff.
paul Oct 20th 2009 6:47PM
Im not ashamed, Im gonna come out and say it:
I am the levitate guy.
I dunno why, i just cant stop myself, it just looks so pretty! Atleast Im saving you repair bills on your boots right? Boots wont take damage if there not on the floor! :P
(And yes.... I do even have it glyphed)