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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsSpiritual Guidance: How to be the perfect pickup group priest
by Matt Low 
Dec 21st 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. Too bad he was too busy running heroics to come to the aid of the King!
With the new dungeon finder tool released, I felt it was a good idea to write up how a priest should handle themselves in instances with a group of players they don't know. Once I started using the system, I became exposed to a large variety of different personalities, skill levels and gear levels. Quite the experience grouping with players packing gear ranging from Trial of the Grand Crusader to the random hunter wielding the grey bow of death.
My approach to pugging has not been that different since the pre-dungeon tool era when players would randomly form up in groups for whatever the heroic daily was. After a while, I stopped doing heroics because I didn't need the emblems anymore. In the end, I had to re-learn and remember some of the core philosophies I held onto when I dived back into the world of running heroic dungeons again.
You set the pace
Traditionally, the pace of the dungeon is set by the healer. As long as the healer has enough mana in the tank, trash can be chain pulled. In fact, I've noticed that speed and efficiency continue to be the norm. I'm not talking about pull speeds to the point where it could be considered reckless. The tanks I've grouped with are pulling the next set of trash the moment the current is nearly finished.
I've had tanks take one look at me and go "Whoa! Legendary! I'm in good hands" before they begin grabbing everything within visual range expecting me to keep them and the group alive. I barely even have time to breathe because the action is just so frantic.
Not every priest can handle pulls of that magnitude. Lay down some guidelines if you like. Don't ever be afraid to speak up when you're down to low mana levels. I like to tell the tanks at the beginning that they're cleared to continue pulling as long as my mana bar is about a quarter full or if I don't say anything about drinking.
A strong healer is able to support an undergeared group. Slightly weak tank? No problem! Pile them with extra overhealing if necessary. Slightly weak DPS players? That's okay since your mana pool or mana regeneration is high enough to endure the length of the boss fight, however long it takes.
Bring your own consumables
Specifically, don't forget to bring water. I keep 2 stacks of Honeymint Tea. Runic Mana Potions can come in handy in case you need them in a pinch. If you plan on being in there for the long haul, consider investing in a Flask of the Frost Wyrm or a Flask of Pure Mojo.
Cooldowns
I tend to forget about using Power Infusion. Have any casters in your party? Hit them with the haste buff every chance you get. They'll love you for it. Even defensive cooldowns like Guardian Spirit of Pain Suppression can come in handy with larger trash groups that might jeopardize the tank. It also demonstrates that, y'know, you're awesome.
Buffs
You are buffing every player, right? It should go without saying but I'm going to say it anyway because I've been in groups were certain players forget to hand out buffs.
Did your group wipe inside? No problem. Automatic rebuff. Did a player die to slimes or something? Automatic rebuff. There's no need to spite someone. For me personally, I want to get in the dungeon and finish up quickly so I can move on to other items (like getting Loremaster or something).
Resurrecting
Speaking of wipes, definitely release and run back. Politely remind everyone to do it as well if you happen to notice some players not releasing. At the same time though, if there's a legitimate AFK, I don't mind casting a resurrect on someone inside when I reach their corpse. I already spend the time flying or running back. I don't want to spend even more time waiting for them to do the same, so II end up telling them to stay down. Emblems are the only reason I'm there and I want to get it over with. If that means spending 10 precious second to res someone, so be it.
Gear
Roll on the gear that you're going to use. That doesn't mean rolling need on Frozen Orbs unless it is agreed upon in advance. Get healing trinkets if you plan on doing that. Pass (or greed) on the DPS trinkets if you're not planning on dishing out the face melt.
Handling the haters and the bad players
Inevitably, you're going to run into the bad players. Maybe he's the guy that likes to hit the target the tank isn't on forcing you to unload heals on him. Maybe she's the tank that has difficulty maintaining threat. Maybe he's the guy that likes to chat and dish out some attitude. Maybe she likes to stand in fires. Or that player just happens to be AFK.
There's nothing you can really change about it other than dropping out of the queue and eating the dungeon timer debuff.
Me personally, I'll bite the bullet and just do my job. I don't pay attention to party chat anyway. If someone's being especially nasty, I'll whip out the vote to kick option. It's been used twice to great effect (both against AFK players actually).
I try to assume the best in everyone. Jaded thinking? Probably. Everyone was new once. And being a veteran of one class or role doesn't make them an automatic expert at the other (I'm a terrible ret paladin, for one). Besides, it gives me a bit of an extra challenge for healing and allows me to hone my skills further.
So don't let the bozos get you down!
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) Spiritual Guidance
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
Chris Anthony Dec 21st 2009 7:59PM
@Aurilia, while concerns about Spiritual Guidance are valid, it is no longer the case that rage-based tanks need to be afraid of Absorb-type shields, which do not mitigate rage generation. In fact, Ghostcrawler would like to let tanks know that if they complain about being bubbled, they're doing it wrong: http://blue.mmo-champion.com/27/21726258134-pw-shield--vote-kick.html
Chris Anthony Dec 21st 2009 8:01PM
s/Spiritual Guidance/Spiritual Attunement/, naturally. It's been a long day.
Hoggersbud Dec 21st 2009 8:32PM
Disc has 3 big tools in the box. Penance. Shields. Flash Heal. Next on the list? Prayer of Mending (which I don't count as a big tool, but is a common one to cast, it's so easy and simple I do it anyway.), Prayer of Healing and then...Binding heal. Renew and Holy Nova are just occasionally useful.
Doesn't seem like that healer was doing their job. Even if they avoided shielding a paladin tank they could and should have shielded others.
obarthelemy Dec 22nd 2009 1:58AM
I also mostly spam Holy Nova on trash when doing heroics: If I only heal, I usually don't have much do to and get bored; I obviously cannot only DPS; Holy Nova is a nice half-step, better than DOTs than tick only once or twice on trash. It has the added benefit of generating no threat, which is nice in PUGs when you're unsure whether the tank holds aggro on all mobs (tip: they usually don't). Holy Nova allows me to do about half the DPS of specialized DPSers, while healing. Since it's instant, it also does not distract from moving and watching over players' life bars.
I do bring everyone back up to 100% between pulls, though, if they happen to not be there at the end of a fight, which rarely happens.
On bosses, I'll be mostly healing, generally DOTting, and if the fight is really easy, Holy Fire and Smite inbetween heals.
Aurilia Dec 21st 2009 6:59PM
I think another important thing for healers in pickup groups is to not just sit there twiddling their thumbs when no one needs healing. Priests, especially, have a pool of damaging spells - Shadow Word: Pain, Holy Fire, Smite, et al - that we can use no matter the spec we're in. If no one needs healing, lay down some holy damage to help the group kill things faster.
As a Discipline Priest, I consider it part of my healing skills. After all, "that which is dead deals no damage," and Discipline excels as preventing damage. ;)
Chris Anthony Dec 21st 2009 8:04PM
"That which is dead deals no damage" - tell that to the groups who've wiped trying to loot Grobbulus because the poison puddles hadn't dissipated yet. ;)
Aurilia Dec 21st 2009 10:46PM
@Chris Anthony True, but you can't prevent stupidity. ;)
ambermist Dec 21st 2009 7:16PM
@Mike and that's precisely why I didn't even suggest kicking him. We were easily getting through the dungeon despite a few perilous moments, and I knew it was highly possible he was just new. The main reason I didn't ask him about it is because some people are exceptionally sensitive to (even perceived) criticism, and as we were making progress, it didn't seem worth the risk of making him feel insulted. If he IS new, then his guild and friends are the ones who will prune his healing, as mine did for me. But doing a little research to make sure you're doing what you're supposed to can't hurt, which is why I brought it up.
@Aurilia That's true, and I didn't think about that. I rely heavily on getting hit to generate mana on my pally tank (baby though she is), and I never considered how bubbling could affect that. The main reason it caught my attention wasn't the bubbling, though; it was the holy nova-ing instead of direct healing of party members who were well below 100% health. I'll remember the shield thing, though; I admit upfront that my highest priest is level 18, and I know very little about it.
Rifter Dec 21st 2009 7:16PM
I have booted two players, and almost a 3rd. The only reason I have ever booted a player, was because they disrupted the survivability of the run. I play as a tank, and my girlfriend is a healer. We can pull most groups through a tight situation together. I am not worried, but if you (as in the DPS) try to set the speed of *MY* run, I will let you die. If you do it more than once, I will boot you without a second thought. I know where my cooldowns are at. I know where my healer's mana and cool downs are at. I watch where other party members mana is at.
My job is to make sure the party makes it through in one piece, not prop up the DPS score of one person. You can't have a speed run, if you die. That is the long and short of it. Run-backs take a lot of time usually. Rez takes time and mana that needs to be regained.
Honestly, I have had a lot of good runs with the LFD tool. Three bad apples is not a big deal to me.
Where it is PAINFUL, is the sub-80 dungeon runs. My Resto shaman is 67 and my Disc Priest is lvl 70. Plate wearing DPS have discovered they can fill a tank slot and get a run a lot faster than DPS. The problem, is that they don't have the GEAR to accomplish it. I am lucky that I run DPS/Tank as my primary, so when I get yelled at for failing to heal, I can break down what went wrong (like pulling aggro from tank EVERY time) and to politely stuff it. :-)
Raioul of Shadow Council Dec 21st 2009 7:23PM
My bane: The DKs who think they can tank, but can't.
I ran into a delightful jerkhole DK who blamed me for him dying for not healing enough when I was doing nothing BUT healing him. He was taking more damage in the time it took to cast a heal than the spell healed him. And this with non-stop renew on him as well. He continued to get mad and pissed at me how I was letting him die, I wasn't healing right, and that it was generally my fault.
By the way, this was on door trash at Utgarde Keep. And I was lvl 73, he was lvl 69. And I've healed that instance multiple times before and after with more capable tanks with no wipes.
After we wiped the second time on trash despite my best efforts, I just left group. This guy was determined to nail the blame on me. Healers, know that you don't have to put up with this. Know there are wonderful tanks out there that would love to have you in their group. You don't deserve to take abuse from people who don't know their own short comings.
schad Dec 21st 2009 7:27PM
Make a shackle focus macro. Doesn't matter what spec of priest you are. In the new 5mans - especially HoR - this will make life much easier than GS or PS will.
It makes me sad to not see a single mention of our long-neglected CC. :p
Unain Dec 22nd 2009 5:31AM
Totally agree on this :).
I was in a group with me as disc and a shadow priest. We tried it first with our bear tank just pulling them into the alcove, but after 2 wipes I said that it was time for 2 shackles. Made it so much easier. CC is back!
schad Dec 22nd 2009 8:15PM
@Unain: It's back, and damn did I miss getting to actually use it!
Drow Dec 21st 2009 7:42PM
OK HEAR MY PLEA!
I agree, the healer does set the tone. I am ok geared, some ToC 10/25 and ICC 10 on me, but a smart healer. I went into H HoR. The pally tanks name was Hitrating. I asked him if he was hit capped as a joke, and he said, "you mean def capped, dumbass?"
Then inspected him, and he was one of those fails that puts down they are a tank when they really aren't just to get in a group. He was in blues and other item lvl 200 gear. I had to work at it, but we didn't wipe once. It got close, though. Then at the end, I said how amazed I was I was about to keep him up in blues like that, and they all said he was great and awesome and that I should go f*ck myself.
SO, the healer does make the group, but it's the tank that gets all the credit.
But I have noticed how right you are, when I was undergeared, heroics were HARD, but now I can usually breeze though them.
nwoods13 Dec 21st 2009 9:12PM
^ this
jealouspirate Dec 22nd 2009 10:58AM
I've noticed the same kind of things, and it's bugged me.
The thing with healing is that, if we're really good, we can essentially cover up people's shortcomings with great heals. Sometimes people recognize this and pay us a compliment, sometimes we're so good at healing that no one was aware that mistakes were being made, the tank is undergeared, etc.
I guess it's the life we lead. As long as the group makes it through, right? We healers have to heal because we enjoy it, not because we'll get the glory... since we usually don't.
zulwiga Dec 21st 2009 8:01PM
Doing a PUG heroic on my own truly makes me feel like a hero. Especially when someone who is trying to get their new 80 tank geared up gets a nice new shield :-)
kabshiel Dec 21st 2009 9:11PM
Here's a tip: don't wear agility gear. Sadly the PUG priest I was with earlier didn't want to take my advice on this matter.
serrif Dec 22nd 2009 2:23AM
Impressive. I didn't know agility cloth existed!
zappo Dec 22nd 2009 11:40AM
No cloth exists, but odds and ends like rings cloaks, and necklaces do. Main reason I know that is from my priest melee dps set, but the only benefit you get from agility is dodge. Chances are this guy equipped something for crit rating that happened to have agility on it.