Does anyone Remember Macgyver?

#0 - Aug. 8, 2007, 4:43 p.m.

Priests are an easy class to Play. They are a difficult class to Play Well.

I am all about making something useful out of what I am being given, even if I'm being given a CowPie to work with.

[[ True or False? Holy Priests are the best healers in game. ]]

I say it's Still True.

A paladin's strength is in the fact that they have big heals. A druid's strength is that they have good heal over times. A shaman's strength is that they have good group heals.

A priest's strength is that they can tailor themselves to fit any situation you throw at them.

They may not have the biggest heals, but they still have big heals. My holy priest's highest crit heal is 9346--I saved the MT from dying--not a single hp of that was overhealing, and the best pieces of gear she has are three pieces from Kara.

They may not have a bunch of heal over times, but they have at least one HoT. Think about those times when an heal hits the MT when he only had 100HPs left. If he didn't have that HoT, that 100HPs would have been 0HPs because there wouldn't be an extra ~500HPs regenerating every tick.

They many not have the best group heals, but they can still heal the group. And yes, I mean with Prayer of Healing AND Circle of Healing AND Binding Heal. I've saved groups before using Circle of Healing. Yes, there's overhealing; yes, it costs a lot of mana. Flash heal is 1.5kHPs in 1.5seconds; Circle of Healing is an Instant 700HPs to every group member--it's situational, but in the right situation it works and it works well.

So, are Holy Priests still the best healers in the game? I say they are, but the question requires an opinionated answer. HEALERS ARE DEFINED BY HOW THEY RESPOND WHEN THINGS GO BAD. People appreciate when they don't die on the trash, but when the boss is pulled on accident right afterwards and they stay alive, They Remember. A bad pull is an opportunity to make or break your name, and Holy Priests are best equipped to deal with the worst.

Nethaera

#9 - Aug. 8, 2007, 7:38 p.m.

I not only remember MacGyver, but I have a swiss army knife, chewing gum wrappers, and duct tape always at the ready.

I personally enjoy playing a priest. I like having lives in my hand and giving them a scare when they scream in a panic for heals by letting their health bar drop ever so precariously.

I'm sure many have seen the things said at the BlizzCon panels, and many of those things said were things I had hinted at previously. Things are in the works to help out the priest class more. Time is always going to be the most watched thing though and the most despised thing. I couldn't tell you when or how much this or that will be changed yet. There are some changes that will be made prior to the expansion and some that will come with the expansion. We're still reading, listening, playing, testing, and more on our end. This goes for the Priest class and any other classes really.

Nethaera

#215 - Aug. 9, 2007, 7:19 p.m.

Q u o t e:
It’s been a long time since Blizzard listed Priests as the “number 1 main healers”. I forgot the exact words they used but I’m content with that not being true anymore. There are three healing classes and all of them can be great healers. Hell if we were the only real healing class we would be tripping over each other. Every which way you turned you would see three priests!

I still think if you know what you are doing and talent/gear yourself properly, we are still top dogs in all around healing. Sure other classes can do better things with some of there talents and in certain situations they are a better choice then a priest but over all I don’t think you can beat any equally geared and well played priest.

Those of you that are crying to be made the number one healers again should get your heads out of your butts and learn how to improve your play with what you have. I don’t think I’ll ever stop learning with a priest. That’s why I love it so much. There are so many choices you need to make every second of a battle. It sure beats spamming one or two buttons all the time.

I believe (if I recall correctly) that during the PvP panel when someone asked about priests being the #1 healer, that it was stated that Priests are considered the #1 multiple target healer. Others such as paladins can be great single target healers. That being said, yes, Lightwell, Circle of Healing are two of the spells that are still being discussed for improvements. It was also stated that we'd like to work on getting the Discipline tree to be more functional as its own branch and find it's real function.

Nethaera

#218 - Aug. 9, 2007, 7:25 p.m.

Q u o t e:

You also said that in order for these changes, the changes we have been waiting for since release really, are not going to come for a year plus another 40 dollars for an expansion.

=[

Why are the devs priorities so for out of whack?

Actually, there are a variety of things going on for both before the expansion and as the expansion hits. Obviously with the expansion new levels are being added in which means, expanded talents and changes therein. The development team is working hard to get many things into the schedule both prior to the expansion to set things up for it, and of course for the expansion itself. We'll do what we can to keep everyone informed on what is being planned but we can only talk about what we are ready to talk about as we go.

Nethaera

#222 - Aug. 9, 2007, 8:17 p.m.

Q u o t e:

Are you able to announce any intended plans on what to do with Discipline? Because as it stands right now, it's much like the Mage's Arcane Tree, however the main point of failure on that is that it's divided up between being general utility/buffs for two separate roles, leaving the Priest as a gimped healer/gimped DPSer.

Unfortunately, there is nothing more that can be discussed on this at this time. This is something that is going to be much more time consuming.