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Ghostcrawler
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  • 20. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:34:43 AM PST
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First, some caveats. Answering long Q&A is time-consuming because I sometimes need to research the spells or mechanics. That means fewer threads I can answer overall. I also think it sets up the expectation among the community that every Q&A will get answered, and I'm just not going to be able to do that. I will try and keep doing it from time to time though.

I did answer several of these topics recently, so please forgive some of my terse answers.


Q u o t e:
1) Power Word: Shield and Divine Aegis current do not work properly on Feral Druid, Shadow Priest and Shaman targets under certain conditions. This is a major bug that undermines the ability of a Discipline priest to heal these classes. Is there are fix in the works? Timeline?


This bug is fixed in 3.0.8 to the best of our knowledge.


Q u o t e:
2) There is a similar problem with Guardian Spirit not triggering for Feral Druids. Is this related?


Same.


Q u o t e:
3) Both Hymn spells are woefully inadequate and underpowered. Are there plans to look at these spells? Timeline?


Yes, I have said before Hymns are near the top of our list of priest issues.


Q u o t e:
4) The Shadowfiend has significant usability issues both in PVE and PVP. It has very low health and dies quickly, often does not attack the intended target, and is just an overall clunky and difficult to use mechanic for mana regen. Are there plans to replace/alter this ability? Timeline?


We are not going to replace the ability, but we do want it to do what it was designed to do, which is restore your mana.


Q u o t e:
5) It has been stated that the party only mechanics of spells are not what Blizzard wants or intends to carry forward. Are there plans to alter the party only nature of PoH and Holy Nova? Timeline?


That is our eventual goal. You can't just take a party spell and shift it up to raid level without making other changes. It would be too overpowered at its current numbers, and if we deflate the numbers, it wouldn't do it's job, particularly in 5-player groups. Therefore both will require tinkering to change them. We don't view these as critical issues so they are low on the list. Holy Nova is slightly higher.


Q u o t e:
6) Power Word: Shield and Divine Aegis are staples in the toolbag for a Disc priest. Both of these have issues when there is more than one priest on a target. Shields and Aegis overwite eachother and reduce the procs on them to the priests (mana regen). Is there a plan to look at stacking these? Timeline?


I posted about this recently. It's probably easier if you find the quote than have me dig back through the data (or I won't have time to get to all these other questions).


Q u o t e:
7) Renew and PoH and Holy Nova seem to have too high a mana cost for their effect. Are you planning on looking at the HPM values of spells post-CoH nerf as these will be used far more often now?


I don't think PoH is a bad spell, though it is interesting that priests tend to either use it often or never. Holy Nova and Renew likely could use some higher numbers. Renew is still a decent spell though. I don't think it is "take off your bar" level. The coefficient may be too low or perhaps not enough talents affect it.


Q u o t e:
8) Lightwell, for all of it's paper effectiveness, is just not getting used. Can it be looked at? Change the mechanic? Remove it completely and replace it?


It's tough because it provides an amazing amount of healing but the damage-dealers are often too stubborn to use it. We're not sure if that means the spell needs to change, because it could easily be the kind of things that players figure out, particularly once the PvE content is more challenging than it is now. Changing your target is annoying and something we'd like to fix.


Q u o t e:
9) With the change (or lack of fix) to Reflective Shield, it is now a PVP only ability. Was this the intent or are we still looking at a potential change in the future?


It is not the intent, but it's a technical limitation. As you suggest, the spell has not worked for some time on other players. We just changed the tooltip to reflect that. We do eventually want to change it to affect other players once we get new tech from the programmers.

(Cont.)

[ Post edited by Ghostcrawler ]

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Ghostcrawler
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  • 21. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:35:54 AM PST
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Q u o t e:
10) Maintaining Inner Fire due to charges is not fun. Are there plans to remove the charges or change the upkeep mechanics?


We totally understand the ongoing concerns about the spell. Players never want short-term buffs. Left up to them all buffs would go to a 30-minute duration or even just a passive benefit up all the time. We don't think buffs that require so little maintenance are really buffs at all though -- they just become passive bonuses. So when we talk about this spell, we quickly get into this issue. Very short term buffs like Battle Shout suffer the same problem -- players would make them long or passive in a heartbeat. But aren't we really just removing spells from the game when we do that?



Q u o t e:
11) Improved Divine Spirit seems lackluster compared to Flametongue totem. Can we look at this and balance it?


I would be surprised if this portion of the Discipline tree looked the same in 3.1. I'll leave it at that.


Q u o t e:
12) The utility of healing priests in raids is limited. Fort and SP can all be buffed by a shadow priest, Mass Dispel and Shackle has use only in specific situations and Spirit requires only a single Disc Priest. From my perspective, adding a stackable raid utility to the healing priest would go a long way to ensuring their inclusion in raids. Can you give us your thoughts on this?


We don't want any spec to feel so mandatory that they always earn a raid spot. That goes counter to our design. It is impossible to design a system where all 30 specs bring unique buffs such that you bring one of each to a 10 or 25-player raid. Therefore we went in the opposite direction where you can get the buffs you need without bringing specific specs. There are a few exceptions, but those are also things we are likely to iron out.


Q u o t e:
13) Discipline does not have the same bonus healing talents that the holy tree has and therefore presents an issue with scaling. As gear increases, the effectiveness of Disc compared to Holy decreases. Is this the intent? Maybe move some of the holy bonuses lower on the holy tree so Disc can get them? Your thoughts?


I don't think Disc can fill it's role with shields alone. They are cool, but the spec also needs to be able to throw down some single-target healing that is close to paladin level. There are a few different ways we can accomplish this. Overall we are thrilled to see Disc getting so much attention in PvE (it has been good in PvP for a few seasons), but it's not quite there yet.


Q u o t e:
Note: A timeline would be really useful, even if it's a guesstimate. I want to know whether I should keep going on my priest, or leave her on a shelf and play an alt. I realize alot of these issues aren't "class breaking" but when it comes down to it, if I am going to be of more use to my guild by playing a different class, I would rather just level an alt, rather than waste time playing my priest.


We are always very reluctant to provide timelines. No matter how often you add "if all goes according to plan," "at this time," or "assuming nothing changes," it has been Blizzard's experience that players only focus on the date and then feel disappointed, frustrated or even lied to if we miss that date for any of a number of reasons. Many of the things I mentioned are things we are looking at for 3.1. I can't tell you when we think 3.1 will ship and there is certainly a possibility that some of these changes might not make it for any of a number of reasons (including triage of more pressing matters, missing tech or bugs that are difficult to fix, making a bad situation worse and so on). All of this leads to the inevitable Soon(tm).

[ Post edited by Ghostcrawler ]

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  • Scarlet Crusade
  • 22. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:40:17 AM PST
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Thank you for your time on this. I, for one, appreciate the candid answers here.

And if your glass heart should crack, if for a second you turn back, be strong.
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  • Kael'thas
  • 23. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:40:18 AM PST
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Q u o t e:
We are not going to replace the ability, but we do want it to do what it was designed to do, which is restore your mana.


could mana tide totem get a similar treatment(we do invest 6 talent points to get it)? if shadowfiend survivability is low i don't know what word could be used to describe the 5 hit points of survivability that mana tide has.
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  • Shadowsong
  • 24. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:41:19 AM PST
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Q u o t e:
Thank you for your time on this. I, for one, appreciate the candid answers here.
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  • 25. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:42:48 AM PST
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Q u o t e:
Thank you for your time on this. I, for one, appreciate the candid answers here.


Even if there was no guestimate on a timeline, the answers are greatly appreciated.
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  • 26. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:42:55 AM PST
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I don't understand why you keep dodging the heal spec. Priest utility question, Ghostcrawler. We don't bring totems, battle res, or blessings which makes us the first to be sat on when it comes to stacked groups.

Mirte - 80 Warlock ► Lichslappéd - 74 Deathknight
Watermasta - 69 Mage ► Shayeri - 64 Warrior

Q u o t e:
did you Blizzard really too stupid to read?

What is this I don’t even?...
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  • 27. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:46:25 AM PST
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Q u o t e:

I don't think Disc can fill it's role with shields alone. They are cool, but the spec also needs to be able to throw down some single-target healing that is close to paladin level. There are a few different ways we can accomplish this. Overall we are thrilled to see Disc getting so much attention in PvE (it has been good in PvP for a few seasons), but it's not quite there yet.



I agree, Disc is fun and good, but not quite there yet. To (finally) hear that you agree is what the community needed to hear. Thanks for the post/update. This should hopefully assuage many of the Disc priest concerns we've been hearing of late.
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  • 28. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:46:53 AM PST
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Thank you GC. Faith restored.


Like if zombie day came, I would go to his house while fleeing to see if he was a zombie or not.
If he was I would kill him and if he wasn't I would feed him to a zombie --- Spargas
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  • Burning Legion
  • 29. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:49:57 AM PST
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Thanks a lot for taking the time to respond to these questions GC, greatly appreciated.
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  • Korialstrasz
  • 30. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:50:10 AM PST
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Thank you sincerely for taking the time to reply in detail to this post GC.

Also, kudos to the OP for writing a well-summarized and concise post.

[ Post edited by Kafferty ]

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  • Darrowmere
  • 31. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:51:08 AM PST
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Q u o t e:

I would be surprised if this portion of the Discipline tree looked the same in 3.1. I'll leave it at that.



I don't think Disc can fill it's role with shields alone. They are cool, but the spec also needs to be able to throw down some single-target healing that is close to paladin level. There are a few different ways we can accomplish this. Overall we are thrilled to see Disc getting so much attention in PvE (it has been good in PvP for a few seasons), but it's not quite there yet.



Thank you for your time on replying to the MANY MANY disc threads that have been popping up. This should illeviate many of the concerns to the disc PVE players out there.

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  • Ysera
  • 32. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:54:29 AM PST
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Q u o t e:

Very short term buffs like Battle Shout suffer the same problem -- players would make them long or passive in a heartbeat. But aren't we really just removing spells from the game when we do that?





OR you could add a cooldown to such abilities and give them a nice secondary effect when cast. Kind of like what you're doing with the Death Knight Battleshou---err, Horn of Winter granting runic power.

Make Inner Fire grant 3 seconds of stun immunity when cast, or restore a small % of mana. Similarly, make abilities like Commanding Shout and BS give short buffs like this (breaking snares/stuns of allies would be incredible!). Sorry for getting slightly off topic, but that's how I'd handle short "annoying" buffs that currently don't have a cooldown.
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  • Silver Hand
  • 33. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:56:07 AM PST
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Speaking as a Disc Priest, I would have to disagree that Prayer of Healing is fine, at least for me.

I tend to -want- to use it a lot. It's my most used spell on Lothaeb and 2nd to Prayer of Mending on Sapphiron. (it bothers me that the Prayers [which are more Holy based] are more useful than my talented spells on some boss fights). However, the mana cost is significantly too high. After just a few rounds, I'm out of the game on same-group healing. The only time Prayer of Healing ever significantly justifies itself, is when I'm in a caster group, and there's a ticking raid damage on everyone (Sapphiron's Aura) at which point, Rapture from Divine Aegis justifies the spell.

One thing that would make Renew seem more useful, would be to add it to Rapture, but that could lead to some "too much mana" issues that you're probably trying to avoid.

At the moment though, Disc is advised to not cast Renew[this is because of Rapture not affecting it], mainly because there's no benefit to it, really. Sure, you get the effectiveness of a HoT, but with most encounters these days, I don't view HoTs as being as necessary as they once were.

Opening up some versatility to Disc could also be pretty beneficial, at least in a raid healing sense.

We're supposed to be like Pally Healers, but I think Beacon of Light significantly differentiates us.

It's to the point where a single geared Holy Paladin could solo-heal Patchwerk, just because of Beacon of Light.

I don't necessarily know what could be done to help the matter, but I do think Disc needs some major help when they get lumped into group healing.


Q u o t e:

I'm a healer.
I replenish your lost health.
If you are standing in a fire, you are stupid.
I can't heal stupid.
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  • Azgalor
  • 34. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:57:56 AM PST
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Thanks for the thoughtful answers. I'm happy to hear Blizzard is really looking at Discipline and that you don't think that tree is quite where it should be for PvE. I can't wait to see what is in store for the Discipline tree come 3.1 or around there.

It's good to see the Hymns are being addressed as well.

You're right on the money with PoH. I use it all the time when my group needs it. 5 mans obviously it is used a lot. But on fights like Sapphiron it is useful too.
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  • 35. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 08:58:00 AM PST
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Q u o t e:
It's tough because it provides an amazing amount of healing but the damage-dealers are often too stubborn to use it. We're not sure if that means the spell needs to change, because it could easily be the kind of things that players figure out, particularly once the PvE content is more challenging than it is now. Changing your target is annoying and something we'd like to fix.


From a melee DPS perspective, of course we're stubborn to use it. It's like using a bandage. My job is to do DPS. A healer's job is to heal. If I'm stopping DPS to heal, I'm really not being efficient with my time. Especially if using Lightwell takes me out of melee range.

What would you have me do?
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  • Argent Dawn
  • 37. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 09:01:46 AM PST
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This should go a long way to getting priests to STFU already, but there is still this:


Q u o t e:

I don't understand why you keep dodging the heal spec. Priest utility question, Ghostcrawler. We don't bring totems, battle res, or blessings which makes us the first to be sat on when it comes to stacked groups.



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  • 38. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 09:02:00 AM PST
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Thank you for the hope Ghostcrawler.
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  • Argent Dawn
  • 39. Re: GC: Direct Priest Questions ONLY   01/15/2009 09:02:53 AM PST
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Q u o t e:
Nice GC, please don't make PoH a raid wide spell if you're going to nerf the healing it gives, I think poH is fine as it is, it's an amazing spell in heavy AE damage fights, I just think a lot of people don't understand how to use it properly. I think most of those people never raided Alliance PVE back in classic with PoH was the only way to efficiently heal AE fights


Yeah, maybe give us something similar with the proper nerf a g e (idiotic profanity filter), just as a completely different spell. I would hate to see PoH get nerfed as it is a huge and vital part of my toolbox for 5 man.

[ Post edited by Dorenal ]

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