20 Years of the Light: Why the Midnight Beta has me hovering over the "Uninstall" button

Classes Priest
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I’ve been playing my Draenei Holy Priest since the first day of The Burning Crusade. For two decades, I’ve stuck by this spec through every peak and valley, but for the first time in twenty years, I haven’t pre-ordered the next expansion. After diving into the Midnight beta notes this morning, I’m feeling more than just “disheartened”—I’m feeling ignored.

It feels like a recurring development cycle where Holy Priest is stripped of its agency and rebranded as the “beginner healer.” We’ve watched our utility vanish while our throughput is tuned to only become competitive once we reach maximum item level. We’ve seen this script play out in Shadowlands and The War Within: we start the season in the gutter, struggle to find groups because of poor balancing, and only become “playable” once we’ve out-geared the content.

Reading the feedback from the Midnight beta, it seems the developers are doubling down on these systemic issues rather than fixing the foundation.

My questions for the community and the devs are:

  • What should my expectations actually be for Midnight?

  • Is there any plan to address the fact that Holy falls off a cliff the further you push into high-end content?

  • Why does it feel like our spec’s complexity and “carry potential” are being traded away for a “press-two-buttons” playstyle that lacks depth?

I have a few weeks to decide if I’m even going to buy the expansion. I don’t want to invest hundreds of hours into my main only to be forced onto an alt three weeks into the season because Holy is once again “bottom tier” by design.

I’ve stayed loyal to the Light for 20 years, but it’s becoming increasingly hard to justify that loyalty when the spec feels like an afterthought.

(Note this post was filtered through Ai to remove my true disdain and anger as to not get perma banned from the forums for going the he11 off on the devs again)

39 Likes
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It’s a difficult thing to know for sure.

I’m also very disappointed in the effort given to Holy Priest. The problem may become even larger if we quit. It will become the “tutorial healer” just because no one will really care.

Right now you care, and for that I’m thankful. I hope I can talk you off the uninstall ledge, because we need you.

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I played holy priest as my second healing class, after starting with holy paladin back as early as vanilla. Both were relatively similar back then, except that priest was squishier but had Echo of Light, which totally rocked.

Since then I have played all of the healers. But, while I still play holy paladin a little, and even resto druid, I ended up coming back to priest. Why? Various reasons, but especially including how Holy Priest can really pump high HPS numbers if you play it right and beef up your mastery so that Echo of Light is maxed out. And it can also do good damage. Also because priest has TWO healing specs. And, in one of the expansions, Shadowlands, I believe, holy priest was amazing. It pumped healing and especially damage. And something it has that Disc does not, is a solid kick.

In the end though, yes, it is disappointing Holy Priest is not S tier like it was in Shadowlands. But why not play Disc? Disc has to be the most fun of all healers, at least in my experience. And mastering it brings solid rewards if you keep at it. There are also the other healers.

As for it being the “beginner healer?” I dunno. It is not that hard to play, but when it comes to playing it well, mastering any class/spec has rewards. And when it is “S tier” again, all of your experience playing it will pay off.

As for the devs. It is disappointing they don’t give Holy Priest something that sets it apart. But you can always play something else.

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Priests in general need to start a full on movement. Just start replying to any/all posts about Midnight development or any class changes with something like “Wow must be nice to get actual good design to your class and listened to on your feedback.”

Its been criminal how little it feels like anything beneficial overall for the class gets listened to or changed and it feels like it just ‘happens’ not with any real input from people.

Still the same problematic defensives (or weak ones), still some of the worst utility, one of the least impactful group/raid buffs overall (when has 5% stamina really changed things overall compared to secondaries or damage?)

But I guess one spec is really good at pvp so thats all folks?

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Frustration shared. Yes, to being a thorn, and not letting words like “doomer” distract from the obvious. A real change is needed. Keep it going and rebuke the tutorial healer propaganda.

It’s all we can do to drown out the outside influence of those trying to automate an already easy healer.

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I’m more angry at just how the complete farce that is Disc and Shadow designs. It seems like they want to nerf and buff and don’t know what to do. Powerful? Not powerful? Its all over the place despite the lackluster design, uninspired talents, and just general problems fundamentally priest has.

And we never know what we’re gonna get. Midexpac nerf hammer? Buffs? Reworking of abilities? It seems like its a roll of the dice and never sure how much it will affect anything because of said janky design.

I still remember in Panda era when they were like “We don’t want degeneracy of the playstyle” in disc, when we basically used all our abilities on a good rhythm, so fussed up atonement. Yet other healers like druid rarely had any deviation in their play.

And then in TWW what, we’re back to rhythm of Radience, Mind Blast, spam the super smite, penance on proc, repeat for basic play?

If only there was any communication with the community to ya know, improve gameplay, QoL, or change anything that we’d enjoy instead of Blizz just going “Welp, whatever do something with priests.”

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Priest utility:

Leap of Faith - Doesn’t work half the time because random roots stop it working.

MD: The cast is SO slow people walk out of it. Also people would just not die after pressing it in TWW it felt pointless to cast it unless it was the last CD EG the 2nd Block or the magic bob after the bubble + lay.

Void tendrils: Effectively gone the new talent is weird dispellable and doesn’t understand what void tendrils was good or except to root a healer after a fear which was niche most games.

Dispel Magic: Worst puge in the game

Feathers/Body @ Soul: the move speed is nearly un-noticable on body and soul in the current games and try aiming feathers on 200 ms.

Every healer version of priest is insanely lame they basically cooked these specs. I told people they should of combined them, they should of given Disc a stun, they should of made mindgames + expiation good again they should of done something about mobility. Instead: They reskinned a bunch of spells nobody wanted to use and called them alpha talents and made the classes brain-dead boring ready for console. THERE HAS BEEN ZERO CREATIVITY IN DESIGN IN 20+ YEARS 3/4 OF THE SPELLS ARE FROM DIABLO 2.

Disc Priest is the healer version of pre-buffed Ret just a wheelchair spec with trash identity. Holy I don’t know maybe I will try it this xpack or maybe Ill just go play a Resto druid a better version of holy priest quiet frankly. I don’t see why anyone would play Hpriest over druid, Hpriest is just Druid Lite.

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Nothing to add just saying i too dont like it and I’m holy main for years.

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I’ve been a holy priest for 20 years and they’ve ruined it completely for me. I don’t think I’m going to play anymore

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I hope you reconsider. This is a point where we need to stick together. Keep up the comments and pressure. We do have a chance if we don’t quit. I knew we would get here once people see the talents in game. It is lame. Let’s keep fighting. 20 years is a long time, and I’d love to see you here in 20 more, remembering the time you almost quit.

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Once Holy Word Salvation got removed, I knew it was only going to continue to get worse and worse for Holy priest.

When I logged in yesterday, I was disappointed. But not surprised.

At this rate next expansion they’ll find some way to tie in Prayer of Healing into Holy Word Serenity, and we’ll lose yet another button.

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Every healing spec has their pain points but Holy seems to have gotten the slap pretty hard. Mistweavers seem to be in a similar boat. Sadly, I think this falls on Blizzard being bought out by Microsoft and being forced to make a game that can be ported to and played on console. Less abilities means less binds to a controller instead of a keyboard. Hence why every spec has essentially been destroyed to some extent.

The only way Blizzard is going to listen is by losing money. When they look at the data and see hardly anyone playing priest and losing subs, maybe they can put two and two together. I don’t know if they have the ability to see specific account data (like knowing the people unsubbing were often healer specs or if that account has a lot of playtime on a priest) but they will only truly listen to us if they’re no longer making money off us. Also, I don’t think the amount of XBox players will outweigh PC gamers who have been playing WoW for 20+ years.

That doesn’t mean we can’t continue to advocate for the class and our specs on the forums. I have really liked priest for many years and have essentially mained one since MoP. I hate giving up that character and benching him for the foreseeable future because Holy is so bad atm. Sadly, I’ll probably be maining a DPS class in Midnight or another healer if I find something else I genuinely like. But if not, it’s goodbye WoW until things improve.

The housing feature is great and I love it. But it means nothing when playing my classes isn’t fun anymore and it’s just hitting the same three buttons over and over. It’s repetitive and boring and that will make me unsub more than anything else.

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The priest is an afterthought class.

Idk how many times in every expansion during the alpha phase, I pushed and encouraged others to speak up, only to be ignored and shut down.

We can’t expect things to be better by remaining silent.
Sometimes, not maining this class and reducing its numbers can help bring attention.

But we really need to push hard from day 1, not towards the end.

Don’t assume they will fix it.
Fight until they show proof.

Unfortunately, this is what we have to deal with.

The last class to be given patch notes and the least amount worked on. As well as its Shadow spec, stolen and given to another class entirely.

overall, at least we arent alone this time. Lots of classes needed more adjustment. They need to delay the expac a bit lol

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The problem with disc was that you could literally skip mechanics handling with one. Absorbing absolutely everything was in fact degenerate gameplay.

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And for the last time, it has zero to do with consoles. Ffxiv is still more complex with more abilities, and it’s always been playable on console. You have 32 buttons there. The same control scheme is doable in wow.

The big flag would be a gcd slowdown. The reason it’s so long in ffxiv is to allow for hotbar swaps on said consoles. You dont need less buttons.

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Right there with you. One of my favorite classes since Vanilla has been Holy Priest, and what they have done to the class has me ready to chalk my bells and whistles pre-order up to a loss. It’s disgusting and an insult to people who put their time and effort into actually healing. Don’t even get me started on PVP with this current look.

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lol I did end up reconsidering, I’m just gonna keep holy priesting it :woman_shrugging:t4:

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I have mained my holy priest for 17 years, and the current state of holy is disgusting. Blizzard should be ashamed of themselves. I don’t think it needed to be pruned to begin with, honestly. It’s not like it was hard.

On Monday, it was a blast to play in BGs and world pvp. Had tons of fun with it, largely because we had options. Tuesday? Incredibly boring. I can’t say to the devs what I’d like to, other than what were you thinking? Y’all are clearly biased against holy.

PUT HOLY PRIESTS BACK THE WAY YOU FOUND THEM, and get someone who actually loves the spec. Epic fail.

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What exactly was the huge utility you feel like you are losing

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I’ve been a healing Priest since classic, back when I was a “face melter with a heart of gold” being a Shadow Priest who STILL had a healing bar set up for when it mattered. I even healed raids in BC as Shadow, including a timed ZA run that the only person who knew I was still Shadow at the time was my friend MT’ing it. (And let me tell you, the screams I heard over Ventrilo when I popped Shadowform after completing it I still relish after all these years). I went Holy in WLK and have only regretted it a little at times. Mainly when Cata came out and as a raid-geared healer I couldn’t keep people alive in dungeons (but that’s a different story).

And then I logged into the game yesterday and saw my bars. I tried healing Timewalking dungeons. We got it done, but that’s about the only good we did.

And I regret healing now.

My Priest is my second oldest character. I used Renew and Shields for mobility healing, backed up first by Circle of Healing and more recently Holy Nova. It was a necessity given how everyone wants to rush EVERYTHING, cut seconds where you can and the Devil take the slowest person. All that is gone. And I can’t even begin to describe the horror at having to continually target the floor just to get a speedbuff when I could have just spammed my shield (with the self-cast feature enabled).

The FUN in playing a Priest is gone with this expansion. At least as a Holy toon. There is no fun spamming Flash just to charge up Serenity. There is no fun spamming Prayer just to charge up Sanctify. There is no fun having a character being a class that has no utility aside from providing a Stamina buff and requiring me to be stationary to maximize my healing. Druids are the master of the “run and gun” healing, but Shamans get the ability to do it some too. Paladins have the same “save me” buttons, PLUS a battle-res. Evokers can heal, DPS and pop Heroism as need be and STILL BE HEALING. As a Holy Priest, I was the master of healing, being able to pull you back from the brink of death with a smile and a warning not to do it again. I don’t have that ability now because I have lost any desire to succumb to the rote boredom of having only 4 buttons to choose from. And I know that when the raids show up, the first time an encounter comes with a serious movement phase, any groups I try to join will be “Ugh, a Priest, we’re sure to wipe now” IF I can get it at all without them telling me to “Go Shadow”.

I haven’t even logged into my other toons to see what devastation has befallen them. I’m too depressed to consider it, though I have heard stories already. Some of my DPS toons I don’t think will be hurt, but then I was already toying with the Single Button Assistant.

I was on the fence for buying this expansion before the patch hit. Now I can reasonably say I will NOT be buying it, and will let my subscription lapse. There will be other games to play, and the friends I have made here will still remain in touch. But after 20 years overall with this game, I can not find it within myself to support them in the face of such…atrocities. This is a statement I feel Blizzard will understand quite well: my account is burdened with a lot of mogs, pets and mounts from the store in addition to the regular fees.

6 Likes