Hello Fellow priests!
TLDR: My wild ideas for a more engaging spec.
As we all know our beloved class and specs have kind of been ignored as of late and after reading over the past few weeks the list of changes people wanted to see I started crafting what I would like to see as a rework (not that it will ever happen.)
A little background about myself, I am a long time holy priest (leveled as holy back when that was frowned upon) who hard core raided during the BC and WotLK and WoD era, every now and then I dabble into pvp fights and raid when I can (adult life am I right?)
One common thing I see as a complaint in this forum is that we really aren’t suited for modern gaming needs, not enough mobility not enough dispels no interrupt no really needed utility that every other healer can take (bres, lust, DR, etc).
I invite everyone to join in the sharing of ideas and to be kind to one another because we need to have a sane discourse on the realities of our situation. Can we manage content with our current set up? Yes, this is not the point! The point is we have to bend over backwards to do the same content that others can do easily while also getting stripped for parts.
Now forgive me if this gets to be hard to read I’m not very versed in forum formatting but I’ll do my best to make it easier to read.
I have some changes in the priest talent tree that will be available for Disc and Shadow and I will put my reasoning for most of the changes as well. I dont have EVERY talent thought out but I have a good majority. Also all numbers are arbitrary I just tried to find things I thought were more balance in the grand scope of things. I also didnt really go into Hero Talents because that’s a huge beast on its own but i have one change that id really like to see.
So with all that said Welcome to my Ted Talk
I hope we can find fun ideas in how to fix our fractured class.
- Priest Spell Changes
–Renew becomes baseline
–Disc gains Holy Fire and Shining Force
- Priest Talent Tree
–PoM replaced Renew
–Penance takes dispel magics spot (hear me out! I think it should be available as a movable cast to all three specs and give holy and shadow options to spread hots and dots. Use penance on an ally with renew and spread renew to other party members, let shadow use penance to spread vamp and SWP around to help with multi dotting and let disc spread purge and holy fire dot around. I also think that holy should have a single target heal that has a short cd)
–New talent either fear ward or holy ward (taken from pvp and have pvp talents augment that ability to better suit their needs) set and forget it kinda how fear ward was back in the day last 30 sec or until expended 45 sec cd with follow up talents that could augment the spell further.
–Move dispel magic further down and make it a choice node with an interrupt on a 25 sec cd call it Binding or something
–Choice node leap of faith, Pull target ally or self to target ally 1 min cd
–move with grace becomes a choice node and augments levatate, Both would not break on AoE or ground damage, One gives 30% movement speed, the other 25% AoE DR only works on priest
–I kind of want to rip PI away from Holy and shadow and give it just to Disc like it used to be back in the day but only cast on self maybe a talent that selects random dps idk thats up for debate
–Improved purify choice node, Gives two charges of purify for magic and disease or lets it dispel all debuffs with a 12 -15 sec cd
–Mass dispel choice node works like it does live with 2 min cd or Mass Purify cleans all debuffs with a 3.5-4 min cd
- Holy Priest Talent and Spell Changes
–Holy words Serenity, sanctify and Chastise removed
–Divine Word Removed from end cap to top of the tree is now a 3 charge 1 min cd ability that augments the following spells
–Heal becomes Serenity (big single target heal)
–PoH becomes Sanctify (Big Aoe heal that leaves circle on ground)
–PoM becomes Cascade (the spell they stole from us and I really loved and was mad they left us with halo and divine star)
–Holy Fire Becomes Chastise with a dot and stun
(I had a few more ideas like Holy nova becoming shining force but i think it was fairer to give that ability to disc to give them a second light cc)
–All healing and dps spells utilize serendipity based off cast time, ie instant cast two seconds, 1 sec cast is 4, 2 secs is 6
–Spirit of Redemption becomes a choice node with Resurrection, self rez every 10 mins with a follow up talent that reduces it to 7
–Premonition of Insite would not work on Divine words and only is expended on spells with a cd. I’m tired of panic hitting a wrong spell after using it only to waste it on a no cd ability, I see you instant cast heal >:(
Here comes probably the really controversial ideas
–Circle of healing choice node with light well
– Apotheosis is now a choice node with a Holy Form, a flat 5% heal buff and 10% movement speed buff. Apotheosis will effect Divine word and holy word resets at 150% maybe 200% vs the 300% current, it will keep the no mana cost Divine Words (maybe a few other changes like mana 15% mana cost reductions for other spells)
–Prayer of Healing besides number tuning, Prayer Litany will give double the amount of mastery echo at twice the duration,(stay with me now things are gunna get wild)
–First End cap talent Lightweaver
–Second end cap Divine Intervention a 2 sec 1.5 min cd spell that pops all mastery echoes for burst healing (to create synergy with prayer of healing and just the mastery in general.)
– Third end cap, Divine image (maybe as a Choice node with light weaver)
–Fourth end cap Holy word: Salvation take off apotheosis
– Fifth end cap Holy Word: Sanctuary a 2 sec 12 min cd spell that creates a circle around the priest and prevents all damage for 3-5 seconds
– and last end cap Divine Ascension, ripping the spell from pvp to give priest more angelic mobility and casting while moving 3-4 min cd (maybe choice node with Divine Intervention)
At the heart of evey thread there seems to be a through line of versatility, Let our versatility be in the specing of choice node tools so we can fit in any kind of comp and make our lives just a little less damsel in distress and more, holy savior. Would all these changes be impractical and op? Maybe
Would it be fun an interesting? I think so
But we need change and even if a few ideas are good its better than what we are living with now.
Thanks for reading and please be kind in the comments. We dont need any of that toxic not a high end player no mythic+ and mythic raiding nonsense. Playing duo delves is hard enough with the whack scaling it has.