With the upcoming all races/all class thing, I have been reading up on the various classes trying to figure out how it will work (and how I can headcanon it when Blizzard screws it up ) and when I was looking at priest, I realized they do not have a unifying concept.
They arenât across-the-board clerics (as in a member of a religious/spiritual clergy). They arenât across-the-board healers. And they access and use the energies/powers of opposing forces.
I play my dwarf holy priest as a cleric of the Light, no shadow/void aspect at all, and play my goblin shadow priest as a opportunist who prefers the dark power of void energies but uses whatever gives her the best advantage at the time.
But they really could be two completely different classes, one a holy healer and the other a primordial energy (void/light) using sorcerer.
Different races look at the Light in a different way when it comes to being a Priest/Paladin.
Letâs look at a couple of races for example.
Tauren: They look at the Light as their deity Anâshe, the Sun. In essence (aka the lore) is they are actually Druids who use sun-magic.
Zandalari: They have the Loa of Kings to thank them for that.
Pandaren: They follow the August Celestials.
Gnomes: This one took some digging but a little bit of headcanon as far as I know. The Gnome Priests look at the Light in a mathematic way; much like how a Mage is basically a book-learned being manipulating the Elements rather than how a Shaman does it.
I think it really depends on how you want to craft your character story. My Dwarf Priest is a spiritual leader in Ironforge, but I see him as more of a Runekeeper than a typical Priest. He collects information, history, lore, and likes to study and deconstruct these texts.
My Velf Priest on the other hand was someone that wanted to use the light to help and heal people. I always imagine him as one of those priests that were trying to help out during the initial stages of the plague in WC3, but when he saw the devastation that the Scourge wrought, he started to feel helpless and despair that eventually made him turn to the void because he felt that being a healer was not enough.
And that use could have been a unifying factor like it is for paladins.
But priests donât just use light/holy magic, they also use void.
So are the Tauren also accessing void/shadow magic thru their devotion to Anâshe? The Zandalari also accessing void/shadow magic thru their devotion to the Loa? The Pandaren also accessing void/shadow magic thru their devotion to the August Celestials?
Or are they accessing light/holy magic thru their devotion and void/shadow some other way and what is that other way and how does it tie into being a priest as opposed to a typical magic-user?
Or if they can access holy/light magic and shadow/void magic without any religious convictions or even religious path, then why are they called priests and not, say, sorcerers or wizards or some other more generic magic-user, less religious/spiritual label?
I thought Warlocks were failed mages who needed shortcuts to use magic?
We Shadow Priest weild Magic not even the Warlock dare to go behind. Warlocks are emo teens in comparison to us.
OP: I see Priest, sometimes, as White manipulation and Dark manipulation. It is how I also see the Light (which RP wise my character considers it as good as the Void when it comes to manipulating people. Just look at the Scarlet or Yrel).
One can draw many concepts based on this, Yin/Yang, Light/Shadow, Healing/Destruction, etc. One draws you to it and makes you a devoted based on good things, such as healing, for instance, while the other might manipulate you in a darker, more selfish ways.
This was way cooler when Shadow Priests werenât tentacle mages, but we could say a lot about them basing it on those terms, and what people can do with both powers (white manipulation and dark manipulation) depending on their mindset.
My Forsaken priest is odd by that races standards. The Light doesnât hurt as bad and he still wishes to aid people. I havenât thought much about his living days but I always tried a âHe was wrongfully executed so the Light did not abandon himâ. And that was a comfort for him.
In my head he only went crazy void shadowform powers once. And it was when Sylvanas was shot in Cataclysm. So once she was back, he just quietly walked to Shadowfang Keep and just annihilated everything
) and when I was looking at priest, I realized they do not have a unifying concept.
for you!
