◊ Boethius

Welcome to the Priest Simple Questions thread. This thread is for all your simple questions which you expect to have simple answers and thus do not require their own thread.

Note that all forum rules still apply: we said simple questions, not stupid questions (which have no place on these forums). You're still expected to make a reasonable effort to find the answer yourself by searching and reading the threads and making use of spreadsheets and any other tools that may be available. If, however, you're fairly confident that your question is not easily answered with available information, but don't think it will generate sufficient discussion to require it's own thread, this is the place to ask.

 

• Snowy

Combat Ratings at level 80:

1% crit = 45.9 critical strike rating
1% hit = 26.23 hit rating
1% haste = 32.79 haste rating

1% crit = 166.67 intellect

For shadow priests with 3/3 Shadow Focus and 3/3 Misery, you need 11% hit, or 289 hit rating to be hit capped at level 80.

Paladin: Pyla
Mage: Pylah

 

• constantius

Regen coefficient @ 80:

Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe, and not make messes in the house. - R.A. Heinlein

 

Astmathic

That also requires you to have full points in Misery. Might be a bit unnecessary to say this since Misery is a required talent regardless of PvP/PvE specc. At least in my own humble opinion

 

javelin

It's been a while since I played, and I understand a number of mechanics have changed, most specifically regarding crits on a couple of the Shadow Priest spells (most specifically Mind Flay). So, I've got a couple of questions:

Is Mind Flay still a binary spell (hit or miss, with no chance of having a partial resist on cast), or is it a partial resist channeled spell like AM now?

With the changes to crit being applied to some more of our spells, I'm having to rethink my stat priority (previous to this news, it was spell power, hit, int/haste), and was wondering what the new 'standard' itemization is for maximum efficiency in PvE. I understand somebody crunched the numbers and determined that crit is now more valuable to us than haste is, but I'm trying to figure out stat prioritization.

I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should chellenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him.--Mark Twain

 

Ford

Does Twin Disciplines effect Holy Fire, Mind Blast, Smite, Mana Burn, Greater Heal, and Flash Heal? I read on wowhead that it also effects DOT/HOTs like SW:P, DP, and Renew; is that true?

 

Starfire

Well, it definitely affects SW:P, DP, Renew, PW:S. There was debate as to whether it affected SoL FH, but I don't think anyone bothered to test for a conclusion.

Old Twin Discipline's did affect those spells you listed, but I don't see why the new one would affect them unless it was a bug. It says instant cast spells. Not all spells or dots/hots (it just happens our only HoT and two of our DoTs are instant cast).

 

Isin

Can anyone recommend a method for aoe grinding with Mind Sear? Is it even possible? I was hoping to put VT and SW:P on a group of maybe 4 or 5 mobs and then mind sear them down. I would use DP whenever it was up as well. Does Shadow's Reach increase the radius of Mind Sear?

 

chrisb3

There has always been alot of misinformation about fade. I would like to get this cleared up once and for all.

While it clears all of the threat you have on the mob for the duration, what happens to any new threat you generate while fade is active?

I assume you get the full amount of new threat judging by what happens when you use fade+pet.
Dps(aggro on you)->shadowfiend(aggro on you)->fade(aggro on shadowfeind)->dps during fade(aggro on you very quickly).

However one of my priests told me to fade before using mind sear to get less threat from it.
So is new threat created during fade modified in any way?

 

dragondeath46

This is how it works, as far as I understand:

Therefore, say you have 10,000 threat on a mob. You cast Fade, and your threat is now -89990000. If you were to DPS some more, and general another 10,000 threat in the next 9 seconds, before Fade wears off you would have -89980000 threat, and as soon as Fade wears off, you threat would be 20,000.

I'm assuming the value on wowhead is correct, but this seems to line up with what I have heard from beta testers that were able to use Mind Sear actively in raids.

I hope my post count is not an issue with the validity of my statement. I am a long time reader and first time poster, and I hope to be able to contribute to this community more over the coming months!

 

Roywyn

1) Does Crypt Fever increase the damage of Devouring Plague by 30%?

2) Does Pestilence spread Devouring Plague to additional targets?

I know that both should be true according to the tooltips, but can anyone confirm that this is actually the case in-game?

The abilities have changed a lot in beta and they didn't work together for a while, hence my request for a confirmation.


I'd also like to add that Mirror Image (the mage version of Fade) works exactly like described above.
You can do everything you want for 10 seconds, but then all your threat from before and during Fade comes back.

The Blue Bar and you - the complete Fire Mage 2.4 mana compendium: http://elitistjerks.com/658230-post3191.html

DPS spec and class comparison in Naxxramas gear: http://code.google.com/p/simulationc...i/SampleOutput

And [Timbal's Focusing Crystal] doesn't proc on AM.
Neither does [The Egg of Mortal Essence] since 3.1.

 

toth

Roywyn, that line in your signature made me realize the Timbal's Focusing Crystal (and other similar procs) probably no longer function with Mind Flay since its mechanics have changed to mimic Arcane Missles. Can anyone confirm?

 

Akhtal

I ran an instance with a DK tonight and I can confirm both abilities work with Devouring Plague (and it's pretty awesome tabbing to dot the second target and seeing DP getting applied to it as well).

 

Asopiram

If 1%crit = 166.67 intell
and
1 intell =0.114 mp5

Does that mean 1% crit = 19 mp5?

So 45.9 crit rating = 19pm5?

 

Tainter

No.

Part of the mp5 from Int comes from it increasing max mana. Therefore it provides more mana from replinishment and mana tide. Another part comes from the spirit-based mana regeneration.

I'm not sure which of these was taken into account for that (1 Int = 0.114 mp5) number and which buffs and how much Spirit that assumes.

Edit:
It looks like you were referring to the Compendium stat conversion. I guess then the answer becomes: "Yes, 1% crit provides 0.114 mp5 from Holy Concentration and Improved Holy Concentration if you use the procs in a very specific way."

But of course crit also makes you more likely to get Serendipity...

If you can't join them?
Beat them.

 

Crow

Where did you get that number from and what exactly are you asking about? 1 int = 0.114 mp5 is the result of Constantius calculation of IHC procs mp5 value (only the free casts, not potential OOFSR time) when you are chaincasting BH 50% of the time and GH other 50%. You use all IHC procs to cast GH.

Short answer: NO

Long answer: Yes - mana gains from IHC procs from 1% crit can be estimated (expected value) as 19 mp5 (18.6 to be exact, there was quite some rounding in the calculations). You must remember however that this is a very rough estimate of IHC value, assuming chain-casting, not commonly met casting pattern and even than the real gains will vary a lot (The fights are far too short for Big Numbers law to apply).

 

Asopiram

I'm trying to get a handle on a good conversion for crit. strike rating as I'm comparing gear. For example comparing Heroic Badge necks.

[Encircling Burnished Gold Chains]

[Lattice Choker of Light]

Chains has 34spirit which to me says: ~15mp5/8.5sp
For a grand picture of: 0%crit/67 sp/15mp5

Choker has 0.65% crit/59sp/13 mp5

What value can I put on that crit as Holy so I can compare gear?

 

CrazyDazed

I usually shield myself first, then put Vampiric Touch and SW:P on first mob, then run around try to grab as much mobs as possible with SW:P without them leashing. Then just stand here and target original mob with Mind Sear, and finish off the target after everything else dies. Don't worry about getting hit, you will only lose one tick out of five ticks.

It's harder with low end gear, of course. You'll usually end up with low health and mana. It becomes way, way, way easier with high end level 80 gear.

 

Cosi

This is from what I understand by reading the theorycraft behind this. The [Lattice Choker of Light] is a gamble, while the [Encircling Burnished Gold Chains] is not.

For holy it is possible assuming best results for IHC that the Lattice Choker of Light will give you the same or similar regen as the Encircling Burnished Gold Chains. It could give you more or less, depending on what crits, when. However unless you have 25%+ crit to spells it is not very noticeable to see critical spells very often. (This is my opinion, based on my experience.)

For discipline I would value the Lattice Choker of Light higher hands down. Discipline has more casts per minute then holy, and crit is pretty important for it. Though I wouldn't dump spirit all together quite yet.

In the end they are pretty close.

 

• constantius

[Lattice Choker of Light] is the clearly superior item. You won't find yourself running *less* than 80% I5SR for any content where you actually need regen, which puts the value of 34 spirit at ~ 12 Mp5. More regen, more crit, and no wasted ilvl points on hit.

This will almost always be true for an item with points that are truly useless for you. Any hit? Sub-optimal piece. Any strength/agility? (obvious ) Useless for you.

There are a large number of items which are stam/int/crit/spell/Mp5 or stam/int/haste/spell/Mp5. These are almost universally good for us. The only caveat is that losing the spirit means losing OO5SR regen (for when you manage to get it), and losing *some* spellpower, due to Spiritual Guidance. For Disc, no SG means it's a no-brainer. For holy, just balance it out well.

For example, on cloaks, [Cape of the Unworthy Wizard] is an amazing cloak. However, [Pennant Cloak] is better in almost every way, even though it has no real regen stats on it. But we'll never get the latter, as its BiS for every dps caster, so settle for Unworthy Wizard in a heartbeat. The better comparison might be to [Cloak of the Dying], which is a very similar (if lower ilvl) item, with Mp5 instead of Spirit. They *are* very comparable.

Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe, and not make messes in the house. - R.A. Heinlein

 

Isin

This is purely a leveling question, but can Mind Flay crits proc Surge of Light? I need a new build to spice up my leveling, but I read on the beta forums that this was bugged and not proccing. Has anyone tried this out on live? I know for a fact that Mind Sear can.

[EDIT: I dropped the 50g and tried it out. It does work. Mind flay crits now proc Surge of Light properly. It's a very silly spec but it gives me something shiny while I'm leveling. OK, gotta get back to killing more zombie snow boars or something.]

 

Sinndir

Nid, I'm going to have to disagree. While not the best choices if items have hit on them there are items with hit that are very good. As my guild is currently taking leveling a bit on the slower side since the current raiding content is nothing to rush to we are doing Naxx with 7-9 people.

I was fortunate enough to be able to loot two staves. [Charmed Cierge] and [Sulfur Stave]. With haste being not nearly as good as it was in Sunwell (unending mana pools) and with regen being more important now (personally I find this). I have elected to use the [Sulfur Stave] with a +45 spirit enchant on it. I find the extra intellect and stamina on the Sulfur Stave to be more beneficial than the 89 haste rating.

 

lassenc

Wasn't able to post in the UI section, so this I found more fitting.

I, as a healer, find myself looking way too much down at the health bars and forgetting to look at the actual fight.

How have you overcome this? Maybe some UI changes that can help?

 

Jesta

I would like to ask the most basic question.

How does a priest heal in raids? This question may seem complex, but i really do want just the basic explanation.

Do you focus on g-heal on the tank? flash's? Do instants heals (PoM, sheild, Renew) take priority over direct heals?
How much should you abuse CoH?

I am asking because I was a druid healer at 70, and changed over to priest for wotlk, so I'm basically learning to raid from scratch again. If there is a guide around that lays down the foundation of priest tactics that would be really helpfull.

Thanks

 

Vihermaali

First and most important rule of priest healing: there are no rules. Learn the pro's and con's of each spell and use them depending the situation you are in.

Some basic rules to follow, though (as HOLY, can't talk for disc as haven't tested it out):
When healing a tank, use greater heal and IF you have time renew/prayer of mending/pw:s.
When healing raid, use CoH for major damage, remember to keep casting prayer of mending at all times and for single target healing flash heal and renew.

But like I said, it's all about adapting into situation so worst thing you can do as a priest is to train yourself to use only a couple of spells.