WoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.comWoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gifWoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.comen-usCopyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/WoW Insider ShowEvery week, the WoW Insider Show brings you news and views from the World of Warcraft and the site that covers it all, WoW Insider. We introduce a panel of rotating guests, including bloggers from WoW Insider and other WoW blogs, and many popular personalities from around the WoW community. From the live listener chat and polls during the show, to the emails direct from listeners (reach us at theshow@wow.com), right on to the "meat" of the show -- in-depth discussion of the most popular news and posts on WoW Insider -- the WoW Insider Show is a terrific source of news and entertainment about what's going on with Blizzard and their World of Warcraft. Listen live every Saturday at 3:30 pm Eastern on our Ustream page (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wow-insider-show) or subscribe to the feed and let us know what you think by reviewing the show right here in iTunes.Spiritual Guidance: Lightwell, Lightspring, and the latest on priest healing in Mistshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/15/spiritual-guidance-lightwell-lightspring-and-the-latest-on-pr/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/15/spiritual-guidance-lightwell-lightspring-and-the-latest-on-pr/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/15/spiritual-guidance-lightwell-lightspring-and-the-latest-on-pr/#commentsFiled under: ,

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Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast.

Well, we got it. I never thought I'd see the day, but we finally got the Trial of the Crusader Lightwell that shoots heals at allied players instead of requiring them to click. Holy priests will gain access to the new Lightwell, called Lightspring, using a glyph of the same name. Before you get too excited, however, I should mention that there is a catch. Apparently, automatic Lightwells don't heal for nearly as much as a manual ones do, so depending on the fight and your raid members' ability to use the Lightwell in the first place, you may choose to skip the Glyph of Lightspring now and again.

Good ol' Derevka has already written up a thorough first look at Lightspring in which he points out many of the spell's limitations. In the post, he points out that Lightspring only heals targets at less than 50% of their health, and it has a 5-second cooldown between heals to prevent it from being used as a raid cooldown. To read the rest of Derevka's write-up and see his comparisons on the numerical output of the two spells, head over to Tales of a Priest.

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: Lightwell, Lightspring, and the latest on priest healing in Mists

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: Lightwell, Lightspring, and the latest on priest healing in Mists originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 15 May 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>atonementchakraconfessiondisc-priest-spiritual-guidancediscipline-priest-spiritual-guidancedivine-aegisDivine-insightfjola-lightbaneghostcrawlerglyph-of-confessionglyph-of-holy-resurrectionglyph-of-the-heavensglyph-of-valkyrholy-priest-spiritual-guidanceholy-resurrectionlightspringlightwellPower-word-shieldpriest-glyphsrapturespirit-shellval-kyrvalkyrDawn MooreTue, 15 May 2012 12:00:00 ESTSpiritual Guidance: The return of Devouring Plague, and our new shadowy friendhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/02/spiritual-guidance-the-return-of-devouring-plague-and-our-new/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/02/spiritual-guidance-the-return-of-devouring-plague-and-our-new/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/02/spiritual-guidance-the-return-of-devouring-plague-and-our-new/#commentsFiled under: ,

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Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. On alternate Wednesdays, shadow priesting expert Fox Van Allen comes from out of the shadows to bask in your loving adoration.

In case you haven't noticed, the shadowformed Spiritual Guidance is a once-every-other-week thing now. Normally, I'm cool with that. But man, these past two weeks have been killing me. Last week, there were changes. Big changes. Huge changes! And this week -- more huge changes! Groundbreaking changes! Stunning, jaw-dropping changes! Unbelievable ...

Okay, I digress. But there's no exaggeration here. The changes over the past two weeks have been huge. Old friends are making a comeback. New friends are on the way. Shadow priest PvP is changing forever. And shadow priest mastery has been completely overhauled -- twice.

We've got a lot of catching up to do, kids. I'll introduce you to our new friend in just a bit (not that Dawn Moore and Matt Low haven't already let the cat out of the bag), but first, an old friend has been waiting to say "hi." Ladies and gentlemen, make our oldest of friends feel welcome -- a round of applause, please, for Devouring Plague.

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: The return of Devouring Plague, and our new shadowy friend

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: The return of Devouring Plague, and our new shadowy friend originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 02 May 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>archangelDevouring-Plaguefeaturedguide-to-priestsmindbendermists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betamists-of-pandaria-talent-changesmoppriest-guidepriest-infopriest-talentspsyfiendshadowshadow-priestshadow-priest-dps-spiritual-guidanceshadow-priest-spiritual-guidancewow-priestwow-priest-infowow-priestsFox Van AllenWed, 02 May 2012 14:00:00 ESTMists of Pandaria: Priests get an optional Shadowfiend upgrade, Zoidberg approveshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/01/mists-of-pandaria-priests-get-an-optional-shadowfiend-upgrade/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/01/mists-of-pandaria-priests-get-an-optional-shadowfiend-upgrade/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/01/mists-of-pandaria-priests-get-an-optional-shadowfiend-upgrade/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Getting tired of your Shadowfiend, priests? After having served us faithfully over multiple expansions, your Shadowfiend will be able to be talented into an upgraded Shadowfiend. Enter the Mindbender!

The Mindbender is a floating, squid-like creature that'll leech mana off opponents just like the original Shadowfiend --not just that, but the Mindbender hits harder and you get more mana back. Mindbender can be talented into at level 45. (That spot used to be blank before.) At level 87, my little minion was doing around 12,000 damage with possible crits up to 30,000 against the raider training dummies while I was in a healing spec.

Pretty cool facelift for the little guy! It'll be an interesting choice between Mindbender, Archangel, and From Darkness, Comes Light.

Too bad we can't give these pets names. I'd name mine Zoidberg.
It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

WoW InsiderMists of Pandaria: Priests get an optional Shadowfiend upgrade, Zoidberg approves originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 01 May 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>discdisciplineholylevel-45manamindbenderminionmist-of-pandaria-betamists-of-pandariapetpriestshadowshadowfiendtalentMatt LowTue, 01 May 2012 14:00:00 ESTSpiritual Guidance: Shadowfiends retire, more priest talent news from Mists betahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/30/spiritual-guidance-shadowfiends-retire-more-priest-talent-news/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/30/spiritual-guidance-shadowfiends-retire-more-priest-talent-news/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/30/spiritual-guidance-shadowfiends-retire-more-priest-talent-news/#commentsFiled under: ,

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Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast.

Do you want to know the greatest and most amazing new thing priests are getting in Mists of Pandaria? It's a squid. Well, it could be an octopus, but I think it's a squid. It's called a Mindbender, and it's our new level 45 talent. The Mindbender is a flying, shadowy squid that serves as an improved version of (read: replacement for) our old pal, Shadowfiend. Our new squid friend does double the damage of Shadowfiend and thus returns twice as much mana. I can only assume the reason he can do this is because he latches onto the heads of our enemies and sucks out their brains, sort of like a Mind Flayer, the squid-faced monsters from Dungeons and Dragons with telekinetic powers. Mindbender, Mind Flayer ... That's right, Blizzard, I'm on to you.

Anyway, I imagine Squiddy will become the prime choice for healing priests in MoP because 1.) mana is mana, and 2.) the other level 45 talents are a bit lackluster. That will unfortunately mean leaving Shadowfiend at home, which is awfully sad, but I've painted up a scenario in my head where Shadowfiend tells me, "Look, Dawn, we've been raiding together for a few years now, and it's about time that I caught up on all the prime time television I've missed. There's Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and I've still only seen one episode of Game of Thrones. I need a break."

"OK, Shadowfiend," I say to it, "you can stay home this expansion."

"Thanks, dollface," it responds with Don Draper-esque charm and winks an eye at me I never knew it had.

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: Shadowfiends retire, more priest talent news from Mists beta

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: Shadowfiends retire, more priest talent news from Mists beta originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>angelic-bulwarkangelic-featherarchangelatonementborrowed-timechakrachakra-chastisederevkadesperate-prayerdisc-priest-spiritual-guidancediscipline-priest-spiritual-guidancedon-draperdungeons-and-dragonsevangelismfeathers-from-heavenfeaturedglyph-of-holy-novaglyph-of-levitategreater-healguide-to-priestshealholy-novaholy-priest-spiritual-guidanceHymn-of-Hopelevitatemad-menmana-regenmana-regen-priestmatticusmind-bendermind-flayermindbenderpath-of-the-devoutpriest-guidepriest-infopriest-talentsraptureshadowfiendspectral-guisespirit-shelltales-of-a-priestvoid-shiftweakened soulweakened-soulWeakenedSoulWorld-of-Matticuswow-priestwow-priest-infowow-priestsDawn MooreMon, 30 Apr 2012 17:00:00 ESTGuildOx player analysis highlights the warlock declinehttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/guildox-player-analysis-highlights-the-warlock-decline/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/guildox-player-analysis-highlights-the-warlock-decline/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/guildox-player-analysis-highlights-the-warlock-decline/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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The folks at GuildOx have gone through their database and done some simple filtering that reveals some fascinating things about who is raiding heroic Dragon Soul. GuildOx started with level 85 characters, filtered for characters with ilevel 400 gear, and then filtered out anyone with PvP gear. What you see in the chart above is the result of that work -- a representative sample of who out of the over 13 million level 85 characters in the GuildOx database is raiding heroic Dragon Soul.

If you remember the post about the complexity of systems and player retention that I made a couple of weeks back, you'll remember that I mentioned Cynwise's excellent posts about the warlock decline. Well, here it is again reflected in GuildOx's data. Warlocks are the least played class in heroic raiding.

Warriors aren't doing much better, really. Most other classes seem fairly healthy, with classes that have healing specs doing fairly well and rogues absolutely ruling heroic raiding despite being one of the least-played classes in the game overall. It gets even more interesting once we get to look at the GuildOx spec-by-spec breakdown.

Continue reading GuildOx player analysis highlights the warlock decline

WoW InsiderGuildOx player analysis highlights the warlock decline originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>ClassClass-RepresentationClassesDeath-KnightDragon-SoulDruidGuildoxHeroic-Dragon-SoulHunterMagePaladinPriestRaidingRogueShamanWarlockWarriorMatthew RossiFri, 27 Apr 2012 12:00:00 ESTSpiritual Guidance: My least favorite ability in the game and the MoP betahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/spiritual-guidance-my-least-favorite-ability-in-the-game-and-t/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/spiritual-guidance-my-least-favorite-ability-in-the-game-and-t/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/spiritual-guidance-my-least-favorite-ability-in-the-game-and-t/#commentsFiled under: ,

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Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. On alternate Wednesdays, shadow priesting expert Fox Van Allen comes from out of the shadows to bask in your loving adoration.

The big news of the week is, of course, the launch of patch 4.3.4. But for us shadow priests, there's nothing interesting under its hood. Our rotation doesn't change; our stat weights don't change. It's just business as usual.

But what's going on over at the Mists of Pandaria beta -- well, there's plenty of shadow priest news coming from there. New buffs are in the mix. There are new talents as well, and one buff that was long missing from the beta has finally returned.

With the good comes the bad, though. One new talent that shadow priests are likely going to be pressured to take closely mirrors my least favorite ability currently in the game. Well ... really, "least favorite ability" doesn't go far enough -- let's call it my most despised ability. Can you guess what it is?

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: My least favorite ability in the game and the MoP beta

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: My least favorite ability in the game and the MoP beta originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>detonate-mushroomdruid-talentsfeathers-from-heavenfeaturedguide-to-priestsleast-favorite-talentmists-of-pandariamopmost-despised-talentmost-hated-talentpriest-guidepriest-infopriest-shadow-spiritual-guidancepriest-talentsshadowshadow-priestshadow-priest-dps-spiritual-guidanceSHADOW-PRIEST-SPIRITUAL-GUIDANCEshadow-priest-talentswild-mushroomwow-priestwow-priest-infowow-priestsFox Van AllenWed, 18 Apr 2012 19:00:00 ESTSpiritual Guidance: New priest talents in the Mists of Pandaria betahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/17/spiritual-guidance-new-priest-talents-in-the-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/17/spiritual-guidance-new-priest-talents-in-the-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/17/spiritual-guidance-new-priest-talents-in-the-mists-of-pandaria/#commentsFiled under: ,

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Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast.

Let's get the bad news out of the way first: We've already lost Path of the Devout on beta. The good news is that in its place, we now have Feathers From Heaven, a talent that allows priests to lay out a little track of speed-boosting feathers. Think of them as those little speed arrows in Mario Kart, only they're feathers, and you can put them wherever you please.

The individual feathers have no expiration that I can tell, so you can lay them out in advance on one end of the room for special tactics in your raid encounters or PvP, if it suits your fancy. The ability has no mana cost at the moment. Instead, it is limited by charges: one feather per charge, and you can have three charges at a time. You can place one feather right after the other, but it takes 10 seconds to restore one charge. This allows you to spam three of them on the ground in succession if you like (something you can't do with Body and Soul) or spread them out gradually ahead of you in your path. They can be used by any friendly target, not just party members, so be mindful of people's stealing them if you're using them while leveling to snatch up quest items. Oh yeah, and the feathers can be used on top of water with Levitate.

So, you're excited about Mists of Pandaria now, right?

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: New priest talents in the Mists of Pandaria beta

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: New priest talents in the Mists of Pandaria beta originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>cascadedisc-priest-spiritual-guidancediscipline-priest-spiritual-guidancedivine-stardruid-symbiosisfeathers-from-heavenfeaturedglyph-of-penanceguide-to-priestshaloholy-paladinsholy-priest-spiritual-guidancemists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betapaladins-suckpath-of-the-devoutpriest-betapriest-guidepriest-infopriest-moppriest-rapturepriest-talentsrapturesymbiosiswow-priestwow-priest-infowow-priestsDawn MooreTue, 17 Apr 2012 14:00:00 ESTSpiritual Guidance: First hands-on look at the Mists of Pandaria shadow priesthttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/04/spiritual-guidance-first-hands-on-look-at-the-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/04/spiritual-guidance-first-hands-on-look-at-the-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/04/spiritual-guidance-first-hands-on-look-at-the-mists-of-pandaria/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. On alternate Wednesdays, shadow priesting expert Fox Van Allen comes from out of the shadows to bask in your loving adoration.

Beta access, sweet, delicious beta access. After weeks of waiting, I'm finally in the Mists of Pandaria beta. And man, does it taste sweet. Sure, in reality, I'd only been waiting a few weeks to get in. But when you're not in the beta and it seems like everyone else is, those weeks can feel like an eternity.

But you likely don't care about my emotions (you cruel, sadistic readers, you). You care about shadow priests and the changes made to them in the beta. And believe me, there are a lot of changes to shadow priests coming for MoP.

Yeah, I know, we've discussed a lot of those changes here in Spiritual Guidance. But already, there are changes to those changes. And frankly, the latest batch of changes is shocking. Every single spell that we hold dear is seeing a major change to it. Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch, Vampiric Embrace, and even Shadowy Apparitions -- it seems no spell is safe.

Are these changes the end of the world? Maybe they are. But you should know by now that I'm not going to tell you anything definite about that until you follow me after the break.

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: First hands-on look at the Mists of Pandaria shadow priest

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: First hands-on look at the Mists of Pandaria shadow priest originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>cascadecascade-priest-spellfeaturedguide-to-priestshalohalo-priest-spellholy-novamists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-shadow-priestsmoppriest-guidepriest-infopriest-mists-of-pandariapriest-talentsshadow-orbsshadow-priestshadow-priest-dps-spiritual-guidanceSHADOW-PRIEST-SPIRITUAL-GUIDANCEshadow-word-painshadowy-apparitionspectral-guisevampiric-touchwow-priestwow-priest-infowow-priestsFox Van AllenWed, 04 Apr 2012 14:00:00 ESTSpiritual Guidance: First impressions of the Mists of Pandaria beta from a healing priesthttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/02/spiritual-guidance-first-impressions-of-the-mists-of-pandaria-b/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/02/spiritual-guidance-first-impressions-of-the-mists-of-pandaria-b/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/02/spiritual-guidance-first-impressions-of-the-mists-of-pandaria-b/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast.

This past week, I finally got access to the Mists of Pandaria beta, which means I've had lots of shiny new stuff to play with recently. As a healing priest, I gave a thorough look at both holy and discipline priests and found a lot of things I felt I should report back.

First, let's start with Chakra. Before I even finished downloading the beta client, I heard complaints from other priests saying that Chakra states had turned into stances (think warrior stances). The concept of this intrigued me, but when I finally got around to toying around with it, I didn't really know why anyone would think too much of it. The stances simplify Chakra, so rather than having to press two buttons to change to Chakra: Sanctuary, all you have to do is hit one. If you want to switch again, there is a 30-second cooldown before you can swap.

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: First impressions of the Mists of Pandaria beta from a healing priest

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: First impressions of the Mists of Pandaria beta from a healing priest originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>atonementchakrachatisedisc-priest-spiritual-guidancediscipline-priest-spiritual-guidancedivine-touchevangelismfeaturedguide-to-priestsholy fireholy-fireholy-priest-spiritual-guidanceholy-word-chastiseHolyFiremists-of-pandariaMoparpenancepower-infusionpriest-glyphspriest-guidepriest-infopriest-renewpriest-talentsrapid-renewalrenewspirit-shellwow-priestwow-priest-infowow-priestsDawn MooreMon, 02 Apr 2012 19:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing changeshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-changes/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-changes/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-changes/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast.

You'll notice that there are a ton of new glyphs that have been added for all the classes. That list is by no means exhaustive. I also noticed some slight changes in the way certain spells work. I can assure you it won't be anything too drastic, but these changes are enough to keep you interested and wondering. This week, I'll be rounding up what we know healers will be getting, as well as any other notable modifications.

New for druids

Cenarion Ward appears to be a Prayer of Mending-like spell without the subsequent charges. Good spell to open with before an engagement. Won't have to pre-HoT as much. Just remember to pre-Ward.

Wild Mushroom: Bloom! Hope you love 'shrooms, since you'll be gaining the use of these in addition to your Balance friends. Anticipate a moment where big AoE healing is needed, and plant 'shrooms. Detonate after raid group takes a hit, and relish in the healing spores that explode.

Regrowth can be glyphed to remove the HoT component. Benefit? 40% increased chance of a critical heal. I guess you can configure a HoT-based class to switch to a non-HoT direction.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing changes

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing changes originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>disciplinedruidfeaturedglyphsguidehealinghealing-guideholyhow-to-heallightwellmists-of-pandariamonkpaladinpriestraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guiderestshamanwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowMon, 26 Mar 2012 13:00:00 ESTSpiritual Guidance: Monk healing vs. priest healing in Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/21/spiritual-guidance-monk-healing-vs-priest-healing-in-mists-of/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/21/spiritual-guidance-monk-healing-vs-priest-healing-in-mists-of/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/21/spiritual-guidance-monk-healing-vs-priest-healing-in-mists-of/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast.

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starting to feel pretty pumped up after Monday's release of the information from Blizzard's Mists of Pandaria press event. Some of the new zones are very striking, the pandaren ladies are absolutely adorable, and monks get an ability called Shuffle, which means we'll have an expansion full of Party Rock Anthem jokes to look forward to. Priests didn't see anything new on Monday, but with all the information released about mistweavers and monk healing in general, I thought I might make some comparisons to get a better idea about what priest healing is going to look like in MoP.

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: Monk healing vs. priest healing in Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: Monk healing vs. priest healing in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 21 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Atonementcherry-mana-teadisc-priest-spiritual-guidancedisc-priestsdiscipline-priest-spiritual-guidancedivine-hymnfeaturedguide-to-priestsholy-novaholy-priest-spiritual-guidanceholy-priestshymn-of-hopejade-serpent-statueJoystiqlightwellmeditation-monkmist-of-pandaria-priestsmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-talentsmistweavermistweaver-monkmonk-cooldownsmonk-healingmonk-meditationpower-word-barrierprayer-of-healingpriest-guidepriest-healingpriest-infopriest-talentssmitesmite-healingspinning-crane-kickwow-priestwow-priest-infowow-priestsDawn MooreWed, 21 Mar 2012 20:00:00 ESTSpiritual Guidance: Brainstorming the future of shadow priest glyphshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/21/spiritual-guidance-brainstorming-the-future-of-shadow-priest-gl/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/21/spiritual-guidance-brainstorming-the-future-of-shadow-priest-gl/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/21/spiritual-guidance-brainstorming-the-future-of-shadow-priest-gl/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. On alternate Wednesdays, shadow priesting expert Fox Van Allen comes from out of the shadows to bask in your loving adoration.

If you're anything like me, you've spend a good chunk of your time this week reading all the great coverage of the Mists of Pandaria here at WoW Insider and at our friends' sites, as well. There wasn't any shadow priest news to be found, but one thing definitely caught my eye: The Great Glyph Overhaul of 2012.

Wait, what's that? Another glyph overhaul?

To be sure, the glyph overhaul that came with Cataclysm was largely painless and uninteresting from a shadow priest perspective. But here's the exciting part of The Great Glyph Overhaul of 2012: It's all about fun. Blizzard is removing the boring, must-have aspect of glyphs by eliminating prime glyphs and making minor glyphs much more fun.

How? Well, Blizzard's super-cool treatment of druids offers a couple of clues.

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: Brainstorming the future of shadow priest glyphs

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: Brainstorming the future of shadow priest glyphs originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguide-to-priestsminor-glyphsmists-of-pandaria-speculationmoppriest-guidepriest-infopriest-talentsshadowshadow-orbsshadow-priestshadow-priest-dps-spiritual-guidanceshadow-priest-minor-glyphsSHADOW-PRIEST-SPIRITUAL-GUIDANCEspriestwow-priestwow-priest-infowow-priestsFox Van AllenWed, 21 Mar 2012 15:00:00 ESTSpiritual Guidance: Prayer of Healing and secondary stats for Mists of Pandaria healershttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/12/spiritual-guidance-prayer-of-healing-and-secondary-stats-for-mi/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/12/spiritual-guidance-prayer-of-healing-and-secondary-stats-for-mi/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/12/spiritual-guidance-prayer-of-healing-and-secondary-stats-for-mi/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast.

I trust you all remember that three weeks ago, Blizzard developers stated that Prayer of Healing would no longer be available to priests of every spec. The spell was to become an ability exclusive to the holy tree, and in order to provide the discipline tree with adequate AoE healing, the developers were working on redesigning Holy Nova.

Well, as of earlier this week, it looks like discipline will be keeping Prayer of Healing in Mists of Pandaria after all. The developers made this statement on Tuesday.

Kaivax -- Talent update: Priests
Prayer of Healing can be used by Holy and Discipline once again. We realized that the goal of making Holy Nova an effective AE healing tool was problematic. It meant that we would have to change Holy Nova so thoroughly, that it was becoming a second Prayer of Healing. Remember: we aren't even in beta yet, and we want to retain as much opportunity as possible to respond to player feedback throughout the rest of this process. Things will change for priests, and every other class, over the coming weeks.

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: Prayer of Healing and secondary stats for Mists of Pandaria healers

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: Prayer of Healing and secondary stats for Mists of Pandaria healers originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>binding-healdisc-priest-spiritual-guidancediscipline-priest-spiritual-guidancefeaturedguide-to-priestsholy-novaholy-priest-spiritual-guidancemists-of-pandariamop-priestprayer-of-healingpriest-guidepriest-infopriest-statspriest-talentsstats-priestwow-priestwow-priest-infowow-priestsDawn MooreMon, 12 Mar 2012 20:00:00 ESTSpiritual Guidance: 5 things I want for shadow priests in Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/07/spiritual-guidance-5-things-i-want-for-shadow-priests-in-mists/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/07/spiritual-guidance-5-things-i-want-for-shadow-priests-in-mists/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/07/spiritual-guidance-5-things-i-want-for-shadow-priests-in-mists/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. On Wednesdays, shadow priesting expert Fox Van Allen comes from out of the shadows to bask in your loving adoration.

We're exactly one week away from the big Mists of Pandaria press event. What does it mean, exactly, that Blizzard is giving Team WoW Insider a major reveal? It means that we're getting closer and closer to that magical day the beta opens and, of course, the magic day that MoP hits store shelves and goes live to the public.

In the meantime, there's a lot of development going on behind the scenes. But what kind of priorities are the development team working under? What priorities should it have? What do you want out of your spec in Mists of Pandaria? And does your priority make the list?

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: 5 things I want for shadow priests in Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: 5 things I want for shadow priests in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguide-to-priestsmists-of-pandariapriest-guidepriest-infopriest-talentspsyfiendshadow-priestshadow-priest-dps-spiritual-guidanceSHADOW-PRIEST-SPIRITUAL-GUIDANCEshadowfiendwow-priestwow-priest-infowow-priestsFox Van AllenWed, 07 Mar 2012 20:00:00 ESTSpiritual Guidance: How to increase your HPS as a holy priesthttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/05/spiritual-guidance-how-to-increase-your-hps-as-a-holy-priest/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/05/spiritual-guidance-how-to-increase-your-hps-as-a-holy-priest/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/05/spiritual-guidance-how-to-increase-your-hps-as-a-holy-priest/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast.

Remember last month when I talked about increasing your HPS as a discipline priest through an aggressive style of healing? Well, this week I'm going to do it again for holy priests. So if you've be looking to climb up the healing meters and make other healers hate you, stick around.

The philosophy behind increasing your output as a holy priest is quite different than that of a disc priest. It's still very greedy but it's not nearly as competitive, since it doesn't require you to directly snipe heals from other healers. Instead, you'll be searching for every half second where you can utilize your most powerful spells and do so before other healers have the chance to do something similar. Just like with disc priests, you'll be milking your mana bar for all it's worth and spamming your regenerative cooldowns whenever you can.

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: How to increase your HPS as a holy priest

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: How to increase your HPS as a holy priest originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>disc-hpsdisc-priest-spiritual-guidancediscipline-healingdiscipline-priest-spiritual-guidancefeaturedguide-to-priestshealing-metersholy-healingholy-hpsholy-priestholy-priest-spiritual-guidancehpspower-word-shieldpriest-guidepriest-healingpriest-hpspriest-infopriest-talentsrecountwow-priestwow-priest-infowow-priestsDawn MooreMon, 05 Mar 2012 20:00:00 ESTSpiritual Guidance: The Mists of Pandaria and the fate of DoTshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/29/spiritual-guidance-the-mists-of-pandaria-and-the-fate-of-dots/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/29/spiritual-guidance-the-mists-of-pandaria-and-the-fate-of-dots/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/29/spiritual-guidance-the-mists-of-pandaria-and-the-fate-of-dots/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. On Wednesdays, shadow priesting expert Fox Van Allen comes from out of the shadows to bask in your loving adoration.

Last week, we took a somewhat in-depth look at the latest incarnation of the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator. Part of the conversation was about shadow priest staple Mind Blast, but it was Devouring Plague that got you all really talking -- more specifically, the fact that Devouring Plague doesn't appear to be in the current MoP shadow build.

Is Devouring Plague really gone for good? The question is serious enough that it deserves a detailed look at the evidence. Tremble, ye priests -- things do not look good.

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: The Mists of Pandaria and the fate of DoTs

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: The Mists of Pandaria and the fate of DoTs originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>devouring-plaguedot-changesDOTsdots-being-removed-from-wowDPguide-to-priestsis-devouring-plague-being-removedmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-DOT-changesmists-of-pandaria-talent-changesmopmop-changespriest-guidepriest-infopriest-shadow-spiritual-guidancepriest-talentsshadowshadow-priestshadow-priest-dps-spiritual-guidanceshadow-priest-spiritual-guidancewhat-happened-to-devouring-plaguewow-priestwow-priest-infowow-priestsFox Van AllenWed, 29 Feb 2012 15:00:00 ESTSpiritual Guidance: Mists of Pandaria and the existential crisis of the healing priesthttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/27/spiritual-guidance-mists-of-pandaria-and-the-existential-crisis/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/27/spiritual-guidance-mists-of-pandaria-and-the-existential-crisis/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/27/spiritual-guidance-mists-of-pandaria-and-the-existential-crisis/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast.

At BlizzCon 2011, I sat down in front of the Mists of Pandaria demo and took a long look at the character creation screen before me. At the time, I was there to try out the newly announced monk class, but I couldn't help thinking that there wasn't much point in my doing so. I stared at the silver staff on that intimately familiar icon and wondered if maybe I should just roll a pandaren priest to preview the new casting animations. I knew then that I'd never put any serious time into playing a monk, even as an alt. Why? Because I'm totally playing a priest in Mists of Pandaria.

The reason I recall this story now is because of how dramatically the priest class may change in MoP. Everything is under development, but already things are looking radically different as the foundation (or at least the infrastructure) of our class is torn out and redone. We looked at some of these changes last week, and this week, I thought it would be good to wrap up the loose ends of the discussion.

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: Mists of Pandaria and the existential crisis of the healing priest

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: Mists of Pandaria and the existential crisis of the healing priest originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>disc-priest-spiritual-guidancediscipline-priest-spiritual-guidanceguide-to-priestsholy-priest-spiritual-guidancemists-of-pandariamop-priestpriest-guidepriest-infopriest-talentswow-priestwow-priest-infowow-priestsDawn MooreMon, 27 Feb 2012 19:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing additions, changes, and thoughtshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-additions-changes-and-thoug/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-additions-changes-and-thoug/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-additions-changes-and-thoug/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast.

Were you excited about the latest changes that were made to the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator that was introduced last week? Some earth shattering changes all around but who do you think won out? Let's examine!

Continue reading Raid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing additions, changes, and thoughts

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing additions, changes, and thoughts originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 25 Feb 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>guidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowSat, 25 Feb 2012 22:00:00 ESTSpiritual Guidance: The Mists of Pandaria pre-beta shadow priesthttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/22/spiritual-guidance-the-mists-of-pandaria-pre-beta-shadow-priest/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/22/spiritual-guidance-the-mists-of-pandaria-pre-beta-shadow-priest/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/22/spiritual-guidance-the-mists-of-pandaria-pre-beta-shadow-priest/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. On Wednesdays, shadow priesting expert Fox Van Allen comes from out of the shadows to bask in your loving adoration.

In case you haven't noticed, WoW Insider's class columnists have been on a pretty big Mists of Pandaria kick lately. It's because Blizzard just released a pretty big update to the talent calculator. Certain spells got shifted around; certain spells got changed.

I'm damn starved for MoP info, so naturally, I was eager to pore over all the new changes. But admittedly, I was a little bit disappointed. There's not a whole lot of new information for shadow priests since the last time we talked last MoP back in November.

But perhaps that is the news. There were some shocking omissions last time, namely Mind Blast and Devouring Plague, two spells that help define shadow priesting. I was quite confident we'd see both of them again -- their omissions from the MoP leveling experience just had to be accidental.

But here were are, four months later. Guess what's still not in the game?

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: The Mists of Pandaria pre-beta shadow priest

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: The Mists of Pandaria pre-beta shadow priest originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>guide-to-priestsMists-of-Pandaira-Talent-Calculatormists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-shadow-priestspriest-guidepriest-infopriest-shadow-spiritual-guidancepriest-talentsshadowshadow-priest-dps-spiritual-guidanceshadow-priest-spiritual-guidanceshadow-priestswow-priestwow-priest-infowow-priestsFox Van AllenWed, 22 Feb 2012 14:00:00 ESTSpiritual Guidance: Priests, shields and AoE healing in Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/20/spiritual-guidance-priests-shields-and-aoe-healing-in-mists-of/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/20/spiritual-guidance-priests-shields-and-aoe-healing-in-mists-of/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/20/spiritual-guidance-priests-shields-and-aoe-healing-in-mists-of/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast.

If you recall, last November when Blizzard released its official talent calculators for Mists of Pandaria, I declined to make a full comment. At the time, the calculators seemed incomplete, with various abilities absent from the level-by-level breakdown for each spec. Without a comment from the blues on the matter, I didn't want to speculate on all of it until I felt I was looking at something more concrete.

Well, last week it seems we finally got something more concrete. The calculators don't seem that much different, mind you, but a few comments from the developers answer a lot of questions priests might have had about the direction of the class' design. Let's take a look.

Question: Why didn't the priest tree change?
Answer: We are still in development. It is a challenge, when giving players a sneak peak at work in progress, to decide when to release what we have versus waiting to accumulate even more changes.

Question: Do Discipline priests have Prayer of Healing or not?

Answer: Our current design direction is this: Holy does AE healing with Prayer of Healing, and Discipline heals with (a much more powerful than today) Holy Nova. Divine Aegis would work with Holy Nova under this model. However, please see the question above. The priest tree is still in heavy development.

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: Priests, shields and AoE healing in Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderSpiritual Guidance: Priests, shields and AoE healing in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>class-helpdisc-priest-spiritual-guidancediscipline-priest-spiritual-guidancefeaturedguideguide-to-priestsholy-priest-spiritual-guidancepreist-infopriest-guidepriest-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-priestwow-priest-infowow-priestswow-talent-guideDawn MooreMon, 20 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST