Hi there all you people out there using priests. I havent played very much yet (only the openbeta :SAD: ) and i didnt have the time to test the priest in pvp.  After looking at the skills priests look quite good for pvp with strong self-heal (desperate prayer) and also powerful DoT in SW: Pain together with a lot of other dmg spells like Mind Flay (nice damage and slow) but also buffs which adds shielding/resistances and statpoints. So i want people to share their experiences when it comes to PvP-priests and we might come up with a strong character :WINK:. Looking forward to the final beta :ROFL:

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Dacia wrote:

Mages hate mana burn :)

So did paladins (it's been a while since I played. I managed to pwn paladins of equal level using mana burn and other such things when people were still complaining about paladins being overpowered, dunno if people still are)

I like Mana Burn and Pain :)

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Paladins just take longer to kill its not a biggy. Take down a Fire crit mage or Shaman then I will be impressed.

But to be bluntly honest. PVP priests are not effective when it comes to attacking people....but great raid support to keep people alive raised or dot the rogues.....its mainly Supportive in PVP arena.

Priests dont belong in PVP alone.  I still ponder why you all try to attack me when I am not stealthed....especially when I  acknowledge your near me but chose not to stealth. That means im sparing your ass cause I know you cant handle a Combat rogue beating you up in 5 seconds. =p

Priests are great support class.....At high level they PVP pretty well with dots,heals,shields, etc they can make a fight last a while.  Depending on who they fight though.

Rogues,mages,shamans just have a very high DPS.....and priests can go down like sack of potatoes in that situation.

Sep and Stone gaurds are a joke^^

May as well give them paper armor and foam bats cause it will have the same effect lol =p

The best Priest ganking I have seen is my friend (holy priest cant do half the cool stuff you shadows do for dammage) does something strange.

he will stalk a person wait for htem to get too close to clustered mobs...charge in and fear lol...MPK  pvp style.

very cheap but a priests version of revenge.

Blah to you if you cant PvP your Shadow Priest. Priests can be one of the best PvP classes if built right.

As a lvl 60 Shadow/Disc priest I can 1v1 most people and win most, really depends on gear at lvl.

When I am in a PvP raid I like to go Shadow when others (Shamans & Druids) can heal, we do switch off.

I love priests but - i am a druid alch/herb with  Greater Shadow Protection Potion between that and some items and removing curses healing - i have yet to lose , dont get me wrong priests rock just be careful with targets go for those that cant heal or run and arent alchs

Shodow priests own PvP

I have never lost to a preist at my lvl (60) but i am a druid and spec'd only for pvp and i am alch most of the time a shadow priest wont get me past half life :/ .....that usually have a hard time dealing with my dmg and healing and dmg me - i kinda overbearing on them - as far as fear and crap easy to deal with :/ at higher lvls - but against others classes i can totally see why they would own !! :)

Yea, the main reason that priests usually suck is that people cant play them right. Priests are incredibly difficult to play, esp shadow spec ones. I have all the respect inthe world for good priests and druids. Just because they are so complicated to use.

Yes Sash very true - with priest and Druid you have to spec with presicion down to your armor and what you have on your bars - took me a while to find the perfect stam/intell spec with equipment - And is such a huge impact on pvp that i usually wont let people get near enough to me long enough to inspect me - specially when i whip their butt without contest and they acusse me of cheating or hacking - most people expect a druid or pirest to suck, the reason is its a very complicated clas as you said -

the sad thing is on each class you can only spec for pvp and do well, or pve and do well not both :(  like most classes- i think this is where most people make thier mistake with the classes

I'm a huge fan of PvP, and I love instances.  That said, I've recently switched from disc/shadow to a full-out holy priest.  My priest is only in the high 40s right now so I haven't activated all my possible talents... but I know what I'd like to use. 

Priests are a strong asset in pvp and instances regardless of whether they gear towards healing or damage.  As a disc/shadow priest I could own other players in pvp; but my tactics had to change a bit when I switched to holy.  So I'll try to describe both disc/shadow tactics and holy tactics.  First thing though, a priest that draws attention to itself in pvp is as dead as a priest that draws all aggro in a dungeon.  Also make sure your inner fire is always cast on yourself. 

As a disc/shadow priest, I never went all the way with shadow -- only enough for mind flay (invaluable talent) and then decided I liked improved mind blast and improved psychic scream.  Really I could have gone farther in that tree but wanted the disc talents more (improved Fade would have been my next step had I continued in the shadow tree).  I never got to shadowform so I can't talk about using it.  In disc, I found improved inner fire to also be invaluable, as is martyrdom (for pvp or quests).  If I found one person alone in the bgs, I would almost always duel him/her unless 1) other people needed my help elsewhere (e.g. nearby team getting reamed in a fight, just picked up a flag, etc), or 2) other player is 3 or more levels above me.   I won most of my 1-1 fights.  Shield, dot with Pain, scream and attack them while they're running around.  For casters use mana burn obviously, for non-mana opponents just use mind blast when you can and mind flay during the cooldown.  You can kill most opponents rather quickly this way... fear them again if your cooldown expires.  It's a trouble when they resist the fearing but not insurmountable.  I didn't win all my 1-1 encounters but I won most of them... and I think killing someone as a priest is more fun because they never expect to be owned :P

In group fights, healing is the number one most useful thing priests can do, bar NONE.  Don't expect to be able to out-damage a rogue, mage, or tank; if you wanted to just deal damage then perhaps priest is not for you.  At the beginning of group fights hit a couple people with Pain (especially if you see any rogues hit them with pain, then they can't stealth).  If there's someone dealing alot of damage, slow them down with mind flay.  For higher shadow priests, vampiric embrace is super-useful (this is true both in instances and in pvp), I've grouped with a shadow priest before and almost never had to heal due to this talent.  That said, if there's one or two people taking a beating then vampiric embrace will not heal enough.  I like to scroll through the nearby friendly players checking who needs healing, altho it can also be obvious by whoever is getting attacked by the most people.  A few well-placed heals will save the day and mean the difference between having 6 guys with you at the flag room versus just 3.

As a holy priest I have to be a bit more cautious.  I can't slow anyone down with mindflay, so I'm not as good at defending myself either 1-1 or in groups when I get a couple attackers.  I think it's made me a better player that I don't draw as much attention.  Try to stay in the background of a group -- don't run up to the main group of enemies.  I used to run into the middle and fear em all, but then everyone will attack you.. so unless you're confident your group can kill em off quickly, this tends to be a bad idea.  I have to admit, the hardest alliance team I ever fought aganst kept all its cloth-wearers in the back of the group where they were very difficult to attack.  I have helped tanks defeat 4-5 other players (just myself and the tank) by spamming heals and staying hard to see.  Course you have to be more careful if your opponents are better :P  I usually save my fears for the one or two capable opponents who try to kill me, or else when we decide we cant win and flee hehe. 

Fears are also uber-helpful in the flag room in wsg.  Against a turtling team, take out any stragglers and do lots of crowd control (fears, sheeping for mages, etc) in the flag room so someone can snatch the flag quickly and run back out.  Keep the flag carrier shielded, and fear people off him/her when you can.  A good place to fear is also right before you enter your own tunnel; then no one can race up to you on a horse, and they usually split off and run away from the carrier rather than with him/her.  Also fears are useful in making an opposing flag carrier run around helplessly rather than fleeing.

Like many others, I keep two sets of high level armor.  One has loads of stamina, and I use it for pvp.  Another has almost no stamina and I use it for instance.  In a decent group, a good priest will control his/her aggro and may go through entire instances without being hit more than a couple times.  I regularly spam out greater heals but almost never get hit. 

One more thing (that almost no one seems to know).  A holy priest and a shadow priest make an unstoppable combination within a group in instances.  Shadow priests deal decent damage and between their vampiric embrace and a holy's healing power, groups are pretty much undefeatable.