Ideas for a Second Character

On Jun 18, 9:25 am, b....DeleteThis@mindstorm-inc.com (Burt Johnson) wrote:
> My normal approach is to put up shield and inner fire, cast pain, then
> start using the wand. I leave my mana mostly for defense, and use the
> wand (plus the one pain DOT) for damage.

My problem is when the shield wears out too soon
and it's still on cooldown... At which point I
start running and hit shield as soon as I can and
keep running until they give up. So no, I don't
die all that much, but I still do a lot of running
away

Ie, in Raven Hill cemetary killing plague spreaders
at level 27, they were the same level as me, and with
two of them on me it's tough, 3 is too much. I
can shackle of course, but they're free again before
the first fight is over and when my mana is low.

> I got the 5 wand specialization points, bought the best wand I could at
> each stage (about every 5 or 10 levels), then have cloth armor to
> augment the wand damage (+arcane at the moment).

I have a great wand for my level (gravestone scepter).
Nothing to augment damage - haven't even found anything
that augments any damage of any sort yet. Only one
point in wand specialization; I wasn't sure if I wanted
to spend even that one but my finger was twitchy.

I've got shadow all the way down to Mind Flay, and I'm
regretting that. Mind Flay doesn't seem to be that
useful. The slowing of enemies is nearly pointless
(I cast SW:P first, and even at full range the enemy
covers a lot of distance before I can start MF).
It does have a good mana to damage ratio, but it's
also the lowest damage per second (which translates
to me spending more mana on shields and heals).

Improved SW:P seems ok. This is essentially the
only damage spell I use in instances other than my
wand. It doesn't steal aggro from even a bad tank
(though my wand will . I try to keep as much
mana as I can for those occasional moments of
frenzied healing.

If I were to respec then, I'd move Mind Flay and
the 5 points in tier two to fill out wand spec
and the rest in holy.

--
Darin Johnson
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for a Second Character 

> I've got shadow all the way down to Mind Flay, and I'm
> regretting that. Mind Flay doesn't seem to be that
> useful.

I don't play a priest but I thought they used Mind Flay by fearing the
mob then Mind Flaying it to damage it while it runs away. The Mind
Flay slows the mob down so it doesn't run all over the place.
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On Jun 18, 1:03 pm, pauls2....RemoveThis@yahoo.com wrote:
> I don't play a priest but I thought they used Mind Flay by fearing the
> mob then Mind Flaying it to damage it while it runs away.

Yeah, that could be useful. I rarely use fear though,
and am horrible at kiting. Generally when I'm soloing,
I worry he'll run out of range before I can get the mind
flay on, or that he'll run towards enemies where I can't
safely follow (and maybe aggro them). Then soon I'll
still have to chase to keep in range anyway.

I could instead just keep wanding while he's running,
as the wands have a longer range I think and will let
me regen mana the whole time the enemy is feared (and
if it aggros others I'll just run).

--
Darin Johnson
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On Jun 18, 12:25 pm, b....RemoveThis@mindstorm-inc.com (Burt Johnson) wrote:
> Barry Freeman <b....RemoveThis@nospam.co.uk> wrote:
> > On Mon, 18 Jun 2007 10:24:38 GMT, deathsab....RemoveThis@yahoo.com.au (Ashen
> > Shugar) wrote:
>
> > >I believe Imp SW:Pain only takes 2 points.
>
> > Yep, you're right... so 7 in Shadow and 5+ in disc, once holy is
> > filled.
>
> > So far, she's quite resilient..not dying as much as I thought I would
> > as a cloth-wearing healer..
>
> My priest almost never dies when solo, and is now 44. No shadow pts at
> all for him. All Disc and Holy. He can easily handle two yellow mobs
> at once, and usually three. At 4, he has to turn tail and run.
>
> I have been told my way of running my priest is "all wrong", but PUGs
> have always said how well he worked and, as I say, I rarely die when
> solo.
>
> My normal approach is to put up shield and inner fire, cast pain, then
> start using the wand. I leave my mana mostly for defense, and use the
> wand (plus the one pain DOT) for damage.
>
> I got the 5 wand specialization points, bought the best wand I could at
> each stage (about every 5 or 10 levels), then have cloth armor to
> augment the wand damage (+arcane at the moment).
>


My priest is at 36 (37 with another 1/2 hour of play) and I've done
very well soloing. I'm entirely holy, all 16 points in holy. I got a
good wand early (20ish) that did 30ish dps with some good stats. From
20-30, the pain dot and the wand was all I needed. Save the mana for
healing/defense. I still use the same wand, though its less effective
in killing things fast. I now do something like, inner fire, holy
fire, mind blast, shield (as the mob gets to me), pain, smite, smite,
smite (until about 25% health) wand, (to save/regen mana).

This causes me to stop and drink if I kill 4-5 mobs in a row, which I
did not have to do before. Mabye I just need a stronger wand now?

-Rem

Remelak - Human Priest (lvl 36)
Ullr - NE Warrior (lvl 22)
Meschever - Gnome Mage (lvl 16)
Nielleye - NE Druid (lvl 16)
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On Jun 18, 1:15 pm, b... DeleteThis @mindstorm-inc.com (Burt Johnson) wrote:
> Then get armor that augments your wand. The easiest I have found is
> +arcane damage, so I typically use an arcane wand.

You must be buying it then. I haven't found damage
enhancing gear in the wild, and very few wands overall.
I don't like to buy gear, because then I'm in a
constant upgrade cycle, and my bank account drops
fast (I'd rather play the game than worry about
finances). I did invest in the great magic wand
early on though.

I think I did find a "increases all holy damage and
healing" item recently though.

> Starfaller wand does 32-60 damage, 32.9 DPS (blue level 29 wand that
> cost me about 10g).

Out of my league. And only 3dps higher than what I got
from a the BFD quest. Never had any character at level
29 willing to spend away 10g on anything (except training
at level 30 where it sometimes costs almost that much .
They've all had way more than enough a mount at 40, but
at level 30 they usually had less than 50g total.
I suspect most players out there have even less money
than I do (considering the number who don't have mounts
at level 40).

--
Darin Johnson
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Barry Freeman <bazz RemoveThis @nospam.co.uk> wrote:

> On Mon, 18 Jun 2007 10:24:38 GMT, deathsabyss RemoveThis @yahoo.com.au (Ashen
> Shugar) wrote:
>
> >I believe Imp SW:Pain only takes 2 points.
>
> Yep, you're right... so 7 in Shadow and 5+ in disc, once holy is
> filled.
>
> So far, she's quite resilient..not dying as much as I thought I would
> as a cloth-wearing healer..

My priest almost never dies when solo, and is now 44. No shadow pts at
all for him. All Disc and Holy. He can easily handle two yellow mobs
at once, and usually three. At 4, he has to turn tail and run.

I have been told my way of running my priest is "all wrong", but PUGs
have always said how well he worked and, as I say, I rarely die when
solo.

My normal approach is to put up shield and inner fire, cast pain, then
start using the wand. I leave my mana mostly for defense, and use the
wand (plus the one pain DOT) for damage.

I got the 5 wand specialization points, bought the best wand I could at
each stage (about every 5 or 10 levels), then have cloth armor to
augment the wand damage (+arcane at the moment).

--
- Burt Johnson
MindStorm, Inc.
http://www.mindstorm-inc.com/software.html
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for a Second Character 

On Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:25:46 GMT, burt.DeleteThis@mindstorm-inc.com (Burt Johnson)
wrote:

>My priest almost never dies when solo, and is now 44. No shadow pts at
>all for him. All Disc and Holy. He can easily handle two yellow mobs
>at once, and usually three. At 4, he has to turn tail and run.
>
>I have been told my way of running my priest is "all wrong", but PUGs
>have always said how well he worked and, as I say, I rarely die when
>solo.
>
>My normal approach is to put up shield and inner fire, cast pain, then
>start using the wand. I leave my mana mostly for defense, and use the
>wand (plus the one pain DOT) for damage.
>
>I got the 5 wand specialization points, bought the best wand I could at
>each stage (about every 5 or 10 levels), then have cloth armor to
>augment the wand damage (+arcane at the moment).

Worked for me too; I've always had spirit tap for levelling (dropped it now
I'm 70) but not much more, and no troubles, really love holy/disc priests
tbh, and can't see myself ever going shadow.

The only annoying thing is now at 70 I'm almost full healer spec (just got
4 points in holy damage talents; surge of light and more dmg on smite/holy
fire), and need 20k rep with the Consortium for a jewelcrafting recipe.
Which means Mana-Tombs heroic (which no-one ever does) or solo grinding
ogres for beads. I tried some ogres last night and ran out of mana every
4-5 mobs, sigh. Looks like I need to work on my dps gear a bit!
--
EU-Draenor:
Balgair - Human Rogue (lvl 70)
Naomh - Draenei Priest (lvl 70)
Sealgair - Dwarf Hunter (lvl 70)
Sagart - Undead Priest (lvl 60)
Sgoildubh - Human Mage (lvl 52)
Beag - Dwarf Paladin (lvl 51)
Rosad - Human Warlock (lvl 34)
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In <1hzwmky.lq9zud1upfsmaN%burt@mindstorm-inc.com> burt DeleteThis @mindstorm-inc.com (Burt Johnson) writes:

> One big key though, is to get armor that augments the wand. If you have
> an arcane wand, then get +arcane on your armor. I find arcane the

I'm pretty certain this doesn't work. +damage gear items do not affect
wand damage.

--
John Gordon A is for Amy, who fell down the stairs
gordon DeleteThis @panix.com B is for Basil, assaulted by bears
-- Edward Gorey, "The Gashlycrumb Tinies"
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for a Second Character 

> My priest is at 36 (37 with another 1/2 hour of play) and I've done
> very well soloing. I'm entirely holy, all 16 points in holy. I got a
> good wand early (20ish) that did 30ish dps with some good stats. From
> 20-30, the pain dot and the wand was all I needed. Save the mana for
> healing/defense. I still use the same wand, though its less effective
> in killing things fast.

That is basically what I do.The best wand available increases at 15, 25,
35, etc I think (not positive, but it seems about like that). Wands go
fairly cheap in AH. If not today, wait till tomorrow and it will be
cheap -- at least on my servers.

One big key though, is to get armor that augments the wand. If you have
an arcane wand, then get +arcane on your armor. I find arcane the
easiest to get extra armor assist from. I found a higher DPS fire wand,
but by the time I added my armor adds, the lower arcane was still quite
a bit better.

>I now do something like, inner fire, holy
> fire, mind blast, shield (as the mob gets to me), pain, smite, smite,
> smite (until about 25% health) wand, (to save/regen mana).
>
> This causes me to stop and drink if I kill 4-5 mobs in a row, which I
> did not have to do before.

I rarely stop to drink at all. If I end up fighting 3 yellow at once, I
may drink afterwards. Usually I just let it regen in the next fight
though. Since my damage is almost all mana-free (ie, wand), my mana
regens pretty quickly.

> Mabye I just need a stronger wand now?

Possibly. Or get armor to augment your wand. DrDamage addon shows my
actual DPS to be twice what the wand is rated at. Part of that is the
wand specialization, but the rest is armor assist.

--
- Burt Johnson
MindStorm, Inc.
http://www.mindstorm-inc.com/software.html
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for a Second Character 

Darin Johnson <darin.DeleteThis@usa.net> wrote:

> On Jun 18, 9:25 am, b....DeleteThis@mindstorm-inc.com (Burt Johnson) wrote:
> > My normal approach is to put up shield and inner fire, cast pain, then
> > start using the wand. I leave my mana mostly for defense, and use the
> > wand (plus the one pain DOT) for damage.
>
> My problem is when the shield wears out too soon
> and it's still on cooldown... At which point I
> start running and hit shield as soon as I can and
> keep running until they give up. So no, I don't
> die all that much, but I still do a lot of running
> away

I just stay and fight till the cooldown is over. With Inner Fire, my
armor rating is pretty high, and I don't take all that much damage.
Throw in a renew, and I am usually gaining HP even in a fight.

I can do that against 2 yellow mobs easily enough. I just keep wanding
until one dies. Then I shield / renew / pain and start wanding the
second.

>
> Ie, in Raven Hill cemetary killing plague spreaders
> at level 27, they were the same level as me, and with
> two of them on me it's tough, 3 is too much. I
> can shackle of course, but they're free again before
> the first fight is over and when my mana is low.

2 at a time is pretty easy. With 3, I have to stay on my toes a bit
more, but I can usually survive -- definitely need to drink after a
battle with 3 though!

4 is time to run and hope they stop chasing me before I die...

>
> > I got the 5 wand specialization points, bought the best wand I could at
> > each stage (about every 5 or 10 levels), then have cloth armor to
> > augment the wand damage (+arcane at the moment).
>
> I have a great wand for my level (gravestone scepter).
> Nothing to augment damage - haven't even found anything
> that augments any damage of any sort yet. Only one
> point in wand specialization; I wasn't sure if I wanted
> to spend even that one but my finger was twitchy.

GET 5 WAND SPECIALIZATION!! If you use wands, that should be your first
points. Makes a world of difference!

Then get armor that augments your wand. The easiest I have found is
+arcane damage, so I typically use an arcane wand.

------------
Checking my 34 priest on Drenden right now...

Starfaller wand does 32-60 damage, 32.9 DPS (blue level 29 wand that
cost me about 10g).

Golden Ring of Power does +6 damage on magic spells. Wand
specialization does the rest. DrDamage tells me that this priest
averages 46.8 DPS -- fully 50% above the wand alone.

----------
36 priest on Blades Edge...

Starfaller wand (same as the Drenden priest)
Sorcerer Bracelets of Arcane Wrath - bracer with +7 arcane damage
Shimmering armor of Arcane Wrath - chest with +13 arcane damage
Golden Ring of Power (same as Drenden) - +6 damage

DrDamage tells me this toon gets 59.2 DPS

That armor really helps!

> If I were to respec then, I'd move Mind Flay and
> the 5 points in tier two to fill out wand spec
> and the rest in holy.

Sounds like a good move to me.

--
- Burt Johnson
MindStorm, Inc.
http://www.mindstorm-inc.com/software.html
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for a Second Character 

Darin Johnson <darin RemoveThis @usa.net> wrote:

> I could instead just keep wanding while he's running,
> as the wands have a longer range I think and will let
> me regen mana the whole time the enemy is feared (and
> if it aggros others I'll just run).

That's what I do. They rarely reach another mob before dying from the
wand.

--
- Burt Johnson
MindStorm, Inc.
http://www.mindstorm-inc.com/software.html
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for a Second Character 

John Gordon <gordon RemoveThis @panix.com> wrote:

>>
> > One big key though, is to get armor that augments the wand. If you have
> > an arcane wand, then get +arcane on your armor. I find arcane the
>
> I'm pretty certain this doesn't work. +damage gear items do not affect
> wand damage.

hmmm... I will try an experiment tonight. DrDamage is telling me that
my DPS is way higher than the wand alone could account for. I will try
removing some of my +arcane armor and see if the DPS drops.

That's the only way I can think to test this hypothesis. Got any other
idea for a test?

--
- Burt Johnson
MindStorm, Inc.
http://www.mindstorm-inc.com/software.html
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for a Second Character 

Darin Johnson <darin.RemoveThis@usa.net> wrote:

> On Jun 18, 1:15 pm, b....RemoveThis@mindstorm-inc.com (Burt Johnson) wrote:
> > Then get armor that augments your wand. The easiest I have found is
> > +arcane damage, so I typically use an arcane wand.
>
> You must be buying it then. I haven't found damage
> enhancing gear in the wild, and very few wands overall.
> I don't like to buy gear, because then I'm in a
> constant upgrade cycle, and my bank account drops
> fast (I'd rather play the game than worry about
> finances). I did invest in the great magic wand
> early on though.

You are correct that my stuff comes from AH. I rarely use any drops
that I get -- I just sell them at the AH. It all balances out if you
sell everything and then buy what you want. My banker can supply
whatever money is needed by the various working alts.

>
> I think I did find a "increases all holy damage and
> healing" item recently though.
>
> > Starfaller wand does 32-60 damage, 32.9 DPS (blue level 29 wand that
> > cost me about 10g).
>
> Out of my league. And only 3dps higher than what I got
> from a the BFD quest.

I don't do the dungeons, except for my enchanter doing Uldeman. Too
much hassle setting up a PUG and the quality varies too much. I prefer
to just solo.

> I suspect most players out there have even less money
> than I do (considering the number who don't have mounts
> at level 40).

hmmm... I have only come across one player over 40 without a mount in
the 18 months I have been playing. Pretty much level 40 = mount. It
certainly has for all my toons.

If I ever run low on money, I just mine the AH for underpriced stuff,
buy it and resell for a profit. That and buying cheap greens,
disenchanting and selling the dust. I have to do that every couple
months, but otherwise just loot EVERYTHING, vendor the grey and sell the
green/blue in AH.

--
- Burt Johnson
MindStorm, Inc.
http://www.mindstorm-inc.com/software.html
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for a Second Character