Now yes, we know 5.2 is just riddled with tons and tons of AC/DC references all over the internet… so why not one more? Sorry! I have updated my 5.2 guide which can be found in full as well as discussion over at HowToPriest.com here. The Holy Guide will be updated in the next 24-48 hours, although it has minimal changes from 5.1! (Grrrr….that irritates me on a number of levels. Holy’s shortcomings being overlooked). Hope everyone is enjoying the Throne of Thunder, stay tuned for the Holy update, as well as a State of the Union 5.2 in the next week. Keep calm, and keep healing.

Inspired by a post by my good friend Vixsin, I’ve decided to do a quick “Best Practices” post. In the interest of full-disclosure, she did toss me an email while I was at a work conference asking for a “best practices” quick hit-list… and I promised her I would do it…. several times. But, I simply let work get ahead of me and forgot to email her back… so, my dear Vix, I apologize! Hopefully this helps somewhat! But before I dive into the meat and potatoes of the post, I will provide a brief update on myself: it has been a chaotic January for me.  Work has been quite busy with a lot of travel, my SO and I are on the property hunt here in Boston (Rant: SO …

I so very rarely post about non game related things— but I am feeling moved to do this today. Let me explain… Earlier this week NBC reporter, Ann Curry, said, in remembrance of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut: “Imagine if everyone could commit to doing one act of kindness for each precious life lost. An act of kindness, big or small — are you in?” (or click here) I responded and said, “Yes, I am in…” This “movement” as taken the internet by storm on Facebook as as well as on Twitter via the hashtag #26Acts. In real life, I did a #26Acts at the Starbucks I frequent every day… and treated 26 strangers to their morning coffee (picture).  I then got to thinking… what if I could bring this into Azeroth as well- we can make an …

I am not sure what I am asking for in this post, but wanted to bring something to everyone’s attention— something that has been bothering me— bothering me from a mechanic perspective. Ultimately, I am asking for a nerf…. yes. I reluctantly state this, but that (I guess) is what I am asking for— well, maybe not a “nerf” but a change. As many of you know, I am not a fan of the Rapture mechanic. I have a number of reasons for it, not the least of which is the battle between multiple Discipline priests in a raid to fight over Weakened Soul debuffs, but perhaps the largest being the scalability and the disparity it creates between Holy and Discipline. In early MoP Beta, Disc had a lower base regen …

Discipline priests have had a number of changes since launch; and all for the better! To best understand what changes have happened and how they affect us, lets quickly recap our three biggest changes. Divine Aegis creation has been increased from 30% to 50%. Archangel now affects Spirit Shell properly. Spells affected by Inner Focus cast while Spirit Shell is active now fully apply critical effect to the shield provided. All three of these changes are really good news as they are substantial and direct increases to our output— caveat: when used properly. If I have said it once, I have said it a million times: “The single best thing a Discipline priest can do to increase their effective healing is to know the fight.”  It is as simple as …

Despite having a crazy busy month both in game and out, I’ve spent some time reading at the official forums, the HowToPriest.com forums, Twitter, and a number of emails I have received… and there is a very large negative cloud over the healing priest community right now. These negative statements seem to mostly revolve around our output (both as Holy and Disc) as well as our mana regeneration. First let me just say… In all seriousness, people need to KEEP CALM. The state of the priest is not as dire as some of the forum posts I have seen might suggest. Perhaps the biggest question I am seeing all over forums (official forums, H2P, and otherwise): Why are priests so under-powered and horrible right now? This. Is. A. Fallacy. I am sick of …

Mana management is a huge part of our game now in Mists of Pandaria. Gearing, gemming, enchanting, and spec choices will be pivotal in how your longevity impacts these first few raids— particularly since so many of these fights are much longer than we have typically seeing in Cata and even WotLK. Endurance will be just as important as our raw output– or will it?  To find out that answer you should be asking yourself these questions: 1. Am I spec’d into the most appropriate regen model for this fight? Are you struggling to find gaps to fit your PW: Solace in? Are you getting fewer than (in aggregate) 8 Solaces per minute? Would Mindbender work better for you? What about FDCL? 2. Are you using your potions at an opportune time? …

First I am excited to say that my Goal of Hitting Realm First! Priest was completed! That was only one-upped by the fact that I also shared Realm First! 90 as well. My friend, guildmate and hunter, Esoth, was Realm First! 90, but delayed his final quest turn-in nearly 40 minutes while my 5 man team struggled with some of the final gather X# of items quests and were getting screwed with the RNG drops.— and we all dinged 90 and shared the Feat of Strength within 30 seconds of each other. Overall the grind to 90 was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the excitement in guild chat, mumble, and my 5 man team. We were done in 13-14 hours if I recall– not too bad.  (I didn’t look at the time …

Yes… I am planning on staying up until I hit 90. I am going for Realm First! Priest with a few of my other guildies going for their realm first classes as well. Being a Bostonian, this means Mists launches at 3:00 am local time for me– certainly a daunting task.  I will, however, be sleeping a full 7 hours before launch, so I should be IRL “Well Rested”.  How much XP will we need to burn through? As of a few days ago, the total XP you needed to go from 85 – 90 is: 97,500,000. (source)… yikes! What is most important if you are staying up late (or as the case may be: early) to grind to 90 is to take care of yourself! Expansion launches are often a time …

Spirit Shell is a new tool available to Discipline in MOP. Essentially it allows us, on a short 1 minute cooldown, to convert all of our spells into absorbs that last for 15 seconds. Finally, we have a spell that lets us do what we’ve always wanted to do… mass absorbs! This isn’t mechanically different than POH spamming to prepare a raid with Divine Aegis prior to damage occuring that many priests have been comfortable doing in 4.3. Spirit Shell now simply allows us to do this much more effectively, and with much greater ease. Note: Spirit Shell caps at 60% of the Casting Priest’s HP and each Disc Priest in your raid can cast a unique Spirit Shell. Using Spirit Shell effectively will be a hallmark of a good Discipline …