Shadow Priest fun!

Due to a dip in the number of healers available for instance runs + raids, I decided a couple of days ago that I would start playing my Priest "Asterra" again. I intend for her to be holy spec - although whilst levelling she is naturally, Shadow.

I have played a hordie priest to 41 on Moonglade a long while ago, and I have completely forgotten just how fun (and sometimes, seemingly overpowered) shadow priests are (at least at these levels, dont flame me! :p ). At present I am only level 31. In two days she has been dragged through the stockades a few times and dinged in there and again from cashing in quests, and got boosted through Scarlet Monestary by a friend whos alt I helped boost through Ramparts. I finally caught up with the low level instancing band groups in our guild though, and the versatility of the class really shines through.

Last night me, a 34 resto shaman, 34 Fury Warrior, 40 mage and 34 Rogue took on the Library in SM. I have not had so much fun in an instance in many a month! the group makeup was almost perfect as far as flexibility and DPS goes. We even had Sheep, Sap and MC (didnt use) for controlling the crowds. And EVERYONE had some sort of snare to stop them cowards from fleeing. (Hamstring, gouge, cheap shot, crippling poison, frost bolt, frost nova, frost shock and mind flay.)

I was pretty much DPSing my way through - although later on when fighting the level 34s and 35s I was doing crappy DPS so switched places with the shaman and healed, whilst he whipped out his chain lightenings for fun. The fury warrior, whilst being a young player whos main is a mage - done a pretty good job on the tanking. He only dropped a few mobs, that usually made a bee line for the resto shammy whom I would keep alive until picked up. The mage and rogue nuked the crap out of anything that the tank had his mits on and we had a jolly good time. I have not had a run that went so swiftly or smoothly in a long time - I could easily be convinced that the pre-outland instances have had their difficulty cranked right down, but I like to think it was being in a clued up group instead of a Pug for once ;).

Very little healing was needed for the most part, the shammy nuked and I nuked and we healed those in need when required - I basically kept the shammy up if he got aggro, and the mobs would drop in seconds. Great! When healing was needed, we had it in spades. 3 of the group were Draenai - so free heals all round for one, and with 2 healers that could dish out some meaty DPS - it was there. I look forward to our soon to be assault on Uldaman.

When I first rolled this character I knew the guild was in need of healers, in particular - healers with Fear Ward. (this was not long after TBC was released, and the ability was a necessity in Molten Core runs.) I previously rolled a Dorf priest, but really didnt like him. But this Draenai - she is fantastic :)

Symbol of Hope is a great ability - like a miniature group innervate that is available every 5 minutes - at the present moment in time, it regenerates 400 mana over 15 seconds (the mana pools varied from 2500-3500, so it done little more than allow a few more heals to be fired off if we dps'd our mana out and someone pulled another group and healing was required - but other than that, not really used - but when required, it IS a lifesaver :) )

Gift of the Naruu is pretty good aswell, I think it will heal about 1/3 of our health pool - but its a fantastic hot to throw out where needed - especially from a priest as it means that I can sit out and regenerate mana for a little longer when holding back the spells to regenerate mana.

Fear Ward is now a universal ability, so not really a concern. I cant help but think if it wasnt for the symbol of hope, a humie might have been a better choice - but i was already 27 when I opted to continue trying to level a priest.

Im rambling off my intended topic here, so Ill bring this post to an end. All I can say is, I look forward to some more fun and more challenging instances with this lot. lets see if anyone can get hit to below half health at some point ;)

-V