Priestly PVP NewbFollow

Nice to see you back!

You can't have a PVP weapon until you get (reasonably) good at arena, so whatever you're using for PVE works fine there. There's also a crafted cloak, the Cloak of Crimson Snow (?), which has resilience on it. After that you just start getting your honor gear. This goes faster if you're willing to do some arena. The rating requirements for upgrades also don't seem that bad this season. I think the Furious robe, for example, is only something like a thousand. I haven't stepped foot in arena this season but I'm sure others here have and can add.

Glyph-wise, I'd consider Pain Suppression almost as mandatory as Penance for PVP. For the third slot, PW:S and Inner Fire are popular. Or else Smite or whatever else depending on playstyle.

I know you said you're happy with your spec but because I am nosy like that, I just want to say that a cute pixie dies for every point you don't put in Divine Aegis.


Edit: I'd also personally recommend getting four set pieces first for the bonuses before the other honor gear.

Edited, Nov 16th 2009 7:39am by teacake

Since Mass Dispel is a dispel mechanic wouldn't that be spell penetration rather than hit rating? My priest is 76, and i'm gonna be focusing on disc pvp healing also.

Edited, Nov 16th 2009 9:28am by ArtemisEnteri

You want to get about 4% hit rating for PVP (6% to get by racials and talents for certain classes). The neck, cloak, and either one other piece or a couple of gems will do it.

Spell Penetration is a different thing from hit. It's for getting past resistances. There is no Holy resistance, so this applies to your Shadow spells. Bear in mind that this includes fear. I believe the cap is something like 130, which is extremely hard to do in honor gear alone, without sacrificing a lot of other stuff. I get it when it's easy (cloak enchant, for example), but accept that I really can't focus on it at my level of gear.

There's a good explanation of the difference between Hit and Spell Pen in this thread from Arena Junkies. Basically what it says is, if you imagine your old D&D dice, when you cast a spell at someone, the dungeon master will first roll to see whether it hits or misses. There is then a roll to see whether it's resisted. Hit affects the former. The target's resistance to the particular school and your spell pen will affect the latter.



Edited, Nov 16th 2009 9:57am by teacake

That's a lot of math.

As it happens, I am much nosier when I don't feel like working. Like now.

I'd drop Improved Renew from a Disc PVP spec. Mathematically it doesn't do 3 points worth of good.

The spec for Smite or not question is just personal to how you play IMO. Nothing wrong with stopping at Inspiration or continuing on to Searing Light.

This is my Disc spec. It's not entirely conventional but like you I tweak for playstyle. What works for arena players is not necessarily what's best for battlegrounds, world PVP, etc. I used to spec for Smite but I just wanted the points back. This is a very defensive spec. I use my crazy Holy spec when I want to go on offense.

I, however, am hardly the metric by which PVP specs should be measured, unless it's to do the opposite. I look at specs a lot on Arena Junkies or the SK-Gaming rankings, because I just happen to be a spec junkie (also see: don't feel like working). Here's a summary of what I see:


Almost everyone has-
Unbreakable Will
Silent Resolve, Improved Inner Fire
Meditation, Improved Shield
Mental Strength, Soul Warding
Focused Power
Focused Will, Power Infusion
Renewed Hope, Rapture, Aspiration
Divine Aegis, Pain Suppression
Borrowed Time
Penance

Most people have-
Inner Focus
Mental Agility
1 point in Grace (hardly ever 2)

Almost nobody has -
Twin Disciplines
Martyrdom

That leaves these being the "swing" talents for those extra point decisions, along with whether or not you want to spec Searing Light or put more points over in Holy -

Improved Fort - if you're having to fend for yourself a lot and are prioritizing survivability
Absolution - if you have mana issues and use dispels more often than flash heals
Reflective Shield - if you end up one vs. one a lot
Enlightenment - works very well for people who itemize for haste, which is all the rage right now
Improved Flash Heal - if you have mana issues and use flash heals more than dispels

Edited because I left off Improved Mana Burn. Honestly I see almost nobody with this one anymore. Mana Burn in its present form is teh suck. I could spam Mana Burn at a pally or druid and run out of mana WAY before he does.


Edited, Nov 16th 2009 12:53pm by teacake

I am now thinking this:

http://www.wowarmory.com/talent-calc.xml?cid=5&tal=5033203130302512031023231151205501030000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

May be a good way to go. I don't really prioritise haste so have left off enlightenment in favour of picking up Inner Focus which I love for the crit bonus as well as the mana saving nature and the extra spell warding for extra survivability against other casters. Although wondering how worth it the full points in spell warding are and if it may be worth me picking up a point or two in improved flash heal instead.

Speccing is hard...

I don't know why you would get an "Immune" for divine shield or ice block. I don't think either of those are protected from Mass Dispel. Maybe it was Divine Plea? I think that can be immune to Mass Dispel.

I really don't recall what message is sent when you miss, I guess I am more focused on watching for the "removed" message.

You always get an Immune message when you disspell an iceblock or bubble.
I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that normally you wouldn't be able to dispel anything from a bubbled paladin or a iceblocked mage.

I see. That's goofy, but at least I'm not imagining things.