My priest is now sitting about halfway through level 62. I spent some time leveling his fishing, which is now up to 308. I am now making a nice profit from fishing in the Outlands, and I’m glad I took the time. I can now also make my own stinking golden fish sticks and won’t be raiding the GB or hitting the AH every week. Yay!
Anywho, I’ve started to think about my priest’s future. Luckily, I made him "later" in my WoW life, so have made some excellent decisions. He is at 316 enchanting and 364 tailoring, and I’m sure I’ll have no problems finishing off tailoring before I hit 70. Enchanting I won’t worry so much about, I’ll just level it while I can. I’m quite happy that I chose tradeskills that worked well with the class. Of course it helps that this pair works together well and really is a slam dunk for the class.
The question is, what do I do with him when I hit 70? Stay Shadow, and contribute as a support/DPS class in raids, or go the Holy route, and see healing from another perspective?
Obviously, I already have a healer, he is very experienced and has pretty decent gear. I enjoy Druidic healing, and I’m not sure if I’d have the same love for Priestly healing, as it seems to be a whole different ball game. I’d have to worry about things like down-ranking, when to use flash heal vs. greater heal, when to use Prayer of Healing and when to use Circle of Healing. It appears as if Priestly healing is a little more complex. With the druid, healing is largely a matter of watching timers and managing the GCD. I’m quite adept at weaving in all my little tricks without sacrificing my Lifebloom stack on the tank(s).
Would I have as much fun as a healy Priest? I’m not sure.
Also, I kind of made the Priest with Shadow in mind. We don’t have many Shadow Priests that regularly make raids, and I’m sure, once geared, mine would be a welcome addition. I also relish the idea of seeing raids from a different perspective, mainly concentrating on melting mobs faces, rather than being so focused on my Raid UI. One thing that holds me BACK a little is that I know Shadow Priests don’t dish out the highest DPS numbers, but I also know it’s also helpful to have a mana battery around.
Of course if I want to fight for a top spot on the DPS meters, I could start bringing my Hunter to raids. (I do plan to do just that, I just have to find the right 25 man. A Saturday night SSC or TK would be great, but it would be more difficult for me to make the times that those raids go.)
I do have the advantage of tailoring playing nicely with either spec. I can make the PMC set if I go holy, and the FSW set if I stay shadow. For right now I am PMC spec’d, as I can make that at any moonwell. Spellfire was out due to the mob you have to fight, and Shadowcloth requires you to go to SMV, and I am still only 62. I figure I’ll just stockpile PMC as I level, maybe selling it here and there, and make a decision when I get to 70.
So, what should I do?
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Regardless of if you go Shadow or Holy, Shadoweave is much stronger. Primal Mooncloth is pretty easily replaced with badge gear (though that will take a while to get) and the Stamina (or lack thereof) is a notorious problem. Frozen Shadoweave carries Shadow Priests through T6 content.
Good idea going PMC if you’re dead sure that you want to heal. I’m not sure about the differences in cooldown lengths for each of the tailoring specs, but as a frost mage, I didn’t start shadoweave tailoring until I hit 70, and because of the cooldowns, I couldn’t craft my whole set until about a month after I hit 70. If you start early, you might have enough mats to craft your set the moment you reach the cap and start raiding.
I thought I’d take advantage of the PMC spec for a bit longer, and maybe just make a profit off of it. When I get a few more levels under my belt I may switch to Shadowcloth. Is it easy to get to the Altar for Shadowcloth if you are low level? That’s my issue with it right now.
You’ll probably die once getting there at your level but once you’re at the actual altar you shouldn’t draw any aggro for the actual crafting. You could just stay PMC for a bit longer and trade your cloth 1:1 as well.