4 Mages + _____

[Zapht]

Just wondering, for both PvP and PvE.. It seems to me a holy paladin would make a better choice to go with 4 mages than a priest.. Granted, I have never played either.. Any thoughts on this?

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I normally consider things in terms of the different situations you'd encounter and what the benefits are for each.

Non-elites = toss-up. Priest can heal through a lot of non-elite damage to the mages. Pally can just aggro them all and consecrate while the mages AoE, then heal afterward.

Regular elites = toss-up. Single mobs = doesn't matter. Multiple elites = roughly the same as non-elites but pally has a harder time keeping aggro off the mages and staying alive long enough to kill things. Conversely, priest would drop fast if multiple elites aggro'd him. Really depends on the elites. For example, full pulls in Steamvaults would be very difficult trying to AoE as there's just too much damage on the pally (even protection spec) and too much damage on the squishies otherwise.

Boss elites (or similar strength) = priest. For most of this type of mob, as you're gearing up a pally just can't pump out the healing needed. And if the pally is tanking, stopping to heal is bad and only compounds the healing problems. Most folks that run this kind of group, though, probably won't be doing bosses or tough elites without a tank.

Instance runs = priest. Most instances can be done with a pally but you again hit the problem where trying to do two things at once with the pally is a tough act. With mages, you just blow everything up and AoE heal. Again, with instances where you can CC everything (think live strat or Hellfire ramparts) you can use either priest or pally as you limit your exposure.

PVP = not sure. My experience in PVP is fairly limited as I've been mostly enjoying leveling and PVE to see what groups work best for what I mostly like doing. I would think that this would be another case of toss-up. Priests have more/bigger heals and group heals but paladins can withstand the focus-fire most guys will eventually bring against your group. Focus-firing a paladin is ineffective when they're invulnerable. When they're not, they're in plate with resist auras and hard-to-interrupt self-heals. They also have that nifty stun. Concentration aura = win for your mages for casting through damage.

So, tough call. I look forward to seeing some more detailed responses from some folks with a bit more experience in PVP than me. ;) I'm sure my ideas will adapt as I level (only 42 at the moment) on Magtheridon.

Either way, best of luck!

[Picticon]

I leveled to 70 with pally and 4 mages. I already had a 70 priest and I put the pally on the same account so I could choose.

Pally did really well until about 60. Then it went downhill from there. I struggled with some of the elite quests, and instance bosses were impossible. It was just too hard to keep agro while healing yourself. When I got arcane blast along with agro-reduction arcane talent and blessing, it made elite quests a bit easier.

For PvP, the insta-stun is really nice. But I haven't really pvped much since finding aoe fear = loss. PvP was never my goal anyways.

[Ellay]

Priest compliments the Mages much more especially for PvP.

Off the top of my head..
Instant AoE heals.
Mass Dispel
Hot's
Prayer of Mending
Harder to lock down heals when most are instant.

[unit187]

and pain suppression! :D

[zanthor]

My Mage/Mage/Pally trio is amazing. Group heals are NOT necessary as you have amazing agro building with the pally for groups. Healing isn't an issue either as you have enough talents designed to push through the interupts that you can channel through the damage.

Two shields for emergencies, and rez if shit gets REALLY ugly. Running is always easy if you are in over your head, round robin the frost novas and you are sure to stick everything that can be stuck to the ground.

[unit187]

My Mage/Mage/Pally trio is amazing. Group heals are NOT necessary as you have amazing agro building with the pally for groups. Healing isn't an issue either as you have enough talents designed to push through the interupts that you can channel through the damage.

Two shields for emergencies, and rez if shit gets REALLY ugly. Running is always easy if you are in over your head, round robin the frost novas and you are sure to stick everything that can be stuck to the ground.
author of the thread asked for pvp and pve... pala heals for pvp suck :P

[unit187]

and pain suppression! :D

Has anyone confirmed if pain suppression is usable on other friendly units on the new 2.2 live servers?

It was either the PTRs or some WotLK demo that had Pain Suppression usable on other units.
I think it is self cast only.