Soothe
10-31-2008, 05:40 PM
I'm fairly new to multi-boxing, but, having already played a priest to 70 and tested various specs in both PVP and PVE, I was intrigued with the idea of starting an all holy priest group. I thought I'd share my experience for the benefit of others and to see what other feedback or advice people might have.
I'm running three accounts and am currently at level 52. Once I got the basic macros and keybinds set up, the actual control has been pretty easy, with the exception of some PVP situations that I'll get to in a minute. I've basically spec'd them all the same - Holy down to Surge of Light and so far the rest into disc and three points into spirit tap. The basic focus for all talents is improving damage, since with three priests the healing is already fine (insta-cast 3 x renew is great).
The only variations in spec have been in boosting my main's survivability (via improved inner fire) and reducing my clones' threat. This allows me to generally keep agro on the main which makes focused healing much easier. When things go into panic mode, there's still the option of fear x 3 ,shielding and HoTing all three simultaneously until things are under control again. Obviously, you also only need to spec one toon with improved power word: fortitude, if you like that talent.
Overall, my experience has been very good. I open with Holy Fire and if that doesn't kill the mob I can finish with a smite or just wand, which tripled is actually pretty nasty, and gets you back into the 5 second rule faster. I'm focusing on a spirit heavy build because of the regen and all the damage boosts. My gear is marginal, at best, but mana is basically never a problem. Although only one toon can proc spirit tap each fight, it's nice to get that rotating mana boost to keep them all topped off.
A big reason I was interested in the holy priest idea was the 3 x Holy Nova, which has not disappointed. Since I started them before thre recent patch, mana used to be an issue. With a pretty poor mana pool, I could just barely kill a group of mobs 1-2 levels below me, but it was still fun as hell to do, especially if you could successfully gather a large group. However, now that they've lowered the mana cost significantly (and my damage and pool has increased), I can normally down a group of mobs 1-2 levels above me with full health and about half mana remaining. It's also the best "Oh $&!%!" heal I have, since every cast is nearly a complete, instant heal for all three of my priests, and it doesn't require thought or targetting.
I only really need to heal in PVE if it's an elite, and even then renew is generally sufficient. I very rarely use regular heals, although I do have macros set up to drop multiple flash heals on each of my guys depending on who's getting hit. Round robin or cast sequence is also useful for sharing the top-off healing amongst the three priests. This is also useful for buffs, dispell, and especially shields since that's one spell you can't stack.
I have all three fears set up to round-robin off the same keystroke so that you can just cycle and basically have endless fears. As expected, this is especially useful in PVP, which is considerably more challenging with the 3xpriest setup. As I'd expect is true with any multi-box setup, the biggest challenge is losing control of your main, most annoyingly because of AE fear. I'm still not very good at recovering my organization after a fear bomb, although I think with further practice and the right macros and keybinds I think I can greatly reduce the impact of CC. It definitely helps having Will of the Forsaken as an undead, so I can immediately click out of the first fear. The problem then just becomes regrouping your team and getting them facing in the right direction, since everything but Shadow Word: Pain is directional.
Speaking of DoTs, I actually don't really use Pain in PVE unless it's an elite, but in PVP it's pretty devastating. 3xpain and 3xdevouring plague will pretty much kill anyone unless they can heal and/or dispell. If nothing else, it's nice being able to force people to dismount and take care of themselves, since priests don't really have another way to stop runners. I'm thinking it might be worth continuing in the Shadow tree to pick up 3 x Blackout and Improved Shadow Word: Pain. This, combined with 3 of the new Pain glyphs would make for a lot of spammable click-and-forget damage.
My overall PVP experience has been a bit mixed. If I can stand back and snipe, or at least get the first shot, I can 1-2 shot targets. My BG experience is still pretty limited, but each of my guys normally ended up in the top third/quarter in damage and healing. Judging by the numbers I felt this was respectable, but I do feel like there were times that my lack of indpendent control was a liability to my team as a whole. Since I don't want to run BGs unless I'm pulling my weight, I think I need to work on the setup and practice a bit more, and then try it again.
The lack of any tracer or other indication of where priests' nukes are coming from is very useful, but it takes some extra planning on where to park yourself so you aren't public enemy #1. If you do become a primary target, which happens quickly when people realize you're multi-boxing (and even more qickly when they realize you're multi-boxing 3 holy priests!), things become tricky very fast. Obviously, smart players will take out my main right away. Priest's lack of armor really shows in these situations, because opponents can often kill one of my guys before I can even recover from a CC. Although shield and 3xrenew are nice in these situations, most classes can still dps through this fairly easily, so you'll need to get some other kind of heals in somehow.
I've run a few instances with a friend dual-boxing his pally and shaman, and we never had any problem. Although we lack CC, the high dps and 5xhealing made it irrelavant. It's also very nice to have a whle team that can rez. The risk of the hearler stealing agro is basically negated because of the split healing, but most of the times the mobs died before they could even damage the tank.
I'm looking forward to getting Prayer of Mending and Shadow Word: Death, since I think both of these will provive good synergy with multiple priests. Depending on how I feel at higher levels I may also open another account and transfer my main level 70 priest to it so I can try 4 x priests. For now I'm having a blast, and despite some nervousness about the survivability of priests in pvp, I'm still looking forward to giving it a shot again. If nothing else, it's fun to see people's confusion/fascination when they see the barrage of Holy Fires come blasting from the heavens. :)
Please let me know if you have any advice, thoughts, or questions. There seems to be a lack of experience related to the multi holy priest setup on the forums, so I'm looking forward to seeing more discussion.
~Soothe
I'm running three accounts and am currently at level 52. Once I got the basic macros and keybinds set up, the actual control has been pretty easy, with the exception of some PVP situations that I'll get to in a minute. I've basically spec'd them all the same - Holy down to Surge of Light and so far the rest into disc and three points into spirit tap. The basic focus for all talents is improving damage, since with three priests the healing is already fine (insta-cast 3 x renew is great).
The only variations in spec have been in boosting my main's survivability (via improved inner fire) and reducing my clones' threat. This allows me to generally keep agro on the main which makes focused healing much easier. When things go into panic mode, there's still the option of fear x 3 ,shielding and HoTing all three simultaneously until things are under control again. Obviously, you also only need to spec one toon with improved power word: fortitude, if you like that talent.
Overall, my experience has been very good. I open with Holy Fire and if that doesn't kill the mob I can finish with a smite or just wand, which tripled is actually pretty nasty, and gets you back into the 5 second rule faster. I'm focusing on a spirit heavy build because of the regen and all the damage boosts. My gear is marginal, at best, but mana is basically never a problem. Although only one toon can proc spirit tap each fight, it's nice to get that rotating mana boost to keep them all topped off.
A big reason I was interested in the holy priest idea was the 3 x Holy Nova, which has not disappointed. Since I started them before thre recent patch, mana used to be an issue. With a pretty poor mana pool, I could just barely kill a group of mobs 1-2 levels below me, but it was still fun as hell to do, especially if you could successfully gather a large group. However, now that they've lowered the mana cost significantly (and my damage and pool has increased), I can normally down a group of mobs 1-2 levels above me with full health and about half mana remaining. It's also the best "Oh $&!%!" heal I have, since every cast is nearly a complete, instant heal for all three of my priests, and it doesn't require thought or targetting.
I only really need to heal in PVE if it's an elite, and even then renew is generally sufficient. I very rarely use regular heals, although I do have macros set up to drop multiple flash heals on each of my guys depending on who's getting hit. Round robin or cast sequence is also useful for sharing the top-off healing amongst the three priests. This is also useful for buffs, dispell, and especially shields since that's one spell you can't stack.
I have all three fears set up to round-robin off the same keystroke so that you can just cycle and basically have endless fears. As expected, this is especially useful in PVP, which is considerably more challenging with the 3xpriest setup. As I'd expect is true with any multi-box setup, the biggest challenge is losing control of your main, most annoyingly because of AE fear. I'm still not very good at recovering my organization after a fear bomb, although I think with further practice and the right macros and keybinds I think I can greatly reduce the impact of CC. It definitely helps having Will of the Forsaken as an undead, so I can immediately click out of the first fear. The problem then just becomes regrouping your team and getting them facing in the right direction, since everything but Shadow Word: Pain is directional.
Speaking of DoTs, I actually don't really use Pain in PVE unless it's an elite, but in PVP it's pretty devastating. 3xpain and 3xdevouring plague will pretty much kill anyone unless they can heal and/or dispell. If nothing else, it's nice being able to force people to dismount and take care of themselves, since priests don't really have another way to stop runners. I'm thinking it might be worth continuing in the Shadow tree to pick up 3 x Blackout and Improved Shadow Word: Pain. This, combined with 3 of the new Pain glyphs would make for a lot of spammable click-and-forget damage.
My overall PVP experience has been a bit mixed. If I can stand back and snipe, or at least get the first shot, I can 1-2 shot targets. My BG experience is still pretty limited, but each of my guys normally ended up in the top third/quarter in damage and healing. Judging by the numbers I felt this was respectable, but I do feel like there were times that my lack of indpendent control was a liability to my team as a whole. Since I don't want to run BGs unless I'm pulling my weight, I think I need to work on the setup and practice a bit more, and then try it again.
The lack of any tracer or other indication of where priests' nukes are coming from is very useful, but it takes some extra planning on where to park yourself so you aren't public enemy #1. If you do become a primary target, which happens quickly when people realize you're multi-boxing (and even more qickly when they realize you're multi-boxing 3 holy priests!), things become tricky very fast. Obviously, smart players will take out my main right away. Priest's lack of armor really shows in these situations, because opponents can often kill one of my guys before I can even recover from a CC. Although shield and 3xrenew are nice in these situations, most classes can still dps through this fairly easily, so you'll need to get some other kind of heals in somehow.
I've run a few instances with a friend dual-boxing his pally and shaman, and we never had any problem. Although we lack CC, the high dps and 5xhealing made it irrelavant. It's also very nice to have a whle team that can rez. The risk of the hearler stealing agro is basically negated because of the split healing, but most of the times the mobs died before they could even damage the tank.
I'm looking forward to getting Prayer of Mending and Shadow Word: Death, since I think both of these will provive good synergy with multiple priests. Depending on how I feel at higher levels I may also open another account and transfer my main level 70 priest to it so I can try 4 x priests. For now I'm having a blast, and despite some nervousness about the survivability of priests in pvp, I'm still looking forward to giving it a shot again. If nothing else, it's fun to see people's confusion/fascination when they see the barrage of Holy Fires come blasting from the heavens. :)
Please let me know if you have any advice, thoughts, or questions. There seems to be a lack of experience related to the multi holy priest setup on the forums, so I'm looking forward to seeing more discussion.
~Soothe