Helping you help your priest... | 3/6/2005 10:51:54 PM PST


The frist rule of thumb for non priests in a group with a priest:

1.) When a priest draws aggro from healing the group, the closest person to the priest stops whatever they are doing and gets the aggro off of the priest ASAP.

This may sound detrimental to your success as an individual combatant within the group, but the truth is that if you do not use this rule of thumb, it will more than likey be you and the groups down fall.

This is due to the fact that if the priest has to spend his mana healing himself, and conentrate his thoughts on his own aggro, he is NOT able to heal you, or anyone else in the group. Therefore you all die!


The second rule of thumb:

2.) Give your priest time to refill his mana pool back up after a rough battle.

If you go running ahead before you do this, you run the risk of getting the group killed, because the priest will not have enough mana built back up to handle any hairy situations that may arise from the next battle.


The third rule of thumb:

3.) Give any mana potions and such to the priest as you gather them while in the group. Unless you need them more at that time for some reason, the priest will more than likely need them allot more than anyone else in the group.


The fourth rule of thumb:

4.) Make sure you do not split up and go different directions, or go behind walls/pillars when you can help it.

This is a major bane for the priest. We can not heal you if you are not in line of sight.

We can not heal you if you are not with the rest of the group, in a different room somewhere getting yourself killed.


The fifth rule of thumb:

5.) Give your priest the benefit of the doubt. Do not be demanding of them to heal you when YOU think you need it.

He/she's whole role in life is to heal you and the rest of the group. Trust me, they usually know exactly what they are doing.

If you are running low, and they have not healed you yet, there may be some reason as to why. Look at the obvious before becoming demanding, thinking that they are not healing you on purpose for some reason.

If the priest sucks, then by all means stay on his/her arse about it.


The sixth rule of thumb:

6.) Try and play the role that your character is supposed to play within the group.

In other words, make sure the tanks are tanking, and everyone else that is drawing aggro knows how to control it by giving it back to the tanks.

Obviously we will not always have that ideal group, but once you decide who is going to do what, try and stick with this, as it makes everyones job that much easier on everyone else.


The seventh rule of thumb:

7.) Shamans, duids and Paladins are NOT priests!

By this I mean that if there is a priest in your group, they should be the MAIN healer, and all others that can heal, should become secondary healers to the priest.

This will save everyone involved mana, and a lot of confusion.


The eighth rule of thumb:

8.) Do not blame a group getting wiped on the priest.

It is very rarely due to the priest not doing their jobs.

More than likely the reason everyone got wiped was due to something I already mentioned in this post, and had nothing to with the priests ability to perform their duties as a priest.

Please look at yourself and the actual things that lead up to the wipe, rather than just blindly blaming the priest for the wipe every time.


The nineth rule of thumb:

9.) When you are out running around leveling solo out there, and see a priest running around alone... Invite them to join with you to help them level. They are secretly hoping you will.

I only say this because I do not think most people realize just how hard it is to level a priest solo.

We actually need to group with as many people as possible, as often as possible. This is because we not only need to practice doing our job in group environments on the way up, but we also most defintely need the help to level ourselves as well.

I promise you that when you bring a priest along with you, you will not only make them very happy, but you will be able to level twice as fast just having one with you.


The tenth rule of thumb:

10.) Pay attention to your pets, and do not always expect the priest to be able to watch them for you.

Your pets can inadvertantly draw a lot of unwanted aggro if you do not pay close attention to them within group environments.

We are not able to see your pets health, unless we scroll over it.

We will always give higher priority to the "Players" in the group, before even looking at your pets.

It is not a bad idea to let the priest know that your pet needs a heal from time to time, if you notice that he is a priest that is not watching your pet automatically. Just try to be polite whenever you ask.


Rules for priests to be mindfull of:

1.) When you draw aggro, and the group is right there with you, DO NOT MOVE AROUND!

Moving makes it take that much more time to get the aggro off of you. DO NOT MOVE and they can take it off of you pretty easily.

Every time you take even one step, the aggro will follow you first, then hit you, then have a chance to be taken off you by another group member.

The only reason to move when you do draw aggro, is to make sure the rest of the group knows that you have aggro, and that they need to take it off of you. At this point, just get as close to the group members as possible, so they do not have to move to far to get them off of you.

2.) Stay kinda close to the group, but not so close that you draw the aggro before the tanks and people who should be.

This way nothing came come from behind and suprise you, therefore causing you to have to run into the group to get it off of you.

3.) If there is a warlock in the group, have them give you a soul orb, so you can rez yourself if you die. This way you can still rez everyone in the group if everyone dies.



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