Priest Healing PvP

[Bolty]

Bolty, I'm brand new to the forums...found them through this post.
I have to say that my current pvp story is exactly like yours...I have slightly less arena gear, but all of the honor pieces and trinks. Priest pvp has become very exciting again, especially in BGs where rogues are expecting to drop you instantly.

I run with 366 resilience atm, and I have a question about advanced pvp gameplay.
In 3v3 arenas I am ALWAYS a first target, and I have come to expect it. My biggest problem is that I can rarely get a casted spell off, particularly mana burn. I have the focus gem, and that certainly helps occasionally, but generally speaking I get interrupted 4 out of 5 casts.

Smoogee, heya, welcome to the forum. :) 366 resilience sure beats my 275. Nice gear. What's the "focus gem?"

Whether or not you're the first target depends greatly on your group makeup. My 2v2 group is a Rogue and myself. While many groups go for me first there, there's quite a few who go for the Rogue first - and die horribly as a result (most Rogues are squishier than Priests).

My 3v3 group is a Rogue, Hunter, and me. The Hunter is usually the first target - Hunters are rendered ineffective when someone gets in their face, and unfortunately our Hunter is also the least geared and tends to go splat. Success rate isn't so hot.

My 5v5 makeup is Warrior (of course), Rogue, me, resto Shaman, feral Druid. Interestingly enough, most groups so far tend to go for the Shaman first and leave me alone. The temptation of removing totems and powerful healing quickly usually draws them to the Shaman like flies to a bug zapper. It depends on the enemy group makeup. Melee-heavy groups would likely go for me first, due to cloth, while ranged groups like to eliminate the Shaman.

Now, keep in mind too, none of these Arena groups are "high rated" (~2000). My 2v2 group got up to around 1900 last season and my new 5v5 is just getting to 1700. If you're higher rated, your experiences are going to be different than mine.

....HOW do you effectively use mana burn in an intense pvp situation?
(please assume that the opponents are sharp and are using interrupts consistently)
Some tools I have been thinking about include Talisman of the Breaker which reduces interrupts by 20%. I haven't been wearing it, favoring instead the pvp healing neck.
Mainly, though, I am convinced that I am doing something WRONG strategically or positionally since I get interrupted so damn consistently. Many rounds today we lost and it was mainly because my team lost the mana battle and I was unable to effectively mana burn.

If you're getting focus-fired, Mana Burn is just straight out. You'll never get it off. Once you've determined that you are the initial target, you need to go into pure survival mode and let your teammates either blow one of the enemies away or else crowd control them to relieve the pressure on you.

It does drive me nuts sometimes when there's a Priest on the opposing team, I'm getting focused, and I'm watching that Priest mana burn me down untouched. Not much you can do, though; just try to live as long as possible. Communicate to your teammates about what's the biggest threat to you so they can neutralize it.

I can never find the time to do heroic Blood Furnace runs for a Talisman of the Breaker. It's a fantastic neck. A Mage's 8-second counterspell would get reduced to a 6.4-second counterspell - that's a difference of a flash heal in time. Something to consider. So far I haven't been faced with a choice because I'm still using a PvE neck.

Should I try to draw the interrupt with a casted heal? Should I use a fear/burn combo? Is there something else that I'm missing here? Is offensive dispelling more valuable in the beginning?

All of these are answered by "it depends." What makes PvP so fun is that it's so fluid and you have to make so many decisions instantly and on the fly.

Launching a few Mass Dispels at the outset can really screw up certain groups. Other groups, not so much. It depends on who's in the group.

The big-time group buff classes in PvP are:
Priest
Druid
Mage
Paladin

Although every class can provide some buffing, especially self-buffing. But consider this: if the opposing team has a Priest in it, shooting off a Mass Dispel or two at the onset of the fight can rip off 1,000+ hit points from every opposing player. It's effectively a 1,000-point AoE done to the enemy. If talented for it, Mass Dispel only costs 734 mana. That's worth it.

Secondly, you have it right with the interrupts and "drawing out." Both Mana Burn and Mind Control should be used when focus-fired to draw interrupts. Once that gets interrupted, and your shadow school is locked out, you're free for a bit (hopefully) to use your holy spells to stay alive. If I have a Warrior in my face, I always use Mind Control on him to force an interrupt - he can't let it go through or he loses control of his character, so he has to pummel it...and then I start the Flash Heal spam.

Other than that, it sometimes just comes down to dice rolls. If you're getting focused, you're going to have Focused Casting up because crits or resilience effects will kick in. That gives you a 20% chance to resist interrupts, and Unbreakable Will + Powerful Earthstorm Diamond metagem gives you 30% stun resistance. No character can survive focus fire from 2+ characters for very long. Your teammates are a big part of whether or not you survive it - or if they can take advantage of their relative freedom to lay waste to the enemy's healer and turn it into a 2v2 or 4v4 match.

Sometimes you're just destined to die. If the other team wants you dead, it's going to happen. In that situation, how long you live determines whether or not your group wins. The reason Priests don't get focus-fired sometimes is because, like Paladins, it can just take too long to get the kill.

The best thing is when it takes them forever to kill you, they finally take you out, and Spirit of Redemption pops up to give you an additional 15 seconds of absolute free healing. All too often that winds up turning the tide of a fight. Take that, you bastards. :)

-Bolty