Priests. Why we are so ..umm.. difficult.

[Tal]

So what is the reason behind the "priest hate"?
Trying to explain this to myself, I have come up with some points that may explaín this:

1.) Priests are needed and there are not much high-lvl Priests around. It's a basic fact that one doesn't like people one is dependend on.
This shows in behavior prior and after invitation to a party as a priest.
First people will try to woe you into their group ("Pleeaasee, we have a complete group, just lacking a priest. Come on, it will be great"), then you are often supposed to STFU and heal. We don't like this and will get grumpy then (in the best case; in the worst case we simply hearth out of the instance).[right][snapback]76335[/snapback][/right]

If someone has told you to STFU and heal then yeah, I can see why you would get grumpy and leave. In general I leave it up to the priest's judgement on what is doable in a group situation. Want to Mindcontrol that mob and have it beat on another - thats fine. Use scream because you've gotten an add? Not so good. ;)

2.) Warriors have a complete different rythm of play then priests. While priests loose Mana during battle which they have to regenerate afterwards, warriors gain rage, which they quickly loose after combat.
Now when one pull has been successfully mastered, there arises a conflict of interest. The warrior wants to engage as quickly as possible into the next pull to put the rage he has accumulated into use, while the caster classes want some seconds to regenerate mana, before advancing further.[right][snapback]76335[/snapback][/right]

I'm sorry you've grouped with such craptacular warriors in the past. As a rule I watch my priest's/druid's mana bar. If they're drinking and I'm looking at a tough pull then I wait until they're ready for me to go. If its a singular pull and everyone else is on their feet and ready to attack then I'll tell the priest to chill and mana up while we take care of this garbage mob.

3.) Priests are most often positioned at the back of the group, which allows them to quite literally have a wider viewing angle on the things that are happening around the group. So this is why it comes that priests are the first ones to see potential adds, that may join the fight (and often targeting the priest then), before the guys in the front notice them. That may give the impression priests are prone to panic unneccasary, while in fact they see things from their position, that others may overlook.[right][snapback]76335[/snapback][/right]

IMHO you're overreacting here. Most tanks appreciate knowing when an add has come on the scene. It allows us to more quickly react to lock down aggro. If you were to run away from the tank and the fight at the addition of a mob then that might make me judge you as someone who panics unnecessarily. ;) Same for those priests who hit psychic scream right off the bat upon getting hit. ;)

4.) Non healing classes often cannot judge how difficult a certain encounter was for the priest. They usally come out from the pull fine and healthy and think that this was a piece of cake and one could take greater risks not realizing that the priest was burning through his mana (no non caster reads mana bars, no one, empirically proven) and was having coronaries timing his heals, to keep everyone alive. When a priest then says something about better being cautious, people do not understand why. Everything went great so far, didn't it?
So next time your rechargable health battery a.k.a. priest is bitching about something it probably has something to do with the above mentioned issues.
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I would suggest communication above bitching personally. A little annecdote on why I try to avoid pick up raids anymore. I recenlty got talked into going to Stratholme by a rogue friend of mine. Upon arriving on the scene I was put in a group with a priest and designated as main assist. The group also informed me that I was going to be handling the pulling for our main tank to taunt aggro off of.

First pull of the instance we got two non-crowd controlled mobs and at the end of it I was face down on the pavement of Strat. So I figure that the priest may have been distracted and move on after being rezzed. Next two mob pull I end up the same way. So I ask the priest what was up. He then informed me that because I can heal myself I would be handling my own healing. :blink: Was my response. See I can tank or I can heal. I know it seems strange but between exorcism to pull, casting and judging seal of fury, casting consecration and then seal of fury to switch to the second mob I'm usually at half mana. Adding Holy Shield on top of that to help keep me on my feet longer also cuts into my mana and any further exorcisms (say to get a mob off a priest) is going to deplete it. I may have the ability to heal but that doesn't mean I can heal in cases like that.

So I told the priest all of this and the group brow beat him into healing me. Though he took his sweet time each time doing it. ;)