Building out the Priest

[savaughn]

So, I'm trying to figure out where I want to go with my priest for the end game. The problem is I'm finding myself spread out across too many trees.

The Dilemma:
So, in a perfect world, I would like to be able to hit Silence in the Shadow Tree, Inner Focus in the Discipline tree, and max Subtlety in the Holy Tree. This would require 57 talent points, so something has to give. The question is: what?

I have a long way to go before I have my final gear spec, which means that I'm definitely playing instances for a long while. I enjoy playing the healing role, and find myself making heavy use of renew, shield, flash heal, and SW:P.

I'm currently looking at the following build:
Shadow Mastery
Spirit Tap(5), Shadow Affinity(5), Improved Shadow Word: Pain(2), Shadow Focus(3), Improved Psychic Scream(2), Mind Flay(1), Improved Fade(2), Silence(1)

Discipline Mastery
Unbreakable Will(5), Improved Power Word: Shield(3), Improved Power Word: Fortitude(2), Mental Agility(5)

Holy Mastery
Improved Renew(5), Spiritual Healing(5), Subtlety(5)


Basically, this is the "I can't get to inner focus" build. I like Subtlety because it lets me throw 20% more healing out before I ever see aggro. I'm fairly happy with my Holy Tree choices. The loss of Inner Focus, though, means losing a free 960 mana every 2-3 fights. If I want Inner Focus, I need 6 more points in Disc. That means either losing Subtlety, or losing Silence, Improved Fade, Imp. Scream, and a point out of Shadow Focus. Silence is a great ability when facing multiple casters (or when a Kick or Counterspell fails) and Improved Fade... well, I can't say for sure, but it makes me FEEL safer.

The other question is: since I've lost out on Inner Focus anyway, should I lose another few points out of the Disc tree? I'm up to Shadow Weaving (and then Darkness) in the shadow tree anyway. Should I snag those and substantially improve my solo game? There's still a lot of soloing in my future.

Thoughts? :unsure:

[MongoJerry]

I have a long way to go before I have my final gear spec, which means that I'm definitely playing instances for a long while.  I enjoy playing the healing role, and find myself making heavy use of renew, shield, flash heal, and SW:P.

...The other question is: since I've lost out on Inner Focus anyway, should I lose another few points out of the Disc tree?  I'm up to Shadow Weaving (and then Darkness) in the shadow tree anyway.  Should I snag those and substantially improve my solo game?  There's still a lot of soloing in my future.

As you approach being level capped, you're going to find yourself playing in more and more instances, since believe me, the offers to join high level instance runs are going to come fast and thick with you being a priest. In the high level instances, it's going to be all about how well you can heal and how much mana you have. So, I suggest that you go to a holy/discipline spec priest and ignore the shadow talents for now. A holy priest is perfectly capable of soloing, and the better healing and better mana efficiency will really help your instance parties while you are still building up your gear.

However, after playing six weeks at the level cap, I've found that I've gotten good enough equipment that I could sacrifice some of the raw mana and mana efficiency that comes with a pure holy/disc build and move more points into the shadow tree. I've started using what I call the Last-to-Die build and have really enjoyed it, and I've even now sacrificed the points from Mental Strength and got Silence. However, even with my equipment, I have really felt the pinch of the loss of mana and mana efficiency that swapping to this build engenders, and I definitely don't recommend using it until you get some of the better equipment that drops from high level instances and/or are high level quest rewards.

[savaughn]

Hmm. Looks like the build I was looking at is realy similar to your Last-to-Die build post rockin'-gear-upgrade. I'll have to look at if this is really going to be what I need prior to level cap+gear, though.