While Priests are one of the common classes in pretty much all MMORPGs, Priests in WoW have the advantage of not being forced into a support role by definition. Depending on their build, Priests can easily be one of the fastest solo leveling classes in the game.
Depending on what type of gameplay a player is looking for, Priests can easily be one of the most impressive healers in a group or a killing machine of endless slaughter with no downtime. Priests are equally desired in raiding as both healers and damage dealers.
One of the downsides of playing a Priest, which is largely associated as a healing class, is leveling in a PvP environment where you immediately are everyone’s favorite punching bag. Rolling a Shadow build will allow a player to use Fear, which certainly helps, but they are still inevitably one of the first classes to be targeted during a PvP battle.
Which Profession Should I Choose?
For leveling purposes, I recommend going with Tailoring as many crafted sets can perform better than even high tier endgame sets. Tailoring can really help any Priest build bring out the best of their abilities in both PvP and raid situations as well.
As per normal, the standard gold making professions for Priest are no different than any other class. Gathering professions will always be the best choice when it comes to making gold, and tailoring requires no specific gathering profession to function well. Both Skinning and Mining can be extremely profitable second professions.
Enchanting can be a very nice supplement profession for Tailoring, but it is not as good of a gold maker. There are some very nice high level enchants that, when paired with your tailor sets, can give some really nice bonuses in a PvP environment.
Leveling a Priest
Depending on who you ask, Priests can either be an enjoyable class to level or cause ragequit frustration. A big part of your experience is determined by what type of leveling spec you choose. Generally, Shadow Priests will enjoy leveling much more than their Holy/Discipline counterparts despite class balancing changes that has made the latter more viable.
No matter which path you choose, leveling is going to be pretty boring until level 30 or so. The whole experience can get pretty rough by as early as level 10, so be prepared to stick through at least 30 levels of slow button mashing.
Priests have very few options when it comes to +spelldamage equipment and getting to 30 can be pretty challenging as priests have little in the way of mana regeneration. All Priests should consider the benefits of grouping prior to level 30 as well as using something like Dugi Guides to speed up their leveling.
Holy Priest/Discipline Priest Leveling
Either build can be used for Priests who want to be more efficient healers and don’t mind possibly becoming dependant on a leveling partner. These priests are very difficult to solo grind as the mana regeneration makes them have a lot of downtime and they are extremely slow killers.
Both Holy Fire and Smite are pretty useless until higher levels due to their weak damage and high mana costs.
While I wouldn’t personally suggest using either of these builds for leveling, I realize there are masochist players out there that will want to try it anyways.
Shadow Priest
For players that want to solo levels 1-85, Shadow Priests can be a great choice. Of course, the healing abilities suffer pretty hard with this build, but there are plenty of other benefits that can compensate for the loss.
Spirit Tap allows Shadow Priests to kill mobs without ever stressing your mana supply when used strategically. Vampiric Embrace can also allow you to regain the health lost during battles. With the two combined, players can level a Shadow Priest with little or no downtime.
The key to leveling fast with Shadow Priest is very careful spell rotation. By being aware of your MP costs and damage, you can create a neverending gore fest as long as enough mana and HP is regained to replenish that which is lost during each battle.
To counter the brief (five second) mana regen deactivation that occurs after a spell cast, you can use your want to finish off a mob so that regeneration starts earlier and the full effect of both spirit tap and natural regeneration can be felt.
