Since this week is the last for the summer festival event, my friend pointed out that he was trying to get a few toons to at least level 90 just to obtain the cape (and possibly weapon). After struggling a bit to get my rogue geared initially, I decided that any possible help to get a few pieces of quick loot would be a great idea before the event finishes. Hence, I decided to make a full push on my priest and try and hit 90 asap.
Lucky for us, the experience reduction is a real boon. If you do the vast majority of the Jade Forest, you should hit level 87. I managed to hit 87 tonight, completing the Jade Temple and doing some mining here and there for the extra experience. Tomorrow, I’ll finish up the area then move on to the Valley of the Four Winds, which is my typical path for leveling. I’m still debating whether or not to complete the entire zone then just do Kasarang Wilds; these days, I typically just skip Kasarang Wilds and head straight to Kun-Lai Summit at level 88 then route over to Townlong Steppes because I want the Shado-Pan reputation. Yet if I manage to obtain the cape (which is my primary reason for gaining Shado-Pan reputation), then I won’t have to do any of that zone possibly and just coast en route to level 90.
However, I really don’t care for neither zone so I might just end up sticking with my current leveling route. I’ve managed to nail down a pretty efficient leveling scheme where I avoid most of the irritating quests (such as the uber retarded and bugged out Grummie escort quests) and aim mostly for the straight forward quests. Some parts are less irritating than others but there’s no guarantee that you can avoid all the painful aspects of the game.
The nice thing is that I have some gear saved up already. I was lucky initially when one of my other toons found an epic necklace from a mob in Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Also, the Inscription spell caster staff has come in real handy in being an awesome hand-me-down between all my spellcasters. It would be great if I could upgrade the staff (not entirely sure if that’s possible). Also, I plan to craft the epic robes and gloves once she hits 90. These elements along with a standard Sha of Anger kill will net her 6 possible epics right out the door. If I can kill a rare in the Isle of Thunder, pick up 10 coins or so, then she might be ready to rock fairly soon.
Game play-wise I’ve been enjoying my priest for once. I hated leveling her with all the mana problems. But at the moment, I don’t see many mana issues the way I would while at lower levels. Usually, I’ll find myself in trouble with mana if I start doing multi-dotting. But on average for single target fights, I’ve had little issues thus far. Also, if I do have an issue with mana while in combat, I can use Dispersion to quickly gain mana.
One thing that does concern me is a lack of crowd control. Now, I might have to review what she can nail to the floor for a few seconds, but I’m fearing running into situations where I might require a long CC spell. I know the priest has a few AoE type of fear spells, but I dislike ones that cause mobs to run around. Void Tendrils might be a possibility but I worry that I might aggro additional mobs (have to try it sometime just to see what the actual effects are).
Returning to the subject of multi-dotting, the shadow priest plays slightly different from the balance druid. You do have your instant cast spell in the form of Shadow Word: Pain, but you’re supposed to apply Vampiric Touch. Now, the primary difference in this situation is that Vampiric Touch is not an instant cast but it does provide you with mana recuperation. If you do start multi-dotting large groups of mobs, you will find yourself quickly being depleted of mana unless you employ Vampiric Touch. So that part can be a bit of a pain (whereas I find the balance druid multi-dot technique to run very smoothly by comparison).
Shadow Priest AoE is pretty sweet though. It’s one of the simplest in the game but somewhat like the shaman’s AoE rotation, you pretty much need to center your AoE on a mob with more hit points than the smaller mobs. In group encounters, this is accomplished through focusing your Mind Sear on the tank. However, in solo situations it’s a lot trickier. But it does feel pretty smooth compared to other classes’ AoE where you’re not channeling a long duration type of AoE.
Survival-wise, I’m not having any major problems thus far. I have solo’d a few elites without any danger of dying. Now, it’s quite possible that the elites I fought were simple and that I was slightly overgeared for the area. The true test will come at later stages in the game.