arena night elf or drainie?Follow

getting small details out of the way first...I am planning on making a priest for arena/endgame pvp.....and yes I am speccing SHADOW...I was planning on drainie until i saw the new ptr notes...so my question is which race would fit that role better? i know some people are pissy about NE shadowmeld drink but drainie have symbol of hope that restores mana without having to drink....but with the ptr notes about starshards it makes me start wondering if the damage from SS would actually matter that much. True you have a good 300ish damage every 3 secs with enough plus damage gear but it can ONLY be cast every 30 secs. is that 30 sec really that great? since it can also be dispelled....*sigh* so confused

well, draienei also have a HOT that you can toss while still in shadow. Its not a huge preist/pally/shammy/druid/anythingelsewitharestoorholytree heal, but it can come in handy. + draenei get chastise now. Although i forget what the hell that even does.

Draenei Priest
Symbol of hope -Party mana regen 333 mana per tick at lvl 70, Lasts
15 Seconds
Gift of the Naruu -1.5 Second cast heal over time every 3 seconds for 15
seconds.
Inspiring Presence-1% To hit with spells for party.
Shadow Resistance +10 bonus to Shadow Resistance
2.3- Chastise -causes Holy damage and incapacitates the target for 2
seconds.

VS

Night Elf Priest
2.3 -Elune's Grace-reduce chance to be hit by melee and ranged attacks
by 20% for 15 seconds.
2.3 -Starshards -is a Magic effect, lasts 15 seconds, causes damage
every 3 seconds and has a 30 second cooldown
Shadowmeld -Activated Ability outside of Combat that puts the
Night elf into stealth while they remain still.
Quickness -+1% dodge chance
Nature Resistance -Innate +10 Nature resistance

If chastise wasn't in the picture I'd say that draenei seems more pve oriented , and Night elf seems more pvp oriented, but I believe that with it, I'd pick a draenei for sure.

I actually have both a draenei and NE priest. My Draenei is Holy and my NE is leveling up to be a shadow priest. (After playing with a VERY competent spriest one day, i decided I HAD to have one and didn't want to respec my Draenei)

I would suggest going with the Draenei as the racial 'inpiring presence' benefits the whole group, as does Symbol of Hope. SoH is not a great deal of mana regen, but it IS enough to give you one or two more casts and get you out of a jam. Gift of the Naaru is a great (if not small) HoT that is MANA FREE.

Even with the imp ss for the NE's in 2.3, I still think you'd be better off with the Draenei buffs/spells that would benefit the entire group vs one improved damage spell.

Draeneis also get Chastise now, but that won't help you if you're in shadow form. Although if you drop out of s form to heal you could use it and that may offset the damage you would have gotten from being a NE to some extent.

You can't cast their racial HoT in shadow form, just fyi. It, like all other heals, is a holy spell. However, you can still cast symbol of hope while in shadowform.

**edit for grammar**

Edited, Oct 24th 2007 3:25pm by cazicaviane