Priests Desperately Need Minors

That title should bring in a lot of Google search traffic, I think. That's a quick lesson to all you kids out there who want to be pro bloggers: you can't cheat SEO (search engine optimization) algorithms, so make a title that's actually honest about your subject matter.

This post, of course, is about the criminal need for more minor glyphs for currently frustrated priests.

Blizzard unveiled a fantastic (in my view) system for glyphs: remove the obvious "increase one's powers" glyphs (if they're so obvious, they should just be baked into the spells and balanced appropriately) and just have (major) glyphs that allow you to tailor your playstyle to preference and (minor) glyphs that are largely only for customizing one's visual style.

If Blizzard does a good job, major glyphs will largely be balanced against one another, so none are "clear winners"...you select the ones that make playing your class more fun for you. That said, I'm not going to discuss major glyphs in this post. I may re-visit them in a future post. This post is about cosmetic/stylish minor glyphs that could be fun for priests.

A bunch of druid minor glyphs were revealed during the Mists of Pandaria press tour blizzard of information (pun fully intended). I can only assume that since those were the minor glyphs displayed during a "first look" that those are intended to be the baseline of what to expect for every class. Blizzard would never resort to the cheap movie trailer tactic of only showing the best bits to lure you in, right? I would think that the cheap escort tactic of hinting at but not yet showing the best bits would serve them better.

So, in that spirit, I'm going to assume priests are going to get an avalanche of amazingly cool minor glyphs and suggest some that I'd like to see.

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Glyph of the Shadow Raven


Getting to the obvious one first (but I'd be remiss in skipping past the one that many priests have wanted ever since shadow orbs were added to the game), this glyph would either turn the shadow orbs graphic in shadow ravens, or else just passively surround priests who are in Shadowform with shadowy ravens. In either case, the precedent here are the shadow priests from New Hearthglen, in Dragonblight. They have a few shadowy ravens circling them (all the time, as I recall). It's a nice bit of style.


Glyph of the Angel


This one would be for any priest who took the Archangel talent (perhaps including shadow priests, but perhaps only for healing priests). This glyph would passively provide the current archangel graphic (small, glowing wings) at all times, and when the ability was actually activated, they'd unfurl into a slightly more obvious graphic (perhaps Tyrael-like wings?).


Glyph of Holyform


With this glyph, priests in a Chakra state get the graphic that is currently given to priests who have activated Chakra but haven't yet cast a spell that puts them into a Chakra state (a lovely wreathing in golden flames). Why must such a lovely graphic be mostly never seen (though it bears mentioning that a similar graphic is used for Power Infusion)?


Glyph of Natural/Liquid/Lunar Penance


This would be three different glyphs, each of which re-colors Penance. The "natural" version gives Penance a green, leafy look (Blizzard does a nice job with putting a "falling leaves" look into spell graphics). The "liquid" version would give Penance a blue and watery look. And the "lunar" version would give Penance an otherworldly white glow. (This one is a little dodgy, since golden light is a bit of a priest staple and the "natural" and "liquid" versions would look druidic and shamanistic, respectively...it might not foster a cohesive look for the class.)


Glyph of Vengeance


Your Spirit of Redemption is now a Spirit of Vengeance...instead of using the model of a graveyard angel for when you turn into a Spirit of Redemption, you gain the model of a val'kyr. Actually, will holy priests even have that ability in Mists of Pandaria? I've almost never taken the talent, so I've really not even paid attention.


Glyph of Poignant Death


When you perish, you emit of flash of golden (or shadowy, if you are in Shadowform) light. The world just got a little dimmer (or brighter, if you were in Shadowform) for the loss of a priest. So sad.

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As you may be able to tell, I don't play shadow very much, so I'm rather healing priest focused with these glyphs. I think, though, that glyphs like these (including more selection for the shadowed in the priesthood) would allow for some fun flash to be added to the priesting game.

If you have ideas (hopefully, even better ones than these, though I am very enamored of Glyph of the Angel!), please share them in the comments!