So you're rolling your first character... or perhaps rolling the latest in a series of alts. And for some crazy reason you've picked a Priest. Maybe you just like being blamed for every instance wipe in every group you'll be in. Maybe you enjoy being yelled at for not healing in a battleground when you're at the top of the DPS chart. Maybe you enjoy leveling at an insanely slow pace (at least until you get in the level 40 range). (Okay, it's really not all that bad -- at least not all the time. After all, I've leveled two priests to level 60 and beyond and I'm a perfectly rational, sane individual. Right?) I couldn't say why you rolled a priest -- I'm only here to help you along the way. So read on as we discuss the journey from level 1 to level 15.

If this sounds like fun to you but you haven't yet rolled your priest, check out the last episode of Spiritual Guidance, where we talk more realistically about whether Priest is the class for you and cover picking the right race for your newbie-to-be.

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All the World's a Stage is skipping class (gasp!), and playing with roles every Sunday evening.

Our spells are shiny and bright, well worth using in more than just combat situations! Last time we talked a bit about this idea, as well as how druids, hunters, and mages could use their spells to entertain their friends. Today we turn to the remaining classes: priests, paladins, rogues, shamans, warlocks and warriors.

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This week's round up of WoW-related posts on our sister site Massively covers many different angles of the MMO universe dominated by World of Warcraft. You can click on the links below or subscribe to a special WoW-only Massively feed.

The Digital Continuum: Comparing core concepts of WAR and WoW
Can Warhammer Online avoid the same design pitfalls that World of Warcraft has fallen into? Find out in Kyle Horner's Digital Continuum column.

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To accompany the information about patch 2.4 regarding the ability to summon into instances, Tigole popped into the Elitist Jerks forums with another handy detail.

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We know there's loads of stuff in store for us in World of Warcraft's Patch 2.4, unfortunately we have to wait until Blizzard releases the official patch notes. For now, we have to content ourselves with whatever we can get.

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The names of equipment in the World of Warcraft are really hit or miss. You have a few that are absolutely amazing, some that are downright awful.

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Yesterday's announcements brought two big notes that will be affecting Shadow Priests. The Fear Ward change and the fact that Spell Haste with affect the global cooldown.

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Welcome to the beginning of the third bracket. It's been six months since we began this battle of the raid bosses and we are down from 32 to just 8 contenders for the title. Here's the line up for the next four weeks:

Sapphiron vs Hakkar
Ragnaros vs. Kel'Thuzad
Illidan Stormrage vs. The Twin Emperors
Princess Huhuran vs. C'Thun

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There has been such a positive response to the How to Paladin posts! I thought I'd take you back to where it all began. Shepiwot posted his first video in March 2007, shocking the community with what he described as "senseless uselessness."

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From an MMORPG out of the minds of NASA to gnomes at law, this week's entries are imaginative and absorbing. With another new nominee, Extra Life (thanks Gene!), January's Comic Contest Winner, and some all-around great posts, be sure you settle in before you start reading.

• Pigs in Space from ActionTrip
• The Circle of Life from Dark Legacy Comics
• You Do Realize... from GUComics
• LFG #117
• From Ding! by Scott Kurtz, we have two up this week:
• Hungry Like the Wolf
• Gourd of Plenty


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An unidentified reader sent us this ceiling shot of a hole in the last chamber of the Slave Pens. Who knew Quagmirran enjoyed a sunroof is his demense? Well, a water roof considering the whole thing is under Coilfang Reservoir. But wouldn't that flood the whole place? Oh well, it's scenic and that makes it the selection for today's Around Azeroth.

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If you thoroughly enjoyed listening in on Blizzard Entertainment's very first BlizzCast from last month, then you may want to hear this news out.

The company has announced that they've finished taping Episode two of the podcast series, and that it should be out within the next couple of days.

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Super Bowl XLII lands later today like expansion launch day for football fanatics. The New England Patriots are coming off a perfect 19-0 season and if they win today's game they will be the first team to have a perfect record for the season. The New York Giants, on the other hand, haven't had a chance at the brass ring in 8 years and are clearly the underdogs.

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World of Warcraft Warlocks will be glad to know that their Ritual of Summoning is getting an improvement, at least for raiding purposes. Eyonix recently announced that certain restrictions for the Ritual of Summoning have been lifted, allowing the summoning ritual to be used within instances.

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2.4 pre-patch notes updates
Now that the community managers stopped their posting frenzy it seems that I forgot a few things in the 2.4 info list, nothing really important but it's always nice to know a bit more about the upcoming patch.
Quote from Blizzard staffWorld

• Summoning restrictions in Netherstorm have been lifted. (Source - Elitistjerks)
  
  

Interface

• GM messages now appear with a Blizzard icon near their name. (Source)
  
• The profession UI search field has been improved and now allows for searching of more types of things. For instance you can search for items by socket color, by effect ("Critical Strike" for instance) or search gems by their effect ("Strength" for instance). In addition, the searching of items by level has been made more intuitive. You can now search for items by level with "15-20" to search for items that you can make that have a minimum level required of 15 to 20. (Source)
  

These updates have been added to the original post as well, and since a lot of non-regular users have been coming to the sites for the 2.4 notes it might be a good idea to relink the Sunwell Loots leak, as usual nothing is confirmed by Blizzard and you should trust me at your own risks, for detailed explanations about this check the original post

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So far, we've experienced three Arena seasons, and many World of Warcraft players have become accustomed to - or perfected - their playing styles that changes to some factors often prove to be a big thing for the teams. A player from the WoW Forums, Haste from Executus started a discussion about the planned changes in the upcoming patch 2.4.

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