Warning:  This is not a guide, it is a story.  It may be long and boring, so make sure you have something soft near your keyboard.  I don't want to be held responsible for injury should you doze off while readin this.

Part one: The Hunter
I had a lvl 60 hunter, whom I loved dearly.  But I had discovered 3 major flaws in this class at high levles:
1. Almost everyone in WoW has a Main or Alt hunter.  I won't say getting groups was impossible, just improbable.
2. All the gear I was looking to get was also desired by rogues, warriors, pallies and all those other hunters!  I was a bit tired of hearing "So-and-so needs agi/str/stam more than you do".
3. I wanted to try something different.  (Ok, this is not a flaw in this class.  Just nod your head and agree anyway)

Part two: The Decision
I wondered what class I could play that would counter the above mentioned difficulties.  Quickly, it came to me, a priest!
1. Everyone needs a healer in groups.  How often do you see " Ubrs group LF more, full on priests, need hunters"???
2. Although I would still be competing with mages and locks for some gear, None of them would say "I need INT more than you"...or so I thought at the time.
3.  It was different!

Part three: Leveling is So Much Fun!
So I jumped right in.  At 10, I started speccing holy.  I figured it would make me more usefull in groups, and a better healer.  I had forgotten that people don't really group much between 10 and 30.   I disovered it was difficult to kill a critter 2 or 3 levels lower than me, and even then it took a whole mana bar and half my life to win.  Still, I stuck it out for a while, until one day around lvl 25, a Lightbulb came on in my brain. Look at the shadow tree stupid! The only excuse I have for the slowness of this realization is...it's Simkyns fault, because everything is always his fault.
After I respecced to shadow, I found I could take on mobs a level above me, sometimes 2 or 3 lvls above me, and I could even handle adds!  The lvl grind started going a lot faster.

Part four:The Pain of Poularity
Around lvl 50 or so, I started getting a lot of tells asking if I would like to join a group. At first this was flattering, but as the frequency and number of them increased, (about one every 15 or 20 minutes) they became just plain annoying.
I also recieved an innordinate number of tells asking me to make food and water.  At first, I would patiently reply that I was a priest, what they wanted was a mage.  This had 2 results.  Either the person never replied...which was ok, or they started spamming the request at me. Now, normally I am not a rude person, but eventually I found that replying "NO!" was the only way to stop the spammers.
I also discovered that in all PUGs, group wipes were always my fault. The default setting for most poeple who die seems to be "Why didn't you heal me??", often occompanied by profanity, newb comments, or other really rude dialog.  Some of my other favorites are:
~ Mages who run into a group of mobs with no warning, and start AoEing, then yell "Shield Me!" when they are at 15% health.
~ Warriors with less health and/or armor than the warlock, who yell at me when they die a lot.
~ Being asked for a Fort buff in the middle of a really tough battle.
~ Using the SS rez when another rezzer survived, and being yelled at by the group that I wasted the SS.  Even when the warlock explains that when a person dies, SS is gone even if they get rezzed, they are not mollified.  If we wipe again with no SS up, it is MY fault for wasting it!
~ (My favorite) Someone falls off a ledge, or charges into a romm, and runs back pulling every mob in the area with them, and we all die.  This, too, is my fault.
The sad thing is, even when I know there is nothing I could have done to prevent a death or a wipe, I still feel guilty.

Part five: The End(game)
At lvl 56 or so, I was spending almost all my play time in instances, so I went ahead and respecced holy/disc.  Then I started working hard to collect my devout set.  Sadly, I discovered devout really stinks until you have the full set. I have 4 pieces, but only wear one, as I have found better without even really looking. Those 3 are sitting in my bank, waiting for the other 4 before I will finally get them out, dust them off, and use them for a while.
I have also discovered that I no longer get to see the battles.  As a hunter, I had to keep a keen eye on the mobs. As a priest, I am constantly watching the raid/group health bars.  If I look away for even a moment, someone will die. (trust me on this, they must time it that way). Sometimes I almost forget that WoW has really great spell and battle graphics, and that I am not playing a MUD. What does Baron Rivendare look like in demon phase?  I wouldn't really know...though I think I caught a glimpse once.  How cool did is appear when Lucifron finally fell to the NWA?  I haven't the faintest.  But it's ok, at least I can look at other peoples screen shots.

In the end, I really do love my priest, though I find myself thinking whistfully of lost Shadow talents at times.  I may play around with that later on, when I am doing more PvP, but until that time...Holy Nova FTW! (This is a joke, if you do not recocnize it as such, please ask your neighborhood priest to explain.  Be prepared, however, to comfort them while they cry during said explanation)

/end Sarcasm

Aroura

Off topic, I had to show you guys the funniest WoW insult ever:

Newbiguy: Dude, hunters ned int as mch ass any others casters class

Ubrdude: your a total newb and have no idea what you are talking about, and you're grammar and speling suck. Learn Enlish.

Funnyguy: You insult him for his spelling and grammar, then mis-spell half your words and use "your" wrong twice.  Way to tie the shoelaces together on your Boots of Self Superiority, Ubrdude

ROFL, sorry, maybe you have to read all the posts that went with this, but I was laughing so hard my ribs ached. 

Heh; interesting look into the mind of Aroura

I played a cleric on DAoC: well I know the joys/tribulations of watching healthbars instead of the battles. It's okay to look around once in a while -- just try not to let me die too often, okay?

Bad Sim for not telling you about the shadow tree!

thx for the read....

I enjoy playing my priest a lot too. The only thing I do are instance runs with him too just like you. Holy/Discipline is just totally gimped for doing anything solo or for farming $$$. It is great like you said -- I can get into a group any time any where for the most part. I get random tells also if I hang out in IF too long. I've always like playing support classes though. You aren't up front as the star in the thick of battle, but a group goes nowhere fast without a healer.

The comment about not seeing what is happening in instances is soooooo true :-). You really can't take your eyes off the player frames much during any challenging battles. I literally can't see what is going on in Molten Core when I have 40 player frames on my screen. As a suggestion though, you can turn the CT_RaidAssist UI on and off by binding a key to that option. I finally figured that out a couple weeks ago. Now I just hit my key and all the player frames disappear. I do that in between fights and when we have to move as a raid tp the next setup point.

I've heard priests on message boards complain a lot about being blamed for party wipes (by noobs who don't understand). All those situations you described are classics! :-). I never really had those complaints much leveling up. I guess I was just lucky (it isn't cause my groups never wiped). I don't get them at all in the high-level instances. People have all chilled out by then. They know that priests are doing everything they can. If they died, it is probably because the priest was being pounded on or got stunned/silenced. Also, people in the high level instances have mostly gotten the understanding that it is THEIR job NOT to get aggro and need healing. If someone other than the Main Tank or Main Assist needs healing, they are to blame. They are draining precious mana from the healers when that happens. Of ccourse nobody is perfect and stuff happens, but they understand how it all works by then.

It's great having you around with your Priestess character Aroura. You do a great job. Our guild is really great to have a good number of dedicated healers. We provide a lot of healing for NWA raids also.

Of course, truthfull, I do not always get blamed for wipes.  Actually, it's pretty rare.  I was just exadurating for the sake of humor :-)  And most of those things I listed have only happened once or twice to me at all.  It is just a funny thing when they do.

I didn't know about the UI raid toggle, I'll make a macro for that.  thanks Tref

If I werite another article, I'll make sure it comes out more as humor, and less as comlaining.  That was not my intention, lol.  Ah well, it was worth a try

I Lvoe our guild too, and we provide not only a huge amount of healing, but a huge number of people of all classes to many NWA raids.  It's great!

Go Res!

Aroura

It is really great to see that the guild does have so many great healers...actually all classes, just a great group of mature gamers. Thanks for all the heals (not that I need em as a hunter but keeping the MT and MA alive keeps me alive ). I am so glad I found this group...great work.

I too am looking for an alt to my Hunter...Druid is in the lead atm =)

That is a great post, Aroura.

All great points. And I echo the points on the set pieces, although for me it's the Wildheart ones. Especially as I was restoration and feral at the start, the set gave absolutely no benifits whatsoever...respecing balance has provided me with benis from 6 pieces, but the real bonuses don't set in until it's complete.

But I have been blamed quite often for wipes -- one of the primary reasons I tossed the restoration spec. As Wolfen said, it's great having you and Tref and Aella here as awesome healers - we <3 heals.

Priest do not get blamed for party wipes...Hunters do!!!...and for the record WHY DID YOU NOT HEAL ME!!!!  Ohh and forgot to add a gnome rogue named Gnelza has been known to cause party wipes too!

Only if you're tempted to play it as a main.....

Okay gang... just for arguments sake I think I need to clear something up once and for all...

Priests do not cause wipes.

Hunters do not cause wipes.

Puga causes wipes.  Don't believe me?  Let me explain.

Two days ago we were having a go of it in UD Strat.  We're at the gauntlet and sure enough off some random mob drops the Beastalker bracers.  This immediately causes all of us to think if any of the hunters in the guild need these bracers.  Well turns out that both Puga and Simkyn do but Puga decides to be the bigger night elf and graciously lets Sim have them.  Now, this makes everyone in the group start thinking about what a great guy Puga is.  However, what no one realizes is that now we are cursed with "Puga on the brain" and sure enough we die a horrible death multiple times to the stitches.

Day two:  On our second attempt at UD Strat there was not a single drop that was even remotely related to hunters, therefore, no one thought about Puga.  The final result... we kick the barons ass.  (okay so we got schooled the first time and barely pulled it out by the skin of our teeth the second time but the point remains the same) 

Now I ask you, what further proof do you need?

Where was I?  Oh yeah...  So to sum up, indeed Aroura is an awesome healer and our guild is damn lucky to have her as well as our other great priests around.

I'm glad I helped in aiding in the party wipe..when I wasn't even there!... My power is growing!!!    The Blood Elves better watch out