Fuyuko brought up an excellent point in the last post about how difficult it can be for priests to make the switch over to smite spec. (Oh, but we’ll convert you all yet…) For priests that are stumbling upon one or more of our blogs in search of the how’s and what’s of Holy DPS, here are three recommendations I can make:

1. Don’t just respec and jump into a group! There’s a reason I call the Lvl 80 Smite Priest Raiding Guide a raiding guide, not an instance guide. Trust me, it works dandy for instances (there’s no way I’m paying respec fees between 5-mans, 10-mans, and 25-mans on top of the respecs I do anyway to randomly dabble in Discipline and Shadow), but you should be ready and equipped for raids before you even think about smiting. Fuyuko and my hit post make it clear on how difficult it is to put this gear together. I highly recommend either a) healing and collecting emblems [assuming Shadow makes your skin crawl like me] or b) doing what Fuyuko mentioned and just specing Shadow until you get your gear together. Easier to roll on hit gear when you’re the well-known priest DPS tree.
2. Try it out in the security of your own guild first. The new dungeon randomizer makes it so easy for you to just leap into the fray of a bunch of people you don’t know, but people are going to criticize/mock you. It’s best to at least learn the ropes of smite in the comfort of people that you know won’t “WTF” you for it before going out into the harsh and judgment land of random queue. That said, the randomizer is amazing for getting all the hit gear you need really fast.
3. Have dual spec. There are going to be times when you just can’t smite, especially if you’re currently doing ICC. It has it’s moments, and I’m a big fan for it (*looks around at the blog*), but you should always have a healing spec–or, if you simply have to DPS, a Shadow spec–to fall back on when smite’s weaknesses (like Saurfang’s enrage timer + a learning raid) are bringing you down.

Welcome, Fuyuko, to the… smite priest blogging… land… place. Make sure to go visit Fuyuko’s blog to read more about WotLK smite priesting!