Casting Smite

Whether you believe it’s a real spec or not, since the vanilla days, people have always been smiting.

And you know where the evidence lies? In all the changes that’s been done to the smite priest’s bread and butter, of course! Every good smite priests knows the history behind their favorite Smite spell, and all the other holy spells that join the spec together; it’s the innumerable changes that have happened to a smite priest’s arsenal that solidifies the fact that:

• Yes, people play smite priests.
• Yes, Blizzard knows.

The next time you need to prove your true smiteness to someone, consider discussing this random trivia!

In 2004.

1. October 2004. On Smite. In patch 0.12, “Holy Smite” was renamed “Smite.” (Did you know this is the only change noted for Smite on WoWWiki?)

In 2005.

1. May 2005. On Holy Nova. In the 1.4 patch notes: “Holy Nova – Now causes an explosion of holy light around the caster, causing Holy damage to all enemy targets within 10 yards and healing all party members within 10 yards. These effects now cause no threat as opposed to reducing threat temporarily.” (Did you know back then, Holy Nova had a cooldown?)
2. May 2005 Cont. On Holy Fire. In addition, several changes were made to Holy Fire to “make this a more usable and efficient damage spell,” including reducing the casting time from five to four seconds, and shifting the spell’s potency into its DoT. “The duration was also increased and mana cost and cooldown were both decreased. While the direct damage portion was reduced slightly from the previous version, each tick of damage should be unchanged, and the spell now delivers one additional tick of damage. In total, the relative damage and efficiency of the spell has been increased.” (Did you know back then, Holy Fire was talented?)
3. September 2005. In patch 1.7, Zul’gurub was released. The 3-piece set bonus for priests in Zul’gurub increased the range of Smite and Holy Fire by 5 yards.

In 2006.

1. March 2006. On Holy Fire. In patch 1.10, Holy Fire became available to all priests, starting at level 20. (Did you know, this was also when weather effects were added to the game?)
2. March 2006 Cont. On Holy Nova. The cooldown was removed and the mana cost increased. (Did you know, there were such dramatic priest changes in 1.10 that talent points were reset?)
3. September 2006. WoW Insider discusses in their WoW TCG Preview: Smite about the best card in the trading card game. Take a guess what it is!

In 2007.

1. January 2007. On Surge of Light. In patch 2.0.3, Surge of Light no longer proc’d from using items. (That’s right–items made it go off before!)
2. September 2007. On Surge of Light. This is when smite priest had sad-face; in patch 2.2, Surge of Light was no longer able to give more than one free Smite. (It used to be that if a Surge of Light proc’d Smite crit, you could get another, and another, and another!)
3. October 2007. The Elitist Jerks smite priest thread began, which reaches clear into 2009.

In 2008.

1. March 2008. On Power Infusion. In patch 2.4, Power Infusion was changed to it’s current form of granting 20% spell haste and reducing the mana cost of all spells by 20%.
2. May 2008. WoW Insider looks at smite priests in winning arena teams in 15 Minutes of Fame.
3. October 2008. On Holy Fire. In patch 3.0.2 (Echoes of Doom), Holy Fire’s casting time was further reduced down to 2 seconds from 3.5 (it started out as 5!), and the damage was increased by 60%. The DoT was reduced to 7 seconds (from 10) and the spell was given a 10 second cooldown.
4. October 2008 Cont. On Holy Nova. Holy Nova’s mana cost was reduced. (Did you know, it took this long for Wand Specialization to be removed from the discipline tree?)
5. October 2008 Cont. On Power Infusion. The cooldown for Power Infusion was reduced by 1 minute (it used to be 3.)

In 2009.

1. April 2009. On Holy Nova. In 3.1, Holy Nova’s mana cost is reduced by yet another 20%. (Did you know this is when Ulduar was released?)
2. August 2009. Ghostcrawler lays the smack down about how smite will never be a proper spec.

Something I left out? Feel free to comment/discuss!