Any insight and / or opinion would be appreciated. Thanks very much.

No LUC.
3000 magic
1400 def
800 abs

buffed.

Pwn.

Yeah, what he said, I guess. o.O

No LUC. Wasting 200-300 stat points (however much you need) for "oh gosh, what if I die and lose EB oh noez" isn't worth it. No other priest to buff you? Wait, you have 200 or 300 LUC anyway...you'll crit enough. Wait...why are you even attacking if you got pwned that fast? Stay in the back and heal! Harhar.

Side note: Other classes rely on EB, too. Have you ever saw someone on trade "need level 70 UM priest for farming"? Yeah...so if they can do it, why can't you?

I thought this was the case but wanted to confirm.

New gear has very high resists so maxing your damage is a must. That said, putting a mystic 7/6 in every piece of gear is a must. Now what do you lapis? A mystic 5 or something else? Even if you link a mystic 5, you still have 3 more slots.

A level 7 fortune lapis adds almost as much damage as a level 5 int lapis, more when using the wrong ele, and less when using the right ele. Plus, it adds crit rate when etain bless is down. So I see no reason not to link a luck 7 despite what the above people say. That leaves you 2 slots for survivability.

If you want to be able to DPS bosses without pulling agro off fighters or tanks, low rec is a must. Thus, survivability should come from absorb and life, not rec and defense.

Perfect all purpose gear link in my opinion... even if you use EB most of the time is:
Int 7/6/5 Luc 7 Life 7 and Absorb 6
Or int 7/6 dual int 5 luc 7 abosrb 6 life 7 (Same damage, 95% crit without EB)
Or int 7/6 luc 7 life 7 abosrb 6/5 (Survivability I guess)

If you only want to PVP, you can substitute in safe lapis.

If you only want to PVE, I'd do int 7/6/5 Luc 7 Dual mystic 5 and life 7. You'll hit hard and still have a lot of HP at least.

Wasting 200-300 stat points (however much you need) for "oh gosh, what if I die and lose EB oh noez" isn't worth it.

I disagree, "wasting" 200-300 luck to get 80-120 more int is truely a waste.

With the new gear there isnt even any point to play a caster. Just saying.

The point to play a caster could always be, oh IDK, because you want to? Or it's fun?...Anyway, oracles/priests are also NEEDED. A borc/bp is simply a healer that can also attack. If I'd rather be able to kill things AND heal, why not let me? There's no reason for your comment, splasher.

As far as your comment, Minas...you shouldn't pull off of whoever is the tank in PvE anyway, and if you do, maybe YOU should be the tank. Sounds like you'd do a better job. And YOUR raid, YOUR guild...YOU specifically being able to reset a boss? That's power right there. In any case, the reason why NOT to like LUC is simply that you would be better off linking defense. You also completely ignored the possible link of Mystic 5/6/7, Life 7, Absorb 5/6. Guess that's not good enough? But I'd replace the Mystic 5 with Safe 7. These linkings also ONLY apply to Pants and maybe Helmet, but not in the way you are arguing anyway so you are making quite a big deal out of 1 piece of gear. o.O If 50 extra REC in my pants and another 50 in my helmet? is going to make me pull off a boss, maybe I should be tanking the boss anyway.

Ok let me open it for you. With new gear, we automatically lose 400 - 1000 INT, depending on the class we are fighting against. Also our defense doesnt increase as much as other people's attack does.

SO THERES A REASON FOR MY COMMENT LOL

you can say whatever you like though, because I know it's true.

If 50 extra REC in my pants and another 50 in my helmet? is going to make me pull off a boss, maybe I should be tanking the boss anyway.

1, it will if you have a fighter tanking. Which in some guilds often happens. I am the only mage/battle priest allowed to attack certain bosses in my guild for this reason. One mage who's linked rec 7 in every piece is allowed to attack but has to do so SLOWLY, so he spams some fire spell. I spam magic missile. Magic missile > some fire spell (or surge choir).

2, have you ever been to ROTCO dungeon, much less helped DPS during a run in which your guild was succesful and you attained 70 gear? What about queen vanus and DPSed with a fighter tanking?

3, if you "maybe should be tanking" a boss, you don't use int. You are pure friggin' rec with rec 7/6, absorb 6/5, a life 7 and something else. Maybe a sonic or elemental armor lapis or wise 7 since we're being picky about what piece it is instead of generaling.

4, Okay, if you REALLY want rec, go int 7/6 luck 7 abs 6/5 life 7 in your pants. I think fortune 7 > mystic 5. That was the main point of my arguement, which you pretty much ignored just to vasically say "I like rec" in paragraph form.

5, You talked mostly about PvE. If you have developed any kind of skill at this game, you shouldn't take hits except AoEs in PvE unless you want to be tanking (see comment 3). AoE's are often magic and so if you really want to be a nuker and "desquishify" yourself link life/wisdom.

I wouldn't go as far as call a borc "simply a healer that can also attack". Your heals will suck. "Oh it's more than no heals". But dude it's not a healer. You don't max the skills based on being a supportive character, you max and take them based on dealing damage, which is how you also lapis your gears and allocate your stat points.