[Micah]

I usually go for the commander so my scout can go do something useful instead of strapping himself to the commander's side and following him around. I generally don't do a first turn patrol though. That's purely personal preference.

What is NOT personal preference is that making an H3 priest into a prophet is a trap. Word of power pretty much sucks compared to smite, and it's going to take a while before you have enough troops so that you'll need fanaticism over a few Sermons. Thus, having 2 H3 priests (one of them a junk unit you made your prophet and the other one the H3 chassis you would have used) is going to be more useful than one H4 priest in the vast majority of situations, especially early-game. Add on the opportunity cost of having to wait to actually recruit your H3 priest chassis and you have a clear loser of a strategy.