[Legion] Shadow Priest Discussion

[Ilir]

It now has 2 charges but still a 12 sec cd.

Swp only buffed iniate hit.

Oh lol... I can't read.

Well... okay Blizzard ?

This is really BS.

THO a lot of classes got nerfed, maybe they're trying to reduce the overall damage. We'll see.

[Wickedsick]

Shadow Word Death has been severely nerfed, it has a 12 second recharge time with two charges. Haste does not reduce it because its on on cooldown anymore, I have just tested this.

[davesignal]

I agree with the CONCEPT of nerfing Mindbender, buffing Shadow Crash, reducing Voidform damage and increasing DOT damage. The numbers are all way off though, at least on the Voidform nerf/DoT buff.

Like, knock Voidform down to 15% and straight up double SW:P/VT damage, and then we're getting somewhere. Buff Mind Flay too.

Shadow Word Death has been severely nerfed, it has a 12 second recharge time with two charges. Haste does not reduce it because its on on cooldown anymore, I have just tested this.

I feel like that's unintended, and it will be back on haste but with charges on the next build.

[majesta]

This feels like knee jerk reaction all over the place. The numbers are not right so they just go in and start tweaking things without rhyme or reason anymore.

Like for example the SWP initial damage getting a 5% boost. If they keep upping that component we will be back in a situation where just spamming SWP for its initial damage in PvP again. Was it in Cata? Honestly I cannot remember what expansion or patch that was, 12 years of this game it is just too hard to remember anymore. I do remember lots of crying on the forums and it was nerfed.

[Ilir]

No.

You don't nerf Mindbender when Shadowfiend is a piece of shit of a spell. When PI is still the same thing I think no one has ever used ever.

You keep Mindbender as it is, you buff SC and PI => choice. At this rate, we'll end up with VF once every minute. With spell generating like 4 Insanity.

[drtrann]

those changes.. my sides blizzard, please think of them.

at this rate, looks like I'm gonna be playing disc for dps.

also still haven't changed StM..

[Ilir]

those changes.. my sides blizzard, please think of them.

at this rate, looks like I'm gonna be playing disc for dps.

also still haven't changed StM..

Apart from StM resetting on wipe, I don't see what you want to change about it (and i think it resets now)

[davesignal]

Well, just from a brief target dummy test my DPS has gone down by about 10%..

[Ilir]

I really really really wish they'd put level 110 premade with everything unlocked for testing purpose and raids. I just wanna see how everything will go in a raiding setting/similar gear.

Because every class is getting nerfed/buff out of nowhere with no explanation whatsoever and it's really frustrating.

[Smog]

Well, just from a brief target dummy test my DPS has gone down by about 10%..

But hey! That shadowcrash!!

Right?!

..guys?

[davesignal]

I mean I can't look at at spell getting buffed by 60% and complain, but I still want the CD to scale with haste. From my brief testing, Mindbender still out-performs it handily.

[Nycros]

At least they started nerfing blood DKs.

I also laughed at the boomkin and ele shaman nerfs. Fully justified.

I wonder where their test data is coming from, because this can't be tuning for the levelling/solo content.

[Deleted]

Let's hope we get some raid tests with full artifact/gear/relic w/e enabled and then they balance around the data they get instead of weekly wtf builds with 0 words on direction they are are going and nerfs/buffs that make no sense for current state of the specs.

[Tanned]

Other ways to think of these nerfs:

1) Nerf to Legacy of the Void. With Voidform being less impactful, overall, more uptime is less valuable. Also acts as a nerf to other talents which were strong as a result of Legacy of the Void, like Void Lord, for example.

2) Nerf to Shadow's Mastery. I'm unsure why you might want to nerf Shadow's mastery; it was previously the worst stat for single target, and then about even with Crit (even without the AS talent) at two targets and slightly better than Crit at three targets. Now it is the worst stat for single target and two target by a very wide margin and at three targets starts to catch up to but does not beat Crit. Note that for Surrender to Madness + Mass Hysteria that Mastery may be the best stat by a very wide margin.

3) Nerf to Voidform stacks. This adds somewhat more longevity to Haste as a stat.

4) The change to VT act as a big buff to San'layn and minor buff to survivability.

[Kretan]

With melee so dominant, I can see prot warrior/SP/heal being a good comp for us. Bodyguard against double melee would be nice.

I actually was thinking prot paladin had potential. If tanks really are decent, it could potentially be a thing. I haven't looked too much in to prot warrior though...I'll have to to see what they could bring. Prot paladin actually has some decent stuff to help us out. Question is just is it worth it?

- - - Updated - - -

Other ways to think of these nerfs:

1) Nerf to Legacy of the Void. With Voidform being less impactful, overall, more uptime is less valuable. Also acts as a nerf to other talents which were strong as a result of Legacy of the Void, like Void Lord, for example.

2) Nerf to Shadow's Mastery. I'm unsure why you might want to nerf Shadow's mastery; it was previously the worst stat for single target, and then about even with Crit (even without the AS talent) at two targets and slightly better than Crit at three targets. Now it is the worst stat for single target and two target by a very wide margin and at three targets starts to catch up to but does not beat Crit. Note that for Surrender to Madness + Mass Hysteria that Mastery may be the best stat by a very wide margin.

3) Nerf to Voidform stacks. This adds somewhat more longevity to Haste as a stat.

4) The change to VT act as a big buff to San'layn and minor buff to survivability.

I think that nerfing void form also makes our out of void form damage not as horrible as it was. What happened to voidform stacks?

I like that shadowcrash got some major love. I hope to god this talent is worth it in the end because I loved casting it....such an awesome graphic.

[Tanned]

What happened to voidform stacks?

The build before this one they increased Voidform's insanity decay from 8 per second initially to 9 per second initially.

[davesignal]

I honestly just wish Blizzard would actually talk about why they're making these changes. I've given up on pestering @WarcraftDevs and @Celestalon, I feel like I'm probably blocked anyway. Maybe more people need to ask them what's up.

[Smothered Hope]

Isnt the SW: D change actually a buff until your haste rating exceeds 100% ?

Edit: Reason being that it would take a 100% haste rating to reduce the cooldown to 6 seconds, whereas now we can cast one every 6 seconds (assuming there is a target available that meets the conditions) regardless of our current haste rating.

[Kretan]

I honestly just wish Blizzard would actually talk about why they're making these changes. I've given up on pestering @WarcraftDevs and @Celestalon, I feel like I'm probably blocked anyway. Maybe more people need to ask them what's up.

Just posting from what I imagine their POV is:

The amount of wordage to explain tuning changes across all the specs to satisfy all the players would be absurd for the benefit....only to change it one week later. None of those with beta access have a seat at the development table as they are simply testers. Testers don't need the why and they don't need to give ideas. They just need to provide feedback on what is provided to them so the development team can iterate on their vision; an answer or active discussion is meaningless when it comes to testers. The engineer of the Ferrari doesn't ask the test driver to design the aerodynamics of the car. The only time a direct discussion is actually needed is when without it the testing will be somehow diminished. Explaining tuning changes and opening an active discussion on them won't increase testing quality; it will just increase player complaints and detract from testing.

That's what I imagine the response would be.

[davesignal]

Isnt the SW: D change actually a buff until your haste rating exceeds 100% ?

Edit: Reason being that it would take a 100% haste rating to reduce the cooldown to 6 seconds, whereas now we can cast one every 6 seconds (assuming there is a target available that meets the conditions) regardless of our current haste rating.

That's not how charges work; the two charges do not have independent cooldowns. Once you blow through your stored charges, you can only cast one every twelve seconds.