Shadow/Holy/Discipline new spell effects and animations

[Noradin]

So Blizzard invested a shitload of time into new spell animations.... and PW:S is still that stinky 2D texture that rotates with the camera and looks cheap as hell... while every other absorb effect is like that insane lightshow or at least 3d?.... no comment on that

Well, lately Blizzard is in the habit of making spells bosses or the player themselves cast really noticalbe and to fade all others into the background.
Most people who see PW:S aren't the caster of the spell, thus the buff gets a shitty animation.
Maybe some time in the future they will add a casting animation to it that only the priest gets to see...

[Geschan]

That is one really weak argument. The animation used by Prydaz, Xavaric's Magnum Opus is the same animation that was originally used for the Discipline mastery during cataclysm. If you did your job the animation was active on the whole raid at the same time. So performance wise, the fully animated 3D shield is apparently no problem.

[Nurasu]

Don't know anything about that - my PTR (updated just today) doesn't have any new penance or shadowmend. The only different things are:

Prayer of Healing

And Void Torrent

Aww, bummer. I saw it on the WoW forums while I was at work and got too excited before I could go look I guess =/ Prayer of Healing is almost getting too complex for something cast so often; I wonder if Radiance will get those extra bolts as well.

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That is one really weak argument. The animation used by Prydaz, Xavaric's Magnum Opus is the same animation that was originally used for the Discipline mastery during cataclysm. If you did your job the animation was active on the whole raid at the same time. So performance wise, the fully animated 3D shield is apparently no problem.

He didn't mention performance, and I don't think that's been their overall goal so much as it has been to reduce screen clutter. They've been moving in that direction for several expansions for aoe in particular.

[Tirilka]

Still, having a holy barrier around a Shadow/Void Priest is incredibly jarring.
They must give it the treatment of mage barriers. Having a fire barrier on a fiery mage is notably better than having that clash of ice and fire (especially with fire orbs floating around). The same could be said about Shadow.

[Noradin]

That is one really weak argument. The animation used by Prydaz, Xavaric's Magnum Opus is the same animation that was originally used for the Discipline mastery during cataclysm. If you did your job the animation was active on the whole raid at the same time. So performance wise, the fully animated 3D shield is apparently no problem.

Sure it isn't, they aren't doing it for performance issues, they are doing it so the players own spells appear more epic in comparison.
And while definitely I agree with you on Prydaz, that one likely got the animation for being a legendary item even though they should have given the animation to PW:S instead.

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He didn't mention performance, and I don't think that's been their overall goal so much as it has been to reduce screen clutter. They've been moving in that direction for several expansions for aoe in particular.

Yes, too much for my tastes at that.
When I play a tank I like to see where other's AoE zones are, now they are mostly invisible.
I also find it kind of lame that when I use really cool spells like the disc artefact ability that happen only once a minute other players do not get to see the effect.
It comes accross as highly self absorbed when the game suppresses all visuals of your party--like they are just there to stand in the way and to take up space in your ui.

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Still, having a holy barrier around a Shadow/Void Priest is incredibly jarring.
They must give it the treatment of mage barriers. Having a fire barrier on a fiery mage is notably better than having that clash of ice and fire (especially with fire orbs floating around). The same could be said about Shadow.

I do not really agree with that one.
Being shoehorned into just one school of magic is a recent thing and does not fit well into the lore I am used to in WoW.
And by the way: PW:S has always been a "discipline" spell, not a holy one. Kind of like Levitate, Stamina buffs, Shakle. etc. they were in the Discipline School of priest spells.
What I do agree with is that its animation should have been a white-bluish one instead of golden, but maybe we can get that in the future.

[Deleted]

It will be the end of my 10 years behind the priest (holy / disc) if they dont give us a glyph to remove the "flying" effect, playing on pixels (hard to tell Where you are standing with the air sway) + stutter stepping while going up and down up and down will be immensely painful to watch and control.

[RsinRC]

SW:P in legion doesn't fit Shadow's kit lore wise nor how it looks in game. It should be completely replaced with a void kind of shield that when broken it does a spell effect like give off a dot equal to the damage that broke the shield or slow the target who broke it or give us a speed buff including a new look.

I say this IF we even need a shield going forward. Vampiric Touch can just give us a rolling shield or something clever.

[Nurasu]

Anyone able to check out what these look like on the PTR? I wasn't able to find a vendor for them, so I guess there's not one to test =/

http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=254238/...ark-absolution
http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=254231/...f-the-voidling
http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=254227/...the-lightspawn

The dark Penance sounds pretty cool and would give us another Shadow-leaning spell, since our kit is so Holy dominated (flavor-wise, I know mechanically it would still be in the Holy school :P ).

[Deleted]

Chastise has a new animation as well. It's some sort of slap. Amusing.

I'm not digging the sharp sound attached to the light spells.

[Deleted]

They also added a brief floating animation to some of the talented spells like power word: solace and shadow covenant, but the spell effects remain the same as live

[Noradin]

They also added a brief floating animation to some of the talented spells like power word: solace and shadow covenant, but the spell effects remain the same as live

Floating does not seem to fit solace, since smite and penance do not get any either.

[Deleted]

Floating does not seem to fit solace since smite and penance do not get any either.

Yes I agree, I'd much rather see smite/penance having the float animations. At the minute if you are casting smite/penance and then throwing pw:sol in there every 10 secs it looks like a bunny hop because you stand on the ground for smite and penance and then jump into the air for solace - then snap back down again as son as you cast smite.

[Tirilka]

Shadow Word: Death has a new animation
A small implosion of darkness, with space distortion effect included.



Levitation now has a trail of holy particles, which looks awesome, but not for Shadow where it's simply jarring.




I missed it before, but talent Shadow Word: Void has a nifty animation now




There are audio whispers at almost every spell in Shadow, with the most noticable whispers on casting Vampiric Touch and Shadow Mend (they are almost overpowering you). Even Shadowy Apparitions proc dark voices in your head, both when they appear and hit the target. Like in this video (courtesy of this thread), but for all spells, not just on casting shadowform.

Also, Mass Dispel has the exact same animation as Prayer of Healing.
Speaking of which, it no longer sends wisps of light to the target. I preserved that version in the original post for history purposes, though.

[Al Gorefiend]

Does this show a SKULL when Heal is cast, or it's just the boobs poking through the effect? I've been staring at it so much I cannot decide

It's just her boobs clipping through the holy light effect. No skull on my male troll.

[deviantcultist]

Guys, in the latest build, did they nerf the Shadowform graphic? It doesn't show the purple flame aura to me.

[Noradin]

Speaking of which, it no longer sends wisps of light to the target. I preserved that version in the original post for history purposes, though.

That's a shame. Those wisps where the part that made the whole animation look consistent, now it lacks its most central part.

[Nurasu]

That's a shame. Those wisps where the part that made the whole animation look consistent, now it lacks its most central part.

Eh, now they form into little wings at the top of the animation, which I think fits better. Since PoH doesn't have to be cast facing the target, the wisps would have looked really odd in different situations.

[zito]

I'm triggered void torrent still doesn't channel from the dagger

[Noradin]

Eh, now they form into little wings at the top of the animation, which I think fits better. Since PoH doesn't have to be cast facing the target, the wisps would have looked really odd in different situations.

Those were there already in the first version, now they look incomplete, and those wisp were what made the levitation look less ridiculous.
I'd really like something akin to those wisps added to PW:R, too.

[Deleted]

The audio whispers are amazing and levitating is great!