Shadow Priest for a first class?

[Protagenic]

Hiya guys.
I'm a new player and I'm thinking of making a shadow priest after trying out other classes and the shadow priest seems to suit me but I just have a couple of questions about the class involving healing and damage.

So priest is one of those classes that a pure healer must have but I'm not that kind of person and I'm looking for a dps/healer a.k.a. shadow priest with not too much reliant on heals to myself or members of the team, are they less of a healer but still maintain the title?

Priests in any game generally have the weakest damage output due to being a healer class but does this make solo pve and world pvp a challenge to defeat even mobs? (shadow priest)

In raids and guilds are you expected to be the team healer as a pure priest normally would be?

Pros and cons would be helpful too.

Thanks in advance!

[zimboombafoo]

Hiya guys.
I'm a new player and I'm thinking of making a shadow priest after trying out other classes and the shadow priest seems to suit me but I just have a couple of questions about the class involving healing and damage.

So priest is one of those classes that a pure healer must have but I'm not that kind of person and I'm looking for a dps/healer a.k.a. shadow priest with not too much reliant on heals to myself or members of the team, are they less of a healer but still maintain the title?

Priests in any game generally have the weakest damage output due to being a healer class but does this make solo pve and world pvp a challenge to defeat even mobs? (shadow priest)

In raids and guilds are you expected to be the team healer as a pure priest normally would be?

Thanks in advance!

If you're looking for a heals that can put out some dps you'd want to go discipline. Shadow is the dps spec and has some good utility cooldowns that heal the raid through dps. Shadow priest is fairly low on the dps charts compared to other classes right now, but don't let that stop you from playing one..the charts constantly fluctuate and that changes frequently. A shadow priest is a great asset to any raid team. As for solo content a shadow priest is outstanding. A good raid team will probably want you to have a heal off-spec for when they need to 3 heal an encounter...but yes, you will do just fine as a dps, shadow is one of the most rewarding of the caster specs I think.

[Protagenic]

If you're looking for a heals that can put out some dps you'd want to go discipline. Shadow is the dps spec and has some good utility cooldowns that heal the raid through dps. Shadow priest is fairly low on the dps charts compared to other classes right now, but don't let that stop you from playing one..the charts constantly fluctuate and that changes frequently. A shadow priest is a great asset to any raid team. As for solo content a shadow priest is outstanding. A good raid team will probably want you to have a heal off-spec for when they need to 3 heal an encounter...but yes, you will do just fine as a dps.

So is it true you can have an off spec as well as your main one?
I'll most likely have discipline as an off one if that's the case.

[zimboombafoo]

So is it true you can have an off spec as well as your main one?
I'll most likely have discipline as an off one if that's the case.

Yes they introduced dual-spec a couple expansions ago. So you can be shadow as your main spec and you can go disc or holy as your off-spec for when your raid needs an extra healer.

[Sealbinder]

Need to be level 30 before you can dual-spec. But other than that you should be good.

[zimboombafoo]

I forgot pros and cons..

Pros: Great utility, great target swapping dps, high burst, great at soloing, decent aoe.

Cons: Right now specs like destruction and enhancement are pretty overpowered in pve so comparatively shadow limps behind on a lot of fights. However, every other class is in the same boat and destro (especially) will probably be toned down eventually. They're also pretty stationary..meaning they don't have much in the way of dps while moving other than DoTs.

It really comes down to if you enjoy it or not. And if you do shadow is one of the least played caster classes...probably because it's more challenging but highly rewarding if played well. People tend to flock to the overpowered, flavor of the month specs. I highly recommend the hybrid caster specs (which includes shadow), I play a Boomkin and Elemental as my mains and I love being able to supply the extra utility.

[Poltr]

Shadow priests are AMAZING for questing and the like. They have amazing self heals and utility (void tendrils the aoe root ect ) make spriests almost impossible to kill.
Single target damage while low is still completely viable for raiding and when you consider that most of the fights have adds to kill spriests become pretty strong.

IMO they're the most fun class currently ^^

[Deleted]

Shadow priests are really fun to play and a good class to start with in my opinion!
Being forced to healer is something people at lvl 70 would say, in todays WoW everything is possible.
You´ll hear everyone saying that they´re low dps but don´t get scared off by such comments because meanwhile guilds still take shadowpriests into heroic garrosh raids.
Maybe a warlock or mage would pull higher dps but you have to count in a fun factor and personal skill too and especially on fights with adds priests shine!
So yes roll priest they´re tons of fun!

[Tripax]

Shadowpriests are really fun and in my opinion the coolest class.

Though in 5.4 you have to put a lot more effort to do the same dps as some random "class X" who's barely average at playing his class... But things change in every patch/expansion.

[Dierdre]

Outside of serious raiding and serious pvp, it's a great spec to play.

[Juicebox]

A Priest with the Shadow specialization focuses on doing damage and is by no means a healer.
However, a Shadowpriest also does a bit of healing by doing damage, mainly to him/herself, but also to the group. This comes either naturally just by dealing the damage, or using an ability that makes the damage you deal also heal you and your group. Keep in mind that it doesn't convert damage to healing, so you wont do less damage because of it!

Solo PVE is great as well, with barely any issues.
World PVP on the other hand is harder for Shadowpriests than many others. We lack the tools to defend ourselves and we rely on others to do the job for us, so that we can deal the damage instead. For that reason, solo world PVP (1v1 for example) is weak.

We're still wanted for anything PVE-related as much as any other class/spec, and while it's true the damage output from a shadowpriest currently is the lowest of all damage specializations in game when only fighting one target, we're still wanted because of the extra healing we also bring. If we're fighting more than one target, we're quite good compared to many other specializations.

And if that doesn't convince you, it's also fun! I know everyone says this about their class, but they obviously haven't tried Shadowpriest in that case

[Vintersol]

The only issue i have with Spriest is, that he currently feels like a retpaladin in cata. Very few generators for the big damage. Unless that, it's fun to play.