Shadow's healing (self-healing) too weak?

[Buxton McGraff]

I've found Shadow self heals to be superb through the use of Devouring Plague. But mind you, this is only in combat. Not something you can do to heal up after a fight.
But so far I've found Shadow to be pretty great. Bubble on CD (short now with the talent+perk) and devouring plague is really all I need to stay alive. Dev plague is up so often thanks to Mind Blast having a 3 sec CD and being instant cast thanks to Clarity of Power (best 100 talent by far).

But yes, I agree flash heal is a joke. Replace it with a shadow version of renew and either buff or completely refine Vampiric Embrace because it's disappointing how long it's been in it's heinous state. I don't want the old VE back really because I hate having to keep heal flytext turned off.

I'd like VE to be something like this: 5% all single target damage passively heals the Priest. On CD, buff this to 15% and allow it to heal the entire raid for a short period of time.

[Soulstrike]

i always thought they would make a huge dark shield for shadow priest that uses shadow orbs :P

[jSewell]

A glyph for Vamp Emprace to be passive and only heal the priest would be nice. And/or a glyph for dispersion to heal a %/sec

[hablix]

For leveling at least, it felt like my Assassination rogue had better self-healing through Recuperate and Leeching Poison than my shadow priest did. I was very frequently spamming flash heal on myself after a pulling 2-3 mobs (by spamming I mean like 5-10 casts), whereas my rogue only very infrequently had to eat to recover.

[Jimjam38]

Now is the tuning phases, so perhaps get on their case, its what us discs are tying to do about PWS being the best spell for even AoE since Holy Nova was over nerfed. Ask for stronger flash heals, a shadow version of ret supplication or a glyph for passive vamp embace on the priest only. Or heck, a glyph for Vamp Touch to heal for some % each tick like how almost every other caster has.

I honestly think the reason priests never get any love is because they're actually unaware of our issues because no one on the team is a priest or is assigned to priests.

[Yvaelle]

For leveling Shadow (particularly if you didn't have the luxury of starting in 590 item level) there are a few things you can do to make it easier on yourself.

Glyph of Mind Harvest - this allows you to start each pull with Mind Blast -> Devouring Plague - which will make quicker work of just about everything, especcially if further combined with Insanity, and followed up with Death

Glyph of Psychic Scream - if you are getting overwhelmed with adds, Psychic Scream can now be used as an AoE time-out - without the risk of it attracting more enemies

Twist of Fate - if you are pulling fast enough, this is nearly a 15% damage increase at all times

Spectral Guise - in the event things get overwhelming, non-night elves can Body & Soul / Angelic Feather -> Spectral Guise and escape an ugly situation

Mindbender - the alternative to Insanity is Mindbender, which deals comparable damage without the burden of channelling, but most importantly is a tank via Mindbender -> Fade, unless something can fully one-shot your Mindbender it won't die

[Alanar]

Actually it is a strong heal, at least while leveling... Reflective Shield + MB (Mind Harvest) + DP + Insanity (VT and SWP if needed) = dead before things can do much harm to you. Just don't act like it's multi-pull-palooza and you won't get annihilated; AoE's not so great .

Yea, so the problem is .. yes it't true dp feels powerfull whilr leveling.. when 100 with full pvp gear mb hits harder then dp and dps heal on first hit feels like a weaker flash heal..
I realy dont get why prople say its so powerfull.. if some one is on you hardcore tunnelsyndroom.. even 5 plus 1 shadow orbs to bumb out 2 dp isnt realy doing the healing. I can honestly say our selfhealing a k a survivability has never been so bad.

And yes I also want my passive VE aura back..

[Apexeon]

Shadow priests have heals? From a pvp point of view:

It seems there's been a tradeoff. Our single target damage has been buffed, (from mop point of view) at the expense of our survivability. PoM isn't instant, heals for garbage. No Renew. Flash heals is the lulz. Vampiric Embrace should be removed from the game if it's going to heal you for 10%.... Your power word shield: absorbs more and is on a shorter CD, over time of course.

In bg's I don't even bother healing myself anymore. I can't deal with mediocre heals while trying to deal damage; If I have to heal, it means I'm about to die and no amount of healing is going to save me anyway, so I just patiently wait in cc chains for my healthbar to reach 0. Rinse and Repeat.

[onemanaleft]

wait....a dps spec has too weak of healing.....what?

[Apexeon]

wait....a dps spec has too weak of healing.....what?

As opposed to shamans, monks, etc...

Does it really need to be spelled out for you? Set foot in a bg will you.

[anon5123]

wait....a dps spec has too weak of healing.....what?

Other "dps" specs have strong self-heals. Shadow doesn't.

[Dierdre]

The days of pulling a bunch of crap and rolfcoptering as it all falls down is over. Just have to deal with it.

Actually that pretty much described leveling my lock to 100. Cast corruption on EVERYTHING in range, then keep running to pull some more while my demon did the work and I got all the exp. I didn't even have to funnel until I got to Nagrand.

[jonish]

Devouring Plague is a significant heal. I find when I pulled too much while leveling, burning down a single mob with Devouring Plague and SW would be enough to get me through most situations. I think Shadow's self-healing and group healing (through VE) is fine, especially if the tradeoff is that Blizzard pays more attention to our damage issues.

By the way, every hybrid has the "I can't top myself off with one off-heal" issue. Not just Priests.

As for leveling - take Mind Harvest glyph. That should solve a lot of problems (quicker access to the burst and healing of DP).

Your reply makes me think you didnt even read the thread before commenting. No one is asking to get topped off by a single heal. They/we are complaining that you have to stand in place , cast the only heal spell we have now 10 times before being topped and able to move on.

Yes, DP has a very powerful heal mechanic, it being that strong is also an issue. Because when that spell is not active, we are getting F'd in the A with no lube. Other hybrids have multiple ways to heal/block damage during combat, they also have much much more survivability than shadow. Shadow is the squishiest any class/spec has ever been in the history of the game currently. The only comparison I can think of is wotlk/cata Ele shaman. When shadow priests are running 2/3 survivability glyphs just to get by, there's a problem. VE is horrendously undertuned currently dont know why you would put that in your post if you are trying to argue shadows viability. VE is the mind sear(current version) of healing.

- - - Updated - - -

Shadow priests have heals? From a pvp point of view:

It seems there's been a tradeoff. Our single target damage has been buffed, (from mop point of view) at the expense of our survivability.

shadow isnt doing any more damage now than it was in Mists. This nonsense keeps getting perpetuated by the playerbase because Blizzard keeps saying it, but it just isnt the case. If anything shadows dps has gone down comparitive to how we ended pre-6.0. So our dps hasnt changed or got worse, the rotation became hell on earth, our self healing was nerfed into the ground , our damage reduction was flat out removed, our mastery is still completely useless, our level 100 talents are all complete garbage in terms of balance and ingame function.

So, where has shadow benefited? Im missing something or people are lying to themselves.