[6.2] Initial Thoughts & Discussion

[Deleted]

The DP nerf is worrying to say the least but it seems we are not the only ones getting nerfed. However i'm shocked hunters and mages are left untouched. It makes no sense at all since they are already dominating us.

[Granyala]

I love seeing the direction Blizzard are taking shadowpriests in 6.2.
Of course numbers are not final blah blah blah, but it certainly looks like "Guys you're not in the bottom of the dps list, so we should fix that mistake".

Seriously now: Did you honestly expect ANYTHING else?
Hello?! *knock knock* I't Shadow priests we're talking about here. Bottom of the barrel is where we belong.

[Deleted]

And yet, Fire Mages remain untouched. As always.

Why would 400k opening burst need a nerf?

[Thirteen]

Why would 400k opening burst need a nerf?

400? I've seen over 800k on maidens.

[l33t]

Seriously now: Did you honestly expect ANYTHING else?
Hello?! *knock knock* I't Shadow priests we're talking about here. Bottom of the barrel is where we belong.

Yes, after an awesome balanced Highmaul I thought Blizzard finally hired fair and competent devs that are not hating on shadowpriests.
My bad, sorry for naive dreams I guess.

[Deleted]

The only thing im kinda pissed about is the disgusting tier set...

[Vargur]

The only time Holy Nova has EVER been useful:

And bugs before Putricide.

[Thirteen]

And bugs before Putricide.

Oh yeah. It was actually really good for farming Stratholme back in the day, since it's our only instant aoe.

[Zungate]

I know it's not a priest change per se, but that ring bugs me out. Yet another tool for classes with CDs to pull ahead.
We could really use a bigger CD than shadowfiend.

[Thirteen]

I know it's not a priest change per se, but that ring bugs me out. Yet another tool for classes with CDs to pull ahead.
We could really use a bigger CD than shadowfiend.

I haven't played shadow in BRF, but it might actually work out well. Most CDs are on 3 minutes, and the rings are on 2. Assuming you're using the rings whenever you can, you'll have 2 rings lined up with cooldowns, and 1-2 rings without them. Provided you bank your DP/Halo for then, it could even out.

Not to mention with the increasing crit values, shadow might end up being perfectly balanced even with the nerfs.

[Archpriest]

The ring will most likely change again but if does not then it will be fun to play around with Power Infusion... since it has a 2 min cd

[Granyala]

Yes, after an awesome balanced Highmaul I thought Blizzard finally hired fair and competent devs that are not hating on shadowpriests.
My bad, sorry for naive dreams I guess.

This is probably how the Blizzard devs look right now:

Not to mention with the increasing crit values, shadow might end up being perfectly balanced even with the nerfs.

Doubtful. Esp not on ST encounters.
That nerf only "balances" one thing: AS going nuts in fights that spam us with secondary targets.

[Deleted]

Not to mention with the increasing crit values, shadow might end up being perfectly balanced even with the nerfs.

Pretty certain that's why they're nerfing DP specifically, otherwise AS will be too DP focussed.

Hope they buff MB/Flay though, although the trinket might be their idea of that.

[stickyjam]

I know it's not a priest change per se, but that ring bugs me out. Yet another tool for classes with CDs to pull ahead.
We could really use a bigger CD than shadowfiend.

My favourite buff would be a harder hitting shadowfiend

[l33t]

I know it's not a priest change per se, but that ring bugs me out. Yet another tool for classes with CDs to pull ahead.
We could really use a bigger CD than shadowfiend.

I bet we will have to use PI for the leg ring usage only. I seriously doubt though that it would place us at least in first 1/3 of dps chart.

Speaking of cooldowns, IMO it is beyond stupid that we have no on use cooldown. PI should've been made baseline years ago. Of course we have execute phase, so what? Half of dps specs have it now as well.

[Romanticide]

I'm just really hoping we get nothing so they can see the $hit they've done to us and give us a well-deserved revamp where we have class mechanics in our spellbook and not in our talent tree.

[Nythiz]

I don't understand that 12% DP nerf. In what way was it too powerful? I wonder if its a pre-emptive nerf to the potential of massive crit values letting AS spam it.

Something like this is my guess.

There is no need to nerf shadowpriests at all if you look at the data from current tier. However, spriests scale very well with a lot of stats. And something like AS with higher crit and haste numbers make that scaling turn exponential.
I think what we're seeing here is just blizzard prematurely nerfing shadow for the potential insane damage.

I hope.... -.-

[l33t]

There is no need to nerf shadowpriests at all if you look at the data from current tier. However, spriests scale very well with a lot of stats. And something like AS with higher crit and haste numbers make that scaling turn exponential.
I think what we're seeing here is just blizzard prematurely nerfing shadow for the potential insane damage.

I hope.... -.-

See, problem is, mages scale even better, they already are rocking at dps, but blizzard buff them even moar.

[wichtounet]

The holy priest class trinket is SOOOO bad

I'm really disappointed by these patch notes. Most of it is recycling from BC and there are no changes to holy priest.

[Danner]

no changes to holy priest.

I see this as a good thing. That means they won't utterly break the spec this patch either, by doing something insane like adding a healing stance which effectively destroys all flexibility the spec once offered. It took two expansions to get that particular SNAFU undone.

On the downside, I am secretly believing that no dev really care much at all about the holypriest spec. I mean, there's no lack of things that are messed up. Our mastery doesn't work with the only spell affordable enough to use as filler, making the entire stat subpar. Holy feels like a subpar druid when doing apples-to-apples comparison (which isn't a good comparison, but still). The Lv100 talents are a running joke (did you know that 99% of all holypriests pick Words of Mending, according to wowpopular?). There is really only one glyph for holy that changes your play: glyph of renew. And more. I do wish these things would be fixed.

But - I'd much rather prefer to be the forgettable "non-discipline" spec, than being subject to the seemingly whimsical and recurring redesign that disc experiences every single patch since WoTLK. I'll give you that the trinket sucks, but consider the alternative: a clueless team of developers actually messing with the spec . Here's some patch notes from an alternative universe where that happens:

- We have discovered that Holy Word: Sanctuary heals for significantly less than the counterparts of other classes. HW: Sanctuary now heals for +3250% more, which should put it in line.
- As a balance side effect, the throughput of all other heals have been reduced by 34%.
- New Chakra stance! Chakra: Meditation. While in this stance, your spellpower is reduced by 50%, but your spirit is doubled.
- We have found that holypriest end up with too much mana in this stance. Mana regen from spirit and base regen is reduced by 50% baseline.
- Turns out, holypriests are now really weak. Who'd have known? To compensate, your Saving Grace spell is now 500% stronger.
- Saving Grace is too powerful in PVP. We're nerfing it by 500% in battlegrounds and arenas.
- For some reason, you bastards are only casting Saving Grace now. We're giving it a 6, no 8, no 10 second cooldown. Stop using it!
- Renew now affected by mastery! However, due to technical limitations, it is no longer affected by multistrike.
- All right, we hear you. Renew is now affected by multistrike. However, due to technical limitations, it is no longer affected by spellpower.

I feel the disc patch notes the last few years have read exactly like this. And I'm glad my spec, Holy, never saw the same kind of insanity. If that luxury costs me a trinket, so be it.

- - - Updated - - -

Apologies if that came off as whiny. It's really meant as a praise to the spec. Holy doesn't see much of the insanity. And that's a good thing!