The State of Shadow Heading in to Patch 6.2

[Djriff]

It’s too early to announce anything specific at this point, but we can tell you that there are very significant changes coming to Shadow in a future patch, that we hope will better capture the fantasy, while providing unique gameplay. We're reading all of your feedback, and taking it into account when making these changes.

Again, thanks for the constructive feedback, and we look forward to more in the future.

I honestly am kind of scared of these changes. We have already changed so much in the last 2 expansions that I honestly don't know what direction they're going to take us this time.

Side note, when I read this bit I imagined a dark version of Prayer of Mending that could be cast on enemies and bounce around every time they take damage (Would be great for spread or stacked AoE).

[Etrock08]

It’s too early to announce anything specific at this point, but we can tell you that there are very significant changes coming to Shadow in a future patch, that we hope will better capture the fantasy, while providing unique gameplay. We're reading all of your feedback, and taking it into account when making these changes.

Again, thanks for the constructive feedback, and we look forward to more in the future.

I honestly am kind of scared of these changes. We have already changed so much in the last 2 expansions that I honestly don't know what direction they're going to take us this time.

Side note, when I read this bit I imagined a dark version of Prayer of Mending that could be cast on enemies and bounce around every time they take damage (Would be great for spread or stacked AoE).

I would love an insanity bar that works like rage, as we cast shadow spells we gain insanity and then we need to spend it to reduce the bar. Be fun if there was a penalty for reaching max insanity. And our MAstery could increase damage based on how much insanity we have so that we have a purpose for building insanity up as high as possible before spending it to avoid the penalty

then it becomes a balancing act between do you dump all your insanity for burst or do you try to keep you insanity around 50% for sustained damage

[Djriff]

That actually sounds like a fun if not demanding idea. Are you suggesting making mind flay/insanity actually spend it or something different. Would be nice if they just replaced our mana with something like this, since spriests, at least in a raid sitting, can't go oom.

[davesignal]

It’s too early to announce anything specific at this point, but we can tell you that there are very significant changes coming to Shadow in a future patch, that we hope will better capture the fantasy, while providing unique gameplay. We're reading all of your feedback, and taking it into account when making these changes.

Again, thanks for the constructive feedback, and we look forward to more in the future.

I honestly am kind of scared of these changes. We have already changed so much in the last 2 expansions that I honestly don't know what direction they're going to take us this time.

Side note, when I read this bit I imagined a dark version of Prayer of Mending that could be cast on enemies and bounce around every time they take damage (Would be great for spread or stacked AoE).

I dunno. The last big revamp Blizzard did was Warlocks, and they came out from that with a ton of awesome and engaging mechanics. The last big revamp we had before the MOP revamp was Cataclysm, which was also fun and engaging.

I'm willing to roll the dice and see what we get.

[Granyala]

We’ve been retrospective lately about where Shadow has come, and how much it truly fulfills its intended fantasy, gameplay style, role, etc. Shadow Priests should be the masters of the shadows cast by the light from the Holy Priests. In terms of lore and fantasy, they should focus on the powers of the Void. However, they’re still Priests; they know that what they’re dabbling with is dangerous, and have to try to go as far as they can without going *too* far. Pain, Insanity, Darkness… These are the tools they use on their enemies, and even a bit on themselves. For the future, we’re looking at ways that we can adjust their gameplay to feel more viscerally “Shadow Priest”.

Hmm rework DP then.
We are not DKs or Forsaken (well, not all of us), we don't infect people. In a lore context, DP is clearly the odd one out. :>

As for "major changes"... I feel VERY uneasy about that one.

[Etrock08]

That actually sounds like a fun if not demanding idea. Are you suggesting making mind flay/insanity actually spend it or something different. Would be nice if they just replaced our mana with something like this, since spriests, at least in a raid sitting, can't go oom.

They could just replace our mana bar with an insanity bar. some spells would be generators and some would be spenders like runic power however damage could be increased based on the % of insanity we have. So unlike runic power we wouldn't just build up and then burn it down each time. For sustained damage we would want to keep our insanity somewhere in the middle for the damage increase. Our burst could come from getting close to 100% and then using all of it up as a last ditch effort (like how arcane mages have a burn phase)

If we hit 100% however (to make it so that spamming a strong generator ability wasnt viable) Your Mindflay could turn into "Insanity" a different version than what we have now, and be the only spell usable in order to drain our bar back to 50% where the debuff would drop off. I dont think this kind of a draw back would be a thing blizz would want to do but it would be interesting.

So basically loreish wise it would be a shadow priest attacks its enemy with the void and as it does so, the shadow priest has a build up of insanity/void within himself/herself due to a sliver of the void power being used staying behind within the caster. These slivers of left over void within them empowers their subsequent abilities but at the same time slowly sends them into insanity. In order to purge this insanity caused by the void to themselves they must use that concentrated void energy and loose it on an opponent in a raw power attack (Devouring Plague etc).

[Thirteen]

It's a good day to be a shadow priest. Let's hope you/we win the war too (and maybe some work done on the other 2 specs? One can only hope).

[Djriff]

I dunno. The last big revamp Blizzard did was Warlocks, and they came out from that with a ton of awesome and engaging mechanics. The last big revamp we had before the MOP revamp was Cataclysm, which was also fun and engaging.

I'm willing to roll the dice and see what we get.

Well it wasn't exactly a "revamp" however changing our mastery was pretty horrible. We went from being a dot reliant class to some BS mastery that increased damage for certain skills. On top of that we were stuck with 2 lvl 100 talents that have completely different play styles. The CoP playstyle isn't anything we've ever done as shadow and could almost be considered a revamp. By the time BRF opened and we had enough crit to make AS viable it felt like we were back to a cata/mop playstyle without a cap on DP.

On another note to the blue post, they didn't seem to address anything about CoP and Insanity being mandatory together. I suppose you could run SoD on a 3 target fight and just VT the other 2 bosses and funnel MS for movement, but AS already does this better and has higher orb generation. I'm happy we got feedback, but a little disappointed its more of a general type of feedback ya know?

[Musta]

The current state is terrible... I will take anything thats its not it. I want my DoT guy back.

[davesignal]

On another note to the blue post, they didn't seem to address anything about CoP and Insanity being mandatory together. I suppose you could run SoD on a 3 target fight and just VT the other 2 bosses and funnel MS for movement, but AS already does this better and has higher orb generation. I'm happy we got feedback, but a little disappointed its more of a general type of feedback ya know?

They sort of did-- they said DoTWeaving was not intentional, but now it's a bit too late to fix it and there's no elegant solution. Insanity is only mandatory with COP because of DoTWeaving.

Insanity wasn't mandatory in their original design, it's just that their original design was not robust enough to reflect reality.

[Deleted]

It's quite rare to see such a long replay from blizzard. Good to know they have something up for SPs for the next expac. Kudos Twintop!

It makes me laugh to see blizzard saying "not so well" instead of total failure:P Orbs were shiet ever since they were introduced:x And mastery is so bad seeing it makes me mad:x

[Veiled]

Crossposting:

It's very nice to see this response and we thank Celestalon and Devs for taking the time to read and reply to our thread.

As a Priest community, we need to be better in communicating our feedback. It's very easy to feel that Devs don't listen when we get very little response -or- are shot down quickly. Mostly, we don't need entire walls of text, only some acknowledgement of mistakes and a "hey, we realize (this) and we're going to fix it (soon)!" Personally, I am very easy to please as a player and a voice in the community (even though it doesn't seem like it!). I've always been very forthright in my communication and somewhat expect that from Blizzard.

I fully agree with the comment about Shadow Orbs, specifically. I feel that Orbs are one of the many things, and probably one of the major ones, that've made Shadow not feel like Shadow (at least for me). I hope everyone who reads this understands how much work they need to do on Shadow Priests and that it will be no easy task. There's a long road ahead of Devs and Players alike, especially concerning feedback. I really hope that we get back to our roots and play style. Don't expect to see changes for a long while.

[Musta]

Crossposting:

It's very nice to see this response and we thank Celestalon and Devs for taking the time to read and reply to our thread.

As a Priest community, we need to be better in communicating our feedback. It's very easy to feel that Devs don't listen when we get very little response -or- are shot down quickly. Mostly, we don't need entire walls of text, only some acknowledgement of mistakes and a "hey, we realize (this) and we're going to fix it (soon)!" Personally, I am very easy to please as a player and a voice in the community (even though it doesn't seem like it!). I've always been very forthright in my communication and somewhat expect that from Blizzard.

I fully agree with the comment about Shadow Orbs, specifically. I feel that Orbs are one of the many things, and probably one of the major ones, that've made Shadow not feel like Shadow (at least for me). I hope everyone who reads this understands how much work they need to do on Shadow Priests and that it will be no easy task. There's a long road ahead of Devs and Players alike, especially concerning feedback. I really hope that we get back to our roots and play style. Don't expect to see changes for a long while.

I like shadow orbs, I just hated the way they implemented it. Its just bad. But I'm looking foward to the next xpac after hearing celestalon.

[Djriff]

They sort of did-- they said DoTWeaving was not intentional, but now it's a bit too late to fix it and there's no elegant solution. Insanity is only mandatory with COP because of DoTWeaving.

Insanity wasn't mandatory in their original design, it's just that their original design was not robust enough to reflect reality.

True, but the fact remains that Insanity is mandatory to be competitive while using CoP.

I like shadow orbs, I just hated the way they implemented it. Its just bad. But I'm looking foward to the next xpac after hearing celestalon.

He did say patch, not xpac and that makes me really hopeful for 6.3

[Musta]

True, but the fact remains that Insanity is mandatory to be competitive while using CoP.


He did say patch, not xpac and that makes me really hopeful for 6.3

Hopeful here too!

Last blizzcon there was this question about SPs visuals and they DID say it was on their list. Lets hope for that too.

[Veiled]

6.3 would be nice, but if what's happening is of the scope I'm thinking it is, 7.0 is more likely.

[Djriff]

One can hope Veiled, one can hope.

[Triggered Fridgekin]

6.3 would be nice, but if what's happening is of the scope I'm thinking it is, 7.0 is more likely.

There's no way they would take time to rework a class outside of an expansion patch. I mean, it's not like it matters because they've been doing a real half-assed job, but they'll just throw number tweaks and class trinkets to function as a band-aid in the mean time.

[Sam the Wiser]

How long is the OP? I can't even load it.

[davesignal]

Pretty long.