1. #1

    brand new Spriest

    Hi! I just purchased a boost and used it on a Spriest, I started looking at these forums and why is everyone saying we are the worst class / spec in the game? It made me regret my decision and give me anxiety that when I'm scrolling through here a majority of people are like "We are under performing, the worst dps in game, worst aoe, worst mobility, very sht to play, bad in m+ dungeons" ect..

    did I make a mistake with this boost then?..

  2. #2
    Not if you like the class, how is that a mistake?

  3. #3
    Herald of the Titans Ynna's Avatar
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    People complaining tend to be more vocal and pro-active. You only hear the positive sides in reaction to people being negative.

    There is consensus about the poor AoE capabilities of Shadow Priests and how any movement can significantly lower your DPS, but apart from that the spec is powerful enough and can be pretty fun. (I don't like DPS to begin with, but Shadow is alright.)
    Resurrected Holy Priest

  4. #4
    Its somewhat fun to play, compared to majority of other casters, but skill ceiling for the spec is very high, the spec itself is VERY gear dependent, and spec's aoe is nonexistent - which automatically makes the spec worst in almost any solo activity. Now compare that to BM hunter for example, which only downside is boring gameplay...
    No more time wasted in WoW.. still reading this awesome forum, though

  5. #5
    Don't worry about the doom sayers of the forums. Spriest is very fun to play imo. Yes their "aoe" is to just do everything so you dont get to do sick AoE Padding without an AOE trinket. but the dps rotation is quite entertaining. lots of things to pay attention to and decide. Spriest are used in mythic prog. They are not bad. They just lack the AoE. So since people can't Pad they are just QQ.
    There are some issues, like every other class. No class is perfect.
    I'd say dont worry about it and have fun with the spec. Spriest might not be grand in lower M+ keys, but they perform just fine in higher M+ keys.

  6. #6
    Just a quick rundown of shadow priest.

    Mythic raiding
    One of the most useless ranged specs, Why would a guild recruit a shadow priest when they could get a warlock?

    Normal/Heroic raiding
    Doesn't matter, trivial stuff. Though i wouldn't go and join a guild with more than 1 shadow priest (per 15 raiders)

    Pug raiding
    Good luck finding a group, when many DPS are applying, why would they pick a shadow priest?

    Mythic +
    Tyrannical = Spec holy or be carried.
    Fortified = You're still only 80-90% as good as other casters.

    Mythic+ pugs
    You'll almost never be invited to a group as a DPS unless your ilvl is impressive, spec holy.

    Arenas
    Prepare to be tunneled, you're already dead.

    Battlegrounds
    Shadow priest is actually pretty good here, hopefully theres no DK's in here.

    A lot of people around here use euphemistic terms like 'Fine', 'might not be grand', 'powerful enough', 'just need to plan ahead'.
    These people dont play at the high end and probably dont pvp either, so their opinions arent completely wrong and my guess is that the OP is in a similar boat.

    But from high end content point of view, the words Stressful, disappointed, sluggish, punishing are the most accurate descriptors of playing a shadow priest.

  7. #7
    If you go priest you must take into consideration the fact that you have only one DPS spec, and that spec is historically a dot ramp-up style. You won't kill things fast, but when you go supersayian things melt fast.

    DPS is not the worst in the game, mobilit is good but if you need to move at the wrong time your dps will suffer, gameplay is interesting ( although at high void stacks it becomes very spamy)
    Both the healing specs are very good at the moment (i was always a healer and having 2 only makes it more interesting in case i get bored of one, or one is underperforming)


    Mythic raiding - Shadow is very good in ToS, there are some fights where we excel due to the ability to have the dots on long living targets. Also do not forget that our strength shows up in execute phase (below 35%), if you have adds that spawn periodically through the fight, it will give you a bigger uptime on the buff. World first KJ mythic had a SP in (and it was not brought there for the soaking )

    Normal/Heroic raiding - SP performance drops as encounter duration gets shorter. Not bad but not stellar

    PUGs - go healing, it's safer. Most will not know how SPs work, and if they will start wiping before 35% you will be kicked based on DPS.

    Mythic+ - Low keys go healing, High keys .. SPs are very good. If tank can, and knows how to chain pull, you will melt packs (boss dps might suffer, but most of the time is pent on trash in mythics). use your STUN

    Arenas - Spicymemer is right here, you will get tunneled a lot, there is a reason for that - if you are allowed to free cast you will drop the enemy team so fast they won't know what is happening. You also have good survivability and utility, but you will need external heals and peels.

    BGs - stay behind your front line and try to be as low profile as you can (limit your usage of mindflay), and you will do great. gets a little messy when you have melee on you.


    SPs are not easy to pick up and play. You must know the fights and you must know when you can move, where to stay and so on. Some times you will need to delay going void form, or blowing CDs. You will not be at the level of arms warrior in ToS or aff locks in NH. But from time to time there is a glitch in the matrix and EN Madness happens.

    TLR - If you enjoy the class, stick to it. If you want something simple go BM hunter, if you want dps which is always wanted go rogue or mage. If you want a class that is always good go druid.

  8. #8
    Hey, please don't listen to these guys. Spriest is in a very good spot right now. Lots of Aoe in tomb of sargeras and this is what Spriest is good. Spriest rotation is easy but very hard to master. You need a lot of practice in order to do good dps not like the other class when you pop your shit and kill everything. Pvp wise, you will get tunneled, but it's ebcause you do a lot of damage if left unchecked. If you really want to read on how to play spriest and be good, please don't come back in here. Go to howtopriest.com and read the shadow forum. Farewell friend !

  9. #9
    I just want to say that you can probably go into any class forum on here and on wow forums and find claims that their class is "garbage" and "bottom dps"

  10. #10
    I love the class fantasy, animations, and the build/spend dynamic. I love my spriest so much that I gave up on my lock.

    BUT if you want invites, if you want to be valued, it's not going to happen.

    Sure, they're are some git gud guys that will tell you how they top this or that encounter. But they're smart, studious, and highly experienced with their class. You can can be as good as them someday, but not quickly.

    My alt is a stupid demonhunter and I do double the dps of my spriest in almost every situation without thinking or trying. With spriest, there's timing, planning, and when it's right it's SO fun. But when you f up, there's no recovering really. Spriest takes brains and skill.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spicymemer View Post
    Just a quick rundown of shadow priest.

    Mythic raiding
    One of the most useless ranged specs, Why would a guild recruit a shadow priest when they could get a warlock?

    Normal/Heroic raiding
    Doesn't matter, trivial stuff. Though i wouldn't go and join a guild with more than 1 shadow priest (per 15 raiders)

    Pug raiding
    Good luck finding a group, when many DPS are applying, why would they pick a shadow priest?

    Mythic +
    Tyrannical = Spec holy or be carried.
    Fortified = You're still only 80-90% as good as other casters.

    Mythic+ pugs
    You'll almost never be invited to a group as a DPS unless your ilvl is impressive, spec holy.

    Arenas
    Prepare to be tunneled, you're already dead.

    Battlegrounds
    Shadow priest is actually pretty good here, hopefully theres no DK's in here.

    A lot of people around here use euphemistic terms like 'Fine', 'might not be grand', 'powerful enough', 'just need to plan ahead'.
    These people dont play at the high end and probably dont pvp either, so their opinions arent completely wrong and my guess is that the OP is in a similar boat.

    But from high end content point of view, the words Stressful, disappointed, sluggish, punishing are the most accurate descriptors of playing a shadow priest.
    Damn bro, you mad a little bit? I'd love to see what you play, where you play, and how you play when you cry like that and ignore reality. Please post your character name and logs good sir. I'd like some definitive proof of your opinion being anything other than pure hot garbagio

    - - - Updated - - -

    Also, for all the naysayers

    https://www.warcraftlogs.com/statistics/13#dataset=90

    https://www.warcraftlogs.com/statistics/13#
    Sylvaeres-Azkial-Pailerth @Proudmoore

  12. #12
    The thing that really ticks me off is how patch after patch goes by, and they just won't give any kind of decent AOE. I like class fantasy of spriest and priest, but I always end up playing druid.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by warlockiii View Post
    The thing that really ticks me off is how patch after patch goes by, and they just won't give any kind of decent AOE. I like class fantasy of spriest and priest, but I always end up playing druid.
    Get the chest legendary and you'll do very good AOE damage.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Azkial View Post
    Damn bro, you mad a little bit? I'd love to see what you play, where you play, and how you play when you cry like that and ignore reality. Please post your character name and logs good sir. I'd like some definitive proof of your opinion being anything other than pure hot garbagio

    - - - Updated - - -

    Also, for all the naysayers

    https://www.warcraftlogs.com/statistics/13#dataset=90

    https://www.warcraftlogs.com/statistics/13#
    Anything with long living adds, shadow will probably top the meters. Look at each individual boss, pure single target? A.k.a Goroth, bottom. Maiden? Bottom. But if there encounters with tons of adds I.E Host, Mistress, Demonic, sure - we will be top. Everything else he said is pretty much true. Why bring a shadow priest when you can bring nearly any other range spec/ class in mythic +s and get out performed. A

  15. #15
    I think it is a valid statement to say that shadow priests have a very high skill cap, and are not generally desirable in high end content past the first one or two. If you aspire to take the class as high as you can, the competition there is incredibly steep, and the available spots are few. I tend to think of shadow priests as the type of class where you have to work twice as hard as many other classes in order to achieve the same results. I don't think of them as a "casual" class, and many of my friends who I consider to be good players tried the class and burned out after a few weeks/months and went to some other class instead. This generalization has been pretty true for the class going back many expansions now. If you're fine with this, or even enjoy the challenge, then Spriest can be a pretty rewarding class to play. As was said, some classes, like BM hunter, the only downside is that it's so easy it can become boring. And actually... boredom is a pretty big detractor for some. Spriest, if nothing else, is not boring.
    "Falling from heaven is not as painful as surviving the impact."

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  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by swaylol View Post
    Anything with long living adds, shadow will probably top the meters. Look at each individual boss, pure single target? A.k.a Goroth, bottom. Maiden? Bottom. But if there encounters with tons of adds I.E Host, Mistress, Demonic, sure - we will be top. Everything else he said is pretty much true. Why bring a shadow priest when you can bring nearly any other range spec/ class in mythic +s and get out performed. A
    So basically Spriest is good on all the difficult fights and mediocre on the easy fights. That doesn't seem like a reason to not bring an Spriest.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Kilee25 View Post
    I think it is a valid statement to say that shadow priests have a very high skill cap, and are not generally desirable in high end content past the first one or two. If you aspire to take the class as high as you can, the competition there is incredibly steep, and the available spots are few. I tend to think of shadow priests as the type of class where you have to work twice as hard as many other classes in order to achieve the same results. I don't think of them as a "casual" class, and many of my friends who I consider to be good players tried the class and burned out after a few weeks/months and went to some other class instead. This generalization has been pretty true for the class going back many expansions now. If you're fine with this, or even enjoy the challenge, then Spriest can be a pretty rewarding class to play. As was said, some classes, like BM hunter, the only downside is that it's so easy it can become boring. And actually... boredom is a pretty big detractor for some. Spriest, if nothing else, is not boring.
    Exactly this. If anything, Spriest is a difficult class to master, but well within the area needed to be viable in current content
    Sylvaeres-Azkial-Pailerth @Proudmoore

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Azkial View Post
    So basically Spriest is good on all the difficult fights and mediocre on the easy fights. That doesn't seem like a reason to not bring an Spriest.

    - - - Updated - - -



    Exactly this. If anything, Spriest is a difficult class to master, but well within the area needed to be viable in current content
    Not saying you shouldn't bring one. Just pointing out a few cons and stuff. I'll play my spriest regardless. I love the spec

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by ginfleth View Post
    Get the chest legendary and you'll do very good AOE damage.
    In the first expac to start crumbling down class homogenization, it makes sense for at least one of the DPS specs to be not AoE focused. I prefer things this way.

    Much better days than the "everyone has a stun, everyone has a cooldown, everyone has an AoE attack, everyone has a big self heal".

    Also OP; Spriest is a difficult class to play at top end. For every button a Demon Hunter has to push to do good DPS, an Spriest has to hit 3, and watch DoT timers, and watch raid timers and be proactive with movement (pop void form right before heavy movement? goodbye a huge chunk of DPS).

    There's no cheap frills about them, they are a very difficult class. People who don't mind learning, practicing and reading guides will find it to be a very rewarding class.
    Last edited by Al Gorefiend; 2017-09-06 at 02:08 AM.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Humbugged View Post
    In the first expac to start crumbling down class homogenization, it makes sense for at least one of the DPS specs to be not AoE focused. I prefer things this way.

    Much better days than the "everyone has a stun, everyone has a cooldown, everyone has an AoE attack, everyone has a big self heal".

    Also OP; Spriest is a difficult class to play at top end. For every button a Demon Hunter has to push to do good DPS, an Spriest has to hit 3, and watch DoT timers, and watch raid timers and be proactive with movement (pop void form right before heavy movement? goodbye a huge chunk of DPS).

    There's no cheap frills about them, they are a very difficult class. People who don't mind learning, practicing and reading guides will find it to be a very rewarding class.
    i agree with u wrote here except 1 thing which may mislead some ppl "pop void form right before heavy movement? goodbye a huge chunk of DPS"

    u should always go voidform as soon as humanly possible, pop voidform right before heavy movement ? np - drain is low on low stacks and u can always dispersion to stop drain.

    spriest is a snowballing spec- the more stacks u have the more lingering insanity (residual haste) after u leave voidform so u basicly wanna go for as much voidform as possible (highest stacks possible) and go back to voidform as much as humanly possible.

    i remember checking top spriest logs on kj heroic back in the day to see how to maximize my dps on a fight which doesnt favors spriest (mobility,shortphases and so on) and i noticed they go into voidform 20 seconds before kj lands from his flight phase basicly giving u around 30+ stacks when the shadowy ghosts whatever name is spawn and a twist of fate on the boss following that with high stacks - u have to think about this things and when u can get the most out of your stacks.

    best of luck - i enjoy the class and i do get good results from it although it is definitely not as easy to play as some other classes.

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