Improved spirit tap

[Ntrails]

Ok folks, here is the deal. I just hit the PTR, trying out shadow DPS.

It is clear that Shadow has had some buffing.


With no consumables I was putting out reasonable DPS. Fascinating to see how much Mind flay has gone up as a source of DPS.


Note that I could NOT use SW simply because there are no VE heals on the Dummies.

However - to get to my point....

Since imp spirit tap only procs off MB/SW crits (not flay) I was wondering if the mana inefficiency of SW would be made up by the increased imp tap uptime?

Do you, as a class, think flay OUGHT to proc imp spirit tap? It would make a huge difference to have that up the whole time.

Finally - Dispersion is an awesome graphic

[derevka]

Ok folks, here is the deal. I just hit the PTR, trying out shadow DPS.

It is clear that Shadow has had some buffing.


With no consumables I was putting out reasonable DPS. Fascinating to see how much Mind flay has gone up as a source of DPS.


Note that I could NOT use SW simply because there are no VE heals on the Dummies.

However - to get to my point....

Since imp spirit tap only procs off MB/SW crits (not flay) I was wondering if the mana inefficiency of SW would be made up by the increased imp tap uptime?

Do you, as a class, think flay OUGHT to proc imp spirit tap? It would make a huge difference to have that up the whole time.

Finally - Dispersion is an awesome graphic

If you head over to Shadowpriest.com there is a pretty extensive writeup discussing how most SPriests are removing SWD from rotation due to the DPS changes to the other spells.

[Ntrails]

If you head over to Shadowpriest.com there is a pretty extensive writeup discussing how most SPriests are removing SWD from rotation due to the DPS changes to the other spells.

I know. Which is why I made this post. Because, after all, if it procs spirit tap then it is worth x% mana...... in which case it was free and worth casting....

[derevka]

Right, but my point is, even if its "free" from mana, it doesn't mean its the best choice spell in terms of DPS.

[Ntrails]

Right, but my point is, even if its "free" from mana, it doesn't mean its the best choice spell in terms of DPS.

Well, it is better DPS than flay - certainly at the gear levels we have seen. In general it is removed from rotation because the mana cost is not worth the small DPS increase from what I can tell. I assure you if it had a mana cost of 1% no one would be removing it from their rotation.

[derevka]

Well, it is better DPS than flay - certainly at the gear levels we have seen. In general it is removed from rotation because the mana cost is not worth the small DPS increase from what I can tell. I assure you if it had a mana cost of 1% no one would be removing it from their rotation.

/agree

Though a bulk of my testing on the beta realms hasn't been in crit heavy gear (still /boggling on that one new stat, lol), once Spriests get a good balance of hit/crit/spir and we can rely on more consistent crit chances (TY mind melt)... Perhaps SWD due to the proc it can provide will have a place.

[Harima]

Ok folks, here is the deal. I just hit the PTR, trying out shadow DPS.

It is clear that Shadow has had some buffing.


With no consumables I was putting out reasonable DPS. Fascinating to see how much Mind flay has gone up as a source of DPS.


Note that I could NOT use SW simply because there are no VE heals on the Dummies.

However - to get to my point....

Since imp spirit tap only procs off MB/SW crits (not flay) I was wondering if the mana inefficiency of SW would be made up by the increased imp tap uptime?

Do you, as a class, think flay OUGHT to proc imp spirit tap? It would make a huge difference to have that up the whole time.

Finally - Dispersion is an awesome graphic

I would love to have flay proc imp spirit tap because mana would be the least of our problems. Since flay/mb will refresh swain. and imp spirit tap will continue mana regeneration as well as VT if you got it. We would be self made mana batteries. ;D

[Azoth]

Since Bliz is forcing us to re-enchant/re-gem to crit/haste, crits from any spell should proc Imp Spirit Tap. Currently the mana regen gained is a joke anyways so making it proc a little more often isn't like we will be OP. It'll just allow us to fight a boss a little longer than 2 minutes before going OOM.

Another option is a change to I:ST or a different talent that returned a % of the mana cost of a spell if it crits would be nice. Many other classes have this ability.

We are still on the bottom of the DPS charts (by a WIDE margin), have no unique raid utility (VE doesn't count as a raid utility) and have horrible issues with mana... Ya I'm confident I'll still be getting raid invites. LOL

Not a QQ, but venting as only a few short revisions ago Shadow saw great utility, good but not phenom damage and longevity in boss fights. Sadly that is all but been erased as Bliz continues to play with the Shadow tree. Now I'm not saying I want to top the DPS charts with infinite mana and be invulnerable, but we really need a developer to look at Shadow again and realize that if we have no unique utility buff our DPS, if we will always be bottom on DPS then buff our utility. Just please stop nerfing both.