ST + IST vs. Shadow Affinity + Improved VE

[jonish]

I was actually wondering if you are having the same success as I am with IMP VE?
As a priest I can only speak for myself but I'm pulling 5-6k dps on a single target in 10 mans with strict 10-man gear.

With regular VE I heal myself about 750 hps effectively making me a null for a raid healer's priority as I can top myself off pretty quickly unless I'm being focused. This also adds 150 hps to the raid more or less a weak healing stream. Doesn't do too much but definitely doesn't hurt. Adding 67% to that healing amount puts me at 1250/250 for those numbers respecively. Again, it's nice but maybe all that worth while.

Due to the improvements in haste I find myself running out of mana a bit quicker than usual and rather than use dispersion I was wondering if it made more sense to drop points out of Imp VE and Inner Focus and throw them into Focused Mind.

I know i'm trying to hijack this thread but I think that the Imp ST debate is pretty much over as everyone should have it now.

So the questions is:
Do the mana issues we currently suffer (I know they're not that big) warrant dropping Imp VE and Inner focus for Focused Mind?

you would be outa your mind to drop focused mind at any point in any build for pve. Especially with the fact we are now stacking haste gear. I do not even know what build you are looking at. maybe you are talking about a PVP build that drops focused mind , if so then you could make the argument either way. but 15% less cost on 2 spells we use in pvp is not enough in my personal opinion to warrant the loss of major self healing along with inner focus.

[jonish]

Perhaps your dps is fail like most shadow priests, if you weren't approaching 15K dps on hard mode Hodir you were bad and tanks were most certainly struggling for threat... not to mention vezax and threat reduction certainly helped with AoEing large amounts of trash.

Thats not to say I suggest everyone take it but its not as black and white as you make out.

No what I said was a fact. If you put points in shadow affinity in a raid build your wasting your talent points. They were never useful at any point. Maybe if you are too stupid to micro manage your threat via Omen or just using Fade before you start your first burst of aoe on trash to completely negate any chance at pulling aggro on aoe trash then sure grab those points, but it proves my concept that your terrible for needing those talents.

I pulled top 5 on pretty much every vezax and hodir hard mode my guild did for the duration of of Ulduar and aggro was never a concern. Maybe it was just because our hunters and rogues know how to use tricks and misdirect on our tank and yours dont , not sure. But I never needed to worry about pulling aggro on bosses. I find it is hilarious that you did then blame my lack of dps such ignorance.

[jonish]

I've done 21k dps on hodir and tank had 0 problems keeping agro with 0 threat talents. Get new tanks. -Threat is waste.

exactly

[jonish]

Imp SF has always been enough for me... but we have skilled tanks and if ure good enough with ure fade u really cant pull agro... the only times ive ever pulled threat was vezax but even than u press 1 button and u got no more agro for 10 seconds, and if u still have it after that something is definitely wrong.. is that talent really worth it when u have a 10 second threat immunity?

exactly again

[Weena2]

I've done 21k dps on hodir and tank had 0 problems keeping agro with 0 threat talents. Get new tanks. -Threat is waste.

someone had to write a reply like this

[Danner]

http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=586

If you click that link, you can see what fade is actually doing.

Apply Aura: Mod Total Threat (Fade)
Value: -90000000

Meaning, for the duration of fade, it reduces your threat by 90 million.

Assuming you have 2000 threat.
You cast fade, you now have -89,998,000 threat. That's probably less than anyone else.
You then attack a bit and gain 3000 more threat. You now have -89,995,000 threat. Still less than everyone else
Fade ends, you now have 5000 threat.

[TheRabidDeer]

I've done 21k dps on hodir and tank had 0 problems keeping agro with 0 threat talents. Get new tanks. -Threat is waste.

http://www.wowmeteronline.com/rank/clazz/dps/pri/7/0/3
So you hold the #2 DPS spot for priests? Also, hodir isnt a great fight to mention for threat. As a ranged class, if the tank is any good, he can taunt and get huge jumps of aggro because of the mechanics of the taunt ability.

I still dont think that -threat talents are any good, but I am just calling bullshit on your 21k dps on hodir claim :P

PS: Bragging about hodir is dumb since a good chunk of damage is fairly luck based

[Bizatch]

Hey Richay

not using VE makes me feel naked, i love being almost invincible while i faceroll instances.

[Direshadow]

Shadow Affinity hasn't been useful in a raiding enviroment since Burning Crusade.

Spirit and Improved Spirit tap are still very important us.

As for Vampiric Embrace, the buff that allowed our dots to tick faster is also a buff to VE in a way. It's basic thinking. Each time any of our spells deals damage to a mob, you, and your group, recieve a small bit of healing. So if you think about it, you have 3 dots ticking very fast, plust your mind flay, plus your mind blasts, all of which is being converted into healing for your raid.

It's not needed, but it's deffinatly a helpful bonus to everyone.


Edit: Also, if you're having threat problems, it's most deffinatly your tank. Fade is great, but I generally only use it in very odd situations, IE, when a boss resets threat.

[KresnikHellfire]

http://www.wowmeteronline.com/rank/clazz/dps/pri/7/0/3
So you hold the #2 DPS spot for priests? Also, hodir isnt a great fight to mention for threat. As a ranged class, if the tank is any good, he can taunt and get huge jumps of aggro because of the mechanics of the taunt ability.

I still dont think that -threat talents are any good, but I am just calling bullshit on your 21k dps on hodir claim :P

PS: Bragging about hodir is dumb since a good chunk of damage is fairly luck based

I know noone is going to care for my anecdotal story (so skip ahead now if you don't wana hear), but that's the first time I've seen that website and I found it really interesting. I noticed on Hodir the lowest dps was 16k, and on one attempt of us killing it I clocked up a massive, RNG based 17k dps. So there I was, thinking how I wished I'd posted it so I could get on this ever-so impressive board, only to see:

<6> Kresnik, 18k dps

Alas, it was not me. What a swine, stealing my name and my "best Kresnik shadowpriest dps on hodir" glory

[Abandon]

wrong, it causes no threat to generate for the duration of fade, read the spell detail

If that was true, it would be impossible to pull aggro while faded. Which it is not.

[richay]

http://www.wowmeteronline.com/rank/clazz/dps/pri/7/0/3
So you hold the #2 DPS spot for priests? Also, hodir isnt a great fight to mention for threat. As a ranged class, if the tank is any good, he can taunt and get huge jumps of aggro because of the mechanics of the taunt ability.

I still dont think that -threat talents are any good, but I am just calling bullshit on your 21k dps on hodir claim :P

PS: Bragging about hodir is dumb since a good chunk of damage is fairly luck based

We keep our logs private for some reason, but anyway:
http://i48.tinypic.com/29loh79.jpg
I'm sure i can do more too, doubt i was flasked or well fed and uptime on dots was wank, slack ulduar boss.
As you can see from graph i only got 2 storm powers instead of 3/4 for full duration and first one quite late on.
0 threat talents, 0 omen warnings during the fight.


PS. Hi bizatch
PPS. fuck mages.