About Them Shadow Orbs..

[Kaesebrezen]

It's one of the few masteries which actually changes your playstyle, and if it is found to be a big damage loss compared to the other ones then it will be buffed. I much prefer something interesting to a passive damage bonus.

That's so wrong. It doesn't change a thing. You keep MB on CD and that's it.
And fixing how bad shadoworbs are is more than just tuning the numbers.

[Vook]

That's so wrong. It doesn't change a thing. You keep MB on CD and that's it.
And fixing how bad shadoworbs are is more than just tuning the numbers.

I have to agree. Shadow Orbs do not change your rotation or anything. 9/10 times you'll have 3 orbs by the time MB comes off CD, anyways. They could change the mastery to "+MB damage" and it would be no different.

[Daggy1111]

Yeah as a mastery, Shadow orbs is kinda crappy. Maybe if they made it so when you get orbs, you cast mind spike or something that could be cool, but as it is, it fails.

[Kelesti]

Is Mind Blast still worth casting on cooldown, if you don't have three Orbs? I'd like to see some numbers ran for this.

Depending on how the bonus damage scales, it might not end up being worth it without 2+.

[Kaesebrezen]

Depending on how the bonus damage scales, it might not end up being worth it without 2+.

It's a linear increase on MB. There is no bonus for having 2 or 3 orbs over 1. You only waste your MB CD's (with MB being our 2nd highest damage spell after SW).

[Jackedandtan]

It's one of the few masteries which actually changes your playstyle, and if it is found to be a big damage loss compared to the other ones then it will be buffed. I much prefer something interesting to a passive damage bonus.

I agree. This will indeed force a play style change (I'm thinking mainly PvP since I don't PvE). For example, avoiding mind blast to stack up your shadow orbs for considerable burst.

They just need to make sure it's a comparable buff for both PvE and PvP, and once again, I don't PvE, so I'll let the raiders speak in regards to that.

EDIT: I believe I saw some sustained DPS numbers for PvE and mastery as is is the least valuable stat with the current mastery mechanics.

[Kaesebrezen]

This will indeed force a play style change (I'm thinking mainly PvP since I don't PvE). For example, avoiding mind blast to stack up your shadow orbs for considerable burst.

You'll probably cast Msp for Paralysis in Pvp (with the recent change to it's mana cost), so no Orbs for MB. It doesn't change a thing.

EDIT: I believe I saw some sustained DPS numbers for PvE and mastery as is is the least valuable stat with the current mastery mechanics.

Least valuable sounds so nice... It's bad compared to crit, and comparing it to haste is just sad.

[Jackedandtan]

You'll probably cast Msp for Paralysis in Pvp (with the recent change to it's mana cost), so no Orbs for MB. It doesn't change a thing.


Least valuable sounds so nice... It's bad compared to crit, and comparing it to haste is just sad.

Well, the numbers were actually quite disappointing. It said something like that even accounting for diminishing returns it is still more valuable to get haste or crit beyond 1500 before even considering the mastery - or something like that. With that being said, I have a hard time imagining that it would not get buffed in some way.

Does anyone know how the orbs effect MS?

[Kaesebrezen]

Does anyone know how the orbs effect MS?

Same as MB, they even deal the same damage.

[Kiora]

I was hoping for Shadow Orbs to be a lot more interesting, like having the ability to empower spells on command or something along those lines. But as of right now they're pretty weak and boring. Actually I should say they're pretty, weak and boring.

[Horrify]

Sweet Jesus, they're beautiful.

So glad they didn't just reuse the Shadowguard animation.

[Xelaeno]

Looks alright...I'd like it much better if it can spin faster :P

[Annesh]

Nice.

Now they just need to code the correct number of orbs into the visual and actually make them not garbage.

[Bullettime]

Nice.

Now they just need to code the correct number of orbs into the visual and actually make them not garbage.

Agreed. The mastery seems a bit lackluster. It's not even a really high damage increase unless mind blast innately hits much heavier and like a bloody truck with 3 orbs.

[Supernex]

It's one of the few masteries which actually changes your playstyle, and if it is found to be a big damage loss compared to the other ones then it will be buffed. I much prefer something interesting to a passive damage bonus.

This. ^

[Direshadow]

Now THAT is cool.

---------- Post added 2010-10-03 at 04:58 AM ----------

Agreed. The mastery seems a bit lackluster. It's not even a really high damage increase unless mind blast innately hits much heavier and like a bloody truck with 3 orbs.

Doesn't it hit like a bloody truck? In pvp they're amazing, and when we get Mind Spike to ramp up our instant mind blast/crit, it'll be even more amazing.

[Kelesti]

Doesn't it hit like a bloody truck? In pvp they're amazing, and when we get Mind Spike to ramp up our instant mind blast/crit, it'll be even more amazing.

When you get Mind Spike to reduce the damage done by your Mind Blast by 50%?

A 3 orb Spike/Blast does double damage, and that's baseline, before you add in mastery rating. People need to stop assuming "instant and crit!" means "more dps", because it doesn't.

[Bullettime]

When you get Mind Spike to reduce the damage done by your Mind Blast by 50%?

A 3 orb Spike/Blast does double damage, and that's baseline, before you add in mastery rating. People need to stop assuming "instant and crit!" means "more dps", because it doesn't.

Exactly. Instant cast on something that's cast time is already the GCD doesn't help much at all except for using it while running. For PvE, the instant cast bit is useless.

[Direshadow]

When you get Mind Spike to reduce the damage done by your Mind Blast by 50%?

A 3 orb Spike/Blast does double damage, and that's baseline, before you add in mastery rating. People need to stop assuming "instant and crit!" means "more dps", because it doesn't.

Well I doubt I'd want to use Mind Spike for any sort of PVE situation... I think that we will be using our Mind Blast in our rotation again, so extra damage isn't anything "bad". I was more thinking that for PVP, you'd have a very high chance to crit with an instant mind blast that also stuns them.

With resil not affecting crit chance either, this might be nice.

[Sithalos]

I love how they seem to spawn out of the ground.