Rerolling to Shadow?

[Stuneree]

(Repost from my Battle.net thread)

Long story short, I plan on raiding next XPac, haven't done any in years really... I don't like the lack of satisfaction with healing in raids anymore, and Enhance/Elemental are so dull to me.

I've been strongly considering Priest to make it easier to gear with healing, but for DPS.

The problem with this is the fact that Shadow Priests are nothing short of possibly the worst spec in the game right now from all I've heard.

This seems to apply to DPS charts (theoretical and realistic simulation), Battlegrounds, duels, and 2v2. The only thing that Shadow Priests seem to excel at is 3v3, which I'd be sticking to my Shaman for.

While I do not hop FotM classes and more-so actually do the opposite, I want to be within a raiding guild and be on a serious raid-team.

My question is, is there even a purpose in picking Shadow Priest? Would people let a shadow priest into a serious progression raid team?

Thanks.

[Deleted]

I don't like the lack of satisfaction with healing in raids anymore, and Enhance/Elemental are so dull to me.

I've been strongly considering Priest to make it easier to gear with healing, but for DPS.

This is precisely why I rolled to Shadow when I did. I was a healer before that. Now though, I dislike healing (or rather, don't enjoy Discipline).

Shadow is a popular spec, although I assume a lot less popular right now due to it being rather weak.

It will receive a lot of changes in MoP. You can read about them on the frontpage as well as here on the forums. There are people sharing their experiences of WoD alpha.

How will it be compared to other specs? Will it be good? We can only tell after tuning...

Thus far, what Shadow community has gathered is we WILL get buffed damage-wise, but we will lose our off-healing. All casters WILL get nerfed with damage on the move most notably Elemental and Warlock which means us not so much (we're already garbage with it as it is).

Have you considered Balance with Restoration off spec?

Retribution with Holy off spec? Remember all plate gear will convert to/from str/intellect in WoD, making this option more viable.

What I can recommend you when beta is out go try stuff out, and then decide. Play something you love playing.

[Thelxi]

They are definitely not THAT bad when it comes to dps. Also in Battlegrounds spriests can burst down noobs with insanity like no other. Also nobody knows how the different classes will compare next expansion.

[l33t]

My question is, is there even a purpose in picking Shadow Priest? Would people let a shadow priest into a serious progression raid team?
Thanks.

Who knows? New expansion, new balance.
In current expansion every Shadow worth its salts had a raid spot, though you had to do double the effort of a warlock to reach even 60% of warlock's efficiency, so playing a Shadow definitely was not for everyone.

[gaymer77]

I raid as a shadow priest because I've enjoyed the class for years. I've considered changing mains to something that is more "traditional" or "more OP" but I just can't shake all the time I've put into my priest. I raided as shadow before it was cool to do so. Granted, I did have a raid guild that knew how to properly utilize a shadow priest back in vanilla. I did know my role though. I was a dps first & off healer second. There were plenty of times our healers were OOM and I had to switch over to healing for a little bit while they regenned their mana but as soon as that was over, I went back to dpsing. I actually miss those times.

[Dierdre]

Balance is great in 5.4 even if we're the worst ranged class; and even if we're the best at nothing and our "utility" is not useful except on very rare occasions, our current weaknesses are being addressed for WoD.

What worries me is that we'll still not be even close to warlocks (I can tell even before tuning passes, it's a population balance thing), mages are bringing increased healing and we're left without off-healing, our CC via void tendrils is being nerfed to being common roots that any druid/shaman brings, and apart from mass dispel we will bring nothing special to the table and will likely still be the worst choice for a caster dps.

[Ampere]

Balance is great in 5.4 even if we're the worst ranged class; and even if we're the best at nothing and our "utility" is not useful except on very rare occasions, our current weaknesses are being addressed for WoD.

What worries me is that we'll still not be even close to warlocks (I can tell even before tuning passes, it's a population balance thing), mages are bringing increased healing and we're left without off-healing, our CC via void tendrils is being nerfed to being common roots that any druid/shaman brings, and apart from mass dispel we will bring nothing special to the table and will likely still be the worst choice for a caster dps.

I have a feeling Warlocks will be much more balanced with the removal of DoT snapshotting. Snapshotting made it incredibly difficult to balance high skill Warlocks without ruining the class for super casual players.

Also, Mages do have that "Amplify Magic" ability, but Shadow will still have Vampiric Embrace, which can be a solid cooldown.

[Dierdre]

but Shadow will still have Vampiric Embrace, which can be a solid cooldown.

It's MoP all over again: VE is a great cooldown, and it'll be even better now that our damage won't be so shitty. But it's nothing a druid or shaman doesn't bring to the table without taking loot from your mage/locks/healing priests.

Good thing is that with flex normal / Heroic and with 20-man mythic we won't have to be left out for another warlock.

[Aeriel]

I raid as a shadow priest because I've enjoyed the class for years. I've considered changing mains to something that is more "traditional" or "more OP" but I just can't shake all the time I've put into my priest. I raided as shadow before it was cool to do so. Granted, I did have a raid guild that knew how to properly utilize a shadow priest back in vanilla. I did know my role though. I was a dps first & off healer second. There were plenty of times our healers were OOM and I had to switch over to healing for a little bit while they regenned their mana but as soon as that was over, I went back to dpsing. I actually miss those times.

I played Shadow TBC-early MoP. It just felt too weak too early on in MoP, and I could see it getting worse. I liked the old VE where even with low DPS our off-healing was not trivial. I tend to prefer support classes. My main in Vanilla was a Shaman.

[Deleted]

I have a feeling Warlocks will be much more balanced with the removal of DoT snapshotting. Snapshotting made it incredibly difficult to balance high skill Warlocks without ruining the class for super casual players.

Also, Mages do have that "Amplify Magic" ability, but Shadow will still have Vampiric Embrace, which can be a solid cooldown.

Destruction isn't at all about dot snapshotting.

[Stuneree]

My main issue is that people keep saying exactly that, "play warlock or mage". Warlock was my main throughout Cata and I loved it, Mage my primary alt, but everything I liked about Warlock playstyle was ruined for me and the class became SUPER saturated. A few months into MoP, warlocks were EVERYWHERE, PvP and PvE, which I hated. I don't want to be a part of a class that people say, "Oh, it's just another warlock".

I like the playstyle of Shadow Priest, it reminds me very much of Pre-MoP Affliction... But I want to make sure it's useful. Loving the class wouldn't help me if I can't find a raid group or if every guild I'm in says, "okay time for you to switch to disc".

Topping the charts doesn't matter to me, if it did I'd have just stuck with my warlock or mage. It's actually getting INTO a guild that I want.

I guess I can try WoD in the beta, but ranged DPS is still my favourite, and shadow appeals the most (unless warlock went back to its original Affliction style, in which case my passion would be reborn ;D).

Thanks for the replies as well.

[justflayin]

Destruction isn't at all about dot snapshotting.

How is it not? Destro from my minute understanding wants to cast Chaos Bolt under the most Int (and to a lesser extent) Crit procs to do the best damage. That's pretty much snapshotting. Just with a nuke.

[Aeriel]

How is it not? Destro from my minute understanding wants to cast Chaos Bolt under the most Int (and to a lesser extent) Crit procs to do the best damage. That's pretty much snapshotting. Just with a nuke.

That's not snapshotting though. That is aligning buffs. Snapshotting is maximizing buffs and then continuing to keep a DoT up so that those buffs continue long past the end of their duration.

[justflayin]

That's not snapshotting though. That is aligning buffs. Snapshotting is maximizing buffs and then continuing to keep a DoT up so that those buffs continue long past the end of their duration.

I'm well aware. What you just wrote is what they do with Chaos Bolt...its just a nuke. Snapshotting Immolate also has its advantages. Since its only DoT specific.

[Relapses]

I raid on both a SPriest and a Mage in 14/14H guilds. I have a 571 Warlock that I mess around with as well. Of the three, I feel most at ease playing my SPriest as it's the toon I have the most experience on this expac. Mage and Warlock are both higher potential DPS but it all depends on the encounter and whether I can exploit a mechanic to do more damage.

If you're playing for the experience, I personally think SPriest has one of the more enjoyable rotations, even if the pay off for playing well isn't quite as nice as it for Mage or Warlock. Also, don't let people who tell you SPriests are terrible at everything detract you. A lot of SPriests who harp on the class constantly use being in a bad position (comparatively speaking) as an excuse for garbage play. We really won't know until beta testing begins exactly how SPriest will fare come WoD but a lot of the changes so far look fairly promising and I'm hoping it'll let me rekindle my enjoyment of the class.

[Drye]

Almost lvl 93 in the alpha and I'm really likeing a lot of the mechanic changes so far. I've gotten 5 orbs and extra MF perk. Both are pretty fun. I'm very much so looking forward to 6.0

[Twintop]

Almost lvl 93 in the alpha and I'm really likeing a lot of the mechanic changes so far. I've gotten 5 orbs and extra MF perk. Both are pretty fun. I'm very much so looking forward to 6.0

You stole my perks! I had them first! THIEF!

Srsly though, with the changes coming in Warlords (both in removal of our offhealing AND in perks/talents), the heart of Shadow is going to remain the same -- if you enjoy the overall playstyle, you won't see a whole lot of change (especially if you pick AS instead of CoP or VEnt) but will have a much smoother time while playing it. Unlike some specs, we aren't getting an overhaul, we're getting a lot of polish.

Me likey.

[Deleted]

How is it not? Destro from my minute understanding wants to cast Chaos Bolt under the most Int (and to a lesser extent) Crit procs to do the best damage. That's pretty much snapshotting. Just with a nuke.

That is not dot snapshotting, that is using burst during procs. Every class does that...

Affli and Demo benefit from dot snapshotting. Which is why they do high damage on opener.

Destruction does garbage on opener, and doesn't really do snapshotting. Yeah, Immolate...

[Drsolders]

Shadow priest are perfectly fine in serious raiding guilds, plenty of them have downed heroic garrosh. Now in some guilds they may chose to drop a shadow priest on fights like heroic garrosh but that is more than likely due to just blaming the general lack of dps on the priest. I mean at 570 I'm doing 320 -350k or more depending on the fight so it is not like they cannot carry their own weight. I think you will enjoy it a whole lot but snapshotting if you are not used to it you should be ready to learn it, also you will need to understand the fights thoroughly since movement hurts our dps you want to move as little as possible.

[Deleted]

Shadow priest are perfectly fine in serious raiding guilds, plenty of them have downed heroic garrosh. Now in some guilds they may chose to drop a shadow priest on fights like heroic garrosh but that is more than likely due to just blaming the general lack of dps on the priest. I mean at 570 I'm doing 320 -350k or more depending on the fight so it is not like they cannot carry their own weight. I think you will enjoy it a whole lot but snapshotting if you are not used to it you should be ready to learn it, also you will need to understand the fights thoroughly since movement hurts our dps you want to move as little as possible.

I agree with this, being 14/14hc I can say during progression there was only really one fight I felt our benefits didn't outweight our issues which was malkorok and I sat out for the first few kills but I didn't feel unwanted....that being said I wasn't in a top guild or anything and got the garrosh kill after the valor upgrade changes and there was a few times where I went "well if I was another warlock that would've been a kill..." sort of situations, especially when you have a solid healer comp and shamans.

Going into WoD I will be questioning about how they will be especially my philosophy when choosing Spriest over mage/warlock/hunter (offhealing and preferred utility over mage/hunter which doesn't look to be that apparant but with all the risk that we suffer from the changes) will have to see how goes the alpha/beta