Since VF is staying what if it didn't drop sanity over time?

[Keilvog]

Following Blizzard’s news on VF not going away. I keep trying to think of ways where it could work for me.
One of the ideas I had was the following:

Instead of having your sanity drop over time, which can be stressfull and awkward in many situations (mobs that die fast, etc etc), have all the abilities that generate sanity, consume sanity instead and have an extra effect, when in VF. The consumed sanity would be the same or double the amount the spell generated outside of VF (would need to be tested).
Furthermore, in order for it to be different from any other builder/spender, instead of a haste stack you would get a debuff that would deal DOT to you and would stack the longer you’d be inside VF. Fantasy wise you would be venturing into the void but you’d have limited time inside otherwise you could die (some talents, specially pvp ones, could clear/decrease this damage). In any case, the normal way to play would be to get into VF and get the best out of your VF spells, depending on your situation, to get out (or you could simply just cancel your VF aura but lose the benefits).

Here’s some ideas of VF empowered spells:

• Void bolt would be the only spell that didnt consume any sanity (you could use it indefinitely so long as you didnt drop out of VF (or die). You would not be useless in mobile fights and it wouldn’t cost you your VF. A talent could make it have 2 charges.
  
• Mind blast would have it’s CD reduced in half. Or would do increased damage. Or would consume all your remaining sanity for extra damage (you could spec into different options).
  
• Devouring plague would only be possible to use in VF (with decent numbers for a burst option).
  
• Mind flay would increase the ticking damage of the DOTs on your target by 1%/second (would drop if the dots were reapplied).
  
• Vampiric Touch and SW:P would have their duration increased by 100%. Would combo well with an empowered mind flay for a sustained fight.
  
• Mind Sear would be cast on all enemies which have SW:P on (or up to 5 enemies).
  
• Dispersion would have a 45s CD, would not reduce damage taken but would instead stop the VF debuff dot from stacking/dealing damage, while it was active (to help with positioning and moving from pack to pack).

You’d still want to enter VF as often as possible for the extra effects but instead of being obliged to spam your abilities to not drop out of it you would have to do so in order to not go insane and die.
You would have to chose well which spells you’d spend your sanity on depending on the situation (burst or sustained damage or even some CC). The sanity cost would be high enough that you should only be able to use 4-5 spells while inside VF. It would still be inside the fantasy of Void Form while being versatile for many situations (pvp, m+ or raiding).
Talents could be revamped to customize the empowered effects.

Tell me what you think.
I know it might be too complex of a change this far into alpha testing but bear with me.

[bloodmoth13]

Mechanics that involve inflicting damage to yourself are great for roleplay but terrible for gameplay.

I think voidform has a place, but i hate it for shadow spec.
It just conflicts so much with the rhythm of shadow, outside of voidform you are multidotting and weaving mind flays between mind blasts, its a smooth feeling spec with an emphasis on planning. Then void form crashes your party, trashes the place, makes out with your girlfriend and leaves after taking a dump in your toaster.
Now, i would agree that having distinct playstyles between being in and out of voidform is a good thing, and its a complaint i have against a lot of the other cooldown abilities (they dont change how you play) but voidform just adds stress to your rotation without making anything better. It feels like the only cooldown where you are punished for pressing it

If they do keep it, then we need MUCH more control over it.
If i were to design the spec from scratch i would have everything the same but change mind blast to have 3 charges, and lump most of the insanity generation into it. If you chain all 3 together you can enter void form immediately, but since its your highest insanity generator you wont be able to maintain it for long.
I would also give void form a proc that makes shadow word pain deal void bolts damage with its animation. This is mainly to save on keybinds since shadow word pain is rarely used in void form yet used plenty outside of it.

[Aydinx2]

Mechanics that involve inflicting damage to yourself are great for roleplay but terrible for gameplay.

This was written by a mage.

[bloodmoth13]

This was written by a mage.

lol, but seriously they really arent great gameplay unless there is a strong mechanic to self mitigate. Considering that all classes are balanced against eachother, its just an unnecessary draw back, so your own class is equal to another class with the drawback that they might kill themselves.

It can work in mobas or other genres, but not really in wow unless its for utility rather than damage.

[dileria]

While your dispersion idea sounds nice at first. I Strongly advise against it.
Never ever give Def CD's offensive purposes.
Def CD's should be just that, Def Cooldowns. They dont need to interact with the Rotation or worse have offensive Perks.
Look at WW's Touch of Karma, or Ret's Shield of Vengeance. Degenerate Gameplay.

[Lunaretic]

I dislike the narrative that we have to shy away from the builder/spender mechanic. Most if not all DPS classes use this mechanic but are still varied enough that there's distinction between them. In contrast, Void Form is a weird builder/builder mechanic that is hard to balance and is at it's best, a broken form of gameplay that requires bandaid fixes to be playable.

I do like the basic idea suggested here. I think the simplest change they could do while retaining Void Form (since it's not going away) is to remove the insanity drain and just turn it into a "spender" mode. Build insanity -> activate Void Form -> spend insanity. I don't think you need a debuff/downside to Void Form - in fact, we could have talents that vary the way it works (increased dot duration/dmg for a more traditional playstyle, or make it bursty like Clarity of Power was, or give it aoe dmg similar to Blade Flurry). Would make talent choice meaningful.