Questions about Shadow in Cata

[Deleted]

Hey guys =)
So i've been healer since the beginning of Wrath of the lich king, and I love healing, its a very fun role but lately i've been bored like hell it seems that being healer is just not for me any more, but I am the kind of player that loves to be on "top", i know i know being on top of recount doesn't mean that I am skilled or I am doing my job well but I like it, i bet most of you also do ^^, so I am with some fear from changing to shadow.

I've never been a serious shadow Priest, like having that spec as my main spec and etc, but from what I know priests pay the price of being a hybrid class so correct me if I am wrong but our dps is always lower then the non hybrid classes (in fights like patchwerk / etc), so I was wondering how is shadow now. I know about the changes about the spells and all that but how is our dps? I've seen some videos on youtube about beta raiding and in all 10 man's that i've seen the Priest was always on first place or second, are we now that good?

By the way don't misunderstand me on the recount thing, I just think that if I am the most skilled player in the raid it shoud be me the one on top of the damage done xD (not saying that I am).

Thank you all.

[Arlee]

Well.... depending on the fight if all you are doing is just dps'ing and nothing else then you aren't doing it right. There are fights where (depending on comp of course) you have to dispel/cure disease, shackle, fear, etc... Also some fight mechanics require you to not always just dps all of which will lower your standing on the meters.

That said shadow dps is very competitive.

[Deleted]

Thank you for the answer Arlee, I guess I feel confident enough to respec. ^^

[Fenixdown]

I would avoid disease cleansing as shadow if you can, unless you have a very good memory and can remember to pop back into shadow form after you do so. You can't cast it in form and stay that way anymore.

As for the DPS totals, I've been top 2-3 in DPS as shadow in 10-mans, and this is against a ret pally with Shadowmourne and a beast arcane mage...and with my offspec. Yeah, I'd say the damage totals are up there.

[Arlee]

I would avoid disease cleansing as shadow if you can, unless you have a very good memory and can remember to pop back into shadow form after you do so. You can't cast it in form and stay that way anymore.

Thanks, I keep forgetting about that change ><

[harky]

Shadow had a lot of its 'hybrid' feel taken away so that it could be properly treated as a full caster DPS spec. As such... yep, it's competitive. Don't expect to compete with good Afflic Locks, SV Hunters, Fire Mages, or Mut Rogues at 85. Anyone else is fair game. If people aren't as good as you they'll typically be under you with some exceptions. Bad SV Hunters in particular might totally crush you on DPS at 85 unless you outgear them, but that sort of thing will be rebalanced sometime during T11.

And meters are a very important tool. Don't dismiss them entirely. The top players usually are the more skilled players in your raid. When that isn't the case it's usually because Blizzard made a mistake and a fix is incoming. (See: Rogues in 4.0.1.)

[Deleted]

Harky that answer completely blow away my idea of changing to shadow. :S Thanks anyway.

[Deleted]

I've always been able to pull some impressive numbers as Shadow and with the DoTs, mastery, shadowy apparitions and instants we dont lose nearly as much DPS as a lot of other classes when we have to move around.