I haven't played shadow for very long. I'm relativley new the spec as a whole but I understand it very well. I have had a history playing Elemental Shaman's, Doomchicken, Kitty and more recently Fury Warrior.
Overall the spec is in a very goosd place at the moment. We deal competetive DPS (although having to blow a warlock for Dark Intent isn't my favourite thing), fights such as Nefarians End, Al'Akir and Valiona and Theralion are simply god-like for Shadow. However, the are certain fights in game that I am finding most distressing.
These fights are fights like Cho'Gall or Maloriak. Were you HAVE to AoE. In easier fights such as Magmaw you can get away with not AoE'ing (only 1 of our spells has an animation that shows what target your targetting olol) but on fights such as Maloriak where you have a set time to kill a lot of adds it's becoming clear to me that Shadow needs an AoE boost. On Maloriak tonight, I had the option of: 1. Mind Sear spam the tank (very poor DPS) or 2. take 10 seconds out of MB/MF on Maloriak and start to cast DoT's (VT&SW:P) on as many adds as possible and then Mind Sear spam causing me to then take more time out of my movement rotation using Dispersion until I am in place then canceling it.
I don't know where I would like to see this, but personally I think its horrible to see; for example Fire Mages (Another DoT spec, although not so much) with a chance to proc an ability/effect that allows them to spread dots giving them 40-50k DPS for the add phase while maintaining a solid DPS single target. I don't know wether mind sear needs a damage buff or wether we need an ability that allows us to spread DoT's or even something completely original which is what I am suggesting.
I would suggest something along the lines of:
Bewitching Shadows
3sec cast
1minuite Cooldown
<Mana Cost Debatable>
You begin muttering words of unspeakable evil, casing all targets within a 15 yard radius of your target to gain Shadow Word: Pain for full duration. Also increases the chance to proc a Shadowy Appartition by 25% and increases the number of Shadowy Apparitions able to be up at one time to 10 for 15 seconds.
To explain this, we could target a mob which is in close proximity of other mobs and cast this. Then we could target swap and Mind Sear the tank if it's really needed to be burnt, or continue to DPS the boss as normal. We could then have up to 10 shadowy apparitions up at any one time and not having to move to proc them meaning we can continue to cast our painfully underpowered AoE ability. Most Shadow's are currently DoT'ing adds when appropriate, otherwise we have basically no AoE. Also, without this burst, Mind Sear can oom you quickly, which in turn forces you to use your mana batteries (SW or Dispersion) both of which are DPS losses.
This is similar to a warlocks soulsharded SoC I know but I feel it is the most appropriate. This would give us a nice ability to help on AoE burn phases which we currently didn't have. Also, it would make the 4piece teir bonus more attractive as currently on a movement heavy fight Shadowy Appartions are dealing about 5% of my total damage.
Anyhoo, discuss please. Any suggestions or improvements or even your own ideas. I just feel that "buff this abilites damage" is not the way forward.