Maybe they can just give all priest specs dispersion? If that turns out to be too broken in PvP for healer specs they can just tune it for healers only in pvp instances. But all in all I think what we see here is no worse than the live version. Besides I would rather have just one well-knitted build the whole expansion than ten incomplete choices that I can have. I would be quite content plaiyng something like BFA s4 fire mage for 2 years than playing a class with 10 equally viable 'choices' that have the complexity level of BFA s1. So there being no choice is not much of a problem. For a long time there effectively didn't exist much talent choice freedom anyway.
I miss the pre-insanity Shadow spec. I like the "Shadow" and Vampiric identity of the class but not the Void or Insanity stuff.I was hoping this talent revamp would allow us to choose to go Shadow or Void but it looks like it's still Void. I really don't like how any of the Void abilities work in combat or how the insanity resource works. Shadow Priest used to be one of the most mobile dps classes with shields, speed buffs, damage negation, high damage leech (before "leech" was a keyword), and big Hots. I could easily cap a flag in WSG solo against a full enemy team when it was at its most broken. So anyway, now I have to stand still to attack and I have no speed boosts and the whole class just sucks. Went from my second most-played to a character I want to delete (but don't have the heart to because of the good times and hours played).
what if searing nightmare replaces mind sear and just works like a aoe devouring plague?
Thank you Elli, keep up the good work. hopefully they'll listent to the great feedback.
also dissatisfied with the tree. I'm ultra excited about bear tree and despite shadow is my favourite, I don't want to play it like this... Breakpoints are absolutely redundant and make the life miserable
Bring back Legion's Spriest gameplay. Please and thank you!
name one shadow priest that likes pressing searing nightmare
"Interested in playing Shadow Priest now?"Not really from what you wrote lol
Searing Nightmare should be an AOE spender. 50-100 insanity if you spend 50 SWP to 6 targets if you spend 100 SWP + VT to 6 targets. Maybe Shadow Crash could be a secondary spender where if you have at least 2 dots on the target it hits for more damage or so. Or they could just make something so you could easily spread DP and/or VT to a few targets but with a cooldown for AOE bursts in conjunction with Psychic Link. (Supercharged Damnation or something.)
Why do so many wowhead writers use “whilst” instead of “while”. Are they British? Do they not know grammar? Or do they think it makes them sound intelligent/funny/cute when in reality it makes them sound pretentious and annoying.
I can't really take this 'first impression' seriously even as someone who's mained a Shadow priest since vanilla. It just sounds like this expert's had their own vision of how things 'should be' for so long that they've become bitter to the point of resentment and don't even enjoy playing the spec anymore. Every time an article related to Shadow gets posted where this person weighs in, it's the same 'frustrated' tone. Gives the impression that Shadow's worse off than it actually is, since loud voices tend to get echoed by the quieter ones without really stopping to think about what they're saying.
Shadow had a great way to spread dots in Legion via the Mind Flay/Sear ring. Bring that back. Holy @#$% was it so nice to play with in keys.
Searing Nightmare has got to go, and if that leaves Mind Sear without a purpose, then it ought to go as well. I'd favor bringing back Dark Void from BfA with changes to emulate Searing Nightmare or modifying Shadow Crash to be the AOE insanity dump. I just flat out did not like pressing Searing Nightmare (or Mind Sear).Void Torrent is an iconic spell that I'd hate to see leave. How about making it function AS IF you're casting Mind Flay for the purposes of procs and effects that rely on casting Mind Flay?I had some fun with Shadowflame Prism during this expansion, but I feel like it's something that should stay in Shadowlands.The Shadow spec tree has some neat ideas with the idols, but it's way too much of a mess for me to even think about ways to rearrange the tree. But one thing's for sure; the defensives/utility (looking squarely at Dispersion, VE, and Silence) should either move to the class tree or be made baseline. Or alternatively...consider spinning off Shadow into its own two spec class. Definitely not something to hope for in Dragonflight but might be a neat idea for a future Light/Void expansion.
Honestly for me, the clunkiest part of searing nightmare is the mind sear channel, if it was just another spamable spender i think it would be 1000x better
I personally like SN. My biggest gripe with it is that you have to be stationary, and have to give up a lot of dps to move for mechanics. Once you start triple pulling in m+ (which is a scenario many don't even get to see because most people don't key that high), misery playstyle becomes too annoying and lacks necessary burst. Personally not on board for the idea that VT/apparitions should ALSO be equally viable in mass AOE. It's already the go-to style for ST and cleave. That being said, the shadow tree does really suck atm. You really have to drop a lot of utility spells to optimize for dps. And I already felt that SP was really lacking utility to begin with. Hopefully twins somewhat remedies that.
If this talent tree goes live, I will abandon my spriest for good and not try to play it anymore, I'm tired of waiting for fun and relevant changes for the spec.
Awesome article, agree with everything here.Would love to see the idols become more of a "what type of spriest are you?" function. You could have every path lead to one choice node as you enter the bottom section where you choose between each of the 4 idols and branch out from there.Each idol seems to have it's place and with good balancing they should all be somewhat viable. You have:N'zoth - AOEY'shaarj - 1 minute burstC'thun - Consistant dpsYogg-Saron - Potentially strong proc but unreliable timingAs such choosing any should not necesarily force you into a specific build, if you have a boss where adds spawn infrequently you may want to take options such a shadow crash but not necesarily the AOE idol etc...