I’d like apparitions or shadowy recall.
I like the idea of Shadows current mastery, it just fits thematically. So that’s a driving force to find a different solution for Mind Spike damage issue.
Also, we have to be very diligent when addressing mastery to work with something like Mind Spike because it should not overtake Mind Flay as a filler spell in single target thus making Mind Flay and it’s talents obsolete.
So I am very cautious and wary in changing mastery in a way that could result in major shifts. Instead if it’s baked into the base damage of Mind Spike or it’s talents, then it should remain as a good swap target burst spell without being required for primary target and risk loosing the dot/rot identity for a more favorable dotless leaning one.
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We actually agree on this one thing.
Mindspike is a long way from overtaking mindflay let alone MF:I in priority.
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Change Mastery and this could increase the risk of this happening.
I am not saying it can’t be done, I am just saying that it could throw everything out of whack in doing so and create more problems than it solves. Therefore, with base damage and talents I think should be all the damage modifications Mind Spike should have.
Perhaps a talent that gives a portion of mastery to Mind Spike. I was thinking Shadow Orbs could do this similar to how Mastery affected them in Cata. That way Mind Blast could hit harder by itself from Mastery without the need for a dotted up target as well as combo burst with Mind Spike without dots. But then the argument is that you need to pick up shadow orbs to “solve” the scaling damage problem from Mind Spike which… yea I guess but I think its better than changing Mastery outright as Mind Spike should not be a core aspect of Shadow, it should just be an additional way to lean into and play.
But also again I think Shadow Orbs would be good to benefit Devouring Plague in amping its damage the same as Mind Blast and Mind Spike.
Perhaps making Shadow Orbs scale with a portion of mastery AND applying to Devouring Plague could work out… if also the proc rate on Shadow Orbs was tuned appropriately to both support Burst dotless play AND rot play. But I think it would be worth a shot to try.
Orbs are tuned this way. They function more or less just like how they did with one of the cataclysm 4 set bonuses.
Currently, orbs way outstrip the mastery bonus but that won’t always be the case.
Shadow Orbs don’t scale with Mastery. It’s currently a static number.
But if the base damage/talents/Shadow Orbs Mastery were adjusted, I think that would be enough without breaking the current mastery and the primary Dot/Rot playstyle.
During cata, Mind Spike and Mind Blast hit HARD without Shadow Orbs. But with Shadow Orbs, they hit even HARDER. That would be the goal imo. Go back to that. The only time NOT having Shadow Orbs felt bad was when you just wanted to consume at least 1 orb to get the DOT bonus aspect. But Shadow Orbs were not needed to Make Mind Blast and Mind Spike hit hard. Once we got Tier 13 Dragon Soul Dying Light 4 set bonus, then that made Mind Blast and Mind Spike his HARD with 3 orbs coming in constantly form Fiend and Apparitions. We kind of have that now, but only 1 orb, not 3 coming in. But regardless, Mind Blast and Mind Spike should hit hard at a base level.
Voidform is such a better cooldown than DA that you can literally waste a talent point to get it and do more damage.
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not really wasted tho considering the second VT Proc applies dots AND hits harder than our mind blast lol .
I mean… sure?
But what about using Mind Blast and Mind Spike on dotless targets OUTSIDE DPS cooldowns?
Mind Blast and Mind Spike should be useful for target swapping / quick kill targets without the need for a DPS cooldown.
I thought SWD filled that niche rather well, considering you would only consider spike/blasting mobs on low health just to finish them off. And now with 2 casts of SWD before cd hits it’s even easier (if you dont take the swpain reset node ofc)
And that’s a mastery problem. The only way to fix that is to change the mastery.
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SW:D works during that burst window once within that execute percent range. But prior to that it wont.
Target swaps don’t just happen at a low HP target. It can happen in PvP a lot where you dot up multiple targets and build up orbs/procs and then target swap and load into a target without dotting it up BECUASE Mind Spike should hit so hard that it can do massive damage in as short period of time before dots can run their course.
In PvE, an add can spawn that requires everyone or range to swap and burst down. With this type of situation, putting up dots would be useless as the add should die within 10 sec imo. So Mind Spike and Mind Blast combo followed by double tapping SW:D should be best.
Not really, Mastery didn’t affect Mind Blast and Mind Spike or DOTs by itself in Cata. You needed to trigger it by consuming 1 orb first. But you can still burst with ZERO Shadow Orbs and without DA up all the time just fine back then.
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Cata also had a different mastery so yea it’s currently a mastery thing.
It’s not really a surprise that cata priest doesn’t really work well with the current priest mastery it wasn’t built for it.
But again… Yes Cata Mastery made Shadow Orbs MORE powerful and once consumed with Mind Blast or Mind Spike, it did make them hit HARDER.
But…
Without Shadow Orbs, Mind Blast and Mind Spike still hit HARD.
You can always Burst with Mind Blast and Mind Spike without any orbs up and without Dark Archangel up all the time. Because of the fact that Mind Blast and Mind Spike just simply put hit hard at a base level.
They do not hit hard at a base level now. THAT is what needs to be addressed.
Regardless how powerful Mastery affects the DOT aspect of Shadows current mastery, that doesn’t factor in if a target will die in a quick fashion. So that means you would loose time damaging a quick kill target if you have to apply dots first which then means your Mind Blast and Mind Spike should be the better use case for damaging that target into execute range.
So that Means you wont gain much from changing Mastery but you can potentially loose a LOT if mastery was changed to throw off the DOT/ROT aspect in favor of Mind Blast / Mind Spike spam.
And that was with a different mastery. Just buffing them with the current mastery to make them hit harder isn’t going to work unless they do something to make the mastery not matter.
AS it is in crap gear mind blast is hitting for a max of 70k.
Yes… that is what I been saying. Its not really a Mastery issue, its a baseline damage issue.
The only reason I included the Mastery scaling potential from Shadow Orbs is so it can still scale throughout gaining gear.
So I think at least the base damage of Mind Blast and Mind Spike needs to be increased to hit that quick kill swap mark AND I think introducing an additional scaling feature via something like shadow Orbs to take a portion of Mastery would keep that style of play competitive as you gear up
Then it’s a mastery issue because that is what we are balanced around.
Would I like a less crappy mastery sure but I’ve no clue if they are working on that or not.
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