Our best build, which starts to keep pace with other classes, doesn’t start working till some +17s and all +18s.
Below that level, you just have a DPS that doesn’t DPS as much (assuming skill and gear are equal), brings fort (who cares, no one because not having fort isn’t stopping anyone now), and makes another spec look even better by doing more damage without attributing the Shadow Priest.
MDI mostly starts at +15 and stops at +17, so our damage profile doesn’t work.
I’d also argue that as the tier has gone on, fights with adds, the spec has also suffered. Twist of Fate and Shadow Word: Death execute damage just doesn’t matter when everything blows up because of instant-on-demand AoE/cleave damage from every other DPS spec. Or their DPS is just so high, execute windows shrink.
Any tax on Psychic Link because it is “spread cleave” is counteracted by everything being a death ball. And when it isn’t a death ball, just bring a DK, and it is a death ball. There really is no such thing as spread cleave in this game, as if it were, it would disenfranchise most DPS specs.
Tanks also don’t really like to play “special” in M+ just for Shadow Priest by chain pulling ToF range mobs into boss fights or additional packs. That play-style allows +10% damage to be kept as you pull. However who wants the added stress if they can just invite something else that does that damage without having to worry, do something different, etc. and also brings better utility/bufs/etc.
And lastly, our horrors that stack up don’t matter if things die from on demand AoE/cleave or have incredibly short execute windows due to high DPS.
The class is “fine” as it is playable, but it is literally a benchwarmer for all of RFW and MDI, and that hurts its image as viable in the eyes of many players. Couple that with lackluster tuning early on, lack of any utility that matters, and a lack of addressing its damage profile, and the spec has one big case of a bad reputation that can’t be shaken.
I honestly don’t know what the devs are thinking. I can only assume they are sitting in some bubble of make-believe, looking at data that works in a spreadsheet but not in reality, and tuning that doesn’t help fix the image issue.
It isn’t even beginner friendly considering how important it is know know exactly how and when you tentacle slam in every encounter. How you are going to get ToF or timing burst during ToF. Do it wrong in non-single target environments, and you do DPS well below every other spec. Even when you do, you still might get to do no DPS because everything is killed before you get to do your damage.
High friction, high learning curve, high skill expresion, no payoff.
The meta is established and can’t be fixed until they overbuff the spec so people start inviting it at this point or retool it so it is attractive to at least try out. If shadow isn’t topping the damage, unquestionably, they have no utility to fall back on that the community values. It does have utility, but as I’ve said in previous posts, it is either not as good as others or it is invisible - it has no detectable impact for most players.
That said, I don’t expect anything at all for season 2. I expect minor tweaking that will do either nothing or overbuff us to the point of needing nerfs and we will be right back where we are now. I’ve already propose changes in other posts on how they could give themselves more easy knobs to tune with (instead of jocking PL %s around to make us under powered or over powered but never stable), correct the damage profile, and provide utility, but it seems beyond them.
I’m working diligently in +19s and +20s, trying to keep going, but it is a slog.