I really like that you can choose to pick an alternate talent and not use voidform. Maybe I just have mental issues, but trying to time everything during the voidform window stressed me out and I haven’t played shadow since Legion came out. Now I’ve started playing it again and I’m at 25 now. Having fun.
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Dragonflight Voidform shares almost no traits with Legion Voidform. They both have Void Bolt, and that’s about it. All it does now is give you Void Bolt every 2 minutes.
Dark Ascension is here to stay. It’s boring and currently serves no purpose in the tree, but a lot of people like it despite that either because they like the wings or because they disliked Voidform enough that it doesn’t matter that Voidform isn’t Voidform anymore.
I will freely admit I am and have been one of the voices bringing attention to the list of issues Voidform has been and continues to be.
My main perspective is coming from the PvP aspect as to why Voidform is a horrible ability.
When taking into consideration that Priests have been and continue to be the go to focus punching bag target in PvP. Then adding extra stress in getting the most out of your DPS cooldown by it making you either play differently with the drain mechanic or adding another GCD in the form of Voidbolt while actively getting crowd controlled or interrupted makes the experience feel really bad.
During Cataclysm, having both Dark Archangel (Todays Dark Ascension) and Mind Spike in PvP allowed for on demand burst inside and outside the DA window and you can play the same way regardless if your in your cooldown window or not so you didn’t need to learn to play differently and then once again learn to play differently again with the added stress of dealing with CC and getting trained on while also still doing your other priestly utility during the Voidform window. Add on to the ramping headache that forced all your power to be in Voidform and then do practically nothing outside of it but thankfully that’s been removed.
And with Mind Spike being a constant spell (unlike Void Bolt) you can get a feel for how it worked and it not being gated behind a cooldown like Mind Blast and it granting upfront damage vs a long drawn out damage with dots (Mind Flay) granted more kill opportunities. Then finally with the Paralysis talent and the inherent +crit chance Mind Spike granted for your Mind Blast allowed you to root in a reliable way that granted more burst window time that you simply could not pump out with dots.
Taking into consideration all of the above, that is why IMO both Dark Ascension and Mind Spike have a place in Shadows Talent tree. It’s not just for nostalgia, it serves an actual genuine purpose that nothing else offers.
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tbh i’m hoping they buff the hell out of voidform, vold in the old surrender to madness aspect without the whole dying at the end thing. just needs to be a slightly longer cooldown, which is good it should be the single target option and the 1 min ascension would fit much better in aoe scenarios.
I’d agree with you if shadow’s mastery weren’t antithetical to the original version of Mind Spike. As it stands, the only way I see Dark Ascension and Mind Spike having any merit in modern shadow is the way that Publik raised - Mind Spike replaces Mind Flay during Dark Ascension. While minor, it allows access to Mind Spike and removes the design space baggage Mind Spike forces into the spec as a whole when it’s restricted to the cooldown window.
I’m on the fence with his idea. I would prefer Mind Spike to not be incorporated into Dark Ascension, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it for nothing other than to try it out and see how it plays.
However, this would then only allow quick burst swaps during DA window and that means things like targeting a totem to kill quickly is not really feasible as well as (more importantly) Mind Spike being Shadowfrost damage which helps to swap to if you get interrupted out of shadow from casting VT or Mind Blast.
Also, because the current implementation of Mind Spike no longer extinguishes dots, it is not negatively impacted by shadows current mastery except for the case of totems for example where you either are unable to dot them up or it needs to die fast enough where dots are not worth casting. But in that case, not having mastery is not really an issue as you don’t need to hit for full power for something that will die fast without dots on it.
For balance purposes, I think a talent should replace Mind Melt to make it so Mind Spike deals additional damage to targets not afflicted with VT or SW:P (like Clarity of Power had in WoD) and then the base damage of Mind Spike can be reduced to make it so at base level with dots on target, Mind Flay wins out. Then take the mastery bonus from Void Eruption and apply it to Dark Ascension instead and that would then synergize with Mind Spike in focusing only direct damage to main target and that damage gets spread via psychic link.
Then we are both in agreement to change Void Eruption to be the more dot focused cooldown and with that in mind, it no longer needs the mastery bonus aspect as you would always have your dots on targets so the mastery bonus is not noticeable.
I pretty much explain as much and more in my feedback post. I have copied the bit for reference below…
Mind Spike
Pro: It is Shadows ONLY direct damage ability that is not restricted via a cooldown like Mind Blast or Shadow Word: Death.
Con: It is easily misinterpreted due to its multiple iterations over the years and its current return in Dragon flight within the new Talent tree.
Result: Mind Spike should REMAIN a choice in the talent tree. It would be the primary spell used with Dark Ascension and any quick kill swap targets like a totem for example.
- Option #1: Return its Mind Blast critical strike modifier stacking buff granting 30% chance to crit with Mind Blast, stacking 3 times.
Mind Melt
Pro: It’s location in the talent tree can allow for a unique interaction capability without feeling like a “forced” talent pick
Con: Currently seems a bit lacking in reason to pick over other talents
- Option #1: Clarity of Power(Replaces Mind Melt): Your Mind Spike and Shadow Word: Death deal 40% additional damage to targets not affected by your Shadow Word: Pain or Vampiric Touch. Also reduces the cast time on Mind Spike by 40% for 3 sec after casting Mind Blast.
- What does this achieve? Why go this route?: With the functionality of Clarity of Power (But slightly tweaked), it offers a way to do quick damage without the need to pre DOT the target. This is important because when you are attempting to dot up a target and you have to manually cast VT but you get interrupted, you can then swap to Mind Spike and deal quick decent damage. Additionally, on target swaps like totems from players or NPC’s where you need to put out quick damage, you don’t want to use a CD like Shadow crash or Cascade to apply dots nor do you want to use a GCD to manually apply dots when the target will die quickly but you still need to help attack it then this talent will shine. The quick target swap scenario is enough to justify the reasoning for not taking advantage of Mastery increasing the damage.
- With the additional effect of increasing the casting speed and therefore reducing the casting time of Mind Spike (followed by a successful cast of Mind Blast) then this may not be “instant” cast but you should be able to cast this fast enough where interrupts will happen less often. Combine with a high amount of haste and this can be as quick as Improved Mass Dispel. This might serve as a functional medium between hard casting and instant casting since it seems blizzard is trying to reel instant cast back.
- Psychic Link Synergy will be able to spread the extra 40% damage done from Mind Spike and Shadow Word: Death to all targets when cast on non dotted targets so target swapping to a totem for example should increase the damage done to the other targets with Vampiric Touch during that short window.
- Option #2: (New) Irrationality 2/2 (Replaces Mind Melt)
Each application of Mind Spike on your target increases the critical strike chance of Mind Spike by 5/10%. Stacks up to 3 times.
Casting Mind Blast reduces the cast time on Mind Spike by 20/40% for 3 sec.
- This option still allows for quick Mind Spike casts as well as granting a stacking critical strike “debuff” on target (Similar to the Fire Mages Scorch) that increases the Critical Strike chance of subsequent Mind Spike by up to a total of 30%.
- Combine this with the Mastermind and Ancient Madness talent and you can go for a critical strike build without gearing for Critical Strike chance stat.
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/feedback-priests-in-embers-of-neltharion/1541647/408
Void Eruption is amazing burst AOE and Void Bolt hits hard af. DA is OK for single target which means good for boss fights, but I personally love bursting trash pulls especially with the ease of getting dots out with Shadow Crash and having Vampiric Touch apply both main dots even without it. I found it easier to incorporate Void Eruption and Bolt into my rotation, and like the changes they’ve made to it tbh.