Shadow Priest is a fantasy that truly deserves its own class , but being hitched to two healing specs, has struggled with maintaining a consistent theme throughout its lifetime. What it means to be a Shadow Priest really depends on the race of your Priest. Here are some examples:
-If you are a troll, your Shadow Priest is canonically more of a Witch Doctor which would imply SHADOW and NATURE spells. Wards, cauldrons, hexes, mind slaves, blood magic, you get the idea.
-If you roll Undead, you are a member of the Cult of Forgotten Shadow who dabbled in diseases such as Devouring Plague and stressed balance between LIGHT and SHADOW.
-If you roll a Night Elf, you encompass the dark side of the moon, Elune and channel dark, astral ( ARCANE & VOID) energies.
-If you roll a Blood Elf, you may think yourself more of a proper Vampire.
-There is also the Cultist archetype that could satisfy any race.
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With so many takes on this “shadowy spiritualist” archetype, Blizzard is placed in a thematic predicament. Not all spriests would make sense turning enemies into frogs and casting wards. Not all spriests would make sense channeling star shards or devouring plague. Not all spriests are void cultists. What I am getting at is, we need a better way to hone in on the specific kind of shadowy spiritualist we want to be. Talents, Glyphs, and Side Quests are the best places to give us more ways to choose our path to the Darkness.
ALL THEMES -
DISEASE - whether you are a forsaken priest who survived the fall of Lordaeron and studied plague magic, or a troll witch doctor dabbling in blood magics, DISEASES are a huge staple for many kinds of shadow priests. In both of these instances, is the the race’s innate alchemical knowledge that allows them to specialize in disease. Whether that be the Forsaken apothecaries or the Troll Witch Doctor’s wild cauldrons. There is an element of DARK SCIENCE here that compliments the class fantasy oh so well.
SHADOW - the ghostly apparitions, shadowfiend, and shadowform. There was always something ghostly about Shadow Priest, almost as if they had some weak connection to the Shadowlands itself with their ability to call forth dark spirits to aid them in battle as well as fading into an incorporeal form.
VAMPIRISM - Through Vampiric Touch and Vampiric Embrace, as well as the Shadow Priest’s close proximity to archetypes that use blood magic, it’s safe to say that VAMPIRISM is a theme of Shadow that is beloved by many, and I am sure that many players would want to hone in on the more vampiric aspects of the fantasy. Perhaps even becoming a Vampire out right. We have much to learn of the Nathrezim and perhaps they could bestow their powers to the mortals.
SHADOWFROST - While shortlived, Mind Spike gave us a taste of that cold, dark lichy goodness that was SHADOWFROST damage. While Liches have more in common with Mages than Priests, it was cool to know that if we peered deep enough into the shadows, frost magic was there waiting for us. The cold touch of Death.
HOLY - There is the fantasy of the Master of Light and Shadow that is mostly satiated by Discipline, but is still a factor for Shadow Priests. Using Holy spells is doable, but often incurs some great cost, causing the priest to think twice about inciting HOLY magic. That being said, great costs are offset by great rewards. Salvation and Redemption are merely energies to be channeled, and so a Shadow Priests’ Light magic can be just as, if not more potent than a Holy Priest if the individual is adept enough.
ARCANE - Whether you are talking about the Night Elves who called upon their mighty star shards, or the various Rune Priests scattered throughout Azeroth, priests are no strangers to the ARCANE. Being powerful spiritualists, priests call upon these astral energies which aid them willingly, unlike mages who bend reality to their will. The Eclipse signifies the transition from Shadow to Light. The great deities of the Cosmos recognize and respect this connection, thus they’ve choose to lend their powers to Priests on many occasions.
VOID - Cosmic enemy to the Light, VOID magic encompasses the entropic, devouring energies that saturate the dark corners of the cosmos. Priests capable of harnessing this power gain dominion over the laws of nature. Opening black holes, causing Void eruptions, casting Void bolts, and spreading their purple entropic goo onto every enemy in sight.
OLD GOLDS - The textbook Dark Cultist, able to summon beings of Nya’lotha, whisper words of DOOM, and control and flay the minds of enemies. There will always be room in the Shadow Priest lexicon for this classic eldritch caster archetype.
I may have missed a few and feel free to add more kinds of Shadow Priests. The heart of the issue here is our lack of thematic customization. We are locked into being a Void priest and nothing else, and the other themes are partially realized, or not realized at all. Talents, Glyphs, and Side Quests are the best places to improve on. Each talent row should be a thematic choice as well as a gameplay choice. A theoretical example would be an end talent row where you choose between VOID FORM, VAMPIRE FORM, and LICH FORM. That coupled with better gylph options would really allow us to be the dark caster we’ve always wanted to be. Even if it’s just an RP option and not necessarily the most “viable” option to pick.