The recently announced 8.1 buffs are awesome, but Shadow still has 2 big problems imo.
1. No Impactful Cooldown
2. Lame AoE
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- Problem #1: Shadow has no noticeable baseline damage cooldown, which feels bad. Shadowfiend just doesn't feel like an impactful cooldown, especially since it's just a tiny pet. This is especially noticeable at the start of fights when everyone but us gets to "pop-off' and go ham with their damage. This does not feel good at all, and could easily be solved.
~ Solution to Problem #1: Make Dark Ascension the BASELINE shadow cooldown.
Explanation: If voidform is once again going to become important and impactful then we should have a baseline coolodown to match that. Having a cooldown like Dark Ascension that lets us go into voidform on demand or helps to maintain it for longer would be amazing for the spec to have. Way too amazing to be a talent. Dark Ascension is a simple yet versatile cooldown that is easy to balance and provides the spec with something it lacks desperately.
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- Problem #2: Shadow's AoE doesn't feel all that great to execute, even if the dps output happens to be good, because it relies on Mind Sear and Multi-Dotting. This results in a AoE rotation that feels kinof lame and lacks excitement, which can also be easily solved.
~ Solution to Problem #2: Let us use Void Eruption for AoE during Voidform. This could be done via giving Mind Sear a passive effect of turning our next Void Bolt into Void Eruption when it hits 2 or more targets affected by Shadow Word: Pain.
Explanation: Void Eruption looks and feels amazing, yet when we go into Voidform (the primary mechanic of the spec) we loose access to that awesomeness. In single target that's fine, because we get Void Bolt, but in AoE it's just a bummer. Void Bolt just feels lackluster and kindof just wrong in AoE scenarios. Having access to a much better ability, Void Eruption, would solve this. Plus, I don't think anyone disagrees about Void Eruption being awesome.
Those are the only issues left that i have with the spec, and here's how i would solve them. I think it would be easy, but that's just my opinion.