With such a beneficial buff to AOE damage, do you think we’ll be more viable in M+? Boss damage is never a problem, but hopefully now it won’t feel like we’re auto attacking with our staff in AOE situations lol
The issue in mythic plus isn’t really the numbers. No, our aoe dps isn’t the best, but it’s also far from the worst (coughmoonkincough). The issue is the playstyle to get to those numbers and the limitations (no movement as you channel 100% of the time, yay). In Blizzard’s defense, it’s something they recognize, and the number buff is just intended as a band-aid until DF where they can tackle the core problems.
That said, numbers and playstyle aside, the other problem we face in m+ is our utility. We don’t bring anything of value that holy/disc doesn’t also bring. Since holy is currently meta, and will likely continue to be meta, that often means a shadow priest is a second priest, and a second priest doesn’t bring anything beyond the numbers. Unless those numbers are the best by a decent margin, why wouldn’t you prioritize another spec that brings something new to the table as well as their personal damage/healing?
So are we viable? Sure. I mean, every spec is viable to a point. We can do 20s just fine right now, and will only be better with the extra damage. But are we optimal? Pretty objectively no. Other classes will still trump us in damage, with more realistic playstyles, while also bringing utility more likely to be unique to a group. That said, it will be a smaller gap, so something is something!
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The Shadow AOE buffs are only going to be about a 3-5% overall dps upgrade for M+ which isn’t much. Buffing any of the other abilities that Shadow uses would have ended up buffing its single target damage.
The more pressing issue is that Shadow doesn’t bring any kind of utility to M+ and it’s hard to fit them into a viable comp.
If you run with friends/guildies it’s a nice little bump, but as with before good luck getting into pugs. We don’t bring much aside from Fort, Mind Soothe, a purge, and mass dispel, but until Dragonflight, when Holy Priests lose Boon, they’ll be preferred for that.
Just like before this buff, Searing Nightmare will really only do “nice” damage where both things are present:
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You are damaging a large # of targets (e.g., multi-pack pulls)
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You don’t have to interrupt your Mind Sear channel every 3-5 seconds for mechanics (e.g., volcanic, swirlies, explosive…all of which become much more frequent on large pulls).
The same issues will remain. This is a nice little bump, but not much more.