Shadow Priest PvP/PvE needed changes in TWW and beyond

So Blizz, after more or less dumpstering the spec going into DF S2 in the name of “making casters cast again - but really only shadow priests and no other caster”, we are flying into TWW with essentially no improvements at all in the pvp department. I watched some recent vids about ele shamans and holy smokes they look fun, tons of improvements and the playstyle looks smooth. Now, shadow does not need to copy that of course, but I am going to list out some changes to the spec (not touching the hero talents atm) that will bring some fun and good performance back in PvP, that will also improve PvE.

  1. Silence moved to main priest tree as a choice node with Shackle Undead. Last Word/Psychic Horror moved up to where Silence was. New choice node below Last Word/Psychic Horror - Absolute Silence (targets that have been silenced deal 30% less magic damage for 6 seconds after silence ends or is dispelled) and Horrified Mind (adds a 4-sec disarm effect to psychic horror after the stun effect ends or is dispelled)

  2. Surge of Insanity returns to every 1 cast of devouring plague from the current 2.

  3. Selecting Mind Spike replaces Mind Flay. All current talents that affect Mind Spike (like Mind Melt) should be reworked to include equivalent effectiveness with Mind Flay.

  4. Mind Spike: Insanity will be instant cast.

  5. Mind Flay: Insanity will be castable while moving.

  6. Void Origins effect is made baseline (Instant void eruption/dark ascension).

  7. Lastly, either baseline insanity generation should increase across the board, or the damage of devouring plague should be increased by at least 50%. Spending half or a third of your resource bar on a spell shouldn’t be doing tickle damage, so it either needs to happen more often or hit harder.

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I would love it if they went back to 10.0 playstyle. But I’d take these changes and be happy.

4 Likes

1 . Healers don’t need silence.
2 . This would be ok.
4 . Too much.
5 . Probably ok
6 . Yes.
7 . Increase insanity generation a bit, not too much just a bit.

Mindgames as an honor talent competes with way too many options that are too good to pass, driven to madness should be baseline for shadow.

Shadow priests need more “single target” damage beyond void torrent.

Try fighting a fury warrior or any strong self healing dps class in Blitz Brawl and watch him out heal all your damage while stopping your void torrent and flash heal.

Mind blast should be hitting for double its damage if the enemy player has both vampiric touch and shadow word pain on them. It already has a cooldown after two casts, so it’s not like you’ll be spamming it.

3 Likes

100% agree, however i think there is a problem that is called Psychic Link. They would need to have individual spell-specific damage transfer values otherwise we will just repeat the constant nerf/buff cycle in DF, where Psychic Link was either providing insane value or was almost not even worth the talent point.

I mean, at this point Disc/Holy are the only healing specs without an interrupt. It’s a meme.

Curious to think why choosing one filler spell vs. having both is too much? It’s a good way to cut down a bit on button bloat.

I don’t mind having a lot of strong choices in pvp talents, but i do agree it feels kinda bad to not be able to use more. Mind games needs a buff to be honest. A flat damage increase or two charges maybe.

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Environment variable CDR that incentivises taking damage in PvE is an absolutely horrendous idea.

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Forum bug, now it’s posted on the correct order.

One on those honor talents needs to become baseline, sorry but a minor inconvinience to you every 45 seconds in pve isn’t worth making the spec choose between and arm and a leg in the other game aspect.

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I’d kill for the mass dispel cooldown reduction. Or for leap to shield me and my target the same way rescue does.

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Not that one lol, if anything that honor talent should be deleted and MD should have its cd reverted back to its old status.

Rather just see mindgames be improved and made better at reverting healing / damage, now that it’s a pvp talent it can shine in its primary function instead of just being a slightly better damage button.

Mindgames with DA is actually quite scary rn, problem is that too many honor talents are too good to give up.

Mindgames being an honor talent just makes you gimp yourself in some way: phase shift is too good to give up, psyfiend with proper setup is great for killing healers that would otherwise not die, catharsis also too good, there are at least 2 other choices you pick depending on the situation.

And now comes mindgames to take a slot, so you either gimp yourself in a way to take mindgames or just don’t take it at all.

: /

Yeah that is a pain. What we really need is a 4th talent slot lol.

I could see catharsis being a good option to be made baseline. There is enough unavoidable damage everywhere in PvE that it would still be an overall bad play to try and stand in damaging effects to trigger it. They could give it an ICD too.

Well. Yes. But apply this to every single healer, not only priest.
Why do healers need kick? Did you ever get massaged by war/monk or sham…or basicaly any melee with healer on a shadow? Thats quite some experience let me tell you.

2 Likes