So… I hate shadowform as it makes it impossible to see the transmogs I’ve spent years collecting. But I also get that a lot of priests LOVE shadowform and feel its iconic despite having no actual purpose anymore (the damage % it adds simply brings their spells up to the same level as the other classes).
I’ve seen threads discussing which shadowform looks best, people asking for it to be removed, people asking for new glyphs, for glyphs that remove it all together, etc.
My suggestion: Turn shadowform into an effect that’s linked to your insanity.
Out of combat and zero insanity? You look normal.
As your insanity grows, you begin to smolder with black smoke. Your form flickers and shadows slide over your body.
At 100 you’re little more than a smoking outline with blazing purple eyes
Not only would it look pretty cool, it would keep people like me happy when I wander around town or sit in a raid waiting for a pull AND it would create a visual feedback meter you could track without weak auras (if you wished).
Sry but totally against this.
Let’s just ask for a glyph that when you enter combat your character looks in shadowform and when out of combat you look normal.
Some people just like to be around a city in shadowform or around the world with their mount in shadowform too.
Let’s not tie visuals with gameplay when we can really add a glyph for that. So everyone is happy
I think you’re in a situation with shadow form where if you asked 10 shadow priests every one would have a different opinion on the ability.
I’m fine with glyphing it btw as long as the range of glyphs is far larger than it is atm. Examples of glyphs:
You’re a jet black, smoking outline.
You’re vanilla era shadow form
You’re a legion era ‘clearer’ but outlined by purple
You’re the dark form we have now
You have no visible shadow form at all.
Do that and I suspect you’ll have people simply choosing the form they want (and people still being annoyed at other priests choosing the ‘wrong’ ascetic’ )
The ideal situation is that all of the varying types of shadowforms we’ve had in the past, including the one from the glyph where you basically weren’t in shadowform, is added to the barber shop the way druid forms were.
Anyone who doesn’t choose vanilla era shadow form is WRONG! I will FIGHT THEM! There will be blood on the battlefield! PRIEST BLOOD! PRIEST AGAINST PRIEST!
(I’m in the ‘hate shadowform’ camp. It’s very… vanilla. E.g. back then being able to hide clown suits was a bonus. We’re in an age with full transmogs so effects like this and boomkin form that utterly hide your curated look feel like relics that we should be able to option out of. IMO o course)
The option to customize Shadowform with one of the varying types or a lesser version of the previous Shadowforms we’ve had has been a topic of discussion for a long, long time.
I am hopeful one day we will get it but after they preached “customizations that match you” and did not give it to us while also making every class have the same casting animations for half of their spells despite the character’s race I am not optimistic.
It’s a shame - but I get the feeling that glyphs aren’t as flexible as you’d hope. My… guess? The engine is terrible for particle/fx/Shader work compared to a game like PoE which creates new variants on a monthly basis. Possibly stuff is too hard wired into the engine and it becomes a pain to fix.
Or they don’t have anyone free to go back and look at older effects bar that one animation pass they did a while back.
)