Shadowform? Why?

Classes Priest
22

At the very beginning of legion it was on permanently. Didn’t even have a button for it. People complained cause they couldnt see their mogs so they made it a toggle again. Can’t say I disagree

1 Like
23

I don’t see Shadow Form going away because it’s kind of the class theme. I remember people were asking for a Holy Form for years as a counter.

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24

I hope the people with access to posting on the Beta forums can get the devs attention on this. It shouldn’t be hard to do. They could even add it to the barber shop options. The original shadow form is iconic and I will never understand why they took it away without giving us the option to keep it.

2 Likes
25

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/shadowform/692512 your wish is my command.

I’m not sure it’ll do much good but hey. Worth a shot.

1 Like
26

Based. Thank you!

27

NP. I get its contentious but I’m also 100% sure it would have never been implemented like this if Transmog had existed in Vanilla…

28

I’d much rather it just be treated is boomkin form, where you can get a glyph to lessen the effects.

Going from what was shadowform, something used to provide defensive ability and empowered shadow damage, to what it is today, to being just a cosmetic glyph would be a severe disappointment. Much like if blizzard removed druids bear form, but just gave a glyph that allowed you to look like a bear. It removes that immersion of going into a certain form/stance that empowers your particular ability, and its replaced with a cosmetic.

I like shadowform because of the immersion and identity it gives to the spec, not just because I want to be a spooky shadow.

4 Likes
29

If shadowform gets removed it may just be enough to get me to uninstall this game once and for all. Feels bad, man.

5 Likes
30

the glyph is bugged. if you die and are ressed then it actually works, until you log out.

31

Appreciate the effort, but the request isn’t to get rid of shadowform. I think the vast majority of priests agree it’s iconic and shouldn’t go anywhere. What many of us want is just an option to look like it used to look. I rolled this class to look like a shadow, not a plum. All this extra flare they’ve added to it is just garbage, imo. I just want that blackish semi-translucent shadowform of old.

8 Likes
32

It’s my own preference.

Personally I think Shadowform has been gutted to the point of being useless. It needs to be on, purely to add 10% to a spec that’s had its damage reduced by 10% because of this form existing. There’s no point in it existing bar, as you point out, people like yourself who want the form because it’s iconic.

While for people like me, the form is so overpowering it hides any transmog we choose - whatever you do, you’re basically a purple blob - something no other spec is as limited by. Even druids have a lot of choices in their forms; the closest equivalent is Boomkin which at least has a less intrusive glyph option.

My ideal solution is just killing it and adding back the appearance as a glyph. Ideally several glyphs that give priests like yourself the original form, the modern form, etc.

But assuming this doesn’t happen, I’d like them to at least offer a range of glyphs to modify the form - again, to give you n yours the classic appearance but also to give people like me the ability to nullify it all together or at least drastically reduce it down to a bit of smoke or a very faint purple hue.

Choice. I think we can agree player agency is a good thing.

3 Likes
33

Shadow form has been so iconic with shadow priest why would you ever want to remove it? Why play shadow when you wont be a shadow? I agree on the glyph I disagree with the remove. Why not give a glyph that Grant’s a purple outline similar to how Legion had it so you can see your transmog. If you want to play a spriest without shadow form go Disc.

8 Likes
34

Because it’s ugly as hell and hides our appearance. And… does nothing.

I feel the same about Boomkin chickens. They’re idiotic. Always thought they were idiotic. So glad the glyph exists to at least lessen the sheer horror of being a fat comedic chicken instead of, y’know… a druid.

All shadow means to me is a priest who calls on dark, anti-healing magic to power their spells. Now that its this https://i.imgur.com/G21d6Pu.jpg it looks like a graphical error on the characters. It’s not cool. It’s not evil smoke rippling off our shoulders. It’s a bad shader that looks like they spent all of 5 minutes creating it in their engine.

Again - I don’t want to deprive priests who love the effect of their form. A lot of you DO feel its iconic and part of their identity. But… it’s not something I care about. And it over-writes any transmog I collect - something I DO care about. So for me? I’d prefer an option where I could either negate or drastically tone down the effect.

(and c’mon - disc is not dps… We don’t go shadow to heal, nor do we go disc to do damage)

Edit: If it looked something like this? https://i.imgur.com/40XA2DF.png I’d be more impressed. Sharp colours, bright purple rim, fading into darkness. But, alas, it doesn’t.

4 Likes
35

Just let me float and give me from wings, horns and tail momentarily lol. Hate this ugly af aura.

1 Like
36

Well, it adds 10% damage. Not nothing, but not much. The solution isn’t to take it away the spec’s defining characteristic since Vanilla launch day; it’s to bring it back to its former glory. Both from functionality but also with appearance.

2 Likes
37

But only because our dps is reduced by a flat 10%. If you removed it tomorrow, Blizzard would crank the dial up and shadow dps would be identical.

Its only purpose nowadays is akin to chicken form. It exists because it always exists, even if its stripped of its entire purpose.

And again, if you like the form - awesome. I think you should have a classic era appearance option. But as someone who’s played priest on and off since vanilla… it’s something I (and I think a lot of others) wish we could hide/remove. If nothing else our Shadow glyph REALLY doesn’t achieve the stated goal of really dialing down the look.

2 Likes
38

Here are the Shadowform variations throughout its lifespan (not including Legion-Current)

Classic & The burning Crusade

  • Shadowform
    • Assume a Shadowform, increasing your Shadow damage by 15% and reducing Physical damage done to you by 15%. However, you may not cast Holy spells while in this form.

Wrath of the Lich King

  • Shadowform
    • Assume a Shadowform, increasing your Shadow damage by 15%, reducing all damage done to you by 15% and threat generated by 30%. However, you may not cast Holy spells while in this form except Cure Disease and Abolish Disease. Grants the periodic damage from your Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague, and Vampiric Touch spells the ability to critically hit for 100% increased damage and grants Devouring Plague and Vampiric Touch the ability to benefit from haste.

Cataclysm

  • Shadowform
    • Assume a Shadowform, increasing your Shadow damage by 15%, reducing all damage done to you by 15%, and increasing all party and raid members spell haste by 5%. However, you may not cast Holy spells while in this form.

Mists of Panderia

  • Shadowform
    • Assume a Shadowform, increasing your Shadow damage by 15-25%, Now increases the Priest’s armor by 60-100%, However, you may not cast Holy spells while in this form.

Warlords of Draenor

  • Shadowform
    • Assume a Shadowform, increasing your Shadow damage by 25%, Now increases the Priest’s armor by 100%, However, you may not cast Healing spells while in this form, other Holy spells do not have this restriction.

Prime Source…
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Shadowform

  • I did my best to clean up all the other junk that no longer is in the game like Multistrike.
  • Couldn’t get clean copy + Paste tooltips of each version of the spell.
  • the variance like 15-25% is changes between patches throughout the expansion.

So which one or combos does everyone find interesting and would like a return to?

Here is what I like to return…

  • Shadowform + Voidform Bonuses… Not replace.
    • First and foremost, Voidform should just be “improved Shadowform” or w/e you want to call it but have it be in addition to Shadowform, not a replacement to Shadowform. I think its stupid that you get a 20% damage buff in Voidform but only 10% in Shadow but in reality, you get a 10% more in Voidform. Just simplify it.
  • Haste Buff
    • +5% haste to either self or party/raid
  • Holy School
    • Healing Spells knocks you out of Shadowform i.e. Healing (Holy Spells) and as such, Shadowmend goes away and we get Flash Heal being holy again so we can have more interrupt protection / interaction.
  • Defensives
    • I guess having a flat 15% damage reduction be it all or just physical is a bit overpowered? So because we get weakness of healing drops shadowform again, then we should get better defensives in Shadowform with at least 100% more armor to survive melee a bit more.
  • Extra Action Bar
    • I liked when entering Shadowform gave me a new bar to place abilities on. I used it so when I drop form when healing with Flash Heal, I got easier party support abilities like Prayer off Healing, Prayer of Mending, Renew etc. on that bar to make the switch easier.
2 Likes
39

Shadowform is a unique spell available only to shadow priests, and it increases your power. The aesthetic is awesome.

There used to be restrictions on casting holy spells in Shadowform, so you had to go in and out during battle.

I can’t know for sure why not apply the damage increase on shadow spells, except Shadowform is a ritual of importance since Priests were first founded.

Embrace the Shadowform.

  • Priest
1 Like
40

Which only proves they need to add more functionality for shadowform…like it used to have. Another poster already listed all the things it used to do. So make it do it again.

But I’ll never understand people rolling shadow priest saying they don’t want to look like a shadow. That is literally the defining characteristic of the spec and it has been since Day 1. I’ve been here since Vanilla. You think shadow priest, you think shadowform. The two are inseperable. It’s not going to go away and Blizz would be beyond ridiculous to tear the soul out of shadow spec.

What they need to do is to add back its old bonuses. As far as the appearance…just an option for old shadowform. I’m sure there might be some people out there who like to look like a smelly plum, but I’m not one of them. I just want to be a badass shadow again. Still, as awful as it might look now it’s still better than getting rid of the appearance altogether.

1 Like
41

I know a lot of Worgen druids that would rather not be a cat. I have a friend who would play nothing else if he could be a wolf.

1 Like