TL;DR:
Revert to MoP Shadow Priest and keep Voidform playstyle as Void Priest spec
Voidform feels like more of a mini-game or a meme build for raiding rather than a playstyle/rotation that you will need to make use of for every form of content that you do if you want to DPS as a priest. (Some players have been playing as Priests for years, and wouldn’t want to give up on any transmogs, knickknacks, or other character- or class-specific things they have earned throughout the years.)
IMO, Shadow reached its high point in MoP with the glyph/talent selection then, and the simple yet elegant and effective shadow orbs and Devouring Plague mechanic. The design of the shadow orbs basic rotation is already there and with simple numerical tuning could be brought back at any time, even as a fourth spec (with the current Voidform becoming a “Void Priest” spec.) Even the WoD iteration and its Clarity of Power option would be fine with me.
I have not played Alpha and so cannot comment from experience, but I imagine that just adding the option of casting Devouring Plague using insanity would make things worse. Devouring Plague would cost almost as much insanity as entering Voidform (with the talent), and would not enhance the damage of any DoTs or other abilities; furthermore, you would need a stronger target to be alive for 12 seconds to get your full insanity’s worth.
The underlying issue is that the current Shadow Priest’s abilities are tuned to be so weak because it is assumed that you are always going to be in Voidform and will be able to maintain Voidform for any accompanying ramp-up bonuses. (Traits like Chorus of Insanity do help improve damage in raid settings, but again it is assumed that you are going to be able to make use of them, hence the huge nerfs to our basic DoTs in 8.3.)
BTW, I tried to salvage this toon that I am posting on by putting huge emphasis on gear with Haste and Haste-enhancing corruptions. It is nice to be able to get into (or back into) Voidform quickly and maintain it more easily in more forms of content, but I have have had to sacrifice some level of numerical performance for this in raid settings (I know I should have more Crit), and Shadow will become unbearable again in the prepatch when corruptions are gone, and even more so in the SL expac when Haste percentage plummets as I level up.
I would redesign voidform and make it a cool down that the timer is reduced on our crits from mind blast, allow to cast spells while moving, increase spell damage and reduce incoming damage. Powerward absorbtion damage is converted into sanity while in voidform.
Cuz by the time it’s up everything is basically dead… i.e open world and m+.
Or by the time it’s up you get easily shut down by interrupts, stuns… basically pvp.
Overall it’s trash for every part of the game except raiding. Ironically, Blizzard LITERALLY admitted this but AcTiViSiOn iS a SmAlL iNdIe CoMpAnY so it’s not getting fixed.
That’s how statistics work. You look at average performance in a given range. Outliers are always that, instances that lie out of the average distribution.
Imagine saying professional basketball is easy for most people and citing Michael Jordan as a proof of that claim.
the following stack ranking of total S4 runs by frequency looking at dps only. Im cherry picking the best each class has to offer for dps.
Havoc DH: 16.6%
BM Hunter: 14.3%
Fury Warrior: 8.1%
Fire Mage: 7.3%
Outlaw Rogue: 6.1%
Ret Paladin: 5.5%
Destruction Warlock: 4.5%
Unholy DK: 3.9%
Winderwalker Monk 3.2% Shadowpriest: 3.1%
Elemental shaman: 2.8% and they also have enhance and are objectively better for M+ than priest
make