Yeah, I moved back to Hunter after we got AOTC, after feeling dissatisfied for awhile with Shadow. This news just solidified I made the right choice to prepare for Shadowlands.
I have mained Priest since BC. I have ALWAYS played shadow and a healer spec. The changes with void form made the play style feel less fluid. It is clunky at best. Even if it did not need buffs it still feels horrid to play. I have not even touched shadow in BFA since the first few months. Remove voidform.
Get rid of insanity, make void form a cooldown.
Remove Voidform!
I really, really, REALLY hope Blizzard is taking notes this expansion. I don't think Blizzard can survive another BfA.
A class should function without the need of "Borrowed Talents" from anything.If only they brought back the DoT-less playstyle from Warlords of Draenor's level 100 Talent...
My favorite iteration of the Shadow Priest so far has been the MoP one, a sentiment also expressed by many others. It was simple and elegant, but brought more to the table for advanced players with meaningful talent and gearing choices, and support for your entire party or raid.The voidform/insanity mechanics are not appropriate for all types of content, as they require you to stand still in long combat sessions such as raid boss fights. In open world content, dungeons, and PvP, you cannot always enter voidform easily enough, maintain a long voidform, or enjoy the ensuing bonuses after voidform such as lingering insanity and chorus of insanity if you will be out of combat for a while. It goes without saying that the one thing you cannot change about a character is his or her class, and Shadow is the only Priest dps spec, so non-healing Priest players will often find themselves stuck with a suboptimal playstyle or suboptimal performance depending on what content they want to do.I have always suspected that the entire voidform/insanity iteration of Shadow Priest (that was introduced in Legion) was created entirely around the Surrender to Madness talent (which in the end had to be a talent, because you couldn't just make people die). Perhaps to developers, they thought it would be a fun sort of minigame to see how far you could go without losing voidform and/or dying. And perhaps to alpha/beta testers, it was fun to play this minigame at a target dummy, and experience what was nearly a whole new spec. However, many players who had loved the former concept of Shadow for years, and many players who chose to main a Shadow Priest in the actual expansions of Legion or BfA, have had to suffer through a constant ramp-up minigame that cannot always be properly played when most content is centered around moving on quickly to the next round of combat, resulting in poor numerical performance.If I could wave my magic (umbral!) wand, I would revert the Shadow spec back to how it was in MoP or even the weird state it was in during WoD. In fact, I look forward to the day years from now when WoW Classic may advance to the MoP expansion so that I can experience that style of Shadow Priest again. Another possibility would be to have Shadow and Void as separate specs, to please both audiences and allow Priest to have more than one dps option.As it stands now, I will not main Shadow again in Shadowlands, and I may not even bring a Priest through the expac as an alt, given that the covenant abilities and even anima powers do not seem to mesh well with the voidform/insanity playstyle.
I think they should unprune the shadow orbs and devouring plague; but not get rid of voidform.It felt G O O D when i pressed Dark Ascension and just busted a Voidnut on the screen instantly.So; lingering insanity, legacy of the void, auspicious spirits, dark ascension and Surrender To Madness should be baseline.Also cap the ammount of haste you can obtain and make it so in voidform you can cast while moving. Also make it so the "mind" and "shadow" spells become void once you enter voidform, like the old Metamorphosis to Warlocks.And for visuals, the shadow orbs can become eyes of corruption so you feel like Voidy Kael'Thas.There, fixed.
As someone who has played Shadow Priest since TBC, I have to say that the MoP iteration was the best, but I really have no issue with the Voidform mechanic as it is currently. I find that the class fantasy behind going completely insane and that being reflected in an ever increasing speed of rotation is a fun and engaging mechanic for me. However, I recognise that this is clearly not a sentiment that is widely agreed upon.The issue with voidform is that same one that other 'ramp up' specs have, which is far too much of our power is tied to this particular aspect of our kit and when it cannot be used either due to boss mechanics, movement, open-world shenanigans or otherwise, you're left with what is essentially a budget Afflication Warlock minus a pet.Based on the approach Blizz has taken with other classes so, I'm... strangely hopeful, that they will ackowledge the situation and look to make positive changes, but their track record has me a little worried.
I understand where most of this feedback is coming from, even though it's outside my realm of gameplay. (I don't main a shadow priest) It's practical feedback, that really is worth looking into by blizzard.One area where I disagree though is your assessment of the last covenant ability.
Ffs, please restore Power Word: Fortitude to what it's supposed to be, not some stupid Stamina buff. Cloth gear doesn't even slow the bleeding, and a 10 sec Desperate Prayer (no doubt with a serious cooldown) is not even vaguely comparable.Shame, Blizz devs, shame.
I don't play shadow priest but I support and sympathise with your cause entirely. Players being vocal about issues and Blizzard hearing and acting because of feedback really gives me hope.
Am I the only one that enjoyed the legion shadow-priest? Void form felt great because for every extra stack you could achieve you got more dps.The issue was that this was hard for many so blizzard made it easier and less punishing but weaker. Maybe get back to the old void form and embrace the play style for what it is? Its very similar for feral.
This is soooo depressing... We all know and have been saying for more than 2 years that, short of a total rework (not happening at this point), shadow needs double mindblast and LI baseline. I honestly don't hold hope for even that minimum reduction of clunkiness, though, because going off Blizzard's track record with the craptastic talents they designed in BFA and what's announced for SL, we'll probably end up with more dead picks and mind flay as an option in the talent tree.
I like how SP is right now in BFA but I am afraid we will have to play BFA release shadow priest again :(
wouldn't be good: NO VF - madness builds up while casting your spells, when the bar is full mind flay can be cast while moving and mind blast is instant(with the same cd). when the bar is depleted you start to build up again. This is my dream spriest