Blizzard and their love for Shadow Priests

WoW Classic Season of Discovery
1

What the F is happening with Blizzard ?
Was SoD tuned only keeping shadow priests in mind as casters after p1?

After dominating whole of P2 and much of P3 in PvP, the amount of utility runes and buffs this class and spec gets is straight up ridiculous.

Please tell me this is a out of season April fools joke. With my last post about mages being weak in PvP, now we are being literally spat on.
With the recent changes in ST gear, the spell power boost in items things seem eased up with casters.

But the real thing that does not make sense is the additional sp stats. For example;

  1. Visage of the exiled (Head slot): +21 fire spellpower AND +20 shadow spellpower.
  2. Spire of Hakkari Worship (Staff): +17 shadow spell damage

Why is there an additional +17 shadow spell damage on a 2% crit staff ? and +21 fire spell power on head slot item which isnā€™t really preferable to use in most of fights due to tailoring head ā€˜activeā€™ ability in PvE and no Stam for PvP ? While no additional stats for frost, nature, arcane, holy except the already existing Drakestone along with forementioned stats.

The only item of sense for daily use or PvP would have been the staff with 2% crit chance which had the chance to target lesser tended casters, but unsurprisingly its shadow priests while other classes are tied to items that they will use once a week.

With shadow priests being taken as the point of reference for all the buffs and nerfs for casters, there are a class or two being completely spit on and being treated as a joke.

This ST item buff seems like a desperate attempt to keep player base invested while no sight of p4 until July (rumors) and most of the people already with their 5 alts BISā€™d would agree that this dropped a bit too late.
Also, this post was intended for PvP grinders, so please feel free to express your thoughts.

2 Likes
2

I think shadow school is a great addition for both sp and warlocks but there is one thing that seems completely out of touchā€¦ why they didnā€™t add any item with frost school?

3

there are other classes in the game that use shadow damage.
maybe the buffs to these items were made with warlocks in mind.
just a guess though.

4

because everyone hates frost mages except for frost mage players.
they are a menace in pvp and iā€™m pretty sure most people are happy they arenā€™t meta right now.

once projectile freezing traps get hit with a nerfbat we can talk about frost mages without doing it in a joking manner.

seriously could you imagine how oppressive it would be to have these lemmings run around spamming frost nova on everybody while said ā€˜everybodyā€™ are also perpetually stuck in freezing trap roots?

the fact weā€™re all currently rp walking around in pvp is honestly just not fun in any way, for anybody.

bet the hunters are having fun though, sure must be nice to just shoot fish in a barrel and call it skill.

walk out of the freezing trap area of effect? well here is another, have fun doing it again, ya leper.

2 Likes
5

This is the EXACT reason I said ā€˜PvP grinders only for this postā€™

Frost nova isnā€™t even minutest problem for anyone. It has a CD of 25secs with Imp Frost Nova. Also as a priest, you should open your spellbook once and find a spell called ā€˜Dispel Magic (Rank 2)ā€™ under ā€˜Disciplineā€™ tab. Its a spell you most probably havenā€™t used in PvE, but it dispels such frost novaā€™s and other effects in PvP.

You mentioned about Frost Trap yes, which IS a big problem since even after Dispel the effect stays unless you move out of the area and spamming dispel is just a mana drain.

As far as Frost spec goes, trust me mate frost ranks amongst the worst specs in PvP currently in SoD. You will just be seeing mages casting their 3sec Frostfire bolts only to be interrupted by silences/stuns/intercepts. Every mage player knows how trash frost spec is currently in PvP even tho decent in PvE.

Dont know what point you wanted to prove here by mentioning ā€˜Frost Novaā€™, but yeah that doesnā€™t justify anything for adding Frost spellpower school to items, neither is the spell slightly OP compared to the utility toolkit spriests have in PvP.

6

Can relate :rofl:. Spot on

7

The problem is we are low in dmg in PvE, 2nd from the bottom above arcane mage. We needed items to buff us.

Now in PvP weā€™re strong, and was strong before these items buffs, and maybe get stronger.

The problem is blizzard cannot seprate a class dmg between PvE and PvP like retail with different talents that are just for PvP.

8

Low in damage in PvE, thats absolutely true and no items to help frost spec.

But I really donā€™t think you have PvPā€™d in SoD as frost mage specially after the damage reduction. You know that frost spec is most mana consuming spec if played properly with shields and blinks, but with 70% damage done and 100% mana consumption, you are just dreaming about frost mages being on top. To add to that all other classes have instant abilities or nuke via runes or procs while frost mage has a deep freeze with high CD. Also your frostfire casts cost you 3 secs in SoD where all other classes have insta nukes (Ex: Shaman lavaburst procs, Druid nukes, Priest dots/nukes).

Dont really understand your 2nd point in PvP where frost mages are strong (in SoD atleast this phase).

9

x2 with cold snap.
next youā€™re gonna ask for water elemental and pretend you donā€™t want it for the ranged frost nova as well.
i know how this goes bro, its not my first rodeo.

ahhh you got me. case closed. buff frost mage guys.

right, now imagine mages blinking in, popping nova, displacing back out, cast for a bit, then cold snap, blink in again, pop nova and displace back outā€¦ ON TOP of the freezing trap bsā€¦ literally perpetual rooting for everyone who isnā€™t a priest (and even priests would have trouble getting out) trinket or no trinket.

i know, and thank god for thatā€¦ otherwise the scenario above would be the average pvp experience.
having both frost nova and freezing trap be part of the pvp meta sounds like a bad time.
hell, having just one of them is bad enough.
for whatever its worth, iā€™d take double frost novas over freezing trap being projectile vomited by every hunter in the game, at least thatā€™s part of the vanilla experience, unlike the bs trap launched freezing trap.

frost mages downrank for 1 sec cast frostbolts to permaslow their target.
besides frost bolt is 2.5 sec cast max rank when talented, and lets not pretend this is a choice.

frost nova was just the go-to complaint i wanted to make, i could list the entire spell school as a problem if youā€™d prefer that, because its deffo not just frost nova which would be a problem when combined with freezing trap existing in its current form.

like i said above, any mage worth their salt will be throwing 1 sec frost bolts left and right to permaslow enemies.

so now you get to RP walk inside AND outside the freezing trap, and that is assuming you get to even do thatā€¦ yayā€¦

10

no point slowing someone on top of a freezing trap though. And thatā€™s well and good but it only works against melee.

11

You are not understanding the depth of the problem here ā€œat allā€.

You are stating spells as if we have unlimited mana and frost is the OPā€™iest class ever.
We have a shield that CONSTANTLY drains mana on damage taken, another that costs a great deal of mana.
What do you want frost mages to do ? cast 1 sec bolts and keep slowing them till they catch up and kill you ?

Do you understand frost mages cant even cast half of this without evocation ? and if at all evocation is on cooldown, you are a sitting duck wanding in this situation. Been there done that, PvPā€™d everyday on mage while testing all specs.

Iā€™ll tell you some gap chasers here;

  1. Hunters - Will outrange you with their ranged attacks and you are dead. Aspect of cheetah will surely help when mages will cast their 2.5s FBs. Your ā€˜annoying slowā€™ is nothing to them. By the time you finish casting 2.5s frostbolt, they will FD and 2x Chimera on you.
  2. Priests - Dots and run away instead of chasing, you are dead. If at all you decide to ice block and refresh, they will silence you dot again and even if you try to slow them, they will disperse and by the time you are dead. A good priest KNOWS to dispel in PvP, remember.
  3. Locks - dots, run, lifetap, SL-SL - done. Dots can crit + Instant casts. You cant really beat this class as any spec on mages, thanks to empowered runes and their resistances.
  4. Rogue - Crippling poison beats frostbolt slow. One blink and he will walk to you, another blink he will shadowstep, third blink - sprint. Ice block - ez preparation. The highway rune with stun on gun.
  5. Warrs - They dont really stand a chance.
  6. Pala - Neither do they except they keep dispelling and out-mana you.
  7. Druids - You really think slows are the problem for druids ? Plus they have 0cd Wrath on boomkins.

Here, thats the mageā€™s perspective of everyday PvP. Most the the skills stated above are tied to runes. And also good rotations that ā€œNOT YOUR ALT FORCED TO FARM r7ā€ PvPā€™ers would use.

Also no one in their sane minds would stack stuns/slows on enemies in PvP. Thats your average alt r7 grinding mindset.
Example Freezing Trap on Frost Nova - Most of hunters that abuse freezing trap will take talent which allows them to root enemies in place, and what does Frost Nova do ? Thats right! Roots enemies in place. So, not really a genius move there by whoever you seen doing that or not really a genius thought.

Now Iā€™m guessing you will deny the fact that Shadowpriests arenā€™t OP in BGs ?

12

it used to be in vanilla.
happy those days are gone tbh.
frost mages were bs in vanilla and they should not be bs in sod.

again, nobody likes frost mages other than frost mage players.
try walking one day in the shoes of a melee class in a world where frost mage is meta.
lemme tell ya, its awfulā€¦ hunters getting that dumb trap launcher took us right back to that trash gameplay.

maybe you should not use it unless you need it lol.

ice barrier?
yeah thatā€™s 305 mana, 30 seconds cooldown lolā€¦

frankly?
die.
i want them to die.
cus i hate them.

maybe kite? i dunno? play your class properly?
youā€™re obviously supposed to cast other spells in tandem with your 1 sec frostbolt spam ya dingusā€¦

then use evocation?
maybe use your mana gems.
get some mana pots, they are a dime a dozen.
if all that isnā€™t enough, well, go farm demonic runes.
you can also pester a druid for an innervate if you really starve for mana so hard.
you can even just stick close to the shamans atm, at least until shamanistic rage gets gutted next phase.

let me guess; you never sit down to drink for a few ticks despite being the only class in the game that can produce free water?
nobody says you have to sit and drink until you are at 100% mana, 3-4 ticks can supplement your mana gem/pot just fine for another fight.

ya ya ya thatā€™s all good, thanks, i know classes have gap closers. thatā€™s kinda irrelevant in a meta where permaslow is the name of the game.
like just blink away bro.

btw half of those are not ā€œgap closersā€ lol.

youā€™re not supposed to spam itā€¦ why are you being dishonest about this?
people know how to organize their roots, and they will obviously wait for the target to actually get out of the trap before they jump in for a nova, or vice versa.

literally just dispel their dots and they are harmless.

sucks to be a mage i guess, since all you can do is decurse.
better follow that shaman around and hope he bothers to drop a disease cleansing totem.
yell at your local priest if he is slacking on dispels as well.

13

All I can interpret from this reply is -
ā€œThank god its not vanilla and frost mages are the worst but rest classes are OP in SoD and nobody likes frost magesā€

Again, I kept in on PvP perspective where shields and other utility spells are important part of your kit and you are just saying ā€˜dont use it ?ā€™ tells a lot about your PvP experiences.

Again thats an average PvE mindset
About ice barrier - You need to have 100% uptime of it except when you are maybe rotating bases in AB/moving freely in WSG.

If you are here to troll, then im done with you mate, you havenā€™t proved anything here you just have personal issues for this class from a DIFFERENT EXPANSION and you want to enjoy spriests being on top, good for ya mate.

Easier said than done mate.

Yeah the only class to sit down and drink while ALL other classes have mana utility. Dont deny that dispersion/viper aspect/shamanistic rage/life tap are low CD utilities while we have evocation with massive 8m CD. Also gems, yeah it may be your style to conjure gems after respawn, but not everyone prefers to conjure, buffs and shield and battle with 50% mana right after respawn. And if you want to drink to regain 100% mana, the fights already over by then and you missed about 20+ HKs.

Exactly, most are kiters likes Shadow priests and locks. You get the idea tho and that replies confirms it.

Are you seriously kidding me ? You literally said

You are a joke mate, you know leave this thread be for Mage PvP players, you cant even stand by your words.

I know just by those replies that you are butthurt from a spec from VANILLA which has NOTHING to do with SoD and you are making no points and proving NOTHING.

Thanks for your time, done replying to you and not so good debate.

14

more or less, yea.

nah youā€™re legit not supposed to use the mana shield unless you aboslutely need to, otherwise youā€™re just begging to have your mana sapped.

not necessarily, no.
i get that its duration is longer than the cooldown, but that doesnā€™t mean you should keep it up 100% of the timeā€¦ what if you run into a priest? thatā€™s an ez dispel and now your ice barrier is on CD.

this isnā€™t trolling. this is honesty. i donā€™t like frost mages lol.

when it comes to priest, i donā€™t even play shadow bro, iā€™m a healer.
i donā€™t care if they nerf shadow, iā€™d welcome that.

actually super easily done, barely an inconvenience.

other classes have to sit and drink too.

iā€™m all for reducing the cooldown on evocate.
life tap just means trading health for mana, its not really a ā€œregenā€ mechanic.
dispersion is alright, but 30% mana is not a lot, its just barely enough when combined with shadow fiend.
shamanistic rage was actually nerfed hard back in phase 2, and theyā€™re gonna nerf it again soon.
viper aspect sacrifices 10% of the hunters damage to have the mana regen, hardly ideal in pvp.

this isnā€™t really a matter of preference, you make your mana gems or you deal with ooming.
you can make a bunch of them, so make them all.
and trust me, i know the pain of having to use more than 50% mana every respawn on buffs.
blizzardā€™s fault. once again they forgot to put the ā€œfree manaā€ buff on people spawning at a GY.

when i say ā€œcombinedā€ that could mean a variety of things, if you interpreted it as ā€œjump in and use your nova on top of the already rooted targetā€ thatā€™s you WANTING to interpret it in the dumbest way imaginable.

i elaborated on what i meant by that, and youā€™re doubling downā€¦ how tiresome.

yep, this was never a secret. i have been up front about my hatred of frost mage from the start.

iā€™d like to curb a potential problem before it comes into existence, hence why i advocate against frost.
its an annoying spec for everyone who has to deal with it and its lame.
blizzard obviously agrees with me on that, since theyā€™ve gone out of their way to neglect frost mage to the point of literally ignoring their existence.

thatā€™s not going to stop me.

15

Thanks for proving my point and supporting, all these debate for just this one conclusion.

16

cheers, hope they leave them in the dirt for a good while longer.

17

I feel you!

I think they have this strange idea this time of making dots overpowered to compete in all kinds of scenarios and with the quickness of this format. Problem is itā€™s completely overpowered in 1v1 and possibly bad in other scenarios. But in 1v1 affli/demo and SP is a nightmare to deal with. I agree with you.

Sp runes include all the staples. Mages got cool stuff on 40 but this SoD is far from balanced on any level. You got one chance for pvp spec w your class and if that didnā€™t work youā€™re screwed. Unfortunate of course for people who play what they love!
I always play destro no matter what and I play holy pala. Unfortunately not very good in 1v1 pvp which was kinda of the point of playing for me so.

Iā€™ve quit now because imbalance in pvp infuriates me. I donā€™t care who wins, I want a competition, not to get one shotted or one shot others without the other person to be able to interact.

Stone scissor paper okay, but to what degree. Add that with this community of spawn camping for hours and that doesnā€™t work. They either have to balance or create rules people must follow or else itā€™s just pure tyranny of he best classes atm who kill everyone else 10-0 everytime.