How i would have improved shadow

Classes Priest
1

Here’s how i would have improved shadow as someone who liked both the legion and shadowlands implementation of it.

Personally i would have fused both aspects, you have devouring plague, the mind blast reset mechanic etc… but you also have voidform not as a cd, but as an integral part of the rotation, how?

Simple, you either have devouring plague generating insanity, or void form activates after you consumed a set amount of insanity, it wouldn’t start automatically, the bar would fill up as you consume more and more insanity until you can press void eruption, this would basically crate a gameplay where it rewards people utilizing resources as well as possible, to enter voidform as many times as possible, also during voidform, and only then devouring plague would generate insanity instead of consuming it, otherwise there would be problems.

I would also change mastery so it increases damage just like now, but you also generate more resources, this would make mastery have both more of an impact in the rotation making the stat better from a gameplay prospective, while still being an increase in damage.

Also, please make misery baseline.

2

my critic would be… they may aswell reduce the specc to only having 1 DoT if this would happen. theres no point having 2 DoTs if at baseline 1 DoT automatically applies the other.

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3

Good point, but i think the pain of applying both in aoe is just unbearable.

Shadow word pain also lasts less than vampiric, i think they should standardize that.

What do you think of the other suggestions though? Would you like that or not?

Personally, i think it’s an excellent middle ground that combines both aspects of shadow, the shadowlands version and the legion version.

4

it could be fairly cool providing they executed well. i have loved shadow in almost all its iterations so far its a very cool specc.

Old Void form is a missed thing at its highs it was so much fun ^^

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5

I see, thanks.

6

i always wondered what would happen if they built void form without the builder spender at all

u have 2 forms.

Void form and Shadow form… and u work it by balancing both effectively.

So instead of Void Form consuming a resource… it Punishs u for Over-exhausting it.

this wuld give u more control over when and where to use it like a normal CD… while giving that old Void form hype to it… With a measure in palce to prevent it becoming “permanant” Gameplay…

7

Dunno actually, would the factor that decides whether you are overusing voidform or shadowform taking damage? I think it would feel a bit too finicky in my opinion, but if you have something to add do. Maybe i didn’t quite understand what you meant. Or maybe you do progressively less damage? In that case i think it would be super math heavy and probably only super good players would be able to properly understand the spec.

Personally i think voidform consuming a resource is likely better.

8

so instead of building a resource… it feels like a battle to control void form.

so Each ability has a Shadow and void variant. which 2 keys which work like shapeshift between void and Shadow.

Each use abilities based on the form ur currently in.

then overexhausting could have a staggered effect… starting at confusion slowing down ur haste… evolving into the Doing less Damage… ur tentacles turning on urself… and goes on.

dunno if it’d fit… or belong in a MMO or even if remotely balancable.

i saw someone mention it in BFA At some point questioning into why it doesnt work this way… balancing or weird design could be it… but interesting as a concept if void form ever did come back in its old form for any reason.

9

Ill give it some thought, i think i prefer a more direct approach, but who knows, could be nice.

10

Mild concern on the idea of not having cds on pull because you need to have spent the requisite amount of insanity. Rework ideas and designs are all fun to see though.

11

Mmm, ill give it some thought. But in essence it would be similar to legion in the sense that you need to build up some insanity, but at the same time you aren’t total dog… outside of it. because you still have devouring plague. It’s basically merging the 2 aspects.

12

Shadow is pretty damn strong in raiding, excluding the broken specs ofc. So you would not want to buff it in raiding and make it broken + a nerf subject. We all know how this ends if you dont play mages+rogues.

Now in M+ not so much, a slight buff to searing nightmare which is most of our damage would make shadow insane.

If im not mistaken… The void bolt buff from Hungering Void was increasing damage to ALL targets and not just one. That also would be great.

Also…Please stop my void form draining when im on dispersion…

13

Searing nightmare in place of mind sear please. Like no one likes mind sear as far as i’m aware.

Instead mind flay is the st and aoe filler and just replicates some of the dot damage, on other targets while searing nightmare is the aoe spender. That’s it.

They could even bring back mind spike for those who don;t really like the channel a lot, problem is that it doesn’t synergize well with voidform, unless they manage to get the timing perfectly, which is not easy.

14

Indeed its a bit…Trash-y playstyle but have in mind that they made it like this to kinda slow us down. In huge packs searing nightmare is hilariously broken

The GCD’s are slowing down the things and make it both annoying + less OP.

15

To be honest I’d like to have back the Cataclysm playstyle for multiple reasons

  • mana management through SWD and masochism
  • dark evangelism / dark archangel “burst” mechanic
  • mind spike reducing mind blast cast time but consuming dots
  • empowered orbs / mastery (iirc) management, though orb generation was a bit RNG, it felt so good to deal high damage mind blasts

idk the spec felt so good to play back then, quite unique, with a lot to manage, snapshotting was also something. Well the game was all about the learning curve and managing your own performance for a lot of players instead of streamlining everything and only having a steep curve at the high end. While I’m happy with SL shadow iteration compared to Legion and especially BFA I still miss the cataclysm shadow priest. Not really the topic but Holy was also miles better to play. In the end I think Discipline is the only spec that feels better with time, especially since they got rid of smart atonement in Warlords after the joke it became in siege of orgrimmar, once again if my memory serves me well.

I know that it will never happen though, snapshotting was too hard to deal with for the majority of the playerbase, mana isn’t a thing for any class and is now only a utility limit resource. One can only hope they finally come up with cataclysm classic :call_me_hand:

16

We also had no pandemic and had to last tick refresh every dot :cry:

17

Yep, that definitely was something making the difference between a good and a really good execution. Back then the game had multiple layers of skill and execution progression, now it feels like there’s 2. There’s bad, good and really good / insane. That’s meh if you want my opinion but whatever.

18

I think a lot of it is also a shift from class / spec execution to encounter execution. I never found the design of cata particularly taxing because I was able to focus on it.

Not to mention shadow was only really “good” in dragon soul. DS4set shadowfiend opener was something though, honestly the new prism build kinda reminds me of it.

19

Yeap, I think I went on that topic on the GD forum. The classes are designed for encounters and not the other way around, which as a “retired” raider I think should be.

20

Personally I think I can take or leave it, moving a smidge back the other way would be cool, but I do prefer having baseline pandemic and no snapshotting.