PvP upgrades incoming for Shadow Priests
by Alex Ziebart 
Feb 3rd 2009 at 5:00PM
Despite the lack of details, I'm really looking forward to these announcements. I'm a Shadow Priest at heart, and while I'm perfectly fine with respeccing for different parts of the game, it would be nice if I didn't need to respec Discipline if I wanted to be truly effective in PvP. The biggest thing I'd like to see is some more debuff protection. Yeah, we could use more survivability for sure, but right now I think a lot of classes have that issue. My biggest Shadow Priest specific annoyance is not being able to keep DoTs up on a target reliably.
So we'll see what happens. Whatever it is, I'm looking forward to it. It is fun to go Discipline now and then, but being able to hold my own as Shadow would be pretty nice.
Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.Filed under: Priest, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, PvP, Battlegrounds, Arena
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Grinn Feb 3rd 2009 5:04PM
One can hope.
Bushz Feb 3rd 2009 5:15PM
This will be interesting...$20 our damage gets nerfed for survibility....glad I rolled 2 other toons for PvP cause Sp PvP is frustrating as hell.
850 res and I still get destroyed left, right and centre..
Johnzim Feb 3rd 2009 5:12PM
Resilience. If you hit 800-1000 Resilience it makes a big difference.
See what's wrong with that? In order for priests to be viable in PvP you have to do some serious farming.
Speaking as a Disc priest who's done the farming, it feels nice to be back where I should be ie: not an honour cookie. However I didn't much enjoy being smeared on the ground by every lvl 80 DK/Paladin/Rogue who drunkenly staggered his way through Naxx.
I feel sorry for Shadow priests because I think their target Resilience is closer to 1,000 at the moment.
Looking forward to some changes, GC
smi04 Feb 3rd 2009 6:20PM
The problem is that when you get 1k resilience and your opponents get 1k resilience, the mana problems of shadow are even worse. Everyone living longer means more dot recasting, but where does the extra mana come from since the spec is already hard pressed for mana; especially if stupidfiend screws up.
What shadow needs:
Silence CD shortened, range extended.
Some serious Shadowfiend tweaks (again).
Dispersion tweaked.
Help with keeping dots up.
Minor survivability updates.
Mana efficiency improvements.
And finally, a good blackout replacement since it will probably be gone in 3.1.
t Feb 3rd 2009 5:17PM
all i have to say is about time. too long have i whined about spriests being the 'class that blizzard left behind'... at least with regards to pvp
Shadow Priest Feb 3rd 2009 5:23PM
You will melt faces as a shadow priest in pvp
JustSomeGuy Feb 3rd 2009 5:27PM
Priests really aren't a bad class, aside from the fact that they suck compared to every other class in the game.
Candina@WH Feb 3rd 2009 7:24PM
this, my friend, is full of win....
A friend said to me once, Mages are glass cannons. Lots of damage, but they explode when hit.
He then said that Shadow Priests are more like spun sugar water pistols....
Hal Feb 3rd 2009 5:28PM
Now if only Protection Paladins could get some PvP love.
JustSomeGuy Feb 3rd 2009 5:34PM
I'll elaborate briefly instead of just making a hit-and-run.
Take a look at priest's glyphs, then take a look any ANY other classes glyphs. There are like maybe ten priest glyphs TOTAL without any penalties on them. Is that even remotely balanced?
Then there is the lack of any kind of CC besides fear, which is useless since everyone trinkets out of it. And now, even mana burn is useless, once again making priests irrelevant.
It's nice that Blizz is trying, but I wrote the class off a long time ago. Priest will always suck- that's their role in WoW, to be every other class's punching bag.
Naix Feb 3rd 2009 9:03PM
How to fix Shadow Priests...
1. Give 2 more escapes. Much like Mages and Warlocks have insta fear/insta blink. Just something to get some space.
2. Reduce the ridiculous 3 second man burn to 1 second. Make it burn rage and whatever DKs use.
ROFLAMO Feb 3rd 2009 6:49PM
imo spriests are not that bad at the moment. I mean sure dks and pallies are a big probleme now. but rogues well rogues have always been those lazy mof******** anyway so dk/pallies imo try to cit keep trinket up and hope that someone ccs it for u :D . But imp anti magic shell is just op at this point.
On another note resto shamans are fine. I have a fury warrior and been with a resto shammy in a 2vs2 for 14minutes i did like 419k damage to her and she kept healing herself in some weird way... no ooms... nothing just pure healing and kiting me. at the end a lucky whirlwind made it but seriously resto shammies are a pain...
ps: this doesnt aplly to ebayers
Melenor Feb 3rd 2009 7:05PM
Yes! Finally, the long-awaited warlock buff!
... what? What do you mean they're not the sa--OH COME ON
artjunkie808 Feb 3rd 2009 7:41PM
I love my shadow priest. I've just accepted that I can't do shit , and have made a pally and shammy if I really want to get anything done. In the mean time i just ride around in shadowform and assume i can melt someone's face if I REALLY wanted to.
Eisengel Feb 4th 2009 6:07AM
This is basically where I am too. I used to PvP a lot in BC. Arenas were still a pain, and my odd-comp team of old hardcore PvPers (one High Warlord, and the rest at least Legionnaire) would occasionally pull out a win, but I loved BGs. We had a lot of fun in them. Unfortunately, all the rewards were in Arena. So, we all knocked our heads against the Arena wall until they all quit. Most of them had been in WoW since vanilla beta. I came in much later, so I was much more used to being a have-not on a server with more than half the population at 60.
Now I've almost entirely written off PvP. I played AV twice and Wintergrasp once since Wrath released. In fact one of my guildmates asked me if I wanted to form an Arena team with him with my Spriest tonight and I recommend he seek serious psychological help. I play my Spriest because I like the character and I like the class. If all I wanted was to be good at PvP, I'd pick another class, but that isn't what I want, I want to be able to be at least capable of PvP on the character that I like to play. So far, that isn't possible, so even though I've enjoyed PvP in the past, I avoid it like the plague. I know I'll never reach the Arena ratings required for gear, my team of old PvPers couldn't break 1800 when Arena wad a lot more balanced, so there is really no reason to even board that pain train. I'm sure that by now BGs are populated with premades all sporting Naxx and Arena gear rolling over people left and right... which isn't necessarily an experience I'd relish. So... my Spriest won't be adding to her tally of 10k kills until some large readjustment happens. I just hope this will get us closer.
Candina@WH Feb 3rd 2009 8:26PM
What Needs to be fixed:
More stun/fear resist.
Shadow form needs to reduce more damage.
Shadow Fiend needs to attack WHO WE TELL IT TO ATTACK.
Vamperic Touch needs to not suck anymore. (replenishment doesn't return as much mana as it costs to cast [vamperic touch + mind blast], WTF?)
Dispersion should grant a run speed increase, then at least we can RUN AWAY SOME MORE.
But I'm not bitter.
My former main sits on a shelf at level 74, barely surviving deletion.
Chris Feb 3rd 2009 8:55PM
and then they can fix that big steaming pile of warlock...
Maurina Feb 4th 2009 12:29AM
I really hope they don't screw this up.
Disc is fun and all, but I'm really a shadow priest at heart. I would really get back into arena if we are balanced properly.
Kamatayan Feb 4th 2009 8:57AM
I have loved my shadowpriest since pre-BC and have always considered myself a PvP-orientated player. I kept playing shadow and PvP even after the massive nerfs and the lack of answers to our plight.
Lately though it just hasn't been fun anymore. So I wrote off PvP and have been playing pure PvE for a good month or so now.
I really hope this isn't another half-hearted attempt at fixing the class. I don't mind playing a challenging class but it has to be reasonably possible to succeed for it to be any fun.
HappyFunNorm Feb 4th 2009 9:42AM
Shadow? I spend more time as a Spirit of Redemption in PVP than I do actually alive with my Holy Priest. I sometimes have dreams where I'm as powerful as a Shadow Priest, but then I wake up and I head off to try and die again, since I'm apaprently only useful when I'm dead...