I know the feeling.

"Shadow priest AE, mostly due to a weak Mind Sear, feels too low."

Ya think?

I also don't know many spriests that are super crazy about mastery.

Mind what? Oh, yeah, that spell that used to be good that now resides next to Mind Soothe and Mind Vision all the way at the top of the far right bar - with all the other junk I never use.

You can make AoE happen by tabdotting. It has been a bit of a nostalgia kick for BC to be tabdotting again. SWP + flay (and VT for tougher mobs) can do a lot of AoE... however you need to really know the AoE potential of your group to figure out which DoTs to put up, and some mobs are just not worth the trouble - like Troggs in HoO. I think those things disappear before I can finish channeling a single flay.

It definitely changes AoE damage from the 1-button 'yeah whatever' to something akin to a tank threat rotation, where your fingers are flying trying to keep the most optimal DoT set up on a 8 mob group. It's a little depressing when a Warlock, Mage or DK throws down some shiny area thing and /yawns.

You're telling me! I can't make heads or tails with my shadow priest. I seem to get the most damage out of playing like I'm in ICC. Using the new Cataclysm stuff (the way it seems to be intended to be used) just seems completely pointless.

It sounds as though buffs might be coming soon. They do appear to be paying attention, and that's always good. After what we went through in Ulduar and ToC and feeling completely ignored for so long, I'm glad to see them trying to keep an eye on us.

My main gripe at this time as a spriest is our mastery... I don't like the mechanic, and it sure doesn't feel very helpful or exciting, it seems more like one extra chore that you're obligated to worry about than a bonus to the spec.

Total non sequitur: "We might evaluate other racials after we've seen more PvP."