Spiritual Guidance: First hands-on look at the Mists of Pandaria shadow priest
by Fox Van Allen 
Apr 4th 2012 at 2:00PM
Beta access, sweet, delicious beta access. After weeks of waiting, I'm finally in the Mists of Pandaria beta. And man, does it taste sweet. Sure, in reality, I'd only been waiting a few weeks to get in. But when you're not in the beta and it seems like everyone else is, those weeks can feel like an eternity.
But you likely don't care about my emotions (you cruel, sadistic readers, you). You care about shadow priests and the changes made to them in the beta. And believe me, there are a lot of changes to shadow priests coming for MoP.
Yeah, I know, we've discussed a lot of those changes here in Spiritual Guidance. But already, there are changes to those changes. And frankly, the latest batch of changes is shocking. Every single spell that we hold dear is seeing a major change to it. Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch, Vampiric Embrace, and even Shadowy Apparitions -- it seems no spell is safe.
Are these changes the end of the world? Maybe they are. But you should know by now that I'm not going to tell you anything definite about that until you follow me after the break.
Before we get started, an important note: All of today's discussion surrounds a fluid, constantly changing beta. Anything I say could make it through to the final Mists of Pandaria build, or it could be scrapped minutes after this column goes live. That's just the nature of the beast. Still, by getting an early look at these changes, you have the ability to offer feedback to the game developers and, just as important, get an early look at the design changes in store of our beloved shadowy spec.
Another Shadow Orb redesign
Though shadow priests are largely ambivalent over Shadow Orbs, Blizzard's game developers seem to love them -- or, more accurately, they love them as a concept. The way Shadow Orbs are currently implemented in the game -- that's what the developers don't seem to love.
Back at BlizzCon, there was talk about Shadow Orbs becoming the new currency for Mind Blast. Each time you have an orb at your disposal, you'd be able to cast Mind Blast, mana-free. That mechanic didn't last long; it's already been scrapped.How do Shadow Orbs work now? Well, instead of Mind Blast's costing you a Shadow Orb, the spell is actually the mechanism by which orbs are generated. Your casts of Shadow Word: Pain generate an orb, too. All your orbs are now shown immediately under your health and mana gauge, as you can see in the image at right. No longer do orbs rotate around you.
That change, of course, means that Blizzard has to offer us a new spell to spend that shadowy currency on: Shadowy Apparition. Instead of being a passive ability, it's now a spell that shadow priests need to actively cast. The new tooltip:
Shadowy Apparition
Consumes all Shadow Orbs to summon shadow versions of yourself which will slowly move toward your target. Upon reaching the target, each will instantly deal 6573 shadow damage. One Shadowy Apparition is summoned per Shadow Orb consumed.
Shadowy Apparition is a mana-free instant cast, so it's a nice option when you're locked in a heavy-movement fight. Since Devouring Plague and its ability to deal instant damage on the go have been removed from the game, being able to use Shadowy Apparitions on demand is certainly a welcome development.
Even more changes to our DoTs
As was said, Devouring Plague is gone from the game (likely beyond salvageable at this point). But even so, shadow priests won't want for buttons to press. That's because Shadow Word: Pain no longer refreshes on its own -- you need to hit the button yourself every 18 seconds.
But there is some good news: SW:P now has an up-front damage component.
Our other DoT is getting a makeover, too. Vampiric Touch no longer offers you the ability to proc Replenishment. But in the same spirit of giving up something to get something, Blizzard has added a new benefit to VT. The new tooltip:
Vampiric Touch
Causes 54,216 Shadow damage over 14.26 sec. The caster gains health equal to 15% of the damage done by Vampiric Touch.
"But, wait, Fox," you're probably saying. "Don't all shadow spells grant healing via Vampiric Embrace?" No, gentle reader. Not anymore.
Vampiric Embrace: The most surprising change yet?
Vampiric Embrace as we currently know it is yet another victim of Mists of Pandaria. It's changing from an always-on passive ability to an instant-cast ability on a 3-minute cooldown. VE now lasts for a mere 15 seconds, but its healing has been supercharged to cause your party to be healed for 50% the single-target damage you deal. That increased level of healing definitely changes the dynamic of VE, especially given that in Catacylsm, most of the self-healing from it is wasted.
Predictably, if the regular version Vampiric Embrace is being jettisoned, then the overpowered Vampiric Dominance we saw revealed during BlizzCon is similarly gone. In fact, the entire shadow priest talent tree got an overhaul:
As you can see above, shadow priests got a handful of new spells in the lastest beta build. The first, Cascade, is an instant-cast level 90 talent with a 25-second cooldown. It's something like an extra powerful Prayer of Mending that can serve as either a heal or a damaging spell. Cast it on a pack of baddies, and the first is hit for a huge chunk of damage. The spell then splits, hitting two more enemies for the same huge chunk. It keeps bouncing up to four times.
Halo, the other new talent at level 90, is a very compelling choice as well. It's an extra-powerful version of Holy Nova. When you cast it, your shadow priest will radiate energy out for 30 yards, healing all friendly targets and damaging all hostile ones. The catch: Those furthest away will take the most healing (or damage).
But those new talents aren't the only additions for priests heading to level 90. Game developers have added our new level 87 spell into the game, Spectral Guise. It grants a shadow priest the ability to go invisible once every 30 seconds. As for how useful that ability will wind up being for PvE ... Well, I'm not sure it'll be useful at all. We'll have to wait and see exactly how it's implemented into the game.
And finally, some good news
One of the biggest headlines of Mists of Pandaria was how healing spells were being stripped from hybrid classes. A few weeks ago, the list of healing spells for shadow priests was thin indeed; we were pretty much limited to Flash Heal.
There's good news now, though -- shadow priests have more healing options available to us in the beta. We can cast Renew now, and we also have access to Prayer of Mending. Sure, the spells kick us out of Shadowform, but they're nice to have in case of emergency. They could still hit the trash can by the time MoP goes live, but seeing them in the shadow priest arsenal right now makes me breathe a little easier.
Oh, and there's one more healing spell shadow priests may have access to. You might have noticed a new-for-MoP druid talent called Symbiosis. It's an interesting concept -- by casting the spell on a shadow priest, druids get one of our spells, and we get one of theirs. This spell is going to go through a lot of balancing between now and launch, but for now, druids can offer us the ability to cast Tranquility. (For more information on Symbiosis, check out Chase Hasbrouck's column on the subject from last week.)
Are you more interested in watching health bars go down than back up? We've got everything a shadow priest will need, from the basics of shadow priest PvP and advice on gearing up for Raid Finder raids to the hottest trinkets and weapons for today's shadow priests.Filed under: Priest, (Priest) Spiritual Guidance, Mists of Pandaria
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
John Apr 4th 2012 2:57PM
The DoT damage buff from mastery is present all the time. No more empowered shadows proc required, and also no more holding off on your MB to try and proc just one more orb before your empowered shadows buff times out. The old mastery/orb interaction was a massive pain to juggle. Glad to see it go.
Sadly, they replaced it with apparitions, which need to be buffed significantly (they need to fly and to move a lot faster - like a shadowy arcane barrage).
Jackwraith Apr 4th 2012 2:54PM
Hm. Most of this sounds like more detail for less impact, kinda like what Destro and Demo warlocks have suffered through for most of Cataclysm. I like the idea of Apparitions being a castable spell, since they were pretty much just an inadvertent bonus when they happened, as I spent most of my time casting Mind Flay, which didn't allow me to move and increase the chance for their formation.
And while the tier 90 talents sound cool, they're also Holy, which means popping out of Shadowform to use them. I'm all about having access to healing for emergencies and losing my form to do so, but if I'm going to be compelled to pick lvl90 talents that do damage (what a DPS class is in the game for), compelling choices are not going to be those that are in direct opposition to how my spec functions. And, yeah, Embrace sounds like PVP-only, which means it will see about as much use as Dark Simulacrum does on my DK. Bummer.
John Apr 4th 2012 2:59PM
The optimistic speculation is that the level 90 talent descriptions are the healing ones and that there will be text added for a "But if you're in shadowform, this talent does ..." That is based on a datamined spell called "Dark Halo."
That would be cool.
Boobah Apr 4th 2012 4:24PM
Dark Simulacrum has quite a few PvE uses.
The problem is that the game does a piss-poor job of letting you know that an ability can be copied, and if you make the attempt and it fails it can be hard to know why it failed, since many of the abilities you can copy can also be interrupted, and if it fails you get to wait out the sixty second cooldown.
Mrgoopy Apr 4th 2012 2:57PM
I love the fact that we finally have a standard ui way to track shadow orbs, but losing D.P. and changing many spells makes me worried about the "feel" of playing a shadow priest in mop. I LOVE shadow dps as it now stands. I get giddy in raid fights with multiple targets!
What is the fate of empowered shadow? Does it proc from something other than MB now? Or has it too gone the way of DP? Thanks for the insight. Keep up the great columns.
Fox Van Allen Apr 4th 2012 3:17PM
As was said by another commenter, Empowered Shadow is indeed gone. And good riddance -- that buff wasn't fun to manage at all.
Sally Bowls Apr 4th 2012 2:58PM
Unlike the special snowflakes who post in the forums, and the devs unfortunately, I would like my class to feel similar. If I want something different, I'll play my monk alt. If I want a random play style every few months, I'll go back to playing my Pally.
I play Disc with some Shadow on the side.
What I have read in WI in the last week did not seem positive for me about Disc especially or shadow.
Shadowform is both a passive ability and something players like; thus I would expect it to be removed.
/sigh
Chetti Apr 4th 2012 3:00PM
Ahhhh I kinda can't wait to get into the beta just to see (and get a little practice with) the new talent tree/spell line up. Some of the changes seem pretty cool, others seem kinda.. I dunno. I kinda liked one dot I didn't have to watch, but if now sw:p does what dp used to do, then thats ok. It seems like we're going to have more "does x damage" or "does x damage, then x damage over time", which could be good in that there won't be that ramp up to putting out damage. Or at least not as much of one, because dots will always need time to tick. I kinda like that the orbs are under the health bar like holy power, it lets you know exactly how many orbs you have. Right now with the floaty orbs (which visually I like) its hard to tell how many I have to use, without looking in my buff area. Its not a big deal, was the very least of my worries about what was going to be changed, but its a nice change.
Gaurisk Apr 4th 2012 3:00PM
Is mana for low level SPriests fixed yet, or is it still a choice between wanding in dungeons or speccing for Disc with the Smite +Hit glyph?
Fuzzl Apr 4th 2012 3:05PM
I'm still feeling the changes out right now... I really like shadow on Live, so any change will take getting used to. I guess the biggest complaint right now is that shadow orbs seem...boring. I would like it if they maybe had a passive bonus (to make it more of a pro and con situation with whether or not to use them to get a shadow apparition hit) or if they were just plain used for more than one spell.
Fox Van Allen Apr 4th 2012 3:15PM
One thing to add: For all the talk about making shadow priests simpler, a lot of the changes to the class actually seem to make it more complex. I have far more action buttons than I used to. Sure, you lose Devouring Plague and Divine Hymn, but you get:
Psyfiend/Void Tendrils
Void Shift/Desperate Prayer (optional)
Power Infusion
Shadowy Apparitions
Vampiric Embrace (cooldown)
A new level 90 castable talent
Most of those are (thankfully) cooldowns, but there's not a lot of added simplicity. After all, the removing of DP coincides with the removing of the SW:P auto-refresh. You're still juggling the same amount of DoTs as before, minus one set-it-and-forget-it cast.
Lostno Apr 4th 2012 3:21PM
I cant believe you didnt discuss the OOM issues.....you cant go 2 min in a fight without spending all your mana regen abilties and then starve for anything after that.....that is the ultimate nightmare of the beta.
Fox Van Allen Apr 4th 2012 3:40PM
Mana is indeed an issue, but that's really a balancing thing for later in the beta process. I would assume that we'll have the tools to keep from going (chronically) OOM by the time MoP launches, whether that means cheaper spells or a SW:D mana glyph.
Tom Apr 4th 2012 5:03PM
Good thing it is, in fact, a beta!
sunflowers4488 Apr 4th 2012 3:40PM
Really, really great article. Appreciate the positivity and the (rational) optimism. I still haven't gotten a beta key (worst luck ever) so it's nice to see opinions on the spriest changes.
Going to be weird going back to only two dots again after having having plague around for so long. Deep down it makes me wonder if the devs working on the class even remember why they changed the refresh to SW:P.
I was always drawn to the spriest because I loved this dot class that ate a mob alive while regen-ing health (and mana at the time) for the party. Either the VE change is going to revive that a little or completely kill it. I guess I'll just have to get a feel for it.
I can't believe after the howling over dispersion for Years we STILL get a PVP spell as our 87. I guess they figure the stuff in the talent trees will make up for it- and maybe it does. Even so. Damn. Really thought they were going to spice that up.
I guess all I really want to know is, even with the changes.. are they fun? Is playing a spriest still fun? That's all I really care about. Just want to make sure it doesn't feel too anemic.. that it retains enough of the shadow vibe that it is still engaging and gives you a big rush. I'm cool with change as long as we're still viable and it's still a (mind) blast.
Bullwraith Apr 4th 2012 3:46PM
I must say, I am getting weary of these massive overhauls that we are being hit with each expansion and across the classes. Too many of the changes have the feel of "change for the sake of change". Still, as always we shall adapt.
I am envious Fox. I copied my Shadow Priest over to the beta, set her back up as Shadow/ Holy and when i changed to Holy to set her glyphs, Disc was switched in as her Primary and now I'm stuck with a Disc/Holy priest, lol. At least until they turn respec'ing back on.
Sirn Apr 4th 2012 3:55PM
In my 10 minutes working on the level 90 training dummy, I found that SW:P was dropping off faster than I expected. DP has a duration of 24 seconds, SW:P is only 18. It will take a lot of getting used to.
I would like to see Shadowy Apparitions removed from the GCD. Also, there should be more clarification as to when I should cast it. Is there any benefit to waiting for 3 orbs? Should I cast it the moment I have an orb? Maybe a stacking buff that increases the damage of each Apparition based on how many orbs I have. The overall rotation seems VERY similar to what it is now. Without Evangalism working, or mana return from SW:D, our mana regen is very broken right now.
For some reason I thought Shadow Priests is one of the few classes that has a lot of work left to be done. I hope that is the case....
Boobah Apr 4th 2012 4:29PM
I'm not in beta, but it seemed obvious to me from the description (which doesn't mean it actually plays this way) that each Apparition button press used up all your shadow orbs to summon one apparition for each orb you have; therefore, if you wait for three orbs you spend fewer GCDs on apparitions for the same damage, allowing you to use the saved GCDs for other damaging spells.
Pyromelter Apr 4th 2012 4:31PM
"I would like to see Shadowy Apparitions removed from the GCD. "
The problem with this suggestion is that every spriest can just macro SA to every ability, and you'd never need to even think about it. Not exactly good game design to do that.
John Apr 4th 2012 4:43PM
For apparitions, since they're instant cast, it's a spell to toss out when you are forced to move (kind of like SW:D ), or use when you have 3 orbs and you know you don't want to hold out to send the apparitions after a proc that's coming soon (like a spellpower proc).
Mind Blast has a proc that boosts SW:D so it acts as though the target is below 25% health, so I am tending to try & keep SW:D off cooldown and cast it just after a MB cast. Since there's no more Masochism mana return, SW:D probably gets a lot more damage done if we wait for those times than if we use it every time it's off CD.