WoW demon Cortyn needs to vent frustration. Because a look into the alpha of Midnight shows: The Shadow Priest will have a hard time again.
Every year, the developers of World of Warcraft announce that there will be significant changes to the gameplay. Healing is set to change drastically, but all other classes will also receive major adjustments. Blizzard aims to achieve several goals:
- The classes should become more accessible.
- Each class should need to press a few less buttons.
- Abilities should not be influenced by too many talents at the same time.
At its core, this is a good thought. Most classes in World of Warcraft are so complex that many players simply say: Then I’ll just use the 1-button rotation.
That Blizzard has a few really good ideas for my absolute favorite, the Shadow Priest, I’ve already mentioned: the Tentacle Strike is a really cool, thematically fitting spell.
With high expectations, I looked at the Shadow Priest in the alpha and already after a few minutes had the impression: Something is not right. It doesn’t play smoothly, and somehow everything feels sluggish and more strenuous.
After reading a few more opinions and guides about it, like on icyveins, wowhead or even the Priest Discord, I’m quite sure: Blizzard is failing miserably at its own goals.
So excuse me if this Whiny Wednesday dives a bit deep into the details of Shadow Priests – but I just have to get it off my chest.
Shadow Word: Pain – the well-known spell disappears
When you think of a classic Shadow Priest, which spells come to mind? Probably Mind Spike and Shadow Word: Pain. These are iconic spells that priests have had since Vanilla. Well, that is changing. Because Shadow Priests will forcibly lose the spell Shadow Word: Pain. The effect will remain, but the talent “Despair” will be changed. Instead of Vampiric Touch now “only” also casting Shadow Word: Pain on the target, Shadow Word: Pain will be completely removed from the spellbook through the talent.
What seems like a good decision at first glance, removing an unnecessary spell, will indeed cause a frown for any priest who has played this specialization for more than 10 minutes. Because Shadow Word: Pain is one of the few spells that can be cast while moving, as it is an instant cast. When you have to move in a boss fight to dodge abilities or cover long distances, Shadow Word: Pain is one of the few spells you can still press.
Even farming in the open world is super annoying. Because instead of pulling a few mobs while “on the run”, you’ll often have to stand still.
The already extremely immobile Shadow Priest specialization will only slow down further – at the cost of one of the most iconic spells there has ever been.
The end of Voidform, the end of area damage
One thing that is completely unclear to me is the “rework” of Void Eruption. The spell temporarily puts the Shadow Priest into a Voidform, where he has temporary access to the spell “Void Bolt”. Void Bolt, in turn, has a clear purpose: It extends the duration of DoTs on the target and all targets in the immediate vicinity.
In other words: As long as you can cast Void Bolt, you do not have to refresh the DoTs and can use spells that deal direct damage.
The duration for which Voidform remains active – i.e., how long you can use Void Bolt – depended on how much Insanity you spend, as that would increase the duration of Voidform further.
The gameplay was clear: You had to try to stay in Voidform as long as possible to benefit from Void Bolt for as long as possible, which extended the duration of DoTs. This was core gameplay that was loved in Legion and then slowly returned to the game over many years until we had something similar at the end of The War Within.
This is the absolute core gameplay of Voidform: The fight against the timer that wants to end the spell. To not just cut this short, but to completely change it and take away the only advantage – the extension of the DoTs – feels so ill-considered and wrong that I almost want to pull the “Do they even play their own game” card. But I won’t. I have some dignity.
The new version of Voidform no longer has Void Bolt. Instead, you can use Void Torrent every few seconds – a spell that deals a little damage but provides no further interaction.
In plain terms: DoTs on multiple targets can no longer be maintained long-term. This in turn means: The Shadow Priest can no longer maintain DoTs on more than 6 targets simultaneously. A complete disaster for visiting “Mythic+” dungeons. Because who wants to take a class that is already overwhelmed when pulling 2 mob groups?
Shadow Priests have already been forced due to their poor AoE capabilities to play exactly one specific spec in endgame if they wanted to be taken into dungeons. How they are supposed to be taken into dungeons now – and still have fun – completely eludes me.
Fragility without compensation
The Shadow Priest is one of the most fragile classes in the game. Of course, after all, you are a cloth wearer, but you also have relatively few abilities to mitigate incoming damage. Why Shadow Priests can still survive for quite a while is due to their built-in life-drain mechanics. Not only can they summon Vampiric Touch if necessary to provide a little healing to the whole group, but they also heal themselves permanently through “Devouring Plague”.
Devouring Plague is the strongest DoT of the Shadow Priest, which not only deals high damage but also heals the priest for 50% of the damage dealt. While this is not world-shattering, it often makes the difference between life and death in raid fights as well as during questing.
Devouring Plague disappears in Midnight. Instead, there is Shadow Word: Madness. This is basically exactly the same spell, just without the self-healing. And I have no clue why anyone thought this was a good idea.
Just an Alpha – But one with bad signs
Of course: Ultimately, the Shadow Priest in its condition in the Alpha of Midnight is exactly that – the condition during the Alpha. Until the release in less than half a year, a lot can still change.
But I am skeptical. Very skeptical. Because the current alpha version of the Shadow Priest, for which (hopefully) someone has put some serious thought into, does not meet the goals set by Blizzard itself and, what I find worse, is not fun at all. There are good approaches in it, like the Tentacle Strike. But who cares about a nice dining table in the living room when the house walls are being blown away?
It is unfortunately a tradition at World of Warcraft that annoys me tremendously. At the beginning of each expansion, the Shadow Priest is so drastically revamped that it simply isn’t enough for fine-tuning, and then for the first 6 months of an addon you play a class that simply doesn’t feel right. The fact that it is already clear that this will be the case with Midnight makes me roll my eyes in annoyance: Then let the Shadow Priest remain as he currently is. This is not perfect, but clearly better than what we are currently seeing in the Alpha.
