After a new patch of the Beta of World of Warcraft Midnight, criticism must be withdrawn. One class is really great again.
Anyone who has read my articles about World of Warcraft in the past years knows that I have basically been playing a Shadow Priest “forever”. This has not changed significantly over nearly 20 years.
I always get a little nervous when Blizzard sets out to revamp my favorite class. Because in the past, it has been a regular up and down. There was the absolute peak of somewhat “perfect” gameplay during Legion with the Artifact weapon. After that, there was a constant up and down, where my opinion fluctuated somewhere between “Blizzard doesn’t want me to play Shadow Priest anymore” and “I AM THE VOID GODDESS, ROAR”.
The first version was bad, the new version is good
With the Alpha of Midnight came the next rework and my first assessment was devastatingly negative. Popular spells disappear, entire playstyles are no longer possible, and the essence of what makes a Shadow Priest enjoyable and playable has been dissolved.
A few days ago, the latest Beta patch was released and brought significant revisions once again. The main points are:
- DoTs can now be extended through gameplay, namely through the Shadowy apparitions, which extend DoTs by 1.5 seconds with the right talent choice.
- Shadow Word: Pain is no longer removed from the spell book by “Misery” and can still be used.
- The Mindbender is no longer an active ability but is summoned automatically during Void Eruption.
- Additionally, “Misery” does not have to be taken anymore. Players can return to the old feeling of “I have to manage my DoTs individually” and are rewarded with a drastically stronger “Shadow Word: Pain” for doing so.
The changes have led to a moment where the Shadow Priest somehow has clicked – the puzzle pieces fit together, and we have a specialization that feels complete and right again. The gameplay flow is pleasant, and the different abilities all feel like they have weight and a reason to exist. This is a feeling that was completely missing in the first version of the Midnight Priest.
It is obvious that Blizzard has listened to the harsh criticism from the community and has implemented the feedback quickly and clearly.
Not perfect, but on a good path
Sure, there are still a few points of criticism that I do not fully agree with. The fact that the Shadow Priest will have drastically less life steal and self-healing effects still feels strange for a rather fragile class. I would wish for the healing in “Shadow Word: Madness” to be reintegrated or that the Shadow Priest suffers slightly less damage so that one does not have to take a short break after 2-3 enemies while questing – as that simply feels outdated.
Overall, however, I must say that Blizzard has managed to “save” the Shadow Priest through some major and minor changes and to put it into a state that plays fluidly and feels complete. After one of the first Alpha builds was a clear step backward compared to the live version, we now have a variant where I can clearly say: Yes, I can at least see where Blizzard is headed and trust that they will succeed.
Blizzard is currently also quite open in admitting mistakes: The WoW boss mentioned that they should have reacted 8 years ago.
