a Darkened Soul

Long before there was beta, when alpha still reigned supreme, there was a foretelling of great magnitude that shook the foundations of everything we hold true. It was written that in WotLK, Vampiric Touch would be nerfed to 2.5% of damage done converts to mana for party members, down from 5% in TBC. For the longest time I wondered why? Was it something I did to upset the shadow gods? But just as I had given up all hope for retaining my raid spot over mages and warlocks, we find out that Blizzard’s testing shows that the increased damage output along with abilities to conserve and restore your own mana, gives more overall mana to party members. Could this be true? Possibly, but we have been lied to before. The only thing that could redeem Blizzard in the eyes of the people would be some kind of miracle. And behold, from behind the third wall comes a glimmer of hope. A recent blue post states the very real possibility of raid wide mana regen! While this has not been implemented in the beta as of yet, it does conform to many of Blizzards major class overhauls already in the beta: raid wide pally auras, raid wide hunter aspects, and many more. Blizzard goes on to say that they want to make it so different specs of the same class are not required for a raid, i.e.- CoH Priest and Shadow Priest or Resto Druid and Feral Tank.

So as a breakdown from what we know so far about Spriests in Wrath-

-We now have AoE, although it is way overpriced in mana

-Our dps is supposed to be increased to compete with mage and warlock classes through talents like Pain and Suffering and Twisted Faith

-Our ability to regen mana for ourselves is no longer reliant on VT. Instead we have Improve Spirit Tap and the ability to convert Spirit to spellpower, making stacking Spirit applicable again.

-VT was nerfed to 2.5% from 5% but could be adapted to be a raid wide buff before Wrath is released.

-We were given some great PvP abilities like Dispersion, Imp Shadow Form, and Psychic Horror.

Let’s not forget we have months of the beta still to come for things to change for better or worse. The important thing is that I believe Blizzard is moving in the right direction with our class and spec, although they don’t have it all down yet.

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I know its a little late for theorycrafting with a new expansion coming out that will change everything, but for those maybe leveling a new spriest during this down time, here is a list of some of the bests threads ever posted about shadow priest theorycrafting.

Best Raiding Gear- Shadowpriest.com

DPS Spreadsheet- Shadowpriest.com

Haste for Dummies- Shadowpriest.com

Shadow Basics- Dwarfpriest.com

Tips and Tricks- Dwarfpriest.com

More to add later, this is a good start though. Happy reading.

Popularity: 1% [?]

A little behind on this one but some big news.

Priest (Skills List / Talent Calc. (8770))
Raid-Wide Vampiric Touch
We’re still in talks about how to consolidate buffs/debuffs between classes. Making VT raidwide is a possibility, but yes it would mean the value of multiple Shadow Priests in a raid is somewhat diminished. In a lot of ways we’re okay with that (you shouldn’t *have* to have multiple specs of one class in a raid), but there are a lot of other side effects we’re not sure about right now. (Source)

Vampiric Touch nerf to 2.5%
To be honest, 2.5% still might be too high. In our tests, Shadow Priests were still providing around the same amount of mana to their party (if not more) than before because of their increased damage output. Not to mention the Priest wasn’t going out of mana at all because of Spirit/Improved Spirit Tap. (Source)

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It seems that this horrible depression of new content we experience before an expansion has sparked a new trend to combat boredom and get our characters yet another few epics to be replaced at level 72- the Sunwell Plateau pug trash run. On my server at every hour of every day you can see calls go out in the trade/wtf useless channel for raiders looking to get easy epics, sunmotes, and epic gems. Mosts groups only take out the first three mobs leaving the last npc standing to allow a run out reset. This process is repeated until enough of the raid members quit and replacements can no longer be bribed into joining. Although these pugs are not much more than time wasting filler, the runs can have some obvious monetary benefits. Drops such as the Wand of the Demonsoul and Wand of Cleansing Light are the best wands for their prospective classes in the game and the drop rate is decent if not good. Besides great epics there are tailoring, leatherworking, blacksmithing, and engineering patterns that yield some great items. The mining book to learn Hardened Khorium Bars is also a drop off these apparently wealthy mobs. I have seen as many as 20 epic gems drop in an hour farming, however, Sunmotes are more rare with only a drop or two per long run. The 2 to 3k price on Sunmotes can be reason enough to bore yourself killing the same mob 9000000000…… times. Below is a list of all trash drops from SWP mobs.

* Shadowed Gauntlets of Paroxysm
o Buys: Gloves of the Forest Drifter
* Mounting Vengeance
* Blade of Life’s Inevitability
* Gloves of the Ancient Shadowmoon
* Tranquil Majesty Wraps
o Buys: Tranquil Moonlight Wraps
* Wand of Cleansing Light
* Wand of the Demonsoul
* Borderland Fortress Grips
* Sunmote
* Tradeskill Recipes
o Design: Amulet of Flowing Life
o Design: Ring of Flowing Life
o Design: Hard Khorium Choker
o Design: Hard Khorium Band
o Design: Pendant of Sunfire
o Design: Loop of Forged Power
o Pattern: Shoulderpads of Renewed Life
o Pattern: Bracers of Renewed Life
o Pattern: Robe of Eternal Light
o Pattern: Hands of Eternal Light
o Pattern: Sunfire Robe
o Pattern: Sunfire Handwraps
o Pattern: Leather Gauntlets of the Sun
o Plans: Hard Khorium Battleplate
o Plans: Hard Khorium Battlefists
o Plans: Sunblessed Breastplate
o Plans: Sunblessed Gauntlets
o Schematic: Annihilator Holo-gogs
o Schematic: Hard Khorium Goggles
o Schematic: Hyper-Magnified Moon Specs
o Schematic: Justicebringer 3000 Specs
o Schematic: Lightning Etched Specs
o Schematic: Mayhem Projection Goggles
o Schematic: Powerheal 9000 Lens
o Schematic: Primal-Attuned Goggles
o Schematic: Quad Deathblow X44 Goggles
o Schematic: Surestrike Goggles v3.0
o Schematic: Wonderheal XT68 Shades

Popularity: 1% [?]

This is the first of a series of posts I will be doing about the new talents and spells in WotLK. Today I will be focusing on Twisted Faith in the 10th tier of the shadow tree.

Twisted Faith- Increases your shadow spell power by 6/12/18/24/30% of your total Spirit, and your damage done by your Mind Flay and Mind Blast is increased by 1/2/3/4/5% for each of your Shadow damage over time effects on the target.

Lets break down this talent into its two parts.

The first part states: Increases spell power by 6/12/18/24/30% of your total spirit. Up to this point spirit has been very important to holy and disc priests but not as much to shadow priests. In the Burning Crusade, the addition of mp5 made stacking spirit for mana regen pretty useless. Now spriests are going to have to go back to the old ways, stacking spirit not only for regen but also for increasing spell damage. If you combine this with the regen from Improved Spirit Tap, which is based off spirit, then you have spirit standing right behind spell power as the stat spriests will be building around in Wrath.

The second part of this talent states: Increases the damage done by your Mind Flay and Mind Blast by 1/2/3/4/5% for each of your shadow over time effects on the target. This is pretty self explanatory. Keeping up your dots at all times just became even more important than before. Mind Blast is also going to be more important in the priority list now that it and Mind Flay are amplified by dot stacking.

The effects of this talent on the overall game play of a spriest wont blow anyones socks off. However, I can see this as being a major contributer to my theory that shadow priests are looking at a much better dps standing in Wrath. Its seems that Blizzard is working on a synergy between mana regen talents based off damage done and damage done being amplified by mana regen stats. I personally am really excited about this talent and its applications towards PVE.

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Engineering isnt one of those professions that stand out as being associate with the priest class. Typically caster classes go for more traditional work like tailoring and enchanting. However, there are some major benefits of choosing engineering to supplement another profession like tailoring. While leveling up engineering without mining can be a pain, it is worth it in the long run. Tailoring, which I stated in a previous post as essential to spriests, is great for making yourself awesome gear but with engineering your can make a few amazing trinkets and weapons that will give you the abilities of other classes. Probably the best feature of engineering is the goggles for each class. These amazing helms are some of the top damage, healing, and tanking gear in the game, standing up there with drops from Illidan and Archimonde.

Lets take a look at some of these great items and how they help a spriest.

Destruction Holo-gogs
Binds when picked up
Head Cloth
174 Armor
+22 Stamina
+24 Intellect
Meta Socket
Blue Socket
Socket Bonus: +5 Spell Power
Durability 60 / 60
Requires Level 62
Requires Engineering (350)
Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 29 (1.92% @ L62).
Equip: Increases spell power by 64.(note: Wowhead has changed spell damage to spell power for WotLK, the number has not changed)
Equip: Shows the location of all nearby gas clouds on the minimap.
Equip: Slightly increases your stealth detection.
Use: Allows you to look far into the distance.

This pair of goggles is craftable at level 62 but is one of the best helms in the game for spriests until replaced by the Cowl of the Illidari High Lord. There is also an upgradable version from Sunwell Plateau, called the Annihilator Holo-Gogs that are absolutely incredible.
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Gnomish Poultryizer
Binds when equipped
Trinket
+45 Stamina
Requires Engineering (340)
Use: Turns the target into a chicken for 15 sec. Well, that is assuming the transmogrification polarity has not been reversed…

This little baby speaks for itself. Ever wanted to be a mage, here is your chance. The benefit of this item is mostly going to come into play where spriests are weak right now, in pvp. You get a ton of Stam and a fun CC ability.
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Gnomish Shrink Ray
Binds when equipped
Trinket
Requires Engineering (205)
Use: Shrinks the target reducing their attack power by 250. That’s what it usually does anyway…..

Another obvious pvp trinket unfortunately without the stam.
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Rocket Boots Xtreme Lite
Binds when equipped
Feet Cloth
105 Armor
Durability 40 / 40
Requires Engineering (330)
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 47.
Use: Engage the rocket boots to greatly increase your speed… most of the time. (5 Min Cooldown)

Recently added to the game is this spell damage version of the old pvp favorites made for leaving opponents in the dust.
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Frost Grenade
Requires Engineering (325)
Use: Blasts enemies for 75 to 125 Frost damage and freezes them in place for up to 5 sec. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. (1 Min Cooldown)

Great for keeping pesky melee away.
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Adamantite Grenade
Requires Engineering (325)
Use: Inflicts 450 to 750 Fire damage and incapacitates targets for 3 sec in a 3 yard radius. Any damage will break the effect. Unreliable against targets higher than level 80. (1 Min Cooldown)

These are great for pvp but also useful on the Striders in the Lady Vashj encounter.
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There are many more great schematics that are both useful and entertaining. Build yourself everything from a epic ROFLcopter, to teleporter to Azeroth, to a Battle Chicken from the future…………
And finally if none of these other items float your boat then there is the always useful Zapthrottle Mote Extractor turning those useless green clounds in SMV into pure gold.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Today Chef Chuck is preparing a feast fit for kings. Blackened Sporefish. Actually this little dish is my own personal walk of shame. As a fledgling shadow priest I couldn’t keep a leash on my mana. While other classes were downing spell damage boosters, I had to learn to kick there asses using these beauties to make sure I had the juice to go the distance. Love this food, but don’t tell anyone about it. /wink

Blackened Sporefish
Requires Level 55
Use: Restores 4320 health over 30 sec. Must remain seated while eating. If you spend at least 10 seconds eating you will become well fed and gain 20 Stamina and 8 Mana every 5 seconds for 30 min.
Cooldown: 1 sec
Charges: 1 (Expendable)
Item Level 65

Popularity: 1% [?]

Shadow priests are more dependent on spell damage than any other stat. However, recently haste has become a major player in the spriest game plan. So how do you know if spell haste is right for you? A simple rule of thumb is, If you can achieve 1400 buffed spell damage then you can start stacking haste as a supplement. At 1400 buffed spell damage 1 haste = 1 spell damage. Never replace spell damage with haste unless you can stay above the 1400 buffed limit.

Now that you have started stacking haste, how does it benefit you? Unfortunately, if you are one of those players that stand in the same spot, have to use the same spells in the same order every time, or just dont like change, haste is not for you. Some of the items effected by haste, such as global cooldown, really wont be that noticeable at first. Other effected spells, such as Mind Flay’s channeling, will blow you away with their ability to increase your damage. Haste will often change the timing of your dot refreshes and can allow you to work in more Mind Flays per refresh. It also allows you to work in more Mind Blasts and SWD, which can be a blessing and a curse depending on your ability to retain mana. Overall my experience with haste has been very good and has allowed me to jump back up to the top few in the damage meters after a slow decline, due to poorly scaling gear.

If you want some easy haste loot your best bets are badge loot and ZA.
Runed Spell-cuffs
Pantaloons of Arcane Annihilation
Footpads of Madness
Robe of Departed Spirits
Blade of Twisted Visions
Loop of Cursed Bones

Popularity: 1% [?]

Wow Insider reports that CEO Mike Morhaime confirmed the fourth quarter 2008 release date for WotLK that was speculated due to a Vivendi press release earlier this year. Based on the info coming from the beta testers I have talked to they still have alot of work to do but the expansion is coming along nicely. Hopefully I will be seeing a beta key pop into my email before too long.

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