Some AOE heals like prayer of healing, unholy prayer, vampiric embrace healing heal party members instead of just any nearby raid members. This really devalues these abilities in PVP (when parties get split up constantly). I think it would be a good idea to change these abilities to work like Circle of Healing (heals X number of raid members/allies within a certain distance).
pages:account/best, Cosantoir
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AOE Heals = Heal nearby allies/raid members instead of just party members
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PVP is just awful now (Area 52)
I've come back after several months off. PVP was always too imbalanced but now it seems worse. I'm trying to play DOT focused specs which seem to have been nerfed heavily.
-Limit CCs, defensives, burst, mobility CDS and abilities. Maybe on top of or instead of a rarity system force people to spend a lot of picks for packages; say someone wants Cloak of Shadows and/or stealth they have to spend a good portion of their picks (Subtlety package) but they get other rogue abilities. If they want Divine Intervention they have to take Holy Melee. This package system could also work the other way for specs that rely on a lot of abilities relevant to the package (a DOT spec for example that relies on lots of DOTs vs. other direct damage specs that require much fewer offensive spells). Example Packages = Holy Ranged, Holy Melee, Shield+1H, Stealth, Holy Heal, Shadow Ranged, Ranged Weapons, Ranged DOT, 2-H Melee, Mobility, etc... There are too many what I call 'shit pickers' in PVP - they've picked every disparate PVP centric CD they can with no regard to any kind of 'theme'. Maybe some abilities 'require' the package while others would be a much lower investment with the package (assuming the player wants the other abilities that go along with it). Another thing would be to simply limit the number of similar abilities - let's say you can only take 2 CCs - you can't have kidney shot, psychic horror, psychic scream, fear, intimidating shout, etc all together. You want Ice Block? Fine, you have to take Frost package - that's 1/3 of your picks and the only other defensive CDs you get are Frost Ward and Ice Barrier.
-Burst (and especially it seems melee) is much too strong with some specs seeming to just be able to do 3-4 times the damage of others. There are a few people playing that are always like 2x to 3x the damage of everyone else; they can 100%-0% multiple people (assuming they also don't have a burst spec like them) in 3-4 GCDs just constantly.
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Shadow Priest/Lock
Items below could either be new enchants, changes to existing enchants and/or modifying base abilities/talents.
-More synergy between shadow priest and shadow-aff lock:
--shadow lock spells build stacks of shadow weaving
--Nightfall affecting mind blast
--Molten Core affecting mind blast, shadow word death, mind flay
--Haunt affecting shadow priest DOTs
--Vampiric Embrace healing through lock shadow spells (shadow bolt, drain soul, corruption, unstable aff, curse of agony); Vampire Lord does this but it would be nice for a VE only enchant as well
-Bane affecting mind blast, shadow word death and mind flay-Allow beacon from Vampire Lord to heal from mind blast, shadow word death, devour mind and mind flay (currently it only heals through shadow bolt).
-Mind Flay - Right now this seems really weak - it seems like the devs want to just replace it with shadow bolt. I'm fine with removing the slow effect (from MEs) for some buffs.
--Increase the buff from Devour Mind from 4 seconds to 10-15 seconds; 4 secs is much too short especially in PVP.
---Devour Mind = What exactly is the intent of this enchant? To do effective damage with Devour Mind and Mind Flay you pretty much have to use Mind Blast and SWD. I'd love to see a build based around channeled shadow spells like Devour Mind-Mind Flay but as it stands now it seems like the damage is just too low. In addition to increasing duration for buff to Mind Flay maybe also have Mind Flay buff Devour Mind as well.
--Have psychic influence affect more DOTs (not just SWP and VT) and possibly also work with Devour Mind - Curse of Agony, Corruption, Unstable Affliction - maybe not all of them but some more would be good. I think this might be the best candidate as it can significantly improve damage while using mind flay/devour mind but you would have to have lots of DOTS up.-Shadow embrace changed from a debuff to enemies to a buff to yourself.
pages:account/latest-posts, Cosantoir
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AOE Heals = Heal nearby allies/raid members instead of just party members
Some AOE heals like prayer of healing, unholy prayer, vampiric embrace healing heal party members instead of just any nearby raid members. This really devalues these abilities in PVP (when parties get split up constantly). I think it would be a good idea to change these abilities to work like Circle of Healing (heals X number of raid members/allies within a certain distance).
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PVP is just awful now (Area 52)
I've come back after several months off. PVP was always too imbalanced but now it seems worse. I'm trying to play DOT focused specs which seem to have been nerfed heavily.
-Limit CCs, defensives, burst, mobility CDS and abilities. Maybe on top of or instead of a rarity system force people to spend a lot of picks for packages; say someone wants Cloak of Shadows and/or stealth they have to spend a good portion of their picks (Subtlety package) but they get other rogue abilities. If they want Divine Intervention they have to take Holy Melee. This package system could also work the other way for specs that rely on a lot of abilities relevant to the package (a DOT spec for example that relies on lots of DOTs vs. other direct damage specs that require much fewer offensive spells). Example Packages = Holy Ranged, Holy Melee, Shield+1H, Stealth, Holy Heal, Shadow Ranged, Ranged Weapons, Ranged DOT, 2-H Melee, Mobility, etc... There are too many what I call 'shit pickers' in PVP - they've picked every disparate PVP centric CD they can with no regard to any kind of 'theme'. Maybe some abilities 'require' the package while others would be a much lower investment with the package (assuming the player wants the other abilities that go along with it). Another thing would be to simply limit the number of similar abilities - let's say you can only take 2 CCs - you can't have kidney shot, psychic horror, psychic scream, fear, intimidating shout, etc all together. You want Ice Block? Fine, you have to take Frost package - that's 1/3 of your picks and the only other defensive CDs you get are Frost Ward and Ice Barrier.
-Burst (and especially it seems melee) is much too strong with some specs seeming to just be able to do 3-4 times the damage of others. There are a few people playing that are always like 2x to 3x the damage of everyone else; they can 100%-0% multiple people (assuming they also don't have a burst spec like them) in 3-4 GCDs just constantly.
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Shadow DOT Caster Suggestions
I posted most of this in ME suggestions forum but some of this should probably be baseline/goes a little beyond ME suggestions. Non-shadowbolt shadow caster specs (DOT centric) seem really weak now (in PVP; I don't really PVE). There should be some Mind Flay/Devour Mind build alternatives to Shadowbolt. In PVP it's pretty common to get all DOTS up on someone and they just walk up and kill me in 3-4 GCDS and never even get to half health. Melee especially seems to just do constant burst type damage in BGs.
Items below could either be new enchants, changes to existing enchants, adding new talents/capstones, combining talents/MEs and/or modifying base abilities/talents.
-Shadow Priest Legendary MEs seem really weak. Endless Agony and Whispers need some buffs. Shadow Visions is terrible. I'd argue these 3 MEs should really be epic/purples and not legendaries. I'd love to see a super DOT ME based around COA, CORR, SWP, UA, VT, DP....
-Instant cast Vampiric Touch and Unstable Affliction (or some sort of buffs, MEs for these spells). Maybe Legendary/Epic ME centered around both.
-There seems to be some schizophrenia related to how Mind Flay and Devour Mind are intended to be used (really, if they should be used at all due to their low damage). I'm fine with removing the slow component of Mind Flay with MEs that buff it. Shadowbolt is just flat out superior for any viable build centered around shadow casting. Is Devour Mind a replacer for Mind Flay? If so, why does it buff Mind Flay! If you don't use Shadow Bolt you pretty much have to use Mind Blast, SWD, Shadowburn and Darkness (since MF and DM alone are so low damage); in PVP this basically means you barely even end up casting Mind Flay and Devour Mind. Maybe change the name of Improved Devouring Plague and have it affect Mind Flay as well; possibly give a capstone giving serious buff(s) to Mind Flay and Devouring Plague/Devour Mind.
-More synergy between Shadow Priest/Shadow-Warlock abilities-talents and related shadow MEs:
--shadow lock spells build stacks of Shadow Weaving
--Nightfall affecting Haunt, Mind Blast and Mind Flay/Devour Mind (could reduce channel duration for Mind Flay and Devour Mind or they could trigger Nightfall).
--Molten Core affecting Mind Blast, Shadow Word Death, Mind Flay (or maybe just Mind Flay?)
--Haunt affecting shadow priest DOTs, Mind Flay and Devour Mind
--Soul Siphon (talent and ME), Soul Leech, Contagion, Improved Drain Soul, Everlasting Affliction and Decimation affecting/working with Mind Flay and Devour Mind
--Vampiric Embrace healing through lock shadow spells; Vampire Lord does this but it would be nice for a VE only enchant as well or to just be baseline. Maybe make this capstone of Improved Vampiric Embrace (now affects all Shadow spells).
--Bane affecting Mind Blast, Shadow Word Death, Devour Mind, Mind Sear and Mind Flay
--Siphon Life and Malediction also working with one or more Shadow Priest DOTS.
--Pure Shadow, Exhausting Leech, Disciple of Arugal, Dark Embrace MEs working with Mind Flay and Devour Mind.
--Twisted Fate, Spirit Tap and Mind Melt (not sure if Mind Melt currently does?) affecting/working with Drain Life and Drain Soul.
--Pain and Suffering working with Drain Soul and Shadow Bolt.
--Soulbender ME working with Mind Flay and Devour Mind (in addition to Drain Soul).
--Fel Concentration ME working with Vampiric Touch, Mind Flay and Devour Mind.
--Possibly combining 2 talents into one - like Everlasting Affliction and Misery. Get rid of one and have the other include it's benefits since they are so similar.
-Impending Doom ME working with Shadowburn-Psychic Influence ME affecting more DOTS then just SWP and VT and also working with Devour Mind. Having this affect all shadow DOTS would probably solve the great Mind Flay/Devour Mind problem.
-If not adding Warlock DOTS to VE healing maybe have Endless Agony ME allow COA to work with VE.
-Impending Doom ME = Either Mind Flay benefits/consumes a stack (20% damage increase for a tick) or generates a stack. If it generates a stack this would work great with Devour Mind since that spell consumes it.
-Devour Mind
--Increase buff duration for Mind Flay to 10-15 seconds
--Applies Shadow Embrace (currently does not apply at all) - 1 stack per tick.
--Applies 1 stack of Shadow Weaving per tick (as Mind Flay does) instead of just 1 per cast.
--Works with ME Psychic Influence
--Works with Spirit Tap, Darkness, Twisted Faith and Misery (basically works with stuff affecting Mind Flay).-Vampire Lord
--PVP = Since Vampire Lords really don't spam healing spells like other healers the PVP power bonus does not really affect them (they neither get increased VE healing nor increased damage as far as I am aware; I'm curious to know if it does and how much? Like is 20% PVP power increasing VE healing from 10% damage done to 12% damage done or 32% done?). At a minimum PVP power should affect Vampiric Embrace healing. Probably a headache to program but I'm thinking splitting the bonus to healing/damage would be nice (so instead of 20% bonus healing you get 10% healing 10% damage). Maybe allow it to work if Intellect is selected as the main stat but reduce Vampiric Embrace (passive heaing from shadow damage) healing to compensate. Maybe have Vampire Lord contribute a % of Spirit as spell damage since you lose so much of it by picking Spirit as main stat. Maybe have Intellect/Spirit (split) primary stat that increase spell damage and healing power by 1.5x.
--Allow Shadow Beacon to heal from Mind Blast, Shadow Word Death, Devour Mind and Mind Flay (currently it only heals through Shadow Bolt). At a minimum I'm thinking Mind Flay and Devour Mind should interact with it.
--Some type of spammable healing spell that does not require an enemy to be around. Maybe Unholy Light is a heal casted on any ally or yourself and it does AOE shadow damage around them? Maybe remove cooldown of Unholy Prayer? Maybe allow us to cast Holy Light instead of it being totally replaced.
--Unholy Prayer should heal nearby allies instead of just party members; this is a real problem in PVP.
--Beacon of Shadow castable on yourself. I just get melted in PVP using Vampire Lord. No spammable healing spell on yourself (unless you want to waste ability points on one and drop Shadowform); VE healing too weak; damage too weak. Maybe turn Beacon of Shadow into a self buff that smart heals the lowest health ally within 30-40 yards? Right now Beacon of Shadow is very clunky in PVP unless you are running with a friend who stays with you most of the time.
--Allow Demonic Pact to increase spell damage and healing as well as it benefits from the highest one. Did someone say 'Felguard Healer'?
--Allow Bright Lights to trigger from a shadow spell (Mind Blast, SWD, Shadowburn, etc...)-Amplify Curse capstone allowing COA to benefit from haste.
-Shadow Embrace changed from a debuff to enemies to a buff to yourself. This would be another good buff for Mind Flay and Devour Mind.
-Devouring Plague being castable on multiple targets at the same time.
-Increase the proc rate (and/or damage of shadow DOTS) for Shadow Reach capstone and 4-set bonus for Satin Priest gear set.
-ME that allows for permanent Shadow Fiend that requires a soul shard generator (so you can have a shadow pet instead of a lock pet).
-Soul Siphon ME should heal nearby allies/raid members instead of party members (PVP related).
-Mind Sear also does damage to target (as it does in retail now) instead of just enemies around the target. Mind Sear possibly increasing the duration of DOTS on enemies hit and/or interacting with talents-MEs that affect Mind Flay and Devour Mind.
-Shadowfrost Lance = Your Ice Lance does shadowfrost damage but no longer does triple damage against frozen targets. Does X% more damage per shadow DOT effect on the target.
-In PVP (Area 52 free pick) there is a real penalty to a spec that relies on a lot of basic attack abilities/spells talents (so for Shadow Dotter that would be = COA, CORR, VT, UA, SWP, DP, Mind Flay, Mind Blast, SWD, Shadowburn, Haunt - that's 11 abilities/talents) vs. others that only have to take 2-4 (and then they have enough points to take every CC, DPS CD and defensive in the game). Related to how I think Draft works (where you can pick a 'package' of spells at a discount - like Paladin Blessings) there should be a 'shadow DOT caster' pack that gives a discount. Arguably I think a shadow bolt build with shadow bolt, corruption, soul burn and mind blast does more damage.
-Obviously it would probably be ridiculous to implement all of this but I think some of it should be looked at.
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RE: Shadow Priest/Lock
Yes, mind flay is way too weak. I think having Impending Doom, Molten Core, Beacon of Shadow and maybe Nightfall (let's say Nightfall reduces channel duration for Mind Flay) interact with it would help a lot. I'm okay with removing the slow component of the spell if certain MEs are used that buff it. I'd say anything that interacts with Shadow Bolt should probably also interact with Mind Flay as they are both filler shadow spells.
Another thing I realized - Devour Mind does not apply shadow embrace and only applies 1 stack of shadow weaving (on initial tick). IDK what the purpose of Devour Mind really is. It buffs Mind Flay but it is sort of like a replacement for Mind Flay. It also really requires 3 talent points into improved Devour Plague.
Instant cast Vampiric Touch and Unstable Affliction (epic RE maybe) would also be a great help. I don't PVE; in PVP it seems like DOT specs are almost useless now. It's common to get all my DOTS up on someone (COA, CORR, SWP, VT, UA, DP) and they just walk up and blow me away in 3-4 GCDS and never even get low on health.
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Shadow Priest/Lock
Items below could either be new enchants, changes to existing enchants and/or modifying base abilities/talents.
-More synergy between shadow priest and shadow-aff lock:
--shadow lock spells build stacks of shadow weaving
--Nightfall affecting mind blast
--Molten Core affecting mind blast, shadow word death, mind flay
--Haunt affecting shadow priest DOTs
--Vampiric Embrace healing through lock shadow spells (shadow bolt, drain soul, corruption, unstable aff, curse of agony); Vampire Lord does this but it would be nice for a VE only enchant as well
-Bane affecting mind blast, shadow word death and mind flay-Allow beacon from Vampire Lord to heal from mind blast, shadow word death, devour mind and mind flay (currently it only heals through shadow bolt).
-Mind Flay - Right now this seems really weak - it seems like the devs want to just replace it with shadow bolt. I'm fine with removing the slow effect (from MEs) for some buffs.
--Increase the buff from Devour Mind from 4 seconds to 10-15 seconds; 4 secs is much too short especially in PVP.
---Devour Mind = What exactly is the intent of this enchant? To do effective damage with Devour Mind and Mind Flay you pretty much have to use Mind Blast and SWD. I'd love to see a build based around channeled shadow spells like Devour Mind-Mind Flay but as it stands now it seems like the damage is just too low. In addition to increasing duration for buff to Mind Flay maybe also have Mind Flay buff Devour Mind as well.
--Have psychic influence affect more DOTs (not just SWP and VT) and possibly also work with Devour Mind - Curse of Agony, Corruption, Unstable Affliction - maybe not all of them but some more would be good. I think this might be the best candidate as it can significantly improve damage while using mind flay/devour mind but you would have to have lots of DOTS up.-Shadow embrace changed from a debuff to enemies to a buff to yourself.