Patch 3.3 PTR: Shadow Word: Pain not affected by haste
by Mike Schramm 
Nov 16th 2009 at 8:00PM
Misery, my go-to shadow priest, has some good insight on the change, and says that sure, if shadow priest DPS was too high, it was too high. But it's too bad that Shadow Word: Pain had to take the nerf, especially since you get it so early on in the class and it's such an iconic spell for the spec. The reason these guys are so happy about the hasted DoTs is that DoTs as cast don't really scale with your gear -- they just sort of do their damage on their own. When haste got put into the equation, shadow priests became happy that they could go after more haste to increase the DoT part of the damage. They could tailor the spec and spells the way they wanted to use them.
Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.And leaving SW:P out of that is a bummer, if not a classbreaker. Misery sounds resigned -- just because SW:P won't bonus from haste doesn't mean it won't still get cast. But we'll have to see if Blizzard can come up with a solution that crosses all DoT spells, both including all of the spec's core mechanics, and still keeping overall damage reasonable.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Classes, Talents, Buffs
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Sengir Nov 16th 2009 8:05PM
You poor dears. Try being an aff lock.
What's that? You buffed the felhoud? Hooray.
Chailain Nov 16th 2009 8:17PM
I thought they were doing the same for Corruption....?
kashback Nov 16th 2009 8:17PM
I know what you mean. Still, us priests can always use our other perfectly viable DPS tree.
Arbitor Nov 16th 2009 8:35PM
Discipline dps, cmon, I cant be the only person that wants this to happen?
Even as a pvp tree (reflective damage, talents to reduce healing of penance and buff damage of smite, holy fire, dmg penance etc.) AND MOAR SHIELDZ!!!
In fact, who needs shieldz?
Whenever someone hits me, my priest could DO A BARREL ROLL!!!
Voltage Spike Nov 16th 2009 9:33PM
So you support a viable Smite build, too? No? You mean you're comparing a class with THREE different DPS trees to a class with ONE? Okay then.
rawrawrawr Nov 17th 2009 12:49AM
*cough* http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/70947/ *cough*
Crimson Nov 17th 2009 1:38AM
A destrolock says what?...
exactly -_-
comparing a pure dps class to a hybrid is like comparing
a muscle car to a hybrid one.
A muscle car can kick hybrid's ass on the road
but guess who is more efficient and has more utility?
As far as haste buff for the SW Pain my guess is the devs would come up with
a solution of some sort. It is still the PTR and the patch won't drop for another
couple of weeks most likely. Im hoping they would add SW pain to other haste affected dots
but that probably won't happen till Cataclysm when all the stats would get normalised and
haste would get rolled in some stat like intelect (spirit? :P) that way you could limit the amount of haste people put on their gear with a solid stat.
When all else fails make a haste cap for dots :-/
Evelinda Nov 17th 2009 8:07AM
maybe you should go read your warlock column and take note of the fact that simulationcraft puts aff back as the top dps spec for locks...
vocenoctum Nov 17th 2009 11:45AM
Gimme a break, telling him to play a different tree would be the same as saying "oh dps isn't high enough, then go heal".
I have an aff/destro dual spec, they play differently and I'd like Aff to be comparable, but buffing everything through the felhound (even though I love my felhound) is a bit meh.
He's not saying take it away, he's just saying he'd like a piece of the action. (Corruption is nice, I just wish it didn't take a glyph slot for 1 spell.)
Sunsinger Nov 17th 2009 1:23PM
Pure DPS classes and hybrids, eh?
Every time I hear about a "hybrid tax" I want to make kitty eyes =) and ask this: I kan haz feral kitteh dps? No? How about pally survivability? No? How about DK dps (come on, they can tank and dps, we can heal and dps, they ARE hybrids)? No? Ok, at least a bukkit, I promise I'll share it with the Walrus.
As a friend of mine (a mage) put it yesterday, "Quit that sorry class. If Blizz wanted to make you guys kickass, they wouldn't wait 4 years to do so".
Randomize Nov 16th 2009 8:07PM
Shadow Priest Dps too high... LOL
Quiz Nov 16th 2009 8:42PM
This.
SoundScape Nov 16th 2009 10:02PM
*Too high on the PTR.
Don't take GC out of context.
Lemons Nov 17th 2009 4:26AM
It is too high on the PTR. I was watching some live streams over on MMO-Champ, and the Shadow Priest was way out ahead of everyone else in terms of DPS.
Arbitor Nov 17th 2009 11:01AM
"It is too high on the PTR. I was watching some live streams over on MMO-Champ, and the Shadow Priest was way out ahead of everyone else in terms of DPS."
Seriously?
Holy crap, if this is true, then I've gotta dust off my shadow priest.
Could this truly be the 1st time in the history of WoW that a priest has been NERFED because their dps was too high?
Even with this nerf (or re-balance, which this would be if everyone else is indeed behind shadow) shadow priests may finally be viable again!!
Rollo Nov 16th 2009 8:19PM
Why SW:P and not the other dots?
Since Mind Flay refreshes the duration of SW:P, priests could pop all their trinkets and cooldowns, cast SW:P and then keep the dot ticking. It would keep ticking throughout the fight with all the temporary haste and spell power bonus given by the trinkets and cooldowns.
Instead of recalculating the stats every time SW:P is refreshed, the devs made it not scale with haste. As misery says, it's an ok solution mathematically, but sad lore wise.
ryang Nov 16th 2009 8:29PM
lolwut? Lorewise? Soooo... There's some lore somewhere that says SW:P is affected by haste? OOooookkk...
Phelps Nov 16th 2009 8:36PM
The sad thing is that this isn't even a new problem. It is the exact same problem they had when they added spellpower to dots. Then, people would stack up misery (remember the "SW:P has to be at least six spells in" days?), pop +spell trinkets, and then keep that SW:P refreshed the whole time.
The real question is why they didn't use the same fix on this one (have it recalculate when it is refreshed)?
Rollo Nov 16th 2009 8:45PM
What I meant was that SW:P is a classic priest spell, devouring plague is not. Plague? Priests attack your mind, they don't deal with plagues and diseases.
Eisengel Nov 16th 2009 9:12PM
I recall from GC's post on this subject that he said the SW:P refresh bug was a hard bug to fix. Sure, I could believe that, however that bug has been there for 5 years. There is no excuse other than, "we still don't feel like fixing Shadow Priests after 5 years, please keep paying your subscription fee, maybe we'll get to the issues they've had since the spec was introduced in this expansion... maybe we won't."
Lore-wise, Shadow Priests should really be nothing like how they are in the game... so... pretty much anything goes. They are Priests of the Cult of the Forgotten Shadow that have harnessed the power of undeath to essentially turn themselves into demigods. They learned to consciously control the force that animates their undead bodies and forces reality to allow them to exist. They don't conjure power from the Light, they don't summon Elemental forces, they don't channel Demonic magic, they will the world to change... and it does. As it stands mana makes no sense as a resource for a Shadow Priest, they take what they want from the beings and world around them... so haste affecting SW:P or not... *shrug* whateva.