03-02-2007, 11:06 AM
Hello there,
I raid as a shadow priest in my guild.
It has been quite fun so far in burning crusade.
The problem is that I seem to have is that in the current patch as a shadow priest I top the threat meters. I can already pull aggro whenever I want off of whatever tank I want to pull it off of if I am so inclined (through use of my higher DPS spells). I am specced into both silent resolve and shadow affinity. Silent resolve reduces threat generated by 20%, shadow affinity reduces threat generated by shadow spells by 25%.
Due to VE, a shadow priest generates significantly more threat than a normal DPS caster. This is because (as we all know), VE heals the priests entire party for 30% of damage done. in an aoe fight, it is not unreasonable to assume that VE will be almost entirely consumed (that is, there will be only 30%-40% overheal or so).
Let us assume a threat number for the priest's damage to be 100.
Vampiric embrace is a heal, and does 30% to 5 people. This means that it does 150*.5 threat (as heals count for half threat... it actually does a bit more because of critical heals) but lazily, it does 75 threat.
This means that under optimal threat producing conditions (before threat reducing abilities), a shadow priest generates 175% threat per damage.
Now let us assume that the priest is specced into both Silent resolve and shadow affinity (under the current conditions). The priest will be recieving 80% of the healing threat, and .75*.80 of the damage threat.
100*.75*.8 = 60
75*.8 = 60
This means that the priest will recieve 120% of the normal threat per damage incurred under maximal threat conditions.
under sub maximal conditions... it is a different case. let us assume that only 1 person is being healed by the priests embrace (the MEATSHIELD).
The numbers for this would run with a 30% VE without skills would be
100%
30%*.5 = 15%
Which gives us 115% threat per damage.
If the priest is specced for the reduction talents, it runs as such:
100%*.8*.75 = 60
15*.8 = 12.75
72.75% threat per damage.
Blizzard has recently altered the threat reduction skills in a PTR patch. Silent resolve will no longer apply to Shadow damage. Also, VE will max out at 25%, instead of 30%. What does this mean for a dpsing shadow priest?
We change our forumulas. we no longer multiply by .8 when calculating shadow damage. Our maximal VE healing is now 125%, our minimal VE healing is now 25%
Maximal threat conditions:
100%*.75 = 75%
60.5%*.8 = 45.125%
120.125% total threat per damage.
Minimal threat conditions:
100%*.75 = 75%
12.5%*.8 = 10%
85% total threat per damage.
This means that under maximal conditions, the threat that is produced by the priest is only greater by .125%. The unfortunate part is that under the minimal conditions, the threat is increased by a full 12.25%
What does this mean for in game experience?
Firstly it means that in smaller instances and trash (5 or 10 man) the priest will find himself holding back a bit more than he was previously had to.
Secondly it means that hardly anything will change from the priest's gameplay perspective in terms of large aoe fights. He will have virtually the same threat management as he did before.
This does not seem to be an unreasonable change, but I am not entirely sure why it was necessary at this point in the game. I often found myself holding back in small instance situations with all of the threat mitigation in the world. In larger raids, even on horde side now, threat is trivialized by the addition of blessing of salvation. It seems silly to make it more difficult to do damage in small instances where there is no garuntee of a paladin to grant such a buff.
What ways are there to deal with this extra damage in smaller instances?
There are a few:
The first is to cast less. This has the advantage of supplying the same mana efficiency as before, but a lowered amount of DPS.
The second would be to drop some damage skills. Possibilities are shadow weaving and shadowform. Which is preferable to drop would depend on group makeup (although dropping shadow weaving seems a bad choice, as it a skill, and group makeup changes).
With a warlock, we would most definetly want shadow weaving. with a mage or rogue in our group instead, it wouldn't matter as much. Dropping shadow form has the advantage of allowing us to cast healing spells, and it doesn't require a respec. Unfortunately, either of these options make our damage 15% less efficient as well.
So depending on the group makeup and setting, post patch, PvE shadow priests will have to make some sort of sacrifice.
I raid as a shadow priest in my guild.
It has been quite fun so far in burning crusade.
The problem is that I seem to have is that in the current patch as a shadow priest I top the threat meters. I can already pull aggro whenever I want off of whatever tank I want to pull it off of if I am so inclined (through use of my higher DPS spells). I am specced into both silent resolve and shadow affinity. Silent resolve reduces threat generated by 20%, shadow affinity reduces threat generated by shadow spells by 25%.
Due to VE, a shadow priest generates significantly more threat than a normal DPS caster. This is because (as we all know), VE heals the priests entire party for 30% of damage done. in an aoe fight, it is not unreasonable to assume that VE will be almost entirely consumed (that is, there will be only 30%-40% overheal or so).
Let us assume a threat number for the priest's damage to be 100.
Vampiric embrace is a heal, and does 30% to 5 people. This means that it does 150*.5 threat (as heals count for half threat... it actually does a bit more because of critical heals) but lazily, it does 75 threat.
This means that under optimal threat producing conditions (before threat reducing abilities), a shadow priest generates 175% threat per damage.
Now let us assume that the priest is specced into both Silent resolve and shadow affinity (under the current conditions). The priest will be recieving 80% of the healing threat, and .75*.80 of the damage threat.
100*.75*.8 = 60
75*.8 = 60
This means that the priest will recieve 120% of the normal threat per damage incurred under maximal threat conditions.
under sub maximal conditions... it is a different case. let us assume that only 1 person is being healed by the priests embrace (the MEATSHIELD).
The numbers for this would run with a 30% VE without skills would be
100%
30%*.5 = 15%
Which gives us 115% threat per damage.
If the priest is specced for the reduction talents, it runs as such:
100%*.8*.75 = 60
15*.8 = 12.75
72.75% threat per damage.
Blizzard has recently altered the threat reduction skills in a PTR patch. Silent resolve will no longer apply to Shadow damage. Also, VE will max out at 25%, instead of 30%. What does this mean for a dpsing shadow priest?
We change our forumulas. we no longer multiply by .8 when calculating shadow damage. Our maximal VE healing is now 125%, our minimal VE healing is now 25%
Maximal threat conditions:
100%*.75 = 75%
60.5%*.8 = 45.125%
120.125% total threat per damage.
Minimal threat conditions:
100%*.75 = 75%
12.5%*.8 = 10%
85% total threat per damage.
This means that under maximal conditions, the threat that is produced by the priest is only greater by .125%. The unfortunate part is that under the minimal conditions, the threat is increased by a full 12.25%
What does this mean for in game experience?
Firstly it means that in smaller instances and trash (5 or 10 man) the priest will find himself holding back a bit more than he was previously had to.
Secondly it means that hardly anything will change from the priest's gameplay perspective in terms of large aoe fights. He will have virtually the same threat management as he did before.
This does not seem to be an unreasonable change, but I am not entirely sure why it was necessary at this point in the game. I often found myself holding back in small instance situations with all of the threat mitigation in the world. In larger raids, even on horde side now, threat is trivialized by the addition of blessing of salvation. It seems silly to make it more difficult to do damage in small instances where there is no garuntee of a paladin to grant such a buff.
What ways are there to deal with this extra damage in smaller instances?
There are a few:
The first is to cast less. This has the advantage of supplying the same mana efficiency as before, but a lowered amount of DPS.
The second would be to drop some damage skills. Possibilities are shadow weaving and shadowform. Which is preferable to drop would depend on group makeup (although dropping shadow weaving seems a bad choice, as it a skill, and group makeup changes).
With a warlock, we would most definetly want shadow weaving. with a mage or rogue in our group instead, it wouldn't matter as much. Dropping shadow form has the advantage of allowing us to cast healing spells, and it doesn't require a respec. Unfortunately, either of these options make our damage 15% less efficient as well.
So depending on the group makeup and setting, post patch, PvE shadow priests will have to make some sort of sacrifice.
