Shadow Priest single target dps still too low

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I am doing OK on AOE pulls, but single target DPS is way too lame. Its like being taxed twice. Putting haste back in SW:Pain wouldn't be enough. I think this is worth taking a look at.

What exactly are you basing the idea that it's too low on? Could you give more examples? If you're looking at DPS charts then there will always be other factors to take into account such as what your gear is compared to others, spec, etc as you know.

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i am guessing he is comparing meters on initial icc fights. which in some sense show not that high single target dps, but on multiple mob fights like gunship battle and lady deathwhisper, it becomes good, assuming you are dotting up just more than your main boss target. DPS is lower on lord marrow (since it mostly single target, and we dont have burst for bone spikes) and surfang is similar unless we mind sear adds, but with everyone aoe-ing, we dont get much dmg in.

Seems like a fair guess. There's a definite trade-off between AoE and single target whether it's in healing or DPS when it comes to priests. The difficulty comes in with maintaining some sort of balance between the two without it being that one extra tweak too far. From what I see, the OP's spec is solid and they have solid gear so they may see more come from getting the next tier of gear. I'd be interested in seeing how this plays out though.

It seems that with a good rotation and timing (spec and gear a given in this case), you should still be doing well on the meters and more importantly, seeing how your contribution affects the group. You can always tell when dps is lacking somewhere because the healers are pulling out all the stops to continue keeping up with healing (or mitigating) damage. From there (at least I've found) someone usually steps up without the meter and says "I was off" or "I forgot to do x" or "My bad, my timing was off" or some sort of thing. It sort of relates to the healing side of things. If everyone is still alive in the end, then something went right. If the boss is dead in the end, something went right.

It's understandable that you want to be a prime example of fine damage dealing machinery, and it's a good goal to have. But don't look too much at any one defining property to decide if it's enough or not. Take into account all the factors that come into play.

Keep in mind, for some bosses you are doing slightly different things either because the strategy changes, you're having to move a lot, you have to time things differently on when you use your abilities or what have you. So you may not be at the top of the heap for one boss, but for the next fight, you're the cat's meow.

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Damn.. Neth plays a shadow priest.

Neth has played all three specs to one degree or another on the priest. What can I say, I like my variety. :) Once upon a time I was purely Shadow but that was back prior to even Battlegrounds going in. Now, dual spec is a lovely thing. The specs definitely have gone through their changes and will continue to do so as the game continues on. There is no doubt though that every care goes into just how significantly these changes impact game play for everyone.

As for those with issues in groups with being benched, I often wonder how much perception comes into play. After all, there are still people that don't take into account damage mitigation with Disc Priests despite the value it has. Now we've added more content and again, perceptions are going to shift a bit based on the types of encounters people are experiencing (at least in PvE). (PvP is always a slightly different matter and even more subject to mitigating factors.)

I'm not saying that everything is perfect as is. I don't think I can define perfect in any one way since it depends upon individual perception. Perfect for one person is over powered for the next. As always though, we're keeping tabs on it all and so far I've seen more positive feedback on the damage that Shadow is doing than negative.

Q u o t e:
I've played shadow for a little over a year now (I was holy/disc before that). I have to say I'm not seeing the dps loss that most of you are talking about. I pulled 5k in a heroic yesterday and managed to place 2nd next to the arcane mage in our 10 man ICC run. admittedly I have yet to see myself past that in my 25 mans since most of the fights in TOC and the beginning of ICC are gimmick fights.

Also Nethera, are you sure you want to admit you play a priest? remember what happened to the last person who did that? :\

I don't think we ever heard from that poor soul again since BC :(

I've been admitting I play a priest for a very long time. I have other characters as well, but I can say I've played priest since the original WoW beta very early on.

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Well, now we know why priests have always been OP. =P

Hah! ;p You are just jealous that you have a bow versus doing lots of finger waggling! Finger waggling > silly piece of wood and string right? (Joke alert! Joke alert! Please hunters, do not send your pets after me. ;p)

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How much DPS does your shadow priest do? I do extremely well on NRB and I pulled 7.8-8k on heroic Jaraxxus just last night.

I'm interested in whether or not people are experiencing similar numbers in similar fights. It would be interesting to see if the comparisons line up and whether those numbers are relatively consistent or not.