A Shadow Priest's Manifesto

I am not evil; I do not serve the Lich King. I am not a warlock; I do not play with demons. I simply choose to follow the darker mental disciplines. The Shadow cannot exist without the light, nor can light exist without casting a shadow. I know how to heal, I just choose to not. Shadow is not an extension of my soul, but of my mind. I am a utility and a boon to groups large and small, and alone I am a formidable opponent. My talents are most destructive in long fights, but if you think you can burn me down quickly, you are wrong.

With the "lore" stuff out of the way, here's the skinny. Shadow Priests have gone from DPS class to Utility class and back again with disturbing regularity. We've been almost forced out of raids entirely, and sought after mere patches later.

For WotLK, however, our role is a bit ambiguous. I was informed by some nerds on the Instance forums that my low DPS is entirely my fault and my spec's. I'm not doing a service to my raid by being a mana battery anymore because Ret. Pallies and I think Huntards(?) do the same thing. My utility in raids is, right now, fairly low. I've got to up the DPS output or risk losing my spot. Already I'm interchangeable with poorly-geared warlocks and mages. So over the next few posts, I'm going to explore just why a Shadow Priest needs to be in your raids. Feel free to comment if you've got some theories of your own. /cuddle