The Clownsuit

So I finally found a couple of other Shadow Priests to model my gear after, but getting to that point is not going to be easy. You see, almost all of the gear upgrades (closer to sidegrades really) I can get are also upgrades for Warlocks and Mages. I need a few more pieces from Naxx, including the one from the quest to unlock EoE. I think there are two upgrades from Malygos drops, and two in H OS (with 2 or 3 drakes only). I gave in and spent all my valor tokens on the valor shoulders and gloves, and those are the only tier pieces for me.

Here's a list of my gear vs the gear I actually want. Not everything will be listed, because some of the upgrades are sitting in my bags rotting while I wait for the OTHER gear to drop. All it really does is redistribute the hit points and add a smidgey bit more spellpower.

Slot	Have	Want	Drops From
Head	Gothik's Cowl	Hood of Rationality	Heroic EoE
Neck	Chain of Latent Energies	Wyrmrest Necklace of Power	H Malygos Quest
Back	Deathchill Cloak	Pennant Cloak	H Sarth+2 drakes
Wrist	Azure Cloth Bindings	Bands of Impurity	H Naxx - Noth/Gluth
Legs	Leggings of Atrophy	Leggings of the Wanton Spellcaster	H Malygos
Finger	Seized Beauty	Lost Jewel	H Naxx bosses
Finger	Band of Channeled Magic	Signet of Manifested Pain	H Naxx Kel'Thuzzad

I'd include my trinkets, because I want at least one of those to be upgraded to the Dying Curse for the +hit, but the jury's out on which to replace: Sundial of the Exiled, or Embrace of the Spider.

Anyway, the Shadow Priest's quest for epic gear is all about balance. Sure I'd like items with a higher overall rating, but I can't give up all my +hit, so a balance must be maintained. If I want to change out one or two pieces for higher spellpower, that's one or two OTHER pieces I must also change out. It's such a pain. UGH!

Learning Something New

So! I learned something new about shadow priesting (and presumably gear in general). Back when I played my rogue almost exclusively in TBC, there was a clear line of gear upgrades for me. I didn't have to juggle stats and gems. There were solid numbers I needed, and things just fell right in line.

Either I was just copying other people's gear, or things are very different in WotLK! I've read threads upon threads about what stats are good and necessary, and what can be changed out for various upgrades, what you have to give up to get to the hit cap, how much spellpower is enough, etc., etc., and all I have come up with is:

There is no perfect priest gear list. The things with the highest hit rating aren't necessarily the ones with the best overall gear rating, but you HAVE to have hit, and it HAS to come from somewhere, which means you HAVE to get lucky with drops if you want to get the perfect balance.

For example, the Valorous Garb of Faith set gives a grand total of 452 spellpower, 91 hit, 166 crit, and 91 haste. Compare with the items I currently have in those slots: 354 spellpower, 136 hit, 167 crit, and 177 haste. The set bonuses on valor gear really aren't worth losing the hit rating, since that's the most important thing for me stat wise.

You're thinking "Ooo that's 100 spellpower you could have that you don't! True, but unless I want to sacrifies all the +hit I already have, the only smart set pieces to get would be the chest and shoulders, as they both have +hit, which is a must. I'm still not quite at 288.5 or whatever, but I'm at 285, and I am not replacing ANY of my +hit gear unless I get a significant amount of the stuff from other pieces of gear.

So while I have a few upgrades I could get, generally I need to keep my hit at or above what it currently is. If I replaced everything else with some hit gear, I would CONSIDER getting full valor, but honestly, I don't think I will.

Lesson learned: gear with a higher numerical ranking does not necessarily mean it's an upgrade.

I Am Perplexed...

Last night, our guild cleared Naxx25 in 4 hours. Recount told me I kicked ass and took names.

Recount is apparently a liar, because the WWS for the evening placed the other shadow priest MUCH higher, and placed me at just barely out-damaging the tanks. I just don't understand. The only stats she has that are higher than mine are Hit (she's way over the cap) and Mana Regen. Her gear is good, but so is mine now. I just have to hope that the new pieces of gear I picked up this week will help.

• Cincture of Polarity - Great +hit belt. Added a belt buckle and +16 spellpower gem
• Heigan's Putrid Vestments - More +hit. Need to enchant. I love the name of this though. Puuuutriiiid
• Leggings of Atrophy - Another great name. More +hit. STILL NOT FREAKING CAPPED. Waiting on a tailor to make my pantschant.
• Gothik's Cowl - Got this piece on Monday. Best hat I can probably get for now, and I got it for cheaps.
• Mantle of the Corrupted - Still more +hit, still not capped. Reeeally tryin here. There are a few better shoulder pieces, but I need the +hit.

Otherwise, I have NO idea what I'm doing wrong, and there's really no one to tell me in my guild. The other two shadow priests are... how do you say... unhelpful. I've turned to the theorycraft geniuses at shadowpriest.com, as I'm not very good at it. But seriously. By all accounts, hit for spriests is pretty broken right now, and some report seeing no misses on bosses after 157 hit or so. I just... ugh! I dunno what else to try. My life as a shadow priest is very much a roller coaster with the extremes of frustration and happiness.

Shadow Priests and Endgame Preparedness

I mentioned yesterday that I had doubts about shadow priest raid utility these days. Our guild went to Heroic Naxxramus last night and my damage was actually not too shabby considering I'm still in mostly blues (still carrying green trinkets, ew). Basically I've come to the conclusion that a shadow priest's ability to hold his or her own in a raid is dependent FIRST on spec, SECOND on spell rotation, and THIRD on gear.

1. The spec is easy. There are tons of theorycrafting sites out there that tell you the why, but generally speaking this is the WotLK raid spec of choice.
2. Spell rotation is hotly debated and depends quite a bit on gear and on the kind of fight you're in.
• For soloing, I like to use Vampiric Touch (VT) - Mind Blast (MB) - Devouring Plague (DP) - Mind Flay (MF) or Mind Sear (MS) x 2 - MB if needed, or repeat previous sequence - Shadow Word: Death (SWD) to finish.
• For 5-man heroics, I use MB - DP - SWD - VT - Shadow Word: Pain (SWP) - MF or MS - repeat. I drop Vampiric Embrace (VE) in there if the healing is shoddy.
• For most boss fights, I use VT - MB - DP - SWD - SWP - MF - VT - trinkets - Inner Focus (IF) - MB - SWD - DP - SWP
  


3. Gear is where the fun starts, because it is all about what your goal is. If you're going for a coveted raid spot, my impression is that +spellpower and +hit are tops, followed by +crit and +haste, though the topic is debated. The hit cap is 290, and to be honest, I'm having a hell of a time gearing for that and not losing too many points in other places. I find a +hit weapon, but I lose other stats in the process. Still working out the details on the gear issue. Ugh.
• Example 1: At my current gear level, I could use Flameheart Spell Scalpel + Telestra's Journal, or I could use Staff of Draconic Combat. Quick comparison tells you that the staff is better on Int, Spellpower, and Haste but the dagger+book is better on Crit and Hit. I technically only lose a little bit of spell power, I lose quite a bit on the other stats (I prefer haste to crit for now. Please argue against.)
• Example 2: Rings! I could go Signet of the Malevolent + The Prospector's Prize or Band of Guile + Annhylde's Ring. Both options are fine, but one is hit heavy with way less spellpower and one has no hit at all.

So you can see wherein the problem lies. Next time, I'll go into more detail about exactly why you should put a shadow priest in your raid.