WoW community believes “pretty bad” spec could suffer in Season of Discovery

James Lynch
A shadow priest in World of Warcraft: The War Within Hero Talents story

World of Warcraft: Season of Discovery is set to release at the end of November, and players are debating which classes will perform the best. With the information currently on offer, many fear one spec could fall way behind the others.

For those unaware, Season of Discovery is developer Blizzard’s attempt to finally deliver Classic+, a game mode that the community has been requesting for some time. In it, they are looking to turn the original formula on its head, leading to much speculation on what the finished product will look like.

The game will allow players to earn new abilities for their class and operate in previously impossible roles in the Vanilla version of the game. All these new options have led to serious debate among potential players on which classes/specs will excel and which will fall behind.

Now, many have taken to social media to share how they feel Shadow Priest could be one of the worst losers in the game when it launches.

The initial level cap could hurt Shadow Priest in Season of Discovery

In a post on Reddit, one user wished to share their concerns about the state of Shadow Priest heading into the release of Season of Discovery.

Though it is partially speculation, we do have a pretty good idea of what each class will look like, thanks to data mined Rune effects and existing knowledge of the Vanilla class. The big worry for the OP relates to mana usage, a historically significant problem for the class, but it doesn’t end there.

Many were quick to agree, with one saying: “I don’t think that a Shadow Priest will be any good. Sure an AOE spell is nice, but the gap as it exists wouldn’t be closed by a 20% damage buff let alone after all the buffs that everyone else is getting are accounted for; it really needed to have it’s crippling mana issues addressed.”

Others were quick to chime in with other reasons that Shadow Priest could suffer, chiefly the initial level cap. One noted: “I think shadow will be a non-factor in this phase, as they need to be deeper in their talent tree to get the good stuff.”

Some did want to approach the situation with a little more positivity, saying that players willing to wait for the regular level cap increases could be handsomely rewarded: “Priests will be the least played in 25 bracket then they’ll get god tier buffs in 40 bracket and everyone will reroll. That’s Priests in SoD”

Whatever happens in Season of Discovery, WoW players will likely stray from the classes they are used to after the vast changes to how they work. With the release date set for November 30, we won’t have long to wait to find out.