WoW newbie looking for advice

[Lissa]

You adjust. It takes about one mob to realize that you need to either fear or PW:S to avoid push back. And as Xarhud said you know the mob you are fighting.

PW:S is preferable to PS because you could end up with other mobs being involved. Likewise, more often then not you will kill the mob and still have some of your PW:S left for the next mob. Another thing to consider about why PS would be a worse choice, fear breaks much, much easier now on damage, I rarely see a PS last to full length now even with low amounts of damage.

Many of them attack slow enough that even without shield you can get 2 ticks of MF off no problem. The guy has a mind he has the ability to experiment and adjust. And has been mentioned there is no difference in the damage you get from SW:P if you cast it first or if you cast MB first because it takes 3s for the first damage to tick so the first tick will have 2 applications up, either way.

The problem with putting a non-DoT ahead of a DoT is you lose the effect of the first Shadoweaving Debuff, this is why DoTs go up first, to increase damage output. Applying the DoTs will give you 1 go 2 Shadoweave debuffs on the mob before your first DD hits, thus giving that DD an additional 2% to 4% damage. Putting the DD in first means it gets no additional benefit as the Shadoweaving is applied after the spell hits the target.

There are also plenty of places where fearing the mob works just as well if not better than shielding you can play a shadow priest similar to certain lock specs as well even if the toolset is more limited.

Some yes, but the benefit of PW:S is it in all likelihood, you may still have some of it left when you finish off one mob to move onto another. Also, unlike Affliction Warlocks with their Yo-yo pulling, Shadow Priests do not have the same amount of health and do not have the ability to drop multiple VEs quickly where as a Warlock is dropping Siphon Life on every mob. Trying to Yo-yo pull as a Shadow Priest is dangerous and leads to more downtime than a Warlock would see (the Warlocks typically are spending their downtime picking up loot as they're already near full health and mana when the Yo-yo pulling finishes while a Shadow Priest would be low in health and mana).

And again as Klaus said
Which is better than casting SW:P first yet again because VT applies shadow weaving, pain applies weaving and VE applies weaving all before pain ticks. You cast pain first and with the way GCD and timing works you may or not not have the 3rd application up before pain ticks.

Seems everyone ignored the part where I said sub 50. You always start with DoTs when you have Shadoweaving because it gives you more Shadoweaving debuffs on the mob before you hit with the DD spells. Also, VE is not a damage spell and does not apply Shadoweaving debuffs to the mobs.

There is 1 place where casting SW:P first may be better. In a group. That is it. That is the only place. There is NO solo situation where it is better. It can be better to start with some of the instant cast DoTs but VT or VE is better to start with than pain.

No, it is always preferable to start with a DoT once you have Shadoweaving to maximize your damage and your efficiency, especially later in the game while soloing. SW:P and VT should also be the first two spells cast once you get to 50 with VT going first.

Of course the biggest reason that I brought up holy fire is simply because very few people would even consider it at that stage of the game because it isn't a shadow spell. But as mentioned at that stage of the game there is very little gear that has just +shadow and with it's huge wind up and part of it's damage being spread out to a DoT it's even safe to use in groups if the tank has any skill at all. You ditch it when you get shadow form or slightly before if you get a lot of +shadow gear. But it's fun. It's unexpected and it also works out to be higher DPS and higher mana efficiency. Why not point it out.

I understand the point, but the problem is once you have Shadoweaving and VE, you're much better casting SW:P, VE, and then Mind Blast or Mind Flay as the mob comes in and using a wand. The thing is that people may also be forgetting here as you level, you want to make sure that for the last 5 seconds the mob is alive that you are not casting spells, either letting the DoTs kill the mob or wanding it down so you're outside the 5 second rule and therefore Spirit Tap is working at maximum effectiveness to get your mana back up.

It doesn't take long to learn a new rotation or change habits for most people. We aren't programming robots here, we are giving advice to people who can think and adapt. I'm attacking your advice because I simply see no situation where casting SW:P first other than in some group situations (where it could be argued that VE or VT is still better) is the best way to go. I also don't see how our advice gets him in trouble as the first basic advice for groups is don't even start to cast a spell until the tank has hit the mob in melee range. That is where you should always start in group play and then work up fro that till you know what the tank is like. Any tank that has any skill can deal with a MB that comes 1.5s after he is at melee range. If you start the MB BEFORE the tank is engaged then your actually looking at a different issue with the play style in my book.

As I stated above, the reason for the DoTs first is always to get Shadoweaving started to get maximum effective damage. Starting with the DoTs get your 1 to 2 free stacks of Shadoweaving which is very useful.

Also, I have seen plenty of PuG tanks that a single Mind Blast after they're made an attack lose the mob. As such, it's better to be prepared for that eventuality than to not.