A quick post on glyph choices

Listed below are what I think are the relevant glyphs for each of the three caster hybrids — shadow priests, balance druids and elemental shaman. I've excluded mages and locks to avoid unfair comparisons — they naturally have a broader base of dps glyphs to start with. And I've picked only those glyphs that I believe belong to the relevant trees for brevity — i.e. excluding all the healing and melee glyphs. I may inadvertently have missed one out or let an odd one slip through, please forgive me.

The point of this exercise is to compare how well served each spec is by their glyph selection in raiding. It is a mixed bag for sure, with some rather bum and dubious glyphs all round, but my impression is that, on balance, shaman and druids come out on top. If, after seeing this, you think shadow priests have a fair choice, please do tell me why.

To my eyes, what is already a rather poor deal for shadow priests becomes even worse when you remove the glyph of mind flay. (Yes, I'm still banging that drum.)

My argument, of course, is that you should not need a glyph to secure an acceptable range for your primary raiding nuke. But while we have one, it very neatly serves to mask this veritable drought of acceptable glyphs. If you are starving and someone gives you a mouldy piece of bread, you may be grateful. That doesn't make it a good meal.

Perceptive readers will note how glyph of flame shock increases damage, not range. That's because, as soon as this baseline 20-yard range spell became important to elemental dps, developers found room for a talent to increase its range. Funny that.

The glyph selection for raiding shadow priests is in dire need of systematic review. We know some changes are coming with the next patch, but what has been announced so far is not enough.

Glpyhs are not the only area of concern to shadow priests, but getting them right is one essential part of ensuring shadow priests remain competitive in higher content. Please make it so, Blizzard.

Shadow priests

Glyph of Fade — Increases the duration and cooldown of your Fade spell by 50%.
Glyph of Psychic Scream — Increases the duration of your Psychic Scream by 1 sec.
Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain — Increases the damage done by your Mind Flay spell by 10% when your target is afflicted with Shadow Word: Pain.
Glyph of Mind Flay — Increases the range of your Mind Flay spell by 10 yards, but it only reduces the target's movement speed by 10%.
Glyph of Mind Control — Increases the duration of your Mind Control spell by 12 sec.
Glyph of Shadow — While in Shadowform, your spell critical strikes increase your spell power by 10% of your Spirit for 10 sec.
Glyph of Shadow Word: Death — Targets below 35% health take an additional 5% damage from your Shadow Word: Death spell.

Balance druids

Glyph of Entangling Roots — Increases the damage your Entangling Roots victims can take before the Entangling Roots automatically breaks by 20%
Glyph of Focus — Increases the damage done by Starfall by 20%, but decreases its radius by 50%.
Glyph of Hurricane — Your Hurricane ability now also slows the movement speed of its victims by 20%
Glyph of Insect Swarm — Increases the damage of your Insect Swarm ability by 30% but it no longer affects your victim's chance to hit
Glyph of Moonfire — Increases the periodic damage of your Moonfire ability by 75% but initial damage is decreased by 90%
Glyph of Starfall — Increases the duration of Starfall by 2 seconds
Glyph of Starfire — Your Starfire ability increases the duration of your Moonfire effect on the target by 3 seconds, up to a maximum of 9 additional seconds
Glyph of Wrath — Increases the chance you'll resist spell interruption when casting your Wrath spell by 50%

Elemental shaman

Glyph of Shocking — Reduces the global cooldown triggered by your Shock spells by 0.5 sec.
Glyph of Fire Nova Totem — Reduces the cooldown of your Fire Nova Totem by 3 seconds.
Glyph of Flame Shock — Increases the duration of your Flame Shock ability by 6 sec and it is not consumed by casting Lava Burst.
Glyph of Flametongue Weapon — Increases spell critical strike chance by 2% while Flametongue Weapon is active.
Glyph of Lightning Bolt — Increases the damage dealt by Lightning Bolt by 4%.
Glyph of Frost Shock — Increases the duration of your Frost Shock by 2 sec.
Glyph of Chain Lightning — Your Chain Lightning strikes 1 additional target.
Glyph of Elemental Mastery — Reduces the cooldown of your Elemental Mastery ability by 30 sec.
Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem — Reduces the cooldown of your Fire Elemental Totem by 10 min.
Glyph of Lava — Your Lava Burst spell gains an additional 10% of your spellpower.