Just curious as I am playing a bit with a priest alt at the moment. While they do hold thier own fairly well 1v1 as shadow, I am wondering at what point (if ever) do shadowpriests begin to dominate at PvP?
If you know what you're doing, you can compete even at lvl 13 in PvP, if you want to completely own pvp, yes probably 45-50+ is the time, but for example I completely own people with my 26 priest in 20-20 AB :P.
The 40-49 and 50-59 brackets are where Shadowpriests are at their peak. Before that they have no Shadowform, so their damage isn't astonishing. After that the poor scaling on Inner Fire greatly reduces their damage mitigation, and while some Shadowpriests do amazingly well in the Arenas, they are more difficult to PVP with at 70 than they are at 59.
I don't know a single class that “dominates" at PvP. All have their own strengths and weaknesses and perform differently depending on the class they are facing.
I have a lvl 25 alt priest that does well in the BGs. Obviously I do very well at healing the others and even if my DPS is weak I have a high number of "Honorable kills" because I spam SW:Pain.
Even below lvl 30 we have a nice bag o' tricks: PW:Shield is an amazing one, use it all the time. Psychic Scream is awesome, no need to explain why. Dots are god send in BGs, abuse it. Mind Blast is a quick cast and that's what we want in PvP. Fear Ward is excellent too if you have it. In BGs don't use Mind Flay because it reveals yourself and you can be sure someone will come to you.
even if my DPS is weak I have a high number of "Honorable kills" because I spam SW:Pain.
erm.. u don't get HK by putting pain on them. it's enough to be with the pact when thy kill the enemy and u will get that HK too.. and since u are healing.. ure staying with the pack :p . now killing blows.. that's another story