WOW - Improved Shadowfiend's AI : World of Warcraft General Discussions

Eyonix from Blizzard has a few things to say regarding the priest and what they are going to be improving...

Priests should be careful how and when they use the shadowfiend. With that being said, we are improving the shadowfiend's AI next patch so that it ignores cc'd targets.

Concerning the discontent surrounding the 41-point talent, Circle of Healing, it's important to note that we're simply taking small steps to improve the ability. If it turns out that the improvement to efficiency and small increase to healing done are not enough, we'll make further adjustments as necessary.

Other improvements are being looked into as well, as we've stated in the numerous times in the past. This includes talents in both the discipline and holy trees. Also, it's likely that at some point in the future, you'll see additional improvements to priest racials. It's very important to remain patient.

Ommra from Blizzard also adds:

The Shadowfiend is a guardian and not a full-fledged pet, and as such it is intended for priests to have limited control over it.

This means you need to be careful about how and when to use it. The AI is designed so that it prefers not attacking a CC'ed target if it can avoid it, but if there are no other options it will attack. So be cautious when using it around CC'ed targets.

Thanks