It seems that Blizzard is likely to be getting somewhere with Priest racials. So far every move has definitely been a positive one and in the right direction to remedying the long time running problems of Priest racials.
Night Elf Priests can rejoice with their new buffs- it's really been a long time coming. Not only that, but move over Undead Spriest, Night Elves are arguably the new best race for Shadow Priest after 2.3 goes live. The reasons are as follows:
Starshards-337 damage every three seconds with 900 +damage, 30 second CD, Zero mana cost and instant cast. That's a total of 1685 damage over 15 seconds. Having another dot that's near VT in strength while at the same time having no cast time, no mana cost, and a 30 second cooldown is pretty huge.
In comparison devouring Plague is great but everyone knows that the mana cost is very painful when combine the lack of mana efficiency that every Spriest deals with. It is of course the fact that it heals you is great but the cool-down limits it is use to once per battle and if it is cured, you are SOL. It is a perfect spell for Inner Focus but it would never hurt to be able to use it on something else. It does have an advantage in its synergy with VT and VE, but the 30 second cooldown of Star Shards definitely warrants DP dusting off the pedestal and sharing some room. At the very least, it offers NE Spriest a little bit more dot protection with some added bonus damage.
Elune's Grace Effect changed to reduce chance to be hit by melee and ranged attacks by 20% for 15 seconds which is the only one rank of the spell. In the form of improved fade or something along those lines back in shadow Priest love post, this was a change they give every Priest with the exception of the NE one is quite a bit more powerful. It's exactly what every Priest needs for a little bit of extra defense when being attacked. This will be nice for the squishier Shadow Priests, even more so when they're trying to avoid pushback.
In order to avoid early targeting and sneaky drinking, NE Priest now have an extra dot, Fear Ward, a nice defense boost and Shadow Meld. Compare that with DP and WoTF, you definitely have competition for the strongest Spriest and at the very least, a much stronger NE Spriest than before.
Chastise- 300 mana 5 second cast, 20 yard range and 30 second cooldown. Chastise the target, causing 370 to 430 Holy damages and incapacitates them for up to 2 sec. Any damage caused will awaken the target. Only works against Humanoids. This spell causes very low threat.
As a matter fact, troll shadow Priests are arguably the best dueling spriest class. Having a lightning shield type of effect that triggers blackout is kind of powerful - not to mention it hits for about 500 or so per shadowy ball and can be refreshed all the time.