Hi,
I think at least this page in the knowledge base needs an update:
It says “artist play” means shuffle, whereas the release notes of Roon 1.7 state this:
These new play options use Vālence to pick a selection of an artist or composer’s best music by determining their “heyday” periods, finding their most popular albums (based on Roon users’ listening history), and digging deep to find lesser-known gems. Whether it’s an artist you know and love, or someone new you’re ready to explore, now you can just click Play.
Source: Roon 1.7 Is Live!
Maybe this is not true anymore for 1.8, but since one can add the “play shuffle” button manually, I believe there are still these two different functions, which is fine. But one should not need to search the forums for how the artist play button works.