With each passing patch, it feels more and more like Blizzard thinks Enhancement is in an acceptable spot and doesn’t really need any major changes. The problem is that we’re not seeing anything that makes me feel confident in the spec’s future. Instead, we’re watching the things that made Enhancement special either get watered down, nerfed, or made baseline and available to everyone.
We’re still dealing with the hybrid tax, and now it looks like we’re heading right back toward the Windfury slot machine gameplay we had in Era. At least now we can fish for Windfury procs with a shorter Stormstrike, I guess. Is that really where we’re going with Enhancement? After everything that’s been done to the spec, are we seriously going back to hoping RNG carries our damage?
Fire Nova was at least giving us another button to press and some worthwhile cleave damage, even if the mana cost was painful. Now the cost has been lowered, but so has the damage, and it feels like we’re losing another part of our kit that actually made the spec enjoyable and competitive.
The bigger concern for a lot of Enhancement players is where we’re going to end up. We’re worried about being a mediocre DPS spec because we’re a hybrid, while also being left without a proper tanking role. We’re potentially going to be a subpar tank and a subpar DPS spec, with very little raid utility left to justify bringing us in the first place.
This is also why I think Shaman tanking and Enhancement sharing a talent tree makes sense if Blizzard is genuinely willing to support tanking as a viable raid role. Look at Feral Druids. They can build toward tanking or DPS within the same tree, and both playstyles have a clear purpose. Why can’t Shaman follow a similar approach? Some talents could favor survivability and threat, while others focus on damage for Enhancement. It would give the tree a clearer identity and let players choose how they want to play without needing an entirely separate specialization. But that only works if Blizzard is actually willing to support Shaman tanking instead of continuing to call it temporary or leaving it as some niche option.
We were told changes would be coming in the future. Blizzard even said:
“We understand that this affects Enhancement Shaman’s critical strike damage with spells, but we will use this room created to add more to Enhancement Shaman in the future.”
Well, we’re getting closer to launch, and where are those changes? With every patch that passes without anything meaningful happening, it becomes harder to believe that anything substantial is actually coming. At this point, it feels like Blizzard has looked at Enhancement, decided it’s in a good enough spot, and moved on.
We’ve spoken up about Shaman tanking and gotten answers like “maybe,” “never say never,” and that it’s a “temporary” role. Fine. If tanking isn’t going to be a proper option, a lot of us were at least hoping Enhancement would be in a good place and still bring something meaningful to a raid.
But now even that is being chipped away.
Windfury and Grace of Air being made raid-wide means we lose another reason to bring an Enhancement Shaman specifically. Those totems were a huge part of what we brought to a melee group. Now that other Shamans can provide those benefits across the raid, that part of our identity and utility matters a lot less.
It’s strange playing a spec literally called Enhancement and feeling like we’re losing the things that actually enhance our group.
Our single-target damage is expected to sit below classes like Rogues and Warriors, and potentially Druids, because we’re hybrids. Our cleave has already been affected by Blizzard’s desire to keep Warriors as the kings of cleave. Fire Nova was at least helping us stay competitive in that area, and now that’s been hit too.
So where exactly are we supposed to fit?
Our raid utility is being reduced, our damage tools are being weakened, and the changes we’ve been told to look forward to still haven’t materialized. Every time something gets taken away, there’s less reason to bring Enhancement, and we’re left hoping our damage will be good enough to make up for it.
I’ve loved Shaman, and Enhancement in particular, ever since I started playing back in 2006. That’s why I was genuinely excited to see what was coming for the class in Forever after getting a taste of what Enhancement could be in SoD. But with each week of beta, that excitement has slowly turned into disappointment. It increasingly feels like we’re just going to end up being what we were in Era, except with a shorter Stormstrike and subpar cleave.
If sharing our talent tree with a legitimate Shaman tanking role is part of the reason we’re being held back on the DPS side, then I could at least understand that trade-off, provided tanking was actually supported and viable. But right now, we’re losing utility, seeing our damage tools get toned down, and getting very little in return. It feels like we’re being pushed toward a spec that’s little more than an auto-attacking totem, hoping Windfury carries our damage.
I’m not asking for Enhancement to be the best DPS spec in the game. I’m asking for the spec to have an actual identity, a worthwhile place in a raid, and gameplay that feels like more than pressing Stormstrike and praying for Windfury procs.
If Blizzard genuinely believes Enhancement is in a good spot, then I’d really like to understand why. Because from where I’m standing, each passing patch gives us more reasons to be concerned and fewer reasons to be optimistic.
At some point, we need more than promises that changes might come later. We need to actually see them.
