Ascendance: The Shaman transforms into a being of raw elemental energy for 15 sec.
At this point in the game it is an iconic, classic spell! Adored by some, not so much by others. But one thing has been made abundantly clear: Ascendance is here to stay! But why do we shamans look like that when we proc? Why does my troll shaman suddenly become a hooded humanoid with low res textures and a lower poly count than so much in the game we play through currently. My goal with this post is to explore what Ascendance is and hopefully shed some light on why it needs to be changed, what it COULD be changed to.
Resto, Ele, Enhance. All three have Ascendance baked into their talent trees - typically a capstone or close to it with other talents like deeply rooted element influencing it. Mechanically the spell operates as a huge proc for all three specs or a big CD. Blizzard has made it clear that an Ascendant or a Ascendance is an important aspect of the Shaman’s class identity, but what is it?
What is Ascendance? What is an Ascendant?
When we get that sweet DRE proc we BURST into that mysterious stranger. BOOM! Lavabursts everywhere, Lavabeam gogogo! Wind strike from a mile away; ignore that armor! Or boom boom boom green numbers for everyone!
But what exactly are we in that form?
In the Lore: (According to Wowiki) "Originally, Elemental ascendants are Twilight’s Hammer cultists that have been twisted into elemental beings via ‘ascension’. By the time of the Cataclysm, the members have long forgotten their existences as mere mortals. From their wicked sanctum, they oversaw the selection of new ascension candidates.
Elemental ascendant, or Twilight ascendant, are the highest echelon of Twilight’s Hammer cultists who become one with the elements. The Twilight Cultists hope that they will one day become elemental ascendants. During a dark ritual they are infused with elemental powers, transforming them into monstrosities. The ascension process seems to involve draining something from other elementals or demigods."
Okay so that is the lore based around the Ascendant form we turn into, and the ones that were originally our foes during the Cataclysm era. The spell was added in Mists of Pandaria.
When we hit that DRE proc or smash ascendant CD we are Ascending to that level of pure elemental force - discarding our mortal selves momentarily to become one with the elements. Cool! Awesome idea and it makes that spell feel even cooler. But why do our characters who have defeated the Twilights Hammer AND always opposed them suddenly become a being identical to them?
Whoever is in charge of class aesthetics should ask these kinds of questions. Blizzard you WANT us to have ascendance in our kit, and rightfully so its a cool ability MECHANICALLY… But it lacks that visual attention a spell like it deserves.
What could Ascendance be instead?
Think of Voidform for Priests. That is such an iconic visual for priests now since its change in Legion. You cast voidform and boom you are levitating shadow being succumbing to the void and channelling your shadow magic at your foes! You can see your character but with void tendrils flailing from your arms while you levitate! So cool!
Imagine if instead of that we had the Priest just shift into a low res faceless one from WOTLK era? Like just no spell effects BOOM you are a faceless one and then boom no more once voidform ends. Because that is what Ascendance is is it not?
Perhaps until a better visual for ascendance is made Shamans should just get the void form animation but with some water/fire/wind effects floating around us? Every race now has a voidform animation - surely it wouldn’t be hard to implement that visual for shamans.
Dathea the Ascended from VoA comes to mind when I personally think of what ascended shamans COULD look like if given just a bit of time and attention. Floating with wind and -power- surging through us! Truely a visual that resonates with the fantasy of a shaman!
At the very least think ascendance needs a makeover to at least shift us to an elemental being? Boom we are a fire ele for a few seconds! Those new fire ele visuals are great! Much more impressive than the outdated ascendance model!
I hope my post here is not too negative and is somewhat constructive. As a Shaman main and enthusiast through and through I am disappointed daily when I get those DRE procs. A spell that feels awesome mechanically deserves an awesome visual!
Peace + Love!
