Why isn’t it returning as the baseline cooldown for all shaman specs?
A case for elemental:
. With the shift to make lava burst the focus of the spec, it only makes sense for the lava ascendant to be our primary cooldown.
. Getting spirit walker’s grace will make it less frustrating to use since I know my biggest gripe with the ability is the fact that you have to be rooted the entire time
.Fire elemental can become more of a flavor thing with a focus on increasing aoe burst.
.Primal elementalist can then be shifted to the last row of talents and then meteor buffed so it can compete with stormkeeper. This can also make room to make the elemental a little more beastly for those who like that fantasy
A case for restoration :
. Ascendance will give the spec more versatility in dungeons where we struggle.
. Then replace the talent with a water themed version of vitality conduit (if you want to be stingy, you can let it replace spirit link when talented into
. This also provides an opportunity to combo the water ascendant with abilities like wellspring to create more interesting choices in spell selection
A case for enhancement:
. Make feral spirits more of an aoe burst cooldown and ascendance the single target cooldown. From some of the feedback I have seen, feral spirit seems really undertuned and pointless on alpha
. It is just the right thing to do
The alpha class preview for shaman said we are returning to a cooldown focused class instead of builder spender. This fits the design in my opinion. Can anyone think of a reason why this is a terrible idea?
5 Likes
I agree, but I also think that there is a problem with ascendance. For elemental and enhancement, ascendance falls into the category of felling really bad b/c of the GCD. However, resto shaman has an on cast effect for ascendance, and so it doesnt feel this way. Therefore I suggest that we give both ele and enh ascendance an on use effect.
For example, when ele casts ascendance, place a short lasting flame shock on every enemy in an area. While this may seem broken with primordial wave (convenat ability), I think with some tweaking it can work. It also allows you to not have to reapply flameshock during your ascendance window.
I don’t play a lot of enhancement, but maybe it can do something like unleash an autoattack that causes a bunch of windfury attacks
3 Likes
I’m not against this. But my god it needs a new look first.
7 Likes
There was an old glyph that just make your character change color like glyph of stars does. They should bring it back.
4 Likes
Feral spirits is undertuned and pointless now. Enhancement doesn’t have a cooldown. But having Ascendance baseline(again) would be a nice one.
3 Likes
I want ascendance baseline because it is pretty and adds some nice flare to the class.
Would really make it feel different from other classes.
7 Likes
Aesthetics > Mechanics
Genius!
Yes. I may carry the weight of elemental balance on my back, but that doesn’t mean I need full-blown scoliosis every time I enter my avatar state.
1 Like
Ascendance baseline would be great but it definitely needs a new look.
4 Likes
make it baseline, and give us the glyph back imo. And yeah Feral Spirits was gutted multiple times over the years and in its current state, its just the weakest 2.5m damage CD in the game.
2 Likes
Edit: I think the OP is too much to ask for Shadowlands. I’m going to restructure this comment as a suggestion for a FUTURE expansion, memeingly called World of Warcraft: Beyond the Veil.
Feral Spirits isn’t a unique or identifying feature with BM hunters able to run dual pets. Before then, it made shaman feel unique, but now it’s whatever… I’d rather see wolves be damage so light it’s negligible but massive self-healing. Would make a nice talent option for PvP and survivability.
I don’t play Ele as much, but I’d rather have the new Shadowlands Fire Elemental juice squeezed into a baseline Ascendance, and see fire elementals reworked as procs, damage talents, or borrowed power… As far as Storm Elemental, just decouple it from Fire Elemental then, since you can already Ascendance plus Elemental and just swap talent rows.
Also, hobo form Ascendance does need some glyph love for the aesthetic. But having played Cataclysm, I think it’s good looking now. Maybe a raw elemental glyph (you look like an elemental) or an “elemental skin” glyph (you keep your armor but your character texture reflects the appropriate element) would be nice additions.
Also, part of such a rework to the main class cooldown could allow talent overlaps. That is, a final row talent that allows Enhancement to become a Fire Ascendant and (competing with Storm Elemental) Elemental to become a Wind (Storm) Ascendant.
Altogether, making Ascendance THE cooldown for shaman is a great idea to bring the broski specs back closer under the shaman hood.
I was never a big fan of the appearance of Ascendance, especially because elemental ascendants were bad guys from the Twilight Hammer. That said, I loved the power of popping it and unleashing fire everywhere. If they bring it back, change the name and appearance and leave the effect alone (though it should not be on GCD).
Stormblast was the greatest ability animation this game has ever had and it’s not even close
1 Like
I really like the visuals. At least keep them as a glyph. With a poly increase.
1 Like