PvE Discussion:
Shaman Tanks are basically in par with all tanks and overall the tanking of the game is good.
Shaman Healers are still lacking something that puts them above average healer or mid pack.
Shaman DPS (Ele and Enh) are currently the bottom feeders and a lot of that is because they cannot scale with items. Too much of their damage is left out because of RNG. Solution is to remove some RNG and provide % buffs to their runes like Lava Burst and change Molten Blast to scale off 2 ratios. Current Molten Blast does the following:
[(7.583798 + 0.471881 * 60 + 0.036599 * 60 * 60) * 72 / 100 + 5 / 100 * Attack power] to [(7.583798 + 0.471881 * 60 + 0.036599 * 60 * 60) * 108 / 100 + 5 / 100 * Attack power].
My first idea for scaling ratios is to use the current model and buff it.
My second idea for scaling ratios is to change the rune to use SP for tanks and AP for melee DPS (meant for 2h Shaman). AP would use the same ratios above, but buff the damage by 50% so it actually deals damage and is not just a threat generator for the tank version. The SP would have to use a different formula to meet the same or slightly buffed version of the Molten Blast.
PvP Discussion:
Restoration in BGs is Middle pack and lacks the ability to keep people alive. The issues is damage is out-scaling and the instant heals for Shamans is just Riptide. Riptide as a rune is really not good for PvP or PvE and is basically renew with half the heal upfront with a HoT afterwards. I think Riptide needs to be buffed by 50%. This would help PvE and PvP Shamans.
Elemental Shamans lack mana control and range issues still. 10 Yard range is a huge difference for casters and Hunters are even further. The issue with Elemental Shaman is they hard cast everything but Shocks. So they are easily hit with counter-spells and interrupts. Shamans of course have no CC and that also hurts them. The best option is to add 10 yard range to LB, CL, Lava Burst, and Increase Shocks range by 20 so they end up with 40 range and are equal to all other casters/range units in the .
Enhance Shamans are in a deep dark hole of worst PvP spec there has ever been. They have almost no ability to survive fights in a group or 1v1, they hit like a wet noodle, they cannot heal properly to fulfill that hybrid aspect of the class and they lack the ability to gap close. An obvious fix would be to add a rune on their Legs to remove the shared GCD of shocks. This would help PvE and PvP Shamans overall.
Overall, Shamans have been nerfed into the bottom tier of the classes. DPS are 1k less on average compared to the top 5 and on average 500 less than mid pack DPS. Healing is mid pack and Tanks in the game are about equal. Shamans were nerfed a lot in phase 3-4. The issue has become, they are not longer OP, but not balanced. Shamans have been snuffed by really bad Runes that do not see any form of use. Examples include: Ancestral Guidence (Pants), Greater Ghost Wolf (Pants) {just needs to make GW instant to be useful}, Fire Nova (Waist), Healing Rain (Chest), and Static Shock (Wrist). I know other classes have useless runes, but GGW rune was changed already and still missed the mark.
2 Likes
Agree with everything you said regarding PvE, as they are pretty close to the bottom looking at logs. PvP however I think you are mistaken, there was a UK PvP tournament recently and shamans were ranking very high, matter of fact one was competing for first place with a shockadin, and lost to him. I think shamans are actually in a pretty good place PvP wise.
That tournament was a horrible example of pvp. It was basically two players continually LoSing each other around the berserker hut. It favored any class that had insta casts.
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Yeah what happened to taking it out back behind AQ.
Shams have great damage in raid. BWL just not built for them.
All boss parses on WCL only count single-target DPS. Shaman strength is AoE.
Vael heavily favors whoever gets the debuff.
Chromagg punishes anyone who uses multiple schools of magic (which is basically just Shams)
If you look at P5 MC, there’s an Ele Sham at #7, before any melee. And Enhance Shaman in the top 35.
Anyone here has logs to share?
yea, but if it was an open field, boomkin and shaman would dominate the tourney
1v1 prowess doesnt equate to group pvp prowess.
with its extra rules and setting , the pvp tourney was a poor representation of actual day to day pvp and anyone propping it up as a representation needs to seriously question themselves.
edit to add:
op you are not gonna get much good posts from this due to peoples crazy hate for shaman and people dont care about any hard times shaman have .
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It’s not just shamans its just the sod playerbase overall declining 
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Go away, we don’t need your trolling in here
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Valid, if the game was about dueling and running around in the open world with a duel build.
Ele is still OK in PvP, imo no class should be nerfed, but after the recent nerfs we could use either of the below:
Extra range on shock and possibly LvB
More mobility (instant ghost wolf)
A rework on the spell push back talent to provide spell pushback protection reliably
For enha even though I do not main it, I will make just one observation:
Rets, with 5 seconds stuns, bubbles and plate, have more mobility nowadays than the paper -thin (glass cannon as advertised) enha, while doing the same or more dps. I find it quite funny and explains the decline of the class pretty accurately.
For PvE i think it’s clear we needed buffs and instead bliz chose to be extremely conservative with p5 changes. By the time we get all required pieces the season will be over. (I’m still 4 out of 6T2 and NAC is a very important but also very rare drop)
Who the heck parses p5 MC? Whoever puts half an effort is going to be top 10
Shamans been on top in pve and pvp multiple phases. No king rules forever my son
honestly the hate on shaman of all specs is insane and will continue till sod dies .
i dont know that putting extra range on the spells is something that will solve it as ive maintained that a shaman with the range of a boomie on all their spells would be op (as boomies are everything they said ele shaman were but with 10 yards extra range and better defensives).
also even if the range was handled in a way that wouldnt make them op , it wouldnt really do anything for pve numbers and thats something alot of people would want fixed.
i dont know the solution to this.
It’s all about sons and daughters when your IQ is 40. You’re still hurt a level 40 shaman ,with his whole kit unlocked, in contrast to 90% of the other classes, performed better in an especially shaman friendly event.
All I care is balance at 60. We get virtually nothing by dipping into off-spec trees so the class would always scale back at 60 without any of the multitude of nerfs you and the bliz incompetents instigated.
Yeah, each level bracket was a phase. Sounds like shamans scaled extremely well early, and maybe thats why blizzard knew not to nerf them? Now its time for the classes that werent doing so well to do finally catch up?
You cant have it all
Unless you’re a rogue, we get to be top tier pve and pvp every phase.
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Shamans after being absolute pvp gods for the majority of SoD then receiving any tiny nerf whatsoever: " cLaSs iZ uNpLaYaBlE!!1! PALA BUBBLE!! WAAAAH!!!"
Oh boohoo sorry you got so used to being carried by an op class and got nerfed for the good of the game…
And no shaman didn’t go from one of the least played classes in every other version of WoW to the most played horde class in SoD because SoD for some reason happens to just attract shaman mains…
It’s because the majority of shaman players are just fotm rerollers looking to be carried by blatant opness.
2 Likes
Shh, keep them distracted with the paladin vs shaman debate
Just out of curiosity…, why was shaman one of the least played classes in every other version of wow?
Because they were so well balanced and fun to play?