Look, I’m happy to go to the 10.0.7 PTR threads and make productive suggestions for improving shaman gameplay- but is it even worth our time?
The talent tree changes combined with the neglect of more pressing issues suggests that no one on the dev team actually plays and enjoys the shaman class fantasy at any level or in any game mode. (The fact that ele happens to be competitive in arena honestly just feels like an unintended fluke of synergistic talents and stacking modifiers)
The 10.0.7 changes just look like someone saw the surface level complaints like “button bloat” or “wasted talents” and then took an action that could be labeled as reducing “button bloat” or “wasted talents” without actually appreciating what it feels like to play and perform competitively as the spec. The changes don’t make any sense and do not show a rational, thoughtful response to the class’s needs from anyone who understands them in depth.
For instance, the substance of the problem with “button bloat” isn’t that shamans have too many buttons to press, it’s that we are too dependent on a long series of globals just to cast a remotely competitive strong heal in the first place, while severely lacking damage mitigation to pre-empt the issue.
I mean I can’t believe I’m saying this, but should we just get one of the soy face reaction shaman streamers added onto the dev team and in turn have someone who actually enjoys and cares about the class making suggestions?
It certainly feels like our suggestions aren’t well understood here, and so without some kind of assurance it may just be best to wait for a new fluke in the class design than to rationally contribute to the future in 10.0.7.