Speaking as an Enhance player. I am not the biggest fan of DRE and found the playstyle to be pretty degenerate during Season 2 and in Season 3. I am a pretty big Elementalist build shill and I very much enjoy Pwave and have fallen in love with the build playstyle, the flexibility we had with minor point changes in Season 1 raid builds, how’s been in M+ and Raid, and the damage profile it has. While there is some things that still be fixed with Elementalist build (make Lava Lash spread to 3 targets baseline + 2 points of Molten Assault increases it to 5 please), I still think it is over and above the best build for Enhance.
That being said:
STORMBRINGER SHOULD NOT BE PRIMARILY ACTIVATED BY PWAVE OR DRE
Seeing Farseer starting node being triggered off Pwave for Elemental fills me with dread that a similar route would be taken with Stormbringer for Enhance. It would be an absolute travesty to tie the activation of effects within the tree to a specific set of talents. As much as I personally think Storm build with DRE is hot garbage and requires changes, I see that people like playing it and it would serve to only add considerable amount of friction to Storm enjoyers. Likewise, having it specifically work off DRE procs would have similar effect on those who enjoy Pwave and the Elementalist Build playstyle. Even though I personally did not enjoy playing Storm in Season 2 at times, it was absolutely amazing that we had the viable to play 2 distinct builds with Aberrus. No other class has been able to have that level of build diversity within their trees (though it came about from issues related to Elementalist at the time). In Season 3, while there is parts that provide benefit to Storm (in single target) by taking Pwave, Pwave feels odd to play with that build and has caused considerable friction for other players. However this concept extend to a whole set of hero talents is way too much power loading on a single talent sequence.
It’s my hope that Stormbringer is more centered around elements (pun intended) that are common between the 2 builds and elemental which would be Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning. Interactions can be made with those spells in a way that have greater implications for the different builds. Then issues seen with Storm and Elementalist can be handled at the class tree level and be targeted at specific talents.
5 Likes
Going off other Trees, it seems Farseer will be the Primordial Wave option especially with Ancestors effecting Fire Ele on expiration for Ele, while Stormbringer either the create something out of no where (which could be possible) or it’s definitely going to share choices with Ascendance/DRE as they both have this and literally the chosen playstyle currently for Ele.
Although it’s very early to say but I really think Hero Specs are really a huge disappointment, I prefer the Storm Build myself, you know this but I just naturally assume Stormbringer and Totemic for Enhance is really just going to be just as disappointing.
Guess time will tell.
2 Likes
Definitely a little concerned with what we’re going to see for enh now that we’ve seen Farseer.
Hopefully they find a middle ground that benefits both builds equally. sadly…. it’s hard to believe that the STORMbringer talents won’t benefit storm more. But ur right, the move has to be designing it around LB/CL to even give it a chance.
Honestly, I was really hoping farseer to be enh/resto. I think even the pet design of the farseer ancestors with the “overload” mechanic would be cooler for enh than it is for ele. For ele that’s just a reskin of their mastery. For enh, it helps with dmg and healing, while still being impactful for both builds.
Also, doesn’t enh just make more sense thematically with feral spirits being such an important cd? Does ele even have anything spirit related in their spec tree?
So many cool things could’ve been done with this. Better off healing with ancestral guidance, range on melee, survivability stuff, improved feral spirits, etc.
Doesn’t seem like their getting much positive response from the ele/resto community with this one and if enh is the stepchild of the class then…. well I guess we’ll wait and see.
2 Likes
Why does everyone remember that Farseers had Feral Spirits, but not that their primary attack was ranged magic and Earthquake was their ultimate?
I mean, enh does have ranged magic, it’s still a very important part of our toolkit. And since u mention earthquake, I actually think that would be a very thematically welcomed addition for enh since we no longer have an earth damaging spell since the loss of earth shock, rockbiter, earth spike, etc.
I still have a problem with the shaman hero talents since I think totemic and totems are pretty broad to the class but, I guess it’s a moot point since these are likely set now.
1 Like
I agree with OP- please don’t make the hero talents require certain talents at the bottom of the tree. The problem already exists where tier sets force one into a specific playstyle and adding that into hero talents would just exacerbate the problem.
Being that elemental’s farseer revolves around lava burst, I’m guessing that stormbringer will revolve around lightning as its in the name (obviously), its the counterpoint to farseer’s fire focus, and its shared between the two specs. I really hope this doesn’t double down on deeply rooted elements. I don’t think anyone actually likes that talent- its just numerically the best option for storm builds.
1 Like
Primordial wave could be removed from Shaman and I wouldn’t miss it.
I suppose it’s supposed to be part of the “ancestors” side of Shaman… but it just feels… off.
If they had slapped it onto a death knight, it would’ve felt more appropriate.
3 Likes
Thats exactly how I feel about DRE/Ascendance as they are now. Though I prefer choice being made with gameplay in mind over lore/fantasy. Covenants are a perfect interaction why you should never solely prioritize lore/fantasy over gameplay/gamefeel.
Like it or not, the strengths of Pwave is what carved around Enhancement’s place in the meta both in raid and M+ for the large part this expansion. Where as DRE was even in season 2 was just “oh its just marginally better if there it literally not a single other boss/mob present” or “literally only better in mass AoE with the drawback of losing an absurd amount of power on cleave and single target that it negates the previously mentioned benefit of mass aoe damage”. It why I hope there is either changes to DRE or they find a way to rework Storm build to be something not only competitive damage wise but also enjoyable to play (latter part is my subjective opinion).
With how they have removed the SL skin of the ability to something more elemental, I think it fits so well with Enhancement’s power. A coalescence of the power of the elements gives way to a flash of lightning against multiple foes giving you the energy to rapidly assault them with the elements of nature, fire, frost with devastating spells and empowered strikes of your weapons. IF that ain’t Enhancement Shaman fantasy then I don’t know what is.
However, it seems stormbringer may be build agnostic so people will be able to enjoy it playing either Storm or Elementalist. Whether one build will be higher DPS or not I don’t know but it seems like it functions well for both which is a really good sign.
ancestors? farm from it
blizz wanted to keep 1 SL covenant skill for all the classes and shaman ended with PW because blizz likes it for some stupid reason, well the other options werent good tbh , shaman covenant abilities sucked
1 Like
I don’t know maybe he still is thinking of the necro green animation?
I foresee shaman hero talents being reworked over and over during the expac unlike the other classes if lucky. If not it will be reworked 2 expacs from now.