It’s a shame that some of these can’t be figured out how to make it into WoW, due to the current talents (and pvp talents) that feel necessary for each spec.
Some of these are really interesting:
Colossal Totem - Increases the area and range of Earthbind Totem by 50% and it can be reactivated to move an existing totem to a new location once.
Grounded Totem - Increase the Health of Earthbind Totem by 100%. Enemy Heroes who are Slowed by Earthbind Totem also have their Attack Speed Slowed by 40%.
Earthgrasp Totem (different from WoW’s version) - When Earthbind Totem is first cast, it Slows nearby enemies by 90% for 1 second.
Seems like these 3 could make for an interesting version of Earthen Power for both Elemental and Enhancement
Earthen Power - Increase the health of your earthbind totem by 100% and its radius by 50%. Additionally, when earthbind totem is first cast, it slows nearby enemies by 90% for 1 second. Enemies who are slowed by Earthbidn totem also have their attack speed slowed by 40%. Reactivating this ability during its duration will move the existing totem to a new location.
Another interesting difference is how Lightning Shield operates. No longer static dmg triggered from being attacked, LS is an active short cooldown ability that does AoE dmg to all enemies in range.
Lightning Shield
60 Mana Cooldown: 8 seconds
Imbue an ally with lightning dealing 64 damage a second to nearby enemies. Lasts 5 seconds.
Furthermore, it can be placed on someone other than the shaman. Talents are made to augment the ability such as:
Electric Charge
Increases the radius of Lightning Shield by 25%. Heal for 30% of the damage it deals to enemy Heroes.
Something like this would make LS part of our defensives/rotation, as well as offer a leech option for Elemental and Enh to help with survivability, one of their biggest sticking points.
Ghost Wolf also operates differently in HotS, being combined with Feral Lunge in a single ability!
Ghost Wolf- Rehgar transforms into a Ghost Wolf with 20% increased Movement Speed. Basic Attacks in Ghost Wolf form cause him to lunge at his target and deal 75% bonus damage. Dealing damage, using Abilities, and channeling cancels Ghost Wolf form.
This notable mostly for Enhancement in WoW due to the talent in Hots:
Hunger of the Wolf - Ghost Wolf attacks against Heroes deal an additional 5% of the target’s maximum Health and heal Rehgar for 5% of his maximum Health.
This is significantly more interesting then the current Feral Lunge, and would go a long way towards making this ability actually attractive over Nature’s Guardian due to the self-heal.
Moving on to the other Shaman in Hots Thrall, he fills a unique playstyle of the melee shaman, with ranged poke as chain lightning. Sundering came from Thrall in HotS, ported into WoW for Enhancement.
Specifically looking at Sundering’s augment talent, we can see something very fun!
Worldbreaker (Level 20)
Thrall
Worldbreaker - After Sundering impacts, it leaves behind an impassable rift, blocking unit movement for 3 seconds.
This alters Sundering to also create a ring of peace type blockade, something that is unique and not very prevalent in WoW. Something like this could be additionally useful to:
- block line of sight
- block off entrances/exits
- split up enemy teams
I’m not really sure the point of this thread, other than to draw attention to some of the more interesting and unique ideas that exist around shaman in Blizzard’s other games…and lament that we cannot find such interesting choices in the design in WoW.