Personally, I think a Shaman tank would be better off using a shield since our class is able to use one. We are the only shield-wearing class that does not have a tank spec. It makes sense for the other tank classes who wield two-handed weapons to use them as they don’t have a shield (and yes, neither Druid nor Monk actively use their weapons to tank). While I understand the dream of being a Shaman who uses a 2-handed weapon, if it was given to a potential Shaman tank spec, the Enhancement players who want 2-handed Windfury would be furious.
looks at Guardian Druid
Other people have already responded to this, so I will just reiterate. Added specs are a thing, though it has only happened once and that was because Feral Druids had the potential to improve their bear tanking potential or cat damage potential depending on how they spent their talent points. Enhancement was once in the same boat. We had talents that would either improve our damage or defensive potential. The difference is that Blizzard fostered druid tanking and gave it its own spec, while Shaman tanking was phased out.
If the people who have been asking for a Shaman tank spec for the last 10+ years aren’t angry right now, they probably won’t be getting angry. And if they do, that’s on them.
The difference is that Feral could actually tank(eventually) and were intended to. They had two complete playstyles in the same tree. Shaman never had that. They had defensive talents, but so did every talent tree.
Feral and Enhancement were never the same. Maybe they were intended to be at some point in early class development for vanilla, but that never made it into the game.
Regardless, none of that is any reason why they couldn’t add a shaman tank spec in 10.0. There’s really no reason shaman can’t tank other than Blizzard hasn’t given them a tank spec. Blizzard adds/changes/redesigns classes and specs quite often, it would be really cool if they would hook shaman up in 10.0 with a 4th spec.
Shaman could actually tank too. There is quite a few that were/are actively tanking in Classic. In fact, Shaman were also initially intended to tank as well. In a Shaman Class QA about 12 years ago (mid-WotLK), former Lead Systems Designer “Ghostcrawler” said that “There was a potential tanking role for shamans as well, but we have pretty much phased that out.” This goes back to what I said the difference between Shaman tanking and Druid tanking was: Druid tanking was fostered to give more of what it needed to be a competitive tank, while Shaman tanking was phased out. Just as you said that Feral could actually tank (eventually). Both Shaman and Druid had the ability to tank in some capacity. Were they optimal? No, Warrior tanks were the best. But were they viable? Yes, they could easily tank dungeons and even raids with the right setup to help enable them to do so. Hell, even Paladins, the once alliance-only counterpart to Shaman, were in the same boat where they didn’t have a taunt. They were more defensive, yes, but had far less threat generation. The original three hybrid classes all could tank, but none of them were great at it.
But regardless of the past, there are three plate tanks in the game, and three leather tanks even though leather is a weaker armor type than mail and none of the leather classes can equip a shield. So why not let Shaman have a tank spec? As it was pointed out, a fourth spec focused on earth would round out the four elements that our class uses. Shaman tank spec just makes sense.
I like how after every class change, like what Lava Lash change did, there’s suddenly a spew of threads on the class forum about “what else needs changed”. And then Blizzard goes dead silent about it for about two years.
Said this during SL alpha, Shaman needs Rockbiter Weapon brought back as a damage reduction Enhancement, and Earthliving as a self-healing Enhancement. If a tank spec is added for Shaman, the emphasis should be on Ice and Earth for defensive power, and Fire and Wind for threat and utility.
Truthfully, the only change needed is WoW2.
But Activision will beat this dead horse as long as it keeps spitting out money.
I have always imagined the Shaman tank spec being a geomancer or Earth Warden.
A hybrid class that can switch between tank and dps by infusing himself with the elements.
Obviously earth for Tanking, and Fire for DPS, you could even add Water in there to heal yourself while the other tank has aggro.
Earth would act as a shield, and increase the threat generation of your weapons and skills, would also apply a natural absorb for 100% of your health essentially doubling your health, and would need to be reapplied when it is off of cooldown.
Fire would increase the damage of your weapons and would apply damage to anything that hits you.
Water would heal you for every hit on an enemy, and allow you faster swimming and water breathing.
When you play the earlier versions of Shaman its almost like they had maybe planned on making a Shaman tank spec but maybe they just didn’t follow through. I’d love to see it though and I would play the heck out of it.
Shaman Tank spec Only
Crash lightning
level 10 required
melee range
instant 6 second cooldown
Electrocutes all enemies in front of you, dealing (480% of spell power) Nature damage. Hitting 2 or more targets enhances your weapons for 10 sec, causing your next Stormstrike to also proc Windfury weapon, dealing four extra weapon attacks dealing 750% Nature damage to all targets in front of you. (Windfury effect disabled in PvP Instances)
That could make 2H or 1H shaman tanking a blast! lol. THREAT CITY! Obviously I have no idea about the number scaling, I was thinking old school WF proc for tanks, just like in classic WoW / TBC Classic.
(NOTE)
While playing classic WoW on my hunter, we actually couldn’t find a tank for Stratholme and a shaman volunteered. At first we laughed, but grew desperate. No joke, not only did this enhance shaman tank the instance fully, but it was WAY better than most of the tanks we normally would have had. (he did have to drink after every pull, but he held threat and did pretty decent damage.)
Shamans have always been able to use 2-handers but we haven’t had a spec that actually utilizes them since vanilla. I think adding a 2-hander wielding earth warden (maybe 2-handed hammers specifically) as a 4th sepc for shaman sounds awesome and would perfectly fit the shaman primitive/tribal theme.
Earth warden would presumably fill a tanking niche similar to holy paladin w/water magic for off-healing and earth magic for mitigation while otherwise being maybe on the squishier side as tanks go. Focused on active mitigation through defensive ability usage and healing.
Alot of the kit could be a combination of existing tools of resto and enhance with abilities like earthgrab/earthen wall/spirit link/healing stream totems, sundering/earthen spike, an enhanced version of nature’s guardian, rockbiter weapon imbue, maybe a lava/molten weapon attack that spreads flame shock, etc. plus its own mix of new things.
Shaman tank could have its own niche focused on zone empowerment/totems with mobility being on the lower end of the tank spectrum. Maybe similar to the catalyst they are introducing in GW2. Could maybe also have its own temporary off-tank in the form of an extra strong version of greater earth elemental. Maybe with special powers or a pet bar.
I think earth warden could have enough of its own flavor and unique kit/playstyle that it could be a worthy addition to the current spec/class offerings that would maybe get some new folks interested in tanking that aren’t otherwise drawn to the class fantasy of the other tank offerings.
Might also be cathartic for squishy shamans to have something more durable they can swap to when the mood suits too. ;p
A shaman tank utilizing NEW tank totems could be neat! Hopefully Blizzard reads the forums one day and says, “you know what ,they are on to something!”
Please do not give shaman tank spec. If it is gonna happen all other specs gonna such hard compare to it. Look at restor; while restor is at when enh and elem considered as weak dmg choice. But if we gonna add tank spec all the attention is gonna be put on tank spec. So please no let us stay supportive class with one shot potential, reincarnation and c’mon give us a unique Blood Lust