Is Shaman Tank Class in Development for The War Within?
I heard a rumor in beta and thought to ask for confirmation here. Will Shamans have a Tank-spec?
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The shaman doesn’t even have a dev apparently imagines a new spec.
I don’t think Blizzard will develop new specs now with the hero talent system, but it would be cool although unlikely
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I was looking for a similar answer because I am in a follower dungeon in beta as a dps and Baelgrim - a shaman - is the tank. He pulls with a lightning bolt but melee fights with only a single-handed mace and does not carry a shield. The healer - also a Shaman- has both a mace and a shield as expected. Guessing it’s Baelgrim only that can do this but seeing a ‘Shaman tank’ did make me hopeful.
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We don’t know anything yet. They’ll tell us next week, just like they said they would. Jesus. We don’t know anything more than what they’ve already told us. Rumors are just rumors. They mean jack.
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Was that Order guy going on about the WoW initial release manual again?
Please no tank shaman. We really need current specs fixed and maintained first
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If they are giving the shaman their meme can I also get glad stance warrior and 2h holy pala
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i hope not
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While I know many people have thought Shaman would be an easy class to get a 4th spec like Druids, some kind of Earth Warden tank spec, the reality is that adding a 4th spec to an existing Class is way more work than simply adding a new class altogether. When you add a spec to a class, it comes with having to prune existing aesthetics from the other specs to make room for this new one.
Assuming Earth Warden is what they go with, you’d inevitably have to prune away most/all of the Earth stuff from the other three. Earth Shield as a healing spell wouldn’t make much sense, it’d probably be the self-cast tank sustain ability. Earth Shock for Ele/Enh wouldn’t make much sense, it should be the spender for the tank spec. Earthbind/Earth Grab Totems wouldn’t make much sense for the other 3 specs, they should be the tank spec’s primary movement control abilities.
You can say all those specs can retain those abilities and Earth Warden just gets more suped up versions of them, but they haven’t really done that for tank specs by-and-large. Blood, Prot (both), etc. all get aesthetically unique abilities the other specs don’t have access to (the most notable imo is Blood now being the only spec with access to Mass Grip).
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I wouldn’t read too much into this, as I think it’s just a nod to Vanilla, when Shaman could off-tank. Remember, BFA gave us NPC Tinkerers and we still don’t have that as a playable class.
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I think new roles for existing classes basically carried a lot of the initial popularity of SoD so I wouldn’t be that surprised if they’re working on a shaman tank spec for retail.
It is a lot more work to make a new role you have to maintain for the rest of the game’s life for a retail class compared to tossing in a few runes and hoping for the best in a temporary mode though.
The extra roles for classes in SoD were a great experiment - shaman and lock tanks, mage healers etc. etc.
I would not be surprised at all to see a shaman tank spec on retail now they’ve done the experiment. Maybe like the dracthyr the new spec will come in a patch during TWW.
The pre-patch dropping is rumoured to be in four weeks - way too short probably to test a new spec. Sad to see shaman feel neglected in alpha/beta class changes.
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A ranged to mid ranged tank would be sweet
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Honestly, given the success shaman tank received in SoD i’m surprised they haven’t done this yet.
However, i doubt there is time to implement a brand new spec, give it a new hero talent and do reworks for the other trees.
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There hadn’t been anything to suggest they are going to give shaman tanks.
Something this major would have been part of the TWW release info. Not hidden in development weeks before prepatch
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Did we really need another thread about this? Also no there’s never gonna be a shammy tank nor should there be one.
There was no Word about Augmentation Evokers before they were ready.
That Barrier has been shattered.
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Alright my man
Let me know how shaman tanks work out.
I am bookmarking all the shaman threads, because I want to be able to Zip-a-Dee-Dew-Day my way right back to them to see what it is the Devs are cooking up for this class. Whether it be good or bad, new.
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No matter how much I want this and would play this the instant it happens, it more than likely won’t.
When Blizz removed our taunt and extra threat generating abilities, that was pretty much the sign that we were never going to be actual tanks no matter how much we pleaded for it. Not sure why they are comfortable with just the 4 tank specs, but that is their discission.
Doesn’t stop me from wanting it.
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