Personally I think witch doctor would work better for shamans, with shadow hunter being given to hunters to keep them able to use bows, but this is also pretty nice to consider.
To elaborate on the difference, I was thinking they could bring back the usage of Rush’kah masks in a similar vein as the old aspects that were like stances, with the mask chosen providing a buff for the player, and potentially a timed empowerment providing a portion of that buff to nearby allies, to call back a bit to shadow hunters role as a commander/leader type.
There’s also a pretty big gap in their described abilites vs abilities in game play, with they game giving more focus to their voodoo over martial skills. Granted, this would be easier if more of these hero specs were shared between classes, then we could both get shadow hunter lol.
Otherwise, with the hero specs being intended to shape gameplay, theres nothing stopping them from giving some of the the casted abilities to sh if it went hunter, and hunter did have the Shadow Hunter’s Voodoo Mask back in legion, though that was more a callback to Vol’jin’s having cheated death in mop.
It’d be interesting if they made the ability to wield ranged weapons a talent for Shadow Hunters if it were a shaman spec. Ideally throwing weapons make a comeback, but even if it was just a shaman with a bow, it would fit the class fantasy.
The issue with hunters getting Shadow Hunter is the only thing they have going for them is the ranged weapon. In terms of abilities, they don’t have Hex, Chain Heal, or Searing Totem (Serpent Ward). I can see giving hunter the totem and hex, but Chain Heal is a weird fit since they aren’t a healer class.
If Shaman and Hunter could be Shadow Hunters, that’s an idea though. I just don’t know if Blizzard would be open to cross-class hero specs, and imo Shaman is closer. Hell, there’s even a Shaman exclusive toy called “Vol’jin’s Serpent Ward” which I have on my hotbar.
Glad the devs asked for feedback. If the Hero talents change the spells thematically I would like to see some void/rift warden or warden-type stuff. If they they do not thematically inspire the spell kit we could stick to chaos-type things see below.
I don’t think they do. I think they’re mainly just passives to your already existing talent trees. Just buffing your existing abilities to have a slightly different effect. Like more procs or dealing more damage.
A lot of you seem to think these hero talent trees are new specs or will change your spec to something else. They aren’t. All they do is empower abilities you already have. They don’t give you new ones, at least the ones they showcased don’t.
Shaman as it currently stands is closer mechanically to whats already available, but arguably that would actually be a reason for them to not get shadow hunter, as it wouldn’t really change their gameplay very meaningfully. I’d rather see them get creative with it rather than just make shadow hunters their wc3 version again, especially since mechanically Vol’jin and Rokhan just…didn’t have any of the martial skills that shadow hunters have been described as having in the lore (Ie: Headhunter+Witch Doctor). With Vol’jin it was probably because he spent so much time training under his witch doctor father but still. Either way I still want to see them being the Rushkah masks back in to the fold. For such an important part of a Shadow Hunters skill set we literally don’t see them used at all. SH having the ability to don Rushkah masks to invoke loa/wild gods would be nice to finally see get used outside of descriptions. It would also make for some more distinct visuals which would be nice.
Lets just hope we can both get something we like lol
Editing to add: if they’re really not gonna mechanically change much with these specs then 1) that’s very disappointing, and 2) yeah shamans should get it. I just think they’d feel more worth it if they actually themed you’re playstyle a bit more than a slight rotation change and some passive increases.
My thinking is:
Brewmaster - Shado-Pan / Master of Harmony
Mistweaver - Master of Harmony / Conduit of the Celestials
Windwalker - Conduit of the Celestials / Shado-Pan
My thinking is Harmony just seems like the better bet as the cross between tank and healer. Brewmasters are more peace oriented than the aggressive spec of Windwalker, and Conduit seems like a high energy word that fits the Windwalker’s fighting style.
I’m a little confused by this one actually, but I would think Farseer has to be connected to Enhancement since Enhancement has Dire Wolves and Thrall is usually depicted as an Enhancement Shaman. Farseers don’t have any restoration abilities at all, so it wouldn’t make sense as an option for resto shamans. Their WC3 abilities are Chain Lightning, Far Sight, Summon Dire Wolves, and Earthquake. To me that screams Ele/Enhance, unless they are really departing from WC3 Farseers.
I’m confused as to what the rest of it looks like though. I could see both Stormbringer and Totemic being Ele/Resto or Enhance/Resto. The question is, is Stormbringer a play on Resto bringing the rain and Enhance bringing the lightning? Or is Elemental bringing the lightning? They both love lightning! Whichever is left would be totemic.
That’s my guess at least. In either case, I’d love to either Stormbringer or Totemic replaced with Shadow Hunter. I mean, c’mon! Shaman has Hex, Chain Heal, and Searing Totem (which is mechanically just Serpent Ward), and you aren’t going to give us a Shadow Hunter hero spec?
If i’m being perfectly honest i think i would prefer Ranger to Dark Ranger but without seeing what they have in store for the abilities yet i could be way off base.
This i find interesting for another tree for Hunters. Looking forward to seeing what they do with this as i have always envisioned a number of my Night Elf characters as being some form of Sentinel or aligned with them.
Definitely looking forward to seeing more information on these and the other classes i play the most Paladin/Warrior and Priest. I also like the tunneling down and continuing to improve the class/spec fantasy in certain directions.
Honestly, I think that would be the route to go in future expansions.
Just keep adding more hero path talent trees that allows more horizontal game choices instead of vertical additions leading to massive imbalance issues.