Today I wanted to discuss about the lack of gameplay diversity shaman has in their spec tree. In PVE content we have 2 main builds: Chainheal build and the chainhealless build (viable in m+ but not really in raid). If we look at the gameplay loop for the 2 different builds they look like the following:
Chainheal build →
- Healing rain off cd
- Riptide basically off cd
- Drop Cloudburst/Healing stream basically off cd
- Keep Earthshield on 2 targets
- Primwave for aoe healing
- Healing Surge / Wave for single target healing
- Press One of your many healing cds for any heavier healing scenarios
- Chainheal for extra aoe healing
Chainhealless build →
- Healing rain off cd
- Riptide basically off cd
- Drop Cloudburst/Healing stream basically off cd
- Keep Earthshield on 2 targets
- Primwave for aoe healing
- Healing Surge / Wave for single target healing
- Press One of your many healing cds for any heavier healing scenarios
My main point is that the overarching gameplay of both of these build is exactly the same except one casts chain heal for additional aoe healing. If you look at our spec tree, we do not really have any choices we could make to diverge from this gameplay loop. Most of the talents we have would either be an additional button with no synergies to just randomly throw in our rotation somewhere or other more passive healing nodes. I just wish there was more variety when it comes to how shaman works and we had more nodes that are build defining,
In addition, hero talents are suppose to add spice to the class and unfortunately Farseer would not add any additional gameplay elements outside of bringing unleash life in an m+ environment. If Totemic ends up being more passive like Farseer is than we will most likely be pigeonholed into the same 2 builds we have already been playing for nearly 2 years.
Me along with many others are just hoping and praying for some form either class rework or just heavy QOL improvements like basically every other class has gotten or will be getting hinted at by some wowhead posts (looking mostly at DK and Hunters for this one). I love shaman but it will just be severely disappointing going into another expansion playing with the same build and gameplay we have had without any of the interesting spice other classes are getting.
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Can you provide any specifics as far as what you are looking for from a Resto rework?
I feel like the only healers that actually have diverse playstyles within their spec tree either don’t like that there are multiple playstyle options (Holy Paladin) or just ignore one option in favor of the other (Mistweaver) depending on content.
Can you provide an example of a healer spec that has majorly diverse playstyle options available?
I feel like Resto has a great foundational healing kit and the only real issue with the current talent tree is that the optional spells that are available which might change or introduce a new playstyle aren’t tuned high enough such as wellspring or downpour.
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In regards to hpal and mw, I personally liked the differencing gameplay styles that the tree provided. In season 1, I played the go to melee build and the other hpal in our raid was a bigger fan of the caster style hpal build. Similar to MW, i dont think offering more than one gameplay loop is a bad idea. Doing fistweaving in keys and casting in raid seems like a nice change of pace between the content (even if one is just strictly better than the other) where as shaman just presses chainheal in both as our main source of throughput with little to no deviation.
I am not class designer so I dont know the best thing they could do for shaman but I feel like they already have the roots of a passive vs active playstyles. For example, our current builds could be considered active since our heals often come in burst when we are pressing our buttons, but a more passive playstyle could focus around stuff like healing stream, healing rain, riptide hot , and they could even play around with AG to allow for more healing through damage like some of the other healers have. Kind of like a press and forget playstyle. Some people wont like it but thats also the point of having diverse builds, you have choices to fit your gameplay style. Its similar to MW, there are a good chunk of people who just really dislike the fistweaving so they opt to go caster focused in keys as well and even vice versa. Numerically one will probably always be better than another in certain content but many people dont really care whats optimal and would to just play what they like.
Druid Also has varrying levels of gameplay across the content as well. In keys, rejuv is not a frequent button that you press and you rely mostly on your trees plus regrowth and wild growth to do most of the healing while rejuv in raid is the primary button you press. This idea of trees vs hots is only being expanded upon in tww too so I am hoping that shaman gets something similar
For the record I think offering multiple play styles is good for the game. It just usually turns out poorly and also seems to anger members of the player base. I think it’s healthy if Resto keeps the core spells for all builds but you can choose what to specialize in whether that’s chain heal, primordial wave, passive stuff like ancestral awakening and earthliving, healing rain, HoTs and healing stream instead of cloudburst etc.
Maybe they just need to add a few additional options to polish these styles.
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Yeah I agree with that. I do not think shaman needs a full overhaul. I just think there are other interesting things they could play around with. Another potentially fun build idea is replacing overflowing shores with the season 2 tier set where healing rain heals people with riptide and makes your next heal stronger. I can see there kind of like a blanket healer shaman where you just try to spread as many riptides to get a big healing rain hit followed by a bursty chainheal. Similar to how we raid healed in season 2 but they could add some other flavors in there too like an easier way to spread riptide to more targets or like a way to get healing rain procs so youre pressing it more often (and please make healing rain instant cast! lol)