Just wanted to raise some visibility to this. I scarcely play mages so I have less of a stake but some people are upset. So I figure, why not boost their cause a bit.
Summoning a permanent water elemental has been a part of the Frost mage’s toolkit for as long as I can remember. Emphasis on “permanent.” The few times I played a mage, I enjoyed having it follow me around. The extra ally was nice while leveling with how squishy mages can be. Plus it was just iconic.
But the elemental sees less use now. The coming patch is rolling it into another talent as part of a cooldown. So the elemental isn’t going away, but it’s functionality is changing. I can appreciate the balancing reasons. But it does have consequences. For most, this just means you can’t have an elemental every fight. Not a problem on paper. In fact with the current meta, this will make water elementals seen more often.
But it does cause issue for roleplayers. Permanent summons have always been great for roleplay, as they allow characters to have a more physical and concrete presence to their abilities. The idea of emoting that you’ve summoned a creature, versus having it represented on screen. Some mages have treated the elemental as an extension of their character, influencing how they roleplay. The visual representation is great for immersion; having it fade away is minor to most but very much sucks for those people.
So I’m saying, please reconsider this change. And consider finding another way to buff the water elemental’s usage.
There was another paragraph but since people are ignoring the nuance of this post, I’m replacing it with this, in nice bold print:
Weird savior complex, but you do you. I play lonely winter and have been for yeeeeears. This change will see me using more water elementals in the first month than in the years preceding.
i usually don’t mess with frost too often, but sorry to hear about the reversion to pre-Cata. Be cool if they brought back the permanent water ele glyph like they had.
I liked it best when it was a CD and not a permanent pet.
Though it was nifty to use as the sacrifice when I had to loot a clicky quest item and blink away.
i don’t think i’ve seen a frost mage use water elemental in anything but super low leveling dgs for 6+ yrs and even then its rare as heck. If anything this rework promises to make water elemental at least something to look for during a cd as opposed to something no one ever sees.
It was a cooldown in TBC and wrath at least, and it was way more powerful that way.
I have used lonely winter every time it has been offered because the thing can’t tank, barely contributes, and is overall more trouble than it’s worth outside some very specific circumstances.
I welcome it as a cooldown again. In TBC it was a beast. Once they turned it “always on” it has been utterly neutered ever since, and everyone knows it hence the prevalence of lonely winter.
Does kind of suck about all the glyphs though, and I wonder if there will be some way to still customize your cooldown elemental. I always preferred unbound, it wasn’t particularly hard to find like some of the bfa tints but I just thought it looked way better than standard in any color.
I feel like some people have a sentimental attachment to it for some reason, whereas as a very longtime mage player I was happy to get rid of it once it stopped being a boss cooldown and turned into an always-on wet noodle. I cannot stress enough how pointless it felt to have a pet so inconsequential.
This change will make it a cooldown again, and hopefully will be more meaningful than just the graphics. If that be the case, well then huzzah!
yeah, and while you are considering that, how about reversing the TREE FORM removal from resto druids?? 4 specs of druids, three of them have their own shape. resto (tree form) requires a glyph! Originally it was never like this.
also, how about giving resto druids back their poly immunity that was stolen from them??? The other 3 druids specs still have it.
wait. they’re removing the water elemental?? something that’s been part of mage-lore since warcraft 3, when jaina summoned them?? are you frikkin joking me?!!
why is blizzard removing all the flavor from the classes lately?!
People complaining about this change seem to be own goaling themselves. Think about it. What’s the primary complaint about it being removed? That’s right. Because of “RP reasons”. Not because of how good it is from a gameplay perspective (because it isn’t and hence why everyone always ran with the lonely winter talent). But purely for the aesthetic. Just think about that for a minute.
You know you’ve got a problem with a spec when the best thing you can say about it is that it’s “great for RP”. It’s such a totally useless ability that the best thing players could make from it is to use it in purely non-combat situations. This is what we’ve come to with the mage water elemental. SMH.
The only real use the elemental ever had was for cheesing certain old achievements that required more than one player. Oh. That and RP’ing with it apparently. I mean, heaven forbid a major lore component of the mage class is ever actually used in its core gameplay. Shocking, I know.
The water elemental always struck me as something that should have been part of the Resto Shaman’s toolkit. It made no logical sense that a Frost Mage would have a water elemental at all.
That said, the Arcane mage’s familiar absolutely fits and should be given to the other mage specs (one a ball of frost, the other a ball of fire).
People don’t actually seem to want to read the whole post. I’m going to say it until I’m blue in the face.
If the ability is unbalanced, find a way to balance it without changing its functionality.
Yes, the ability should see usage. It should be buffed so that the effect is worth having active. That can be done without giving people who like the perma elemental the finger.
Don’t even for a second try to argue that the end-all be-all solution is this specific balance decision. People are so damn hell-bent on arguing that if it cannot be X it must be Y, as if Z is not also an option.
