I was almost willing to lie down and accept that Shamans were going to be stuck with a half-baked Lightning Bolt, but then Blizzard once again arrives to disappoint.
Warrior
Good lord, the new arms animations just… miss the point of warrior entirely, and not a single warrior player I’ve spoken to has any nice words about it. Visually it’s so much more cluttered, and the idea of ghostly weapons is so far removed from what people actually want out of the class that it’s almost laughable.
Do not let this reach live.
Hunter
To be entirely honest, most of the hunter animations being added are just alright. A wind trail on their speed boosts is helpful, and the arcane visual on counter shot isn’t that invasive or bad- if anything, the new arcane rune it shows should be given to arcane mage, too. The two explosive traps could maybe use a more flashy visual, but the smoke and fire isn’t egregious, just a touch underwhelming.
Shaman
Such a contentious class to update, given you can talk to 30 shamans and get 50 different answers to what they want out of the class. The problems are many, but I will at least give credits when necessary.
The new Crash Lightning is fine! Quite good, actually. The leap does look a tiny bit silly when sped up like that, but it feels explosive- kinda Thor-ish, it’s not bad. More lightning that looks like this, please.
Lightning Rod updates look alright. While the old animation certainly isn’t bad, the thinner lightning bolts are borrowed directly from Mountain Thane from what it looks like. And honestly? They work. It’s similar to the effects used on the new shield enchant for Elemental, which look pretty clean. Not too intrusive, not unnoticeable. I would like them a smidge brighter or wilder, but it’s not bad.
The next one, of course, deserves its own section…
Lightning Bolt
Never have I seen an update have simultaneously so many detractors and so many shills. This animation split the shaman community like nothing else, man. And I’m on the hating side.
But I will give credit where it is due, to be fair.
The new chargeup? A little much, but in being ostentatious, it won me over. The sparks in your hands, the bits of static arcing off the shaman- it’s peak. If nothing else, keep this charge up.
But then the bolt is slung- and my love becomes disdain.
In making it a bolt projectile, it feels sluggish. It’s not a bolt of lightning, it’s a spark of electricity. It feels like the spell did in classic- and I mean that as a negative. It doesn’t feel like a lightning bolt, it feels like a spell limited by 2004 technology when we very, very clearly can do better than that now.
I’d be remiss to not mention that by making it a projectile, Elemental and Restoration lose on a consistent instant offensive spell with only GCD- meaning that Farseers have been kneecapped in their ability to trigger offense spells from their ancestors.
The worst part is- there’s already lightning spell effects in the game right now that work for how Lightning Bolt works now. Multiple NPCs use spells like such- the lightning effects used by the Cyrce’s Circlet would work perfectly fine here!
Please just- Blizzard, the new Lightning Bolt is awful, don’t reinvent the wheel here. Keep the new chargeup, use your existing up-to-date lightning bolts.