I have to say, I miss being able to play with all of those totems. Having an Elemental shaman essentially be just another spell casting DPS class is really deflating and makes me feel sad about where the spec is right now. It needs more than fine tuning, it needs a rework. Bring totems back. Bring flametongue back. Make it a talent if you have to. I miss the satisfaction of having what amounted to a sentry.
Really, what would make me more excited than anything is to see Shamans of all specs come into their own as trap layers. I want a class that has the ability to lay not just 1 or 2 traps, but different combinations of varying trap-style abilities, it could just be as simple as a flametongue/earthbind combo, but if you use your imagination things could get really fun.
...But as much as I think the class would stand to benefit from an overhaul, 2 months into a brand new expansion means we're getting minor adjustments at best. Which is a shame. Might as well get back to making Shamans the best spell casters that they can be.
I'll just put this guy back on the shelf...
We were told we would be receiving changes that were too extensive to hotfix in. So far, we've gotten a few changed talents, a few swapped talents, and a blanket buff. I'm hoping for more before December 11th, but I'm not going to hold my breath with these devs. It isn't that the class sucks, it's that the devs have no idea what they are doing anymore, and the entire game suffers for it.
I leveled my 14 year old shaman. Waste of time . All 3 specs suck for pvp and pve. Ret > enhance boomkin > elemental MW / h pal > resto so no reason to play shaman this expac.
They went overboard with Shammie pruning. Sure, being a totem-bot with 10 totems macroed was definitely not fun. But gimme Totem Mastery as baseline and maybe a talent for more dps-oriented totems and we're talking.
It's not like Mages are broken for their int buff or warriors for their attack buff. We could slap a haste buff on Enh Shammie totems and elemental damage buff for Ele Shammie. It'd make us slightly more desirable while giving Shaman back their identity as the Totem class, and it'd lead to interesting decision making for the Shammie if we put it in the GCD and force them to only have a single Totem active. It doesn't have to be the core of the class, just help it differentiate the class a bit.
As things stand now, Ele Shammie is Mage but with elemental particles and Enh is Arms with fancy colors. They need SOMETHING.
It's not like Mages are broken for their int buff or warriors for their attack buff. We could slap a haste buff on Enh Shammie totems and elemental damage buff for Ele Shammie. It'd make us slightly more desirable while giving Shaman back their identity as the Totem class, and it'd lead to interesting decision making for the Shammie if we put it in the GCD and force them to only have a single Totem active. It doesn't have to be the core of the class, just help it differentiate the class a bit.
As things stand now, Ele Shammie is Mage but with elemental particles and Enh is Arms with fancy colors. They need SOMETHING.
Ah yes, that reminds me, I also tried out the other two specs, and resto did feel like a slower weaker healer. I main a Disc priest, but mained Holy just until recently and I have to say every healing spell that either of them have feels very purposeful.
The healing spells of the Resto Shaman feel... Well, situational at best. Flash Heal = Healing Surge except faster, Holy Word: Sanctify is an instant cast burst that you cast less often and get more out of... I don't want to have to recast that rain spell every 10 second, and it only barely feels worthwhile to cast in the first place, not to mention the limitation of forcing people into one spot.
Hey, where's the talent that expands the size of the healing rain, or the talent that would have the rain follow a player, or maybe a talent that would give the rain lightning that would periodically strike out at a nearby enemy? What's that? How about a small but significant cooldown reduction? Boy I can hardly imagine how exciting this class must be to level...
The healing spells of the Resto Shaman feel... Well, situational at best. Flash Heal = Healing Surge except faster, Holy Word: Sanctify is an instant cast burst that you cast less often and get more out of... I don't want to have to recast that rain spell every 10 second, and it only barely feels worthwhile to cast in the first place, not to mention the limitation of forcing people into one spot.
Hey, where's the talent that expands the size of the healing rain, or the talent that would have the rain follow a player, or maybe a talent that would give the rain lightning that would periodically strike out at a nearby enemy? What's that? How about a small but significant cooldown reduction? Boy I can hardly imagine how exciting this class must be to level...
11/05/2018 12:40 AMPosted by Orangesilk
It's not like Mages are broken for their int buff or warriors for their attack buff. We could slap a haste buff on Enh Shammie totems and elemental damage buff for Ele Shammie. It'd make us slightly more desirable while giving Shaman back their identity as the Totem class, and it'd lead to interesting decision making for the Shammie if we put it in the GCD and force them to only have a single Totem active. It doesn't have to be the core of the class, just help it differentiate the class a bit.
Or it could be the identity of the class. Think about it. Other classes get AoE buffs that attach to other players, but Shaman could plant a totem with a buff that not only goes away if the players walk away from the totem, BUT (at least used to) take up a slot that could have been used by another totem. This gives a perfect excuse to have a totem provide a buff more powerful than other classes.
And, as always, that buff could be really creative and fun. The possibilities that totems open up are massive, but here we are shackled to riptide and lava burst rotations...