When I first started playing a Shaman, I got the feeling that the class was supposed to represent some mix of being a master of elements, a spirit guide, and a witch doctor.
Why then does only one spec meet that fantasy?
Enhancement is pretty cool. It’s the only spec where I actually feel like a master of elements, with every element able to come into play in their rotation. The spirit side doesn’t get shafted either, with the ability to summon Spirit Wolves and go on a Spirit Walk.
Restoration? Sure, you get what you sign up for, but after playing BfA I just feel like I should fall in line with the rest of the tidesages, because that’s pretty much all we do. Maybe if they kept the glyph that let you change Chain Heal’s appearance back to a beam of energy, I would feel better about this spec…
Elemental is literally just a mage with less mobility. Oh boy, shooting fireballs, frost, and blue-ish beams of energy… where have I seen that before.
I haven’t read a lot about Shaman changes in Shadowlands (aside from the return of a lot of Totems) but I deeply hope that this class fantasy becomes more defined. If my main gets railroaded into playing a watered down fake-Mage for one more expansion I’m going to lose it.
3 Likes
To me, it represent the master of the elements and the Horde hybrid class. As resto and elemental something like witch doctors from W3. Enhancement is Thrall from W3.
Pretty much Aang from Avatar is what Shamans should be but Blizzard has a hard on for hating on shamans and paladins
5 Likes
But that’s the thing, it doesn’t feel like it. At most I feel like the apprentice of one, maybe two elements at a time.
1 Like
There’s build options available for elemental that increase the presence of elements rotationally. It’s just they’re not considered “best”.
Restoration changed to water instead of nature, and has the same access to elements as elemental. Last I heard, Resto is also getting Frost Shock back…
The part of the class fantasy that Shadowlands is emphasizing is how shamans call upon the powers of the elements to aid themselves and their allies. In game terms, that means Shaman use totems like Healing Stream Totem, Tremor Totem, and the spec-specific totems. It’s also represented by abilities like Flametongue Weapon and Earth Shield.
As far as not using all the elements at once: well, that’s a casualty of WoW’s specialization-based design. They’re moving things back towards class identity by baselining spells like Healing Stream Totem and Flametongue Weapon, but some specs will naturally favor certain elements over others. Elemental is strongly defined by Fire and Air, while Restoration uses Water and Earth as its primary tools.
1 Like
if that was part of the fantasy, they wouldn’t have totems be minimal effect for very short time durations, but would put them back like they were in classic: decently timed buffs to everyone, with enough variety that you have to pick the ones that best match the current situation.
Gross, I don’t think this is the true fantasy at all. Totems in WC3 were temporary and impacful, as it should be.
not dying in two hits as a melee spec, that is the true fantasy for an enhance, sadly it’s feeling like more of fantasy we will never reach each day.
2 Likes
Enhance shaman Ang beating up the fire lord haha with all elementals lol I love it.
I like to think I’m a pasta chef by trade but I fight to defend my pasta stand by throwing noodles, meatballs, and garlic bread at my enemies
1 Like
I’m kinda the opposite. I wish enhance got all the totems and Ele focused soley on elemental magic with resto somewhere in the middle as far as totem usage.
Totems definetly feel like enhances niche. I mean they literally enhance them and make the inanimate animate.
Maybe resto should have more of a spiritual guide feel. Like the archetypical shaman sitting cross legged around a fire with magic smoke in the air and strange drinks being passed around.
Ele should summon aoe storms and have good aoe cc, but harder to do single target damage with. Because it would be hard to make a storm hit just one person.
1 Like
Before MoP, would’ve been all with this. But as it reads, it almost sounds too much like Monk. (Maybe it was the cross-legged meditation with strange drinks comment…)
For Restoration, I like the Tidecaller vibe personally. Kind of like the crazy old island shaman who calls out to ancestral spirits over the ocean for a safe voyage, or the village shaman calling rain for the crops growing season. I’d like them to lean heavier into that appeal for Elemental too.
Lava Burst is weird to me for a few reasons:
- Lightning has always been the signature iconic shaman skill. To have Lightning Bolt be a button to push when no other skills are available really saps that fantasy. I like Stormcaller trying to bring some of that back, but fundamentally, the base Lightning Bolt and Lava Burst skill usage feels backwards given class fantasy. (Alternatively, it’s almost like Thunderstorm should be the replacement for Lava Burst…)
- Lava is not a prime element (someone please correct if that’s mistaken). I think Ragnaros and Therazane would have their disagreement with whom the shaman is calling when summoning lava. If there was an Earth Shock + Flame Shock interaction on a target to create an Igneous Flow or Lava Burst, that would be neat as a combination of elements, but as it stands now, there’s no elemental plane from which I can see this gob of hot magma being reasonably called. (Not to mention how it feels maybe a little too similar to a Fire Mage Pyroblast to stand out.)
- The interaction solely with Fire in the kit makes it feel “separated and distant” from a unifying/immersive experience. The Master of Elements talent is the only thing which really “ties in” all of the elements with it. (Same thing could be said though for Icefury and Frost Shock, or the upcoming Fulmination and Lightning Bolt - which doesn’t help any of the ask for a unifying experience.) I think using totems and shocks for the “distinct” elements, but pure lightning during rotation would create a more unified class experience between enhancement, elemental, and restoration.
Shaman as lords of Sea and Storm feels great.
Shaman as lords of Flame and Earth feels like discount mage.
All we have left is to make light of it and try to have fun playing the game.
(Edit: If you were a pandaren, it would’ve got 60% more laughter!)
3 Likes
When I finally let the meatball meta finally click, I had a lot of fun just cooking up a storm, especially when the raids got saucy.
1.) True, lightning spells have been iconic and continue to stay - but just because it isn’t doing the most damage (and hasn’t for a long time now) doesn’t mean it no longer exists.
2.) Lava Burst is a combination of Earth and Fire. If we’re killing off fire spells for doing fire damage, lets remove Destro’s kit for impeding on Fire and Elemental while we’re at it. /s
3.) You say you don’t want discount mage with Fire and Earth but would prefer if our entire rotation was built around lightning? What?
I am still completely lost on the vocal minority asking for a lightning-mage play-style for elemental. It’s in the game right now, and its quite honestly boring.
1 Like
Thanks
-
True. I can just zap away. What is the build? Maybe I could appreciate it more than the master chef.
-
We say the same: Lava Burst is fire and earth - my concern is the question of which elemental plane does the spell originate? (The note indicating Pyroblast’s instant cast feeling was unrelated - just an afterthought.) I did however like when Elementals were bound to totems, not summons. I believe removing them from totems was based on community feedback of mobility and the loss of the ability to move totems.
-
A core rotation of Lightning Bolt is already there; I see how it reads to a monochromatic perspective though for “just lightning”. To clarify, shocks would have more of a role in creating the visual effects of separate elements within the storm kit.
Regardless, Lava Burst won’t suddenly feel ‘not strange’ to me even if these points don’t make sense to others.
Earthen Rage / SE / PE / SK with VoP major is your meme lightning build. Keep 3x NH and drop all IP for 1AR and HoD and it’s a lot of spamming LB.
And I mistook you as advocating for the lightning mage thing which… yeah I hope that never happens.
1 Like
Separating the shaman specs into elemental specialists is too close to mage, and also takes away from Ele class identity imo. Id rather they give Ele more water/wind/storm spells and give resto a more witch doctor voodoo vibe. Like a spiritual healer. And give enhance more totems.
Idk I prefer the animation of lvb to lightning bolt. It makes more sense for shamans to have to pull it out of the ground as opposed to lightning bolt where you just make lightning out of your hands. It would make more sense to have to pull it out of the sky, like how lightning usually works in nature.
I dunno what natural phenomenon earthshock is trying to emulate… If they have us more weather oriented spells like tornado or something I’d be pretty happy. 
1 Like