Super flimsy reasoning, but if your opposition is based on precedent…
Baelgrim was a shaman. Baelgrim tanked in the rookery follower dungeon. Ergo, shamans have now (recently) historically tanked.
Past that, who honestly cares shamans ‘havent historically tanked’? It’d be cool to add, and I’d rather 1 spec get added then try to rationalize a whole class for a new tank in the game.
(Unless the class is tinker that tanks with a mech, I want that)
Baelgrim was an NPC. NPCs have special abilities and roles that don’t translate to the PC. This has always happened.
If anything, Baelgrim highlights the history of shaman tanking. He failed and died, after only very briefly being somewhat relevant.
Adding a new spec to every class isn’t very reasonable. That’s a ton more work than adding a new class.
Only shaman having a 4th spec added is also unreasonable. As no class has had a 4th spec added out of nowhere. No druids do not count.
He wildly succeeded as a tank, it was in his stormwatcher role that he…I’ll say ‘could have done better’.
Precedent has to start somewhere, and shaman isn’t even where I’d start with adding fourth specs. Just, in support cause its the conversation at hand.
They can do what they did with the original hero talents in WW. Just make one an obvious pick and the other insanely lackluster. In this way they only need to come up with one set of hero talents.
Yeah, Stormbringer really is lackluster isn’t it?
I still want a shaman tank spec but tbh the demonhunter forum would explode with rage if we got a fourth spec before they got a third lol
Correct me if I’m wrong but sounds like you’re arguing that Druids never got a 4th spec because they basically always had one? Well, here’s a direct quote from the original Shaman description from back in the day:
“Shaman are the spiritual leaders of their tribes and clans. They are masters of the elements, using spells and totems that heal or enhance their allies in battle while unleashing the fury of the elements upon their foes. Shamans can wear medium armor, and even wield massive two-handed weapons in combat. They are a versatile class that can wade into battle, restoring their allies while hurling elemental bolts of lightning at their enemies.
The old phrase “jack of all trades, master of none” is an excellent way to describe the Shaman; they are the only real “hybrid” class in World of Warcraft. While they do not excel at any one aspect of their repertoire, they function passing well when performing most tasks called upon by a party. Need a support healer? Looking for a secondary tank? After another damage-dealer? Have an empty slot that needs someone to support the group in general? The Shaman can provide. They have a number of utility spells as well that help make life easier for any party.”
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20070430115300/http://worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman
So, I could easily argue that Shaman already had that 4th spec too… sure, it wasn’t intended to be on the same level as Warrior or Bear but it was still in the original design to tank.
Edit: You’ll have to copy/paste that link.
I appreciate how your entire response has nothing to do with anything I said.
You could easily argue Shaman already have a 4th spec, based on a class description you dug on on web archive, that mentions the phrase “jack of all trades”…
And that is the same thing as druids literally already having it in game.
So yes. I am correcting you for being wrong. As you asked.
The phrase “jack of all trades” does not mean shaman had a 4th playable spec already in game like druids did with cat/bear form that needed to be split.
@Akston you selectively disregarded that person’s quote that specifically mentioned the original developers advises that shamans could be off-tanks.
Not deliberately. I didnt see the second part.
Now once again.
That is still not the same as how bear/cat forms were actively done in game.
What classes are the same in World of Warcraft?
I have no clue the relevance of the question as I didn’t talk about any classes being the same.
So shaman design wasn’t done well a couple years ago, so shaman can’t be anything more then what it currently is? Despite a developer quote that implies the intention of shaman and druid in terms of roles and functionality were incredibly similar?
I’m sorry, but at this point it feels like you’re just moving the goal posts.
I would believe that they would make a tank mage utilizing barriers and time dilation before a tank shaman. Heck, even warlock has tanked more recently than shaman has.
Oh really?
Then why are you trying to compare it to Druid?
I’m not so sure about this… consider these things:
The last time that Shaman tanks were used was in Mists of Pandaria. I don’t remember Mage or Warlock making it that far.
Blizzard did state that they are open to add additional specs to our existing classes but they’d have to fit into the current story.
If there were a Shaman tank spec, it would be based on Earth. Since we’re adventuring deep into the Earth, there is a very strong Earth theme for what will probably be the entire expansion.
The Earthen Dwarves are made out of Earth and minerals. One of their racial abilities, 10% additional armor from gear, was also the talent, “Toughness”, in the Vanilla Enhancement tree.
Baelgrim is the first character that we meet, the leader of the Earthen Dwarves. Narratively, he is incredibly significant. He is also a Shaman tank. Sure, this could’ve been just for ‘The Rookery’ so that he acts as the leader but it’s certainly something to think about since Blizzard likes to hint at things.
During Beta, Blizzard stated that Shamans would be getting additional class adjustments at a later patch… something that they didn’t state for any other class. This leads to the speculation that they’re not referring to the anniversary changes as several classes are receiving significant changes as well.
Blizzard has almost always had an idea of where the story would lead at least 1 expansion in advance. With the implementation of the new talent trees in Dragonflight, only two classes in the game have 4x starting nodes: Druid and Shaman. The unused Shaman starting node is ‘Astral Shift’, a defensive node.
Players have been requesting Shaman tank for most of WoW’s lifespan.
SoD is an experimental game mode. Shaman tanks have been wildly successful in SoD. SoD very well could be the testing grounds for what does/doesn’t work with Shaman tanks.
The dungeons this expansion are tailored VERY WELL towards having a Shaman in your party - that is VERY HARD to ignore.
Blizzard is open to classes having 4x specs → Druids
Blizzard is open to revealing new specs in the middle of an expansion → Augmentation
So… maybe we’ll get Shaman tanks in a later patch, maybe we won’t. What does seem obvious is that the setting is pretty much perfect. So if it doesn’t happen, we probably won’t be seeing Shaman tanks for a very long time.
Only critique, Warlock tanks were ‘used’ in Pandaria. Kinda meme-y, but they were used.
(example from beta but still, man I wish warlock still had a tank spec its so cool)
https ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAHc18hczww
Personally, prefer warlock tanking return before shaman tanking, but hey, I’d take whatever I can get, I ain’t gonna be sad if shaman gets a tank first.
No shaman tanks ever, please. Its a disaster waiting to happen. New class instead.
Whats a starting zone
I cast melee spell! Power Word: Hammer Smash!