Shaman can get a tank-spec when enhance can get 2h.
The problem I have with the Baelgrim argument is that he didn’t show any new abilities. From what I could tell he just pulled with Chain Lightning and had high aggro. The whole character could also be seen as Blizzard just trolling players by showing a Shaman trying to tank and then dying.
Also there wouldn’t be an “earth” spec. The only part of shaman that feeds into that idea lately is Ascendance. Both ele and enh have slowly been moving toward utilizing all of the elements more. (I can’t speak for resto, I don’t heal)
No. Last new class they made was Dracthyr and boy are they underwhelming. The only way they got people interested is by making Aug op, but its nowhere near as popular as DH are.
I think it’s been said for awhile (at least I always see this response when similar questions have been asked):
When a new tank spec has been introduced, it never translates to a higher % of the player population actually playing the spec for any amount of time. So I just don’t think it’s a big priority for the devs to work on reworking/adding more tank specs.
Aug evoker would have been awesome. A big black dragon ripping sh*T up in keys instead of Aug would have been so fun. But here we are lol
But the shaman class tree doesnt need any change for a tank spec. Its just a bunch of utilities and totems, which fit for tank spec too.
Druid tree is bad because there are too few abilities that can fit for all specs.
Shaman really just need a tank spec tree and he’s in business.
The issue is that if theres a few nodes in the class tree for tanking then the spec tree becomes severely bloated and more often than not leads to pathing issues. Something that Druid players of all specs have been complaining about for a long time. Let alone how much of a mess their class tree is.
I agree, but the few tank nods they could add (if any really) could actually be added as choice nod with another dps nod.
Lets say you choose between 4% crit or 4% armor, as example
Wasn’t it Earth Shock(and Rockbiter) that had high threat? By this same logic Spriest shoulda tanked because Mind Blast had that same threat increase, they also had a spell that gave them a lot of armor.
Same logic also justifies Hunter tank and that would probably be easier to do. They did make Rexxar a tank in HOTS.
Do we really want to be trying to mix tanking mechanics and totem mechanics together? That just seems really bad.
Shamans had a very real intention as being off-tanks. Infact they tanked dungeons just fine up till around lvl 45. After that no real mail pieces dropped with stuff like ‘+defense’ so they couldn’t be crit immune. As previously discussed in this thread, shamans were on record by developers as being intended to tank sometimes. Maybe not always, but be capable of it.
Shaman used to be tank-capable, but that aspect was dropped post-tbc for one reason or another. Prolly something-something developer time.
What totem mechanics? Most of em are ‘click button drop at feet’, not a lot to manage there. Having said that….I really wouldn’t mind mixing the two. Personally speaking.
Kind of like Death and Decay? They keep pushing the game mechanics towards mobility while also handing out class mechanics that are designed around static gameplay. This disconnect is nothing new.
IIRC the argument was that they were having a hard time creating a balance between the factions, which is also why they decided the new races would also introduce the Faction locked classes to the other side.
Shortly thereafter because Paladins were “capable”, really not built for it at the time, of tanking Shaman Tanking died because Paladins were no longer faction locked.
That’d make sense at least, it’s in-line with the thinking of the time. Since paladins were supposed to be the ‘opposite’ of shaman and vice-versa (mechanically speaking), if both factions have access to it why spend developer time on shaman tanking. At least, speaking from a business perspective.
It shouldn’t need another tanking spec. More tanking specs doesn’t translate to more tanks. It’s the role that attracts or repulses player to and from tanking. Not the specs. People just want new specs to have them. But after a few weeks people works get bored of it and go back to dps.
I’m sorry, but this is the most boring and pointless take when this subject comes up.
Theres no illusion that, if shamans get a tank spec, at best you’re looking at a 5-10% increase in the tanking pool. The exact same amount if a new class gets added with a tank spec. But who cares? It’d be cool, a lot of people would play it just for open world stuff, and gives people playing shaman a new role to play. Maybe it turns out great and we see a 25-50% increase in the tank pool? Unlikely, but not impossible. Maybe a lot of people playing shaman don’t try tanking, cause they don’t play anything but? Or they’re primarily resto/elemental caster players? Maybe shaman tanking gives them the push to dip their toes into a new role without ‘giving up progress’ on main?
Or in my case, maybe I could tank more on a geared character with my friends without prepping an alt I don’t enjoy the theme of for one singular spec within it?
Mostly though, shaman tanking would just be sweet.
Shaman tanking will happen.
I dont know when but it will.
SoD has been their playground.
They made it viable. They made it enjoyable.
It’s alot easier for Blizzard to add a new spec to a class, than to build a complete new class from scratch.
They did it for druid in the past.
They also added Aug to Evoker in the middle of an xpac.
Everything is possible, and Shaman Tank is a lot more probable than complete new class like Tinker or Bard or Necromancer.
