Shaman class Overhaul

[Deleted]

If you could make a Shaman class overhaul, what would you do? I've read some topics and came up with this.

2 Elemental States: Lightning and Fire

I would like if we revolve more around our shields and so i came up with a new style of Elemental shaman. I also would love some more depth in to the Elements generally speak speak wind and Lightning are quick and fire and lava are the more destructive forces. So took a look to our current toolbox and thought about a few things that would spice up the shamans play style.

So why not have 1 shield with 2 Elements. For Elemental i chose Lightning and Lava. I came up with Static Magma Barrier. This shield generates of 2 different orbs, Lightning orbs and Lava orbs. You can generate the different orbs with certain abilities described below. You will go in a Elemental state, Lighting(wind) or Lava(fire), depending on how many shield orbs you have. You always start with zero orbs after 30secs of no combat, it could be a decay. Once you are in a certain Elemental state, you cant generate orbs of the other Element before you have discharged all of your orbs.

Fulmination: Discharges all Orbs of the active state. Lava orbs will do X damage over time for the amount of orbs are consumed. Static orbs will do X amount of damage in 8yd around the target. This also forces you to align with an other Element for minimum of 25 secs.

Wind/Lightning State: This State favours mobility over burst.

Static Shock: Deal x amount of damage and 40% damage over time and building up to 100% damage over time over 30 secs. 40yd. Generates 1 Lightnings charges after 30 secs. 5 sec cooldown shared with Flame Shock.

Lightning Bolt: Deals X amount of damage. 40yd cast of 2 sec. Can be cast while moving.
This generates 1 Static orb Charge.

Thunder Strike: Deals X amount of damage and will always crit of Static Shock is on the target. 40yd cast of 1.5 sec. Can be cast while moving. This costs 3 Changes of Lightning shield. This can be cast 2 times before the cooldown of 3 secs takes in affect. Knocks down the enemy player.

Chain Lightning: Deals X amount of damage and Chains to all targets whit in 8 yards.
40 yard cast of 1.5 sec. Can be cast while moving.This generates 1 Charge of Lightning Shield.

Fire/Lava State: This is the State you want to be in if you need Burst. It also wont allow you to move while casting.

Flame Shock: Deals x amount of damage and 100% damage over 15 secs. 40yd cast.This generates 1 Lava orb. 5 sec cooldown shared with Static Shock. Chance to gain Lava Surge which removes the cooldown of Lava Burst and Lava Beam and make them instant casts.

Lava Eruption: Deals X amount of damage over 2 sec channel. This generates 1 Lava Orb.

Lava Burst: Deals X amount of damage and will always crit if Flame shock is on the target.
40yd cast of 2 sec. This Ability costs 2 Lava orbs.

Lava Beam: Deals X amount of damage and Chains to all targets whit in 8 yards.
40 yard cast of 3 sec. This generates 1 Charge of Lava orb. This ability has an 30% increased chance of a crit if Flame shock is present, it will also spread flame shock but reduced to 40% original power.

Ascendance: Give yourself over to the elements and fuse with your active elemental state. Removing Lava and Static orb cost from your spells and also removing the cooldowns.

Wind/Lightning State: Increases damage done by 30%.

Fire/Lava State: Increases damage done by 20% and leave and Ignite for 10% of all damage done while in ascendance.

So tell me what you think of this.

There are even possibilities of transfering this style to the Enhance and Resto shaman.
Like Wind and Earth for Enhancement Shaman so they lose the fire abilities be gain Earthen abilities.
And for Restoration it could be Water and Earth, where water is the normal triage, earth is the absorption side.

[SamoTray]

If you could make a Shaman class overhaul, what would you do? I've read some topics and came up with this.

2 Elemental States: Lightning and Fire

I would like if we revolve more around our shields and so i came up with a new style of Elemental shaman. I also would love some more depth in to the Elements generally speak speak wind and Lightning are quick and fire and lava are the more destructive forces. So took a look to our current toolbox and thought about a few things that would spice up the shamans play style.

So why not have 1 shield with 2 Elements. For Elemental i chose Lightning and Lava. I came up with Static Magma Barrier. This shield generates of 2 different orbs, Lightning orbs and Lava orbs. You can generate the different orbs with certain abilities described below. You will go in a Elemental state, Lighting(wind) or Lava(fire), depending on how many shield orbs you have. You always start with zero orbs after 30secs of no combat, it could be a decay. Once you are in a certain Elemental state, you cant generate orbs of the other Element before you have discharged all of your orbs.

Fulmination: Discharges all Orbs of the active state. Lava orbs will do X damage over time for the amount of orbs are consumed. Static orbs will do X amount of damage in 8yd around the target. This also forces you to align with an other Element for minimum of 25 secs.

Wind/Lightning State: This State favours mobility over burst.

Static Shock: Deal x amount of damage and 40% damage over time and building up to 100% damage over time over 30 secs. 40yd. Generates 1 Lightnings charges after 30 secs. 5 sec cooldown shared with Flame Shock.

Lightning Bolt: Deals X amount of damage. 40yd cast of 2 sec. Can be cast while moving.
This generates 1 Static orb Charge.

Thunder Strike: Deals X amount of damage and will always crit of Static Shock is on the target. 40yd cast of 1.5 sec. Can be cast while moving. This costs 3 Changes of Lightning shield. This can be cast 2 times before the cooldown of 3 secs takes in affect. Knocks down the enemy player.

Chain Lightning: Deals X amount of damage and Chains to all targets whit in 8 yards.
40 yard cast of 1.5 sec. Can be cast while moving.This generates 1 Charge of Lightning Shield.

Fire/Lava State: This is the State you want to be in if you need Burst. It also wont allow you to move while casting.

Flame Shock: Deals x amount of damage and 100% damage over 15 secs. 40yd cast.This generates 1 Lava orb. 5 sec cooldown shared with Static Shock. Chance to gain Lava Surge which removes the cooldown of Lava Burst and Lava Beam and make them instant casts.

Lava Eruption: Deals X amount of damage over 2 sec channel. This generates 1 Lava Orb.

Lava Burst: Deals X amount of damage and will always crit if Flame shock is on the target.
40yd cast of 2 sec. This Ability costs 2 Lava orbs.

Lava Beam: Deals X amount of damage and Chains to all targets whit in 8 yards.
40 yard cast of 3 sec. This generates 1 Charge of Lava orb. This ability has an 30% increased chance of a crit if Flame shock is present, it will also spread flame shock but reduced to 40% original power.

Ascendance: Give yourself over to the elements and fuse with your active elemental state. Removing Lava and Static orb cost from your spells and also removing the cooldowns.

Wind/Lightning State: Increases damage done by 30%.

Fire/Lava State: Increases damage done by 20% and leave and Ignite for 10% of all damage done while in ascendance.

So tell me what you think of this.

There are even possibilities of transfering this style to the Enhance and Resto shaman.
Like Wind and Earth for Enhancement Shaman so they lose the fire abilities be gain Earthen abilities.
And for Restoration it could be Water and Earth, where water is the normal triage, earth is the absorption side.

So in a sense we be another Boomkin sounds cool

[Chuckadoodle]

I like it in theory, although fleshing it a bit more so it doesn't mirror Eclipse states of Boomkins so much. Concerned that lack of mobility in Lava state will leave you a sitting duck in both PvE/PvP situations, maybe temper some of the damage and and go with the flavor of the class (spicing it up) and keep Ascendance as your burst mechanic... so would totems be part of the equation or are they a relic of the past?

---------- Post added 2013-01-19 at 07:46 PM ----------

When i say fleshing it a bit more.. this is really intriguing as one of my alts is an Ele Shammy but it just feels so stale right now, I would love to see good feedback make it to the official forums as theorycrafting/maths isn't my strongest suit

[Deleted]

Well i have thought about that too. The way i fixed that problem is to not make the Element alignment automatic like a Balance druid, but a choice. Would you favour Mobility or sacrifice it for more damage. That's why i made Fulmination the switching mechanic. It does some nice amount of damage and allows you to go in to "turret-mode" for the extra damage.

Fulmination: Discharges all Orbs of the active state. Lava orbs will do X damage over time for the amount of orbs are consumed. Static orbs will do X amount of damage in 8yd around the target. This also forces you to align with an other Element for minimum of 25 secs.

One could say on a Patchwerk-style boss you'd stay in Lava state all the time and that's something i'm still working on. Maybe something like being in a state for more then X amount of time or after a total accumulated orbs of 1 Element, the effectiveness of that state is diminished.

Also Ascendance is still our Cooldown, i just clarified what it could do in this class overhaul. And numbers and spell can be changed, naturally.

Also the way totems work now, could still be same. Ofc i would remove the need of the last drop and forget totems like searing totem etc. And keep them purely for Utility.

[Relapses]

This is way, way, way too far out of Elemental's comfort zone to be considered an overhaul. This is a complete revision of how the class works. The ideas you present are not bad, but you're basically taking a bit from literally every other ranged DPS class in the game and the result just seems bloated and extraneous to me. If I wanted to play another ranged DPS spec, I'd roll one. Taking ideas which work for these specs and trying to bake them into Ele's playstyle would be a huge turn off to me, personally.

[Devious009]

This is way, way, way too far out of Elemental's comfort zone to be considered an overhaul. This is a complete revision of how the class works. The ideas you present are not bad, but you're basically taking a bit from literally every other ranged DPS class in the game and the result just seems bloated and extraneous to me. If I wanted to play another ranged DPS spec, I'd roll one. Taking ideas which work for these specs and trying to bake them into Ele's playstyle would be a huge turn off to me, personally.

I see where you're coming from and I totally agree, no offense to the OP kudoos for putting this much effort coming up with these ideas but as a previous poster said they are a bit similar to some abilities from other casters already in the game. I'd very much like new / fresh / original ideas for shamans because thats what sets them apart from other casters, I dont want a new resource or a complete overhaul all I want is our current damage / utility be improved or add more, things like:

-EQ instant cast, also make it interact with our spells in any way possible.
-New way to discharge Fulmination stacks other than earth shock
-dispell penalty for Flame shock be brought back
-Improved "SUSTAINED" single target DPS
-Remove / rename Frost shock from the "shock" shared CD, I honestly dont care for its damage all I care for is it's utility, I want to be able to slow ON demand from range. Dropping Earthbind then having to project it takes 2 GCDs. Rename it to something like Frost Shear / Blast and put it on its own CD. just make me want to use it without having to give up my DPS from flame shock and earth shock.
-Improved passive defense, either pump our armor from mail or give us a passive through lighting shield.

these are just a few I can probably think of more but thats what came to mind.

EDIT: Think Kenjix summed it up pretty nicely in the other thread

[Aleksej89]

Would be nice but it is too much work for blizzard.

Easier for them to add us a short cooldown stun and a sprint type of spell (for elemental).

[Theloq]

I'll gladly take my bursty RNG self over playing a class that has a buildup/decay system.

[shell]

I like the OP's ideas. In general, I always like it when people come up with new ideas for a particular class/spec even if other people are happy that we aren't the designers It's still fun. But our class representation is pretty solid so it might piss a lot of people off if they go and change a bunch of stuff. Personally, I like change and have come to expect to relearn from expansion to expansion. For now though, I'd just prefer if they improved what we've got with these,

-EQ instant cast, also make it interact with our spells in any way possible.
-New way to discharge Fulmination stacks other than earth shock
-dispell penalty for Flame shock be brought back
-Improved "SUSTAINED" single target DPS
-Remove / rename Frost shock from the "shock" shared CD, I honestly dont care for its damage all I care for is it's utility, I want to be able to slow ON demand from range. Dropping Earthbind then having to project it takes 2 GCDs. Rename it to something like Frost Shear / Blast and put it on its own CD. just make me want to use it without having to give up my DPS from flame shock and earth shock.
-Improved passive defense, either pump our armor from mail or give us a passive through lighting shield.

My only worry with this is I'd really like them to make weapon imbues easier to use but if they did this plus the above ideas, which I really love, we could be close to the casting version of what warriors were before all nerfs. We'd have better sustained plus dispel protection which could be an increase in damage in of itself in addition to our 3 min burst; plus, we'd have passive defense, tier 1 defense, UF: Rockbiter, and Shamanistic Rage. That doesn't include that we'd probably be better at healing because we'd be better at kiting/LoSing. I feel like we'd be very tanky. So I guess I'd either scrap Rockbiter or the passive defense, I don't think they'd allow them together for very long.

At any rate, I like the ideas OP, just not sure everyone would be on board since we have solid rep. Which probably means people are playing the class because they like the way it plays, even if they're specific things they don't like about it.

[Nyaldee]

Actually it's pretty neat idea, in a way similar to Invoker hero from Dota 1,2 where combinations of orbs unlock abilities.

[Eruionmel]

A lot of people seem to be missing the fact that this isn't a build-up/decay system. It's a voluntary stance switch that is triggered by using a spell that can build up. You don't have to use fulmination. You can choose to stay in your stance for as long as you want. The Lightning Strike and Lava Burst abilities consume your orbs so that you're not just sitting on max orbs all the time. Switching from turret to mobile or vice versa is a choice you make whenever you feel justified in doing it. You just build up a few more orbs than normal, fulminate, and you've switched stances.

Honestly, this is a really great idea. Both stances play nearly the same, which means you wouldn't have to spend time learning each side, and yet they have their own distinct flavor. I can see Wind being excellent for PvP, though you would have to be really careful with the balancing of Lightning Strike. If the knockdown was too long on it or it didn't DR, you could keep someone almost permanently CCed. A 2 second knockdown (sharing DR with stun) would probably work well.

[Deleted]

As much as I'd like to see something new for my main, I think rogues are the one class who deserve an overhaul next. I mean they are pretty much in a similair state like warlocks were in cata.

[Teriz]

So in a sense we be another Boomkin sounds cool

Actually no. The Eclipse system isn't nearly as deep as what the OP is proposing. At most, the Eclipse system increases the damage of certain abilities depending on what state you're in. What the OP is proposing is that you gain new abilities within the resource system. In fact, his proposal has more in common with Destruction Locks than with Boomkins.

Do Shaman need a resource system? That should be the primary question here. Every other caster class has at least one spec that uses one, and it can't be denied that resource systems are generally deeper and a bit more interesting that systems that only use mana.

I'll post my idea up shortly. Nice opening OP. Very nice.

[Deleted]

Thanks all for your feedback :d

[Deleted]

IMO Shamans don't need a overhaul, more like alot of QoL changes.

This is possibly the best Shaman QoL suggestion i've seen in quite a while, with little changes but providing a much better gameplay:

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/7710222498

Read 1st and 2nd poster.

[Deleted]

Elemental spec. overhaul?!!? Wrong title....