Originally Posted by
littlegram
I do not know the "official" reason why it was changed. I can only guess it is to give us Elemental Shamans a stronger role, or niche - AOE.
We are pretty decent in the AOE department currently, while our single target damage is towards the bottom of all specs. I guess I liken it to Demo Locks - they have lower single target damage, but their AOE is some of the best in the game. They have a niche. Now Elemental Shamans may have more of a niche with stronger AOE.
We have very good burst, good AOE, and poor single target - we can't have everything! Though I would prefer strong single target damage over AOE...
My guess is that it was done to appease all the qq about our damage.