Why do many of the top guilds have a high priority on recruiting elemental shaman?

[Atrk]

Despite all the complaining we do (I've done my fair share) about lack of utility, poor DPS relative to mages and hunters, and apparent incoming nerfs, I'm surprised that guilds like Method, Ascendance, Rapid Eye Movement, set sail for fail, and others have placed a high recruitment priority on elemental shaman (per WoW Progress).

Anyone have any thoughts?

[Elimite]

Ranged AOE as well as Healing Offset; Both of which are really strong right now.

[Silver Forte]

I will attest to that ranged aoe. Chain lightning hits 3 or more mobs, makes earthquake instant cast and causes much more damage, which if spec'd right I can do twice. Throws me at the top of the DPS charts any time I do that.

[Dra]

having a good off spec is really nice too, its easy to gear up resto this days and double slt gets you a slot in almost every fight :P (if an extra healer is needed ofc)

[Algoma0]

Mainly because they dont have one and they want to have a player of each class/spec. It's easier to sit people during their trial so they invite a trial shaman just incase elemental is really good for a specific fight. It's just easier than inviting another mage or warlock while they already have 3.

edit: Source: I just joined ScrubBusters and they had Elemental on high.

[Deleted]

having a good off spec is really nice too, its easy to gear up resto this days and double slt gets you a slot in almost every fight :P (if an extra healer is needed ofc)

I don't think so. Guilds like Method for exemple have multiple healers of each specs and hybrid dps not go heal very often ( except in really specifics case aka Thok HM in SoO )

[Murderdoll]

Ranged DPS are infinitely better to have on a roster than a melee.

Fairly good ranged DPS/Cleave/AoE with the ability to spec into a heals role. Its a very versatile role that Elemental finds themselves in.

[Deleted]

Because very few people play elemental at a high level nowadays and since you never know what Blizzard is going to do with their balance patches it's always a dumb idea for top guilds to not have a person or two for every single spec, and I don't mean "alt offspec I learnt how to play on icyveins yesterday".

[Ele man]

Simple reason. ele shaman is useless class, So expert ele shamans already left there class.
Top guilds don't know what ele is good at fight. I think that is insurance. without ele shaman, It seems empty. that is only reason..

[wordup]

Despite all the complaining we do (I've done my fair share) about lack of utility, poor DPS relative to mages and hunters, and apparent incoming nerfs, I'm surprised that guilds like Method, Ascendance, Rapid Eye Movement, set sail for fail, and others have placed a high recruitment priority on elemental shaman (per WoW Progress).

Anyone have any thoughts?

Elemental have a relatively versatile skillset, they may not be top at anything damage-wise per se, but they have good sustained & burst AoE, and can decide between high burst or high sustained ST. Lots of other classes have very strict rules about -HOW- they AoE and the periods they can do it in, whilst Elemental fit a fairly good niche of mechanical design suited to how a lot of the HFC encounters are currently playing out.

[Deleted]

Despite all the complaining we do (I've done my fair share) about lack of utility, poor DPS relative to mages and hunters, and apparent incoming nerfs, I'm surprised that guilds like Method, Ascendance, Rapid Eye Movement, set sail for fail, and others have placed a high recruitment priority on elemental shaman (per WoW Progress).

Anyone have any thoughts?

..the only reason to bring ele so far and for so many years is....is....is....let me think...is...is...well i dont find any since other dps class can bring more things in a more easy way....

[wordup]

where do you have this info?do you know the leaders and told you that they have priority elemental shaman?thats a joke...did you ever see world 1st kills guilds to have ele?there isnt....the only reason to bring ele so far and for so many years is....is....is....let me think...is...is...well i dont find any since other dps class can bring more things in a more easy way....

He knows because their wowprogress page, as he mentions, shows Elemental Shaman as a high priority in their recruitment goals. Everything else you say here is irrelevant, because the answer is already there in his post.

[Deleted]

Despite all the complaining we do (I've done my fair share) about lack of utility, poor DPS relative to mages and hunters, and apparent incoming nerfs, I'm surprised that guilds like Method, Ascendance, Rapid Eye Movement, set sail for fail, and others have placed a high recruitment priority on elemental shaman (per WoW Progress).

Anyone have any thoughts?

The reason is.. no one plays Elemental as his main character in a top guild environment. And every top guild would be happy to have one geared Elemental coming into their guild to sit on the bench, waiting for his inset on the typicall gimmick boss of the next raid tier.

We also recruite en mass during farm, not only to gear the core raiders but also dimmish the fluctuating interest in the current raid bosses. There are only maximal 1 person per tier who matches all points and will be taken into the next raid progress roster - the rest will be kicked or he'll sit on the bench forever.

- - - Updated - - -

Ranged AOE as well as Healing Offset; Both of which are really strong right now.

Yeah, this is the reason... I tell you... and the recent buff to Lava Surge proc uptime.

I will attest to that ranged aoe. Chain lightning hits 3 or more mobs, makes earthquake instant cast and causes much more damage, which if spec'd right I can do twice. Throws me at the top of the DPS charts any time I do that.

Sustained AE DPS was always good as Elemental, but they killed this niche since MoP. Other classes are way better at this, and there arent many fights (if any) which require sustained AE dps these days.

Mainly because they dont have one and they want to have a player of each class/spec. It's easier to sit people during their trial so they invite a trial shaman just incase elemental is really good for a specific fight. It's just easier than inviting another mage or warlock while they already have 3.

edit: Source: I just joined ScrubBusters and they had Elemental on high.

Exactly.

I don't think so. Guilds like Method for exemple have multiple healers of each specs and hybrid dps not go heal very often ( except in really specifics case aka Thok HM in SoO )

Guilds like Method have their healers only play healer alts, so they're always decked out. DPS usually alt other DPS specs, Healers alt Healers and Tanks alt Tanks - easier to setup rosters this way. The top players are usually the most active ones, sometimes covering every class (look at their RL for example.)

[dryankem]

It doesn't help that elemental struggled so much at the beginning of WOD. It felt like a lot of people abandoned it early on and now with the legendary grind it's going to be tough finding geared elemental Shamans. Don't get me wrong I do enjoy the legendary quest (just don't enjoy doing it more than once) but it's become a gate for ALTs in the last couple expansions.

[ZerowGG]

It is also rather difficult to find ele shamans that are proficient enoug to raid at that level. It really requires a lot more work and than a lot of other classes that might have more usefulness.

[Atrk]

Mainly because they dont have one and they want to have a player of each class/spec. It's easier to sit people during their trial so they invite a trial shaman just incase elemental is really good for a specific fight. It's just easier than inviting another mage or warlock while they already have 3.

edit: Source: I just joined ScrubBusters and they had Elemental on high.

The reason is.. no one plays Elemental as his main character in a top guild environment. And every top guild would be happy to have one geared Elemental coming into their guild to sit on the bench, waiting for his inset on the typicall gimmick boss of the next raid tier.

We also recruite en mass during farm, not only to gear the core raiders but also dimmish the fluctuating interest in the current raid bosses. There are only maximal 1 person per tier who matches all points and will be taken into the next raid progress roster - the rest will be kicked or he'll sit on the bench forever.

So in these cases, is the recruitment not "real," in the sense that you're not expecting to be in on most of the progression fights as an elemental shaman?

[Deleted]

In top10 guilds when you're a fresh recruit you can expect to be on bench most of the time yes, unless they're really hurting for your spec.

[Deleted]

So in these cases, is the recruitment not "real," in the sense that you're not expecting to be in on most of the progression fights as an elemental shaman?

Yes, your trial is comparable to what you see in american movies... college/university connections and stuff.

Just kidding. But you can expect to sit on the bench alot if you're playing specs like Elemental, and only this one. While Method is looking for the "world best", it doesnt mean that you get a permament spot in progression... being worlds best means that you can play every class on the same skill level, so you can switch when needed.

Like Riggnaros or whatever his name was (BL GM), I think he had every tank spec geared just incase one turns out superior in this tier / on a special boss. Or melee DPS switching to their DK alts on fights like Lei Shen... or balance druid on Blackhand... etc., I hope you get it.

[Socialhealer]

It doesn't help that elemental struggled so much at the beginning of WOD. It felt like a lot of people abandoned it early on and now with the legendary grind it's going to be tough finding geared elemental Shamans. Don't get me wrong I do enjoy the legendary quest (just don't enjoy doing it more than once) but it's become a gate for ALTs in the last couple expansions.

of course, ascendance wasn't even noticeable at the start of WoD, i could burst 1.5 million on the pull as ele in MoP, suddenly i have the worst burst in the game? because celestatool TOLD US lava burst was too strong, then we get it buffed 35%, then another 10%? you can understand why he doesn't post on the forums or tweet, because he doesn't know a damn thing about the game and yes that mighty fuck up made a lot of ele shamans reroll so they are very rare.

[Arold]

celestatool ... he doesn't know a damn thing about the game