Legion Enhance Shaman preview changes.

[jSewell]

Will we keep our near-GCD capped gameplay?

Seeing as Rockbiter is a no cooldown Maelstrom builder attack, undoubtedly yes...

[Kaljurei]

Will we keep our near-GCD capped gameplay? That for me is the -most- important question. I don't care how hard any of our abilities hit, I never have, as long as fun gameplay leads to competitive damage I am happy. I've been away from the game since early summer, not because I think it is a bad game (entirely the opposite), but because I simply have been playing for too long. The one thing that may bring me back is the fact that I simply miss playing Enhancement. My initial reaction to the announcement was that Blizzard had finally given in to the critics who want Enhance to play like other melee specs, and that the uniquely fast and engaging era of Enhancement play that began with TBC was coming to a close.

Some of the comments have given pause to my initial pessimism: so can anyone tell me, should I be optimistic about Enhancement? Will it still play like the Enhancement I have so long enjoyed?

To be fair, about the GCD cap - Rockbiter has no CD and therefore you will always spam that when you have low Maelstrom. Lava Lash has no CD but a 30 MP cost so you can spam that as long as you have MP.

Our scaling seems insanely good with both Mastery and Haste due to Stormfury and Windfury so as we get more and more, we will have more Stormfury procs and more MP generation through AA and Windfury so we will be spending more time pressing LL and SS than pressing Rockbiter.

Furthermore, the talents are amazing and there is a certain level of choice for certain tiers, but not so much. Still - it looks pretty damn good and they're coupling a lot of things together like Stormlash enhancing allies, decent CC totems, a Stampeding Roar totem(kinda), etc. I think Enhancement, at this point from the information that we have, seems pretty good. I am optimistic about it, especially considering how my Fury Warrior main is literally getting shafted with an extra 30% damage taken penalty. We'll see.

[Deleted]

Let's see what we lose and what we get from the infos so far:

Flame Shock -> gone. kinda replace by Flametongue, but not really
Frost Shock -> replaced by Frostbrand
LB -> we still have it, just not for rotation
Chain Lightning -> replaced by Crash Lightning
Unleash Elements -> replaced by Flametongue, but not really, because only fire buff
Ascendance -> now a talent choice
Capacitor Totem -> now a talent choice
Elementals (Fire, Earth and Storm) -> gone. Ele spec only
Searing Totem -> gone
Earthbind Totem -> now only the Earthgrab as talent
Tremor Totem -> pvp talent maybe?
Healing Rain, Healing Stream Totem -> no other healing than Healing Surge (?)
Cleanse -> gone (?)
Totem Recall and Totem Talents -> gone, all Totems can now be cast on range (but no possibility to move them. maybe pvp talent?)

most things were replaced with something similar but with less range and some skills were combined in one new skill. Healing got reduced to one single target heal. All of our totems are gone or became a talent or were put in the pvp talent tree, maybe (I haven't seen it yet, is it datamined?).

Some other talents got replaced as well. Although those never really fitted the enhancer in the first place. "Elemental Mastery", "Echo of the Elements", "Elemental Blast", "Liquid Magma". Those are more fitting to an Elemental. The new talents seem more Enhancer appropriate, like "Windsong", "Fists of Stone", "Fury of Air", "Feral Kin".

So far I like most of the changes. Only 2 things bother me:
1. We lose all totems except one (that we choose from a talent)
2. We lose most of our range. Which is ok, I guess, IF they make us more deadly in melee range

[Raakel]

I love that 'Unleash Elements' and 'Searing Totem' are gone! It's so annoying to be forced to cast two spells before actually enganging....

[Vezri]

Maybe rockbiter will have molten earth animation? Seems pretty cool

[Dblbaconator]

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the changes. The rotation makes sense for both single target and AoE, and for pretty much every button we're losing, we gain another with a better mechanic. I for one will not miss Unleash Elements or Searing Totem (although I will still miss the old 40-yard range UE that could let us tag things from a mile away, but oh well). The fact that Rockbiter has no cooldown means that those awkward pauses in our rotation when we had nothing to push will be gone entirely, something I think we've all been waiting for.

There are things I will miss, though. While our AoE was a little clumsy in starting up, it was amazing in situations where you had a lot of things to kill at once. Crash Lightning looks a lot easier, though it probably won't reach the damage heights that Fire Nova is capable of now. It's an acceptable tradeoff, though. I'm also bummed that the elementals are leaving enhance entirely, and will be an elemental-exclusive thing. I suppose it makes sense (I mean, the spec is called elemental), but I'd rather not give them up, and I'm definitely not swapping to elemental just to get them back. And it's also a shame that Ascendance is becoming a talent choice instead of baseline, particularly one with a ten-minute cooldown! It's been an integral part of our toolkit ever since it was introduced, giving us a semi-frequent ability to keep doing damage while moving or at range. To have to choose between it and a couple other interesting talents (Feral Kin, my god, like a personal Bloodlust) is gonna suck.

Still, I really hope I get into the beta so I can try the new spec out. It might be the rework we've needed all along, but there's no way to know until we get our hands on it.

[Deleted]

Let's see what we lose and what we get from the infos so far:

Flame Shock -> gone. kinda replace by Flametongue, but not really
Frost Shock -> replaced by Frostbrand
LB -> we still have it, just not for rotation
Chain Lightning -> replaced by Crash Lightning
Unleash Elements -> replaced by Flametongue, but not really, because only fire buff
Ascendance -> now a talent choice
Capacitor Totem -> now a talent choice
Elementals (Fire, Earth and Storm) -> gone. Ele spec only
Searing Totem -> gone
Earthbind Totem -> now only the Earthgrab as talent
Tremor Totem -> pvp talent maybe?
Healing Rain, Healing Stream Totem -> no other healing than Healing Surge (?)
Cleanse -> gone (?)
Totem Recall and Totem Talents -> gone, all Totems can now be cast on range (but no possibility to move them. maybe pvp talent?)

most things were replaced with something similar but with less range and some skills were combined in one new skill. Healing got reduced to one single target heal. All of our totems are gone or became a talent or were put in the pvp talent tree, maybe (I haven't seen it yet, is it datamined?).

Some other talents got replaced as well. Although those never really fitted the enhancer in the first place. "Elemental Mastery", "Echo of the Elements", "Elemental Blast", "Liquid Magma". Those are more fitting to an Elemental. The new talents seem more Enhancer appropriate, like "Windsong", "Fists of Stone", "Fury of Air", "Feral Kin".

So far I like most of the changes. Only 2 things bother me:
1. We lose all totems except one (that we choose from a talent)
2. We lose most of our range. Which is ok, I guess, IF they make us more deadly in melee range

You forget some abilities. Grounding totem, Astral Shift/Stone Bulwark/Nature's Guardian, Frozen Power and Ancestral Guidance. Actually we lost most of our survival kit.

[Deleted]

You forget some abilities. Grounding totem, Astral Shift/Stone Bulwark/Nature's Guardian, Frozen Power and Ancestral Guidance. Actually we lost most of our survival kit.

Yeah, I forgot Grounding Totem. Though I can't believe that we really lost this one and Tremor. I guess this is just a simple case of "It's datamined alpha stuff"

Astral Shift/Stone Bulwark/Nature's Guardian. This is relative to other classes. Maybe we lose this because every class loses survival skills? I don't know about most classes, but mages for example lose their iceblock-heal.

Ancestral Guidance was barely noticeable anyways, last time I played. It was powerful in MoP, though.

Frozen Power: Do we still need it? It was our "gap closer" but with Legion we get real gap closer skills. Although I'll miss it in PvP. freezing the enemy melee while tunneling their heal was fun.

[Deleted]

Yeah, I forgot Grounding Totem. Though I can't believe that we really lost this one and Tremor. I guess this is just a simple case of "It's datamined alpha stuff"

Astral Shift/Stone Bulwark/Nature's Guardian. This is relative to other classes. Maybe we lose this because every class loses survival skills? I don't know about most classes, but mages for example lose their iceblock-heal.

Ancestral Guidance was barely noticeable anyways, last time I played. It was powerful in MoP, though.

Frozen Power: Do we still need it? It was our "gap closer" but with Legion we get real gap closer skills. Although I'll miss it in PvP. freezing the enemy melee while tunneling their heal was fun.

I definitely hope it's just glitch in datamining. I was using Frozen Power quite a lot in pve. Easier to handle several stronger adds and kite them, while killing something else.

[Deleted]

Well, it's unlikely to be a glitch in datamining. Frozen Power can't stay because Frost Shock is removed. They might put the freeze effect on Frostbrand, but that's only 10y range, anyways.
We simply just don't have a high range instant cast with a low cooldown to freeze someone, anymore.

[nazrakin]

We also still havent seen the Artifact talents, that Warlock preview had ~15 talents so its definitely possible we'll see some stuff returning in some form.

[Deleted]

At this point I love 95% of what they do, and am on edge about the remaining 5%, either due to missing, or accurate info:
-To much totem removal in the beta they are finally upgrading totems?
Grounding, Tremor, Healing Stream, Earthbind, Capacitor, Magma... I dont see why we lose the first four, instead of seeing improvements on them. Capacitor remains as unattractive and badly designed as always for now, but made a talent?! All the while we get friggin instant aoe hex and a single target stun that's actually reliable? Dafug?
And Magma better be damn awesome, because with stuff like Crash Lightning, Fury of Air and Sundering around, it sure as hell seems meh to keep around.

If blizz wants to drop enhancement shamans as totem users, they better not keep Magma around just for the lolz.

-Survivability?!
-Healing Stream Totem: gone
-Feral Spirit healing: gone
-Major glyphs (including Lightning Shield's 10% mitigation(!), Purge generating MW, Flame Shock heal and other surv ones): gone (this isn't just a surv issue, because lots of our stuff was only good with glyphs)
-Survivability and Healing tiers: gone
-Healing Surge: still avaiable instant with MW replaced by MS?
-Grounding Totem: gone

If HS requires Maelstrom, that will mean that you need uptime to be able to heal yourself (like currently, except for glyphed purge gone as ranged generator).
If it is not instant, you will need to gap close to generate MS, then lose melee range due to 2s heal, and need to gap close again. This would more than screw up the uptime we gain through our shiny new mobility tool, I think.

Only plus so far is the pvp heal tier (4). Where Purifying Water's essentially replaces glyphed Purge, and Swelling Waves reintroduces multistrike for our selfheals, though with a delay. The passive heal doesn't sound very attractive, as it requires GW, which should still be a low percentage ability, in terms of usage uptime.

Tier 5 sports another possibly relevant thing concerning survivability: Ride the Lightning.
Looking at the bonus (LB generates 15MS outside of melee range), it sounds like LB may(!) not spend MS on range (what would be the point then). So essentially we could spam LB on range, generate MS, and heal ourselves. Very similar to Purifying Waters, but requiring more gcds, for some extra damage and (if coupled with Swelling Waves) possibly more Healing. It also wouldn't require successfully removing a buff/having it removed from yourself (the current wording doesn't suggest anything more than casting purge, but I suspect you actually need to remove something).

Will those few things be enough in combination with Sham Rage to keep us alive? Will HS be instant? Yaaaarrr, this uncertainty is driving me nuts.

[Deleted]

-Healing Surge: still avaiable instant with MW replaced by MS?

If HS requires Maelstrom, that will mean that you need uptime to be able to heal yourself (like currently, except for glyphed purge gone as ranged generator).
If it is not instant, you will need to gap close to generate MS, then lose melee range due to 2s heal, and need to gap close again. This would more than screw up the uptime we gain through our shiny new mobility tool, I think.

IIRC healing surge is instant and consumes 0-20 MS for increased healing. So you can spam it without any mealstrom, but it will be weaker.

[Deleted]

IIRC healing surge is instant and consumes 0-20 MS for increased healing. So you can spam it without any mealstrom, but it will be weaker.

Source? Main page says:

Enhancement & Elemental

Healing Surge (New) Heals a friendly target for up to [*412.5% of Spell Power*] based on Maelstrom spent. Shaman - Enhancement & Elemental Spec. 40 yd range. 2 sec cast.

A different thing:
http://beta.wowdb.com/items/132367-maelstrom-gauntlets

oO

[Deleted]

And Magma better be damn awesome, because with stuff like Crash Lightning, Fury of Air and Sundering around, it sure as hell seems meh to keep around.

If blizz wants to drop enhancement shamans as totem users, they better not keep Magma around just for the lolz.

We don't keep Magma. That's an Elemental talent now.

And for survivability: don't wet your pants. This is datamined alpha. The only thing it shows is what we might get, not what we lose. And the cast time for a spell is completely irrelevant right now.

[Menubrea]

Source? Main page says:


A different thing:
http://beta.wowdb.com/items/132367-maelstrom-gauntlets

oO

So weak compared to a lot of the other items on there.

[bison91]

ppl are talking nonescence here..enh shamans look like furry warriors? give me a break. they were looking like that before when they had talent for 2h but today its even less then it was before. but ppl stil bring this in..stop that already.

[Manu9]

ppl are talking nonescence here..enh shamans look like furry warriors? give me a break. they were looking like that before when they had talent for 2h but today its even less then it was before. but ppl stil bring this in..stop that already.

You're a bit late there.
People felt that before the Datamining, now we know better, as we have more information

- - - Updated - - -

So weak compared to a lot of the other items on there.

I agree, but they seem to be making Enha this kind of a slightly ranged melee.

[Deleted]

We don't keep Magma. That's an Elemental talent now.

And for survivability: don't wet your pants. This is datamined alpha. The only thing it shows is what we might get, not what we lose. And the cast time for a spell is completely irrelevant right now.

Not talking about Liquid Magma, but Magma Totem.

And yes, it shows what we lose:
http://legion.wowhead.com/spell=5394...g-stream-totem (restoration)
http://legion.wowhead.com/spell=51533/feral-spirit no mention of their heal
major glyphs removal: fact (and 10% dmg mitigation lost is huge)
http://legion.wowhead.com/spell=188070/healing-surge 2s cast for ele/enh , no mentions anywhere wether or not we'll be able to insta cast it
base talents for survivability and healing: gone => fact

so far, things we've heard about very well show what we lose; almost everything mitigation/healing related

[Deleted]

ppl are talking nonescence here..enh shamans look like furry warriors? give me a break. they were looking like that before when they had talent for 2h but today its even less then it was before. but ppl stil bring this in..stop that already.

I suggest you read this post if you want to understand why people are saying this.

I'll even go one step further, since half the posters here told me to stfu and wait for talents/artefacts even though it doesn't change the fact the core rotation will continue to revolve around those spells in the preview.

Gust of Wind = Pseudo Charge

Feral Lunge = Pseudo Leap

Stormstrike + Stormfury + Tempest = Raging Blow

Fury of Air = Pseudo Whirlwind

Stonefist Strike = Nerfed Stormbolt

If you account for the fact nearly all of our ranged abilities bar Lightning Bolt got axe'd (Shocks, Unleash, Nova, CL, Chain Heal, HR, totems) you could even say Ascendance is a 3 minute Avatar because you can't take advantage of the range mechanic when all of your rotation is at best 10(?) yard range max?


Don't get me wrong I think the talent tree in particular is leaps and bounds above in quality of what we have today and I'm in favour of the maelstrom resource/frenetic gameplay. But making our rotation so similar to Fury - except it has elemental damage flavour on it! - boggles my mind.