1. #1

    Enhancement, yes or no?

    Im still insecure. I just talked with a enhancement shammy who really played enhancement well.

    Im elemental now, and i dont know if im gonna stay that or go enhancement, im level 68.
    Elemental is easy n' all, but also not challengeing enough for me. Enhancement on the other hand is very challenging and i have no problem about that.


    I need pro's n con's on whether to go enhancement or not, if anyone has time.

    Thank you.

    EDIT: Also, if i get bored PVEing for a while. Wich spec is best in PVP?
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  2. #2
    Mechagnome SolSphere's Avatar
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    Re: Enhancement, yes or no?

    It baffles me as to why people ask this question of others. You pay for the account. The major differences are obvious between the two specs. If you want to know which one is best for you.

    I understand you are asking for pros and cons, but that is irrelevant to which one you are going to enjoy playing more.
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  3. #3

    Re: Enhancement, yes or no?

    Enjoy play more? This is wow, you smash button.

    What i wanna know is, what gives out the most damage, and how. What is most appreciated in raids, and what spec takes more brain, smashing 3 buttons is not really my thing, i dont mind it, i just need to use my brain too.
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  4. #4

    Re: Enhancement, yes or no?

    No specs require using brain.
    There are addons that tell you what to use next.
    If you want to be melee, go enhancement, if not, go elemental.
    Their damage output is ever changing with the patches, and if you're a good enough player people will take you regardless.

  5. #5

    Re: Enhancement, yes or no?

    I've yet to see an elemental shaman do truly competitive dps, maybe the recent buff will change that, but IMO enhance is more fun and better dps.

  6. #6
    Titan MerinPally's Avatar
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    Re: Enhancement, yes or no?

    Both do good damage. Elemental is simpler to pull out large numbers and the scaling is... not that good from what i remember.

    Enhancement is complicated and when you get good gear your dps jumps large amounts. Try doing enhancement without using ShockandAwe and you'll find that a challenge but easily doable. I was pumping out 6k before i decided to download it, decided i didnt like it, and now use it just to tell me when Lightning Sheild runs out. This bumped my dps up a little bit. Its fun though as you have to watch your stormstrike charges, your maelstrom weapon, your magma totem, your flameshock dot on the boss etc... takes a lot of practice but very rewarding and if you scroll out a little bit looks INSANE.

    As for pvp when you get bored, enhancement takes a LOT of practice but can be very good when you learn it well, but for a while you will just tend to go squish until you get the practice in

    Enhance is more fun if you like to have it more complicated, and the damage is very spiky. Elemental is constant stream of high numbers but simpler to play. Both are very good at higher levels of raiding.
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  7. #7

    Re: Enhancement, yes or no?

    Quote Originally Posted by Tomathon
    I've yet to see an elemental shaman do truly competitive
    That is all you've needed to say.
    You have yet to SEE a good elemental. That doesn't mean they aren't out there. Maybe you only paid attention to ranged unfriendly fights.

    Quote Originally Posted by MerinPally
    Enhancement is complicated and when you get good gear your dps jumps large amounts. Try doing enhancement without using ShockandAwe and you'll find that a challenge but easily doable. I was pumping out 6k before i decided to download it, decided i didnt like it, and now use it just to tell me when Lightning Sheild runs out. This bumped my dps up a little bit. Its fun though as you have to watch your stormstrike charges, your maelstrom weapon, your magma totem, your flameshock dot on the boss etc... takes a lot of practice but very rewarding and if you scroll out a little bit looks INSANE.

    As for pvp when you get bored, enhancement takes a LOT of practice but can be very good when you learn it well, but for a while you will just tend to go squish until you get the practice in

    Enhance is more fun if you like to have it more complicated, and the damage is very spiky. Elemental is constant stream of high numbers but simpler to play. Both are very good at higher levels of raiding.
    Shockandawe tells you all you need to know how to play enhancement, you tell it what skills are priorities and under what exceptions and it shows an icon in the middle of your screen of what button to hit. Not complicated.

  8. #8

    Re: Enhancement, yes or no?

    Since no one has mentioned it yet I'll put pros and cons from a raiding perspective. The main one is that every raid can use one good ele and enh shaman, however that's all they really need as well so an additional one is typically in overall raid dps. Enh shaman are also one of the least played classes/specs so if you get decently well gear you can actually get into a raiding guild pretty easily. Seems like there's always a mid-level guild on my server that's looking for a good one.

    As others have said though, try both and see what you like more. Enh can be more fun for some people but it can also be a bit more work, not just in terms of actual dps priority but also gearing and raid prep. Ele got a decent buff and their dps has increased but it still seems a bit lower than what it should be, but it's not so far behind that no one will want one for a raid.

  9. #9

    Re: Enhancement, yes or no?

    Enhancement is Fun. But so is Elemental. To be honest, there aren't many caster classes that are truly challenging to play. Affliction Warlocks and Shadow Priests are up there only for the sheer number of dots and debuffs they have to worry about. But as Elemental, you have a little bit more to do than, say, a mage during regular rotations.

    However, I leveled my shaman as Enhancement. Up to 70 pre-Wrath, did a little bit of raiding. He was an alt. I then leveled to 75 and switched to elemental to try Lava Burst, and enjoyed it quite well. But recently, I geared back up and went with enhancement. It's crazy ridiculous to play. You will learn to cherish the moments when you have any free time what so ever in between the use of your GCDs. Enhancement, back in the day, might have been classifiable as one of the most boring classes to play, but recently, we've become great fun to play, utilizing nearly every damaging spell in the Shaman's arsenal. It is VERY hard to play perfectly without the help of a mod. You have a rather long list of priorities to keep up with and to truly maximize damage potential, you have to make decisions in a 1.5 second time frame nearly for nearly every GCD.

    Of course, with ShockAndAwe, that's made quite a bit easier, but please... don't use the addon UNTIL you understand the priorities and the mechanics behind your class and spec, otherwise you can't really call yourself an Enhancement Shaman. You just press buttons as you see the icons pop up. There's nothing wrong with using the addon, but try to perfect the play style as well as you can before using the addon so that the addon will simply boost your reaction speed and lower the need for constant decision making.

    Enhancement's capable of putting out respectable damage. They are, indeed, supposedly the lowest DPS melee class, however I cannot verify this through experience, I never see any decent DPS warriors around anymore. But then again, it's increasingly hard to find good Enhancement Shaman. It seems nowadays that a raid's usual melee group consists of a couple Rogues, a few Death Knights, one or two Retribution Paladins and maybe a Feral Druid.

    Not only are Enhancement Shaman relatively rare, there are also a lot of absolutely terrible ones out there. So. If you go Enhancement and can prove yourself to be a great one at 80, people will like you.
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  10. #10

    Re: Enhancement, yes or no?

    Quote Originally Posted by MerinPally
    Its fun though as you have to watch your stormstrike charges, your maelstrom weapon, your magma totem, your flameshock dot on the boss etc... takes a lot of practice but very rewarding...
    not so as rogues or even hybrid melee class

  11. #11
    The Patient Kyndig's Avatar
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    Re: Enhancement, yes or no?

    Both specs are fun and both do resonable dps. Elemental is a lot simpler than Enhancement but neither are really that difficult. If you have issues picking (like i do :P) just go both. With duel spec now you can have the best of both worlds It also means that you can swap out you spec dependant on the fight.

    Give Enhancement a go it's fun

  12. #12

    Re: Enhancement, yes or no?

    I was ele from 1-80.

    Now moving into ICC I decided to give enhance a go, mainly due to apalling ele itemisation and the fact I was picking up good enhance loot quicker than Ele loot. In fact I started to greed roll on enhance loot to see if fate had a plan for me 'if I win a greed roll for nightime then the game WANTS me to go enhance!!' not only did I win the greed roll, I got the matching pair on a greed roll the next time I was there.

    SAA saved enhance for me. Whilst I'm fine watching cooldowns etc I'm no master, and SAA just brought me onto a playing field where I could compete.

    Now I've played Enhance for a while, I don't think I'd go back to Ele, and come the levelling grind of Cata, Enhance feels like a far stronger solo spec with MW5 healing wave and wolves.

    I miss thunderstorming people off cliffs in BG's though

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  13. #13

    Re: Enhancement, yes or no?

    Enhancement is great. A lot more challenging than Fire Shock > Lava Burst > LB > LB > LB > LB rinse and repeat.
    It's fun, challenging and fun. Fun is good. Game is fun. FUNFUNFUNFUNFUN!
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  14. #14

    Re: Enhancement, yes or no?

    Pros:
    Enha sham is probably the funniest dps class I have played.
    You use both spells and melee abilities.
    You can really see when there is a good and a bad enha sham. In gear and gem choices. And just using the right spells at the right time can easily be seen at the dmg meter.
    It's a lot more fun than Ele. If you wanna be a caster, a mage or warlock is a lot more fun.
    Every melee class loves you.

    Cons:
    Spell hit capped + Expe capped. At first it's hard to reach it. You will get a lot of hit, while Expe will keep being a bitch (easier as an orc)
    You have to have spell+melee buffs+debuffs to give full dps. Which you almost only get in 25man.
    Rely a lot on RNG. Sometimes you do 1k less than you normally do, sometimes 1k more. If WF proqs at the right times, and if it decides to take a break and don't proq for a long time.
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  15. #15

    Re: Enhancement, yes or no?

    Good enhancement Shaman are nigh-impossible to find and every good guild wants at least one.

    There's maybe half a dozen skilled enhancement shaman horde-side on my entire server.



    Elemental Shaman are a dime a dozen and it's hard to find ones that stand out.



    If you're looking at this purely from a "what will get me into a raiding guild faster?" perspective, go enhancement, master the spec, and enjoy being an invaluable raid member. Otherwise, pick whatever role (melee dps, ranged dps) you enjoy more, doesn't matter.
    http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...trellen/simple (Enhancement PvE)
    http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...l/alamo/simple (Boomkin/Guardian, PvE)

    No, I'm not the real Alamo, just a guy who liked his work.

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