Are addon's mandatory for enhancement?

[Orcbert]

I don't really like sporting to many addons. I have recount and decursive, but thats it. I'm downloading shock and awe to give me and hand with enhancement mostly because of maelstorm. It seems impossible to keep track of the ammount of stacks without outside help. Enhancement has a ton of buffs between totems, proc buffs, shields, cooldowns, and weapon buffs the maelstorm buff is hopping around so much I can't accurately keep track of it.

So I guess I have two questions for you, can you go enhancement and achieve decent dps without addons and is there any other class or spec that addons are mandatory?

[Ravenous]

I can't answer your second answer too well, unfortunately. I only play warrior and dk at high level, asside from my enhancement shaman, and I could play both quite well in either role (tanking/dps) in 5-man or raid situations, regardless of mods. the mods that I use just make it more pleasant, or give me more situational awareness.

as for enhancement shamans; I play my shaman high-end, and just like you said, I find it near-impossible to accurately keep track of my MW*5 stacks, while it's imperative for good dps, that you use your LB or CL, the absulute VERY moment you can, when the 5 stacks are reached. (in nearly any gear config)

apart from that, if you're able to be aware when your MT/FT totems run out/fall out of range, and are able to refresh them, then sure.

oh, and don't forget your SS debuff on the boss, the FS debuff on the boss, and the number of charges on your lightning shield ^^

see my point? you'd have to watch skill CD's, buffs on you (which can reach over 40 in certain raid situations) and boss debuffs. considering the fact that those 3 elements are almost in 3 different corners/edges of your screen, I'd say that yes, mods are needed to play enhancement properly. (to play it to the max, you might even need more then 1 ^^)

[nazrakin]

Add ons aren't mandatory for any class. However, you intend to maximize your DPS you should use them. If having more than a few bothers you, you could start by ditching recount and decursive, since neither will make you a better enhancement sham. All you really need is something to monitor buffs/debuffs.

[Spongy]

Well mate think it this way with blizzard frames u try and see ure mael 5 and lightnign shield and keeping track on your totems etc its doable but mate u will be looking at the top right of the screen constantly. I personally atm gone for a more simple approach icehud for my target frames and my HP with the mael option on that ticked totem timers as i love it for ls totems wf ft etc. No raid frames shown omen and recount icehud is really nice if you config it all

[Mykk]

So far that what i can recommend use power aura class or shock and wave but myself i didnt like shock and wave so i decided to use power aura class. And then u need frame which shows debuffs on boss and totem timer is very usefull.
There is video in youtube which helps u how to configure power aura class for shaman. Its pretty good video also here is link my UI how i see MW stacks and also what kinda UI

Video link for my UI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMsUMHLUQnE

And also video link how to configure ur power aura http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgRtc...eature=related

[Roum - Blackrock-EU]

The Addons that I couldn't live without for (enhancement) raiding are DBM, ShockAndAwe, Omen and Decursive.
The following Addons provide further help: Grid, Power Auras and Quartz.

[Deleted]

Like someone already said: you dont need decursive or recount.
Having an addon which tracks buffs is handy though. There are multiple addons that can help you with that.

Power auras is a good option to keep your ui nice.
Also mikscrollingbattletext can track it I think. You could disable all other options of the addon.
You could use totemtimers.
And lastly: Satrina buff frames.

The first two wont mess up your default ui too much, if you configure the right way.

[MerinPally]

Not necessery at all - on my sham only addon i use is ShockandAwe but even then its use is extremely limited, i only use the part with the bar to tell me when my lightning sheild runs out. After some practice you will look up every few seconds to your buff bar to see how many maelstrom stacks you have.

I can pull out 7-8k dps like this which i don't think is bad for an alt... not necessery but they can help, just download some of the major ones then configure them down the very basic stuff is what i do, and that provides all the information you want - thats what i find at least

All addons can do is help you, but if you see a part of it you don't understand of feel is cluttering your UI - just turn that part of it off, as that may hinder you

[Kontraband]

i dont use any specific enhancement addons...and i can pull ~7k dps in 25 mans single target

there must be some addon that does it, but i dont know which one, coz i get a big alert in the middle of my screen whenever maelstrom is ready, i thought that was just from blizz but apparently not...if anyone knows what that is then maybe itl help the guy

but as i said, i have no enhancement specific addons, so no its not necesary, you jsut have to be sharp i guess

[Omanley]

i dont use any specific enhancement addons...and i can pull ~7k dps in 25 mans single target

there must be some addon that does it, but i dont know which one, coz i get a big alert in the middle of my screen whenever maelstrom is ready, i thought that was just from blizz but apparently not...if anyone knows what that is then maybe itl help the guy

but as i said, i have no enhancement specific addons, so no its not necesary, you jsut have to be sharp i guess

that´s an option in the interface menue/battletext.

it´s called reactive actions in the english version i believe.

im using recount ( although not really necessary ), omen ( almost unecessary as well, as we rarely get aggro, still sometimes it´s of use ), bigwigs ( similar addon like dbm ), dominos ( similar to bartender ) and atlas loot enhanced ( not really a raiding addon either.

in short you need omen and bigwigs/dbm, and maybe an addon for your actionbars.
addons like s&a or powerauras can help as well, although i play without them (barely under 10k on saurfang/festergut)

[MiseryIndex]

You don't, like all of the previous posters have said NEED addons to make enhancement work for you. It's just how much information you want to have available to you, and whether you can put it to use. Decursive and recount are hardly what I would call helpful from an enhancement perspective ina raiding environment. IF there's one adon I swear by as enhancement, it's Power Auras, although its something I'd use regardless of what role I was playing.

[Nikoll]

To be short, yes. Saa or power auras are nessisary to maximize dps.

[JackalopeSpam]

To be short, yes. Saa or power auras are nessisary to maximize dps.

Yeah, if you've Got Shock and Awe you'll be set for most things. It will tell you what's next in the priority list as long as you keep checking forums to see what that list is atm. Aside from that, any other basic raid addon will help you raid but Shock and Awe is only shaman specific one needed.

[pomop]

I don't really like sporting to many addons. I have recount and decursive, but thats it. I'm downloading shock and awe to give me and hand with enhancement mostly because of maelstorm. It seems impossible to keep track of the ammount of stacks without outside help. Enhancement has a ton of buffs between totems, proc buffs, shields, cooldowns, and weapon buffs the maelstorm buff is hopping around so much I can't accurately keep track of it.

So I guess I have two questions for you, can you go enhancement and achieve decent dps without addons and is there any other class or spec that addons are mandatory?

Mods are never mandatory.

However, usually mods make the job 70% easier.

[aikouka]

One of the larger aspects of Enhancement Shamans is watching your buffs. You've got Lightning Shield, Maelstrom Weapon, and to some extent, your totem's buff. Then you've also got your totems to watch after. The majority of my add-on use for my Enh Shaman is simply putting buff-specific bars in a certain spot for easier tracking as I end up with quite a long list of buffs during combat and trying to spot Lightning Shield might be a bit troublesome :P.

Other than that, I don't find much else completely necessary. I don't use SaA as I can usually accurately time abilities and watching things such as Maelstrom stacks as well as the remaining stacks of Lightning Shield can help you know what will be coming up next.

[General Vezax]

Without addons, your totem timers are way up at the other end of your screen, you have to find your LS buff in the shroud of your other 200 buffs to check its charges, and make sure you dont miss the MW5 message.

The only thing i would say is a must-have for good DPS is a buff tracker.

[Scunosi]

First off: add-ons are NEVER mandatory. When WoW first came out, I'm sure there were no addons for at least a few weeks (never know how fast people work). Add-ons are just something that helps to make the game smoother for you (I won't say "easier" because some add-ons, once installed, seem like they should've been there from the start).
However, with the complexity of the Enhance rotation add-ons are of course extremely helpful, but only if you know how to use them. I downloaded Shock and Awe for my Shaman but have never really fiddled with any of the options, so it shows me lots of info I don't look at. I use it mostly just for the audio cue on MW-5.
I have a guildy whose alt Enhance Shaman runs without any special addons, and he still does pretty amazing. If you're the type who finds it easy to watch both the fight and your buff bars (cuz remember you still have to stay out of fires whilst watching for procs) then nah, addons probably wouldn't make you "better". But if you want something to ease the rotation for you, or give you more obvious signals, then addons are great.

[Vargarii]

To be short, yes. Saa or power auras are nessisary to maximize dps.

I have to say that I'm in complete disagreement with this. I can pull just as much dps without mods as with, as you are able to set combat text to notify you of maelstrom weapon procs. SAA specifically, I don't use this mod because I'd lose dps waiting for a priority to queue. If you can learn your priorities, you can activate these abilities much more quickly.

I do however use a mod to notify me(via wolf howl, I use enhancetool) when I hit mw5. It's use has absolutely nothing to do with maximizing dps or anything, it's simply to have a notification that isn't easily outshined by all the noise from the bossmod my guild requires me to use.

As far as totem timers and flameshock tracking, I do all of that without the help of UI or other mods, and My dps is on par with enhance shaman of my gear level. I'm in no way falling behind because of lack of power auras or SAA.

[Fornaw]

To be short, yes. Saa or power auras are nessisary to maximize dps.

I mostly agree, the default UI has failed the spec.

In the default UI totem timers are on the top left, LS and Maelstrom charges are mixed in with ALL your other buffs in the top right (I use standard UI for buffs in the top right, I'm regularly hitting 5 rows now), Debuffs are reasonably separated from other player debuffs, but again are not displayed in a manner such that the relevant information can be gleaned quickly (duration and charges), cooldowns must be monitored via the horrible timer-dial greyout on the spell icon in the horribly inefficient blizzard action bar.

In short your eyes would need to be constantly in-taking information from every corner of the screen, as well as fight specific information about what's going on at your feet, and additional fight specific information from the boss's name plate (spell casting, targetoftarget, buffs). Human reaction time from even the best and most capable players is unequivocally incapable of in-taking, processing, and tracking this many simultaneous threads of information in all of these obscure locations on the default UI.

You could write your own addon to display all this information, or you could use one of the many popular ones (like SAA or PowerAuras). I'm not going to say any specific addon is necessary, but use of at least one addon configured for the spec is.

[Fornaw]

I have to say that I'm in complete disagreement with this. I can pull just as much dps without mods as with, as you are able to set combat text to notify you of maelstrom weapon procs. SAA specifically, I don't use this mod because I'd lose dps waiting for a priority to queue. If you can learn your priorities, you can activate these abilities much more quickly.

I do however use a mod to notify me(via wolf howl, I use enhancetool) when I hit mw5. It's use has absolutely nothing to do with maximizing dps or anything, it's simply to have a notification that isn't easily outshined by all the noise from the bossmod my guild requires me to use.

As far as totem timers and flameshock tracking, I do all of that without the help of UI or other mods, and My dps is on par with enhance shaman of my gear level. I'm in no way falling behind because of lack of power auras or SAA.

How do you LS track? How do you SS debuff track?

I'd like to know what you actually mean by this "I don't use this mod because I'd lose dps waiting for a priority to queue.", SAA can make a priority decision faster than you can blink, certainly faster than you can take in the relavant information. I am fully aware that there are some drawbacks to SAA, but I want to know what you see them as being and why.

You've also got to understand that "My dps is on par with enhance shaman of my gear level" is a huge couching statement, it serves to undermine your whole argument. Most of the posters on this forum are highly competitive. I set my standards against WMO record holders (I don't win) because I have never seen another enhancement shaman come close to me, its a rare spec, and people who play this game really well are a rare breed.

I think its impossible to process the information required to play this spec properly given how horribly Blizzard's standard UI displays it, I gave my reason. I'm pretty sure people who study cognition and interface design would agree with me. The reason SAA, powerauras etc are so popular is because they work wonders on reducing the strain that playing the spec is. Further some of the ideas presented in them are truely ingenious, you copied the audio cue from SAA into your raid setup because it works marvelously, so well in fact that I would wager my left ring finger would twitch if i heard the MW5 sound even if I wasn't at a computer.