WTF Earthquake?

[Sexyama]

useless talent is useless

[Northy]

useless talent is useless

Useless for now, minor tweaks can make it decent. Blizz isn't addressing it though which has me worried.

[Cynical Person]

I wish I could use earthquake on this thread so you would be too stunned by the effectiveness of this spell to qq.

Still this.

[Northy]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q u o t e:
Personally, I'd like to know the rationale behind the fact that the Elemental Shamans did not recieve any spells that alter their rotation on 'primary' targets. Their level 10 effect was something halfway between a mana restore, an AoE, and a pvp gimmick. Our capstone of the talent tree is an AoE. I can't think of any other dps spec that doesn't get something 'unique' that changes their rotation from the other specs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



"That's just part of the shaman design though, namely that Enhancement still cares a lot about spells instead of being a 100% melee weapon class. I'd argue that Enhance and Elemental still play fairly differently (such that you do have to adjust when respeccing). I'm not sure the mage design, where there is virtually no overlap among talent trees, is a superior model. It's just a different model." -GC


Well, GC addressed the issue, just not a very good response. It's "the shaman design" really lacks a lot of depth. Our signature ability and 31-point ability both being AoE's seems very out of place.

[Foibles]

Frost's 31 point talent is Howling Blast, and aoe only used on bosses when literally no other button is available to press, AND you have the proc making it free up. Shadow's 31 point talent is Dispersion, a survivability/mana regen cooldown.

[Vesheke]

What if they were switched:

Thunderstorm is now the ranged AoE
Earthquake is now the self AoE

Would this fix anything?

[Northy]

Frost's 31 point talent is Howling Blast, and aoe only used on bosses when literally no other button is available to press, AND you have the proc making it free up. Shadow's 31 point talent is Dispersion, a survivability/mana regen cooldown.

Howling Blast is an instant AoE (not channeled) for a melee tank, very useful. I know, I play a tank DK. Dispersion is amazing in PvP and extremely useful in those "oh shit" raid fight moments. It's PvP usefulness makes up for any PvE shortcomings, I know, I also play a spriest.

What if they were switched:

Thunderstorm is now the ranged AoE
Earthquake is now the self AoE

Still, the point is that the'yre both gimmicky AoE spells. We're the only spec whose signature and 31-point abilities are AoE's that have a very high chance of seeing little use by many shamans.

[Foibles]

Howling Blast is an instant AoE (not channeled) for a melee tank, very useful. I know, I play a tank DK. Dispersion is amazing in PvP and extremely useful in those "oh shit" raid fight moments. It's PvP usefulness makes up for any PvE shortcomings, I know, I also play a spriest.

It's terrible in single target situations for Frost dps. Or take Dancing Rune Weapon. It's a nice dps boost for Blood dps, but it's a very small amount of threat and damage for a DK tank, and also costs a lot of Runic Power.

No talent can make up for being bad in pve by being good in pvp, or vice versa. What about pve Shadow Priests? You think they wouldn't trade Dispersion for something else?

It's not as terrible anymore, and while Frost Mages are bad in pve, the original Deep Freeze had zero pve use, which is not ok. Just because it may be good in one aspect of the game does not make up for a talent being bad in another.

[Northy]

I'm struggling to see where Earthquake will shine...boss fights or PvP? I mean, it's channeled...

Just because it may be good in one aspect of the game does not make up for a talent being bad in another.

If that's what you think, then you're gonna take issue with a TON of spells.

[shocktopuslol]

Seriously ...... you get a first AoE spell in shaman history that you can cast on a targeted area without having to move in melee range to drop a totem and you still whine ? In my opinion it's worth a point for PvE, cause there still will be trash packs designed to AoE down.

Chain Lightning doesn't count as proper AoE for me, as it hits only certain ammount of targets and have reduced damage on each "jump".

this is true, BUT..... other classes get it BASELINE, and DONT have to spend talent points to get to it.
we have an AoE that should be baseline as 31 point talent while other classes have very powerful abilities that are used a lot in boss fights and PVP, this AoE would be pretty much useless for pvp (RNG proc) and not used at all on most boss fights


/endrant

[Foibles]

I'm struggling to see where Earthquake will shine...boss fights or PvP? I mean, it's channeled...



If that's what you think, then you're gonna take issue with a TON of spells.

No one knows where Earth Quake will shine. Rated BGs I would imagine, but that's impossible to know till release.

And no, a 31/51 point talent shouldn't be useful in one half and terrible in another. It's one thing for something like Hamstring to be good in pvp, and bad in pvp, but it's another if Bladestorm was useless in pve and awesome in pvp.

[Northy]

No one knows where Earth Quake will shine. Rated BGs I would imagine, but that's impossible to know till release.

And no, a 31/51 point talent shouldn't be useful in one half and terrible in another. It's one thing for something like Hamstring to be good in pvp, and bad in pvp, but it's another if Bladestorm was useless in pve and awesome in pvp.

Then we're in agreement. I just can't wrap my mind around having to spend a point on a talent that should be baseline.

[Alcsaar]

Seriously ...... you get a first AoE spell in shaman history that you can cast on a targeted area without having to move in melee range to drop a totem and you still whine ? In my opinion it's worth a point for PvE, cause there still will be trash packs designed to AoE down.

Chain Lightning doesn't count as proper AoE for me, as it hits only certain ammount of targets and have reduced damage on each "jump".

I wouldn't want to sacrifice a proper single target boss attack for an aoe thats only going to be useful on trash.

[Foibles]

Then we're in agreement. I just can't wrap my mind around having to spend a point on a talent that should be baseline.

Me neither, but I would imagine the devs see Earthquake as being so powerful in group pvp that they would never give it to Enh or Resto, due to the knockdown. They could make it an Ele only spell given when first specced into Ele at 10, but I would guess they also don't want to just hand out spec focus abilities like candy.

If it was just a channeled aoe ability like Rain of Fire or Blizzard, than it would no doubt be baseline.

[escobar]

Arcane mages 51 pt talent isnt used in there normal rotation only when moving, spriets 51 talent is lol in pve, howling blast is only used on rime procs and is primarily aoe, deep freeze used to do nothing on bosses. And nobody says u have to pik up earthquake u only need to have a total 31 points somewhere in the elemental tree.

[Cynical Person]

I wish I could use earthquake on this thread so you would be too stunned by the effectiveness of this spell to qq.

Why won't this thread die?

OMG DOES THIS MEAN EARTHQUAKE HAS DIMINISHING RETURNS OMG WTF BBQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ
/reopen pointless qq thread

[Northy]

When will ele not have to run into melee to do aoe?
When you're casting Earthquake? -GC

Is that really his answer or is that sarcasm? Does he know it lasts for 10 secs and has a 15 sec CD?

[Vesheke]

What I'm about to suggest might be stupid op, but I'm going to say it anyway:

While you're channeling make it so that you take control of the earthquake from its point of view and can steer/move it. (Like a hunter taking control of their pet with "eyes of the beast") It won't be fast movement, but it will generally make it a little easier to direct the attack.

It's stupid op in the cool section, but I would love this.

EDIT: Plus it would make it fitting as the top ele talent...

[Cynical Person]

why won't this thread die?

earthquake isnt going anywhere.

Please. Be. Quiet.