The Enhance Movement Fix.

[rabbimojo]

You should chill out, then. Are you not happy about the Ancestral Swiftness talent? It is a step in the right direction as it is. I won't argue with a 15% movement speed increase and instant ghost wolf in one, will at least put us on par with the other melee (like ret pallies) who already have talents like this.

This is a salient point. Ghost wolf will work indoors, which will help hance with any kind of large-scale movement very significantly. The 15% movement speed buff will help with the small-scale movement.

The setup time of hance isn't really a problem, as there are other specs with the same issue that do fine.

Given GC's comment, I think the issue most likely to be addressed is the autoattack-driven damage. Something like 70% of a hance shaman's DPS is autoattack-driven (procs, MW, etc.). This means 70% of the time you spend moving is completely unrecoverable. I'm not aware of any melee DPS this high. Rogues get into the 60s right now because of instant poison, but rogues also can recover the majority of their active damage after moving due to energy pooling.

So, first, we already know they're hitting the instant attacks. LL and SS are both slated to be pretty massive compared to live. The mastery bonus will provide a significant increase to your shocks and LL, so that helps. However, mastery also increases your MW procs, fire totems, offhand procs, and shield procs.

My guess is that hance will see one or more of the following:
1) More damage shifted to LL/SS/shocks
2) MW procs changed to either
A) only proc off of instants (but proc reliably) (and maybe not stack as far)
B) proc off of something that isn't movement-limited, like searing totem

Potentially, they may include "while running" buffs like they've given SP/boom. This would have to be limited, IMO, to ghost wolf movement. Else you could just shake back and forth (like many melee already do and get the buff. So maybe something like "For every second you spend in ghost wolf form, your Feral Spirit cooldown is reduced by X seconds." X would be balanced to provide hance whatever "movement damage recovery" they need to match design goals/balance.

[Mixelphlick]

This is a salient point. Ghost wolf will work indoors, which will help hance with any kind of large-scale movement very significantly. The 15% movement speed buff will help with the small-scale movement.

The setup time of hance isn't really a problem, as there are other specs with the same issue that do fine.

Given GC's comment, I think the issue most likely to be addressed is the autoattack-driven damage. Something like 70% of a hance shaman's DPS is autoattack-driven (procs, MW, etc.). This means 70% of the time you spend moving is completely unrecoverable. I'm not aware of any melee DPS this high. Rogues get into the 60s right now because of instant poison, but rogues also can recover the majority of their active damage after moving due to energy pooling.

So, first, we already know they're hitting the instant attacks. LL and SS are both slated to be pretty massive compared to live. The mastery bonus will provide a significant increase to your shocks and LL, so that helps. However, mastery also increases your MW procs, fire totems, offhand procs, and shield procs.

My guess is that hance will see one or more of the following:
1) More damage shifted to LL/SS/shocks
2) MW procs changed to either
A) only proc off of instants (but proc reliably) (and maybe not stack as far)
B) proc off of something that isn't movement-limited, like searing totem

Potentially, they may include "while running" buffs like they've given SP/boom. This would have to be limited, IMO, to ghost wolf movement. Else you could just shake back and forth (like many melee already do and get the buff. So maybe something like "For every second you spend in ghost wolf form, your Feral Spirit cooldown is reduced by X seconds." X would be balanced to provide hance whatever "movement damage recovery" they need to match design goals/balance.

Don't forget the added damage percentage from unleash weapon which as i understand is ranged, instant, and not tied to shocks, so it has the dual purpose of further lowering the autoattack damage percent and increasing damage on the move. Between that and the cd power of spirit walk once or twice a fight and the added mobility from ancestral swiftness i think it won't need changes quite as drastic as the ones you mention.

[Tragopan]

I really just wish totems would move with us, like.. float around us. Would look cool, they'd still be targettable (though not as easily, to go along with Blizzard's attempt to remove the "get rid of any buff you see" mentality in PvP in Cataclysm) and would solve the problem of being a turret.

[FredMaHead]

Correct me if im wrong - Ghostwolf - Eh ?

[Gunwolf]

Ghostwolf aka "Freedomwolf" is all you need. You can't be snared. I've had some hilarious runs in Warsong Gultch running the flag with little interruption. Combine that with grounding root/cyclone, and stoneclaw that temp absorbs stuff and your good to go as far as movement and closing gaps is concerned.

Don't forget Frost Shock root if your enhance. And now the new Unleash Weapon Frostbrand which slows for 70%.

[Mixelphlick]

Ghostwolf aka "Freedomwolf" is all you need. You can't be snared. I've had some hilarious runs in Warsong Gultch running the flag with little interruption. Combine that with grounding root/cyclone, and stoneclaw that temp absorbs stuff and your good to go as far as movement and closing gaps is concerned.

Don't forget Frost Shock root if your enhance. And now the new Unleash Weapon Frostbrand which slows for 70%.

Yea shamans look to be in a scary good place as far as pvp goes bordering on the movement control of a mage but what most people are worried about most is PVE where any drop in time on boss for an enhance is absolute death to your dps. Any fight that requires much movement runs enhancements damage not only into the ground but through the sewers under it and into hell itself. But like several people have said with the increased damage of instants and the addition of another ranged tool and a nice movement cooldown in the form of spirit walk, much of the damage loss from suspended autoattacks is fixed.

[frownface2000]

Freedom wolf is pretty op, it negates all snares pretty much. That combined with 15% run speed all the time and a root if someone gets too far to just wolf too makes shaman pretty good on mobility I think.

Correct me if i'm wrong (I play a DK, a Pally, and a Druid so i'm not that familiar with the Shaman class), but aren't most raid boss encounters considered indoors, meaning Ghost Wolf CANT be used? (at least on live, I know this is changing in Cata)

The OP is talking about PvE movement issues, not PvP. He doesn't address snares at all, but is looking at the DPS hit Enhance takes relative to other DPSers on movement fights.

I agree enhance (on live) does need to be put back on par with the other DPS classes as far as movement fights, but i think Spiritwalkers Grace will help a little, new Ghost Wolf will help a little, and Ancestral Swiftness will help a bit.
Also, keep in mind that changing abilties and talents may cause unforseen changes that improve your movement DPS even more =)

[Gunwolf]

Correct me if i'm wrong (I play a DK, a Pally, and a Druid so i'm not that familiar with the Shaman class), but aren't most raid boss encounters considered indoors, meaning Ghost Wolf CANT be used? (at least on live, I know this is changing in Cata)

The OP is talking about PvE movement issues, not PvP. He doesn't address snares at all, but is looking at the DPS hit Enhance takes relative to other DPSers on movement fights.

I agree enhance (on live) does need to be put back on par with the other DPS classes as far as movement fights, but i think Spiritwalkers Grace will help a little, new Ghost Wolf will help a little, and Ancestral Swiftness will help a bit.
Also, keep in mind that changing abilties and talents may cause unforseen changes that improve your movement DPS even more =)

Oh I thought it was just about movement. We do have problems maintaining dps during heavy movement encounters. We will be getting indoor GWolf so we can get to places faster. We will have Searing totem plus an extra dot.

The easiest way I can think of is boosting Shock damage since it's reliable at range and we use it pretty often.

Another way is to change up Maelstrom Weapon. Reduce the stacks to 3, make it dec cast time by 33% each. Then have it based off Flame Shock ticks instead of melee attacks. It will take about 8-9 sec to get a full stack, versus 5-6 seconds right now....but you can have it proc even if you are not meleeing the boss.

Dunno just throwing some ideas out there.

[Tiglits]

Oh I thought it was just about movement. We do have problems maintaining dps during heavy movement encounters. We will be getting indoor GWolf so we can get to places faster. We will have Searing totem plus an extra dot.

The easiest way I can think of is boosting Shock damage since it's reliable at range and we use it pretty often.

Another way is to change up Maelstrom Weapon. Reduce the stacks to 3, make it dec cast time by 33% each. Then have it based off Flame Shock ticks instead of melee attacks. It will take about 8-9 sec to get a full stack, versus 5-6 seconds right now....but you can have it proc even if you are not meleeing the boss.

Dunno just throwing some ideas out there.

This idea would move the Shaman to more of a rotation, and less of a priority. I play Shaman for the simple idea that it is NOT a rotation.

[Mixelphlick]

This idea would move the Shaman to more of a rotation, and less of a priority. I play Shaman for the simple idea that it is NOT a rotation.

Yeah like i said before between them increasing the % of your damage from SS, shocks, and LL as well as adding more through unleash weapon, along with the increased mobility from swiftness and the optional cooldown of spirit walk, i doubt any great change will be needed from maelstrom. While i understand they are trying to make less of the damage reliant on white hits maelstrom weapons is a pretty cool effect that has strong synergy with other abilities namely windfury weapons as well as both instant melee strikes, and most important to blizzards current mindset is reactive meaning it will change up what you would otherwise be doing when it procs. Overall i think maelstrom is in a good spot they just need to play around a bit with how much of your total damage percent comes from maelstrom, windfury, flametongue and white melee.

[bigskurrah]

Blizzards idea of a fix for enh movement dps is to give you another 5 stack proc to watch.

[Mixelphlick]

Blizzards idea of a fix for enh movement dps is to give you another 5 stack proc to watch.

Have you read a single thing posted on here so far? Like seriously any of it, because so far about three people have enumerated every movement fix they've added and why they work. Also avoiding lavalash to let that stack up is probably going to be a dps loss depending on how many open spots there are in the priority. So yeah letting it stack up while moving so the first lava lash back on target hits like a freight-train is in fact a movement fix. Thanks for pointing that out.