In my opinion the latest official (not data-mined) PTR Patch Notes are quite good, giving very few bad changes while a lot of good stuff has been implemented.
Even though nothing on PTR is final and anything can be changed, added or erased, i believe we can start discussing this FIRST large list of changes.
Blizzard changed, balanced or altered something from just about every aspect of the game:
- Dungeons got polished.
- Raid encounters got changed.
- Dungeon finder system got a tad improved.
- Certain Battlegrounds got improved.
- A lot of UI changes and fixed were done.
- Quests for leveling got changed a bit.
- Some Daily Quests got further fixing.
- Certain Addon stuff is changed.
- Many items got changed.
- Few profession changes were implemented.
- Some achievements got changed.
- Important Gem changes, especially Meta gems.
- Many Racial spells got changed.
- A lot of changes for all 9 classes!
- Some fixes for RealID and Chat systems were implemented.
- Massive bug fixes, Blizz did not even bother to list them separately.
- Slight Hunter pet fixes that were long overdue.
- A lot of Glyph changes.
As we can all see, the work invested in this patch is quite enormous.
Especially can be seen the work invested in altering the 9 classes - but what about the 10th class?
What about Shamans, the 10th (and last) class?
- Not a single bug fix worth mentioning? (god knows we have more bugs than an ant-hill has ants).
- Not a single change to the few "relatively hard to find use for" spells still in Shaman's arsenal? (many shaman are tempted to call these spells pure cr*p, but lets be civil )
- Not a single buff to the PvP crippled Elem and Enha? (compared to Mages, Ferals, Warrs and DKs, no one is dumb enough to bring a Shaman DPS to PvP).
- Not a single fix for Enhas terrible scaling problems? (ninja-ing spell caster daggers/maces as Enha sure is fun!).
- Not a single change to Searing Totem, the dumbest mechanic in WoW? (we all love when ST is ignoring all FS and SS debuffs, doing whatever it pleases).
- Not a single new icon for StormStrike, or any other Shaman spell? (seems giving new icons is Blizz's best attempt to fix Shamans xD ).
I find it hard to believe that Blizzard had the people and the resources to change, alter and polish just about EVERY segment of WoW there is - EXCEPT Shamans!
I think that Blizzard is either:
1. Not bothering at all with Shamans, leaving them for some later weeks/months/year quarters. After all, Shamans are used to this kind of treatment for the past 5 years.
OR2. Preparing such a huge amount of awesome epic changes for Shamans, that Blizz did not want to spoil the massive surprise for all the (nearly extinct) Shaman fans.
There will definitely be more changes to this PTR over the course of the following weeks/months - both long lists and small hotfixes, i am sure of it.
However, no matter how you turn it, the fact is Blizzard now made HUNDREDS of improvements to nearly every part of WoW - not a SINGLE notable one for Shamans!
After seeing first-hand how Blizz treats Shamans over the past 5+ years, i am more inclined to believe the "Blizzard will not do anything significant about Shamans" explanation.