Possible changes to Ele's Lightning Bolt while moving?

[Sigmatic]

I think Elementals have the best mobility of all ranged spellcasters, so this will probably be nerfed. As it is now, I beat out all ranged dps except Hunters on Heroic Garrosh boss damage as I can always be casting during the high movement phases of the fight. I expect them to remove it and then try to band-aid with some paltry buff to Lightning Bolt again (10% more damage!).

[Lavalashlol]

I would be fine with a movement tax on it, like longer cast time or reduced movement speed, but removing it completely would be terrible for the class as it stands right now. Being able to cast LB on the move is what saves us from being bottom of the meters on high movement fights.

[Deleted]

Im fine with them removing LB while moving. Just gives room for more skill etc. Will require people to plan ahead (PVE) and use SWG more wisely, even though you will probably combine it with ascendance 9/10 times like you do nowadays.

[Kalcheus]

Now you're arguing for the sake of it, a shield can't be a personal buff for a hunter though, so it must be a raid mechanic. If we are arguing like that lmao. Doesn't take away from the fact that he is standing still.

Let me try a different tact.

Physical attacks - be it firing a gun, slashing with a sword, or punching with your paw - require time to complete. In World of Warcraft, rather than use a casting bar for physical attacks, the game considers it instant and the weapon speed determines the frequency. Because of this, you can attack with a mace even when moving, when in reality, moving while attacking with a mace would be difficult at best.

This is what Lore meant by "ranged melee" - because Hunters use physical attacks, they're not going to have a penalty in attacking while moving. And Hunter dps is always balanced against Melee dps because they are impacted by similar physical school buffs such as attack speed.

You can argue for a more realistic portrayal of hunter attacks, but know that it also means you're arguing for a more realistic portrayal for all the melee dps classes, and I strongly suspect the enhance shamans in this forum won't like to be unable to attack when moving.

If it makes you feel better, Hunters still won't be primo in PVE due to their complete lack of raid cooldowns, and with Mythic size set to 20, their usage as a Buff-o-matic is almost non-existent.

***

Regarding Ascendance and SWG: it wouldn't surprise me if Blizzard made Ascendance have SWG behavior by default in WoD, so that SWG will be saved for situational usage.

[Dungeh]

Imagine Proving Grounds: Endless as Elemental without being able to cast LB whilst moving.. o_O

Unless Blizz are planning a buff for Elemental Shamans, that would allow us to be on par with other caster classes, to compensate for the theoretical removal of LB-moving-casting, then I see this as a huge blow to Ele Shamans. Moving and casting LB has become such a fundamental concept to our rotation, and seeing it being removed would reduce us to nothing more than worn-out "cannons". As others have said, we don't have a substantial amount of variety when it comes to moving and dpsing simultaneously. The fact of the matter is Lightning Bolt does not hit awfully hard and consistently high enough to justify the removal of move-casting.

People saying that this would allow for more thoughtful positioning and enable the more skillful players to shine.. Stop. There are more than enough ways to judge an individual's ability than merely observing their movement and positioning during an encounter. Looking at Elemental's relative damage (which is quite low compared to the majority of other casters), this is one of the few interesting skills we bring that is key to the survival of our spec in a raiding environment.

I would be very saddened if this function was taken away from us after being given it for a few patches. I'm sure I will be told I sound spoiled, but I feel Ele shamans are in a decent enough position without needing to be prodded and poked as a test subject.

[Anzen]

I think Elementals have the best mobility of all ranged spellcasters, so this will probably be nerfed. As it is now, I beat out all ranged dps except Hunters on Heroic Garrosh boss damage as I can always be casting during the high movement phases of the fight. I expect them to remove it and then try to band-aid with some paltry buff to Lightning Bolt again (10% more damage!).

I'd be willing to bet anything this isn't true.

Link a log please.

[Taalyn]

If they remove it, they'll adjust Unleash Elements to be our cast on the move ability for when SWG is on CD.

[Deleted]

Looks like I'll be relegated back to resto duty again.

[Bad Ashe]

it will kill many classes, not just shaman. like destro, no more mobile incinerates, etc. i was extremely dissapointed when i read this too.

i dont know about the rest of you, but i'm tired of them calling it 'expansions'
they dont expand ANYTHING. they just re-tool the entire system. drives me nuts.

[rogas]

I remember the days when elem weren't able to cast on the move... :-( !
Why do they need to remove it? It's something technical? Something that causes lag?

[Socialhealer]

If they remove it, they'll adjust Unleash Elements to be our cast on the move ability for when SWG is on CD.

that would need to hit about 5 times harder than it does now, and have like 1/5th of the cooldown, even then we're going to be dead last on single target.

[Sigmatic]

I'd be willing to bet anything this isn't true.

Link a log please.

I went back to look at the logs and you were right, I missed the destro lock that finished above me. But other than that, I beat the other warlock (afflic), 2 fire mages, alt destro warlock, and a shadow priest. I will usually beat our moonkin too when he is in. So, it is really just destro locks that beat me in boss dps. I can't post the logs as I guess I don't have enough posts, but our kill from yesterday is up on warcraftlogs, just look for <Incarnate>.

[Deleted]

I read the post about this concern again and it got me thinking.
I think blizz isn't going to remove the cast-LB-on-the-move all the way.
I think they're going to give us a talent like KJC. They did say they don't like the way it is now, but they do like the way KJC is.
How they're going to balance the talent tree around that, I don't know, but imo; it's going to be hard to make this "talent" not best pick in all cases.

[Anzen]

I went back to look at the logs and you were right, I missed the destro lock that finished above me. But other than that, I beat the other warlock (afflic), 2 fire mages, alt destro warlock, and a shadow priest. I will usually beat our moonkin too when he is in. So, it is really just destro locks that beat me in boss dps. I can't post the logs as I guess I don't have enough posts, but our kill from yesterday is up on warcraftlogs, just look for <Incarnate>.

Just quickly looked at your last log, a mage and a boomkin beat you aswell on Garrosh damage aswell, and you're the best geared ranged DPS in the guild. So we're at an affi lock (who should have beaten you, I'd take a stab he's undergeared/relentlessly padding weapons), one of the mages, the alt and the spriest who are notorious for their crap damage on movement single target fights.

Too OP

[Crispin]

It's pretty obvious that this aint the only change for WoD, so stop judging wether Ele will suck in pvp or not, since you have no idea of changes made to other classes.


And yes, running while casting has gotten out of hand.

[Anzen]

It's pretty obvious that this aint the only change for WoD, so stop judging wether Ele will suck in pvp or not, since you have no idea of changes made to other classes.


And yes, running while casting has gotten out of hand.

Warlocks got KJC (still baffles me that went through), Mages got Ice Floes and there have been no other changes the entire expansion (except nerfing KJC) and now running while casting has gotten out of hand - better nerf shamans!

& obviously we'll debate it Crispin, if we just closed our eyes at every class change until the new expansion went live, there wouldn't be much of a forum!

[Rennegadelawlz]

They didn't say they were removing it they said they want it to be an important decision, like giving up double darksouls for incinerate on the move. I can't see this becoming a talent, because I can see lightning shield being baked in to all shammy specs and glyph of lightning bolt returning. Thats IF they do anything to ele which they might put in on ptr but I don't think not being able to cast lightning bolt on the move will make it live.

[Deleted]

PvP wise, it is yes indeed, very strong.
Since no one plays with Elemental Blast at high rating, due to the crit chance on it being too RNG, most high rated Ele's play with Unleash.
Which makes LB do a fuckload of damage, I shit you not.
You should consider it.

[SamoTray]

PvP wise, it is yes indeed, very strong.
Since no one plays with Elemental Blast at high rating, due to the crit chance on it being too RNG, most high rated Ele's play with Unleash.
Which makes LB do a fuckload of damage, I shit you not.
You should consider it.

Its actually a trade off between those two talents depending on what comp you're going up against. Since any highly rated heals will just dispel the de buff

[Deleted]

Its actually a trade off between those two talents depending on what comp you're going up against. Since any highly rated heals will just dispel the de buff

True that, but its still easier to cover it though, since most comps ele's play is either with a SP or an Affli.