9.0 Shaman redesign suggestions

[Nfinitii]

I think blizzard should move away from these “hard” specs and more to something closer to classic talents. And maybe add something similar to retail talents that unlock the deeper into the talent tree u get.

They could easily fit in offensive and defensive talents into an enh tree. Then use items to bridge the gap between enh and dedicated tank spec.

Bring back weapon enhancements, rock biter for increased threat, windfury actually hitting hard again. Etc.

[Nahrees]

I think blizzard should move away from these “hard” specs and more to something closer to classic talents. And maybe add something similar to retail talents that unlock the deeper into the talent tree u get.

They could easily fit in offensive and defensive talents into an enh tree. Then use items to bridge the gap between enh and dedicated tank spec.

Bring back weapon enhancements, rock biter for increased threat, windfury actually hitting hard again. Etc.

Feral use to be the combination of feral/guardian. They separated for a reason, so I doubt they would want to go back to another combined tree even if we went back to classic talent trees.

[Nfinitii]

Feral use to be the combination of feral/guardian. They separated for a reason, so I doubt they would want to go back to another combined tree even if we went back to classic talent trees.

Yeah I loved druids back then. Wish they would go back to old school druids when they were the jack of all trades class. So much fun to be able to wreck ppl in cat form, go into bear form when things get dicey or being able to kite heal up and restealth. You could really out play a lot of fotm rerollers back then because you knew the ins and out of druid better than they did.

[Niwes]

muhahahahaha, you think you get a class redesign ? muhahahahahahahahahaha

let me oracle what will happen:

everything stays the same and you get some cooldowns in form of totems back, as well as some utility stuff. cheap shit. thats it. end of story.

[Steve693]

Will just speak for enh as this is my main:

Just change stormstrike to deal nature dmg and the stormfury procs reducing maelstorm instead of removing the cost. Mostly just work on streamlining the legion enh spec (instead of downgrading it as they did in BFA), I have played for every xpac since burning crusade and legion was the most fun i had with my shaman (close second comes the aoe of MoP with flame shock spread).

I hated form the start the constant dmg totems in the rotation (searing mainly), as stacking the lava lash buff in later expansions. As for the return to vanilla/burning crusade style, apart form the fact that WF would never be impactful in todays game (it was impactfull when autoattack dmg was 30-50% of our damage, it cannot be impactful when you have a game with 3-4 times the APM of vanilla/BC), the game evolved too much to use basic mechanics from that time.

[Nahrees]

Just change stormstrike to deal nature dmg and the stormfury procs reducing maelstorm instead of removing the cost. Mostly just work on streamlining the legion enh spec (instead of downgrading it as they did in BFA), I have played for every xpac since burning crusade and legion was the most fun i had with my shaman (close second comes the aoe of MoP with flame shock spread).

I hated form the start the constant dmg totems in the rotation (searing mainly), as stacking the lava lash buff in later expansions. As for the return to vanilla/burning crusade style, apart form the fact that WF would never be impactful in todays game (it was impactfull when autoattack dmg was 30-50% of our damage, it cannot be impactful when you have a game with 3-4 times the APM of vanilla/BC), the game evolved too much to use basic mechanics from that time.

Hasn't the enhance community been asking for Stormstrike to do Nature damage since the beginning of Legion? I think it would solve a lot of the balancing problems of the past. I remember seeing the 500% buff to the ability just to keep up with other classes. It would definitely make mastery desirable and let us scale better.

Flame Shock - Fire Nova was the best feeling in the world for AoE. It probably won't return, but I really enjoyed that combo, but I also enjoy the Crash Lightning + Stormstrike cleave combo.

[Mightytasty]

Class - Bring back the talent that makes Earthbind give you freedom within its radius.
-Remove capacitor totem (I agree it doesn't fit the class, shaman shouldnt have a stun)
-Rename Wind Shear to Wind Shock for consistency
-Remove Ascendance for all specs, replace with something that better fits the class fantasy
-Bring back fire nova totem
-Bring back weapon imbues
-Bring back lightning shield for all specs
-MORE TOTEMS

Elemental - largely fine, but please remove EQ. Go back to chain lightning spam.

Enhancement - wtf is this spec nowadays? Needs an overhaul, also bring back 2 handers. Feral spirits needs to be feared again.

Resto - lots of bullshit filler talent "water" spells. Replace with more totem abilities. Also, resto needs to recapture its AoE healing dominance.

[Byleth]

Extremely bad ideas OP, I hate all of your suggestions.

TBH, I'm not sure what the right answer is for a Shaman redesign, but moving backwards is not going to help.

[Mightytasty]

Enhance become tank, plays the same but with shield. That is all.

I'd be happy with this. Removes a dead spec and gives me a way to get instant queues.

[Kalisandra]

How do you guys feel about the era where Enhancement had "Maelstorm stacks" 1-5 and at 5 you got instant LB/Heal?

Is that a dead design or was it better than current Enhancement?

It was fairly similar to how Ret used to have a proc for Exorcism or instant Flash of Light, and I thought it worked well for both specs. But in this days and age only pure DPS get to have serious free or instant healing, apparently.

[Unholyground]

How do you guys feel about the era where Enhancement had "Maelstorm stacks" 1-5 and at 5 you got instant LB/Heal?

Is that a dead design or was it better than current Enhancement?

I liked it wayyyyyy better than what they have now.

- - - Updated - - -

I'd be happy with this. Removes a dead spec and gives me a way to get instant queues.

They could just add the Earth Warden spec since it is a spec that NPC Shaman have lol.

Actually in Classic I Shaman tank at level 60, better than most other tanks since my passive mitigation is insane.

[sentrosi]

I like how ele and resto play atm. honestly if they changed nothing about ele/resto but brought back Gust of Wind... I'd love it.

[Nfinitii]

How do you guys feel about the era where Enhancement had "Maelstorm stacks" 1-5 and at 5 you got instant LB/Heal?

Is that a dead design or was it better than current Enhancement?

It was way better, not just because of the maelstrom. The whole rotation and class was more enjoyable. The current enhancement is terrible.

[-aiko-]

How do you guys feel about the era where Enhancement had "Maelstorm stacks" 1-5 and at 5 you got instant LB/Heal?

Is that a dead design or was it better than current Enhancement?

Wrath Enhancement was the best it's ever been imo. You had all of your totems, and Maelstrom stacks made it feel special. It's a simple mechanic, really, but it just had that fun factor. Really made you feel things like Windfury because you'd get a chunk of stacks from it for that juicy LB.

The problem with current Enhancement is that they tried to bring that sense of fun with SS procs, but without any feeling of control. It's not like you could really do anything to force more Maelstrom stacks, but you knew that once you hit 5 you could LB. Right now you just kind of sit and pray that you get SS procs. And even lucky strings of SS procs end up feeling bad because you can get in a situation where you overcap maelstrom, which just feels wasteful. It's just not good.

Current Ele is in a decent spot outside of Icefury. Unfortunately Icefury just feels out of place...I do appreciate getting 4 globals to spend on movement while not losing dps but I'm sure everyone has had one of those times where the LB procs were flowing and it felt like a chore to spend those 4 stacks. It also just sucks losing fun utility. First the totems, then gust of wind.

[MiiiMiii]

While I still prefer the Vanilla-TBC Enhancement I, too, would really prefer them going back to the "Maelstorm stacks" style gameplay.

I just straight up don't enjoy the current design and with the forced 8.3 content, not playing Enhancment just feels inefficient, so I am stuck between playing a spec I don't enjoy or do the content inefficiently. Anything is better than this.

[Kalisandra]

Current Ele is in a decent spot outside of Icefury. Unfortunately Icefury just feels out of place...I do appreciate getting 4 globals to spend on movement while not losing dps but I'm sure everyone has had one of those times where the LB procs were flowing and it felt like a chore to spend those 4 stacks. It also just sucks losing fun utility. First the totems, then gust of wind.

I often have trouble spending all four Frost Shocks in time. Between LvB procs and dumping Maelstrom, there's not much room left for them. Also, as with Stormkeeper, there's the annoyance of having to hard cast before your get your cool stuff.

[Razaron]

Mana, Maelstrom, Fury? I shall just call it resource. These ideas are linked but are by no means meant to be balanced, these are just suggestions, give or take what you like.

Enhancement:
-Rockbiter should be removed for Primal Strike, casting Primal Strike generates resource and increases the chance that Windfury will proc by a large % plus removing the buff when Windfury does proc. This will give Enhancement some much needed consistancy with Windfury.
-Windfury should hit for a truck again with much more consistant tools to make it proc.
-Rockbiter(Surstain), Flametongue(AoE) and Frostbrand(Snare) should be longer duration buffs for specific utility. For ease of use this casts it on both weapons so no mix matching.
-Rockbiter causes you to take less damage and gives a hefty leach buff, I'm talking the 20% area. Excellent for maintaining your character on certain encounters whilst being good for sustainability and solo play.
-Flametongue causes enemies hit by the buff to be engulfed by the Flame Shock DoT, not the initial burst damage but just the DoT.
-Frostbrand should snare the the targets for a 15% stacking debuff, once it reaches 60% the target is rooted for a few seconds and cannot be broken by further attacks, thus also removing the snare.
-Unleash Weapon should return and be a situational utility ability that <ahem> enhances the weapon buffs. Rockbiter reduction in damage and leech is doubled for a time. Flametongue causes each target hit with a Flame Shock DoT to be disorientated for 3 seconds. Frostbrand causes any rooted by it's ability to be stunned for 5 seconds.

There's some interesting stuff you can do here, for instance you could rack up everyone in fire using Flametongue and then switch to Rockbiter to leach the damage for healing, very reminiscent of MoP days. You can also set up to cause a mass interupt with Unleash Weapon Flame Shock's disorientate. You can use Frostbrand as a way of kiting dangerous enemies, darting in and out before rooting them. Then you can use some of the new suggested AoE below to be out of melee range and trigger a stun whenever you like.

-Frost Shock should return to be our snare + range filler on the move.
-Flame Shock should return to be our DoT.
-Lightning Shield needs a complete rethink. I'd make the effect LARGER and similar to Warcraft 3 interperatation. Like Fury of the Air around the character but a substantial LOT more damage! This would be our main way to deal bursting AoE damage.
-Hex shouldn't break for a couple of seconds after being cast, it's a good CC limited by it's cooldown. Having players stuck in Hex whilst taking damage below 25% health is a nice way to destroy any self healing classes in PVP and cause the spell to be more consistant.
-Fire Nova without the totem, it should be a PBAoE that's a dump resource for doing aoe damage. The Lava Lash for aoe that lets us blow shit up. Each enemy effected by Flame Shock gurantees Fire Nova to be a critical hit against them. Similar to Lava Burst for Elemental so you can set up big AoE damage with a bit of work.
-Too many classes have their own version of Purge making it lose it's special feeling. I'd make Purge the dominant dispell ability that eats 2 spells for each cast and bakes in the Purifying Waters PVP talent for a 3% heal.
-Stormstrike should do more damage and it's cooldown lessened. I'd then remove Stormbringer so that the balancing of Stormstrike can be more consistent rather then by chance. Yes it felt good to spam Stormstrike for some, but for me it was deceptive, it actually didn't feel good as it hit like a wet noodle unless you got a few off in a row.
-Crash Lightning would be removed as we have better ways to blow up our enemies.
-Lightning Bolts damage should be greatly increased, have increased cast, around the 3 second mark. This should hit as hard as Stormstrike but from range, giving it a longer cast makes it castable at range but not ideal for optimal DPS. It also gives enhancement more utility in poking things that are far away whilst maintaining damage.

-Totem, thats right. Totem. Instead of having seperate totems doing seperate things, totem does it all. You can cast abilities on to the Totem to cause it to trigger a specific effects. Casting totem again (5 second CD) repositions the Totem so you can move it around. Some effects and ideas are,
-Earthbind, causes the totem to snare all those around the lovely Totem.
-Windrush, increases the speed of all allies near the lovely Totem.
-Capicator, stuns all those around the lovely Totem.
-Mass Hex, hexes all those around the lovely Totem.
-Tornado, yanks all nearby mobs to the lovely Totem and keeps sucking them back towards it. (Good for AoE positioning.)
-Healing Fountain, heals all nearby allies near the lovely Totem.
-Stoneclaw, taunts all nearby allies near the lovely Totem, the totem cannot be destroyed so it just diverts damage for a few seconds.

Totem comes in all different styles and colours and is completely transmoggable.

-I'd remove Feral Charge and change it up, like Raiden from Mortal Kombat it'd be awesome if we had a lightning teleport ability. If cast our character would teleport to a target, if friendly it heals them or if it's a enemy it causing shocking damage and rooting them in place for 1 second. It would be a nice way to maneuver ourselves around as well as be a nice escape tool at times.

I'd also like to see two-hand come back in to play, either through a talent thats a passive or by altering the numbers accordingly. Again I repeat, these are ideas for spec/class fantasy.

[Magicon]

Call all shamans for Durek

[Amarys]

No totems. I disagree with it completely.

The original lore shamans don't even use totems at all (Thrall, the shaman unit), only witch doctors do.
I kinda like how elemental is now.. maybe more burst would be nice and some abilities like gust of wind should come back as talents at least.

[Golden]

I personally prefer the new style of totems where they are cooldowns and actually mean something. Resto still has a ton of totems and is the official support spec anyway.

That's kind of the problem when games change classes to much. You get some people that like the old styles of play and some that like the new.