Enhancement = Tanking spec? (Poll)

[Deleted]

I've gotta agree with what a lot of people have said - Making a fourth specc for tanking, its gives players an extra choice as well as reduces dps queue times, pleeaaaaaaaaaaaase blizzard oh pleaaaaaaase

[Augrelle]

Wow. A dont-give-others-things-I-dont-have-myself post. Haven't seen one of those in a while.

Shamans tanking with the earth element makes 100% sense lore and style-wise. We even were originally intended to tank. And not only did we retain several relics of that past over the years, blizz keeps adding new stuff in that direction in every x-pack (making it look like they're keeping that option open just in case they change their mind):
tbc: earth elemental totem
wotlk: feral spirits (twin howl)
cata: rockbiter weapon change, unleash rockbiter
mop: unleash fury rockbiter, primal earth elemental

In fact, shaman and tanking is the only new role for a class which would make any sense. There are two leather wearer fighting with staves which'll be able to tank, while we as a mail wearer, able to weild shields and harnessing the protective powers of earth magic cant?

How can you even begin comparing that to warriors and healing?

don't forget shamanistic rage in TBC which gave them a defensive cooldown that greatly lowers damage taken.


Though you know, I wouldn't mind seeing 4th specs all around. Round out pure classes with tank or healing specs, and then give other classes a unique dps spec that they don't have already. I could totally see Warriors getting a Ranger/archery/artillery spec, but that is for another topic.

I totally forgot for a sec that DK don't dw tank anymore lol. So yea, I guess a DW tank would be pretty cool and unique. Or maybe they can try both, but I'm sure that will be a pain in the ass to balance. I would love to see 2H come back to Shaman, and I don't think sharing gear with monk/druid is a big deal cause those are the only agil 2h's......I highly doubt we will be able to wear plate gear or use 2H str weapons. DW tank and the whole "best defense is a strong offense" approach might be pretty cool, with some more emphasis on parry and procs. Would also let us use 2 elem imbues like Enhance. And make switching from Enh to tank alot easier with less gear changes.

Earthwarden being earth/spirit/frost is a good idea as well. In that sense, I suppose Resto is water/spirit since they have all that ancestral healing that gives smart healing to low hp targets with instant heal or dot, and bonus HP. I would like to see the shaman tank's mastery being based on the spirit element, basically the ancestors protect you and will make up the core of our unique tanking mechanic, the heal/shield thing I mentioned earlier (ripoff of druid+dk I know)......but it would be cool to have the watchful eye of your spiritual ancestors heal/protect you from incoming damage.

I can't really think of too many other spirit based abilities, but I'm sure the tank cd's could revolve around their influence.....like when you are about to die you instantly gain 30% HP (similar to ardent defender), playing off the same type of smart healing that resto has when people are low hp.

Well I do like the idea of a spirit elemental coming to shield some damage for you is a good mastery. As a tank cooldown that involves the spirits, they could take the Warcraft 3 spirit walker ability: Ethereal Form. Have it make the Tank Shaman completely immune to physical attacks but can't be healed and takes 50% more damage from magic attacks for x seconds.

A second ability could be a ghost charge; you travel to the ghost plane (where we go when we die in wow) but still able to see the living for 10 seconds, when we re-appear or cancel the ability, it causes an explosion of spiritual energy, causing high threat to those around you. This could be a good initation ability, but not much use otherwise.

Then there is also the tank imbue that lowers your chance to be parried, that could be spirit base since we have an imbue for every other element.

[Sylv_]

This thread is useless. You have tanks already.

It would create more problems than it would fix. And it would fix no problems.

IE. It would just create problems.

[Deleted]

A Brewmaster is basically an Enhance Tank. There is no need to make shamans tank

Enhancement are Elemental Warriors, we aren't here to protect. We are here to 'Mace 2 Face!'

[The Troll Rogue]

The thing is, the people that play enhancement (like myself) are going to say NO because they like enhancement how it is and taking away their spec to make it a tanking spec would really piss them off. I think it would be cool to do a 4th spec that was like the way they did with druids, it being similar to enhancement but giving them things that made it a tanking spec.

[Augrelle]

The thing is, the people that play enhancement (like myself) are going to say NO because they like enhancement how it is and taking away their spec to make it a tanking spec would really piss them off. I think it would be cool to do a 4th spec that was like the way they did with druids, it being similar to enhancement but giving them things that made it a tanking spec.

I think that is why there is that "maybe" option. A lot of people who seems to have picked it had the same opinion as you. Keep enhancement as enhancement and add a tank spec that is similar to enhancement but is, well tanky.

A Brewmaster is basically an Enhance Tank. There is no need to make shamans tank

Enhancement are Elemental Warriors, we aren't here to protect. We are here to 'Mace 2 Face!'

Monks 2h tank and tank like rogues would: avoidance. Shamans arn't really about dodging so brewmasters arn't really an Enhancement tank.

[Batix]

And then we'll make priests and warlocks tanks, mages and rogues healers, and hunters will just hopefully fall off the face of Azeroth.

[Protoman]

The thing is, the people that play enhancement (like myself) are going to say NO because they like enhancement how it is and taking away their spec to make it a tanking spec would really piss them off. I think it would be cool to do a 4th spec that was like the way they did with druids, it being similar to enhancement but giving them things that made it a tanking spec.

Yea, thats basically what everyone is suggesting. The OP's post is kind of confusing, dunno why he said if enhance should tank instead of dps....obviously no one would be in favor of that. But a 4th spec would be perfect, fits earth element like enh is wind, ele fire, and resto water. And you could design specific tank abilities without interfering with the other specs, or messing with balance. Would be easy to tweak.

Well I do like the idea of a spirit elemental coming to shield some damage for you is a good mastery. As a tank cooldown that involves the spirits, they could take the Warcraft 3 spirit walker ability: Ethereal Form. Have it make the Tank Shaman completely immune to physical attacks but can't be healed and takes 50% more damage from magic attacks for x seconds.

A second ability could be a ghost charge; you travel to the ghost plane (where we go when we die in wow) but still able to see the living for 10 seconds, when we re-appear or cancel the ability, it causes an explosion of spiritual energy, causing high threat to those around you. This could be a good initation ability, but not much use otherwise.

Then there is also the tank imbue that lowers your chance to be parried, that could be spirit base since we have an imbue for every other element.

Yea, those are some pretty good ideas too. Etheral form sounds cool, have always wanted to have something like that. Had a similar idea with the ghost charge, I called it "astral leap"....basically shadow step. But your idea sounds really cool, its like stealth or invisibility, but thru the plane of the dead! Think its simpler to make it instant tho like a simple charge/leap/shadowstep type mechanic though......but jumping thru astral or death plane, either would be a nice flavor and play off the spirit element.

Though you know, I wouldn't mind seeing 4th specs all around. Round out pure classes with tank or healing specs, and then give other classes a unique dps spec that they don't have already. I could totally see Warriors getting a Ranger/archery/artillery spec, but that is for another topic.

And then we'll make priests and warlocks tanks, mages and rogues healers, and hunters will just hopefully fall off the face of Azeroth.

it seems that the warlocks have picked up this topic as well, lol. i wonder if theirs will have the longevity of ours?

Yea, Demo locks do seem to be getting alot of tankish qualities. Its kinda ridiculous that they might be tanks before us. But I think its cool, locks have often taken the role of caster tank on certain fights. Would be interesting if they had a 4th spec as well, demo for more pet based dps, and then a variant of demo that focused just on tanking.

I heard some cool ideas for mage healer too, specifically arcane and time, like reversing damage taken by allies to heal them. It's a stretch....but it could work lol.

4th spec for a few other classes would be cool. Giving pure dps a support role is a popular suggestion, I already mentioned lock tank and mage healer, but rogue could possibly be an avoidance tank. And as for hunter, we have too many tanks at this point so I guess healing? But they would have to lose the focus bar and get mana, could be interesting though.

[Inactivity]

Hello from the Warlock forums

I wouldn't be too far against Shaman tanking, but only disagree ultimately because

1) Too many tank classes in game
2) Shamans are not pure DPS and have healing OS

The ingredients are sure there though, and the mixture could easily be made...

A reason I would support Warlock tanking (not only because I play one, am biased, and think it would be awesome for me to finally not fucking wait hour queues) is because it makes sense from a class perspective, and only enhances game-play and immersion. As a permanent metamorphosis warlock/demon hunter that has crossed the line into "the demon within," I can see being a beast and tanking content in that form. The abilities were there, in fact most of the "new" abilities we received were re-skins of Vanilla/BC abilities.

Aside from my disagreement for the above reasons, I'll say I see the same for shamans "tanking" too, partly to a degree. Weapon Block is nice (although more rogue flavor) so I guess you'd be stuck with a shield. Current abilities (defensive CDs from you and your pet) can be converted. Since we have Wind (enhancement DPS), Fire (elemental DPS), and Water (healing) based specs, it seems natural that we should have an Earth (tank) based spec - it would enhance how the shaman works as a class (see what I did there?)

(as an aside, although funny enough, while "wind" seems to be enhance element, enhance does mainly fire... and while "fire" seems to be elemental, ele does mainly lightning/"wind" damage...)

However, as much as I love homogenization (let's face it, "unique spec differences" should not be done by limiting what people can do) I would feel bad for the mages, hunters, and rogues... its really hard for me to come up with viable off-specs for them, because rogues and mages are pretty much pure DPS in terms of style. Hunters I can see with "beast master" (think: Rexxar, that guy was a tank) but implementation would be awful. Compare this to Warlocks which have a *very* successful and well-regarded implementation, and Shamans which have that potential for both "play/style/feel of class" and actual mechanism to include it (as seen above).

So who knows? Would love to see opinion, if you want read the warlock thread as it really gives an idea of a well-received, successful, well-thought idea and how it was put into the game.


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And by the way, the "rogue healer" comment made me laugh. Hard.

[Augrelle]

4th spec for a few other classes would be cool. Giving pure dps a support role is a popular suggestion, I already mentioned lock tank and mage healer, but rogue could possibly be an avoidance tank. And as for hunter, we have too many tanks at this point so I guess healing? But they would have to lose the focus bar and get mana, could be interesting though.

Hello from the Warlock forums

I wouldn't be too far against Shaman tanking, but only disagree ultimately because

1) Too many tank classes in game
2) Shamans are not pure DPS and have healing OS

The ingredients are sure there though, and the mixture could easily be made...

A reason I would support Warlock tanking (not only because I play one, am biased, and think it would be awesome for me to finally not fucking wait hour queues) is because it makes sense from a class perspective, and only enhances game-play and immersion. As a permanent metamorphosis warlock/demon hunter that has crossed the line into "the demon within," I can see being a beast and tanking content in that form. The abilities were there, in fact most of the "new" abilities we received were re-skins of Vanilla/BC abilities.

Aside from my disagreement for the above reasons, I'll say I see the same for shamans "tanking" too, partly to a degree. Weapon Block is nice (although more rogue flavor) so I guess you'd be stuck with a shield. Current abilities (defensive CDs from you and your pet) can be converted. Since we have Wind (enhancement DPS), Fire (elemental DPS), and Water (healing) based specs, it seems natural that we should have an Earth (tank) based spec - it would enhance how the shaman works as a class (see what I did there?)

(as an aside, although funny enough, while "wind" seems to be enhance element, enhance does mainly fire... and while "fire" seems to be elemental, ele does mainly lightning/"wind" damage...)

However, as much as I love homogenization (let's face it, "unique spec differences" should not be done by limiting what people can do) I would feel bad for the mages, hunters, and rogues... its really hard for me to come up with viable off-specs for them, because rogues and mages are pretty much pure DPS in terms of style. Hunters I can see with "beast master" (think: Rexxar, that guy was a tank) but implementation would be awful. Compare this to Warlocks which have a *very* successful and well-regarded implementation, and Shamans which have that potential for both "play/style/feel of class" and actual mechanism to include it (as seen above).

So who knows? Would love to see opinion, if you want read the warlock thread as it really gives an idea of a well-received, successful, well-thought idea and how it was put into the game.


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And by the way, the "rogue healer" comment made me laugh. Hard.

Truthfully, for the 4th warlock spec; I would actually prefer to see a heal spec instead of a tank spec. There is the Shadow mend spell, which damages the user but heals a friendly target. The rotation would semi-look like taking life from the enemy to heal yourself, then using your own hp to heal the others. There is also the Fel heal that heals, increases damage done, but also increases damage taken. A CD could be an aftershock ability, your tank takes no damage now but will take the full damage 5 seconds from now.


Though there is only one reason why I say Warlocks with a "I use my own life to heal you" healing spec is between Warlocks and Mages, both have tanking potential in lore and stuff, but only one really has healing potential. Warlocks have the shadow-mender type healing or the Metamorphosis type Tanking. Mages on the other hand are just stuck the Battle-mage type tanking. Rogues are also kind of shoe-horned into an avoidance tank since, lul rogues heal. Hunters then would get stuck healing, though that isn't as bad as it sounds. A part of "survival in the wilderness" is also about knowing herbal remedies.

(kind of off topic but still on topic) Though all of these would be 4th specs. This would leave all of their current specialization alone and they could go along their marry way and ignore the that fourth spec. Just since you didn't roll a shaman to tank, doesn't mean you HAVE to use the tanking spec. You could still use any of the other 3 specs you like. Same with the Warlock. Just since you didn't roll the warlock to tank/heal (what ever they would get), doesn't mean the second it is added into the game, you are forced to go spec into it. The whole "I don't want a "insert spec type here" to be added since I didn't roll this class to play "insert spec type here" is a dumb argument. You arn't being forced to play the spec. All your other specs are still there.


On the topic of Enhance using mainly "fire". While that is true that we use lava lash, flame shock, searing totem, and fire nova a lot, we also use stormstrike, lightning bolt, static shock, and earth shock. It's actually kind of equal between fire and nature/air.

[Endus]

(as an aside, although funny enough, while "wind" seems to be enhance element, enhance does mainly fire... and while "fire" seems to be elemental, ele does mainly lightning/"wind" damage...)

While this is kind of off-topic, I'd like to take a moment to re-emphasize that Shaman are not Mages. We don't have an "element". We have ties to all elements.