Patch notes - nobody saw that coming

[Raiju]

You mean the lava lash nerf that was reverted?
This buff outweighs the stormstrike/stormblast nerf, RPPM nerf not so much, not that it even matters that massively with the power of the new trinkets.

That's all well and good other than the fact we don't get noticeably more benefit from the new trinkets like we did with RPPM, they're just OP across the board or in other words - irrelevant.

[Roboctopus]

That's all well and good other than the fact we don't get noticeably more benefit from the new trinkets like we did with RPPM, they're just OP across the board or in other words - irrelevant.

I mean quite honestly have you gotten an AoC yet ? It's huge. My DPS went up very noticeably when I got it this week.

Also: Lol at enhancement still being the master of passive damage. VERY thankful for the buffs just wish I could deal it by hitting buttons vs auto attacking!

[Intrepid1]

I have personally found that while UF sims really well now, in actual gameplay I have found it vastly inferior to the other 2 options. Mostly because everytime you cast chain lightning (which is a lot) youre not getting any benefit from UF....UF Is awful for focus cleaving and AoE....while PE is great for pure AoE and EB ok all around

This changes as you get further into heroics. I ran UF on Heroic Iron Juggernaut and was running top 8. UF is also decent on Thok and Heroic Malkorok (though I chose PE on Malkorok since I was gemmed haste already). I could even see UF for a fight like Heroic Dark shaman depending on what strat you choose. All three talents are close. You won't see the best elementals taking only EB though anymore. Each talent has a niche fight and we have to adjust accordingly.

[Txiv]

This changes as you get further into heroics. I ran UF on Heroic Iron Juggernaut and was running top 8. UF is also decent on Thok and Heroic Malkorok (though I chose PE on Malkorok since I was gemmed haste already). I could even see UF for a fight like Heroic Dark shaman depending on what strat you choose. All three talents are close. You won't see the best elementals taking only EB though anymore. Each talent has a niche fight and we have to adjust accordingly.

I also like uf simply because it is instant and there is not to many times when you can't cast it. This puts lavb non surge as the only spell you have to stop moving to use, which personally I love ( I move constantly)

[Raiju]

I mean quite honestly have you gotten an AoC yet ? It's huge. My DPS went up very noticeably when I got it this week.

Also: Lol at enhancement still being the master of passive damage. VERY thankful for the buffs just wish I could deal it by hitting buttons vs auto attacking!

I havent, but one of our hunters did and his damage went up dramatically, which is the point. Those trinkets make EVERYONE's dps go up that massive amount. It's just part of the "gearing" for this patch.

RPPM we got a lot more from it than pretty much any other spec, so the nerf hit us a lot harder than pretty much everyone but warlocks.

[Gendori]

This changes as you get further into heroics. I ran UF on Heroic Iron Juggernaut and was running top 8. UF is also decent on Thok and Heroic Malkorok (though I chose PE on Malkorok since I was gemmed haste already). I could even see UF for a fight like Heroic Dark shaman depending on what strat you choose. All three talents are close. You won't see the best elementals taking only EB though anymore. Each talent has a niche fight and we have to adjust accordingly.

Those 3 fights you describe are all single target fights where UF will probably be good. I am skeptical that it would be good on Dark Shaman with so much cleave/aoe.

As far as EB goes I was talking about it being better in situations where you are Focus cleaving (merely subbing CL for LB, while keeping a single target priority. In that situation EB outperforms UF). Even in pure AoE if you are bad and cast EB you still get a buff while UF gives you nothing

[Roboctopus]

We get a lot more than others here too though. Fire Ele, Ascendance and Wolves and Rage. Not sure on Hunter but offensively this is a lot more than Rogues get for example. Keep in mind cool downs are huge to us.

[Intrepid1]

Like I said on Dark shaman it depends on what strat you use and how much movement there is.

[Omanley]

Soooo, more damage riding on imbues and low prio pvp? Not sure I like that, looking at pvp.
It's also making me wonder how they see frostbrand nowadays.
Except enh, no one uses it. And even enh only uses it in pvp. And even in pvp, they yet again, made ft so much more stronger dmg-wise (plus adding that snare as a new pvp set bonus), that just for the ranged snare and sprint when unleashing it, it's not really worth it.

They should just go ahead and add that UF:FB sprint to the UF:FT one (or even better, the UE:FT one).
That would give both enh/ele more frequent mobility (though still no insta gap closer/freedom), and allow blizz to give fb to the trash can.

Or make a fb-ft merge the new enh oh, still called fb, and make ft anew for ele (would be more work though).

As for the lb buff: Yes I know it is primary for ele, but still: With a stronger trend towards EB in pvp, accompanied with msw still being important for hex/heals and lower uptime, I dont see much of an overall dmg increase in pvp. The SS nerf's likely still a pain, I'd imagine.

[Walktheline]

Soooo, more damage riding on imbues and low prio pvp? Not sure I like that, looking at pvp.
It's also making me wonder how they see frostbrand nowadays.
Except enh, no one uses it. And even enh only uses it in pvp. And even in pvp, they yet again, made ft so much more stronger dmg-wise (plus adding that snare as a new pvp set bonus), that just for the ranged snare and sprint when unleashing it, it's not really worth it.

They should just go ahead and add that UF:FB sprint to the UF:FT one (or even better, the UE:FT one).
That would give both enh/ele more frequent mobility (though still no insta gap closer/freedom), and allow blizz to give fb to the trash can.

Or make a fb-ft merge the new enh oh, still called fb, and make ft anew for ele (would be more work though).

As for the lb buff: Yes I know it is primary for ele, but still: With a stronger trend towards EB in pvp, accompanied with msw still being important for hex/heals and lower uptime, I dont see much of an overall dmg increase in pvp. The SS nerf's likely still a pain, I'd imagine.

with the increased resil nowadays, they could just revert the SS nerf... stormblast hits for half the dmg it did last season... thats really a pain in the ass.

[Emophia]

They should just merge FB and FT into Frostfire Imbue or something, FB is like 100% useless now.

[wordup]

That's all well and good other than the fact we don't get noticeably more benefit from the new trinkets like we did with RPPM, they're just OP across the board or in other words - irrelevant.

Well for me, after my first proper raid after getting the trinket; here is one thing that is really huge for us:
The CDR drops Ascendance to pretty much 2minutes. The ICD on the proc is 115sec, and procs relatively soon after, which is VERY close to syncing with Ascendance and giving a near guaranteed proc when it comes up. That is pretty huge, given we've both played the spec, in ToT it was irritating to have to wait for procs that don't come, or to hit it and watch the procs come just as it fades.

The gear is making a massive difference for us though, and this buff is going to be icing on the cake. Once RF wing 2 opens and you see more with the multistrike + AoC combo along with 2pc, you'll see much more access and by extension higher numbers from the majority. Taking a look here:

http://www.worldoflogs.com/rankings/...cement_Shaman/

I have NEVER seen my numbers be that high until I got these items, it's just such a spectacularly high upgrade I can't stress it enough. Yeah, other factors caused that parse to be so high, but genuinely, it's not all doom and gloom, we're way better than we were when LvL was nerfed and there was a black cloud over us that made it look like we were going to sit at the bottom. That parse is even competing across all classes, one fight, anecdotal evidence, but it's entirely possible for us to do well. Now? I think with these buffs we have a strong standing, and can maybe push really high numbers with top end gear.

[Velthari]

The resent change to imbues is a change they did in the mop beta to nerf our passive dmg because our active dmg was so low and everyone was stacking haste because of it, so in the end they reverted a change they did in the past.

[Refridge]

Enhancement has some of the strongest, if not the strongest cooldowns, in the game. AoC's power is relative to the cooldown's which it's decreasing. That's why its amazing for us and less impressive for certain other classes.

[wordup]

Enhancement has some of the strongest, if not the strongest cooldowns, in the game. AoC's power is relative to the cooldown's which it's decreasing. That's why its amazing for us and less impressive for certain other classes.

Exactamundo, I think it's hard for anyone to deny even after the 10% nerf that PE Fire Ele is pretty much the best CD around.