Sucks to be Shaman? Warlords of Draenor = NO HIGHLIGHTS.

[Deleted]

i would like some improvements and bit tweaks for shamans one in a while like could EB add just to ele , i cane live without that
BUT I DEMAND FOR FIRST TIME ATLEAST FOR 5TH EXP FINALLY BALANCE SHAMAN TO BE ON PAR FOR FIRST TIER, and that is general source of complains about shaman game play as not enough buffs shamans are getting and ppl start to feel that mechanics are at fault.

and you cant argue about that shamans are horrible balanced almost every time.

Elemental was fine in tier 14, I know that much. I did rather well this whole expansion, and whilst the guild I was in at the start of it really didn't have good damage dealers at the time (or even anything close in some instances) which led to me usually being top or second on our damage meters, I always got ranked and always managed to raise the bar for how well elemental can perform. So, I'm really sorry, but I don't believe that the spec itself is at fault, I think people just have to get better at getting the most out of their spec.

I think that came out a lot more insulting than I thought, but the point is that it is possible to do very well, so if people aren't then they're not getting the most out of their spec.

[Omanley]

You are all just being loud and ungrateful. We don't even have a single problem or quality life issues. Everything is so perfect, we never ever need a slightest change.
Maybe except new icons.

Hahaha, yeah. With the new Ghost Wolf model, we'll own every bg and arena for years to come . People will just puke rainbows till they suffocate^^.
Stop being a small group of loud people. Blizz only listens to the ones posting constructive feedback. Obviously shaman players are not capable of such :P.

To those people saying the class/spec is fun and fine: Are you talking pve or pvp? Because as I see it, there's a BIG difference in having to deal with cpt/hex, totems in general, gw/sprints and other parts in pve than having their numerous weaknesses exploited in pvp. Ele being a turret again in WoD will be an annoiance in pve, but it will kill the spec in pvp, really. Ever being kited relentlessly in pvp as an enh? Not fun. Ascendence, WWT and WW aren't always avaiable, especially in arena. And in WoD, pvp uotime well be much more important than now, because Ascendence being nerfed means we'll be much more dependant on killing people by piling on pressure over longer periods of time, instead of globaling.

[Teriz]

That completely changed the way we managed our rotation, bringing in the need for shock management where before the only time we cared was 'Oh I'm moving, should I frost shock or just refresh Flame Shock again?'. And what about Lava Surge? Giving us something rotational that involved reactions rather than watching cooldowns.

You weren't casting Lightning Bolts and Earth Shock before Fulmination? The only thing Fulmination did was prioritize Earth Shock while Flame Shock and/or Lava Burst was on cooldown. Lava Surge pulled Lava Burst off of cooldown, and then made Lava Burst instant cast. QoL change? Certainly. Significant change? Not really.

Every change done in WoW ever was to fix an issue. Whether that issue was stale game play (addition of Lava Surge to ele rotation), weak abilities (class buffs), too strong abilities (class nerfs), uninteresting choices (old talent system) or anything else. I just don't understand how you can say some changes other classes get are alright and 'count', but the changes we get don't count because they 'had to be done'.

Because adding a proc to a rotation isn't on the same scale as getting an entirely new resource system (Spriests) or getting your entire gameplay system overhauled (Balance Druids).

Tremor Totem was changed in Cata to be more reactive rather than preemptive, to follow the philosophy they were developing for totems. Grounding Totem has no reason to be changed, its just a spell absorb mechanic. Searing Totem I've said needs to change. Healing Stream Totem has changed significantly, it works completely differently to how it used too, but again needs change. Stone Claw Totem doesn't even exist anymore. Mana Tide Totem and SLT remain the same as from Cata as, like the Post-Cata Tremor Totem, they fit the model for what totems are meant to be now.

Why does every ability need a major overhaul if it works? These totems fit the philosophy of what totems are meant to be, reactive cooldowns, so why do they need a rework? The only reason I seem to see is 'because we want change', but at the same time people complain that we don't have unique abilities anymore. Our totems are the most unique thing about us.

Where did I say that these needed an overhaul? I said that the totem change wasn't a massive change.

Just as the 'dumb limits' of 'normal' buffs still exist. They can still be purged (apart from a unique and powerful few). Every ability in the game has some kind of weakness, even if that weakness is just 'it has a cooldown' or 'it costs me resources to use'. There is no perfect ability in the whole game, thats the way it is meant to be.

I think that totems can do without elemental limits, 5 health points, and other silly holdovers from the good old days...

[Omanley]

In what way, precisely, do WW and DKs (specifically Frost and/or Unholy) make Enhancment look outdated?

Also, why must every (hybrid?) melee spec/class have both DW and 2H playstyles? To the point, why should Enha have a viable 2H spec?
What's wrong with JUST having one style? Stating that "every other hybrid melee class has both DW and 2H, so Enha should have it too" does NOT make a valid point as to why should Enhance have it as well.

Not allowing every spec and class to have the same options as their "counterparts" is NOT bad design, at least from my view. And we`re not talking about homogenisation here, since as you stated the specs are nothing a like in terms of gameplay.

1) Enhance is the most limited melee specialisation in terms of weapon choices.
- Compared to agi dw melees, it cannot wield swords like monks or rogues
- Compared to str dw classes (fury/frost), it cannot additionally make use of 2h either
Like so often enh will have to rely on general changes for improvement, namely the changing-on-spec primary stats in WoD. Even there though, Fists and Axes are kinda exotic, so I dont expect as many dropping as swords, daggers, staves and so forth. Not only does it not make ANY sense for enh being unable to use swords lore-wise, blizz obv doesn't really care either way, seeing how rogues can weild battle axes and war hammers. And enh CAN still use 2h, and they fit as well. With WF icd gone, but it still not being capable of proccing of itself, I see no problem for enh to be able to go 2h. LL usable with 2h and taking the dps numbers of a 1h offhand weapon of the same ilvl, and allowing two imbues on a 2h weapon => solved.

2) Enhance's (shaman's in general) totem's are completely outdated and even more restricting than during vanilla, despite being cd-based no and reliant on not being insta-stomped. With elemental totems and SBT having long duration, clashing between totems of the same elements is bound to happen. From the beginning, utility cds' cancelling each other is a crap design. Pets tied to immobile sticks, stuns with ramp-ups, spell reflects and fear breakers not working on silences...it is apparent that blizz is to lazy to look at individual shaman skills. They just throw everything in the totem pot and then go /ignore.

3) Enhance's mobility (shaman mobility in general) is horrible in pvp. Ele will be 100% turret again and dead in pvp. Enh will still lack uptime, and be more dependant on it now that they'll nerf Ascendence hard, probably also FET, and buff sustained, and whichever mobility tools you look at, they are inferior versions of other classes' counterparts. Even throwing all enh has into the pot, and comparing it against every other melee in detail, enh falls short. It is the only melee with a 30 or lower cd movement gap closer. Ret is comparably bad, but HoF + the judgement sprint allow for a barely okay replacement. I dont know how it's for resto, but I've heard complains on their end as well.

4) In general, shamans are very dependant on talents and glyphs fixing crappy base design. The 2/3 of the tier45 row is testament to that, and even the combined tier wouldn't fix totems, not even close. Enh is starved for glyphs slots, because LS/HS are just to good to pass up. Meanwhile CPT/GW/HEX/TV primarily would fix base issues, not adding something "additional". W/o GW glyph, the spell feels underwhelming. Without CPT glyph, it is the worst stun ingame period. Without glyphing Frostflame weapon in WoD, enh will be on the short end of the stick in snaring in WoD also, esp as FrS seems to still recide on the shared cd ALL THE WHILE RETAINING IT'S FRIGGIN DMG NERF IT RECEIVED BECAUSE OF THE PERK IN THE FIRST PLACE.

5) Hex will be a casted cc period. No more MSW hexes. Do monks or Dks need to cast their cc? Didn't think so. Add a cd to that so that enh is inferior to ret and repetance as well, make it weak against druids to boot, screw the general rule that crowd control actually controls and allow hexed targets to move as they wish (super convenient for moving out of CPT range, right?) so it cant even be used to help force a cpt like hunters did with scatter traps (say what you want about traps being unreliable, at least with scatter, traps worked fine)

6) Enhance is the only melee dps that has to hard cast spells that break on movement on a regular basis, now that they changed lb.

7) Enh is the only melee spec sharing a lot of spells with a caster spec. The only other class having both specs is druids, and balance and feral have a completely seperated spell pool. There will be those saying that's enhance's charm, but attacking at melee to be able to use ranged specs is bull shit, and indicates lazyness in class design.
In tbc=>wotlk(3.0), blizz solved a lack on enh skills by slapping ele skills on enh by buffing shocks, adding msw and Statick Shock. It took blizz since then to now in WoD to actually add synergy to shocks for enh. Prior we used them simply as fillers, because they were there, just like during vanilla/tbc. And even the improved LL perk is basically a clone of the elemental talent; Lava Surge.
Also enh was famous for its imbues, which enhanced it's capabilities. Meanwhile every spec uses them.

As a result of all this, enh lacks an identity as a spec. The enhancy features (talents focused on improving (buff) totems and imbues) were removed/distributed, and additions consisted of elemental 2nd hand skill.
The only new frequently used enh only skill added since vanilla, is Lava Lash. And even that took several bigger changes to make it actually good.

8) Enh required several big changes almost every x-pack to make it actually have/use normal gear now.
- From rogue/feral off- gear in vanilla (tier gear was spellpower based)
- To rogue gear with Str gems in tbc (Finally spec specific tier gear at least, but having int on it)
- Switching to agi, plus having a benefit from int
- Periods where we went with daggers, ft/ft and caster weapons
- Additional change in cata, mail no longer has int
- Had many many instances in where it was left out in itemisation (faction rewards, raid drops, crafted weapons, etc.) I remember having no luck with the axe from alar back in tbc, and had to run with the s2 pvp mace for off hand all the way to sunwell, because every 1h agi Weapon from Fool's Bane over Decapitator, to Phoenix and Fury fists were main hand only for the longest time, and Rising Tide from black temple, for some alient reaon had to be frickin' unique. Or during icc, where everyone could get weapons out of the 1st 25m wing except enh...or enh having to wait till the very end of 4.0 progress to get acess to heroic weapons. Or all the 1h agi swords or str axes among crafts...

...
And enh still is the only melee without either a primary or secondary recource...

That enough to show that enh/shamans being outdated? We're like a living fossil. A shaman performing class analysis basically equals archeology.

[Deleted]

You weren't casting Lightning Bolts and Earth Shock before Fulmination? The only thing Fulmination did was prioritize Earth Shock while Flame Shock and/or Lava Burst was on cooldown. Lava Surge pulled Lava Burst off of cooldown, and then made Lava Burst instant cast. QoL change? Certainly. Significant change? Not really.

No I wasn't casting Earth Shock. No-one was.

http://totemz.wordpress.com/category...-dps-rotation/

The movement suggestions here suggests Frost Shock, not Earth Shock, like I said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AJLHq01pCo

(excuse the terrible music in the video, the rotation used is in the About section).

How is completely changing how Lava Burst works, from being a spell you could literally macro, to something that can be instant cast and has a reactionary value to it, just a quality of life change?

Because adding a proc to a rotation isn't on the same scale as getting an entirely new resource system (Spriests) or getting your entire gameplay system overhauled (Balance Druids).

No, but we also go a new resource system. Maybe not as complex as the Balance druid eclipse system, but we have to manage our Lightning Shield stacks now, which we didn't have to do before.

[Teriz]

***alpha***

Alpha is the stage where major changes take place. Beta is where the smaller stuff comes into play. So in beta you may see a talent change or two, you're not going to see a major system change.

I'd also like to point out that our level 100 talents showcase everything that is wrong with the Shaman class.

[Aleksej89]

Shamans did not get major changes (like warrior or balance druid) but the changes we got are (IMO) extremely good.

Vast improvements for enha and elem, especially for their AOE and overall stat scaling, and other changes that are just long overdue (like removal of much filler).

However i gotta point out that both arms and fury warriors are getting major reworks, crucial spells removed and overall changes to mechanics/rotation.

[Futhark]

The answer to this should really be remove the weapon specializations they will never use, not redesign the class in such a way to allow for them to use them.

Nooo! In ToT I finally got to use 2Hd for Elemental and it was glorious! I hope to see more of those in the future.

- - - Updated - - -

And enh CAN still use 2h, and they fit as well. With WF icd gone, but it still not being capable of proccing of itself, I see no problem for enh to be able to go 2h. LL usable with 2h and taking the dps numbers of a 1h offhand weapon of the same ilvl, and allowing two imbues on a 2h weapon => solved.

Posts like this are going to give me blue-balls. I want to live in this world.

[Deleted]

Nooo! In ToT I finally got to use 2Hd for Elemental and it was glorious! I hope to see more of those in the future.

Haha dat 2hd Int Mace. OP as f**k bro. I want a massive 2hd Int Sword, so I can stab people with my lightning rod of Elemental Justice. Why do Paladins get all the fun.

[Teriz]

No I wasn't casting Earth Shock. No-one was.



How is completely changing how Lava Burst works, from being a spell you could literally macro, to something that can be instant cast and has a reactionary value to it, just a quality of life change?

It hardly changed how LvB works. It just made it better.

No, but we also go a new resource system. Maybe not as complex as the Balance druid eclipse system, but we have to manage our Lightning Shield stacks now, which we didn't have to do before.

Fulmination hasn't changed since it was introduced. Eclipse has changed multiple times since it was introduced. Elemental has gotten nothing similar since that time.

[Deleted]

It hardly changed how LvB works. It just made it better.

I didn't change how the spell itself worked, but it completely changed how we used it. It was a massive change to the way the class played, I just can't see how you can say nothing has changed for us then in the same breath say this change doesn't matter.

Fulmination hasn't changed since it was introduced. Eclipse has changed multiple times since it was introduced. Elemental has gotten nothing similar since that time.

Being pedantic here, but actually it has. Fulmination was changed so that it worked off every stack of Lightning Shield beyond the first and the total stacks were reduced, to make it less complicated and to make a QoL change for the way Lightning Shield worked when you get hit.

[sidenorna]

Because adding a proc to a rotation isn't on the same scale as getting your entire gameplay system overhauled (Balance Druids).

I think this is the forth of fifth time this has happened for druids and like the sixth time they have kicked the shaman problem can down the road.

[Teriz]

I didn't change how the spell itself worked, but it completely changed how we used it. It was a massive change to the way the class played, I just can't see how you can say nothing has changed for us then in the same breath say this change doesn't matter.

I said nothing on the scale that has changed for other classes. Which btw is the point of this thread.

Being pedantic here, but actually it has. Fulmination was changed so that it worked off every stack of Lightning Shield beyond the first and the total stacks were reduced, to make it less complicated and to make a QoL change for the way Lightning Shield worked when you get hit.

Again, nothing on the scale of Balance Druids, Shadow Priests, or other classes.

[Deleted]

I said nothing on the scale that has changed for other classes. Which btw is the point of this thread.

Again, nothing on the scale of Balance Druids, Shadow Priests, or other classes.

And as I've said, I disagree that change should happen simply because of some arbitrary time scale. I only want change where I feel it is actually justified. Just saying 'but other classes got changes' doesn't cut it for me, unless you have reasons for us to get changes. The reasons for change given so far I feel do not justify complete overhauls. Many aspects could do with improvements, if they were perfect people wouldn't complain (though its human nature, so yeah they probably would), but I just disagree that these improvements warrant huge sweeping change.

[Teriz]

And as I've said, I disagree that change should happen simply because of some arbitrary time scale. I only want change where I feel it is actually justified. Just saying 'but other classes got changes' doesn't cut it for me, unless you have reasons for us to get changes. The reasons for change given so far I feel do not justify complete overhauls. Many aspects could do with improvements, if they were perfect people wouldn't complain (though its human nature, so yeah they probably would), but I just disagree that these improvements warrant huge sweeping change.

Omanly covered most of the reasons in post #113.

[Deleted]

1) Enhance is the most limited melee specialisation in terms of weapon choices.
- Compared to agi dw melees, it cannot wield swords like monks or rogues
- Compared to str dw classes (fury/frost), it cannot additionally make use of 2h either
Like so often enh will have to rely on general changes for improvement, namely the changing-on-spec primary stats in WoD. Even there though, Fists and Axes are kinda exotic, so I dont expect as many dropping as swords, daggers, staves and so forth. Not only does it not make ANY sense for enh being unable to use swords lore-wise, blizz obv doesn't really care either way, seeing how rogues can weild battle axes and war hammers. And enh CAN still use 2h, and they fit as well. With WF icd gone, but it still not being capable of proccing of itself, I see no problem for enh to be able to go 2h. LL usable with 2h and taking the dps numbers of a 1h offhand weapon of the same ilvl, and allowing two imbues on a 2h weapon => solved.

Druids can't duel wield and Rogues don't use 2hds. Druids are the only other class that has both a ranged and a melee DPS spec, and their melee DPS spec only has one playstyle, so surely it makes sense that ours does too. I think the answer should actually be to remove the items shaman can duel wield altogether (minus Staves for the casters). The burst capabilities of an Enhance Shaman having both imbues on one high damage weapon seem insane too. Does the Windfury proc also proc the second imbue? That seems like some nuts burst to me.

Even ignoring the possible balance issues, there still remains it has to be balanced in the first place. That means spreading the design and balance teams even thinner by basically adding a secondary spec to Enhance, because it would inevitably completely change the way the class plays, because otherwise why do it at all.

2) Enhance's (shaman's in general) totem's are completely outdated and even more restricting than during vanilla, despite being cd-based no and reliant on not being insta-stomped. With elemental totems and SBT having long duration, clashing between totems of the same elements is bound to happen. From the beginning, utility cds' cancelling each other is a crap design. Pets tied to immobile sticks, stuns with ramp-ups, spell reflects and fear breakers not working on silences...it is apparent that blizz is to lazy to look at individual shaman skills. They just throw everything in the totem pot and then go /ignore.

I disagree wholeheartedly on removing the totem element cap. It provides further choice beyond "SPAM ALL THE THINGZ", especially when some of the cooldown totems have relatively short cooldowns (30 seconds). There would never be a choice between HTT and HST, it would just be both. It would be a direct buff to both SlT and Capacitor Totem, arguably two of the totems you want to be able to destroy the most, as you could drop Grounding Totem along with them. It would make counter play in general harder because you would have the ability to spam loads of totems out.

3) Enhance's mobility (shaman mobility in general) is horrible in pvp. Ele will be 100% turret again and dead in pvp. Enh will still lack uptime, and be more dependant on it now that they'll nerf Ascendence hard, probably also FET, and buff sustained, and whichever mobility tools you look at, they are inferior versions of other classes' counterparts. Even throwing all enh has into the pot, and comparing it against every other melee in detail, enh falls short. It is the only melee with a 30 or lower cd movement gap closer. Ret is comparably bad, but HoF + the judgement sprint allow for a barely okay replacement. I dont know how it's for resto, but I've heard complains on their end as well.

I agree that we could do with some mobility buffs for PvP, especially now that they are nerfing Lightning Bolt. However, in PvE we are still one of the best classes in the game. Spiritwalker's Grace for Ele and Resto is an incredibly powerful tool and Enhance can save Ascendance for any portion of a fight where there is significant, sustained movement and output more DPS than most melee in the game.

4) In general, shamans are very dependant on talents and glyphs fixing crappy base design. The 2/3 of the tier45 row is testament to that, and even the combined tier wouldn't fix totems, not even close. Enh is starved for glyphs slots, because LS/HS are just to good to pass up. Meanwhile CPT/GW/HEX/TV primarily would fix base issues, not adding something "additional". W/o GW glyph, the spell feels underwhelming. Without CPT glyph, it is the worst stun ingame period. Without glyphing Frostflame weapon in WoD, enh will be on the short end of the stick in snaring in WoD also, esp as FrS seems to still recide on the shared cd ALL THE WHILE RETAINING IT'S FRIGGIN DMG NERF IT RECEIVED BECAUSE OF THE PERK IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Whilst I agree glyphs shouldn't be required, I actually think its a good thing if you wish you had more glyph slots. That means they are attractive choices, which is what they are meant to be. Capacitor Totem without glyph is not the worst stun, it just requires Totemic Projection to work. And they want FrS to be a CC ability, not the pew pew ability it used to be, and I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing.

5) Hex will be a casted cc period. No more MSW hexes. Do monks or Dks need to cast their cc? Didn't think so. Add a cd to that so that enh is inferior to ret and repetance as well, make it weak against druids to boot, screw the general rule that crowd control actually controls and allow hexed targets to move as they wish (super convenient for moving out of CPT range, right?) so it cant even be used to help force a cpt like hunters did with scatter traps (say what you want about traps being unreliable, at least with scatter, traps worked fine)

Hex is essentially a silence that also stops melee attacks, and that is the way it has always been. It never was and never has been a complete loss of control ability. I'm not sure how I feel about Enhance losing instant cast Hex, I do think that is a mistake though.

6) Enhance is the only melee dps that has to hard cast spells that break on movement on a regular basis, now that they changed lb.

LB had to be changed, because every ranged class (minus Hunters) lost mobility

7) Enh is the only melee spec sharing a lot of spells with a caster spec. The only other class having both specs is druids, and balance and feral have a completely seperated spell pool. There will be those saying that's enhance's charm, but attacking at melee to be able to use ranged specs is bull shit, and indicates lazyness in class design.

On the plus side, it allows for Enhance to output a lot more DPS from range than other classes, and they don't have to change form to heal either. It does have positives as well as negatives. In fact, the only spells I can actually think of that Enh shares with Ele/Resto are its heals (just like Druids do), its Shocks (an iconic part of the class, FROST SHOCCCKKKK anyone?) and Lightning Bolt, which is again an iconic part of the class.

In tbc=>wotlk(3.0), blizz solved a lack on enh skills by slapping ele skills on enh by buffing shocks, adding msw and Statick Shock. It took blizz since then to now in WoD to actually add synergy to shocks for enh. Prior we used them simply as fillers, because they were there, just like during vanilla/tbc. And even the improved LL perk is basically a clone of the elemental talent; Lava Surge.
Also enh was famous for its imbues, which enhanced it's capabilities. Meanwhile every spec uses them.

I think the reason they implemented ways to improve how LB and the Shocks worked for Enh was because they were already using them, so it made sense to improve on that. As for imbues, its something the entire class is famous for. Charing into battle with flaming weapons and empowering themselves with the strength of the elements.

As a result of all this, enh lacks an identity as a spec. The enhancy features (talents focused on improving (buff) totems and imbues) were removed/distributed, and additions consisted of elemental 2nd hand skill.
The only new frequently used enh only skill added since vanilla, is Lava Lash. And even that took several bigger changes to make it actually good.

Enhance still has its identity. It focuses on enhancing the power of its physical strikes with the elemental power, rather than hitting/healing with the elements themselves. Thats why Windfury, Flametounge Weapon and Lava Lash are abilities that exist. That isn't all enhance does, but it is still an integral part of what the class is.

8) Enh required several big changes almost every x-pack to make it actually have/use normal gear now.
- From rogue/feral off- gear in vanilla (tier gear was spellpower based)
- To rogue gear with Str gems in tbc (Finally spec specific tier gear at least, but having int on it)
- Switching to agi, plus having a benefit from int
- Periods where we went with daggers, ft/ft and caster weapons
- Additional change in cata, mail no longer has int
- Had many many instances in where it was left out in itemisation (faction rewards, raid drops, crafted weapons, etc.) I remember having no luck with the axe from alar back in tbc, and had to run with the s2 pvp mace for off hand all the way to sunwell, because every 1h agi Weapon from Fool's Bane over Decapitator, to Phoenix and Fury fists were main hand only for the longest time, and Rising Tide from black temple, for some alient reaon had to be frickin' unique. Or during icc, where everyone could get weapons out of the 1st 25m wing except enh...or enh having to wait till the very end of 4.0 progress to get acess to heroic weapons. Or all the 1h agi swords or str axes among crafts...

...
And enh still is the only melee without either a primary or secondary recource...

That enough to show that enh/shamans being outdated? We're like a living fossil. A shaman performing class analysis basically equals archeology.

All those itemisation changes have since been fixed, so I don't see why you bring them up as showing the class is outdated, when they themselves are outdated issues. In regards to resources, their cool downs themselves are their resource. Now whether the whack-a-mole play style is a good one or not is a different issue, but arbitrarily saying 'secondary resource = better' just isn't the case. More engaging gameplay = better.

[Artoff]

After playing a shaman since tbc i am kinda used to how blizzard changes us,nothing new here

[Landpiirate]

I am not a fan of the shaman tier gear

[Deleted]

As Enhancement I would really love a cleave of some type, speaking purely from a fun perspective, I'm actually dreading having to replace my Cloak, I really love the proc

[Darksoldierr]

1) Enhance is the most limited melee specialisation in terms of weapon choices.
- Compared to agi dw melees, it cannot wield swords like monks or rogues
- Compared to str dw classes (fury/frost), it cannot additionally make use of 2h either
Like so often enh will have to rely on general changes for improvement, namely the changing-on-spec primary stats in WoD. Even there though, Fists and Axes are kinda exotic, so I dont expect as many dropping as swords, daggers, staves and so forth. Not only does it not make ANY sense for enh being unable to use swords lore-wise, blizz obv doesn't really care either way, seeing how rogues can weild battle axes and war hammers. And enh CAN still use 2h, and they fit as well. With WF icd gone, but it still not being capable of proccing of itself, I see no problem for enh to be able to go 2h. LL usable with 2h and taking the dps numbers of a 1h offhand weapon of the same ilvl, and allowing two imbues on a 2h weapon => solved.

2) Enhance's (shaman's in general) totem's are completely outdated and even more restricting than during vanilla, despite being cd-based no and reliant on not being insta-stomped. With elemental totems and SBT having long duration, clashing between totems of the same elements is bound to happen. From the beginning, utility cds' cancelling each other is a crap design. Pets tied to immobile sticks, stuns with ramp-ups, spell reflects and fear breakers not working on silences...it is apparent that blizz is to lazy to look at individual shaman skills. They just throw everything in the totem pot and then go /ignore.

3) Enhance's mobility (shaman mobility in general) is horrible in pvp. Ele will be 100% turret again and dead in pvp. Enh will still lack uptime, and be more dependant on it now that they'll nerf Ascendence hard, probably also FET, and buff sustained, and whichever mobility tools you look at, they are inferior versions of other classes' counterparts. Even throwing all enh has into the pot, and comparing it against every other melee in detail, enh falls short. It is the only melee with a 30 or lower cd movement gap closer. Ret is comparably bad, but HoF + the judgement sprint allow for a barely okay replacement. I dont know how it's for resto, but I've heard complains on their end as well.

4) In general, shamans are very dependant on talents and glyphs fixing crappy base design. The 2/3 of the tier45 row is testament to that, and even the combined tier wouldn't fix totems, not even close. Enh is starved for glyphs slots, because LS/HS are just to good to pass up. Meanwhile CPT/GW/HEX/TV primarily would fix base issues, not adding something "additional". W/o GW glyph, the spell feels underwhelming. Without CPT glyph, it is the worst stun ingame period. Without glyphing Frostflame weapon in WoD, enh will be on the short end of the stick in snaring in WoD also, esp as FrS seems to still recide on the shared cd ALL THE WHILE RETAINING IT'S FRIGGIN DMG NERF IT RECEIVED BECAUSE OF THE PERK IN THE FIRST PLACE.

5) Hex will be a casted cc period. No more MSW hexes. Do monks or Dks need to cast their cc? Didn't think so. Add a cd to that so that enh is inferior to ret and repetance as well, make it weak against druids to boot, screw the general rule that crowd control actually controls and allow hexed targets to move as they wish (super convenient for moving out of CPT range, right?) so it cant even be used to help force a cpt like hunters did with scatter traps (say what you want about traps being unreliable, at least with scatter, traps worked fine)

6) Enhance is the only melee dps that has to hard cast spells that break on movement on a regular basis, now that they changed lb.

7) Enh is the only melee spec sharing a lot of spells with a caster spec. The only other class having both specs is druids, and balance and feral have a completely seperated spell pool. There will be those saying that's enhance's charm, but attacking at melee to be able to use ranged specs is bull shit, and indicates lazyness in class design.
In tbc=>wotlk(3.0), blizz solved a lack on enh skills by slapping ele skills on enh by buffing shocks, adding msw and Statick Shock. It took blizz since then to now in WoD to actually add synergy to shocks for enh. Prior we used them simply as fillers, because they were there, just like during vanilla/tbc. And even the improved LL perk is basically a clone of the elemental talent; Lava Surge.
Also enh was famous for its imbues, which enhanced it's capabilities. Meanwhile every spec uses them.

As a result of all this, enh lacks an identity as a spec. The enhancy features (talents focused on improving (buff) totems and imbues) were removed/distributed, and additions consisted of elemental 2nd hand skill.
The only new frequently used enh only skill added since vanilla, is Lava Lash. And even that took several bigger changes to make it actually good.

8) Enh required several big changes almost every x-pack to make it actually have/use normal gear now.
- From rogue/feral off- gear in vanilla (tier gear was spellpower based)
- To rogue gear with Str gems in tbc (Finally spec specific tier gear at least, but having int on it)
- Switching to agi, plus having a benefit from int
- Periods where we went with daggers, ft/ft and caster weapons
- Additional change in cata, mail no longer has int
- Had many many instances in where it was left out in itemisation (faction rewards, raid drops, crafted weapons, etc.) I remember having no luck with the axe from alar back in tbc, and had to run with the s2 pvp mace for off hand all the way to sunwell, because every 1h agi Weapon from Fool's Bane over Decapitator, to Phoenix and Fury fists were main hand only for the longest time, and Rising Tide from black temple, for some alient reaon had to be frickin' unique. Or during icc, where everyone could get weapons out of the 1st 25m wing except enh...or enh having to wait till the very end of 4.0 progress to get acess to heroic weapons. Or all the 1h agi swords or str axes among crafts...

...
And enh still is the only melee without either a primary or secondary recource...

That enough to show that enh/shamans being outdated? We're like a living fossil. A shaman performing class analysis basically equals archeology.

Well said, especially the last sentence.