Which Spec Deserves a Revamp? - Shaman Edition

[The Boomking]

Hello!

I'm making one of these for every class, and am going to pit the winners in an ultimate thread afterwards, to see what spec is the most popular pick for an update or change.

So which of the Shaman specs do you think needs or deserves a revamp? It could be because it lacks flavor and fun, the rotation is messed up or boring, or simply that the spec just doesn't fit the image of what you want it to be.

Keep in mind that 'weak' or underperforming specs isn't what I'm looking for, that's a balance and tuning issue. This is about the feel of the spec.

What do you think?

[Volitar]

Enh>Ele>Resto

resto feels pretty solid to me.

[Deleted]

i think both ele and enh could use a revamp

[Aurora]

Presume this is just going to wind up as a "which dps spec do you play?" kind of poll.

[Catbug]

I mainly play Elemental and while I wish for them to get a revamp, Enhance definitely needs it more.

[Deleted]

Poll is missing an option called "My spec"

[yogie]

Playing resto but after trying both ele and enh i really need to give it to enh.

[Asiel]

Voted Enhance because it's still very whack-a-mole-y. I still find myself simply hitting whatever isn't on CD at the time which isn't terribly fun or engaging.

Resto, however, has a place in the current healing model and works fairly well.

Ele just needs better balance.

[Stormspark]

Restoration is very clunky mechanic-wise and could really stand some changes. I would like to see a new mastery, so that other healers don't actively work against you. And it seems like Blizzard really doesn't know what to do with totems anymore (although that applies to all specs, not just resto).

[Santti]

Enh is clunky. Elem is okay'ish. Don't know about Resto.

[Alltat]

Probably enhancement. Elemental needs one too, but Echo of the Elements makes it interesting enough to be playable. Resto is okay, and I don't see any major changes coming before 7.0. Hopefully they'll revise the whole class from the ground up at some point, so it's not just "you have lots of things with cooldowns, and an ornamental blue line!"

Restoration is very clunky mechanic-wise and could really stand some changes. I would like to see a new mastery, so that other healers don't actively work against you. And it seems like Blizzard really doesn't know what to do with totems anymore (although that applies to all specs, not just resto).

Resto isn't that clunky. And other healers don't work against your actual healing, just how good you look on the healing meters for irrelevant farm content. Resto mastery is fine on any fight where healing actually matters, and all healing masteries are pointless on fights where healing doesn't matter.

[Teriz]

Enhance. DKs and Monks have really showed just how outdated the Enhance spec is.

[Eliot123]

I only play ele and resto but I think both of those need to be polished a bit. Resto could use more synergy between spells/effects/talents. As for Ele, I feel like it has become too much of a 1-trick pony with Lava Burst.

[Goradan]

i think both ele and enh could use a revamp

Agreed.

Enh>Ele>Resto

resto feels pretty solid to me.

Totally True

[Roboctopus]

Can someone please tell me what "Other" is..? Like...what exactly is the
"other" shaman spec? :P

[L3fty]

Can someone please tell me what "Other" is..? Like...what exactly is the
"other" shaman spec? :P

Can only assume it means everything is fine (not sure if your question was serious though!).

I am Resto MS / Ele OS so can't speak on the Enhance situation. What I will say is the reason I have never touched Enchance is because I always percieved it as the odd-ball spec that never had a clear enough raid spot. Even when OP I just didn't like Enchancement.

Resto as it stands is doing ok. However, our mastery is the Elephant in the room. Being a less effective healer as your raid iLvL increases is a bit of a strange feeling. Not game breaking enough to bother me overly though.

Elemental suffers from being too dependant on Lava Burst procs and just feels quite jerky to play. As soon as you proc its a case of drop your pants and cast it or lose DpS and I find that quite a reactionary/frustrating way to play. In comparison with other classes (rogue/fury war/fire mage/frost dk etc) we have a less varied proc list, with lava burst literally being the only focus. That is quite unsatisfying to me. I would also argue that the mastery needs to be reworked and areas surrounding Earthquake/Chain Lightning need to be shredded.

So I guess my list is:

Enhance(?!) - > Elemental - > Resto

It feels like all specs could do with a slight buff, but given the 6.1 patch notes that doesn't appear to be coming anytime soon.

[Deleted]

Enhancement by far. It feels like a dumping ground of experimentation and "balance the numbers around that".

[willtron]

I really miss enhancement of old with 2h and WF. That was years ago, but that's how I remember it.

[Trollfat]

Cannot believe the number of shaman who aren't voting enhance. Easily the clunkiest spec in the game. Ele is fine, just needs movement and target swapping buffs. Resto is what I currently play and has always been the most solid shaman spec.

[kaikoraimi]

Among shaman, enhance for sure, although I don't know that it needs to be totally rebuilt. Shaman talents need a complete overhaul. Elemental needs a few tweaks beyond what a talent overhaul would bring--the #1 priority in my book is to scrap and redo elem's mastery--but I think the concepts behind the core elem spells work well.