Elemental and Enhancement suggestions

[Deleted]

I know that this won't change a thing, but i wanted to share my thoughts on Elemental and Enhancement for BfA anyway.
So here are my suggestions. (I also wanted to post this to the WoW US forum, but I only have an EU account)

Elemental

Baseline
Flame Shock: No Cooldown.
--> The cooldown can be extremely frustrating in PvP situations and prevents the player from quickly switching targets in general.
Frost Shock: Remove Maelstrom cost.
--> The idea of using the resource of the strongest abilities just to slow an enemy often feels like a punishment.
Lava Burst: Echo of the Elements baseline.
--> Having 2 charges of Lava Burst synergizes too perfectly with Lava Surge and makes the spec much more fun. It should be baseline.
Elemental Blast (new): Harnesses the raw power of the elements, dealing a critical strike for [200% of Spell Power] Elemental damage. Damage is further increased by your critical strike chance. Instant. 40 Maelstrom. 30 sec cooldown.
--> Elemental Blast is such an iconic spell for Elemental and has one of the best animations. I would love to have it baseline. Also, it should be Elementals hardest hitting ability, because it uses all of the three schools. That’s why it could be a Maelstrom spending ability that always critically strikes.
Earthquake: Causes the earth within 8 yards of the location to tremble and break, dealing [60% of Spell Power] Nature damage and another [60% of Spell Power] Nature damage over 6 sec, sometimes knocking down enemies. 75 Maelstrom. Instant.
--> It is time for Earthquake to deal Nature damage. Also, i like the idea of Earthquake causing an amount of its damage initially. This would help in fights where enemies are always on the run. Maybe reduced Maelstrom cost would be nice too.
Gust of Wind (new): A gust of wind hurls you forward. 20 sec cooldown. Instant.
--> Gust of Wind was the only ability that really helped Elementals with movement - especially in PvP - that’s why it was such a popular talent choice and should be baseline.
Lava Surge: Decrease the chance for each additional Flame Shock on targets.
--> Decreasing the chance of Lava Surge for each additional Flame Shock active should solve the issue of Elemental being a multi-dotting spec without giving Flame Shock a cooldown.
Mastery: Elemental Overload: Your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning casts have a 15.0% chance to trigger a second cast on the same target for 85% of normal damage and generate equal Maelstrom. Increases the chance to trigger Lava Surge by 1%.
--> Limiting the RNG of Elemental Overload to Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning and increasing the RNG of Lava Surge helps Elemental to deal more consistent damage. With the increased RNG Maelstrom generation of Elemental Overload and the higher chance of Lava Surge, Mastery hopefully causes the rotation to be more diverse and exciting.
Elemental Focus (new): Your critical strikes with direct damage spells have a 10% chance to make your next Healing Surge within 15 sec instant cast, cost no mana, and critically strike. Limit 2 charges.
--> Since Elementals don’t have a lot of defense, I would love for Healing Surge to have a instant cast mechanic with more impact.
Purge: Removes 2 beneficial magical effects. Mana cost increased.
--> Since mages steal the beneficial effect with their Purge and Priests having Mass Dispel, i would really love Shamans to remove 2 beneficial effects.


Talents
Tier 15:
Power of the Maelstrom: Spending Maelstrom grants you a stack of Power of the Maelstrom, causing your next Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning to overload an additional time and deal 50% increased damage. Limit 3 Charges.
--> Similar talent to Exposed Elements. The advantage of this talent is being a buff, increasing Maelstrom generation slighty, and affecting Chain Lightning. Good synergy with Aftershock or Lightning Shield.
Master of the Elements: Damaging enemies with your Fire, Frost, or Nature abilities increases all damage you deal by 2% for 8 sec. Each element adds a separate application.
--> Basically the effect of the legendary ring. Good synergy with Icefury and Elemental Blast.
Unlimited Power: Elemental energy flows to you from the surroundings while in combat, generating 3 Maelstrom every second and increases your maximum Maelstrom by 50.
--> Increases the Maelstrom generation and therefore the frequency of using Maelstrom spending abilities. The increased maximum Maelstrom allows you to accumalte more Maelstrom and use the Maelstrom spenders more flexible. Good synergy with Ascendance.

Tier 30:
Spirit Wolf: While transformed into a Ghost Wolf, you gain 20% increased movement speed and 20% damage reduction.
--> Since Shamans are silenced during Ghost Wolf, the increased movement speed and damage reduction should be applied instantly. Good talent for high movement fights.
Earth Shield: Protects the target with an earthen shield, increasing healing on them by 10% and healing them for [30% of Spell Power] when they take damage. 10 charges. This heal can only occur once every few seconds. Earth Shield can only be placed on one target at a time.
--> The healing should be slightly increased to have a real impact and the increased healing should be from all sources. Good talent for fights with permanent damage.
Shamanistic Healing: When your health drops below 35%, you are healed for 20% of your maximum health. Cannot occur more than once every 45 sec.
--> Good talent for fights with sudden damage spikes.

Tier 45:
Aftershock: Your spells have a 30% chance to refund the Maelstrom spent on them.
--> Nothing to change here. Good synergy with Power of the Maelstrom and Icefury.
Lightning Shield: Surround yourself with a shield of lightning for 1 hour. Melee attackers have a chance to suffer [10% of Spell Power] Nature damage and add a charge to your shield. When you cast Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, or cause an Elemental Overload, it gains 1 charge. At 20 charges your next Earth Shock or Earthquake consumes all charges and deals 20% increased damage. Instant. No range.
--> Based on the old effect of Lightning Shield. Makes Earth Shock and Earthquake more powerful. Good synergy with Storm Elemental and Tornado.
Lava Flows: Casting Lava Burst also increases your Haste by 2% for 10 sec. Gaining a stack does not refresh the duration.
--> Similar talent to Unlimited Power, but with a little more control over it. Good synergy with Ascendance, Volcanic Inferno and Liquid Magma.

Tier 60:
Tornado: Summons a storm at the target location, dealing [80% of Spell Power] over 8 sec to all enemies within 10 yards and continually pulling them towards its center. Tornado causes your next 3 Chain Lightnings to trigger an Elemental Overload on every additional target with reduced damage. 2 sec cast. 1 min cooldown. 40 yd range.
--> Ever since Thrall summoned the storm during the oger storyline in Frostfire Ridge, i wanted the ability to summon a storm too. This talent should replace Stormkeeper and is now primarily for AE. The new Stormkeeper without damage increase will mostly be used for the Overloads on Chain Lightning anyways. Good synergy with Storm Elemental and Lightning Shield.
Elemental Chaos: Elemental Blast causes the elements to riot on impact, dealing [100% of Spell Power] Elemental damage over 4 sec to all enemies within 8 yards.
--> This talent adds Elemental Blast to the AE rotation. Good synergy with Master of the Elements.
Volcanic Inferno: Lava Burst explodes on impact, dealing 15% of its normal damage to all other enemies within 5 yards and causing Flame Shock to spread from the target to a nearby enemy. Earthquake deals 10% more damage to enemies affected by Flame Shock.
--> This talent adds Lava Burst to the AE rotation and prioritizes Lava Burst over Chain Lightning in AE. Good synergy with Liquid Magma. Lava Flows, and Ascendance.

Tier 75:
Voodoo: Hex is now instant cast and its cooldown is reduced by 10 sec.
Wind Rush Totem: Summons a totem at the target location for 10 sec, continually granting all allies who pass 60% increased movement speed for 5 sec. Instant. 45 sec cooldown. 40 yd range.
Earthgrab Totem: Summons a totem at the target location for 20 sec. The totem pulses every sec, rooting all enemies within 10 yards for 10 sec. Enemies previously rooted by the totem instead suffer 50% movement speed reduction. Instant. 30 sec cooldown. 40 yd range.
--> Choice between some utilities.

Tier 90:
Earthen Rage: Your damaging spells incite the earth around you to come to your aid for 6 sec, repeatedly dealing [15% of Spell Power] Nature damage to your most recently attacked target.
--> Nothing to change here. Passive damage increase. Doesn’t effect the rotation at all.
Icefury: Hurls frigid ice at the target, dealing [90% of Spell Power] Frost damage and causing your next 2 Frost Shocks to deal 300% increased damage and generate 6 Maelstrom. Generates 6 Maelstrom. 2 sec cast. 15 sec cooldown. 40 yd range.
--> Adds two abilities to the rotation with one talent. Frost Shock should cost no Maelstrom and instead generate Maelstrom with Icefury. Icefury needs more impact to keep up with the other talents.
Liquid Magma: Lava Burst now extends the duration of Flame Shock on the target by 2 sec and reduces the cooldown of your Fire Elemental by 4 sec.
--> Since Flame Shock has a lower duration than before, this talent would extend the refresh time of Flame Shock and allow Fire Elemental to be cast more often.

Tier 100:
Totem Mastery: Summons four totems that increase your combat capabilities for 10 seconds.
Earth Totem: Increases your Mastery by 500.
Fire Totem: Increases your Critical Strike by 500.
Water Totem: Increases your Versatility by 500.
Air Totem: Increases your Haste by 500.
Instant. 1.5 min cooldown.
--> The current Totem Mastery feels not rewarding at all and is very annoying in content with high movement. Being a burst ability would make it more useful and fun to use.
Storm Elemental: Calls forth a Greater Storm Elemental to hurl gusts of wind that damage the Shaman’s enemies for 30 sec. While the Storm Elemental is active, Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning are castable while moving and the cast time of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning is reduced by 25%. Replaces Fire Elemental. Instant. 2.5 min cooldown.
--> With the current Storm Elemental it often feels like a punishment to use other spells than Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning, because you want to gain as many stacks as possible. In addition, Storm Elemental could be a great cooldown for allowing Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning to be castable while moving.
Ascendance: Transform into a Flame Ascendant for 15 sec, replacing Chain Lightning with Lava Beam, removing the cooldown on Lava Burst, and increasing the damage of Lava Burst by your Critical Strike chance. Instant. 3 min cooldown.
--> Nothing to change here.

Possible Builds:
Build Lava: Unlimited Power, X, Lava Flows, Volcanic Inferno, X, Liquid Magma, Ascendance
ST: Flame Shock as DoT. Passive Maelstrom generation. Lava Burst and Lightning Bolt as Maelstrom builder. Lava Burst extending the duration of Flame Shock and increasing Haste. Elemental Blast and Earth Shock as Maelstrom spender.
AE: Flame Shock as DoT. Lava Burst and Chain Lightning as Maelstrom builder. Lava Burst spreading Flame Shock. Earthquake as Maelstrom spender with increased damage to Flame Shock targets.
Burst: Fire Elemental and Ascendance. Cooldown of Fire Elemental reduced by Lava Burst casts.
Build Elements: Master of the Elements, X, Aftershock, Elemental Chaos, X, Icefury, Totem Mastery
ST: Flame Shock as DoT. Icefury, Frostshock, Lava Burst and Lightning Bolt as Maelstrom builder. Increased damage by using different elemental spells. Elemental Blast and Earth Shock as Maelstrom spender with chance to refund Maelstrom.
AE: Chain Lightning as Maelstrom builder. Elemental Blast and Earthquake as Maelstrom spender with chance to refund Maelstrom.
Burst: Fire Elemental and Totem Mastery.
Build Storm: Power of the Maelstrom, X, Lightning Shield, Tornado, Earthen Rage, Storm Elemental
ST: Flame Shock as DoT. Earthen Rage as passive damage. Lava Burst and Lightning Bolt as Maelstrom builder. Elemental Blast and Earth Shock as Maelstrom spender, increasing the impact of the next Lightning Bolt. Earth Shock damage increased by Lightning Shield.
AE: Chain Lightning as Maelstrom builder. Tornado increasing effectiveness of Chain Lightning. Earthquake as Maelstrom spender, increasing the impact of the next Chain Lightning. Earthquake damage increased by Lightning Shield.
Burst: Storm Elemental, allowing Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning to be castable while moving.



Enhancement

Baseline

• Frostbrand: No Maelstrom cost.
• Purge: Removes 2 beneficial magical effects. Mana cost increased

Talents
Tier 15:
Windsong: Lashes your enemy for [90% of Attack Power] Nature damage, and enhances your weapons with wind, increasing your attack speed by 8% for 16 sec. Replaces Flametongue. Instant. 12 sec cooldown. 20 yd range.
Hot Hand: Melee attack with Flametongue active have a chance to make your next Lava Lash cost no Maelstrom and deal 100% increased damage.
Landslide: Rockbiter enhances your weapon for 10 sec, causing your special attacks to heave earthen spikes at your target for [20% of Attack Power] Nature damage.

Tier 30:
Spirit Wolf: While transformed into a Ghost Wolf, you gain 20% increased movement speed and 20% damage reduction.
Earth Shield: Protects the target with an earthen shield, increasing your healing on them by 10% and healing them for (40% of Spell Power) when they take damage. 10 charges. This heal can only occur once every few seconds. Earth Shield can only be placed on one target at a time.
Shamanistic Healing: When your health drops below 35%, you are healed for 20% of your maximum health. Cannot occur more than once every 30 sec.

Tier 45:
Lightning Shield: Surround yourself with a shield of lightning for 1 hour. Melee attackers have a chance to suffer [10% of Attack Power] Nature damage and add a charge to your shield. When you Stormstrike or Stormblast, it gains 2 charges. At 15 charges, the shield overcharges, causing you to deal [10% of Attack power] Nature damage with each attack and generating 10 Maelstrom over 10 seconds. Instant.
Forceful Winds: Windfury causes each successive Windfury attack within 15 sec to increase the damage of Windfury by 100% and the Maelstrom generated by 1, stacking up to 5 times.
Boulderfist: Increases damage and Maelstrom generation of Rockbiter by 20%.

Tier 60:
Searing Assault: Your Lava Lash consumes 10 more Maelstrom and now causes the target to burn for an additional [90% of Attack Power] Fire damage over 3 sec.
Earthen Spike: Summons an Earthen Spike under an enemy, dealing (180% of Attack Power) Nature damage and increasing Physical and Nature damage you deal to the target by 10% for 10 sec. 20 yd range. 20 sec cooldown. 20 Maelstrom.
Overcharge: Lightning Bolt now consumes up to 40 Maelstrom for up to 1200% increased damage, but has a 12 sec cooldown.

Tier 75:
Voodoo: Hex is now instant cast and its cooldown is reduced by 10 sec.
Feral Lunge: Lunge at your enemy as a ghostly wolf, biting them to deal [33% of Attack power] Pyhsical damage. 8 - 25 yd range. 30 sec cooldown. Instant.
Earthgrab Totem: Summons a totem at the target location for 20 sec. The totem pulses every sec, rooting all enemies within 10 yards for 10 sec. Enemies previously rooted by the totem instead suffer 50% movement speed reduction. Instant. 30 sec cooldown. 40 yd range.

Tier 90:
Crashing Storm: Each target hit by Crash Lightning increases damage dealt by your next Stormstrike within 10 sec by 50%, up to a maximum of 5 targets.
Fury of Air: Your Stormstrike creates a vortex of wind 8 yards around you for 8 sec, dealing [5% of Attack Power] Nature damage every 1 sec to enemies caught in the storm, and slowing them by 30% for 3 sec. Gaining a stack does not refresh the duration.
Sundering: Shatters a line of earth in front of you with your main hand weapon, causing (120% of Attack power) Fire damage. 20 Maelstrom. 10 sec cooldown. Instant.

Tier 100:
Totem Mastery: Summons four totems that increase your combat capabilities for 10 seconds.
Earth Totem: Increases your Mastery by 500.
Fire Totem: Increases your Critical Strike by 500.
Water Totem: Increases your Versatility by 500.
Air Totem: Increases your Haste by 500.
Instant. 1.5 min cooldown.
Elemental Spirits: Feral Spirit now summons three Feral Spirits and causes your Feral Spirits to be imbued with Fire, Frost, and Lightning, enhancing your abilities.
Ascendance: Transform into a Air Ascendant for 15 sec, replacing Stormstrike with Stormblast (Slightly increased damage and no cooldown), causing your Stormbringer to increase the critical strike chance of your next Stormblast by 40%, and transforming your auto attack into Wind attacks which bypass armor and have a 30 yd range. Instant. 3 min cooldown.

[Beingbob]

Would have been far more interesting to hear reasoning about what changes should be made and why rather than trying to guess from reading fantasy tooltips.

[Ravingmad]

Would have been far more interesting to hear reasoning about what changes should be made and why rather than trying to guess from reading fantasy tooltips.

Gotta agree there.

Example:

Tier 30:
Spirit Wolf: While transformed into a Ghost Wolf, you gain 20% increased movement speed and 20% damage reduction.
--> The current +5% every second is just too slow. I dont think theres any point for it to be that long. Of course, instant -20% dmg reduct on demand is very strong, but you can't do anything in this form other than moving an auto-attack. As suggested by Bay from FinalbossTV, the buff should remain after being demorphed. (like a destack on the same 5 sec).

Earth Shield: Protects the target with an earthen shield, increasing your healing on them by 10% and healing them for (30% of Spell Power) when they take damage. 10 charges. This heal can only occur once every few seconds. Earth Shield can only be placed on one target at a time.
--> The problem currently is that they greatly nerfed the healing from the shield proc. It acts like a passive "DR", but IMO to make it better it should heal way more (2x) but be on cooldown.

Shamanistic Healing: When your health drops below 35%, you are healed for 20% of your maximum health. Cannot occur more than once every 30 sec.
--> Very good, anything that will kill you will "auto rez" you to 20% hitpoint. Probably the go-to talent for this tier. (Cheat death-ish).


The "goal" of Blizzard is to make each talent competitive or have its situational utility. Unfortunatly, some talent are still too good not to be taken. Or you have 1 ST option, 1 MT option and the 3rd option is just "meh".

[Deleted]

Would have been far more interesting to hear reasoning about what changes should be made and why rather than trying to guess from reading fantasy tooltips.

Yeah you're right, thanks for the advice. I added my reasoning for Elemental. I try to add some for Enhancement soon.

[Deleted]

Mental exercises like this are a royal waste of time. You, and I, have zero influence on the design process, why engage in an activity that yields absolutely nothing?

Every pre-expansion lull has these dreamers coming out with a massive wall of text on how they would design their ideal spec/class.

It's the equivalent of badly written fan fiction.

[Deleted]

Mental exercises like this are a royal waste of time. You, and I, have zero influence on the design process, why engage in an activity that yields absolutely nothing?

Every pre-expansion lull has these dreamers coming out with a massive wall of text on how they would design their ideal spec/class.

It's the equivalent of badly written fan fiction.

Well, for me it isn't a waste of time. I'm an ongoing designer myself and it's a nice practice.
Of course, you can always tell me what you think is bad about this design, but i don't want to waste your time
Clearly i'm not as good as a Blizzard designer, but i would love to understand the reason why anyone would like the current BfA Elemental design.

[ruiisu]

They could make your transformed wolf auto attack give you a buff 5~10% increased damage 5 seconds

[Conditions]

Mental exercises like this are a royal waste of time. You, and I, have zero influence on the design process, why engage in an activity that yields absolutely nothing?

Every pre-expansion lull has these dreamers coming out with a massive wall of text on how they would design their ideal spec/class.

It's the equivalent of badly written fan fiction.

The whole idea of a Beta/Alpha is to provide feedback, if anyone thought like that we'd never see any change.

[Deleted]

I recently made a much briefer post in the bfa section of the forums, explaining my feelings on the current state of elemental, i didn't go into nearly as much detail as this, however upon reading this, realised that if i was to cover the entire talent tree, this is something similar to what i would have suggested.

Here there seems to be rewarding talent choices, optional builds instead of cookie cutter, many different possible combinations that could all work viably together and change depending on the type of playstyle you wanted as an ele shaman. I am extremely glad to see that someone shares my distaste for the current state of elemental shaman on the beta, and its lack of interesting and rewarding talent choices.

Your talent tree also seems to be far better structured than blizzards current options, with defensives and damaging abilities properly segmented and effectively located in their level tiers. I truly hope blizzard looks at this post and takes your ideas into consideration, because however unlikely, i would love for blizzard to start listening to its customers, and using what is essentially free, brilliant class design ideas.

Keep it up.

[Deleted]

Knowing a tiny bit of how designers think, it's better to point them at the problem and not try to solve problems for them.

So I'd like to point at few problems I have with Ele:

1. Limited mobility. Ghost Wolf feels like out of combat travel ability.

2. Flame Shock cooldown and usage feels bad. It's better to cast it on offtarget now to get more value off.

3. Limited raid utility. Shaman doesn't provide any meaningful utility for raidgroup, nor has exceptional damage/survivability to make up for it. AG and WRT are exclusive and have very niche effects.