Elemental Blast should replace Lava Burst

[Venziir]

Lavaburst was introduced with the 3.1 patch and it killed elemental. Elemental was the lightning spec, now they mix and match elements just like enhancement, it's very sad. Honestly if lavaburst had a glyph that changed it to a heavy bolt of lightning it'd make the spell so much more palatable. I raided ele in BC beginning to end and totem of wrath WAS the iconic spell of the time, but lightning bolt and chain lightning will always trump lavaburst. And the cooldown on chain lightning was removed in 2.2, it hit harder than lightning bolt and casted faster but it also cost way more mana, it'd drain your mana spammed even with water shield on. so the entire rotation was, maintain flame shock, maintain totems, spam chain lightning when above 20% mana, otherwise spam lightning bolt.and dispite how boring that may sound compared to today's standards, it was fun as hell.

No. It makes perfect sence, the spec is called ELEMENTALl not "lightning" or "nature" or something like that. A spec called "Elemental" should, indeed, involve all of the elements, such as Earth, Air, Water and Fire, which the spec does currently.

[Socialhealer]

No. It makes perfect sence, the spec is called ELEMENTALl not "lightning" or "nature" or something like that. A spec called "Elemental" should, indeed, involve all of the elements, such as Earth, Air, Water and Fire, which the spec does currently.

was a slight give away from vanilla, what quests did we do? oh yeah to learn earth, air, fire and water totems which we had to keep on us (if i remember correctly)

[Venziir]

was a slight give away from vanilla, what quests did we do? oh yeah to learn earth, air, fire and water totems which we had to keep on us (if i remember correctly)

Yeah, had to carry the four little items around until... Ehhh. Catacalysm?

[Wardonis]

I agree, ascendance is bad, not just because of the focus on lavaburst but it completely usurps the game play in stead of enhancing it

[Deleted]

It was very intentional that they put the CD back on flame burst. They aren't gonna revert it.

As for fantasy/theme. I think theres work to be done with shamans. I think elemental should be the thundery caster spec. Embrace the lightning and make all spells wind and thunder based, enhacement should be earth and fire based and resto water and ice based. Atm the fantasy of the specs are not very well defined and things like lava burst in what is originally a thundery caster are a bit off.

So, yes, as satisfying as lava burst can be, if it were elemental blast, it would at least make a bit more sense.

[Wyrt]

Lava Burst? Iconic? What?

Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning are the iconic shaman spells. Or Frost Shock and Windfury.

[derpkitteh]

i would definitely support blast replacing earth shock.

man, fuck earth shock. it's got no power behind it cause it's an instant cast with no real animation.

[Oneirophobia]

i would definitely support blast replacing earth shock.

man, fuck earth shock. it's got no power behind it cause it's an instant cast with no real animation.

Frankly it is a boring spell and doesn’t even really make sense. The fuck is an “earth shock”? Apart from the icon having a mountain it has nothing to do with earth and is entirely lightning based.

[Deleted]

I would like to see the elemental shaman as in Pandaria. I would really like to review that excellent game system.

[shammypie]

No, it isn't. Chain Lightning is.

Lava Burst was introduced in TBC...or WotLK? And everyone's been hating it since.

i love lava burst. one of my favorite spells. I veto this change!

[thesmall001]

There is nuance to how you use all your kit in response to the Elemental Blast buffs you get. At least, there should be, currently the gains aren't strong enough to really factor it into consideration half the time.

[Revelations]

And everyone's been hating it since.

Cough.. that's quite the statement. Lava Burst is awesome.

(And I would call it iconic nowadays, it's been around for 10 years and is an essential part of the kit. Who said iconic means one spell? Lol.)

[Teri]

CL was the iconic Elemental spell ever since Farseer in Warcraft 3.

[Puupi]

Cough.. that's quite the statement. Lava Burst is awesome.

Lava Burst has always been a clunky mechanic and a real detriment to the spec. The main reason why elemental has sucked ass for the most time is directly tied to Lava Burst and its mechanic.

Lava Burst requiring Flame Shock in the target has always been clunky, especially now again when FS has 6 second cooldown.

The guaranteed critical strike from LvB has been the reason why elementals balance has been all over the place (basically undertuned for vast majority of time and even sometimes causing the whole spec to be balanced around Skull Banner *lol*). The crit mechanic is the sole reason why Elemental Fury exists. And Elemental Fury is the reason why the base damage of elemental spells are so low.

LvB has always been more trouble than its worth.

[Unidus]

Lava Burst changes that would work would be instant cast with the current damage. At it's current damage and cool down there is no reason why it shouldn't be an instant cast spell. This would help out with mobility in PVE and PVP. If Ascendance became to powerful with instacast just remove the crit extra damage boost on Ascendance or make it still have cast time during it sort of like you sacrifice mobility of the spell for extra damage during it. If not then make the damn spell hit HARD like it used to when it first came out to justify the cast time. That would buff us and make Ascendance great again.

[Revelations]

Lava Burst has always been a clunky mechanic and a real detriment to the spec. The main reason why elemental has sucked ass for the most time is directly tied to Lava Burst and its mechanic.

Lava Burst requiring Flame Shock in the target has always been clunky, especially now again when FS has 6 second cooldown.

The guaranteed critical strike from LvB has been the reason why elementals balance has been all over the place (basically undertuned for vast majority of time and even sometimes causing the whole spec to be balanced around Skull Banner *lol*). The crit mechanic is the sole reason why Elemental Fury exists. And Elemental Fury is the reason why the base damage of elemental spells are so low.

LvB has always been more trouble than its worth.

I wouldn't blame Blizz' incompetence on Lava Burst. Would it hurt so much if Shaman was #1 dps for once in their life?

[Kralljin]

And Elemental Fury is the reason why the base damage of elemental spells are so low.

Nah, if that would be the case, Elemental would, in theory, rock the meters once you hit a certain crit level.
Elemental Fury is there to offset the lack of crit scaling due the Lava burst component of your total damage.

Elemental fury causes large swings of damage within a short time frame, but overall the damage evens out.

Lvb itself will be worth shit anyway if Surge of Power turns out to be the best ST talent (which i presume it will be), due the LB empowerment LB will outdamage Lvb on average, you just press it for the Maelstrom generation.

[Segus1992]

Because it turned Elemental into an AoE Powerhouse in late Cata / MoP.



It's a bit like saying that Frost shock is iconic due Vanilla, similiarities is actually pretty fitting considering that FrS also has been just "there" for a long time.

That aside, you'd guess that CL would be iconic due dealing damage to multiple targets, not because it has a slightly higher spell coeffiency than LB.

If you're saying CL wasn't iconic since Vanilla, you clearly didn't play Vanilla.

[Kralljin]

If you're saying CL wasn't iconic since Vanilla, you clearly didn't play Vanilla.

Yeah, kinda did play during Vanilla, what now?

Sorry to disappoint you, what is iconic and what isn't is simply an opinion thing, where at best you find a consensus among players.

[Segus1992]

Yeah, kinda did play during Vanilla, what now?

Sorry to disappoint you, what is iconic and what isn't is simply an opinion thing, where at best you find a consensus among players.

Do enlighten me with what was the iconic Elemental Shaman ability in Vanilla and TBC then. Frost Shock wasn't OP except very early in Vanilla.