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  1. #1
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    Shaman Unpruning

    As a class, Shaman have long had some of the most distinctive categories of spells in the game—Totems, Shocks, Shields, Weapon Imbues, and Chain spells—but over time, some have become the domain of specific specializations. In Shadowlands, we're giving these types of abilities back to the entire class. As a player levels up, they'll be exposed to the many ways a Shaman can interact with the elements to overcome challenges. Over time, the Shaman will discover which of these tools they have the strongest affinity for, and which abilities they’d like to focus on as they master the elemental forces.

    Shaman Class and Specialization Changes

    General Changes
    In Shadowlands, Chain Heal, Chain Lightning, Healing Stream Totem, Flametongue Weapon, Flame Shock, Frost Shock, and Lightning Shield will be available for all Shaman to use regardless of their specialization. Searing Totem also returns as an ability for all Shaman to use, which bombards nearby enemies with fireballs for a short duration.

    Elemental
    The Maelstrom resource and accompanying bar have been removed, returning Elemental Shaman’s to their former cooldown management playstyle. When we added Maelstrom to Shamans in Legion, we wanted to improve affordance around the use of Earth Shock and Earthquake in their rotation. But the addition of the resource had the side-effect of converting the spec into one with “builder/spender” abilities, which comes with certain built-in expectations on the payoff of its spenders. When an Elemental Shaman presses Earth Shock and it consumes most of their resource, the expectation is that this moment is the peak of their rotation and there should be a big payoff. But we want the focus of the rotation to be about managing your Flame Shock debuff on multiple targets to maximize the potential of Lava Burst through Lava Surge procs. Lightning Bolt, and consequently Earth Shock, are meant to be a flavorful but secondary part of the single-target rotation. As such, we are returning to a design that relies on building stacks of Fulmination to determine when to insert Earth Shock into the rotation. Similarly, Chain Lightning and stacks of Seismic Thunder will serve to enable Earthquake.

    Echoing Shock is a new Talent that blasts a target for significant damage, and makes it so the Shaman’s next healing or damage-dealing spell casts a second time shortly afterward without costing additional resources.

    Enhancement
    As with Elemental, the Maelstrom resource and Maelstrom bar have been removed from Enhancement Shaman. Enhancement will return to a specialization based on managing a number of cooldown abilities with high points built around repeat casts of Stormstrike. In Shadowlands, Enhancement Shaman who chain certain abilities in combat will see their efforts rewarded when the time is right (and the elements will it) with the capacity to unleash a powerful cooldown dealing devastating damage. . Maelstrom Weapon returns, giving each attack a chance to grant a stack of a buff that can be used to make your next healing or damage-dealing spell instant. Flametongue Weapon and Windfury Weapon can once again be applied to Enhancement Shaman’s weapons, imbuing them with the power of the elements to suit the situation at hand.

    The passive bonus provided by Hailstorm has been redesigned so that it resets the cooldown of Flame Shock and Frost Shock when a Shaman uses Stormstrike. Searing Assault metamorphosizes into a powerful fire attack, striking the foe for significant Fire damage and causes their Searing Totem to cast incredibly fast. It also triggers Flame Shock to rapidly dish out its damage-over-time burn effects to melt enemies.

    Overcharge now generates five stacks of Maelstrom Weapon instantly and another stack every second for a short duration. Stormkeeper will make your next two Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning spells instant cast and deal bonus damage. It also benefits from Maelstrom Weapon, lowering Stormkeeper’s cast time so the Enhancement Shaman can chain powerful abilities together to pummel down foes quickly.

    Elemental Blast is now a Talent option for Enhancement Shaman, giving this melee-focused spec access to a powerful spell to destroy foes from a distance. It also benefits from Maelstrom Weapon’s effect, which can reduce its cast time or even cause it to become instant cast.

    Restoration
    Once Restoration Shaman step into the realm of the ancestral spirits, they will find new ways to tap into the elements’ powers. Earth Shield can now be used by all Restoration Shaman without needing to select it as a Talent. Surge of the Earth is a new Talent that expends a few charges of Earth Shield to significantly heal the current Earth Shield target and several nearby allies.

    https://www.wowhead.com/news=311877/...nd-class-philo


    -

    So, no more Maelstrom and it also kinda sounds like Enhancement is "stealing" away both Stormkeeper and Elemental Blast - both of which seems odd.

    Amazing sig, done by mighty Lokann

  2. #2
    Titan Grimbold21's Avatar
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    Going to tunnel vision here a bit say "Current Maelstorm is gone, that's all that matters"

  3. #3
    Not really a fan of the enhance changes, I how enhance was in legion and now mechanically. I am glad Maelstrom is going away for both dps specs.

  4. #4
    The changes for both ele and enhance look amazing, I've been waiting for this day since Legion.

  5. #5
    No! No un-pruning! I like current class design! Stop trying to destroy my distinct specializations that play like 36 mini classes, narcs! >:O
    Last edited by Kyphael; 2020-04-07 at 06:44 PM.

  6. #6
    X for doubt on Elemental.

    So basically, they want to shift damage away from Earth shock and Lightning Bolt in favour of Lava Burst while also keeping the "niche" of relying on multi dotting FS for additional Lava surge procs?
    I predict this will go two ways: Elemental will be borderline OP similiar to how it was in BoD (and gets nerfed because of that) or they nerf it right off the bat.

    Maelstrom was by no means perfect, but i will hold off judgement until i played it myself before calling its removal a "good thing".

  7. #7
    The Insane Acidbaron's Avatar
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    Enhancement changes feel a bit like WoTLK play style, not sure how that will turn out.

  8. #8
    Not going to lie, I'm triggered Frost DK's and WW Monks have the choice of going 1 or 2 handed and Enhancement Shamans and Survival Hunters don't get that option. Even when Enhancement probably has had the loudest voice over the years. Why even leave the option there if we can't actually really play with them.

  9. #9
    The Shaman changes are all great! I am so so happy Maelstorm resource is gone. I have high hopes!

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Acidbaron View Post
    Enhancement changes feel a bit like WoTLK play style, not sure how that will turn out.
    It's honestly sounding more like MoP Enhancement Shaman, which was the pinnacle of the spec's design, in my opinion, at least. I'm really excited for the changes.

  11. #11
    I still remain fearful, they can make shamans feel better to play, that's fine. But when it comes to the communities view of the class it needs radical changes, we need to bring more to the party then before and none of the changes have addressed that unfortunately. Lets be honest, most of the changes aren't radical, they're just turning back the clock bypassing a lot of the problems they've made themselves over the years.

    Then there's the PVP side of the game where I don't have a hell's chance of figuring out if shamans will be at least half decent next expansion, I just really-really hope we don't have to cheese gear and traits so we're not completely burst down. When leech classes like fury warriors and demon hunters pull more healing numbers then a hybrid class who can actually heal themselves, then you know something is wrong. So a lot will come down to balancing and I just don't have faith in Blizzard anymore when it comes to that, especially in PVP.

  12. #12
    I hope enhance is a little less squishy.

  13. #13
    Restoration "changes"... ugh.

    - Mastery to incentivize healing critically injured targets
    - Has the single (literally only one) weakest instant-cast heal in the game to do so
    - Constantly sniped by Holy Shock/Swiftmend/Holy Word: Serenity
    - Zero changes to make this better
    - Mythic+ still going to consist of Healing Surge spam during Grievous week
    - Literally only brought to raids for cheesing with Spirit Link Totem

    Extremely disappointed. Restoration Shaman will continue to be slow, clunky, and under-perform every other healer in the game, as per usual.
    Earth Shield coming back is fine, but the new spell to use it is a Talent. Obviously. Can't just give us something new and nice to make our gameplay more interesting.

    Happy for you Elemental and Enhancement players, but I might have to stick to my Holy Priest this expansion, or perhaps go Mistweaver Monk.
    Quote Originally Posted by rda View Post
    ^^ ROFL. None of what you said matters.

  14. #14
    The Insane Acidbaron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Exigaet View Post
    It's honestly sounding more like MoP Enhancement Shaman, which was the pinnacle of the spec's design, in my opinion, at least. I'm really excited for the changes.
    Oh i will have to take your word for it, that's one expansion i can't recall as i didn't play it for the full length as enhancement at least.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Noraver View Post
    Restoration "changes"... ugh.

    - Mastery to incentivize healing critically injured targets
    - Has the single (literally only one) weakest instant-cast heal in the game to do so
    - Constantly sniped by Holy Shock/Swiftmend/Holy Word: Serenity
    - Zero changes to make this better
    - Mythic+ still going to consist of Healing Surge spam during Grievous week
    - Literally only brought to raids for cheesing with Spirit Link Totem

    Extremely disappointed. Restoration Shaman will continue to be slow, clunky, and under-perform every other healer in the game, as per usual.
    Earth Shield coming back is fine, but the new spell to use it is a Talent. Obviously. Can't just give us something new and nice to make our gameplay more interesting.

    Happy for you Elemental and Enhancement players, but I might have to stick to my Holy Priest this expansion, or perhaps go Mistweaver Monk.
    Maybe the spell that uses up earth shield chargers can be a spell similar to swiftmend/holyshockl/serenity?

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Venziir View Post
    So, no more Maelstrom and it also kinda sounds like Enhancement is "stealing" away both Stormkeeper and Elemental Blast - both of which seems odd.
    Pretty sure they mean that Enh simply has them as talents as well. Don't think Ele is suddenly losing them.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kralljin View Post
    X for doubt on Elemental.

    So basically, they want to shift damage away from Earth shock and Lightning Bolt in favour of Lava Burst while also keeping the "niche" of relying on multi dotting FS for additional Lava surge procs?
    I predict this will go two ways: Elemental will be borderline OP similiar to how it was in BoD (and gets nerfed because of that) or they nerf it right off the bat.

    Maelstrom was by no means perfect, but i will hold off judgement until i played it myself before calling its removal a "good thing".
    It's more that, currently, the system would have you feel that ES is supposed to be a huge part of your damage, as you are constantly building up Maelstrom through everything to cast it (or EQ), but in reality, it doesn't really bring much to the table. Removing Malestrom as a resource kind of serves to decouple the notion that ES is supposed to be our ultimate ability, if you will.

    Now, based on my years of playing shaman, I would wager Ele is going to slot right into it's cata situation. They will be middle of the pack for single target, but cleave and aoe fights they will be incredibly powerful. 2-3 target fights will see insane LvB damage, aoe fights will see CL/EQ back to the massive aoe damage. If they follow up to say they are bringing Nova back, then I would bet the house on it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Razaron View Post
    Not going to lie, I'm triggered Frost DK's and WW Monks have the choice of going 1 or 2 handed and Enhancement Shamans and Survival Hunters don't get that option. Even when Enhancement probably has had the loudest voice over the years. Why even leave the option there if we can't actually really play with them.
    I believe this is likely due to the fact that, IIRC, both specs lost this functionality in Legion for no reason besides artifact weapons. For Enh, the decision to be solely DW was made long ago. SMF (Single Minded Fury) likely won't return, since the whole point of having faster 1h weapons, can be negated by the fact that fury already is designed with non-stop action. Just my view on Blizz's decision.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by rhrrngt View Post
    Maybe the spell that uses up earth shield chargers can be a spell similar to swiftmend/holyshockl/serenity?
    It sounds very much like an AoE version of it, which lines up with RShamn being AoE healers

  17. #17
    Titan Grimbold21's Avatar
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    To be fair here - and if my memory doesn't fail me - Enhancement used to have access to elemental blast as well.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Acidbaron View Post
    Enhancement changes feel a bit like WoTLK play style, not sure how that will turn out.
    That was my favorite time as an enh. I hate the spec now.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Grimbold21 View Post
    Going to tunnel vision here a bit say "Current Maelstorm is gone, that's all that matters"
    First thing I looked for when I saw the post.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Noraver View Post
    Restoration "changes"... ugh.

    - Mastery to incentivize healing critically injured targets
    - Has the single (literally only one) weakest instant-cast heal in the game to do so
    - Constantly sniped by Holy Shock/Swiftmend/Holy Word: Serenity
    - Zero changes to make this better
    - Mythic+ still going to consist of Healing Surge spam during Grievous week
    - Literally only brought to raids for cheesing with Spirit Link Totem

    Extremely disappointed. Restoration Shaman will continue to be slow, clunky, and under-perform every other healer in the game, as per usual.
    Earth Shield coming back is fine, but the new spell to use it is a Talent. Obviously. Can't just give us something new and nice to make our gameplay more interesting.

    Happy for you Elemental and Enhancement players, but I might have to stick to my Holy Priest this expansion, or perhaps go Mistweaver Monk.
    Keep in mind, this is just the initial wave. They say at the start that there are many more changes coming. I too hope for a fundamental redesign of our mastery, as it's garbage, and has been since it was also the resto druid mastery that was quickly changed.

    As far as Riptide, it's in a weird place. It lost it's CH buff, but still brings Tidal Waves. It's also got a lower CD than the rest, but holy shock is only a few seconds off with a much higher Crit %. I would like to see some adjustments to it, but it's also the only one of the spells that has a baseline hot attached to it. I don't really mess with HPriest, so I don't know what the effective CD is for serenity.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by themaster24 View Post
    It's more that, currently, the system would have you feel that ES is supposed to be a huge part of your damage, as you are constantly building up Maelstrom through everything to cast it (or EQ), but in reality, it doesn't really bring much to the table. Removing Malestrom as a resource kind of serves to decouple the notion that ES is supposed to be our ultimate ability, if you will.
    The irony is however that this "niche" they are implying based on multi dotting Flame shock strongly synergizes with the Lava shock trait.
    Which is one of the reasons why Elemental was so strong in ST situations where you still could multi dot FS.

    So this niche is partially based on a spell that they want to move away from.

    Quote Originally Posted by themaster24 View Post
    aoe fights will see CL/EQ back to the massive aoe damage.
    They haven't said anything about buffing Chain Lightning, so there's that.
    That aside, they said CL will "enable" Earthquake, what that exactly means leaves a lot of room to interpretation.

    And during Cata, you pretty much spammed CL, EQ was an extremely niche spell until WoD, where it basically became an utterly OP spell whenever you managed to hit three targets with CL.

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