New Shaman info in Cataclysm - General Info

[Azyoulike]

Healing Rain (level 83): Now when I see this I'm thinking it must be very strong in order for it to have diminishing returns and I can see why it would need it due to pvp. Though I'm pretty sure if you saw one healer casting a huge aoe healing spell then they'd be dead in no time. It also seems like it would just be a similar tranquility spell but I'm guessing it's way stronger.

No - think more like Holy Nova but raid wide. The reason this needs the DR is because otherwise you could heal all 25 people on fights where clustering is viable, this isn't really important in PvP because if people clustered like that it would just cry out for my AoE damage - it would be hugely abusable in PvE though.

The downside of this spell is it will be strong on fights where CH was already strong. It will be weak where there is raid damage and people are spread out, where shaman were already weak. Though it sounds godly I'm not actually that excited by it.

[Torture]

If they want enhancement to experience enhancement at low level then instead of adding 'primal work around' why not simply give them duel wield. Enhance remains the only spec in game that has to wait 40 levels to use it's core combat mechanic.

Changes for ele and resto look really nice.

Now, what if this new 15 second / 5 swing haste buff is enough to bring a 3.6 or 3.5 speed weapon down to effectvely 3 seconds (i.e you strike 5 times in that 15 second window). Could that make a big slow 2 hander viable? especially as the 15 second cooldown is doing 50% weapon damage. I'm guessing it probably won't, which is a real shame, but I can dream that 2H will be viable again right?

[Deleted]

Continue all discussion on the different specs and shaman changes in the new stickies:

Enhancement: http://www.mmo-champion.com/class-sh...s-enhancement/
Elemental: http://www.mmo-champion.com/class-sh...ges-elemental/
Restoration: http://www.mmo-champion.com/class-sh...s-restoration/

For general shaman spells and changes post here.

[XemnasXD]

Q: You didn’t answer the most important shaman question! What about Sentry Totem?
A: The Cataclysm is a time of great upheaval. Deathwing’s return to Azeroth tore a hole in the fabric of the universe that tragically resulted in the ultimate and irrevocable destruction of all Sentry Totems. Level designers are contemplating a shrine for the Sentry Totem near that of Uther the Lightbringer. We know shaman players will greet this news with grief, but as with all class changes we’ll have to get into beta before anything is final.

oh lawd! :'(

im gonna miss it

[Magruun]

funny how we keep losing more totems every expansion

Wrath: Grace of Air, Windwall totem,Tranquil Air totem, Disease Cleansing, Poison Cleansing, Fire Nova totem.
Cataclysm: Flametongue totem, Cleansing totem, Sentry totem.

Though I don't mourn most of them and some have had better replacements (FN, GoA and soon FT)
it's still funny the class defining ability is beeing watered down more and more.

[Augrelle]

since this is about all shaman specs I'll post this here....


Compared to Warlock Masteries, The shaman ones overall are a lot more interesting and "fun".

[Bbrewin]

Healing Rain (level 83): Now when I see this I'm thinking it must be very strong in order for it to have diminishing returns and I can see why it would need it due to pvp. Though I'm pretty sure if you saw one healer casting a huge aoe healing spell then they'd be dead in no time. It also seems like it would just be a similar tranquility spell but I'm guessing it's way stronger.
((Moved since the thread I made got locked.))

Healing rain isn't going to work as you stated. Its only channeled for the cast(2 seconds) once the cast is off there will be an AoE HoT that will Rain down on the chosen spot for 10 seconds, during which you can move and cast freely. So in PvP the shammy casts his Healing Rain and then runs away or stands in it while casting more heals. So It will not hinder the resto shammy as you think it will.

[Cjeska]

Something interesting I found in the Q&A

Q: Elemental doesn’t want to drop Searing Totem at range. We want to drop Magma Totem.
A: Searing Totem needs to do more single-target damage than Magma. That said, if we’re happy with the ability to occasionally place totems at range there is no reason it couldn’t apply to any totem. Imagine, “After using this spell, the next totem you drop will appear at the feet of your target.”

Woot? Placing a totem (any totem) at a friends or enemys feet at range? Are they cereal? Me want!

[Kelesti]

Unleash Weapon kind of reminds me of an interesting form of Judgement. I'm actually impressed with the original idea, and am a bit excited to see how this comes off. Also, Enhancement Shaman throwing their weapons at somebody will be hilarious.

[SolSphere]

Yeah but what a lot of us want is 2H Enhance to be viable again, it is a very fun playstyle and should be reintroduced into the game as in option in the same manner that Frost DK's who are supposed to be DW can also be 2H Frost, it is subpar compared to normal DW Frost but it is fun and something I keep as my off spec for when I am allowed to dick around.

Though for Shaman's 2H Enhance has a very good pvp potential and really should be worked out as such like give them 2H specialization again and maybe allow for a talent that will be a 2H related ability to allow Primal Strike with Storm Strike when using a 2H weapon.

I don't get this whole 2hander cry out deal. Seriously what's the difference? I personally don't look at my toon while playing, so it's not like I care what i look like at that point. in Dalaran i can wear a 2 hander if I want (which I don't I think they are hideous). I would assume you see bigger numbers, but is that all it is?

[K3rplunk]

im glad i decided to reroll a dwarf shaman with all these changes since paladins will probably get nerfed :

[Northy]

I'm just wondering why Earthquake will not be baseline... I mean Hurricane is baseline (used to be a balance talent) and so is mind sear, etc... So why make only shamans have to spec into an AoE?

No intelligent shaman will spec into an aoe.

[Araun]

No intelligent shaman will spec into an aoe.

I think you forgot that the talent trees are being reworked for more utility. I'm pretty sure I'll spec EQ. you still need 51 points in elemental and I'm pretty sure you will have to choose between a whole lot of talents that don't directly increase dps.

[Northy]

So I have mixed feelings about this. A few of the spells look just like flashier version of other classes spells.

Unleash Weapon (level 81): Most would probably think oh look a new spell but if you think about it it's just a heroic throw, fire blast and half of a holy shock imo. It just adds a boost to different things afterwords to make it look different.

Healing Rain (level 83): Now when I see this I'm thinking it must be very strong in order for it to have diminishing returns and I can see why it would need it due to pvp. Though I'm pretty sure if you saw one healer casting a huge aoe healing spell then they'd be dead in no time. It also seems like it would just be a similar tranquility spell but I'm guessing it's way stronger.

Unleash Weapon (level 81), they want to add a longer cd to LL. I do hope they increase the dmg it does if that's the case cuz we only had 2 melee abilities. In Cata it looks like we have 4 now but that just adds to the gcd wait unless it's more balanced where when you push one thing the next one is ready. Just seems to make it more cluttered imo.

Earthquake: This looks alright but in WC3FT it was more of a building destroyer than a mob dmger. Seeing as there's no more explanation to it I'm guessing it will be a frost trap/aoe mix but I'm just taking a wild guess. I don't really have an opinion on it though. I never really got into ele. I found enh and resto more fun.

Spiritwalker's Grace: This looks pretty good but I'm not entirely sure what to think. Now I see a lot of QQ with this tbh lol. Instead of ele turrets or resto staying in one spot to toss off a few heals and run off it'll be run cast lol as you frost shock/earthbind them to get away faster. Don't see much use for it for enh though. We'd be too busy with our 3 melee abilities, maelstrom procs, lightning shield, magma totem/firenova and flame shock to worry about tossing lava burst.

Spirit Link: They said they were gonna add this in WoTLK so I guess we will just have to wait and see. Looks like more of a soul link but for players. In the preview before it was between the shammy and the one he linked too so I'm guessing it will be the same and it might be good but depends on how much dmg is shared I guess. Wouldn't want the tank to take a huge hit to the face and end up killing the shammy lol.

As for cleaning out the talent trees and letting them provide passive buffs, I just hope they get rid of toughness cuz we aren't tanks and even the pvp spec only takes it as a filler. And we don't even use anticipation. So we've got about 7 passive things and 2 useless ones.

Kinda funny how they changed the Primal strike. You'd think they'd mention that so we wouldn't get our hopes up for another melee attack.

((Moved since the thread I made got locked.))

Restos getting Link and Rains. 2 badass spells.

Enhance is getting nothing.

Ele is getting an aoe. That sucks. When the flashy new spell for a spec in an expansion is an aoe which we should have had from day one, it's a bit disappointing. AoE is too small a part of the game to be happy about this spell.

Hopefully more changes incoming.

[honeybea]

im reserving judgement on everything

[Witelephant]

At a higher level, Primal Strike gets replaced by Storm Strike. They share a cooldown so Enhancement just won’t ever use Primal Strike after that, in the same way that Prot warriors don’t use Sunder Armor once they have Devastate or Feral druids don’t use Claw once they get Mangle.


I swear to God !! if I see one more post about how XshamanX is so happy about the new "Primal Strike" I am going to gag. Primal strike is for leveling. It is going to be replaced with dual wield / stormstrike when you pass level 40. SO unless you are going to start a new Shaman and get it on with Primal Strike, you are not going to be using it. Also, we will never get 2h weps because Blizzard does not want another class rolling on that gear. Hell, we can't even get them to let us use freaking swords for Christ's sake.

I also saw someone talking about the diminishing returns of Healing Rain... the way I read it is that it will not diminish based on how often you use it, but by how many people it is healing. So 3 people under Rain will be healed for say 500 each every 2 seconds ( just guessing) but 5 people under Rain will be healed for 300 each every 2 seconds...something like that.

I keep seeing people talk about Spirit Link like you could put it on the tank and yourself or the tank and some clothie and the tank would take a huge hit and the poor sucker on the other end will insta die. Don't forget that Blizzard has already said that everyone's health pools will be going way up and that there will not be much difference between a tanks health and a non tanks health. just saying.

[asgarth]

The only thing i wonder about enhance spec, its if we are gonna have a cleave strike. Every other melee got something to strike multiple targets...

[Omanley]

one of the many dozens and hundreds of things botheringme:

why do survival hunters, a physical dps class, have elemental damage as 3rd mastery, and we, enhancement shaman, being masters of the elements and everything, get only nature damage? huuuuuuuuuuuh?

it should have stopped at serpent sting. survival hunters are masters of more elements than us by now, and as it looks, they´ll do more damage throught those magic damage abilities than us as well.

fire -explosive trap, immolate trap, explosive shot
frost -freezing trap, frost trap ( they´ll be getting frost damage as well, it seems )
nature -serpent sting, the new cobra shot ( bm´s new signature ability ), snake trap, wyvern sting
arcane -arcane shot
shadow-black arrow ( now we´re shadow priest/warlock, huh? ( no srsrly, where does the shadow come from? )

and dont forget their pets, of which they are now allowed to have dozens of, with all their fire breathing, lighnting breathing, poison spitting, shadow shocking and and and...

[SamuraiJakkass86]

Anyone else thinking spiritwalkers grace doesn't sound all that good?

10 seconds of running and casting at the same time? I mean... as a caster (destro lock) I don't find myself having to chase after people in PvE or PVP...

In PvE:
-Any movement I need for hitting bosses is limited and spaced apart. In VoA I have to dodge some fire or frozen orbs every now and then... but not 10 seconds worth, and definitely not at the same time

In PvP
-Neither ranged/melee classes run away from me while I'm casting at them. They either stand there and die (which makes a run/cast talent worthless), or they come right at me... oh wait.. I guess there is that niche for kiting melee that want to beat me up...

Well, let me get more into that:
-Rogues will sprint to me, catching up anyways
-Warriors will intercept me
-Paladins will stun me with a 50+ yard HoJ
-Shaman will frost shock me
-DK's will DG + Chains of Win me

I won't be able to run from them no matter what I do... this new skill would have to give me like.. damage absorption + movement speed increase at the same time in order to be useful :|

Enhancement shaman may be able to cast spells while they attack? There is some potential there, if they allow us to use stuff like SS while casting FS/LvB or something...

IDK, maybe I'm just being closed minded here - anyone able to enlighten me to the potential OP this skill has that I'm reading about?..

[asgarth]

Anyone else thinking spiritwalkers grace doesn't sound all that good?

10 seconds of running and casting at the same time? I mean... as a caster (destro lock) I don't find myself having to chase after people in PvE or PVP...

In PvE:
-Any movement I need for hitting bosses is limited and spaced apart. In VoA I have to dodge some fire or frozen orbs every now and then... but not 10 seconds worth, and definitely not at the same time

In PvP
-Neither ranged/melee classes run away from me while I'm casting at them. They either stand there and die (which makes a run/cast talent worthless), or they come right at me... oh wait.. I guess there is that niche for kiting melee that want to beat me up...

Well, let me get more into that:
-Rogues will sprint to me, catching up anyways
-Warriors will intercept me
-Paladins will stun me with a 50+ yard HoJ
-Shaman will frost shock me
-DK's will DG + Chains of Win me

I won't be able to run from them no matter what I do... this new skill would have to give me like.. damage absorption + movement speed increase at the same time in order to be useful :|

Enhancement shaman may be able to cast spells while they attack? There is some potential there, if they allow us to use stuff like SS while casting FS/LvB or something...

IDK, maybe I'm just being closed minded here - anyone able to enlighten me to the potential OP this skill has that I'm reading about?..

Spiritwalkers grace is probably 1 of the most powerful 85 spells they shown yet. Having the possibility to move and cast at the same time is almost op.