Shamans being "looked at"
by Elizabeth Harper 
Feb 9th 2007 at 2:50PM
In the wake of Blizzard's assertion that they won't be doing any more class reviews, comes an announcement from European CM Ommra saying that the shaman class is currently being "looked at." There aren't any specifics yet, but says Ommra,The developers are currently looking into Elemental threat and sustainability (mana efficiency).
Of course, the thread goes on to list other class complaints, including lack of CC (or ability to escape CC) and Enhancement threat issues -- which just shows that you can never please everyone. But for the shamans in the audience, will Elemental improvements make you happy, or does the class need improvement in another direction entirely?
Filed under: Shaman, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mekias Feb 9th 2007 3:03PM
I'd say our biggest hurdle right now is making ourselves raid viable. Now that raids are much smaller, each person has to be really good at certain very specific roles. As a shaman, we can fill a role but not as good as the "pure" classes. We have no CC and our buffs are only good for our party.
Elemental threat and mana efficiency is a problem but I don't think it's what's keeping us out of raids at the moment.
Aphext Feb 9th 2007 4:12PM
The top tier elemental talens are hopefully what they're looking into, at least the devs hinted to that fact in the beta forums (before TBC came out). Essentially Lightning Overload is useless, the ACTUAL proc rate turns out to be around 3% or so (you don't get LO procs on mobs you kill) and for 5 talent points that's ridiculous.
I don't think that the mana issue is as dire as some people state. Unrelenting storm and mana spring totem should keep us up for quite a while, granted it's no innervate or shamanistic rage but remember our LBs only cost around 270 mana (at least the rank 11 one anyway).
Totem of Wrath is pretty good as is, especially when you can combine it with Wrath of Air totem.
Matt Park Feb 9th 2007 3:46PM
I literally cheered when I saw Tseric's message in the warrior forum that shamans were getting looked into.
I think the biggest problem facing elemental is their lackluster 36-41 pt. talents. If Blizzard can change those into something that helps with mana regen, then that's great.
I think the class overall needs some active way to lower threat - elemental can go wrong stupidly fast if lightning overload procs too much, and enhancement needs a lot more than spirit weapons (the rumor going around is that Unleashed Rage causes agro every time if procs, which if its true had better be a bug) - when I can draw aggro from a warrior 10 levels above me, something's wrong.
Deusirae Feb 9th 2007 3:25PM
Mekias, I think that you are right in the area that the Shaman class is not excellent at any one pure trait, but I give your class far more credit. As a Paladin, as Shaman can be a HUGE advantage to team with. A Ret Pally with no worries about running out of mana is nearly unstoppable. That is what a Shaman can do for us. Lay down your mana totems and heal away, or just support us with the weapon buffs, other totems, etc. The addition of Shaman for Alliance and Paladins for Horde created a whole new way of playing that most people simply do not consider.
I would venture to say that mana efficiency would be the biggest gripe for a Shaman. As I have only leveled my Horde Shaman to 30, I do not consider myself an expert, but my friends to tell me that mana is always the one thing that holds them back.
Myself, I am glad to see Shamans in the Alliance ranks now. I can see them offer a lot to their groups.
Mekias Feb 9th 2007 3:49PM
Mana efficiency for an elemental shaman can be a problem in a long fight. Doing a quick computation in my head, I could throw lightning bolts for about 1 min, 20 secs before running out of mana. That's usually fine for 5-mans but I can see it becoming a problem in a raid situation with a 3-5 minute fight. And, unlike enhancement shaman, an elemental shaman is fairly useless without mana.
An elemental's main way of getting back mana is the talent, Unrelenting Storm, which gives you 10% of your Intelligence in MP / 5 sec. That's definitely nice but 420 extra mana every minute (using 350 Int as a benchmark) isn't going to improve our sustainability much in a raid. Both Shamans and Druids have bad Spirit regen so that doesn't help us out much either.
Acceptable Risk Feb 9th 2007 5:28PM
I can't help but feel a bit cynical about this. Shaman endgame viability has long been an issue that has been mostly ignored. But now that both factions have access to Paladins, it's easy to see how much more useful they are to a raid. Or from an even more cynical perspective, now that Alliance can take Shaman, the wheel is finally squeaky enough to get some grease.
Improving Elemental Shaman is a good start, but things need some looking at on a more fundamental level. I know if I had one more raid spot open and I had to choose between a Paladin and Shaman, I would take the Paladin in a heartbeat.
Das Feb 9th 2007 9:37PM
Totems are fucking retarded.
This is a simple fact.
It is my belief that blizzard was worried about totems being too powerful, and maybe Alliance players would complain about them or something like that, but at the moment it seems like blizzard has balanced out the usefulness of totems with the fact that they're fucking annoying to use, not to mention useless in so many ways.
On top of that they're the only buff which will pull aggro. One fun fact is that most totems actually have a larger aggro radius than you do.
Why, Why do they have a larger aggro radius than me??
Hitman Feb 9th 2007 10:16PM
hard to believe this comment "including lack of CC (or ability to escape CC)" is anywhere near true. totems that break fear, totems that absorb dmg and cc effects such as sheep.... seriously. shamans are a hybrid class - they arent supposed to be top of healing,top of melee dmg , top of caster dmg. if u want to do those things then reroll a class designed specifically for that and stop your complaining.
Audiosmith Feb 10th 2007 2:21AM
"shamans are a hybrid class - they arent supposed to be top of healing,top of melee dmg , top of caster dmg"
I am a resto shaman, and have recently been able to slightly beat out priests on healing meters.
Druids are a hybrid class, and at times a feral druid can be a far more effective tank than a prot warrior.
I am reminded of a motto a few of the shaman on my server use: "Shaman are hybrids. We suck at everything equally"
Baluki Feb 10th 2007 11:12AM
It's good to hear, and since they spoke of a specific area they're looking at, it may actually happen this time.
I'm an Elemental shaman (was full Resto for raiding for 2 years, and I'll never go back), so these changes will probably benefit me the most. We definitely need a way to regen our mana in combat, like Evocate or Innervate. Elemental DPS is pretty good, but nobody wants to group with someone who's going to go OOM 3 mins into a boss fight (4-5 mins if you're decked out in the very best of the best MP5 gear). And we definitely need some way to drop threat; a version of Fade would be nice.
But those aren't the only problems shamans have. The totem system STILL needs work, and our new bandaid called Totemic Call doesn't change the fact that totems are immobile. They need to be changed so that the buffs will stay on party members until the totem is destroyed. Totems are really only good for the old "tank and spank" encounters that Blizz is trying to avoid these days.
Then of course there's the Elemental tree's mediocre talents. Lightning Overload is an insult, and Totem of Wrath is nearly worthless; unless you're going to be grouped with 4 fire mages at all times, you'll get more DPS out of a Searing Totem.
Then of course there's the fact that an Elemental shaman is worthless against Nature-immune/resistant mobs. A new nuke spell would be nice. Maybe that would make up for the fact that we got almost nothing in BC: a lousy mana shield, a good spell totem, a group buff with a 10-min cooldown, and 2 pets on 20-min cooldowns, and THAT'S IT.
Bah, I could complain all day, but there's a much better thread on the WoW forums that isn't as angry as what I'm likely to write: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=50956872&sid=1
Whenever your class is having issues, just say to yourself "at least I'm not a shaman".
Hiroshi Feb 12th 2007 12:33PM
Speaking as a long time Paladin (even rerolled a new one because I've always wanted to get in with the Horde) it's interesting to see the new Shaman issues versus the new Paladin. I used to claim "Paladin for PVE, Shaman for PVP" (even though I liked PVP more) and it's really sucky to see the Shaman get surpassed by the Paladin in both areas now (in my opinion).
I used to be the last to sympathize with Shaman complaints, but now I'll be the first to say the Shaman has a lot of room for improvement, and they certainly deserve it. I've had all kinds of positive experiences with Shaman party members in their current form, and I really anticipate grouping with the ones that perform as intended.