PTR notes: Not-so-Clearcasting for Shamans
by Mike Schramm 
Apr 15th 2007 at 10:56PM
By now, you've probably at least heard (perhaps in haiku form) that shamans are facing a serious nerf in the upcoming patch. As a Resto/Elemental shaman, I figured I'd take a few minutes to lay out for you just what we, your trusty totem-dropping buddies, will be facing.
Y'see, there's this ability called Clearcasting. Mages, priests, shaman, and druids can all get it under certain specs-- it basically gives you a mana-free spell every few casts, the percentage of which changes by class. Mages at full spec get a 10% chance, Druids get it as a chance on melee attack, and priests get it as a usable ability (with a 3 minute cooldown).
Now, this talent is especially useful for Shaman, since we are notoriously mana inefficient-- supposedly, that's our tradeoff for being able to melee, heal, and cast damage spells. Way back when, the Clearcasting talent (in the Elemental tree) had a standard rate of 10%, but just recently, in 2.0.10, it was changed to anytime we got a critical spell hit.
That's huge. But it's also what the devs apparently didn't like.
See, the 10% Clearcasting was nice, but when I'm in a group with an Intellect buff, wearing my spell damage gear, with my trusty Moonkin friend at my side, my crit chance can go as high as 20%. And I'm not even an Elemental shaman-- those who spec elemental can get a Totem of Wrath that pushes that chance 3% higher. That's almost 1/4 of our damage-casting mana that is completely free with one talent point spent in the third tier of Elemental. At that rate, I'm churning out plenty of damage with a decent (although not even close to a well-geared mage, or even a Balance druid) mana efficiency.
In fact, it's a little too efficient for the devs-- as of 2.1, Elemental Focus (the talent which provides the Clearcasting ability on a critical spell strike), will only give a chance for a "Clearcast" with a 60% reduction in mana cost. For all other classes, "Clearcasting" means 100% reduction, but for shaman, "Clearcast" now means only a 60% reduction.
As some shamans have said, there was a nerf coming somewhere in there--25% free mana is really nice, and if anyone could use it, shaman could, but it is a lot of free mana. The reason the devs did it this way is probably because they still wanted the ability to be affected by gear-- if I wanted to, I could focus on spell critical hit gear and enchants, get my crit chance even higher than 25%, and probably make up the lost mana. But a lot of shamans have trouble having a buff called "Clearcast" that doesn't actually clearcast for us. If they ask me, I'd just forget the gear thing, make it a 12% chance and leave it be. But that's just my opinion-- other shaman can feel free to rant away below.
And I haven't even mentioned enhancement shaman-- they've all become math majors because they're losing the ability to put two different ranks of weapon buffs on two different weapons. That all has to do with the proc cooldowns bumping up against having two weapons with different speeds-- those of you who are regular readers know I'm bad at math, so I'll leave it at that.
It seems like everyone faces nerfs every other patch, so I'll agree that pretty much everyone has someone to grind an axe about from time to time. But the problems with shaman are really more basic than how often we "Clearcast" (maybe it should be "Muddycast"?) or putting two ranks on dual weapons-- it's that while we've got a lot of interesting stuff at our disposal, we've still got a lot of holes in the class. From situation to situation, our skills are either useless (tremor totem is such a joke it's amazing it ever works at all), or simply nonexistent (unlike other healing/casters like druids, priests, and mages, we have no CC at all, not even in our talents).
Is the class broken by this nerf or any other? No-- I love playing my shaman, and I'll play it whether I'm getting 100% or 60% free mana from Clearcasting. We're definitely a support class-- the tanks tank, the healers heal, and the DPS hits while we're in the background here and there and doing a little bit of everything. But it would be nice to shine every once in a while-- this Clearcasting crit buff made me push out damage that even I didn't know I was capable of, and if the devs are going to take that away from us, just what are they going to give us in return?
Filed under: Shaman, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Raiding, Talents
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Bachus Apr 16th 2007 12:16AM
you mention Elemental spec in regards to the new Windfury, it's actually enhancement spec. just a head's up ;)
Kuremia Apr 16th 2007 12:19AM
Whilst the Shamans did get hit pretty hard by the nerfbat, so did a lot of other classes. I don't know what Blizz is trying to do, I really don't.
lAce Apr 16th 2007 1:32AM
"(unlike other healing/casters like druids, priests, and mages, we have no CC at all, not even in our talents)."
And what else you want? Preaching and walking on water? Ummm, erm....
And if you got CC, why should ppl take other classes? You can tank, heal, dps (ranged), dps (melee). Do not want to take away other ppls "job" :D
"But it would be nice to shine every once in a while-- this Clearcasting crit buff made me push out damage that even I didn't know I was capable of, and if the devs are going to take that away from us,"
Ususally that's the reason classes get nerfed. They get too overpowered in aspect of other classes. Like pallys get a nert this patch, because with right gear (and talent) they can flashheal spam without losing mana....
"just what are they going to give us in return?"
I do not think it's ever been "we take, but we give , kkthxbye - Blizz dev". Classes get buffs, classes get nerfs, and no close relation in that. They are just buffs,.... and nerfs.
Shalkis Apr 16th 2007 1:35AM
The problem with Shaman Clearcasting was not that you got 100% mana reduction on a single spell, it was that Clearcasting procced each time you critted. That's any crit, so you could spam rank 1 Lightning Bolt (which is practically free with Totem of the Pulsing Earth and Convection), get a Clearcasting proc and then cast a max-rank Lightning Bolt. Add in Unrelenting Storm and you could go on and on and on. Cataclysm set bonus of 120 mana refunded on crit is just icing on the cake.
Mage Clearcasting is stuck on 10% chance and won't scale with gear or additional talents.
kraoro Apr 16th 2007 1:34AM
It's clear that the game was not yet easy enough for Warlocks. Sure, they're already the most overpowered class in the game, but.... I forget where I was going with this. I do share your pain though, because I'm a Frost Mage with an alchemy profession, so I'm feeling majorly nerfed.
Robert Apr 16th 2007 1:56AM
Elemental Focus wasn't being nerfed because you had a 25% crit rate. Elemental shaman with the right spec and high end gear were hitting 35-40% and up.
Also the QQ post is a little unusual for WoWInsider.
Acceptable Risk Apr 16th 2007 2:00AM
One thing that never ceases to amaze me is that every patch, there is always someone who says, "I'm dissatisfied with my class! Clearly it's a Warlock conspiracy!!!"
Warlocks suffer at least a minor nerf in practically every patch. But since it's not a complete removal of the fear mechanic, no one ever notices. All they see is warlocks still running around one-shotting everyone with their five simultaneous pets and the 150 talent points they evidently get.
Reygar Apr 16th 2007 10:22AM
why do people keep complaining about warlocks?
i am a lvl 70 warlock and i dont think i am overpowered. i have played all of the other classes too, and my warlock was by far the longest to level up. hwo is that over-powered? if you think that, its only because you had a bad experience with one before. Any class can be considered overpowered if you know how to play them well. It all comes down to the player, not the class. you're either good and live or you suck and die. get over it and run back to your corpse. it's just a game.
Bobby Hansen Apr 16th 2007 3:22AM
See, the problem is bigger then a nerf. It's the core issues with the class.
If I spec Resto, I'm stuck as a healbot. My spells do little damage, and I don't want the Aggro anyway.
If I am NOT enhancement, my Melee will suck. I'm stuck with 40-50DPS one-handers, or staffs but then I give up my shield so my defense sucks.
If I spec elemental, I have a serious hobble in that I can't CC any one for a long time. We also have shallow mana pools and don't get benes like mana crystals and we can't drink in combat. Our heals are less efficent then a dedicated healer.
In the end, we're always stuck in a support role. Now, before End Game, that doesn't matter. And for the most part, small PVP it doesn't hurt so bad. Where it REALLY kills is in End-game raids where, simply put, if you want a healer, you get a priest, or a Pally, or a Druid, if you want a spell slinger, you get Mage or a Warlock, and if you want a melee DPS, you have your choice. Let's put it this way, no one ever says "LFShaman DM". "LFPriest", yes, "LFMage", yes, "LFTank", yes. Never "LFMShaman". I made a joke on the Blizz boards that the flavor text for Earth Shield should say "You know, they only invited you because their regular priest is at her cousin's wedding."
We are supposed to be flexable, and we are in that we can edit the character how we want. but once we've chosen that, we're limited to support roles.
Now, I've suggested on the Blizz boards one way to fix this: a trainer skill that will significantly make our respecs cheaper after a certain level (I said 40 for sake of an example). This means if I'm needed to be a healer, I can respec Resto more easily, rather then just being let left out.
But please, ignore our comments, we just play the class. We're just twinking little Powergamer Munchkins, right?
No, this class has fundamental flaws. And rather then investigating them and trying to balance them out, they refuse to fix issues (for example, the useless Sentry totem, the hit-or-miss Tremor totem, ect).
I like my Shaman. I enjoy playing her and will continue, but I'm going to make it known that in my opinion, things need to be fixed.
Camaris Apr 16th 2007 3:25AM
Hmm.. this sounds like a similar nerf as Paladin's Illumination. It seems they're trying to 'buff' Holy priests by nerfing all other healers.
Markus "LAKE" Berglund Apr 16th 2007 3:41AM
Palladins have their version of Clearcast to - Illumination. But it works backwords, your last heal becomes free, if it was a crit. And now they are nerfing it even harder then the shamans "clearcast".
From the patchnotes:
"Illumination: This talent now only gives 50% of the mana cost of the critical heal."
Shalkis Apr 16th 2007 3:55AM
So.. how exactly does a Clearcasting nerf of offensive spells hurt a Resto shaman?
And as for shamans being stuck in support role.. I don't see it as a problem, rather than a feature. A shaman can dish out Melee DPS/Ranged DPS/Healing at levels approaching the base classes _and_ provide support. As a general rule, I've found that tank+healer+2xdps+support does better than tank+healer+3xdps.
Galanus Apr 16th 2007 5:35AM
I think something else, something more insidious might be at work at Blizzard than simple poor choices. Warlocks are beyond a shadow of a doubt the most overpowered class in the game and they don't seem to be getting nerfed much if at all.
The balance is being purposefully broken, why? I think people are doing too well in the game and with Blizzard NOT setting straight to work on expansion 2, (it would appear they're doing something with starcraft) the best stopgap solution to keep the legions of endgame players satisfied is to nerf not their classes but to nerf their very ability to progress.
From a game design perspective, I don't see any point in a constant line of nerfs, all of which seem to be aimed not at balance (how else do you explain warlock?) but impeding endgame progress. The Shaman is a really broken class, the racial traits of the original races pale in comparison to those of the expansion races, Priests are being asked to DPS instead of heal, because their holy tree is terrible, Paladins ended up de facto main heal with their, frankly deserved, Illumination. I do fall into the "Buff priest, don't nerf pally" camp, it just makes sense to me. There should be genuine incentive for priests to spec holy, they should be healing gods if they drop in there.
Bobby Hansen Apr 16th 2007 4:56AM
Shalkis: It doesn't. That's the problem: Resto is the only viable end-game Shaman spec, and even THEN it's beat by more dedicated classes.
The problem with being support is simple: In order to do your role (again, what's a hybrid class if your stuck to one roll? Is it hybrid in that you can choose AFTER you roll?) you need help. Mostly in the form of gear. At end-game, this gear comes from Rading. But no Shamans can get such high-end gear because they're not good enough for people to bring on raids. It's a rather vicious cycle.
Step back and consider it like this. Let's say your on a Raid, and you have an Elemental Shaman in your group. If he suddenly runs up and starts hitting things, he's not slinging spells, and not playing his role. This is an invite for a wipe. Not that him running up and wacking things is a good idea - he's very limited in his DPS. So then what's he supposed to do when he's OOM, which is much more likely because of this nerf? He's stuck to attacking. He doesn't have a method to get Crowds of him (like Polymorph can for Mages), or a way to eliminate aggro (like hunters do), and he can't quickly recover mana (like Warlocks can do). He's screwed, and thus the group's endangered too. One very positive method Shamans had was our clearcasting overcame the shallow mana pool. Now that's broken.
Let's say instead it's an Enhancement Shaman. The enhancement Shaman is built as an off-tank. But his best DPS setup just got taken away. Now he can't crit as often, and can't lay down the DPS. You want that?
Now Resto, well shallow Mana pool aside, they're sitting ok. But Honestly, if most people wanted to be dedicated healers, they'd roll Priests and spec Holy. And when he's OOM, do you want someone decked in +heal gear to get running to the front, and hope he gets out alive?
Now, I'm trying to avoid these pitfalls by going 40/0/21, a Hybrid Elemental, meaning I have Nature's Blessing (nex Nature Spell is instant with use). The spec I'm going with though means I can't get the 41 point talent in Elemental, so I don't get that Talent-tree Defining talent.
What I'm really saying is there's no good way to handle this - We're short on Mana, we can't CC, we can't put up DPS without twinking equipment.
Also, a lot of the anger as was mentioned in the TFA is the kind of disrespect the class is getting. Instead of invesigating and balancing, they're taking one of our talent trees and making it less useful. Then in the Patch Notes, we get things like "Fixed Shaman Trainer Animation", and something about a troll racial ability that didn't seem to have anything to do with Shamans.
It's a general lack of respect that a lot of people are angry about, above and beyond the issues in the game itself.
Again, I want to emphasis I love my Shaman, and the class has some AWESOME points - the Shaman Rez is the best in the game, it only costs Mana, not even a regent. Reincarnation is massively useful to save a raid or instance from going balls up. Ghost Wolf is a great travel form, and can honestly keep most people going past 40 (there's only a 20% difference in speed between GW and the 40 mount, and you can attack as GW, and it can be cast in Combat to get away). And Astral Recall, which acts like a Hearthstone but only has a 15 minute cooldown, is quite simply the best low-level trained skill shamans have. It means any mini-dungeon quest goes from being a hassle to a one-way trip. Again, no regent needed.
But once the end-game comes, there's a lot of issues, and with the Alliance getting Shamans, I hope to hell they start paying closer attention to the players on this one.
monkeywraith Apr 16th 2007 5:03AM
"we have no CC at all, not even in our talents"
... yeah ... druids dont have any cc either .... roots is only usable in a total of 6 instances and cyclone lasts all of 6 seconds and is subject to diminishing returns even on mobs, both are complete jokes and hardly count as cc.
anyway, is it just me or does it seem that most nerfs are targeted at the two hybrid classes and the multi-role class? or maybe i just dont read the other class notes closely enough .... but even so, i am starting to think blizzard has absolutely no clue what to do with those 3 classes. they are still my favorite classes, would rather have a pally tank or a druid/shaman healer than any other class, but blizzard makes some really annoying decisions.
Devries Apr 16th 2007 5:49AM
I agree with the earlier poster who referred to Shaman with a 40% or higher crit rate. My girlfriend plays an elemental shaman (41/0/20) and she says that she can get her lightning bolt crit rate up to about 42%. This almost 50% free spells when all she does in a raid for dps is spam lightning bolt, and if she runs out of mana, it's time for r1 LB until it crits.
It's obvious that the talent was somewhat overpowered, but at the same time, the real issue at hand is shaman mana efficiency, especially in situations like raid bosses where the fights go on for anywhere from 5-15 minutes or more.
Rogues got improved sap for free this patch, something that has been asked for since WoW began, and Shaman have been asking for trainable Mana Tide for just as long. A trainable Mana Tide would increase their raid viability and their mana sustainability greatly, with no adverse affects for PvP.
someone Apr 16th 2007 6:46AM
#3
"You can tank, heal, dps (ranged), dps (melee). Do not want to take away other ppls "job" :D"
That statement is completely wrong.
Galipan Apr 16th 2007 6:51AM
C'mon man, stop the QQ. We've all reacieved our share of buffs and nerfs in the past. Shamans had it coming. 25% crit chance is just ridiculous; I'm a MS Hunter and I don't get past 20% when there's Wrath of Air and Leader of the pack on.
Paladia Apr 16th 2007 7:31AM
"... yeah ... druids dont have any cc either .... roots is only usable in a total of 6 instances and cyclone lasts all of 6 seconds and is subject to diminishing returns even on mobs, both are complete jokes and hardly count as cc."
Druids has quite a bit of CC.
Soothe Animal, Cyclone, Nature's Grasp, Root, Pounce, Maim, Feral Charge as well as several PvE only abilities and ways to reduce attack speed of opponents. Couple that with some of the best Anti-CC in the game as well as a chance to stun on some spells.
Shaman on the other hand has no real CC at all and their only way to get out of a very small amount of CC cannot even be used while CCed, nor does it even function for most of the time if you use it before hand (tremor totem).
chimera Apr 16th 2007 7:35AM
"The enhancement Shaman is built as an off-tank."
WTF? Do you know what tanking means? Shamans get 2-3 shot in normal 5mans, how could they tank :D There are no mail tanking items.
And oh yeah, priests have clearcasting too (6%, deep holy talent named Holy Concentration)