Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsTseric on Enhancement
by Eliah Hecht 
May 9th 2007 at 12:48PM
Being a primarily Alliance player, I haven't had a chance to play with very many Shaman. There's one at level 70 in my guild, and he's Enhancement; going on Heroic runs with him has showed me the beauty of totems, and possibly made Heroism my new favorite spell in the game. However, despite the fact that I haven't grouped with Shaman very much, the general aura of discontent with the state of the Shaman class is fairly difficult to avoid. So when Tseric posts something that looks an awful lot like "Enhancement is for 1-69, respec at 70," I cringe when I think of inevitable backlash from the community. Of course, it's important to note here that Tseric didn't actually come out and say "respec at 70." What he said was "Enhancement Shaman have a difficult time in PvP compared to the other trees," as well as "in PvE, while Enhancement can put out some decent dps, they are also seen as absorbing heals by being in melee range for a boss encounter, so they may not be preferable to a plate wearer or someone who can mitigate enough of their own damage cleanly." Now I might just be reacting without thinking through it, but to me, that really seems to read as "Enhancement is sub-par in PvP, and non-preferable in [group] PvE."
Nevertheless, it doesn't look like there are any new changes to announce to the class at this time, and Tseric has specifically said there won't be any sort of "class redesign" or anything. Every time I read a CM saying they won't be redesigning a given class, I die a little inside, because it's really starting to seem more and more like the devs absolutely refuse to make any big changes to the game, despite stressing how balance in an MMO is a constantly evolving thing. I understand the drive not to make huge changes all at once, but on the other hand, it's impossible to arrive at a redesign by way of gradual changes, so by only using gradual changes, it seems like WoW is doomed to be essentially fossilized in its current state.
Tseric's several posts are copied after the cut. What do you guys think? How are Enhancement Shaman doing in the endgame right now, and is it essential that every tree for every class be viable in the end game, or is it more important to simply make sure that every class is viable?
5/9/07 1:14 AM UTC:
After a meeting last week, I had a post written up which I was doing edits on. Issue was, I didn't know what to write for a conclusion.
I decided to forget that and just post what I had, as at least there were points to comment on and refer to later.
If you need to reference something containing developer feedback and want to ignore my other, more conversational posts, then this will probably be it.
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Enhancement Shaman have a difficult time in PvP compared to the other trees. While Elemental and Resto are regarded by the devs as performing well in PvP situations, there seem to be a lot of folks who leveled with Enhancement, which lends itself well to the solo game, but the transition into end-game PvP could cause a shift where players either respec or continue with Enhancement. These folks may not want to respec due to their love of that tree or aspect, particular gearing may become an issue that player's may have to review for themselves, etc. This may or may not be the case in all situations, but when it comes down to it, if you really wanted to optimize for PvP, enhancement might not be the best choice for it.
Conversely, in PvE, while Enhancement can put out some decent dps, they are also seen as absorbing heals by being in melee range for a boss encounter, so they may not be preferable to a plate wearer or someone who can mitigate enough of their own damage cleanly.
The devs don't see the class as broken, and while realizing there may be things to adjust in the future, there is no rush for big changes, revamps, gutting the class to rebuild it, or other similar, drastic measures. The changes going in to 2.1 don't show signs of being altered and are seen to place the class in a reasonable performance category.
For the record, there are other specifics which have been brought up many times, which are regarded as issues that the devs and players may disagree on, such as:
- Counterspell locking out a primary source of damage, nature. Paladins are in the same boat and this is deliberate.
- Along with that, nature immune creatures. The devs do see this as an issue and are being more relaxed with immune mobs. While these immune mobs may crop up from time to time, it isn't in such a way as to block progress.
- Mana Tide has been considered for trainability, but it is not seen as a candidate. I'm sure this will come up again at some point, but it has been acknowledged before and the answer doesn't seem to be changing for now or the foreseeable future.
- Threat generation, or more particularly, the ability to remove threat has been considered, but as shaman, for the most part, share standard 10% threat reduction with other casters, the devs don't see it as a pressing issue.
- Weapon itemization for healing or damage spec'ced shaman not comparing to wands. The point has been brought up and acknowledged, but there isn't anything to say beyond that at this time.
- Windfury buff scaling with weapons better than other weapon buffs, making it the obvious choice, which also seems to exacerbate people's concern over the upcoming off-hand buff change. Yes, windfury does scale better and that's fine, however the devs don't see a necessity for buffing the other buffs to make them "more desirable".
The Shaman class received positive adjustments in the upcoming patch, however they were quickly dismissed as irrelevant or inconsequential. "Not good enough" is what they say.
Well, it demonstrates the approach of the devs in regards to small, gradual changes, rather than massive revamps.
We haven't gotten 2.1 out the door, yet, so I'm not going to have concrete information about what is coming after that, because that is not where the focus is.
5/8/07 11:25 PM UTC:
Ok, I'll rephrase myself, then. Or approach it from a different angle.
A lot of Shaman spec in Enhancement for 1-69. This really has nothing to do with group-effect totems or talents being aimed at group buffing. So, regardless of the design of the talent tree, a lot of folks are leveling with Enhancement and then become frustrated with the shift of game-play between that and end-game. That is really what I'm talking about.
To follow that, I'm not placing value judgements on it, either. Merely indicating how some Shaman seem to be banging their heads on the wall out of frustration with PvP or what have you.
Do I think Enhancement would benefit from positive adjustments? Absolutely.
Why then, does the whole tenor of this, and other discussions I've had seem to result in people saying "Oh, Tseric's just saying we're fine L2P"?
It honestly doesn't matter how many times I acknowledge an area that needs attention and actually agree with some things people are saying, because the emotional bulldozer is at full speed and can't really be bothered to consider gray areas or complex issues.
"Just gives us buffs" is a blunt sentiment that the devs have heard before, so don't be surprised if it doesn't come to pass.
It should be quite obvious to some of our more astute posters that the devs aren't ignoring the class. If that was the case, Elemental Focus wouldn't have been reduced. Windfury would not be undergoing further changes.
So, if they are paying attention, why is it do you think they aren't immediately implementing the "thousands of clear, well-balanced suggestions" being posted? Is it possible that they do not agree with all of your math? They perhaps consider your suggestion to be over-powered, unable to be implemented under current design or coding limitations? Any one of another thousand reasons by which suggestions may not make it into implementation?
5/8/07 11:31 PM UTC:
Like so many other balance issues, I think it is something that gradually changed over time.
The devs will likely say that it is more important for the class as a whole to be viable, than have single spec's balanced in all fields. I think plenty of us can acknowledge having each spec equally viable in each field is an unrealistic expectation.
However, they also recognize Enhance does have drawbacks and seems to be more limited in its viability compared to other specs, but it still has its usefulness.
Filed under: Shaman
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Dixinormous May 9th 2007 7:51PM
Im a resto shammy, and I love my class/spec. I would have prefered to remain my hybrid leveling spec, but hey who needs a utility man in end game? Most people, myself included, would rather take a fully capable dps/cc class. Non main healer shamans just make things complicated.
More so in Heroics, where you want CC, + high DPS, + high Healing, + good tank. Well the Shaman can be two of those if we specc deep into the right tree (no enhancement im not looking at you). Which is the problem in my eyes....
I just wish that speccing deep into Resto still allowed me to be hybrid, rather than specialised. The best example of what I mean would be to maybe give ret paladins an aoe healing spell which only affects party members immediatly around the caster (aka melee dps), then you could atleast justify them as raid dps without making them plate wearing rogues.
Fundamentally the problem with Shammies and Paladins is that we need to specc deep into our respective tree's to be good at anything, at end game. Our viability spells such as mana tide should be a little lower in the tree so that we can actually specc to be a hybrid class, and not fully resto.
The class description and reality of the class are two different things. What im trying to say is I dont want to be a heal bot, an over aggroing dps machine, I want to be a hybrid. I still want my group viability tho, so plix gief CC, or....
Off topic, but.... I think heroics are shit, mobs 1 shotting party members is not fun. Surely their is a more creative way of improving difficulty other than gear checks. They should just make the instance 3-man and give minor buffs to the mobs. Not turn them into terminators. Gah!!?! I hate heroics so much!! Great idea, but bad implementation IMO.
Anyway,
Baluki May 9th 2007 9:46PM
A few things to clarify:
1. When you put 41 points into a single talent tree, you're not really a hybrid anymore. This is something that non-hybrid players have a hard time understanding.
2. It's not too much to ask that all 3 talent trees be viable for both PvE and PvP for all classes (with a few exceptions, Prot Warriors).
3. Someone said "shaman can heal, melee, use a shield, use a wide array of weapons, dual-wield, cast spells, rez, self-rez".
All shamans can heal, but only Restos are actually good at it.
All shamans can melee, but only Enhance are actually good at it.
All shamans can use a shield, but only Enhance can dual-wield and use 2-handed axes and maces. Otherwise, we're limited to 1-handed weapons (no swords) and staffs.
All shamans can cast spells, but only Elemental are actually good at it.
People seem to still have this vision of the Shaman as some mighty being that nukes them to death as they triple-Windfury right in their face, and magically healing to full as they do it. Sorry, this isn't true and never was.
Cosmina May 9th 2007 10:55PM
What i don't understand is why they wouldn't want all 27 talent trees in the game to be viable for everything in the game. Shouldn't this be encouraged across the board, not deliberately discouraged as part of game design?
What is perhaps worse though is that there was next to no information content in Tseric's posts. Merely aknowledging several issues, a few flat out NOs, and then vague vague vague.
To say i'm disappointed would be correct. So say i've never felt so uncertain about the state of this game is a vast understatement.
You'd think that classes would be the primary focus of the developers attention. For it is the class which the player relates to the most since they live and breathe it every time they log on. How Blizzard have gotten to this point where they're neglecting one of the most historically fundamental clases is truly amazing.
Sabane May 9th 2007 11:08PM
I don't have much to say, but I find it to be really poor policy to not be making any major changes to any of the classes, especially after the earthquake that is the Burning Crusade dramatically changed the face of WoW's endgame. As a matter of fact they should be PREDICTING that there are gonna be some major changes to several of the classes, otherwise, at this rate, 2/3 of the people playing are gonna end up rerolling Paladin or Warrior, as they are currently the strongest classes in both PvP AND PvE.
Tool May 10th 2007 7:46AM
As an 64 ele/hybrid shammy the only problem I have so far is my mana regen.
What do I want?
Beef up mana spring and water shield.
Both of these are a total fucking joke...
Shinwei May 10th 2007 7:58AM
Shaman from level 1-60 are pretty much perfect. If this game didn't have that extra 10 levels, I'd say Shamans were perfectly fine for the hybrids they are. We can offtank, heal, and DPS all at the same time - all to a reasonable extent. As an enhancement shaman I did all of these on my trek to level 60, running nearly every 5-man instance available to me on the way. It was a blast. I had no qualms with my class at all. I loved it just the way it is.
Stepping through the Dark Portal at lv58, my fist impression was: wow this gear is awesome! I did my quests and grinded my way to 70, running a few instances along the way.
The first sign that something was wrong was when I had tried to main heal the Slave Pens at lv64. I had main-healed pretty much every instance prior to this as an enhancement spec, and although it was difficult at times, it was still doable. However, no matter how hard I tried that day, I simply could not keep my party alive from the furious attacks of Rokmar the Crackler (2nd boss of Slave Pens).
Writing that experience off as an isolated incident, I continued on my trek to 70. whlie on the way, I took a good, close look at my gear. It was all very melee-oriented, full of attack power, hit rating, agility, and crit rating. All the stats I had dreamed of amassing back when I was still on Azeroth. But for some reason, my efficiency in gaining experience kind of slow, much slower than what I was used to back on Azeroth. Could it be that the mobs were simply more difficult? Or perhaps it just took a lot more experience to reach the next level? It was then I realized that it was my downtime. I found myself eating, drinking, and even bandaging a lot more than I had to in Azeroth. Bandaging, you say? I thought Shamans could heal themselves! Unfortunately my healing wave was now a mere shadow of what it used to be. Before I was able to heal a good 40-45% of my health with a good 2.5 second cast Healing Wave. Now I'm lucky if it heals even 30%.
What happened? I moused over my health bar and found that I was sporting just over 6000 hit points. Before coming to the Outlands I'm pretty sure I didn't even have 4000. The gear in Outlands is LOADED with a ridiculous amount of stamina. I asked a warrior friend of mine how much HP he has, and he replied with a whopping 9000 hit points. Worse, all the PvE content in the Outlands is pretty much designed around the fact that everyone is sporting way more hit points than before. My Rank 11 Healing Wave heals for 1725 to 1969 points, that meant I'd have to heal him for 12.5 seconds non stop before I could heal him to full.
So how do healers deal with this problem? Oh, that's right - there's also an abundance of gear with a direct +healing stat on them. Load up on that and you should be able to heal fine! But there's something else that happens when you put on that healing gear - no more DPS, at all!
Today at 70 I play a Resto Shaman. I have +1432 in healing unbuffed, and I main heal every instance I step into. I even main heal Karazhan. I am, in no way, shape, or form the hybrid class I used to be before stepping into that Dark Portal. I am a healer and nothing more. Sure I can respec to Enhancement or Elemental and start putting out some good DPS - but then my heals will be severely gimped and completely not worth the mana 90% of the time.
In short, Shamans at lv70 are highly specialized beasts. We are not able to perform multiple roles at the same time with any level of efficiency at all.
When asked a question like: "Shaman can heal, melee, use a shield, use a wide array of weapons, dual-wield, cast spells, rez, self-rez - what more do you want?" I would reply: I would like to either 1) be able to do all of those to a level somewhat below non-hybrids, or 2) be able to specialize in one area and do it just as well as non-hybrids. Because as it stands the only tree that can do just as well as the non-hybrids is the Resto tree. Enhancement and Elemental trees need work.
salty May 10th 2007 11:37AM
Too many shaman haters here, their comments being nearly as ignorant as the devs themselves for the wonderful new patch tseric/blizzard co. are slapping down soon.
I am tired of being the proverbial "token" shaman to prove that my guilds well diverse. Anybody who's played my class would understand its woes: primarily we suck. On elemental side, we are the only class without cc, we are the only casters who have no way to regain mana without consumables, silences hurt us too badly (4 classes cast silence), and no way to keep distance (like mages, druids, hunters, warlocks, & priests). From the enhancement facet, we have no anti cc, and no way to close the distance - i don't wanna get repetitive here but- like every other melee class.
On paper ppl think we're overpowered like mages in mail, rogues without energy, warriors with magic, but the truth of the matter is far from the "oh you're all QQing just learn your class and be good like me" pretentious bs. The problem lies in the nuances. I just needed to release the frustration that is the cancellation of my account and the plethora of hours spent wasted. How proud i must have been begging to be brought along for heroics and raid positions (sitting at 700 spell dmg and 24% crit as elemental since i wanted to at least cower behind my teammates and do weak sauce POM damage in pvp). I am not first in dps, i am second last in kara in terms of damage dealers. Ezareth must be using underhanded methods getting half the raid to dc to get that trophy.
Back to healing? Chain heal roxorz, but single target healing is represents the majority of the game...
We have tried hard to overcome our faults by out gearing and out playing many of you... sadly only few will relate to this statement... and the diminishing returns of our investment is too blatant to continue. You don't need to be clairvoyant to see what's happening to the shaman class.
Crypt King May 10th 2007 12:09PM
fatforprom and others who are bagging on the "Shaman Haters." Why are some of the haters supposed to care, for when they had issues with their classes like the Paladin the Shaman players who came in and gave the traditional asinine internet billybadass comments or retarded l33t speak "L2P, yooose not good, yooose hybrids GTFO STFU, QQ more, I love your tears!!"
Every time someone has a problem with their class, and comment on it the other chickenhawks come in with their stock replies.. that is until it's their class, then the world exploded and the other people just don't understand your rage and anger.
Sorry if people just stop caring, because you only can get dumped on so much before you don't give a damn anymore and they throw back the same comments they received.
The dev's have shown that they don't care to make all trees on the hybrids viable for everything, and a lot of them have angst held over from EQ that colors their view of the game and the players.
Shastelisa May 11th 2007 1:52PM
37. Hansen, I feel exactly what you're saying bro. I've been kind of bitter off/on.
When I'm out farming or questing up in Netherstorm/Shadowmoon... I LOVE playing my shaman. When I go into a 5man, here lately, I've made up for my discontent by having my elemental spec split 39/0/22 and wearing mostly healing gear, trinkets, to boost my mana pool. Stamina stuff to boost my health points. Overall, I feel a little better and not quite as useless.
where I definately agree with you, especially with dropping 41 points into a tree I'd like to also add to that; that 41 points into any of our trees sucks because having that 40th or 41st point used in any tree always keeps us just 1 or 2 points away from something else we'll need in another tree to complete our personal specs. That usually leaves many of us with no other choice but to spec deeper into the tree. Not because there are things deeper in the tree that we would actually care for, but because we don't have enough talent points to reach anything good in any other tree. So I'm definately with ya. Dumping 41 points into a tree should do more than make my char a good "x" (caster, melee, healer).
I guess what I'm getting at, in my 4.5 months playing the game, is I hear the shammies used to receive lots of complaints of being overpowered right? So the transition looks like they've taken us from one end to the other. I read this stuff about us being a support class or us not being meant to top any of the charts or whatever whatever. I also see, atm, devs saying, "you want to do blah blah blah in and be blah blah blah in each of your specs... eff u buddy. No dice... know your role and play it."
The concerns are never ending and it's going to be a long time until we see real progress, if any at all. I was only thinking that allowing an enhancement shammy to spec for plate late in the tree would give them a bigger role. good "x" in each tree is better than better than having one tree be useless in the endgame.
My friend said, "shammies wearing plate?... what about rogues... that's not fair". With no resistance to stuns and no ability to stun... it's still a fair game. They just won't be able to take me down in 4 seconds as usual (when they get the jump.
"what about truids?" I've seen druids take down plate wearers and again I don't see the big deal. An enhancement shammy is so easy to silence and be interrupted during casting... that cuts down on the chances of him/her getting a heal off.
Maybe giving an ehn shammy plate isn't the answer but it would help people get some enjoyment out of that tree.
Bombarta of Scilla May 24th 2007 1:44PM
I posted earlier on the hybrid theory column about raiding as an off-spec.
I'd like just to say that all specs of shaman have good things about them. However, it's the overall drawback of the shaman class that puts additional emphasis on why resto seems to be the only viable path.
When I say drawback, I mean the lack of being proactive to the group. Resto is a healbot spec and elemental and enhancement are simply dps drones. The fault of this is the lack of activity from our totem system. Totems are the icon of the shaman class, and while they provide mild to decent buffs, they don't allow much room for playing an active shaman.
Let me give you an example of the typical shaman routine in groups:
1. Drop appropriate totems for the mobs being pulled.
2. DPS or heal.
3. Recast totems after their short durations expire (boss fights)
Does anyone see the dynamics, or lack, of this class? Its very dry across any spec.
Aside from dropping the occasional grounding totem or poison/disease cleansing totem, our role in groups is pretty mindless. Albeit we still need to be focused for healing and have a clue as to doing well as dps, but we are a very stationary class with little to be creative about. Totems should be our unique point, but whats unique about dropping the same totems every pull?
Jimbob Jun 22nd 2007 10:49AM
hey guys, ive played as an enhancement class all the way from 1-70, to find some of u claiming that enhancement is just a levelling tool and pretty useless in PvE or PvP is just painfull>
Jimbob Jun 22nd 2007 10:51AM
got dc ther....anyways continuing on....as for there lack of buffs....uve got SOE which is gonna give you something in and around 160 AP for melee classes and GOE which is gonna be attack power for hunters..dodge parry and block for ur melee and crit, wrath of air for you casters depending on the group,which adds up to 101 to heals and SD. these are just the bread and butter of totems that any shammy can use. not to mention ur resistance and fire totems.
ive found that my shammy can easily compete with mages locks and rogues of equal gear in dps and find myself easily 2nd or top of dps metres and i use a 2hander not dual wield which gives off even more dps. I think shammys in any party bring a flexibility which is more than usefull....in pve resistance totems, buffs, excellent dps, not to mention the fact they can bust out heals that can keep parties alive when the healer gets munched, for those bad pulls when a wipe seems inevitble blood lust and a fire elemetal can make all the difference and easily pull you throu when all seems lost with the extra 30% spell/melee/cooldown speed.
As for pvp guys...u never had a shammy put down a grounding totem and purge a colthie?only to then bust down a 7k windfury? im not claiming shammys are the dogs bollox cos ther not,theyve got weaknesses too....espicially with no cc at all,but they do have situation control...spell interupts,heals mail armour instant spells good
dps and ofc the totems!!! i find that a shammy is much like a paladin but the oposite,pallys are a more defensive version with shammys as the offensive,pallys got ther plate and bubbles,also powerfull but long cooldown moves. shammys being the opposite with short cooldowns mail and a host of instant spells,both have buffs and heals,pallys with moves that allow them longer life and cc,shammys with sitation controls to allow them to take control of an encounter and turn it to their advantage.
im not claiming to be any expert but i enjoy playing as an enhancement specc finding it tough but rewarding and versatile and it saddens me when people say shammies are just no gud...i love my character to bits and i other classes just dont do it for me.
sry for the longness of the rant and i hope ive changed some of u guys minds about shammys...
Nick Hayball Jul 30th 2007 12:25PM
To the few people who have posted comments along the lines of "I am a level 24 shaman and love/hate/indifferent..." imho that's not really enough time to have properly got to grips with a class and the different specs available - you are not even beyond the third level of talents. I have tken most classes to a high level, and in my experience you really get a feel for specs and gear, and can start to mess things around a bit, when you've topped a tree off at 50 or so.
Regarding melee shamans in PVP... my 69 shammy absolutely kicks butt in PVP! Clothies go down at a ridiculous rate, even the 15k health warlock tanks are manageable with some crafty tremor totem and trinket useage. hunters are also a relatively simple kill as we have so many ways to keep them at a melee range. When I was specced Elemental a hunter fight becomes a nuke slugfest, and the timing of his scatter + silencing shot on my heals will be what determines the outcome. As enhancement I can get right into his discomfort zone and shut him down. Mages? They are so interruptable anyway, enhancement slices through all but the best CD-playing frost mages.
PVP versus arms and fury warriors, and of course rogues can be a mixed bag, but its certainly an easier task to go toe-to-toe then to try and cast against either of these classes - trying to kite them around and nuke them down with spells, you might as well be the aforementioned mage - interruptable and fragile.
I dont want this to sound like a brag post, everyone gets beaten and everyone has good sessions, but I truly think that with good tactical decisions and a well-rehearsed strategy for a given encounter, the enhancement shaman is in fact one of the stronger PVP combatants out there. Just realise that you WILL have to throw in some heals - you arent a rogue and don't try to play as one. Many times a fellow shaman will say "That rogue / warrior / feral druid / xxx beat me", I ask them how many times they threw down the earthbind totem, or frost shocked, and gave themselves a lesser healing wave. It's depressing really.
optikool Sep 10th 2007 3:51PM
I have a 60 Draenei Shaman now and I have to say I really enjoy playing a shaman... I'm still deciding which one I like better between my Shaman or my 67 Mage. If I want to do a lot of spell damage I use my Mage, for melee I use my Shaman. It's disappointing to hear that there might not be much out there in End game but I will need to find this out for myself.
I can't totally agree with the dps and not being a pvp class. I'm normally near the top of the damage list in 5 man instances... at 58 I was constantly in the to 5 in AV and now at 60 I'm constantly in the top 2. I love Windfury and I once saw a video of a Draenei Shaman doing 10k Double Windfury Crit, Muz was the video on stage6. Does that still happen at lvl 70 or was Windfury nerf'd.
One issue I have though is the fact that I don't see any good PvP Sets out there. If anybody can recommend one that would be great. Most of the gear I see is geared towards a spell caster, hardly any agility and so I am forced to have to switch between my normal gear that stacks agility with Knight Lieutenant's gear that has none. Strength is nice but that only add damage but agility adds not only more crits but also dodge. I can find buffs for attack power and I can also get more attack power from unleashed rage, which seems to proc a lot from the crits my normal gear gives me. I hope the developers of WoW will take this into consideration when creating the next set or modifying a current set.
optikool Sep 10th 2007 4:06PM
Oh one thing I forgot to mention, I'm a Dual Wielder so that could account for the increase in DPS. It's nice when I see Storm strike double crit followed by 3 more Windfurry crits and one more Windfurry it just to top it off.
One shining moment that happened in Ramparts was when we did a bad double mob pull... theoretically we were fck'd but throwing down a Stone Claw to take out some of the mob in play and keeping them busy followed by a strength totem when that was destroyed, plus Windfury totem for the meleer's, mana totem for the casters and searing totem for aoe.
Telahar Nov 27th 2007 1:27PM
At the moment my shammy is froze at 49 for a long run at PVP so I can pull down some honor and marks for pvp goodies. At 49 I don't have the most exp in the shammy world but I have learned a few dos and don'ts with the class. One major thing I have noticed while playing my shammy is there is less room for mistakes then there is with other classes. As enh shammy with the lack of good working ag reduction and the mana pool the way it is you can get your self and your team in it deep if you don't watch what your doing with little way to get out except your res. Even with the res team members tend to get pissed on a wipe if you did something to cause it ie. over ag. I have to agree about the need to make some adjustments to the class however to make it more viable for raiding and end game. I think there are some big needs for this class.
Instance work can be done as an enh (at least so far) taking care to assist your team members and knowing you have a role as a team member and using all tools at hand. If you forget to use some of the toys blizz has offered for your shammy you need to take a look at your game play as well as the short comings of the class because both are at fault.
I am a avid PVPer with all 5 classes I play and my enh shammy is no different. I usually come out in the top 3 for dps and top 2 for heals. I'm not a flag runner for WG(I know I suck at it) but I do equally well as a O or D player in AB. I have held off teams of 4 or 5 players with just myself and one other on many occasions. In PVP I have beat down and been beat down by every other class in the game(good pallys probably being the worst to deal with). Another player said to me after an all out WG war, and horde twinks hide the flag for HK run, that, "If you run into a good enh shammy you have probably run into a great player, because enh shammys are like cars with 3 wheels, They can really get going but have problems at the finish". I have noticed the better shammys in WOW have the habit of using 2 styles of play, some of them using both. Reserved play where they hang back and use spell attacks, totems, heals and the needed weapon attack to turn the tide. Or they change up to all out psycho and dive off towers and mountains into the enemy to do a quick all out slow down attack in hopes to kill off 1 or 2 in the process. I personally enjoy both but it depends on the situation at hand and the makeup of your team. Personally I enjoy blasting enemy on the way down jumping off of something and they have no idea where you are coming from, throw a couple of totems before they know whats going on and start swinging. Your TTL is short doing this but it really drives the enemy nuts and disrupts their attacks on your group.
Sorry this is so long but wanted to add my input to this as well. There are some really good enh shammys out there but there are some really bad ones as well, and like most things in life people judge all of a group by the worst in the group.
Varitux Dec 28th 2007 8:34AM
Im 2nd dps is 25 man raids as enhance.. its all about the gear. I am put into melee grp for buffing theyre dps by .. alot ... grace of air + 3 % crit .. str of earth +112 str.....and everytime i crit it gives the melee buff for inreased AP by 10%. how can a melee buffer that well not be loved... and still dps .. off heal and what ever else you would possibly need us for. you cant expect a new lvl 70 melee to be the best .. to be the best takes time and raids ( gear ) ....im getting frequent invs to grps and they all applaud the dps i put out.. there is absolutley nothign wrong with the enhancement spec. just learn how to play it and dont knock it cuz you suck.