WoW Moviewatch: Shaman protest (it's the end of the world as we know it.)
by Dan Crislip 
May 16th 2007 at 9:00AM
Faingrin of Hellscream has begun a protest on Proudmoore that he's entitled "The Trail of the Broken Class." They created a trail of shaman bodies from the starting zone in Durotar all the way to the gates of Orgrimmar. This is in retaliation to the statements that Tseric has made regarding the shamans and Blizzard's view on (not) fixing them, regardless of how the players feel.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BaboonNL May 16th 2007 9:13AM
Whiners.
Obviously the game isn't 100% balanced, but there's not a single class that's broken.
And my main is a priest, I know about being semi-broken. -_-
Areis May 16th 2007 9:27AM
Less QQ more pew pew
What an utter waste of time. The class isn't broken, according to many shammies I speak with - yes, they want some changes, but "The end of the world" is a bit over the top as is the whole protest. I you don't like the way blizz implemented the shammie class, roll a proper class - like a BM hunter or something.
Ahoni May 16th 2007 9:59AM
Overall, I'm really tired of all the whining by people saying their class is broken. If Blizz says its working as intended, get over yourself. Its their game. They will make the classes work the way they think they should work. If you don't like it, you have two choices: re-roll a class you don't think is broken, or quit the game. Blizz really won't care if you quit. 6 or 8 million subscribers a month .. they can afford to lose a couple hundred thousand whiny people, let alone you.
That being said ... this is really well done protest as it makes a point and does not interrupt the game for anyone. However, once a toon (yes, toon!) is dead, you can't tell what class it is, so the protest is completely pointless unless you were there witnessing all the dead shammy toons.
SirCasey May 16th 2007 10:02AM
For what it's worth, I think each class gets a set of starting gear that's fairly distinguishable from the others...
lolwtfstfu May 16th 2007 10:11AM
Well from what ive seen people will always QQ about anything. I main a shaman (sgirdrifa elune) and i have NO problems at all. I say we are the highest damage class to bring to raids. Why? Well i am an elemental shaman, I've posted my perspective on the class shaman forum but obviously got nothing positive on my insight, so i'll try WoWinsider.
Since we lay down 4 totems, for this example ill be Elemental perspective, we have Woa and Toa, with Woa alone we give the group of 4 casters 100+ spell dmg, now 4 x 100dmg + our OWN amazing damage + totem of wrath bonus, i'd say we would be topping the charts if the damage from totems was marked as our own. Not to even mention how strong Heroism is, no class can give a group buff like that.
People complain about 5mans not wanting shamans but maybe that 5man is just too function fixated or pansy.
even at that there are 2 dps slots that we can fill (3 are warrior healer mage/CC), We do have something to bring to the table and that is our buffs.
For PVP, well i'm happy with pvp to be honest, we cant dominate everyone and thats the truth. I think most shamans are QQ because they used to tear every other class apart effortlessly and now Alliance can have shamans too, why shouldnt they be nerfed?
I think the shaman class is where it needs to be, Enhancement i believe does need tweaking but thats why theres elemental (or resto)). Theres no point in QQ about it because you can easily change it by speccing elemental and getting gear for elemental.
Airi May 16th 2007 10:25AM
Crash a server or two and they might listen.
drew May 16th 2007 10:28AM
Because Toping dps on tuesday then topping heals on wensday with a 34/0/27 build = broken right??
Savok May 16th 2007 10:40AM
I would NEVER knock back a Shaman personally, they're the Force Field Defenders (City of Heroes) of WoW, buffing a party to such an extent they can do almost anything.
I actually moused over my buffs from a Shaman the other night, +77 str from ONE of the totems, they can drop FOUR such sticks of pure joy all with different bits of awesome.
Tolento May 16th 2007 10:42AM
I play pretty much exclusively on Proudmoore as an Alliance rogue. I was there. I have a level 21 shaman. I'm very happy with him so far, but I left a body in the line anyway just because I thought it was fun to be a part of this big protest on my home realm :D
tython25 May 16th 2007 10:52AM
Having played a Shaman since release, I can say the class is definately broken, level 70 especially. I applaud those that staged this protest.
Those that criticize it and the Shaman community have obviously never played or raided with a Shaman at 70 and thus have no idea what they are talking about. Blizzard is the same way. I doubt any of them have seriously raided/pvped with a Shaman at 70. One CM at least admitted he did play a Shaman but rerolled to a Priest... wonder why... LOL.
But the Shaman community is passionate about their class and unhappy with the treatment Blizzard and Eyonix/Tseric have shown them. I seriously doubt Blizzard will give the class the review it never received and one that it deserves. But at least the Shaman community can say they did all they could to get the class's concerns addressed.
The least played class in the game is in a sorry state at the moment. I just wish more of WoW's community would stop with the QQ replies and see this truth and lend their support...
sneth May 16th 2007 11:39AM
This is why shamans are upset. These are only a fraction what the posts that just tear down the shaman. Can only post 3 url's per comment.
"Im working on providing you with the details of your upcoming review. My goal is to include as much information as possible, and afterward I will be around to discuss the changes. Right now, it looks as though my messaging will be good to go, early next week."
"Eyonix is currently on sick leave for the next few weeks. We're all wishing him a safe and speedy recovery. In the meantime Tseric and I (Drysc) will be tag-teaming the Shaman review.
http://blue.cardplace.com/cache/wow-shaman/590485.htm
"What this means to this particular community is that I plan to meet with those responsible for changes being made to the Shaman. "
Now here is where Blizzard and its employee's failed
http://blue.cardplace.com/cache/wow-shaman/601513.htm
"We're not completely satisfied with all of the changes made in the Shaman review (we seldom are with first iterations), and it's very likely that we'll be making additional changes in the near future."
http://blue.cardplace.com/cache/wow-shaman/607966.htm
"I genuinely regret not being able to communicate more these last few weeks, and I'm not going to make any excuses. But at the same time, I can't change what's been done -- I can only move forward. Since my return last Wednesday, I've been gathering the feedback that I solicited on these boards, and have been in discussion with the class designers -- and as a matter of fact, have another meeting tomorrow, specifically dedicated to the Shaman class review."
"We appreciate all the feedback we've received concerning the Shaman's totems. We don't believe the current totem system is as "broken" as it's currently being made out, despite a few recently implemented encounters that make totem-use a little bit awkward. With that being said, we will be looking into "quality of life" improvements."
"Right now the class team is heavily focused on the expansion. We will be announcing details of what's in store for each class in the weeks to come. There are a number of improvements we're considering for Shamans in expansion, such as improved totem UI and functionality."
" I've spoken with the developers and they let me know that they're not satisfied with the impact the windfury totem change is having on current end-game content balance, and plan to undo the change"
Karmakin May 16th 2007 11:38AM
"Because Shaman have to spec deep into their talent trees to be a viable substitution for the “true form” of the spot they are trying to fill, they must gear themselves accordingly. For example It's currently impossible to have +1500 healing, +850 spell damage, +18% spell crit, +20% melee crit along with also +1200 attack power. Since this is a thread, we must stick with the +20% melee crit and the +1200 attack power. That completely gimps my spells and healing."
I stopped reading, and caring after that. Typical MMORPG whine, caring not about balance and only about being overpowered.
Juliah May 16th 2007 11:43AM
I have one of every single class. I have no problems with shamans getting a class review, but they need to get in line behind priests and warriors, IMHO.
Ambril May 16th 2007 12:58PM
The argument that shaman are the least played class doesn't amount to much. They've long been available only to the lesser populated faction. How do you suppose their population numbers are supposed to have faired historically?
While it may be true that shaman are not 100% awesome all the time, it is also debatable as to how much complaining is constructive and as to how much complaining Blizzard and/or other players are receptive to listening to. The video strikes me as exceptionally childish.
Bart May 16th 2007 1:04PM
I hope people will realize that crying and pulling stunts like that wont change anything. Grow up, its a game, if the shaman class is the way it is, maybe its for a reason. Its a game, it happens in a game world, you cant tell me that your so underpowered you cant do ANYTHING in any instance/battle setting. If you dont like it, REROLL or QUIT. Simple as that. Nobody is making you play, when you play you accept the conditions and terms. Dont go out there with that "we are your customers blizzard satisfy us" crap cause its stupid. Blizzards provides you a game to play with, their job is to make sure the servers dont crash, that the mobs arent impossible, that your not being griefed/spammed/abused and thats it. Either learn to play your class, or quit, but dont cry like babies, cause your only damaging the rep of the shamans out there who are great at what they do/spec for.
fob May 16th 2007 1:34PM
To say anything about shamans they are a pvp class and as a mage shaman in the BG;s are at the bottom of food chain.
The one saying about warrios\priest should go to BG and see how easy to kill a shaman.
And yes i have a shaman also (49lvl atm)
Bobby Hansen May 16th 2007 4:19PM
Again, the issue is not if Shaman are good at PVE until 70. They are, don't doubt that!
The issue, the real heart of the problem is in the simple following issues:
1) People/Guilds in Raids demand specialization.
2) The specializations given in the Shaman class require going deep into one of our three trees in order to be good.
3) Once we do that, we're no longer a hybrid, but a third-rate version of a stronger class (Restos are hobbled Shamans, Elemental is a hobbled Mage, Elemental are hobbled Warriors or Paladins).
4) A further reason for the lack of hybridization is the lack of gear that supports more then one of our ability sets, meaning even if you choose to re-spec your shaman each time his role needs to change, your gear will also have to change. As you can imagine, at the higher levels, this is EXTREMELY expensive, and time consuming. In reality, you need to outfit 3 characters, not 1.
5) Much of the Rage behind protests is the perceived lack of care that the mods (mostly Tesric) have given the shaman class. Very infrequent posts, and when they do post, the replies are often negative if not insulting.
Now, protests do work. The developers do want to help people, and these sort of videos can show the passion people have. If I had the ability to be part of this protest, I would have been happy to join in. I think it was creative and showed something important:
Thrall, yes, Thrall, probably the single most important character in Warcraft Lore... is a Shaman. Can you imagine that character needing to respec to go on a Raid? No? Why should other Shaman have to then?
Interesting way to look at it.
Basically, Shamans were sold as hybrids, and we are, but only in that we can choose in game, rather then at rolling time. We have to specialize in end game, and in specializing, we're worse then the main classes.
And no, just because you have an elemental shaman, who can throw a healing spell, doesn't mean he should stop what he's doing in a raid to heal unless they are in desperate strides. If you wouldn't want your DPS people to stop and throw bandages, don't think a Shaman should do the same.
It's just we think the Shaman class needs a serious looking over, with input from the community. Not snarky CM's, not nerfs for "Game balance" (I think they're trying to balance us against Delfias Trappers or something).
So, there ya go.
Matt May 16th 2007 7:39PM
Every night, I lie awake in bed knowing that the shaman lurks in BG, just waiting to slow me to the point where I cant move at all, destroy my buffs with purge, summon huge elementals, and kill me with shocks while I flail around and generally make a fool out of myself. And now, they want to be buffed...? What is the world coming too?