Totem Talk: Shamans in development
by Robin Torres 
Aug 17th 2007 at 4:00AM
As we've discussed before, Shamans need a lot of development love in order to no longer be the least played class. We did receive some good news at BlizzCon, but what is the first tangible thing that happens? A "hotfix". Nerfing Windfury to no longer work on "yellow" attacks except next swing attacks was so pressing, it couldn't wait for a patch. It seems this change had been in the works for a while, but a hotfixed buff would have been nice to balance it out. But let's dwell on the positive. There are some changes for Shamans coming up in patches and the expansion: Wrath of the Lich King. Here is a compilation of what development is in the works or at least being discussed for Shamans.
Crowd Control?: I was disappointed that no one asked about the ability to clear aggro, but at both of the BlizzCon class panels, someone asked about Crowd Control. It seems that while this is definitely not something that will show up before WotLK, it is being looked at for levels 71 to 80. They have yet to decide if crowd control is something that they want to add to the Shaman class, but at least it is in discussion.
Totems, totems, totems: The totem system is being looked at. The Mana Spring totem is definitely going to be made more powerful and so are other totems which were not disclosed.
Talents: As Eliah reported, they are working on some new talents for Shamans:
- Mental Quickness: In addition to reducing the mana cost of instant cast spells, it will increase spell damage and healing by 30% of your AP at max talent points.
- Shamanistic Rage: In addition to its current mana-regeneration proc, it will reduce damage taken by 30% when it's on.
- Shamanistic Focus: This new talent is not finalized yet, but currently seems to replace the Two-Handed Axes and Maces Talent. The talent as we saw it at BlizzCon will reduce the mana cost of your next shock spell by 60% after landing a melee critical strike.
"Scaling" problem: An interesting comment during the class panel revealed that the developers do understand that Shamans have lost their former glory. While they used to be feared before the introduction of the Arcanite Reaper, Shamans have not scaled so well along with everyone else. So greater PvP viability is being looked at for Shamans.
Free Spell Damage for healers: In the items panel at BlizzCon, it was announced that healing speced classes will have spell damage increasing stats on their healing gear. I'm not sure if this will come in the form of changes to current gear or if it will only apply to gear dropping in the patches and the expansion. But the developers made it clear that the gear that drops for Restoration Shamans will include Spell Damage bonuses so that wearing your uber healing gear will allow you to enjoy the solo PvE content without having to respec and change gear or get on an alt.
Spirit as a useful stat: Currently other classes get some Spirit bonuses to make it kinda worthwhile for them, but that really isn't the case for Shamans. Spirit is definitely going to get revamped so that it will be useful for all classes that use mana. While the developers were clear that the mana bar will never regen as fast as the energy bar, Spirit is going to have a greater effect on mana regen. They are also looking to add another component to Spirit to make it even more attractive. As Chadwick pointed out in the comments for the Druid BlizzCon recap, they are looking into threat reduction as a possible effect of Spirit.
Blizzard does seem to be working on Shaman issues, but it looks like the majority of the love will come from fixes being made for all healers and mana users. Will these changes be enough to return the Shaman class to its glory days? That remains to be seen.
Filed under: Shaman, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, (Shaman) Totem Talk, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
RogueJedi86 Aug 17th 2007 4:08AM
I'd say they could fix the issues of useless Spirit and Healers having no spell damage in one fell swoop. Much like how Intellect increases Spell Crit chance, make Spirit increase Spell Damage. Some fine-tuning would be needed to get the exact amount of spell damage right, but I think it'd be a nice 2-for-1 fix.
Grimtar Aug 17th 2007 4:33AM
@1: That would not help Shamans, who often wear no Spirit at all.
I am worried that adding +damage to our healing gear will reduce the other stats we will get, rather that it being simply tacked on. Id rather have 2 dedicated sets.
Also, adding +damage to our healing gear will probably not be a huge aid. It might mean we will carry less gear around, but it wont help my spell or melee DPS be as good as a DPS-spec hybrid, any more than my current +damage set would. They also cant go too much further into giving +heal/damage bonuses as high-end talents without making every heal spec a viable hybrid - especially with such healing-heavy encounters.
They could retune encounters so that they depend less on healing and more on DPS, much like the Ossirian fight, but that could get boring.
I dont think there is a gear-based solution to this problem. I think a small part will be in lowering the burst damage of the bosses (particularly the crushing blow mechanic), and the rest is in a rethink of how talents are supposed to work.
Certainly, another 10 talent points will be useful, particularly if they do not deepen the trees (ie no 51-point or even 46-point talents).
Grimtar Aug 17th 2007 4:41AM
Ooo that would be really nice actually. I could leave 45 points in Restoration, and pick up both 5/5 Reverberation and 5/5 Call of Thunder, grab Elemental Fury, and still have 4 points to divide between Storm Reach and Unrelenting Storm (probably 4/5 Unrelenting Storm would be the way to go).
Instant DPS (and having Unrelenting Storm will make me a better healer too!).
Bobby Hansen Aug 17th 2007 5:10AM
How's this for an idea:
Shaman's Insight: As a class feature, Shamans will recieve 1 Extra Skill Point every 15 levels starting at level 10.
This means at level 10 you get two points, 11 you get 1, 12 you get one, ect up to level 25 where you get 2 again. This would mean a bonus at levels 10, 25, 40, 55, and 70. This balances out to 5 extra points, giving the shaman additional flexibility in making a spec that does things more comprehensively.
RogueJedi86 Aug 17th 2007 5:14AM
@#2/Grimtar
You say it wouldn't help because you don't wear spirit. You don't wear spirit because it has no use. But give it a use(like direct addition to +spell damage), and you would start wearing spirit.
Bobby Hansen Aug 17th 2007 5:34AM
aside from the topic - I love that there's a shaman discussion on this site, but in it's few issues, it seems like at least half of 'em have been QQing about how bad we got it. Now I love my Draenei Shaman. I realize they've taken a serious decline in quality, but can't we have some of the talk that goes on in the other class-specific columns? Spec talk, gear idea, lore discussion, something other then vague whining about what needs to be improved?
Tridus Aug 17th 2007 6:19AM
Remove the mana per five stat entirely (since it was only added as a hack to avoid fixing Spirit), and make some amount of Spirit work even while casting.
Problem solved.
Rafael Aug 17th 2007 7:52AM
Nerfing windfury... i dont like this idea..
someone can explain exactly what will happen to windfury ?
Fraufrau Aug 17th 2007 7:57AM
@RogueJedi86
we dont wear spirit because mil gear has no spirit, blizz has itemised our gear to hav no spirit
thing is too if they maintain levels and add spirit or +dmg to healing items under the current system healers will loose a significant amount of +healing power and it will drastically effect raiding and boss encounters
the easiest way blizz can allow healers to do ok dps with spells is either thru talents or by giving players the ability to switch between 2 designated 'specs' with the current cost to respec maintained but instead allow say 25 points to b moved around, u set ur base points then select spec 1 - allocate last 25 points, select spec 2 - allocate the same 25 points and just switch between the two when out of combat
problem solved for all classes and spec restrictions (healers and dps, tanks and dps, pvp and pve, etc)
Ryan Aug 17th 2007 8:01AM
@8 Already happened. They nerfed windfury totem, not the weapon enchant. The totem used to be able to proc on any melle attack, however the change was made so that it only procs on white damage and 'next swing' attacks like heroic strike or cleave (I'm assuming they were thinking double windfury crits on execute was a little OP in the arenas).
Poirot Aug 17th 2007 8:29AM
@2 The crushing blow mechanic doesn't need tuning seeing as how any tank worth their salt can push crushing blows effectively off the hit table through smart itemization.
as a priest i'm all for nerfing shamans, but i do recognize that heal specced anything needs worthwhile threat reduction. But if you had to choose between threat reduction and CC which would shamans prefer? It would seem unfair to offer them both.
Indigo Aug 17th 2007 8:33AM
My bet on the +damage thing is it will be tied to a high-end talent.
Like Lightwell will have a "also adds 50% of your healing from items as damage to your smite, shadow word: pain and shadow word: death spells".
Why? To prevent shadow priests from getting benefit from the skill. Remember, they're fixing a talent-related problem here, makes sense to do it with a talent.
Trunade Aug 17th 2007 8:41AM
I have a 70 shaman, hunter, and priest. The shaman is definitely the least played of the three just because he doesn't feel the same as he did at 60. Definitely need something done to them, and I think every class should have a form of CC even if it's just a stun.
Ryan Aug 17th 2007 8:54AM
@11 Any pally or warrior tank can yes, druids just mitigate through them.
Levi Aug 17th 2007 9:18AM
Maybe they could change the way Windfury on weapons works so a green 2.6 speed offhand isn't better than fast epics.
leo.e.coyle Aug 17th 2007 9:54AM
The lack of real discussion about the Shaman class, the almost constant complaining about viability, and the lack of players are all related.
There are fewer decent shamans of the three viable specs (yes, all three specs are viable for end-game if they are played correctly and with finesse) to discuss ideas and tactics than there are people playing other classes. As a result fewer good ideas are tossed around and fewer people pick up on little tips and tricks that make Shaman viable and downright fun.
Personally, I'm much more in favor of a threat dump for the Shaman class than I am for crowd control. Crowd control certainly makes things easier when running an instance or a raid, but on the list of importance it comes below focus fire and coordination. Heck, it's on a 20 min cool down but does any else ever pull a mob away from a group, drop earth elemental, set elemental as focus, and toss the ele heals every once in a while. That, my friends, is two minutes of CC on that mob.
Threat reduction would mean that we can all kill or heal our targets faster and more effectively, which in the end is more beneficial to a group than one more crowd control. Now if I could find the strength to hit exalted with KoT to get that dang Time-Lapse Shard to have my own agro dump.
Mapenga (http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Draka&n=Mapenga)
Obmulap Aug 17th 2007 9:56AM
Make Mana Tide the standard at mana regen for the mana totems. Then make the current mana tide 50% instant with the standard 5 minute cooldown (that's just wishfuk thinking). With mana totems now regenning 360 mana over 2 minutes is nothing when your mana pool is 8K+.
Mick Aug 17th 2007 10:03AM
Shadow priests need an aggro dump 10 times as much as shaman. AOE healing + decent damage = a crap ton of aggro. Add to it we don't have the option of tranquil air totems. There are way too many fights where threat generation from shadow priests completely gimps their contribution to the raid.
Angus Aug 17th 2007 10:16AM
"I love that there's a shaman discussion on this site, but in it's few issues, it seems like at least half of 'em have been QQing about how bad we got it. "
There's a reason for this. If Blizz's developers would stop being snarky towards the Shaman players and actually do their job of making it enjoyable you would see a lot more posts like the guide to enhance raiding.
When asked about an aggro wipe last time the head developer said "You have one, it's called an ankh." That kind of snarky attitude forced me to respec resto to be useful. Every other class with huge burst damage has an aggro wipe as a base skill. Invisibility, Feign Death, Soulshatter, Vanish.
We have to die, lose all our raid buffs, 10% durability and come back at low health and mana to do it. Seem fair? Nope.
I could go on and on about issues I see with Enhancement. My rogue has NONE of those issues. That spec essentially puts you in the same boat but you lack the essentials that rogues do. Arms warriors have a debuff that is so damn nasty they decided to nerf US.
That's the other issue. When some combination is found that is deemed too vicious, instead of nerfing the class that is actually benefitting, Blizzard nerfs the healers. Warlocks doing too much damage because of shadow priests? Nerf the priest. Warrior doing too much with mortal strike, nerf shammies. Warriors running amok, nerf pallies. Pallies getting out of saps because of a damn useful PvE ability? Nerf Pallies. That last one was the only one where they were the cause. Instead of making it just not work as often in the arena, they nerfed ALL usefulness out of it. Now Maiden fights are going to be a lot harder.
Scruffy Aug 17th 2007 10:21AM
@18
This is where pally healers come in.
Blessing of Salvation? *swoon*