This is a remake of my original thread. This is so that we will no longer have new posts concerning suggestions. Post it here. The purpose of it is to now collect the suggestions to the shaman class made by the regulars. Feel free to suggest them ina post and if they aren't already in the post I'll pop them in here! Be creative and have fun!!!! any other suggestions to the class will also be added on your section. O, did I mention? Every poster gets a section.
The rules are simple.
1. No disrespecting other posters for their suggestions, if you think they are wrong about something kindly explain why you think that
2. Be creative, we don't want to hear the same thing we've heard before.
3. And have fun!
Draeneipally -
Wind portal - Much like blink, sends the shaman 20 yards ahead if there is nothing in the way. 10 second CD.
Lightning Rift - Sends the shaman ahead to a selected point, chosen with a distract like hover. Sned the shaman up to 15 yards Doing XX damage to all enemies within 5 yards of the shaman. 40 second - 1 minute CD.
Wind wall - The shaman equivilant of power word: shield. With a wind animation. No cd but places a debuff on the target so that it cannot be spammed. Only one target can be walled at once.
INSTANT GHOST WOLF UNTALENTED!!!!! =D
Wind shock - A shock spell on a seperate CD from the other shocks when used alone but on a shared CD with the shocks when another is used. Does weak XX damage and entraps the target in a cyclone for 4-5 seconds. 15 second seperate CD.
Lightning blast - Does weak XX damage and has a chance of putting a debuff on the target. See below fo debuff. Lasts 20 seconds
Electricution - A debuff placed on the target via lightning blast that does XX damage every 2 seconds to friendlies around the target.
Mud slide - A weak AoE spell doing very weak XX damage or none at all. CCs all targets surrounding the caster for 2-3 seconds. A chance to break on damage. 50 second CD.
Water bolt - The exact same spell as lightning bolt but with a water animation and less damage but a 10% chance to stun the target for 1 second.
Nature's Wrath - Sends the shaman into a dormant stage. Reducing all damage taken by 50%, all healing done by 20%. But damage done is reduced by 100%. This is a shapeshift form in the resto tree. The shaman would be transformed into a wind elemental. Dispellable.
Earthquake - A channeled AoE spell that does XX damage to enemies within 5 yards of the cast area.
Firebolt - A replica of lightning bolt, but with lesser damage that puts a DoT on the target that lasts 3-4 seconds and does XX damage. Does not stack. 1.5 sec cast time with talents, 2 sec w/o.
Oceancurrent weapon - Imbues the shaman's weapon with the healing currents of the ocean. Increasing +healing by XX.
Lightning brand weapon - Imbues the shamans weapon with the wrath of lightning, increasing spell crit by XX
Nature's Martyr - The shaman sacrifices themselves to cast a buff on the selected party member.
Nature's Martyr, buff - The selected party member has a buff that causes a blast AoE healing. Healing anyone in the area to complete HP.
Bamninja -
lightning totem: in a fifth set of totems that include
totem of the pack: summons a pack of wolves to fight for you and your friends
storm caller totem: periodically selects a random enemy target to hit with lightning every 3 sec
Fire shield: once all three charges have been consumed unlocks a strike that delivers 120% of the damage done to the charges. has a 10 min cooldown.
still dont have a name for, weapon: applies a debuff that, when the target is struck the one with the debuff takes an addition amount of X nature, fire, or frost damage.
Sinstralis -
Stormstrike be modified so that it stacks a 15sec debuff on the target, that reduces Resilience by 75. Stacks four times.
Bigdaddyjug -
An idea for a sort of AOE would be:
Tornado: The shaman unleashes a tornado that travels 15 yards forward in a straight line. All enemies with 5 yards of either side of the line of travel take XX damage and are stunned for 1-2 seconds. 45 second cooldown.
Jmfmb -
Changes I would like to see:
Less of our current abilities being locked down so easily:
Healing wave and lesser healing wave both made frost (water) so that if locked out we still have earth bind, grounding, and earth shock to save our skin (chain heal should stay nature)
This also means Elemental shamans can still heal when knocked out of nature which is quite nice.
I would like to see more nukes for shaman for practical use:
Flame/Volcanic Blast (or whatever other name you want to use) basicly a fire nuke. Probably make it either a longer cast (3 second) or a faster cast (1.5 seconds) comparable damage to lightning bolt, another option for us on certain fights, but would not get benefit from some of our major elemental talents. Again another option for elemental DPS.
A practical PvE shock, I mentioned Thunder/Lightning Shock recently, basicly a shock with better dmg then earth shock and cheaper to use, increases damage dealt by fire frost and nature spells by 1% stacks 5 times lasts 10 seconds. This spell Would be affected by our lightning talents, would make us more useful for raids, and would be worth while to throw in our sell rotation.
Everyone wants more shields, I think a nice form of Fire/flame shield would be the opposite of lightning shield, instead of doing dmg when you are hit it has a chance to add 400 or 500 ish fire damage to a melee or spell attack, I would say give it 3-6 charges. this would be a strong addition to both of our dps specs but would probably see more use in 5 mans, specially for elemental where water shield will be more important probably.
I would also love to see Spirit wolves in the game, but thats just cause i think it would be kool ^^
Also I feel while tremmor totem did get a buff I think it should be a buffing totem not a pulse that gives everyone in your party within 30 yards fear ward that lasts 10 seconds and is reapplied by the totem every 10 seconds.
As far as a CC or anti CC spell I really would love them but don't know how I think they should work, I think abilities like this are quiet hard to balance out and would take some time to figure out, but both or either or in some form would deffiately be nice.
Gaudion -
After having played around with 2/2 Ghost Wolf over a week after 2.4, I have to say that any form of teleportation, intercept, or any other movement would be completely unnecessary if Ghost Wolf would simply break roots/snares upon shifting. Either make it instant and break snares/roots on talenting, or make it break snares/roots by default and then instant on talenting. I actually think it needs to remain talented in order to restrict Elemental Shaman. I've come around to the idea that an Elemental Shaman that can retreat/engage at will with the damage they're capable of putting out would be slightly OP. Also, it needs dispell resistance, even if it's only 50%.
Earth Shock needs adjustment. It is still the lamest interrupt/silence in the game, and no, the fact that it does damage does not in any way, shape, or form make up for its limitations. Range is an issue, as is the fact that it puts our snare on cooldown, but the biggest problem is that we can only interrupt every other spell at best, and we don't have time to cast anything non-instant during the period of "silence".
Earth Shield needs dispell resistance. 20% would be perfectly fine, stacking with Nature's Grace for a total of 50%. I'm fine with the charges and mana cost as is, I just want it to last a little longer in PvP.
Stonewall and Windwall Totems need adjustment. I don't think I've used either of them since hitting 70 and I doubt I've used Windwall even a dozen times total over the course of the entire game.
Elemental needs talented pushback resistance very early in the tree. Nearly every other caster class/spec in the game has access to this, and they have twice the tools we have if not more. We need it just as badly or worse than they do.
Tremor Totem still pulses too infrequently. Until opponents no longer have time to fear us and then locate our totem and destroy it before it frees us, it will continue to be unreliable, though it is less so than it used to be.
I would like to see the following 51 point talents in WotLK: For Elemental, Hex. For Enhancement, Earthgrab Totem. For Resto, I can't remember what it's called but the Shaman mobs in ZA have a totem that makes the caster and his allies completely immune to CC until the totem is destroyed. Either way, all three abilities are already in the game and fit in perfectly with the Shaman archetype.
Raglu -
Quor -
TheYardstick
AxehiltGRATZ ON SAGE! - [/sm]Guardian Totem (replaces Windwall/Stoneskin) Guardian Totem reduces incoming damage by x% per mob within its effect radius, up to a maximum of y%.
With my imagined values being 1% per mob, to a max of 5 or 6%. The totem would only count enemies in combat with its creator.
As an aside, Stoneskin in its current form is great anytime you have low-armored friendlies (clothies) incurring a high rate of incoming attacks (AOE pulls). It rapidly 'breaks even' and quickly surpasses Healing Wave's mana efficiency for AOE pulls (although Healing and Mitigation are different from one another.)
As for my other suggestions/changes:
Cradle of Earth. 4 min cooldown. Frees the caster from Stuns, Snares, and Roots. For the next 3 seconds your actions decrease your Threat instead of increase it.
Rationale: DPS classes all deserve threat control for PVE, and this would be a slightly different method than existing abilities in the game (plus it gives you a reason to Frostshock something now and then, apart from kiting it). For PVP, this ability would provide periodic self-anti-CC which seems like it'd go a long way towards addressing our issues.
Anticipation. Increases chance to dodge by 1/2/3/4/5% and decreases cooldown of Cradle of Earth by 5/10/15/20/25 seconds.
Rationale: I've never been too excited by this talent, and it'd be interesting if there was some reason to spec heavy ele with some points into enhancement instead of always going with the exact same two cookie cutter builds.
Really there are a ton of talents that aren't too amazing which would be quite a bit better if a secondary effect was tacked on (or if a primary effect was outright replaced). The goal being to create more build variety for shamans. But alas I don't have time to make a flurry of suggestions.
Also, necessity is the mother of invention. It's hard to feel enough discontent with my Shaman when I mainly PVE and PUG AV with him - and in both those situations, my shaman feels crushingly strong as elemental. [/sm]
Edited, Apr 3rd 2008 10:06am by Draeneipally
Edited, Apr 8th 2008 11:45am by Draeneipally
Edited, Apr 8th 2008 11:47am by Draeneipally
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- The collective shaman suggestion thread Ver 2.5, Axehilt
The collective shaman suggestion thread Ver 2.5, AxehiltFollow
Some of these suggestions are so bad it's not even funny.
Most of them would be rather OP (especially if we got a few of them) and they would turn the shaman into something akin to another class, particularly mages.
The one I really like is the "wind shock" idea, moving the shaman forward 10-15 yards and removing all movement impairing effects.
Another thing to remember when suggesting new spells and whatnot is what each elemnent represents to the shaman class.
Earth: defense
Water: healing
Fire: DOTs and AOEs
Wind: direct damage (I'm considering Lightning Bolts to be wind ele spells)
I seriously doubt you'll ever see a direct damage water spell coming for shamans.
An idea for a sort of AOE would be:
Tornado: The shaman unleashes a tornado that travels 15 yards forward in a straight line. All enemies with 5 yards of either side of the line of travel take XX damage and are stunned for 1-2 seconds. 45 second cooldown.
Most of them would be rather OP (especially if we got a few of them) and they would turn the shaman into something akin to another class, particularly mages.
The one I really like is the "wind shock" idea, moving the shaman forward 10-15 yards and removing all movement impairing effects.
Another thing to remember when suggesting new spells and whatnot is what each elemnent represents to the shaman class.
Earth: defense
Water: healing
Fire: DOTs and AOEs
Wind: direct damage (I'm considering Lightning Bolts to be wind ele spells)
I seriously doubt you'll ever see a direct damage water spell coming for shamans.
An idea for a sort of AOE would be:
Tornado: The shaman unleashes a tornado that travels 15 yards forward in a straight line. All enemies with 5 yards of either side of the line of travel take XX damage and are stunned for 1-2 seconds. 45 second cooldown.
I have to disagree with the meaning of your elements there jug. Although there are certainly spells to support those ideas (the shields), there are several to refute them (strength of earth totem, frost shock, frost resist totem, windwall totem, etc.) Blizzard seems to have put the Shaman together as a hodgepodge of elemental abilities with no real focus to the elements.
Anyway, here goes my ability ideas.
Wind Shock: A blast of wind that does minimal damage as well as a knockdown or knockback. (It'd really be nice to have one of each, knockback for elemental/resto and knockdown for enhance.)
Spirit Totem: Holds the spirits of the dead within radius when they release (so they are right by their bodies).
Flame Shield: Burns away various snare's and roots (would obviously work well against anything frost or plant based, might be a stretch for wing clip or hamstring). Probably with charges.
Anyway, here goes my ability ideas.
Wind Shock: A blast of wind that does minimal damage as well as a knockdown or knockback. (It'd really be nice to have one of each, knockback for elemental/resto and knockdown for enhance.)
Spirit Totem: Holds the spirits of the dead within radius when they release (so they are right by their bodies).
Flame Shield: Burns away various snare's and roots (would obviously work well against anything frost or plant based, might be a stretch for wing clip or hamstring). Probably with charges.
Yeah Nimro, there seems to be 1, maybe 2 spells, of each element that is the exception to the rule.
The other 3 elements all have something that provides extra damage.
I guess for earth instead of defense, I could have said buffs/defense since all earth spells provide you with some buff or form of defense.
As far as windwall totem, it may as well not even exist for how little it gets used.
The one time I used to be glad I had it was in old pre-TBC AV when a shaman and a healer could take out all the archers in a bunker with windwall, lightning shield, and patience.
The other 3 elements all have something that provides extra damage.
I guess for earth instead of defense, I could have said buffs/defense since all earth spells provide you with some buff or form of defense.
As far as windwall totem, it may as well not even exist for how little it gets used.
The one time I used to be glad I had it was in old pre-TBC AV when a shaman and a healer could take out all the archers in a bunker with windwall, lightning shield, and patience.
Changes I would like to see:
Less of our current abilities being locked down so easily:
Healing wave and lesser healing wave both made frost (water) so that if locked out we still have earth bind, grounding, and earth shock to save our skin (chain heal should stay nature)
This also means Elemental shamans can still heal when knocked out of nature which is quite nice.
I would like to see more nukes for shaman for practical use:
Flame/Volcanic Blast (or whatever other name you want to use) basicly a fire nuke. Probably make it either a longer cast (3 second) or a faster cast (1.5 seconds) comparable damage to lightning bolt, another option for us on certain fights, but would not get benefit from some of our major elemental talents. Again another option for elemental DPS.
A practical PvE shock, I mentioned Thunder/Lightning Shock recently, basicly a shock with better dmg then earth shock and cheaper to use, increases damage dealt by fire frost and nature spells by 1% stacks 5 times lasts 10 seconds. This spell Would be affected by our lightning talents, would make us more useful for raids, and would be worth while to throw in our sell rotation.
Everyone wants more shields, I think a nice form of Fire/flame shield would be the opposite of lightning shield, instead of doing dmg when you are hit it has a chance to add 400 or 500 ish fire damage to a melee or spell attack, I would say give it 3-6 charges. this would be a strong addition to both of our dps specs but would probably see more use in 5 mans, specially for elemental where water shield will be more important probably.
I would also love to see Spirit wolves in the game, but thats just cause i think it would be kool ^^
Also I feel while tremmor totem did get a buff I think it should be a buffing totem not a pulse that gives everyone in your party within 30 yards fear ward that lasts 10 seconds and is reapplied by the totem every 10 seconds.
As far as a CC or anti CC spell I really would love them but don't know how I think they should work, I think abilities like this are quiet hard to balance out and would take some time to figure out, but both or either or in some form would deffiately be nice.
Less of our current abilities being locked down so easily:
Healing wave and lesser healing wave both made frost (water) so that if locked out we still have earth bind, grounding, and earth shock to save our skin (chain heal should stay nature)
This also means Elemental shamans can still heal when knocked out of nature which is quite nice.
I would like to see more nukes for shaman for practical use:
Flame/Volcanic Blast (or whatever other name you want to use) basicly a fire nuke. Probably make it either a longer cast (3 second) or a faster cast (1.5 seconds) comparable damage to lightning bolt, another option for us on certain fights, but would not get benefit from some of our major elemental talents. Again another option for elemental DPS.
A practical PvE shock, I mentioned Thunder/Lightning Shock recently, basicly a shock with better dmg then earth shock and cheaper to use, increases damage dealt by fire frost and nature spells by 1% stacks 5 times lasts 10 seconds. This spell Would be affected by our lightning talents, would make us more useful for raids, and would be worth while to throw in our sell rotation.
Everyone wants more shields, I think a nice form of Fire/flame shield would be the opposite of lightning shield, instead of doing dmg when you are hit it has a chance to add 400 or 500 ish fire damage to a melee or spell attack, I would say give it 3-6 charges. this would be a strong addition to both of our dps specs but would probably see more use in 5 mans, specially for elemental where water shield will be more important probably.
I would also love to see Spirit wolves in the game, but thats just cause i think it would be kool ^^
Also I feel while tremmor totem did get a buff I think it should be a buffing totem not a pulse that gives everyone in your party within 30 yards fear ward that lasts 10 seconds and is reapplied by the totem every 10 seconds.
As far as a CC or anti CC spell I really would love them but don't know how I think they should work, I think abilities like this are quiet hard to balance out and would take some time to figure out, but both or either or in some form would deffiately be nice.
I forgot I have always wished stone skin and windwall totem got buffed making them negate dmg by 5/10% (not sure if 10%n be too op). Wind wall affecting spells and ranged attacks.
Would also like to see some of our talent's tweaked, elemental devastation being made useful, and Lightning a shield making all shield spells increase charges by 3 when maxed out (9 charge Earthen shield and 6 for everything else).
I am sure other talents need some buffs but i cant think if any right now.
Would also like to see some of our talent's tweaked, elemental devastation being made useful, and Lightning a shield making all shield spells increase charges by 3 when maxed out (9 charge Earthen shield and 6 for everything else).
I am sure other talents need some buffs but i cant think if any right now.
After having played around with 2/2 Ghost Wolf over a week after 2.4, I have to say that any form of teleportation, intercept, or any other movement would be completely unnecessary if Ghost Wolf would simply break roots/snares upon shifting. Either make it instant and break snares/roots on talenting, or make it break snares/roots by default and then instant on talenting. I actually think it needs to remain talented in order to restrict Elemental Shaman. I've come around to the idea that an Elemental Shaman that can retreat/engage at will with the damage they're capable of putting out would be slightly OP. Also, it needs dispell resistance, even if it's only 50%.
Earth Shock needs adjustment. It is still the lamest interrupt/silence in the game, and no, the fact that it does damage does not in any way, shape, or form make up for its limitations. Range is an issue, as is the fact that it puts our snare on cooldown, but the biggest problem is that we can only interrupt every other spell at best, and we don't have time to cast anything non-instant during the period of "silence".
Earth Shield needs dispell resistance. 20% would be perfectly fine, stacking with Nature's Grace for a total of 50%. I'm fine with the charges and mana cost as is, I just want it to last a little longer in PvP.
Stonewall and Windwall Totems need adjustment. I don't think I've used either of them since hitting 70 and I doubt I've used Windwall even a dozen times total over the course of the entire game.
Elemental needs talented pushback resistance very early in the tree. Nearly every other caster class/spec in the game has access to this, and they have twice the tools we have if not more. We need it just as badly or worse than they do.
Tremor Totem still pulses too infrequently. Until opponents no longer have time to fear us and then locate our totem and destroy it before it frees us, it will continue to be unreliable, though it is less so than it used to be.
I would like to see the following 51 point talents in WotLK: For Elemental, Hex. For Enhancement, Earthgrab Totem. For Resto, I can't remember what it's called but the Shaman mobs in ZA have a totem that makes the caster and his allies completely immune to CC until the totem is destroyed. Either way, all three abilities are already in the game and fit in perfectly with the Shaman archetype.
I'm at work right now and my break just ended. If I can think of any more later I'll post them.
Earth Shock needs adjustment. It is still the lamest interrupt/silence in the game, and no, the fact that it does damage does not in any way, shape, or form make up for its limitations. Range is an issue, as is the fact that it puts our snare on cooldown, but the biggest problem is that we can only interrupt every other spell at best, and we don't have time to cast anything non-instant during the period of "silence".
Earth Shield needs dispell resistance. 20% would be perfectly fine, stacking with Nature's Grace for a total of 50%. I'm fine with the charges and mana cost as is, I just want it to last a little longer in PvP.
Stonewall and Windwall Totems need adjustment. I don't think I've used either of them since hitting 70 and I doubt I've used Windwall even a dozen times total over the course of the entire game.
Elemental needs talented pushback resistance very early in the tree. Nearly every other caster class/spec in the game has access to this, and they have twice the tools we have if not more. We need it just as badly or worse than they do.
Tremor Totem still pulses too infrequently. Until opponents no longer have time to fear us and then locate our totem and destroy it before it frees us, it will continue to be unreliable, though it is less so than it used to be.
I would like to see the following 51 point talents in WotLK: For Elemental, Hex. For Enhancement, Earthgrab Totem. For Resto, I can't remember what it's called but the Shaman mobs in ZA have a totem that makes the caster and his allies completely immune to CC until the totem is destroyed. Either way, all three abilities are already in the game and fit in perfectly with the Shaman archetype.
I'm at work right now and my break just ended. If I can think of any more later I'll post them.
earth shock - its fine...mostly. it has the same 3:1 ratio of cooldown:lockout as the other ranged interrupts (spell lock, counterspell). what it lacks is the freedom from the GCD. take ES off the GCD and leave it as is otherwise. you make interruption easier in general and shaman now have 2s of time to use after ES instead of .5s (spell haste notwithstanding).
ES would still be linked to flame and frost shock.
casting pushback - shaman have an anti-pushback talent about the same place as other classes do (4th tier for shammy vs 3rd tier for mages, 4th tier for druids, 3rd and 4th tier for aff locks/destro locks respectively). eye of the storm is conditional however, so an easing of those restrictions to a flat chance to proc whenever hit (say, 50%) might be better. retain the same 100% pushback immunity if this is the case. alternatively, make it a straight 70% reduction like most other classes and add a secondary effect such as +2% spell haste per rank for 10s after being crit, or a chance on spell cast to increase spell haste for the shaman and his/her party by 1% per rank.
stoneskin/windwall - a flat % damage decrease for either would be way overboard. being able to give anyone (including warriors) what amounts to warrior defensive stance would unbalance things from the pve perspective by a huge amount. i do agree that these totems suck donkey balls however, and something along similar lines could be useful. in this case, id say having windwall reduce ranged AP and spell damage by a certain amount would be good, and stoneskin could reduce block a little more straight damage but also give a % boost to armor. something along the lines of 5% with proper talents, and 2-3% without. also make stoneskin block pre-modified damage, giving it 2-2.3x the effectiveness vs melee crits.
another idea would be to have stoneskin boost block value by either a flat amount or a certain percentage in addition to the -damage effect.
ES would still be linked to flame and frost shock.
casting pushback - shaman have an anti-pushback talent about the same place as other classes do (4th tier for shammy vs 3rd tier for mages, 4th tier for druids, 3rd and 4th tier for aff locks/destro locks respectively). eye of the storm is conditional however, so an easing of those restrictions to a flat chance to proc whenever hit (say, 50%) might be better. retain the same 100% pushback immunity if this is the case. alternatively, make it a straight 70% reduction like most other classes and add a secondary effect such as +2% spell haste per rank for 10s after being crit, or a chance on spell cast to increase spell haste for the shaman and his/her party by 1% per rank.
stoneskin/windwall - a flat % damage decrease for either would be way overboard. being able to give anyone (including warriors) what amounts to warrior defensive stance would unbalance things from the pve perspective by a huge amount. i do agree that these totems suck donkey balls however, and something along similar lines could be useful. in this case, id say having windwall reduce ranged AP and spell damage by a certain amount would be good, and stoneskin could reduce block a little more straight damage but also give a % boost to armor. something along the lines of 5% with proper talents, and 2-3% without. also make stoneskin block pre-modified damage, giving it 2-2.3x the effectiveness vs melee crits.
another idea would be to have stoneskin boost block value by either a flat amount or a certain percentage in addition to the -damage effect.
Lightning Shield gives 33% pushback resistance per charge to Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning.
That's what I want.
That's what I want.
Sir Exodus the Cheesemaker wrote:
Quote:
"All this talk of vaginas is making me thirsty."
Quor wrote:
earth shock - its fine...mostly. it has the same 3:1 ratio of cooldown:lockout as the other ranged interrupts (spell lock, counterspell). what it lacks is the freedom from the GCD. take ES off the GCD and leave it as is otherwise. you make interruption easier in general and shaman now have 2s of time to use after ES instead of .5s (spell haste notwithstanding).
ES would still be linked to flame and frost shock.
ES would still be linked to flame and frost shock.
That would certainly work, or they could just extend the period of silence just enough to allow us to get off one spell. That's the goal there, really. I don't think it's unreasonable to give us at least 2-3 seconds of time so Resto can cast one big heal or Elemental can get off an LB/CL.
Quote:
alternatively, make it a straight 70% reduction like most other classes and add a secondary effect such as +2% spell haste per rank for 10s after being crit, or a chance on spell cast to increase spell haste for the shaman and his/her party by 1% per rank.
That's more or less what I was going for. We need general pushback resistance far more than we need a situational one like EotS, I can say that pretty conclusively after playing Elemental a long time, before and after 4/5 Glad pieces. If anything, they could just swap the general pushback on the arena armor (needs to be 70% like other classes though, not 50%) and put the EotS effect on the armor. It would help Elemental leveling even more than Elemental PvP.
I honestly don't even think it needs a secondary effect, but hey, if you want to give it to me...
Quote:
stoneskin/windwall - a flat % damage decrease for either would be way overboard. being able to give anyone (including warriors) what amounts to warrior defensive stance would unbalance things from the pve perspective by a huge amount. i do agree that these totems suck donkey balls however, and something along similar lines could be useful. in this case, id say having windwall reduce ranged AP and spell damage by a certain amount would be good, and stoneskin could reduce block a little more straight damage but also give a % boost to armor. something along the lines of 5% with proper talents, and 2-3% without. also make stoneskin block pre-modified damage, giving it 2-2.3x the effectiveness vs melee crits.
I agree completely. I honestly don't have any suggestions personally as to how to fix these two. All I know is that I didn't even use them terribly often while leveling or partying up until 70, and once there I've barely touched them.
Quote:
I agree completely. I honestly don't have any suggestions personally as to how to fix these two. All I know is that I didn't even use them terribly often while leveling or partying up until 70, and once there I've barely touched them.
That's why it'd need to scale appropriately if it was a fixed percentage. Basically something like:
Guardian Totem (replaces Windwall/Stoneskin) Guardian Totem reduces incoming damage by x% per mob within its effect radius, up to a maximum of y%.
With my imagined values being 1% per mob, to a max of 5 or 6%. The totem would only count enemies in combat with its creator.
As an aside, Stoneskin in its current form is great anytime you have low-armored friendlies (clothies) incurring a high rate of incoming attacks (AOE pulls). It rapidly 'breaks even' and quickly surpasses Healing Wave's mana efficiency for AOE pulls (although Healing and Mitigation are different from one another.)
As for my other suggestions/changes:
Cradle of Earth. 4 min cooldown. Frees the caster from Stuns, Snares, and Roots. For the next 3 seconds your actions decrease your Threat instead of increase it.
Rationale: DPS classes all deserve threat control for PVE, and this would be a slightly different method than existing abilities in the game (plus it gives you a reason to Frostshock something now and then, apart from kiting it). For PVP, this ability would provide periodic self-anti-CC which seems like it'd go a long way towards addressing our issues.
Anticipation. Increases chance to dodge by 1/2/3/4/5% and decreases cooldown of Cradle of Earth by 5/10/15/20/25 seconds.
Rationale: I've never been too excited by this talent, and it'd be interesting if there was some reason to spec heavy ele with some points into enhancement instead of always going with the exact same two cookie cutter builds.
Really there are a ton of talents that aren't too amazing which would be quite a bit better if a secondary effect was tacked on (or if a primary effect was outright replaced). The goal being to create more build variety for shamans. But alas I don't have time to make a flurry of suggestions.
Also, necessity is the mother of invention. It's hard to feel enough discontent with my Shaman when I mainly PVE and PUG AV with him - and in both those situations, my shaman feels crushingly strong as elemental.
Edited, Apr 4th 2008 3:46pm by Axehilt
For one I'd say: remove Windfury Totem from the game (temporarily? It's superstrong right now, and would be overpowered with what comes next)
Totems should 'share' the life of their owner somehow. Either totems should receive from 5% to 15% of the owner's life total, or they should receive the same amount and perhaps share back a little bit of the damage to the owner when they are hurt.
Talent wise I'd like to see Improved Healing Wave and Healing Way merged; I hope I'm not the only one, but I find Healing wave to be a lackluster spell, just not worth that many talents (PvE you generally do chain-Chain Heals, and PvP you do this if you can, though I admit I cast the occasional Healing Wave in PvP (Arena)).
Shield Specialization - This talent has been rotten a long while now. Enhancement shamans do not use shields. Resto and Elementals can and usually do, but they tend to chain cast. Shields can not block while casting. For the talent to be useful it should allow a Shaman to actually block while casting, or provide another bonus, as it stands now you're either stupid or unaware of the block-casting thing if you pick it up.
A little edit: While I realize that more mana is even more useless for an enhancement shaman, while you can actually swap out a shield in some situations; both talents are rather lackluster.
Ancestral Knowledge should probably increase the amount of intellect you have - that'd give it a nice synergy with the other trees; yet still do nothing for Enhancement. Maybe also merge it with that Improved Reincarnation thing, name wise they'd go together well. Skill would still not be too great however.
Perhaps we should hold a contest for someone that can think up a useful Enhancement tier 1 talent(s). :)
Edited, Apr 6th 2008 10:36am by Siaon
Totems should 'share' the life of their owner somehow. Either totems should receive from 5% to 15% of the owner's life total, or they should receive the same amount and perhaps share back a little bit of the damage to the owner when they are hurt.
Talent wise I'd like to see Improved Healing Wave and Healing Way merged; I hope I'm not the only one, but I find Healing wave to be a lackluster spell, just not worth that many talents (PvE you generally do chain-Chain Heals, and PvP you do this if you can, though I admit I cast the occasional Healing Wave in PvP (Arena)).
Shield Specialization - This talent has been rotten a long while now. Enhancement shamans do not use shields. Resto and Elementals can and usually do, but they tend to chain cast. Shields can not block while casting. For the talent to be useful it should allow a Shaman to actually block while casting, or provide another bonus, as it stands now you're either stupid or unaware of the block-casting thing if you pick it up.
A little edit: While I realize that more mana is even more useless for an enhancement shaman, while you can actually swap out a shield in some situations; both talents are rather lackluster.
Ancestral Knowledge should probably increase the amount of intellect you have - that'd give it a nice synergy with the other trees; yet still do nothing for Enhancement. Maybe also merge it with that Improved Reincarnation thing, name wise they'd go together well. Skill would still not be too great however.
Perhaps we should hold a contest for someone that can think up a useful Enhancement tier 1 talent(s). :)
Edited, Apr 6th 2008 10:36am by Siaon
I think the best way to 'fix' shield specialization would be to get rid of it entirely. move thundering strikes into the tier one slot (where almost everyone else gets their crit bonus), move toughness down to tier two (where everyone else gets it, and it might actually be useful), and come up with a new tier four talent.
Tier four replacement talent: Thundering strikes - your melee hits have a 2/4/6/8/10% chance to reduce your opponents movement speed and attack speed by 10% for 5 seconds.
Alternate tier four replacement talent: Flitting strikes - your critical hits have their threat reduced by 1/2/3/4/5%
Tier four replacement talent: Thundering strikes - your melee hits have a 2/4/6/8/10% chance to reduce your opponents movement speed and attack speed by 10% for 5 seconds.
Alternate tier four replacement talent: Flitting strikes - your critical hits have their threat reduced by 1/2/3/4/5%
I have something for Blizzard how about you give us something that we have begged for, for so long and fits with the class lore nore do I think it to be OP
I am talking about WINDWALK if you don't know what that is let me explain.
Allows the Shaman to become invisible, and move faster for a set amount of time. When the Shaman attacks a unit to break invisibility, he will deal bonus damage.
Now give this a fair CD along with some tweaks and we have half of the shaman problem fixed seriously blizz this spell would help us so much plus we don't have to just copy blink in the form of windshock.
Plus this is different from a charge or intercept because it has offensive and defensive purposes.
I am talking about WINDWALK if you don't know what that is let me explain.
Allows the Shaman to become invisible, and move faster for a set amount of time. When the Shaman attacks a unit to break invisibility, he will deal bonus damage.
Now give this a fair CD along with some tweaks and we have half of the shaman problem fixed seriously blizz this spell would help us so much plus we don't have to just copy blink in the form of windshock.
Plus this is different from a charge or intercept because it has offensive and defensive purposes.
Quote:
I think the best way to 'fix' shield specialization would be to get rid of it entirely. move thundering strikes into the tier one slot (where almost everyone else gets their crit bonus), move toughness down to tier two (where everyone else gets it, and it might actually be useful), and come up with a new tier four talent.
i would have to disagree with your assessment about the positioning of the talents. if you look at the other two hybrid classes (druids, pallies) they get their crit increasing talents after shaman do. druids get theirs at tier 3 feral, paladins at tier 3 ret, and shaman at at tier 2 enh. seeing as shaman are the offensive hybrid, that makes sense. but to put the talent on the same level as the non-hybrid classes would be too much.
shield spec still has its uses as it is, but i think a slight buff that helps out elemental and resto wouldnt hurt. say, a 2% increase of shield armor per point, up to a max of 10%. this would synergize with toughness, so if a shaman wanted too, they could get 21% more armor out of their shields and 10% more armor out of the rest of their gear. thats a lot of extra survivability vs physical attacks. it would also be useful for enhancements that need to outlast for whatever reason (such as countering focus fire by physical dps in pvp).
I posted this in the wrong thread, please forgive the crosspost :(
Well for mobility etc I'd like to see the ability 'Windwalk', from the WC3 Blademaster Hero. Yes a Blademaster is technically a warrior, but a Shaman with two great big hammers isnt far off that in terms of game mechanics.
I'd like to see it as a 51pt Enhance talent;
Windwalk
2min cooldown
Immediately dispels all movement-impairing effects. Grants the user Invisibility and increases movement speed by 60% for 6 seconds, and adds 15% critical strike chance to the user's next swing, spell or ability. Any action will break the effect.
This might sound OP but what you're looking at is basically limited stealth+sprint on a long cooldown, with a bit of Ambush thrown in. This makes it very difficult to evade an Enhance Shaman reliably, which is what you'd expect from a 51pt talent. Considering the huge investment, I dont see it as an unfair ability.
Since Invisibility doesnt break on damage, this would give Shamans that all-important ability to close distance without being re-snared/CC'd on the way. There exists built-in balance for Arena in that enterprising Mages and Warlocks can see through Invisibility.
Just an idea :)
Well for mobility etc I'd like to see the ability 'Windwalk', from the WC3 Blademaster Hero. Yes a Blademaster is technically a warrior, but a Shaman with two great big hammers isnt far off that in terms of game mechanics.
I'd like to see it as a 51pt Enhance talent;
Windwalk
2min cooldown
Immediately dispels all movement-impairing effects. Grants the user Invisibility and increases movement speed by 60% for 6 seconds, and adds 15% critical strike chance to the user's next swing, spell or ability. Any action will break the effect.
This might sound OP but what you're looking at is basically limited stealth+sprint on a long cooldown, with a bit of Ambush thrown in. This makes it very difficult to evade an Enhance Shaman reliably, which is what you'd expect from a 51pt talent. Considering the huge investment, I dont see it as an unfair ability.
Since Invisibility doesnt break on damage, this would give Shamans that all-important ability to close distance without being re-snared/CC'd on the way. There exists built-in balance for Arena in that enterprising Mages and Warlocks can see through Invisibility.
Just an idea :)
i like that as a 51-pt talent. its basically an extra trinket with some damage and movement speed tossed in on the side.
I've been looking into the idea of elemental talents that reduce the cast time of Lightning Bolt down to 0 seconds, while increasing its cooldown time to 2.5 seconds.
Hence, main nuke is an instant cast that still can only be spammed in the same amount it could before.
But I've been grappling with the mechanics' fleshing, because one has to take into consideration the global cooldown interfering with the spell's cooldown from having like 2/5 talent points, and then how spell haste has less effect in helping elemental shamans (thereby making Bloodlust/Heroism near useless for the shaman him/herself). And after that, is there enough for an elemental shaman to do between LB cooldowns? And with only a 2.5 cooldown, putting something inbetween causes less casts. And making it a 3 second cooldown makes less LBs than before.
However, I still want to try to think of a way that allows an elemental shaman to be able to properly cast Lightning Bolts in PvP without having to have the exact same setup of talents that give a 70% pushback resistance or whatever, and this idea intrigues me.
It still needs work, and if anyone could expand on the idea better, feel free. Or, if it's pretty bad and there are more likable or better ways of making LB-casting in 2v2 and 3v3 arena, you can shoot it down.
Also, I've thought that for a long time, enhancement shaman should have a talent that allow crits to produce only 50% threat (hence, non-crit threat). The higher the enhancement shaman's crit chance, the more threatless damage they can put out.
I've suggested that Tremor Totem be modified before to pulse out a fear ward buff that lasts 5 seconds, and the pulse occurs every 5 seconds. That allows for a warlock to pull off a fear to be warded, and then be able to cast another fear, but at the same time, makes sure that at least one fear, if not more, is prevented by putting down a Tremor Totem. (Of course, it's more than a Fear Ward, it's a Fear/Charm/Sleep Ward).
Totem Health Scaling. A totem should NOT have 5 HP at level 70. No no no no no. Any rank 1 ranged ability can destroy it in one hit. A 70 totem should have enough health to be able to withstand 2-3 Ice Lances, or 3 autoshots, or maybe 2 melee swings, or something in that general vicinity. A totem should be killed easily, but with effort. This makes it so that if you put down a tide-changing totem in a PvP fight, the enemy has to turn and concentrate their efforts slightly (a Fire Blast or 2 Sinister Strikes) in order to take it down, not simply hit a macro and take it away as if it were nothing. If the shaman class is going to have buffs taken away by any class, those enemies should have a slightly bit more involved time than they have now.
For Resto, instead of anti-CC, resto shaman might want a 2-point talent that gives them 2.5%/5% of their mana every two seconds that they're stunned-slept-sapped-disoriented-polymorphed-feared-charmed-incapacitated.
-Ancestral Knowledge should be 2% more Intellect per point.
-There should be a talent increasing Shock range.
-Elemental Devastation needs to add more crit and be lower down the tree.
-Restorative Totems should be made to 3/3 talent points before Mana Tide, not 5/5.
-There should be an Int-to-AP talent in the Elemental tree, and a Flametongue/Frostbrand talent in the Elemental tree, to allow a bit more purpose to their melee and bring them closer to Battlemage when low on mana.
-Along with this, remove Frostbrand and Flametongue from the Elemental Weapons. The Flametongue/Frostbrand talent in the Elemental tree should improve spell damage coefficient rather than just a flat % increase.
-Clearcasting between Elemental Focus and Shamanistic Focus should be consistent- I like the 2 40%s better than the 1 60% version.
-Remove Anticipation. Merge Dual Wield Specialization (not Dual Wield) with Spirit Weapons. Make this new talent give 5%/8%/10% parry chance, gives 2%/4%/6% chance to hit with melee, and reduces melee threat by 10%/20%/30%.
-Call of Flame should help Flame Shock and Flametongue damage.
-Improved Fire Nova Totem needs to be renamed and speed up Searing Totem's rate of fire by 13/25% in addition to its other effects.
-Elemental Shields and Eye of the Storm should be merged. PvPers and PvEers can both find use for this one talent rather than some taking one and some the other.
Okay, this was initially meant to be just about my frustration at not being able to think of a viable change for Lightning Bolt in PvP. I just started dribbling after that.
Hence, main nuke is an instant cast that still can only be spammed in the same amount it could before.
But I've been grappling with the mechanics' fleshing, because one has to take into consideration the global cooldown interfering with the spell's cooldown from having like 2/5 talent points, and then how spell haste has less effect in helping elemental shamans (thereby making Bloodlust/Heroism near useless for the shaman him/herself). And after that, is there enough for an elemental shaman to do between LB cooldowns? And with only a 2.5 cooldown, putting something inbetween causes less casts. And making it a 3 second cooldown makes less LBs than before.
However, I still want to try to think of a way that allows an elemental shaman to be able to properly cast Lightning Bolts in PvP without having to have the exact same setup of talents that give a 70% pushback resistance or whatever, and this idea intrigues me.
It still needs work, and if anyone could expand on the idea better, feel free. Or, if it's pretty bad and there are more likable or better ways of making LB-casting in 2v2 and 3v3 arena, you can shoot it down.
Also, I've thought that for a long time, enhancement shaman should have a talent that allow crits to produce only 50% threat (hence, non-crit threat). The higher the enhancement shaman's crit chance, the more threatless damage they can put out.
I've suggested that Tremor Totem be modified before to pulse out a fear ward buff that lasts 5 seconds, and the pulse occurs every 5 seconds. That allows for a warlock to pull off a fear to be warded, and then be able to cast another fear, but at the same time, makes sure that at least one fear, if not more, is prevented by putting down a Tremor Totem. (Of course, it's more than a Fear Ward, it's a Fear/Charm/Sleep Ward).
Totem Health Scaling. A totem should NOT have 5 HP at level 70. No no no no no. Any rank 1 ranged ability can destroy it in one hit. A 70 totem should have enough health to be able to withstand 2-3 Ice Lances, or 3 autoshots, or maybe 2 melee swings, or something in that general vicinity. A totem should be killed easily, but with effort. This makes it so that if you put down a tide-changing totem in a PvP fight, the enemy has to turn and concentrate their efforts slightly (a Fire Blast or 2 Sinister Strikes) in order to take it down, not simply hit a macro and take it away as if it were nothing. If the shaman class is going to have buffs taken away by any class, those enemies should have a slightly bit more involved time than they have now.
For Resto, instead of anti-CC, resto shaman might want a 2-point talent that gives them 2.5%/5% of their mana every two seconds that they're stunned-slept-sapped-disoriented-polymorphed-feared-charmed-incapacitated.
-Ancestral Knowledge should be 2% more Intellect per point.
-There should be a talent increasing Shock range.
-Elemental Devastation needs to add more crit and be lower down the tree.
-Restorative Totems should be made to 3/3 talent points before Mana Tide, not 5/5.
-There should be an Int-to-AP talent in the Elemental tree, and a Flametongue/Frostbrand talent in the Elemental tree, to allow a bit more purpose to their melee and bring them closer to Battlemage when low on mana.
-Along with this, remove Frostbrand and Flametongue from the Elemental Weapons. The Flametongue/Frostbrand talent in the Elemental tree should improve spell damage coefficient rather than just a flat % increase.
-Clearcasting between Elemental Focus and Shamanistic Focus should be consistent- I like the 2 40%s better than the 1 60% version.
-Remove Anticipation. Merge Dual Wield Specialization (not Dual Wield) with Spirit Weapons. Make this new talent give 5%/8%/10% parry chance, gives 2%/4%/6% chance to hit with melee, and reduces melee threat by 10%/20%/30%.
-Call of Flame should help Flame Shock and Flametongue damage.
-Improved Fire Nova Totem needs to be renamed and speed up Searing Totem's rate of fire by 13/25% in addition to its other effects.
-Elemental Shields and Eye of the Storm should be merged. PvPers and PvEers can both find use for this one talent rather than some taking one and some the other.
Okay, this was initially meant to be just about my frustration at not being able to think of a viable change for Lightning Bolt in PvP. I just started dribbling after that.
Seriously, Elemental Shamans and Destruction Warlocks need a talent swap.
Ele Shamans need Backlash, in exchange for Lightning Overload for destrolocks, reduced to 3 ranks / 15% per rank and applying to Warlock DD spells of course.
Backlash would be great for Ele Shamans... getting pounded by a rogue? Quick CL crit in the face should even it out.
~sins
Ele Shamans need Backlash, in exchange for Lightning Overload for destrolocks, reduced to 3 ranks / 15% per rank and applying to Warlock DD spells of course.
Backlash would be great for Ele Shamans... getting pounded by a rogue? Quick CL crit in the face should even it out.
~sins
Be nice in pvp, but in pve aI think I would miss LO quite a bit, honestly I don't even spec LO for pvp anymore anyhow, I invest more into resto which has been working for me lately.
Uh huh. Uh huh. You finally onboard with the 36/0/25-ish build, jmfmb?
Gaudion, master of hillarity wrote:
Uh huh. Uh huh. You finally onboard with the 36/0/25-ish build, jmfmb?
idk why but this was so absurdly funny for some reason. Maybe it was the "Uhuh" part?
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?0503310523021035130000000000000000000000052030051004013000000
I really like having elemental precision and focused mind, i use to pvp like this:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?0503310523021015135000000000000000000000052030051004010000000
I miss LO a lot, but silence can mean your death so it is nice to reduce those affects. And having the extra spell hit is nice since my pvp and pve gear both lack that stat heavily.
I really like having elemental precision and focused mind, i use to pvp like this:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?0503310523021015135000000000000000000000052030051004010000000
I miss LO a lot, but silence can mean your death so it is nice to reduce those affects. And having the extra spell hit is nice since my pvp and pve gear both lack that stat heavily.
I also feel that the old Grounding Totem needs to be brought back, that is: it should absorb multiple non-damaging spells again. With some PTR testing probably.
jmfmb wrote:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?0503310523021035130000000000000000000000052030051004013000000
I really like having elemental precision and focused mind, i use to pvp like this:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?0503310523021015135000000000000000000000052030051004010000000
I miss LO a lot, but silence can mean your death so it is nice to reduce those affects. And having the extra spell hit is nice since my pvp and pve gear both lack that stat heavily.
I really like having elemental precision and focused mind, i use to pvp like this:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?0503310523021015135000000000000000000000052030051004010000000
I miss LO a lot, but silence can mean your death so it is nice to reduce those affects. And having the extra spell hit is nice since my pvp and pve gear both lack that stat heavily.
Lots of people are way too hung up on LO. Way too much focus on "max pew pew" instead of what will actually benefit you the most. I think if enough Elemental Shaman respecced and tried 24 in Resto for Focused Mind, as well as switching their Elemental talents around a little (I see lots of Elementals without Call of Flame + Improved Fire Nova Totem), this wouldn't even be an ongoing debate. I think a lot of it is just the laziness/cheapness of not wanting to spec out of their Elemental PvE build.
Your first two tiers of Resto are pretty interesting to me. I see where you're going with it, but how often do you actually cast Healing Wave in PvP? You might have better results with 5/5 Tidal Focus and then either 3/3 Ancestral Healing and 2/5 in Totemic Focus, though I'd personally recommend 5/5 Totemic Focus myself as Fire Nova Totem can put a noticeable strain on your mana pool. Anyways, not saying it's bad, just... struck me how different it was.
Idea spawned by arroyhondo in another post. Made me think that as a semi-mana user, Shammies should have equivalent of thorns, fear or stunlock.
Stun Totem (Earth) - Blasts targets in the area with a stun effect lasting 3-5 seconds. Activates every 15 seconds. Lasts 1 minute.
Insert earthquake blast sound effect and rumble.
As per combat and area of effect, I'd suggest something like:
Plague Totem (Air) - Calls in a swarm of locusts, attacking all enemies within 20 (30) yards, blinding the enemy and reducing attack power by 25% while causing up to 20 damage a second for 15 seconds.
Insert growing flying insect noise as totem dropped, but tone it down a bit once swarm is established.
Stun Totem (Earth) - Blasts targets in the area with a stun effect lasting 3-5 seconds. Activates every 15 seconds. Lasts 1 minute.
Insert earthquake blast sound effect and rumble.
As per combat and area of effect, I'd suggest something like:
Plague Totem (Air) - Calls in a swarm of locusts, attacking all enemies within 20 (30) yards, blinding the enemy and reducing attack power by 25% while causing up to 20 damage a second for 15 seconds.
Insert growing flying insect noise as totem dropped, but tone it down a bit once swarm is established.
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