Legion Class Previews - Shaman

[@Lutranereis]

I'm pretty nervous about the enhancement changes. To me, it sounds like they're making the spec too similar to fury warriors, and I also don't like being restricted in what I can cast until I've built up a resource.

[@PowderedToastMaaaan]

+Skutsipena umm.. arent shadow orbs gone in Legion? They have insanity now....

[@trungle4109]

We r fury warrior now lol

[@leosalonen1564]

+Lutranereis Well we did have the headache of searing flames stacking on the target, often the wrong one, in cataclysm. We can wait for the talents and artifact perks to see how they alter our perspective. :D

[@zeekawesomecus917]

+Leo Salonen That's why in MoP they changed the searing flames stacking so that it stacked on you instead of the target it hits. As long as these changes are better than enhancement shamans in WoD... I'll be happy with them. Cause honestly enhancement now is just smash buttons because they deal damage. Or the headache of focusing on how many stacks of the elemental fusion you have to use for your flame shock or frost shock. But regardless their damage really feels lackluster, except for aoe obviously.

[@cubemoment9402]

+zeek awesomecus sort of agree, i most of the time am casting lighting bolts even the none proc ones because everything else is on CD, You hit a wall, its boring sitting there, wanting to do more things... The only things that change the shaman atm in WOD is the trinkets and sets bonus's. In pvp you can still do really good burst damge if you know what trinks to use etc, but you have to stand still and heal, which sucks if your being ganked... so enhance pvp sucks a bit... Changes make it more like a fury warrior more focusing on the weapons... i think these changes will hurt enhance shamans, and the only good ones have the best gear in game.

[@BrackishBrit]

And just as I start to get bored, the Preacher puts out a new preview!

[@everybodylieshm]

+Level 8 Wordsmith Ya could just read the original post ;o

[@troll5262]

I'll be honest, kind of sad they didn't implement a new (tank)spec for Shamans. It would fit well from how it is now; Elemental focuses mostly on high fire damage, Enhancement focuses mostly on wind damage and buffs, Restoration focuses on water. So.. Why not make a spec focused on Earth? And make it a tank spec for the heck of it. I know I would love to see it happen. What are you peoples thoughts on it? Yay / Nay?

[@MiffedMist]

+Qasper I love tanking, but I main shaman. So YES.

[@trysephiroth007]

+Qasper I'd like to play a Shaman tank spec but not sure about them adding two new tanks at once.

[@jinshira6]

+Qasper I think it's a great idea and I've posted this on blizz forums before. Didn't really catch as a post but I was generating the same ideas for having a forth spec for some classes that really made sense. And earth user shaman using earth spells to tank would be so awesome and be completely reasonable. I may post it again someday and see if people like it. I also agree with you're other reply about having too many tanks in the game. However with the introduction to Demon Hunter yet ANOTHER melee class I don't think blizzard cares anymore as long as the game sells. DH is gonna bring a lot of players back to the game. If there were to be another healer in the game I feel like they should either add another spec to one of the other classes. On my post a long time ago I thought maybe Necromancer as a DK spec- even though that sounds far fetched it's the closest class to that type of WC3 class. Sort of a dark healer. And my other idea was a spec for mages using healing arcane runes. IDK just putting it out there.

[@KianaWolf]

+Qasper I think an earth themed shaman tank would be a neat addition to the game. Could have some awesome visual effects with stone armor as part of mitigation spells, hurling boulders, grasping enemies with giant stone fists, etc. And we'd get a mail wearing tank. But I honestly don't see Blizz adding a fourth spec to any class these days. (Though I'm also hoping for a fistweaving spec and Gladiator to come back as a 4th warrior spec, so I'm hopeful, but not optimistic.)

[@evelic]

Hey preach, i really appreciate your efford in pumping out this videos. Thanks a lot for what you do, i try to click every add in your videos. I hope it helps a little.

[@Detinator247]

why is flametounge a 12 sec CD and a 16 buff with no resource cost wtf it might as well be passive foh

[@sloanguitar4862]

Global cool down. How ever so slightly that changes your rotation, that's the only logical explanation for this change.

[@woldenwolk]

+Smiles It also does some dmg.

[@Detinator247]

woldenwolk Ah okay, wish I had seen that. Should just make that a passive though, and keep unleash elements.

[@fluffybacon]

+Smiles Based on WoW's current community, if Blizzard changed the flametongue into a passive people would whine and say "omg more pointless pruning Blizz plz"

[@Detinator247]

Connor Harison Nah there will be plenty of talents, pvp talents, and artifact talents to take its place in terms of gameplay. This is just a button that you should press just cause. Unleash elements was better

[@Adamantiis]

I think sundering is taken from Heroes of the Storm. It's an ongoing linear attack which will most likely have a very long range. Think of it like Charging Ox Wave that monks used to have. Also you have to consider that with Maelstrom Weapon, each "melee damage" restores 5 focus. What does this mean for abilities? The ones that spend Maelstrom cost 5 less and Stormstrike costs 10 less (since it damages twice). This also means that Rockbiter restores 20 and not 15. As for mastery, Blizz mentioned it will only give about 5%(?) proc chance on stormfury with typical gear. This passive only grants resource regen as a form of discount (50% off on stormstrike). Windfury is still a main hand proc with a fairly low chance of 7% (+ mastery boost), so I wouldn't be too reliant on this as a form of maelstrom regen during end game. Here's a breakdown of ability/proc costs and refunds in Maelstrom Power (MP): Auto attacks = +10 MP per ~2.6sec Rockbiter = +20 MP Windfury = +15 MP per proc Lava Lash = -25MP (-30MP +5 refund) Stormstrike= -50MP (-60MP +10 refund) I'm not counting flametongue attacks here since it's technically not "weapon" dmg but additonal flame dmg to your weapon attacks (might have to wait and see how this plays out) With average gear all of these weapon attacks have a 1/20 chance (5%, or maybe 7%? Can't recall if it's additional chance) of triggering Stormfury which cuts the cost of Stormstrike by half (60/2-10), making it a 20 MP attack and allowing you to spend an additional 50 immediately by using it again. I see this as a fairly balanced base and even if the resource regen increases with end game gear, we have yet to see talents which will most likely give use some more MP spenders.

[@FinalBossTV]

Oh oh. Lets go boys.

[@trevorsmith1458]

How will enhancement be slow? You have an ability to use every GCD considering rockbiter has no CD.

[@Preachgaming]

+Trevor Smith id compare it to Tiger Strike for brewmaster (also free); Despite your finger being active there's actually nothing going on gameplay wise so it feels slow

[@trevorsmith1458]

Okay, I see your point. Better than straight up downtime though.

[@olafolafsson2755]

+Machinima Shawn I think they should make Windfury just like in Heroes of the Storm. Add a button. You can hit it maybe every 15sec and then big dmg with windufury - the rng will be less and its not gone...

[@FinalBossTV]

+Preach Gaming Rockbiter will be filler most likely. It's not going to be a spam builder like it may seem in the preview. =]

[@Spinexus]

+Trevor Smith it will be slower...mainly because it seems like the resource system cant refill fast enough to have it like it is now...that means byebye Enhanc, have played it since end BC! I wont play a Warrior in Shaman look xD

[@Gorthezar]

As someone who was a main Resto Shaman until WoD when I switched to my druid Blizzard has done nothing in my personal opinion to make them look/sound "Fun" again. It may just be me but the shaman design team feels like Blizzard has Team A Designing everything else and then Team B designs shamans and team B has the IQ of a freshly born baby.

[@CharterForGaming]

+Gorthezar Blizzard: we have to make some sweet changes to the class specs, Team A you have to skills to make incredible stuff, You will work on all classes except Shaman. Team A: Very well, we will put all our effort into making these classes feel unique again. and have every spec represent a specific type of that class. Blizzard: Team B, we have a special assignment for you. you have to work on the Shaman class. just do what you best. Team B: "work work"

[@-Jesse.C]

Hearing" HOLLAR BALLERS" Makes me happy, it reminds me of the day my daughter was born, it resides with me , it warms me , it makes me love life .....Preacher you BEAST ! Keep up the great work.

[@JackassJimbo]

I've always mained enhancement, but im not sure about these changes :s making me nervous.

[@dtappy]

+Jimbo Holo Im considering going to ret /:

[@ilikeanimeandhentai6666]

If they give us the old ascendance animations back I might play it

[@JackassJimbo]

EndSource Yeah, I honestly dont know how the fuck they could possibly think it a good idea to change our sick lightning throwing animatiions into some fucking summer breeze that is barely even visible...

[@JackassJimbo]

Sonicyy I was thinking that if I wasnt gonna roll enhance as I usually do, I'd switch to maining my disc priest, but they may have fucked that up too :P my two fav specs getting really odd changes.

[@dtappy]

Try mist weaver :p .. I had a lot of fun with it so far this xpac, I play it as one of my alts and I think the changes they are making to them will make them even better. So just another class to look at maybe

[@DarthCoughlin]

Preach, I know you're tired, but we all appreciate these vids. Keep pushing.

[@MaehDoggie]

Looking forward to trying out the new dps changes,and Resto i felt could use more interesting single target healing but the change seems sortof weird,I have to think they considered you will always have tidal wave stacks thanks to chain heal,but I wonder if they considered how easy it is to spam riptide thanks to the cooldown removal glyph and bring in 0.5 second healing waves and 80% crit chance surges constantly.

[@zeekawesomecus917]

I miss enhancements in MoP. I thought it was fine the way it was, made it so if you lava lashed too early you'd be losing out on damage, now lava lash is like oh its up, might as well use it because it is damage. Not insane damage but its a way to deal damage. It also gave an actual use to the searing flame totem instead of it being a useless merely 5k a tick to single target. I'll admit, enhancement shamans were basically all burst, and then steady damage until your cool downs come back up. But I honestly liked that, it made you plan ahead of time on fights for when you'd use your cool downs. What cool downs could you use that would be back up for when you had to blood lust? Now in WoD its just smash buttons as quickly as you can for single target. Ascendance is so lackluster now, your elementals are lackluster. They've kind of forced every class into a fight in groups class because you aren't actually that powerful compared to everything else. I'm not sure how these changes will be, but I at least hope it'll be better than WoD. At the very least give abilities some power behind them.

[@richardjones8846]

i love how the new enhancement will work. no downtime and happy day procs that scale into the "late game" Edit: it's basically how fury warriors worked start of WoD with the bloodthirst no CD talent. (shouldn't have been using it, but the gameplay was there).

[@benedictifye]

Elemental, the button-holding mechanic - would that not run into technical issues with latency or whatnot? As I understand part of the point of the GCD is to slow down the data moving to the server; might it happen that there could be some kind of hiccup in a connection while you're holding the key to charge it up, and that could result in something happening other than what you intended. I don't know how all the nuts and bolts work. I like the idea but I wonder about technical problems. Also what about just putting shocks on a separate cool down, like Heroic Strike (I think) so you could press a shock then Lava Burst

[@benedictifye]

+benedictify what if, you could cast Flame Shock again and it would stack?

[@thesmarts]

+benedictify Other mmos have the hold mechanic. I dont think it would be too hard unless wow has something built in that makes it difficult.

[@Wrecktapus]

For Elem's flameshock, I really don't think charge-ups (holding the button) would fit well with WoW in general, but I agree with the comments as to why it would be usefull. Perhaps they could let a player tap once, twice or three times quickly in one GCD to set the duration, with the taps costing 0, 5, 10 (or whatever works). It would give Elems the ability to chose how long to set the new FS or how much time to add to the existing FS. Also, having to target every totem is going to force 'Clickers' to really up their game, or forever act at a snail's pace on a Shammy :)

[@nadhirmazouni8853]

Preach, I just want to mention one oversight you made with lava burst - they are changing PvP and PvE spells accordingly. They are separating the spells so removing the guaranteed crit isn't to balance PvP since spells will do different things in PvP (although slightly, in most cases.) They could have kept the guaranteed crit component for PvE and made it not so for PvP. Know what I mean?

[@Lahnfear]

I don't see the flame shock as an issue, it gives you something to think about. "Should I cast a 30 sec dot? Or should I dump this to slightly boost dps and only cast a 10 second one?" Makes you plan for the target switch. You always know when you'll need too, so plan ahead like 30 seconds.

[@dug1301]

Tidal Waves is the exact same as it has been from WotLK, no? Maybe different percentages, but I think it's the same mechanic. Also, I believe the "stacks twice" is the same language as the spell on live and it grants two charges per use of Riptide or Chain Heal. Without playing the beta myself I would feel inclined to think it works the same as on live.

[@justinwood7350]

Also, this may be a little OP, but why not give the Ele shaman an ability that spreads fire shock to all targets within a certain distance of the main target for aoe fights? I know the Enhancement shaman had it before ( not sure if they still do ), but I feel like this is something an Ele shaman should have since they are dependent on flame shock buff.

[@zydian_]

happy for ele shamans. i honestly love the amount of passive nonsence going on with enh. nightmare to balance thou. that hold down button concept is genious btw.

[@corybooth2530]

Enhancement sham actually looks rly fun to me

[@CharterForGaming]

+Ben Passlow only time I had fun with fury, was as a lvl 63 with 2 heirlooms, getting mc'ed in a dungeon and killing my party in a few seconds. the damage was just nuts at that lvl

[@dopez0rs]

+Preach Gaming, where is the warrior video bro

[@jamescuttsiv8963]

Enhancement sounds like it could be fun in that it would be really active and involved, though too much haste and mastery could definitely make it feel rushed. In the blurb they mention "empowering your weapons and allies", but none of the sample abilities they show do that. Obviously there will be more than just those, and I'm interested to see what they will be. Maybe stormlash totem will be making a return? Really though, I don't know to think about changing the resource systems. In the past, resources were different both functionally and thematically; rage was generated by attacking and used for powerful attacks, energy regenerated quickly but your abilities used proportionally large amounts of it, mana regenerated slowly but your abilities used proportionally small amounts of it, and runic power powered weaker abilities and was generated by spending runes on stronger abilities. Maelstrom fits the fantasy of shamans, but functionally, it doesn't seem fundamentally different from rage, at least from what we've learned so far; build it with some abilities (which have no cost), dump it with others. Insanity almost seems like a cut-and-paste of demonology's demonic power resource, though "upgrading" it from a secondary resource to a primary one is an interesting idea. I hope I'm wrong and that Maelstrom will be very functionally distinct from rage, not just a rage bar with a different color. Either way, that's not going to make or break the class for me (I'm pretty excited for most of the other changes), but I hope that change is more than just thematic/cosmetic.

[@darcraven01]

wait... why wouldn't you want the full duration on flame shock to go off? its still a dot and the less often you have to cast it the better, right?

[@Dambob]

As long as Earth Shock's damage increase is linear in relation to Maelstrom value then surely casting Earth Shock would just be part of your rotation when target switching also? I.e. 1. if target will die in 10 seconds Cast Earth Shock. 2. Cast Flame Shock.

[@Spiderbro8]

Blizz provide a summary (albeit very brief) about their direction with spec changes under a small "Gameplay" heading on each and every class preview. You should've included it in these videos as it gives a nice glance into their intentions. Personally i would've found this more useful than the lore-type blurb about each specialization.

[@garyjager1]

Preach, thank you for this one. I think I'll be mostly okay when this comes out.

[@MrGadget2468]

I dont know if flametongue is going to be on the maelstrom spender list but looks to me that it is basically blizzard giving you a button to press every 12 seconds and it never falls off (16 sec duration), is there anything that I missed there?

[@wumpratt]

Rockbiter = Bloodthirst(w/unquenchable thirst) Lava lash = Wild Strike Stormstrike = Raging blow Flametongue = Enrage this is so sad.....

[@Lutranereis]

+wumpratt Yup! We fury warriors now.

[@TheSirtempest]

0/10 try harder

[@CharterForGaming]

+Skutsipena I think the problem could become, that the mealstrom resource will be to similiar to rage, causing it to feel almost the same class with different visuals. But we won't know for sure until we play the class, they might still change things aswell :)

[@sonnys5204]

+ater sol how is he trying? Completly accurate lol.

[@TheSirtempest]

Sonny Halvardsson his troll shows no effort

[@JackdawX]

6:35 I think you are wrong here. In order to switch to a priority target you need to do ES (1.5s), FS (1.5s), LvB(2s). That is a total of 5 seconds + travel time - haste before any damage lands on the new target, and you are losing ES damage efficiency in the process. So you are punished 3 times for switching targets. Just having less lava surge procs is enough punishment to make it reasonable, no need for a primary nuke damage nerf. A better solution to charging the spell might be if targets dying with FS active refunded the unused percentage back to your maelstrom pool, then you don't have to be so careful with dot spreading.

[@JackdawX]

+JackdawX Well you're not wrong, it's more that I think you understated the problem of target switching IMO. Most if the criticism is spot on, especially enhance which could end up a huge mess!

[@AristeidisKypriotis]

Enh. talent: Sundering is just a clone of Thrall's heroic ability in Heroes of the Storm game, am I right?

[@OMFGcataFAN1]

i dont know if this is changed yet, but i would like to see lava burst check if flame shock is on the target on hit, and not on cast.

[@theatgawd]

I also main an enh shaman, and I actually like these changes, but I see it as a chance to actually go the direction you want in later tiers. At first I see it as a mastery is the only way to go, but once you get to mid tiers, you can instead go crit, or even in this case versatility could become semi important.

[@sloanguitar4862]

I'm a prot pally main and a ret off spec. I've only found four other classes that I enjoy: warriors, shaman, rogues, and hunters. These five classes are my spirit animals, and these changes sound cool. I can't wait to try it out.

[@JamesZych]

also the management between earth shock and flame shock in terms of spending maelstrom seems to me like its the way to stand out and master the class, it imo is the only thing not dumbing it down

[@itsHenery_]

How do they fix the ability bloat for Enhancement Shaman? MOOOOREEE ABILITIES!

[@chrisheron1834]

For the flame shock vs holding it down which could be confusing for some and just clunky....how about a flame shock and a greater flame shock. Flame shock consumes 0 maelstrom, while Greater consumes as much as it wants. This provides a flexible way to control how much maelstrom consumes without being clunky like charging it up.

[@eliotness107]

Elemental was always unique in the fact that it used to be the one and only class wich could do multistrikes, and i always loved that uniqueness of ele shamans. And at the end of MoP they started losing that uniqueness due to trinkets and then with WoD everyone could stat for multistrike. so they changed elemental mastery to earth spikes, which is cool and actually pretty decent in terms of pvp because the lack of mobility with elemental u always have this as passive damage while trying to survive. :)

[@dagowow]

Could someone enlighten me if talents are completely redone from(15,30,45 etc.)?

[@Brekner]

Finally, slacker! As for enh, wouldn't haste and mastery be just as good? And THANK GOD for the removal of old Maelstrom.

[@Spellstealbubbleqq]

havnt watched full video yet, but was anyone dissapointed when they didnt remove lava surge? idk lava burst used to be such a cool casted ability that did really high damage and now its just this boring instant that procs

[@TyronMakeka]

Enhancement seems to be hella fun when it gets rolling at the mid to high lvl content when you amassed proper quantities of mastery and haste. Starting slowly out with rockbitter and flametongue and then suddenly go absolute berserk with bursts of multi-able storm strikes in rapid succession.

[@Lutranereis]

+TyronMakeka It seems to me more like they're restricting what enhancement shamans can do until they've built up the requisite resource. I don't think having less freedom is actually fun.

[@chrisrugsveen114]

14 min in, idk how much he covered windfury, but it has a 7% chance, and no cd? so it can proc itself like in vanilla/bc?

[@nathanielwilson1554]

sounds abit like a fury warrior to me? with Mstrom dumps and such?

[@rollomick7754]

There will be more than those abilities i'm sure of it, not including talents and such. So you will have more abilities that use maelstrom, so you don't have to spam one ability. or a couple of abilities.

[@HeyaitsLynn]

My main is Resto, Resto is okay right now. Though the only thing I can see that they changed is kinda blah. I mean with two stacks of the new tidal waves it does give you 80% over the 20% it use to have, but it forces you even more into being a single target healing, which conflicts with healing tide totem, and the Resto ascendance. How riptide works now is it's only 20% percent faster healing wave or 20% more crit for healing surge, but 1 Chainheal or Riptide gives you two charges, so you can use healing wave on two different targets. From the information I have available it seems almost as if Blizzard wants a Shaman to be a single target healer, but then they were like "Put a totem that Tsunamis water that heals at people, and make ascendance heal everything. And whoever touches Chain Heal is losing an eye!" Personally I kinda feel like in game they don't have a focus on either single or multitarget healing, which kinda makes them feel less potent, but bloated. Their multitarget healing is quite potent when it needs to be, but that's for a brief 30 seconds, and then everything is on CD for 3-5 minutes. Also inspite how useful totems are, they were heavily nerfed from back when I played in WotLK and Cata. Resto can't buff anyone, except for one tank with a 10 charge earth shield and the water shield that gives only us mana... Also why can't we use our freaking lightning to defib someone back to life? It's painful doing a raid and having everything go to shit because I can't B-rez the tank that likes to stand in death goo.

[@Roflmeowz]

Did they say anything about taking instant cast earthquake away?

[@stormhelm257]

Adding a charge function to the spell would be a bad idea given that shocks are instant casts. If you make it so you have to hold down a button to charge it up, you're effectively turning your instant into a spell with cast time. That said, if the damage scaling on Earthshock is flat then I don't see you lose anything from ES'ing earlier than 100. It all depends on how long the mob is going to live. If it's sub 10 seconds, you can swap, ES first, FS then LvB and it'll likely be dead. If it's going to live longer, you can straight up swap + FS then LvB. You're not losing anything and it allows you to really manage how you damage incoming adds depending on the time they're likely to live.

[@adamshinabarger]

I wonder how long before Bink starts number crunching Elemental...

[@kingofcombos]

What gets me isn't the talents, those are fine. There's a definite balancing act in play, and those who can perform get the goods. What bothers me is we don't know the speed of Doomhammer. If its too fast, the scale tips one way. If its 2.60/2.80, it tips another.

[@ArthGrimalkin]

Tidal waves buff is the same as it is on LIVE, same effect, same buff since pandaria?

[@ThomasBachler01]

+ArthGrimalkin no it's not, right now you get 2 stacks of it (lasting for 2 spells). In legion you get one stack of it (lasting for 1 spell) but it is much stronger and stacks to 2 (lasting for 1 spell but doubling its effect). You wont be able to keep this up all the time so there is at least a decision to be made...it is not much but it's at least something =)

[@ArthGrimalkin]

+Thomas Bachler Allright then, haven't played in a while an got confused! ~Cheers mate!

[@hombdest716]

Base Mastery for enhancement is 5% with no gear. That's 12% on windfury (which generates 15 maelstrom from those 3 attacks) and 7% on SS proc. Even if the scaling is not that good for this mastery, that's still a lot. I'm pretty sure you'll still go all out haste and probably crit afterwards and make SS new Chimera Shot.

[@adamvajda8267]

tidal waves was passive before no?

[@captaincokecan]

so enhancement shaman is still plays like solving a rubix cube with your feet?

[@overload1439]

THIS IS FROM A PVP PERSPECTIVE. The problem with the ele damage pretty much being based off of having flame shock on a target is that it can so easily be dispelled. I am glad they are sort of addressing this problem, but they are not looking at it from this point of view. Not every classes damage is based so intently on ONE dot like the ele sham is. So I have some sympathy in that regard. If they could add a punishment for dispelling it much like dispelling the affl lock UA, that would help in my opinion. Because flame shock not only makes your most important spell a 100% chance to crit, it is also the only way to get procs for lava burst other than waiting for the cd. Also, with a boomkin, i can, "turn my head" and starsurge someone to death without putting dots on them, also i can, "turn my head" on a destro lock and chaos bolt someone for 100k without putting immolate on them. With ele sham, i can, "turn my head", not put flame shock on them, cast lava burst on that target and hit them for 20k. (which does nothing considering its supposed to be the main damage spell for this spec".

[@KUStuctEng]

maybe to help with the flame shock issue: flame shock stacks, 1st stack is 10 sec 0 mael next time you hit the button it costs 10 maelstrom and extends it by 10 sec, max of 3 stacks? I would like to see it taken off the GCD if they did it that way.

[@toasty1602]

also what concerns me is that ele and enhance are still going for the same stats. seems for both its mastery, crit, haste.

[@semipork]

Ele- Looks great, especialy spreading flame shock was the only improvement I saw but I already love the spec. Enhance- Enhance has been my main since Cata and loved it through out each expansion, but write now for the first time i'm really freaking out. I'm fine with the number of buttons we have to press atm and how it all works. With the way it looks now it just looks ridiculous. Blizz has always said shamans have to many abilities and now when we were finally perfect we are given the same problem we've had throughout WoW. It could be good but seriously freaking out, Restro- Looks fine. Like how the buff works now. Onto the chain heal problem, the way I see to fix it would be to give it the same style as it was in Warcraft 3. Give it a buff maybe but just add a CD to it. Shamans already have enough utility with AoE healz that adding a short CD maybe like 4 second cooldown, maybe 6 at most, wouldn't really screw us up. Everything of course is just my opinion and I might be missing something or sound really stupid.

[@Mathias-fh4re]

It might be true that other classes also have to do something when they change target, but do they also need to cast a spell with cooldown on it? The problem is that if two adds enters, and 1 goes down pretty fast, then we cant dot the other target. I dont know if it is the same for other class, just seems like a bigger deal for shamans

[@ThomasBachler01]

+Mathias Brunhøj they just changed that so why even talk about it? =)

[@Mathias-fh4re]

Thomas Bachler No, they chance that in 8 months. Not that i care that much, i play resto myself. And I acctually meant it as a valid question: issnt it different when shamans need to wait for a cooldown to proberly chance target?

[@Ehrathorn]

I love that charge idea on spells.

[@Nyghtwolf007]

As a person who lvled an enhancement shaman back in bc. I can handle a passive style of play. Seeing as all I could do until lvl 40 is auto attack with a 2h wep. And as for resto, Chain heal is the only reason I play resto. I just like the spell but if they break it again I just won't roll resto

[@wordup834]

Lava Lash over 90 Maelstrom isn't wise, you'd want to be Lashing at >70 so you don't waste potential Windfury procs (as they're also generating 5 power per strike) and your standard autos. Otherwise at face value, maintaining Flametongue like we do now with Flame Shock, Rockbiter filler, keep SS on CD & reacting to SF procs pretty much is the entire core they've shown us.

[@MrFresh107]

Tbh i think it will lean towards really fast gameplay, end game with constant smart resource dumping, between ss and ll. This is just my guess but its really based on mastery and haste values later.

[@3lit3gn0m3]

The molten spikes added to the 'class fantasy', and they removed it. Only goes to show that their shaman developer is backwards.

[@blyjd91]

Wow talk about enhancement overhaul. We'll have to see it in action though. Might be awesome.

[@czanderson]

i actually like the look of the enhance changes, seems to me they borrowed a lot from fury warriors for the design with the building resource and procc based style, and although i know it's not a mechanic thing looks like it may have a better feel as a magic fighter which i thought was lacking sometimes. cautiously optimistic and waiting for more talents or the DH preview

[@lucass7696]

mained resto shaman over the last two expansions, and i'll probably continute playing it. agree that we're not getting much, but still. not sure if i'll be leveling as enh or elem though. both of them have always been subpar specs imo. also, as a minor note, i think sundering is thrall's ulti from hots, which doesn't really knock people in the air but to the sides of the shattering earth. it's gonna be awesome in pvp i reckon, but a pain in pve if the wall of earth persists, making the mobs stuck behind it.

[@devonmizar6015]

As someone who plays enhancement for the fast pace that it has and the utilities that it brings, it scares me a bit on this new changes that are going to completely change the play style, which, in my opinion, is something that should not be changed lightly on someones main.

[@rumbleshakes]

I am wanting to play a healer primarily running BGs and RBGs. Which of the 6 healers would be best? I used to main Druid but I am open to Paladin and Shaman.

[@BronzeAlliance]

+Rumble Shakes resto druid is the best

[@balance667]

Is there no alpha gameplay for shaman?

[@retaeiyu6337]

+Eclipsen Gaming Not yet.

[@navneroj1]

id like to see they do something different with the resource tbh, all of the "new" resources so far all sound the same with a different name, maybe like you build up mealstrom with relative weak attacks, and spend it on bigger attacks, but you can like build it up in a ridiculous amount and save it for like insane burst moment, and if you dont spend it for lets say 4-5 seconds you lose everything. gives you some choice on when to dump it all or keep a sustained dmg overall

[@TheMacca70]

Spot on about chain heal Preach!

[@icresp4263]

no one else sad about the removal of old maelstrom? I loved insta heals and lightning bolts felt sick

[@limitedexpectations928]

So... Regarding Tidal waves, they basically made it 20% healing wave cast time -> 40% and 30% crit -> 40% crit, but only 1 stack each time, since they are removing glyphs, we will see if its possible to keep 100% uptime on every HW/HS without squeezing in a lot of chain heals that are very gimpy if they want to nerf it that badly. Also, considering they are nerfing chain heal (again) from 10% reduction per bounce to 30% reduction per bounce I cant imagine they will keep high tide around, because it would essentially become mandatory (even more so than it is now, which it is :p).

[@J0J0McM0M0]

Blizzard needs to make Lightning Bolt castable while moving again or the ele spec will continue to lack a lot of fun! Please Blizz, think about it.

[@hejsantxu]

so enhancement is fury warrior now ?????

[@Levinceful]

Doesn't tidal wave already exist?

[@Visuder]

How is that resto shaman in new direction? That's exact same skill as in WoD and doesn't change really anything.

[@forformgamer]

The Tidal Waves effect from Chain Heal and Riptide sounds a lot like the model they used in Cata. Might have been WotLK as well... Stopped playing Shaman around Firelands so I'm not that sure anymore :P

[@sinicall3325]

Idk that i agree with you preach on the totem management stuff, i dont main shammy so perhaps it changes at the high end but honestly most totems you dont use the other are niche ones you use in very specific situations. Similar to hand spells for pallys useful but not something that you really "manage" much. Outside of the dps totems most dont bother with the others

[@sinicall3325]

But eh each their own, cool analysis. Enhance seems um, yeah idk about it yet. I guess the speed would be cool but feel its gonna get too high. IF it kept a good consistant high speed that would be cool, perhaps most talents are more maelstrom dumps to excuse your ridiculous proc rate of the two passives? and i lol'd when you said here is a clue blizz, this is what 4 xpacs now? i came in WotLK and since cata onwards they have claimed they'll stop the chain heal spam

[@Stamat66]

honestly, I quite like the enhancement changes. We will still have something that we can always press so we won't be maelstrom starved like warriors sometimes are with rage, and stormstrike will actually be scary again. Plus if they keep the current design of echo it could lead to some pretty amazing ss chains. I am more curious how our aoe is going to work since we are losing flame shock so probably fire nova will get reworked somehow. And please god let there be some sort of gap closer in the new talents.

[@WaviBaby]

What addons u using?

[@jifyum07]

Tidal Waves is already in the game. So resto's not changing at all? I'm fine with that.

[@stuartmcewan8750]

For elemental the simple removal of the shocks sharing a cooldown would of just been it for me personally but im liking the changes to it. just have to start your rotation a little differently but otherwise its practically the same. Havent played Enhancement but i dont think it will be as bad as people are letting it on to be. you do have a point that at some point in the expac people will dial back on mastery so the potentially crazy maelstrom generating isnt so fast they're overcharging but i think thats why storm fury makes stormstrike cheaper. Blizzard are, at least, feeling that maelstrom will be generating pretty fast with Windfury and Maelstrom Weapon and a cheaper Stormstrike coming off CD immediately can amend that.

[@nathancasey7712]

Right when enh was made right. We get no insta casts now either? Oh god.

[@ThomasBachler01]

+Nathan Casey we dont know yet, by the looks of it there are no casts at all

[@snow4mateusz]

I know its still to soon to say that for sure but i rly feel like from last 3 expansion shaman was last on their "love" list and it seem that will not change in that exp 1. Ele dont rly change at all ( in game play ) even whit "new" resource still look that same (feel like blizz change it so he can say that they did do something...) 2. Enhancement hmm i dont even know from what to start its just look like blizz didnt have any idea how to change it so they did copy Fury game style whit "new" resource 3. Resto compare to other healers it feel like blizz just give up (nothing change still that same spells, mastery and they still want to nerf chain heal so yea nothing change) i know that its still to late to say anything but its just my feelings what we will end up again

[@alexandmorri2254]

I like the totem changes. It will give shamans more burst damage and healing. Plus we can send the spirt link totem to the dps/tanks.

[@tenthdivine9094]

You omitted Elementals being independent from totems, a huge deal in PvP, and the Capacitor Totem (unless its instastun) will be fucking useless even with the new placement because people will simply move before it detonates. While your idea of choosing Flame Shock cost/duration is cool, the biggest problem with Ele is their mobility + survivability; I was hoping Lightning Bolt would be castable while moving again, but nope... As for Enha, hopefully there will be another builder to complement Rockbiter and another spender to complement Lava Lash, otherwise it'll be stale as hell. For Resto, Tidal Waves is much better than it was, but still we lack mobility (Ghost Wolf is a joke) and no Bubble-esque spells to compensate

[@sebastianbrear9583]

+Tenth Divine You do realize that PvPers have their own talents now, right? Totemic projection could still exist, same with Ele's move & cast passive (even though you still have spiritwalker's grace).

[@tenthdivine9094]

+Sebastian Brear yeah, and im hoping the talents / artifacts will make it worthwhile, but the LB while moving should never have been taken out, ele has been a subpar pvp class since wotlk. spiritwalker's is a CD, this should be a constant thing, like what hunters have

[@sebastianbrear9583]

Tenth Divine I don't see a reason why elemental shamans should get this, and this is coming from someone who played an elemental shaman in MoP. It was broken and ridiculous, plus, Blizzard is moving away from classes having a ton of mobility (pun intended). Marksman hunters have their mastery, and survival is going melee. I think I'm correct in saying that Beast Mastery will be the only spec in the game where you don't have anything you need to stand still for.

[@nanojumper7004]

what´s the Name of your addons?

[@ryanmckayw]

Hey Preach. I agree with all you said here, and I for one was happy to not have 14 buttons to push in WoD. After talents and artifact weapon talents dropped I am super excited to try out Enhance, hope I get into Beta.

[@hatescreen]

on the enhance, the scaling will be stupid because not only will be scale and get faster with mastery and haste since weapon speed increase from haste will give us more maelstorm from the new maelstorm weapon. Also where is Fire Nova the one fun and interesting thing we had, I know we dont have flame shock anymore but they could fix that. Not a fan of these changes but will wait till Beta and I get my hands on it

[@NathanCutler]

Completely agree preech, I've mained a resto since Cata and I'm so sick of fighting the system of Chain heal! In essence chain heal is a cool spell (graphically and effectively) but all end game consists of CH spam. Increasing the cost just shits all over early game. Surely there much be a way to make this core spell more interactive. I was looking forward to resto changes, has felt a bit bland lately. Might be looking to main a new spec come legion if the talents/artifact don't change gameplay much.

[@ZAGGOON]

so is the Rip for fire nova

[@lolblackice154]

Though I am nervous about these changes to enhance, I can do nothing else than wait and try it out. Played shaman since forever, wont quit now

[@Wrecktapus]

Maining an Elem since launch, the guaranteed crit of LB never felt right. Being 'bursty' was an art in vanilla and BC. 'Popping' when the boss had 1% and throwing down the right totem/s, getting in a quick CL or two and blowing the bastard up with an Earth Shock always made my guild howl and cheer. Not to mention, nuking my whole party, time and time again on Blackheart the Inciter would make ME howl and cheer (while they grumbled, "Never doing Slabs with that damn shammy again"). Being able to snipe that stray add in Black Morass that the mage couldn't get down quick enough, or just handling them all myself so he could single-target the mini-boss; this had groups seeking me out so they could get through the 'tough' dungeons. (going WAY back, I remember tanking Shade of Eranikus in Sunken temple many times with my Enhance, when the Warriors couldn't / wouldn't. (or just to prove it could be done, hehe))

[@Wrecktapus]

+Wrecktapus I still long for the prophecy to be fulfilled. The prophecy where shammies get to put their shields and threat-generating abilities to use as viable off-tanks!

[@dylanezell1423]

why do all my favorite classes get their mana bars taken away D':

[@Langii94]

I think LL shouldnt be used at 90+ ... I think 70-80 Mstrom will be about right, because if you wait until 90+, you could waste Mstrom by a sudden WF procc. Although you have to think about the Autohit-generated Mstrom during GCD's etc.

[@tensazangetsu2965]

Buddy, your voice not bothers me, u r good mAAn. keep going.