#0 - Nov. 6, 2008, 9:20 p.m.
There have been a lot of posts from GC indicating that the current imbalance in several classes will not be an issue once we all hit level 80. Here's a representative statement in the Shaman Theorycrafting thread:
Q u o t e:
I am talking about exclusively about level 80. That is the only thing that is going to matter to 99% of those players who worry about class balance in a little over a week.
The problem that I have with this point of view -- and I think it's echoed by other shamans - is that the shaman class should be fun NOW - whatever your level.
Shaman should be playable NOW - whatever your level.
A good raid member NOW - whatever your level.
At all levels before 80, the class should work. Whether solo, in groups, PvP, PvE, in a BG, or a raid. That is what a well-designed character class looks like -- something that grows and scales all along the way. Not something that limps along on life support until hitting some magical level, at which point things will be "leveled out". There are raids, dungeons, etc. starting much earlier than 80 - why shouldn't gameplay at those levels be enjoyable? Why should elemental and resto shamans have to play enhance until level 57 or 58 - as they do now - because leveling as resto or elemental is so much slower?
This class should be fun and playable all the way up to 80. That means starting at the earliest levels, and at points along the way. That is scalability. It shouldn't be a case where it *finally* becomes fun to be a shaman at level 74 and *finally* balances out at 80. That is poor design.
There are also too many ways to stun us; "can't do that while stunned" is sort of the shaman anthem. Hex isn't going to solve the lack of CC, for reasons mentioned many times already. And given the OP issues with mages and ret pallies, the shamans have become the easiest class to kill. That is also poor design. Elemental shamans need a way to be competitive, esp. with other DPS classes - and we need it EARLIER than level 80. Why? Because there are raids, BGs, etc. that a player can enter long before 80; is it acceptable that shaman are mediocre in Hellfire Ramparts? Or in Razorfen Kraul? Or in their first BG in Warsong Gulch?
Yes, I know - it will all level out at 80 - but the point is that the customer here has several months of dissatisfying gameplay experience that he/she has to pass through first on their way to level 74 (or level 80). Why would you want to turn people off to playing the shaman class by making the first 74 levels of the class a substandard experience?
Scalability. It adds to our desirability as a raid member and improves survivability as well. Our closest hybrid class, the boomkin, is far better positioned for both survivability and raid desirability; if only we could get some of the same love & attention.
SECOND ITEM - TRUST
When another poster complained about past promises to overhaul the shaman class being broken, GC indicated he wasn't intersted in said:
Q u o t e:
This kind of stuff -- not useful. Right here is where I stopped reading your post and just skipped over to the next one.
You want the shaman community to have patience and believe that these things will get fixed. Here are some of the things that we understand you are working on now.
Q u o t e:
I think I have posted recently (or maybe it was in the beta forums -- I forget -- though you probably read it either way) some of what we're looking at for Elemental:
-- More scaling at very high gear levels (higher than exist in the game now)
-- More damage out of those deep talents that only grant utility now
-- Real AE
With the exception that scaling should start earlier than high gear levels - fulfilling this list would be great for us; I think you'd see a chorus of "thank you's" if this happened. But our ability to have faith in these promises is colored by Blizzard's past behavior. We *do* hear you, and we *want* to believe you. But the shamans have to ask themselves: in similar situations in the past, has Blizzard followed through on previous promises made to the community? We are still waiting on the class overhaul we were promised in the last expansion.
Trust is like a credit rating: if you pay your bills on time, your line of credit increases. If you don't, then lenders tend to view you with suspicion. So for a Blizzard representative to ask us to stop complaining, have patience and trust the Blizzard development team now - and simultaneously ignore previous experiences - simply goes against human nature.
Many posters here abuse the forums, pour toxic venom on GC and Blizzard in general - it's disrespectful and counterproductive. But it's also disrespectful to the shaman community to put the blame on us for not having patience; we are the ones who have experienced over-promising but under-fulfilling.
