Concise Ehn Shammy PVP Issues

Enhancement Shaman do great damage in PVE. No complaints. They are actually extremely valuable to a group, and while they may have some minor issues (such as Unleashed Rage's 5-pt cost versus Abomination Might's 2-pt cost with an additional 2% strength), they're just minor issues.

So why is damage so bad in PVP? And why are Enhancement Shaman just generally inferior in PVP to most other classes?

1) Enhancement damage comes from three major sources: Windfury, Lightning Bolt, and Earth Shock.

1a. Windfury Weapon requires melee range -- something that is difficult to achieve as a shaman. Once there, not only is melee range difficult to maintain, but Windfury is random; we can't trigger it on cue like an active ability. If it doesn't happen, 1/3 of our damage doesn't happen.

1b. Lightning Bolt is only a great source of damage with 5 procs of Maelstrom Weapon. This is yet another random number generator issue. If it doesn't happen, 1/3 of our damage doesn't happen. Furthermore, because most classes right now are putty against DPS classes, our normally subpar survivability is threatened beyond reason at the moment, meaning that any use of a 5-stack Maelstrom Weapon for the purpose of Lightning Bolt sacrifices any smidgeon of survivability that we gain through casting an instant Healing Wave. Unlike other classes, we lose 1/3 of our damage by opting in to use our survival-booster (instant Healing Wave).

1c. Earth Shock has great utility with interrupt. "Why didn't you interrupt that pyroblast?" "Because I used Earth Shock for damage." "Why didn't you kill that guy before he killed you?" "Because I saved Earth Shock for utility (to interrupt)." There's no winning with this ability. If we don't use it for damage, we lose 1/3 of our damage. If we do use it for damage, we lose our utility. If you think that's a fair trade off, also consider that we lose our only snare in the way of Frost Shock (thanks to shared cooldowns across all shocks), and then see 1a again.

2) Shaman, in general, lack mobility. Justify it. I am personally fine with immobility because, unlike the other more mobile classes, shaman fulfill that fantasy of being a huge, slow moving, lumbering wrecking ball. I am not fine with the fact that it goes unjustified. The problem is, we're not wrecking balls -- we're more like wadded up balls of sandpaper.

2a. Unjustified Immobility: Don't give us CC or anti-CC. Seriously. Don't. That isn't what a shaman is all about. Keep us as slow and immobile as we are. Don't make Ghost Wolf break snares; don't make Shamanistic Rage into The Beast Within. DO make us tougher. Make us tough as nails and extremely hard to kill. Make our lack of mobility JUSTIFIED.

2b. See Astral Shift -- that is a step in the right direction. Don't let me break free from stuns/fears/silences -- let me soak it up and revel in it. That's what a shaman is. Now... why isn't it also an Enhancement Shaman?

3) Suggestions: Our damage in PVP is horrible because we have to make sacrifice after sacrifice just to have a chance at getting into melee and staying there. We lose our damage by the time we gain the opportunity to deliver it.

3a. Justify Our Immobility: Like I already said, make our lack of mobility justified. Don't give us more; embrace our unique approach to battle and make us tough as nails.

3b. Take the Interrupt Off Earth Shock: That's right; I said it. Wind Shock interrupts. Let it be our interrupt. Remove the interrupt from Earth Shock and remove the shared cooldown between Wind Shock and all other shocks. To remove any confusion, change the name of Wind Shock -- make it called "Gale" or "Wind Blast" or something. Let us interrupt when we need it; let us use Earth Shock to deliver 1/3 of our damage. Seriously. We need it.

3c. Lower Our Reliability On the RNG: Windfury is cool. When it goes off, it's awesome. However, it is not so awesome that it makes up for all of the times that it doesn't go off. NERF WINDFURY. There, I said it. Tone down the damage on Windfury and up its proc rate. Dramatically. Dramatically. Let us deliver 1/3 of our damage after we fight for our lives to get into melee range. Don't make it so hard for us to get up there only to deny us 1/3 of our damage once we get there. To address the RNG and Maelstrom Weapon: I don't know. I don't have a suggestion for Maelstrom Weapon. You dug this hole, Blizzard. You figure this one out.

In summary:
We can't deliver our damage in PVP. Not reliably; not without great sacrifice to utility and survivability; not without a full team making up for our weakness.
Our immobility isn't justified. I love the idea behind it, but as it is currently implemented, it just isn't called for or fair or... fun.
Let us interrupt and damage; not sacrifice one for the other.