#0 - May 25, 2009, 11:31 p.m.
i) Totems Totems Totems
As you've said, a class mechanic that didn't quite live up to what it is on paper and definitely has a lot of potential, but there's another side to it.
The shaman totem has been in a huge decline in PvE because of you're homogenization of buffs and your "Bring the Player, not the Class". Our former role as a utility stick, there to buff the group and fill whatever role is need is now gone. The power and uniqueness of our totems because of their range and health limitations has been sanded down, and left us with an inferior buff that is stationary and killable.
In PvP, our totems have become less "Totems" and more just abilities rolled into a stick. (e.g. Earth-bind Root is just a frost nova, because we have to use other earth totems). In this form they are quite mundane and you find that you basically just put them down again on their cooldown, just like any other class.
Mobility is a problem, especially since it once had a tradeoff and now doesn't seem to. There is the very boring fix of a "Totemic Recall" but i think Blizzard will agree that this is a copout and not a decent enough change for a prime part of our class.
And that's the bottom line. Totem is to Shaman what Shapeshifting is to Druids or Pets to a Hunter. And at the moment, they're in a sorry state.
Q u o t e:
To reiterate the Problems:
- No longer unique or powerful
- Still maintain weaknesses of
- Mobility
- Health
Despite an increase in low cost, low damage instants and an increase in pace (which gets out of totem range)
ii) Survivability
Shaman have no innate defensive cooldowns, shaman have less health than everyone by a long shot, and shaman don't last very long in any fight, compared to their peers. Why?
This is a run-on from when Shaman were the utility guy. The part of the group who was protected because he empowered the group. You just have to look at the two iconic shaman abilities Chain Lightning and Chain Heal to see that it's in group fighting that we belong.
And in group fighting, we can be protected. It's easier for us to be ignored, forgotten.
Group fighting is dead. The gameplay in Arena and Raids are getting smaller (40-->25, and 10 mans now competitive) and that means we can't hide behind people anymore and our group buffs now mean much less.
Q u o t e:
Reiteration of the Problems:
- No survival cool-downs (Shamanistic Rage is an extremely poor example, and needs to be updated)
- Low innate health
- Typically Low Mobility (although this has been pretty well addressed, we still have the same issues as other casters)
iii) Potency (Damage and Healing)
This is one that is much harder to gauge and to varying degrees we have both more and less than we used to. So i think i'll break this down into the 3 specs.
Elemental
Elemental damage is slipping in PvE, and while I'm hopeful it will work there are some doubts (and as an RNG talent thats what you'd expect). However (as Strawberry has i'm sure made you aware) we don't scale well with raid buffs because of a lack of a 7th talent (Spirit), and our flat increases in SP in our design.
The only thing i'd ask of you in this regard is to solve it WITH the PvP problems, so that we can have a change closer to the core mechanics of our class and solve the problem more comprehensively.
In PvP, elemental's huge problems lie primarily in Survivability, but also in the application of our damage. Just like other casters, it's very difficult to exert our damage, and our mobility while killing is a difficult thing to get right.
Also, Lavaburst. It is always amusing to crit for 8-10k (when you've full specced / gear / glyphed for it) and then following it up with an instant 2-3k lightning bolt. The other side of the coin is that if Lavaburst is any worse in PvE, it will cease to be used. Nice happy conundrum for you haha. Good luck.
Q u o t e:
To sum up Elemental Potency Problems (ha ha):
- PvE Damage is Slipping, but you've done a pretty good job so far
- PvP Damage is hard to exert, and is Lavaburst Centric.
- PvE Scaling
- AoE
- Note: I urge you to [try] and tackle this as ONE problem to best solve the situation
