After years of maining an elemental shaman, I suggest a few things going forward into Shadowlands:
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Totems allowed to be cast in Ghost Wolf form
It feels so clunky and frustrating when you try to escape a situation (or close a gap), and you have to keep shifting out of Ghost Wolf to cast totems. I’m primarily referring to Earthbind Totem, Capacitor Totem, Tremor Totem, and Wind Rush Totem. I would really like to see a short buff (say for 5 seconds) after shifting into Ghost Wolf where you can use totems without breaking Ghost Wolf form. This would really smoothen the gameplay in these do-or-die situations. And please oh please don’t make us return to having to incur 4/5/6 GCDs before a fight due to placing totems… That would be going backwards. -
Bring back Gust of Wind (like in Legion)
In Legion we finally had a fighting chance against melee opponents thanks to this ability. For most of WoW and now in BFA, we’re pretty much just sitting ducks for any melee class, with all the gap-closing abilities, snares, immunities, stuns, etc. Additionally, this talent was just pure fun! And fun has always been key to the feeling of the shaman class, with all the flashy spells, great transmogs, and utility. And of course this ability was also a delight to use in avoiding falling damage, or reaching awkward places. It was supposedly taken away because it’s too similar to a mage’s Blink. Oh, and boomkin’s Wild Charge isn’t? Or hunter’s Disengage? Puh-lease, just ease up on the “rules” and let the players have what they actually want to have to enjoy their classes. -
Remove the CD from Flame Shock (like in Legion)
Especially if, as Blizzard says, they want us to be Lava Burst machine guns.
“But we want the focus of the rotation to be about managing your Flame Shock debuff on multiple targets to maximize the potential of Lava Burst through Lava Surge procs.” Being quite dependent on proc-based playstyle (and on Lava Burst), we like to get as many Flame Shocks out as possible, and having a 6-second CD on it often leads to moments where you kinda pause until it’s refreshed. This is especially true while on the move with the tank in dungeons, raids, or even PVP.
I think Blizzard got the spec so right during Legion. I had so much fun playing back then, finally having gotten past a lot of the clunky mechanics, and I’d really love the class to return to a similar state as then (before the changes to talents were made, leading into BFA). Really liked the concept of Lightning Rod and would like to see it back as a talent, and Path of Flame or something like it.
Side note:
If Maelstrom is ever to return, we really need a means which allows it to generate passively to smoothen the gameplay, like each tick of Flame Shock generating maelstrom (such as when the Fire Elemental is active). Horrible feeling when you’re 1 Maelstrom away from being able to Earth Shock / Earthquake, needing to cast to generate that missing 1 Maelstrom, and then the mob(s) is/are killed before you can get the cast off…
Wish:
A tank spec / able to choose between DPS or Tank for Enhancement, via talent choices.