As someone who mains shaman. As I expected for phase one my fav spec elemental was going to be very lacking mainly due to limitation of talents and spells (and spell ranks) available at level 25. Now like some other classes/specs that are looking forward to phase 2 where we should feel like we catch up and feel at least viable, there’s definitely some minor changes (that could already be being looked into) I’d like to see firstly Lava Burst. I think a 2 second cast is far to long and should be down to 1.5 (think its the same for chaos bolt?) I know its an ability that hits hard and if running overload has the chance to double cast but the huge amount of pushback we suffer ( and yes I know there is a talent to reduce this that we can spec into next phase) 2 seconds feels far to long. Especially seeing most other range classes their abilities are instant cast and in some cases can hit as hard as lava burst.
Secondly is shocks more more specific flame shock and this just ties in with lava burst really. Lava burst is 30yard range and flame shock is 20, kind of just sucks I have to run and extra 10 yards closer to any target making it easier for melee to reach me or range to just start blasting me before I even consider casting lava burst.
I’m sure there are other classes that people will probably think can get minor tweaks like I’ve stated here.
That’s the playstyle in vanilla, casters we’re always F-ed because of the insane pushback they get from taking damage. The only problem right now is, as you mentioned, they added bunch of instant spells to other ranged (and melee as well) classes, which significantly increases the pushback of each spell.
However, I do think 2 second cast for an ability hitting that hard, and on top of that having the chance to proc overload is completely fine. You’re gonna get chain lightning and ele mastery next phase. Ele shamans are known for their oneshots in vanilla, and now with Lava Burst we will see that even more. You’re already gonna oneshot every single player you meet if you have your CDs up and you are able to cast it, so 1.5 sec cast is probably gonna be too much imo.
Chaos bolt is 2.5 sec cast
There is no insant cast ability that hits as hard as Lava Burst (except probably Starsurge ? which, we all know is just not right)
Unless they introduce a rune which increases flame shock range (which I highly doubt they will, and believe me you do not want as well, having in mind we’re gonna get I think 2 new runes, imagine 1 of them is just increasing range to shocks) this wont be changed. Apparently Blizzard are balancing classes only by their runes, and are not touching the original abilities.
I am really worried about the runes they are about to introduce up to lvl 40 though. Maybe I am going insane, but I swear I read somewhere that its only 2 new runes being added next phase (which is completely fine, adding too many runes overall is not gonna be a good experience). What I’m worried about is these classes that have 3 specs (some have 4 now in SoD). Look at shamans - They can tank, heal, play ele or play enha. How are you gonna add a rune to all of these specs if you’re gonna introduce only 2 runes. It’s the same for other classes as well. So either they should put at least 3 runes per phase for each spec, or think around it really good. Imagine 1 of your specss not getting a rune at all =\
I’m in the understanding that we will get 4 new runes, but i might be wrong.
4 Runes next phase, 2 runes for 2h enhance, 1 rune for tanks and 1 rune for bloodlust would be enough.
and to relate to OP. 4 new runes, all related to shocks:
- Rune of Flame Shock: Increases the range of flame shock to 30yds and makes the dot stack, but the dot deals 50% less damage (at 5 stacks, that 2.5x the dot damage)
- Rune of Frost Shock: Frost Shock roots a target for x seconds
- Rune of Earth Shock: Earth Shock no longer increases threat.
- Rune of Wind Shock: A interupt outside of the shock CD, but deals no damage.
If shamans get 1 rune that gives us Bloodlust as a self buff, that will cover most if not all roles.
- Rune of Bloodlust: 30% Melee and Cast speed for 15 seconds, 3 min cooldown.
Yea, maybe I’m just tripping there thinking I read somewhere that we’re gonna get only 2 runes.
Could be that, but i think they mentioned we will get a new rune slot?
And 4 new runes per rune slot/phase makes sense then, least pattern wise.
Yea most likely we will get the new runes on different slots than we have now. It wouldn’t really make sense to have the new runes on the same slots, unless they do something like “you can add up to 2 runes per slot”.
Yeah, and if we get runes that affects standard abilities, it would reduce the bloat.
Making lava burst a faster cast isn’t going to happen due to PvP reasons even though everyone ignores the 20 yard limitation on it hitting hard, which is a major downside but people who don’t play Shaman don’t care.
The main thing Shamans should be asking is that nature damage gets added to curse of elements, this is a huge thing that would have almost no impact in the pvp scene.
Think about it, two classes would benefit from this change: main beneficiary would be shaman as most of their kit is nature damage and balance druids would be happy to cast wrath as well instead of their starfire only rotation.(and rogues probably now that they have a poison spec, not that they need much help atm to be competitive)
Aside from this they could add a rune that increases the searing totem range and damage, again this would be a change that would affect pvp very little as it would be very easy to counter(killing a 5 health totem that the shaman has no control over what it attacks shouldn’t be broken in any way).
Main problem with ele is that you have to buff them in ways that wouldn’t affect pvp where they were already strong in classic.
Would love to see a rune that allows stacking Flame shock up to 5 times or something!
Because ramping and dispellable DPS is always less likely to have a serious negative PvP effect.