Hello! I’m probably giving my opinion too late but it took me a while to find the courage to do it. After 7+ years of playing elemental I want to share what I think of the current elemental. Even if the changes in TWW are by far the best in years in my opinion they are far from solving the problems of the spec. They only solve the consequences and not the cause.
In my opinion the cause is that the class is old, it hasn’t really changed for 10 years. It’s even worse for the elemental shaman who saw his gameplay twisted to adapt to the game without success. Even in TWW the core gameplay is still twisted to the point where it has almost completely disappeared. Which gives a rotation with only 1 button and half of the spells (lightning) are useless.
The elemental shaman needs a real rework that recreates a core main identity and some secondary identities without throwing away what exists. This way the spec will make sense again. There are probably many solutions but here is what seems the most logical to me :
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The core identity: THE ELEMENTS, with an “s”. We need an interesting mechanic that rewards us when we use several elements. For example, for each fire, lightning and frost spell we gain a corresponding favor. When we spend maelstrom if we have the favors of each element we unlock effects (damage buff, stattss buff, old mastery …). These effects can also focus on the elements by giving a second (or third) element to our classic spells. Like an explosion of frozen lava that has a bonus frost effect. With talents like “master of the elements” for all elements we have a complex but not too strict rotation that rewards us by emphasizing the elemental theme. In addition, spenders become key elements of our rotation again by being triggers.
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First secondary identity: Elementals. The talents are already there, no need for many changes. And with the possibility of having bonus elements on our spells, the elementals will have effects on all our spells in addition to helping our rotation
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Second secondary identity: Ascendance. The current ascendance is stupid, it’s a burst of damage but an anti burst of gameplay. This makes this CD very unfun once we get used to the damage contribution. This spell must change to bring gameplay or strengthen the gameplay. The rotation that I propose is already complex so we will just strengthen this rotation. In ascendance each element offers 1% of stats linked to the element up to a maximum of 15%. Each tranche of 20 of maelstrom spent extends this buff by 1sec after the end of the ascendance. The rotation will thus be smoother and stronger in ascendance. With a delayed burst that starts at the end of the ascendancy when you are fully buffed without spending 15 seconds of ascendancy without a buff.
The solution I propose remains vague and very little numerical because I remain only an elemental shaman player and this message is already long enough. However, I still have other ideas for more precise talents that I would be happy to develop if people are interested. I am also interested in your opinion on the current shaman, on the changes I propose or on your ideas for change.