Shaman, the "supporting class, weak tank and PvP punching bag"

I have played Shaman since I began, and I began when the game was released.
I was told, on your website (Blizzard) that Shaman could be supporting damage dealer as a supporting caster with “powerful” (static, annoying) totems (of all things to promote), wear strong armour and shield and even capable of tanking, yes this is true. The enhancement tree was basically all about dodge, parry, armour-increasing and block-chance increasing talents google it bined with weapon-specific talents, some of which had clearly been put there to enable us to improve threat.

See the list on the bottom for some hilarious confirmations of what we all knew**

Now, admittedly back then Shaman was the weakest class from the start with a lot of presentations putting emphasis on this fact. “Supporting hybrid class” and to sum it up: Shaman was weaker than it’s D&D source for some of the inspiration behind the class and came together as something similar to a medic with a dagger in his belt if needed or a totem-carrier so the other classes could get even more feels when our wind-fury totem made the already strong melee classes stronger: In short, a supporting role rather than leading in any genre**.

You have managed to perfect the Druid in all of their possible specializations, Tanking, Melee damage dealer, a killer caster with insane burst and a healer that of legendary performances.

But with every expansion you either focus on making new hybrids that actually succeed in, if not all, most of their roles depending on their choice rather than the class as is.

Rather than focusing on making new, good classes like the monk.

The monk could’ve been improvements on Shaman since they are interesting parallels. The monk even sports analogs for our totems, less armor than we have and they can tank on-par with all the other classes capable of tanking. Their damage spec. performs well if and continues to dish out enormous amounts of damage even when they are suppose to heal and support the others, yet…

Shaman remains master of none, loved by many, if not for gank-practice than actual fans of the class since during all these years some of the Shaman’s potential has been showcased, most of us don’t even care that b google it ing a viable google it petitor in raiding often google it e at a cost in PvP.

Interestingly this is the other way around with every other classes that has been released since.

Example? Blood Death Knight tanks was a major player as tank in raiding and barely had to make a few item-switches to continue to be this unkillable damage-dealing monster on the battlegrounds.
A feeling so alien to most shamans (at least while playing their shaman) we tend to be grateful for small improvements to the point we expect it’ll be attached to a huge bill when we turn to PvP - or the otherway around.

Either make it dangerous to attack us or make our attacks dangerous to approach us. Make our spells more mobile, burst higher and survival abilities at least google it parable to a Paladin.

Paladin, our original counter-part.

As healers they not only wear plate and a shield, weapons and insane damage but for some reason they was gifted with immortality for themselves as well as team-mates with short cooldown too.

We got ankh, you had to buy. We don’t need to buy 'em now but the cooldown is so long that we don’t even get to use it in arena and it’s useless in battlegrounds and mythic+. Give us resurrection of stoneskin, protection from the elements invulnerability and make the SPIRITUAL BEING WITH MAGICAL FEATURES capable of invisibility. You gave it to hunters, alliance races, druids… But the mass-less spirit carnivore can’t outrun either of the aforementioned stealthers and… sigh.

** For some fun reading and inspiration or hopelessness:
Search google for:
dandwiki +Shaman_(5e_Class) and
dmsguild +The-Shaman-5e-Class

I just wanted, for once, to state the fact that we are a class with just as much right to be powerful and a fierce opponent; If you refuse to leave your original plan for a “supporting totem-carrier supporting while dabbing in the field never to master any of it” at least make that into something new, dangerous, hard to counter or gifted with a uniqueness equal if not surpassing that of a Druid and monk because… that’s what you’ve claimed to do the entire time.

Coupe de grace to anyone believing we haven’t suffered from being weak should only take a look at the summary of what updates has been done and take note of the huge lack of “nerfed this and that”, “they had too much damage” or “they can’t be killed” revamps other classes tend to get between the buffs:

Patches and hotfixes

  • [![Legion|40x15]](wow.gamepedia google it /World_of_Warcraft:_Legion) [Hotfix](worldofwarcraft google it /en-us/news/21025532/) (2017-09-16): “Fixed a bug causing Lava Burst and Lava Burst: Overload to deal less damage than intended in PvP situations.”

  • [![Legion|40x15]](wow.gamepedia google it /World_of_Warcraft:_Legion) [Patch 7.1.5](wow.gamepedia google it /Patch_7.1.5) (2017-01-10): Damage increased to 275% (was 220%).

  • [![Legion|40x15]](wow.gamepedia google it /World_of_Warcraft:_Legion) [Hotfix](worldofwarcraft google it /en-us/news/20303039/) (2016-11-01): “Lava Burst now deals full damage in PvP (was doing 80% of normal damage).”

  • [![Legion|40x15]](wow.gamepedia google it /World_of_Warcraft:_Legion) [Hotfix](worldofwarcraft google it /en-us/news/20303039/) (2016-10-25): “(Restoration) Lava Burst should correctly deal a critical strike against targets with Flame Shock, at level 20 or higher.”

  • [![Legion|40x15]](wow.gamepedia google it /World_of_Warcraft:_Legion) [Hotfix](worldofwarcraft google it /en-us/news/20252902/) (2016-09-23): “Lava Burst damage increased by 5% for Elemental.”

  • [![Legion|40x15]](wow.gamepedia google it /World_of_Warcraft:_Legion) [Patch 7.0.3](wow.gamepedia google it /Patch_7.0.3) (2016-07-19): Damage increased by 76.5%. Flame Shock now causes it to be guaranteed of critical hit instead of increasing damage.

  • [![Warlords of Draenor|46x14]](wow.gamepedia google it /World_of_Warcraft:_Warlords_of_Draenor) [Hotfix](worldofwarcraft google it /en-us/news/19962858/) (2015-11-20): “Now deals 20% more damage while in PvP google it bat.”

  • [![Warlords of Draenor|46x14]](wow.gamepedia google it /World_of_Warcraft:_Warlords_of_Draenor) [Patch 6.2.3](wow.gamepedia google it /Patch_6.2.3) (2015-11-17): Damage has been increased by 4%.

  • [![Warlords of Draenor|46x14]](wow.gamepedia google it /World_of_Warcraft:_Warlords_of_Draenor) [Hotfix](worldofwarcraft google it /en-us/news/16561637/) (2014-12-15): “Lava Burst (Elemental, Restoration) now deals 33% more damage in PvP google it bat.”

  • [![Warlords of Draenor|46x14]](wow.gamepedia google it /World_of_Warcraft:_Warlords_of_Draenor) [Patch 6.0.3](wow.gamepedia google it /Patch_6.0.3) (2014-10-28): Now costs 50% less mana.

  • [![Warlords of Draenor|46x14]](wow.gamepedia google it /World_of_Warcraft:_Warlords_of_Draenor) [Patch 6.0.2](wow.gamepedia google it /Patch_6.0.2) (2014-10-14): Now replaces ![|16x16][[Primal Strike]](wow.gamepedia google it /Primal_Strike) for Elemental and Restoration shaman.

  • [![Mists of Pandaria|46x14]](wow.gamepedia google it /World_of_Warcraft:_Mists_of_Pandaria) [Hotfix](worldofwarcraft google it /en-us/news/9687729/) (2013-05-23): “[Elemental Overload](wow.gamepedia google it /Elemental_Overload) version of Lava Burst should now properly deal 75% of the damage dealt by the Lava Burst that activated it.”

  • [![Mists of Pandaria|46x14]](wow.gamepedia google it /World_of_Warcraft:_Mists_of_Pandaria) [Patch 5.3.0](wow.gamepedia google it /Patch_5.3.0) (2013-05-21): Now has a 2 second cast time, up from 1.5 seconds, and deals 25% more damage.

  • [![Mists of Pandaria|46x14]](wow.gamepedia google it /World_of_Warcraft:_Mists_of_Pandaria) [Patch 5.2.0](wow.gamepedia google it /Patch_5.2.0) (2013-03-05): Base damage has been reduced by 33% but now always deals a critical strike. When cast on targets affected by Flame Shock, it now deals 50% more damage.

  • [![Mists of Pandaria|46x14]](wow.gamepedia google it /World_of_Warcraft:_Mists_of_Pandaria) [Patch 5.0.4](wow.gamepedia google it /Patch_5.0.4) (2012-08-28): Now an Elemental and Restoration specialization ability.

This list should put fear in anyone wanting to start their first shaman!
Source: wow.gamepedia google it /Lava_Burst

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