Ok so while stormbringer shaman has been a success for enhancement, I feel that some issues are overshadowing the hero spec a bit. The main problems have been discussed a lot by others, and I wanted to share an idea with how they could be addressed.
Main issues with stormbringer/tempest:
- Impossible to track/perform without specific WAs/addons.
- High skill floor/skill ceiling.
- Excessive setup prior to keys.
So in order to address those issues without impacting the gameplay a lot, I suggest the following change:
Tempest
2 sec cast
1 min CD
Calls down a tremendous lightning strike that deals X nature damage to your target and Y nature damage to enemies within 8 yds of your target. Damage reduced beyond 5 targets.
Tempest benefits from bonuses to lightning bolt.
Each maelstrom weapon charge spent reduces the cool down by 1 sec.
Replaces lava burst/elemental blast.
So to better explain what this tries to do:
- Tempest replaces Ele blast/Lava Burst as a button.
- Just as ele blast, it has a maximum of 2 charges, with a recharge of 1 minute (reduced by 1 sec for each MSW spent).
- Awakening storms now instead of providing another avenue of stacking tempest, now reduces the cooldown of tempest by 20 seconds.
- For all intents and purposes, tempest is identical to live otherwise.
So in what ways this addresses the main issues:
- Tracking of Tempest becomes pretty easy, since you no longer need to track awakening storms, and tempest is its own button, with the cooldown/charges displayed.
- Keeps the skill ceiling but raises the skill floor, since now you do not need complex setups for start of keys, and the focus switches a lot more to execution than to tracking auras.
- Control is also increased, since you can easily now choose where and when exactly you want to use tempest without trying to juggle your other spenders.
Negatives that I have to address:
- Loss of identity. I cannot disagree that this sacrifices a bit of uniqueness in order to address quality of life issues.
- Locking of talents. This changes makes you locked into taking lava burst and elemental blast, and does not offer for a way to also play with those spells in your rotation (for the players that were enjoying using LB/Tempest/EB in the same build).
So what do you guys think?