Why didn't we get a Tidesage (Elemental) customization for KT shamans?

Classes Shaman
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The Kul Tiran druids are really cool, but I can’t help having the feeling I am missing out something as a shaman whenever I get across the Tidesage NPCs.

I mean, why could they have so many unique features while I only have lousy totems, and why can’t I have a Tidesage title and spec for myself when they are so prominent in the storyline? :frowning:

I understand that adding a new spec to the game is very complicated to balance, but yet, I feel Blizzard could at least give the players a chance to choose a cosmetic spec reskin of some kind, which may come from a glyph from a faction vendor or even through Inscription.

Seriously… why can’t we have new shaman animations giving a KT/Tidesage flavor to the elemental spec, while still having all the same numbers and gameplay/rotation?

I’d call this a Tidesage Reskin for the Elemental spec.

Dunno about you guys, but I would totally be up for a long long grind to unlock access to customize more of my spells to a ‘watery’ flavor with glyphs like this. :smiley:

Edit 6/6/19: Kul Tiran Elemental Shaman Tidesage at 7:22

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Hoe do you want to be a tidesage in a specc that doesn’t use water? Only restoration fits the tidesage description.

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It still takes time.

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And this is the result of them packing several lore classes into the mechanics of ingame classes.

They need to start taking advantage of their glyph system for this. It’s the easiest way to give people class niche flavour if they’re too lazy to set up a new class.

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Yes it’s the same for other class/race combos. E.g. Tauren and Zandalari Paladins should not get angel wings. Tauren Paladins are meant to be Sunwalkers but because of the ingame spells it’s really hard to realise this ingame; and as a consequence they are almost forgotten about in lore.

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I think KT Shamans make no sense at all. A Shaman is a master of all elements, not just one. Why would a Tidesage be summoning fire elementals and ghostly wolves, causing earthquakes and hurling lava? Or going up into melee range and whacking the enemy with lightning-enchanted axes?

Don’t Tidesages wear cloth anyway? Frost Mage fits the fantasy a lot better.

Or they could have added a Priest glyph that gives your healing spells a watery appearance or something.

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I totally agree. I was suggesting something similar a while back in another thread.

I’d like to see diffrent spell effects e.g. based on race. Especially for Kul Tiran shamans, to make them feel closer to the actual tidsages. It feels off having them like any other shamans, when their spells on Kul Tiras, as Tidesages, are are so fundamentally different than in the rest of the world. I see it as a missed opurtunity. It feels a bit off playing a Kul Tiran shaman, when they are like any other shaman when it comes to spell effects.

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I’d say they are a mixture of shaman and mage.

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That’s the whole point of the graphic reskin idea: have glyphs that make spells change to another flavor, e.g. so all Elemental spells for a character of choice would be water themed. This means changing name and animation, while still working the same way.

I mean really, if mages can use water to deal damage, why should a shaman not have the option?

‘Roll a mage then’ is not the issue here. I main a mage. The point is, different classes can use the same elements to cast different spells (priests and paladins for holy for example) and there’s the strong issue of the Tidesage lore in KT.

Unless you’re telling all Tidesage we see around are mages (why can’t my mage use those spells then?) or resto shamans (why do they hurt me with water then?)

I know Blizzzard won’t give us another talent spec as that would be hard to balance, but at the very least a set of lore flavored glyphs to alter spells as an option would probably make many people happy.

And be a nice addition to the crafts for the Inscription profession.

In fact, I’d strongly recommend adding loads of such new glyphs in game for each exp/major patch, to better theme the characters to the lore.

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You don’t understand me, I’m talking about stuff like flame shock, which is built in game to deal fire damage. or Lava Burst, how do you change them visually when they have to deal fire damage in the end?

It’s not like if you’d be a nelf priest to change the spells from gold themed to silver themed. In the end both have holy source and works exactly the same.

In WoW we have many magic schools, like fire, frost, nature, holy, arcane, shadow. They’re build in the game system and this is where is the deal breaker.

No, mages use frost magic, not water magic. Water elemental is also casting frost magic.

No they’re strange hybrid of frost mage, shadow priest and resto shaman that in lore is meant to wear cloth and was never seen going in melee dual wield.

And to be honest it should’ve been some altered priest specc. As they’re sea priests in the end. But they were thrown together with shamans that have much bigger scope of abilities, and different background behind them.

I’m all for customization glyphs to make race/class combo feel unique but I wanted to make you realize that it’s not just cosmetic stuff in this case, here schools of magic are involved.

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Easy: you call it wave shock, and use wave animation.

It’s really the same thing they do with the different polymorphs for mages, after all. It’s not like your Polymorph: Rabbit does anything different than a Polymorph: Sheep. But they changed its look, hence changed its name and icon.

Lightspawn and Shadowfiend for disc priests are different, based on different power, hence get different names too even though the icon stays the same in this case.

So you see, this kind of mechanic is already in place somewhere else in the game. You can totally have two things called differently and having different looks for exactly the same casted spell. Different flavor without need for an extra spec = purely visual customization.

Talking of some kind of spec reskin glyphs/tomes here, not exactly the same as the ones in place now.

On the other hand, if to you wow is a game that should not change ever, and what is done needs to stay the same set in stone forever, we won’t miss you when the next exp hits. ^^

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Wave shock that deals fire damage?

Looks like you completely misunderstood my point.

Some spells are tied to specific school magic. Some that are having exact same effect can be visually changed. But your suggestions wants to completely change the mechanic of a class.

It’s like demanding for fire mage to suddenly use water themed spells. Becuase that is essentially what you ask.

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I thought the Resto shaman proved that water was a totally fine school of magic for shamans… hence could be one of those used by the elemental shaman (I believe water is an element, maybe I am mistaken?).

But hey, maybe only earth, fire and air are after all.

On the other hand, I am sure that Blizzard could work around it if they wanted.
Take for example:

Wave Shock
40 yd range
Instant 6 sec cooldown

Blasts the target with a tsunami, causing (35% of Spell power) damage and then additional (210% of Spell power) waves of damage over 24 sec.

As far as I am concerned, since water is an element it could be used by shamans to deal damage. And it would not necessarily need to be given a new special mechanic. Which is why this would be called a spec reskin instead than a whole real new spec, that we would be very unlikely to get as it would truly totally new mechanics, and balancing, and tweaking of existing specs and other classes to fit in.

Obviously, if they want to give us a totally new spec for it, I certainly won’t mind. Druids also have four after all…

What I am trying to say is, since we do see plenty of tidesages around BfA, and since they were ‘thrown together with shamans’ as you say, possibly because their school of magic (water?) made them seem closer to the elements than to the Holy (or Shadow) world, I feel that Blizzard should have given / given us a mean to match that somehow, at least partially, with the Kul Tiran characters of that class.

If they had not made the druids so different I would not have an issue with it. But they did, and honestly, the totems are pretty unsatisfying in comparison.

Further than this: if I remember correctly, up to cata only the draenei could be shamans for Alliance. Then they gave they gave tauren a chance to be paladin, and dwarfs got the shaman class. But humans do not get to play the shamans… so how could the Tiran learn to use that kind of magic, considering their independence?

Lore-wise, it looks to me like they would rather be another kind of shaman, drawing their powers from ‘elsewhere’. And if the tauren paladins are sunwalkers, who embrace the power of the sun instead of the holy light… I do not see why a KT couldn’t or rather shouldn’t be a different type of shaman whose magic is more deeply tied to the element of water, as we see in the BfA areas when we come across the tidesages.

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You clearly don’t get it. Resto spells like healing wave are from nature school, not fire, not frost.

And you want for fire spells to be visually changed to water, while the mechanic behind the spell lke Lava Burst is to deal fire damage.

It wouldn’t be an issue if Lava Burst or Flame shock was dealing nature damage. But it isn’t.

Visual changes are applied to spells that have exact same effect. Like changing the spirit beast form appearance or change the critter to whom you hex person.

But you want for fire spells to attack with water. So my question is - what is stopping to completely overhaul firemage for that purpose?

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So, let’s change the cards in play. I believe you are saying that since Lightning Bolt and Thunderstorm deal Nature damage, and Earthquake deals physical damage, all of these could easily be renamed and adjusted with a glyph. In fact, if all ‘neuter’ animated spells could be optionally turned to water flavor with a glyph of some kind, that would be fine to you, right?

Your issue is with fire magic specifically.

Well then, how if the water was hot or enchanted or acid for ‘magical reasons’, hence burning the enemies? Or even, we could use some nasty hot steam?

As said before, the idea is to change the spells into ‘fake’ (not water magic, just the looks of it) water ones that look different while still working the same way. And I can imagine this may seem uncoherent with the mechanics… if you disregard your instinct, however, it’s really just a matter of finding the will to sit down and think of a solution rather than saying ‘no, it is impossible’ beforehand.

Take for instance:

[Flame Shock] —> [Fiery Waves] (or Scalding, Enchanted, Acid…)
[Lava Burst] —> [Steam Burst]
[Fire Elemental] —> [Steam Elemental] (or Boiling, Enraged…)

Would this kind of tweaking be acceptable to you, then?

Or something else on this wavelength: the point being, the more one thinks of it, the better and smarter solutions they can usually find.

As for what mages are concerned (I have one, too, and love it) if Blizzard wants to make some mayor glyph to change all fire magic spells to look like ‘steam’ because it would look awesome on a mechagnome and make more sense for their race, I’d be all for it.

‘Burning steam’ fire magic on mechanic mage totally rocks as a concept, to me.

I’d consider a reskin of frost to water, rather, if there was a lore- or storyline-related reason for it… but there isn’t one as far as I am concerned, since Jaina clearly shows us that Kul Tirans can use Arcane and Frost powers normally.

In case it was not clear, my thoughts behind a Tidesage customization for shaman were related to their lore, not just a whim. ^^

Maybe you still cannot agree, and simply do not like the idea, but I suppose in the end we simply don’t necessarily have to.

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Who cares what color the meatballs are? :slight_smile:

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Glad there’s someone who gets my point.

Besides, with a little bit of imagination, as said above, there’s still a chance to make everything feel coherent while still tweaking it. :slight_smile:

Edit 6/6/19: Kul Tiran Elemental Shaman Tidesage at 7:22

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