Enhancement Suggestions

[Haroone]

Hello, I have a thread for potential changes. These ideas are my own as well as interpretations of other ideas shared already. I like to think things out in hopes it can inspire devs to address some issues enhancement faces, even if it isn't a 1-for-1. For context, I'm a supporter of shaman tanking, but dpsed for raiding. I will also not be suggesting overall system changes like adjusting mob stats, although that has been talked about quite a bit.

1. Stormstrike being a buff instead of de-buff and increasing initial damage for any shocks. This would allow DPS to use Flame and Frost Shock with Stormstrike without worrying about additional threat generation.

2. Get rid of Thunderhead. I don't believe other class tanks need additional assistance with aoe threat with the current spells and talents of other classes already and would realistically only be used at the start of pulls unless, a shaman really wants to waste mana throughout a fight continually casting it. I feel class utility can be capitalized in other areas of their kit. It also doesn't address any issues Resto or Elemental had prior to the change.

3. Add a talent to the second-last row of Enhancement Talents to add spell hit % equal to physical hit %. I feel there should still be value in spell hit gear, but would help shocks and lightning spells land to make up for needing to prioritizing physical hit and itemization not being much of an option with both. This would also give variety at the end of the tree and could be a choice tanks can leverage for the Earth Shock being the closest to Taunt that they have.

4. Replace the Windwall and Grounding totem bonuses in the "Guardian Totems" talent with a temporary bonus to Stoneskin Totem for the casting Shaman to add additional resistance for Shaman tanking without adding an extra button and move the talent lower in the tree to prevent Resto and Elemental from getting unintended resistances.

5. Add 1 mp5 per talent point to the Ancestral Knowledge talent as the 5% Mana alone, does not do enough to address Shaman Mana issues. This would at least help, but would not fully resolve the issue. It's also high enough in the tree that it is accessible without much investment for other specs.

6. Flametongue Weapon Totem doesn't see much use due to WF being so prominent and the overall better option. Change Flametongue Totem to add bonus spell power instead of current fire damage. This would add a benefit for Elemental and Resto Shaman to be in caster groups.

7. Itemization needs some tweaks so Shaman don't need every stat under the sun. I can't think of ways to update this without overhauling how Shaman gain effects from stats (mana from Intellect, attack power from Agility) or creating very specific items that would have useless stats like Intellect or spell power if a Warrior or Hunter used it. Maybe converting a portion of Agility into block instead of strength? Trying to keep from major system changes and focus on current talents and spells.

8. Adding an ability that works similar to judgement, but use the weapon enchantment to augment the next auto-attack like Heroic Strike.
Rockbiter - aoe radius like cleave to hit multiple targets for 75% physical damage, but threat-boosted.
Flametongue - increased damage scaling with spellpower like Flametongue Weapon on the next auto-attack, but the entire damage is fire damage instead of physical with additional fire damage.
Frostbrand - similar to Flametongue, but less damage scaling, uses Frost magic, and is a guaranteed Frostbrand slow proc.

[Ravenstone]

3. Add a talent to the second-last row of Enhancement Talents to add spell hit % equal to half of physical hit %. I feel there should still be value in spell hit gear, but would help shocks and lightning spells land to make up for needing to prioritizing physical hit. This would also give variety at the end of the tree.

This could never achieve what you intend for it imo. The hit requirement for spells is basically 2 or 3 times that of melee. It might not even get picked up if it's at the bottom since it'd clash with the 10% wep damage and stuff from the other trees. My preference would be to include a 5 point "10% lower chance to resist" talent in the Ele tree, either replacing Reverberation just for Shocks, or Concussion for all Ele spells.

5. Add 1 mp5 per talent point to the Ancestral Knowledge talent as the 5% Mana alone, does not do enough to address Shaman Mana issues. This would at least help, but would not fully resolve the issue.

You could never balance this well for all levels of the game. Even 5 mp5 would just make it a guaranteed pick early leveling. Something like 10% int would at least be far more beneficial for Resto and Ele without balancing headaches.

[Myclassisbroke]

Just reroll Pala, Only prob with us is we can only do 5000 crits with holystrike on plate with berserker buff (while under bubble) (not enough ffs, pls buff)

You'll only be clicking one button to win and your pro bubble.

Forget shaman!

[Wrathweaver]

6. Flametongue Weapon Totem doesn't see much use due to WF being so prominent and the overall better option. Change Flametongue Weapon and totem to add bonus spell power instead of the current fire damage. This would add a benefit for Elemental and Resto Shaman to be in caster groups.


Now people are screaming to remove flametongue weapons, ok...

Flametongue totem with a big maybe, if shamans want a spell power buff on their weapon .... please for the love of vanilla/classic and all thats holy.....add a new spell, dont remove flametongue weapons from all shamans,....
Damn, people really love to destroy gameplay...

I still lvl with flametongue from time to time, more stable damage.
Dont Remove Flametongue weapon enchant Devs, we already have one heretical class, dont make another.

[Haroone]

I'm not screaming to remove Flametongue. I think it has value as additional fire damage and made comments in other threads of how it would still have the same function, but I've seen multiple comments in other threads where people want a spell power buff and the totem is currently mostly unused. I only included the Weapon Enchant because it seemed weird to have the Enchant do one thing and the totem do another.

Shaman already have enough buttons with each totem taking a spot that we really don't need additional buttons. I know Flametongue is used primarily pre-WF and maybe on tankier mobs where the magic damage will be more useful.

I'm simply providing other options that don't clutter our spellbooks. New spells only accomplish so much and shouldn't be the fix all for all of our problems. If we only focus on adding new items, we'll end of having multiple old spells we abandon in our spellbook because we've outgrown them by late game or have similar spells that make others redundant.

[Haroone]

The 5mp5 added to Intellect is due to the high Mana costs shaman have for their spells in general and it's the first tier of the tree to make it more accessible without large investment. I don't think it ruins balance and would have much impact.

% Intellect increase would be buffing far more than just Mana, like spell crit, while being an even bigger multiplier for resto and Elemental shaman building intellect so I think that would lead to an even bigger balance issue than a bit more mana sustain imo. From what I've been reading in the discord and forums, we're already looking to not go overboard with damage accidentally in pvp/pve due to the higher burst potential.

As for the spell hit point, that could be adjusted to a higher ratio or 1-for-1, but I think enhancement should only gain a marginal increase in spell hit since they are speccing into primarily physical damage. I rather tire of having multiple chance to proc effects and feel something consistent would be more beneficial, but I think the Elemental talent would be a good replacement for the Resto Ancestral Guidance talent

[Wrathweaver]

This is how the current Paladin setup started as well, a random raider wanted spells used for lvling removed because of lvl 60 content.
They added water shield at 60 for that reason, to keep the vanilla experience intact.
Dont know at all what they are doing with paladins, but add and dont remove must be the basics here.

New 60 spell/ content for raiders who ask for it if need be, removing flametongue weapons for all levels because of the whims of another raider will really make me furious!

[Haroone]

This is how the current Paladin setup started as well, a random raider wanted spells used for lvling removed because of lvl 60 content.
They added water shield at 60 for that reason, to keep the vanilla experience intact.
Dont know at all what they are doing with paladins, but add and dont remove must be the basics here.

New 60 spell/ content for raiders who ask for it if need be, removing flametongue weapons for all levels because of the whims of another raider will really make me furious!

I've updated my original post to remove the Weapon enchant damage change as I, like mentioned in my previous post, agree with the usefulness of the enchant and am not trying to argue that point at all, but still think the totem needs an update and you've honed into the enchant, which I only included for simplicity as the totem is an extension of the enchant.

I do however disagree that there should only be additions and no changes to existing kits. I think if abilities have limited use due to better options already existing and filling a similar role, changes should be and can be made to improve the spec without stepping to far away from blizz-like. I'm actively trying not to completely change major parts of the kit for multiple level ranges and instead address issues with the current spec and believe updating a similar ability as to not overshadow it at end-game would be a lot cleaner than having many new similar spells.

I appreciate the feedback and certainly am not try to upset people or step on toes and definitely don't have all the answers to the issues shaman have.

[Ravenstone]

The 5mp5 added to Intellect is due to the high Mana costs shaman have for their spells in general and it's the first tier of the tree to make it more accessible without large investment. I don't think it ruins balance and would have much impact.

5mp5 isn't very much at all no, either at 60 or at 14. My point is though that if you take Blessing of Wisdom as an example, it gradually builds up to 33mp5 at 60. 5mp5 is just a pitiful amount. But since it's a static feature of a talent, you can't have 33mp5 at level 14 because it is just a must have talent. I don't think it can be balanced well.

Regarding Resto and Ele taking a %int talent, Eles give up the Tidal Mastery crit chance in the resto tree, and the chance to get Nature's Swiftness if they chose to go for the %int, which is a perfectly fine tradeoff if they so choose. It doesn't really matter if Restos take the int since their damage isn't an issue.

At the end of the day, Shamans are multiple attribute dependant. You can't get around that fact. Lightning and Shocks are a big part of the Shaman PvE gameplay that just get resisted because Shamans cant get that much spell hit, let alone Enhance afford to get that much spell hit. Most other caster specs have a +10% hit talent so they only then need to worry about a further 6~7%. It's asking too much of a Shaman to gear for physical dps, spell dps and mana for longevity, all without the aid that other casters get from their talents. I don't believe there are any talents that convert regular hit into spell hit, nor say str into int, so I'd rather stick to what other classes have in their trees for the most part rather than creating a new type.

Trading the Concussion talent for a 10% spell hit is a 5% PvP damage nerf for a ~5% PvE dps increase that helps both Ele and Enh actually use their kit. Having Nature's Guidance on top of that might be a bit too good for Ele PvE, but they still have massive mana problems to contend with vs regular casters so it seems like less of an issue than Enh dreading wasting mana on Shocks.

[Karrados]

This is how the current Paladin setup started as well, a random raider wanted spells used for lvling removed because of lvl 60 content.
They added water shield at 60 for that reason, to keep the vanilla experience intact.
Dont know at all what they are doing with paladins, but add and dont remove must be the basics here.

New 60 spell/ content for raiders who ask for it if need be, removing flametongue weapons for all levels because of the whims of another raider will really make me furious!

Water Shield does jackshit for the most part because it is not the TBC version. It's a bastard version of it where you only get mana if you actually get hurt which should, ideally, never happen in a dungeon or raid.

It was not added for leveling nor was it added for endgame content as you are not supposed to be hurt.

[Wrathweaver]

This is how the current Paladin setup started as well, a random raider wanted spells used for lvling removed because of lvl 60 content.
They added water shield at 60 for that reason, to keep the vanilla experience intact.
Dont know at all what they are doing with paladins, but add and dont remove must be the basics here.

New 60 spell/ content for raiders who ask for it if need be, removing flametongue weapons for all levels because of the whims of another raider will really make me furious!

Water Shield does jackshit for the most part because it is not the TBC version. It's a bastard version of it where you only get mana if you actually get hurt which should, ideally, never happen in a dungeon or raid.

It was not added for leveling nor was it added for endgame content as you are not supposed to be hurt.

Yes, it needs mana regen to function its true.

Edit: didnt mean to burst out like that about flametongue, im just afraid that shamans might end up like paladins who are nothing like vanilla now.
Still i think it would be best to add another totem and or weapon enchant that does spell buff instead of changing existing abilities.

[Silb]

I think adding +hit to shocks would be a good idea. It'll not only boost enhancement dps without overtuning elemental but also make tanking more reliable.

[Prickekorb]

Imo they should switch placed whit improved lightning shield and nature's guidance, it would just make all speccs so much better

[Ravenstone]

I'm not against Nature's Guidance being in Enhancement, but it does weaken Ele PvE builds if you move it from Resto. They'd need to find 3% spell hit in more gear.
Also, out of all the trees, Imp Lightning Shield doesn't belong in Resto.

[Verunique144]

Realy last enha talent is BL for one player ?

I wait from final talent something useful for myself...but this with great cd for one player is great mistake.

If BL so for all party / raid

if for enha ..maybe dual wield or some useful..

thx

[Williamson75]

I dont know for me I would like to see some talents buffing the elemental enhancements. Give a reason for more hybrid gearing. Would be a good buff. I put my ideas in the suggestion part of the forum. Quick change log of my ideas

Talent 1: boost damage of flametongue and frost brand (25/50%) either base damage or scaling idc
Talent 2: do extra damage when your shock matched your elemental enhancement. (frost brand/Frost shock) fixed or sp scaling

The skill I recommended would be Primal strike or elemental slam
6second CD 100% weapon damage with sp scaling and a 2s cast time with a talent to reduce it or leave it the same.

Seems like it would open doors for pve without busting pvp.

[Verunique144]

Ye , but this will be useful with dual wield , because primary weapon enha is windfury / rockbiter for enha shams.
And second ..little equipment for mele/spell power .

Why feral spirits..useless
Armor from shield talent.. :) im tank ? ... better SP power from AP

[Kairion]

Ye , but this will be useful with dual wield , because primary weapon enha is windfury / rockbiter for enha shams.
And second ..little equipment for mele/spell power .

Why feral spirits..useless
Armor from shield talent.. :) im tank ? ... better SP power from AP

Dual wield is clearly massively altering Shamans identity. It is a clear departure from Classic and alignment with TBC. That would imho be a massive fail flavorwise. But there are more practical reasons why shaman shouldn't get dualwield

1. Dualwield itself doesn't solve a DPS problem. Shaman as a class is already needing too many stats to be useful. Requiring a massive increase to Hitchance from gear on top of everything. And if you add support talents for dualwield, you might as well just add equivalent talents for twohander playstile instead.

2. Anyone who's ever been raiding knows that one handed weapons are much more contested in the lootpool as is. Turning one of the few classes who uses two handers to one handers just makes one handed weapons even more contested while leaving twohanders even less desirable

3. Stormstrike and Rockbiter in their classic iteration would have to be changed to their TBC version to work with dual wield. The former only hitting with one weapon gets much worse when dualwielding and the latter gives you flat attackpower, applying to both weapons.

4. Even if all these issues are addressed by copying TBC you are still just an autoattackbot with no mana and no spellhit. So while it helps with the DPS, the gameplay will be as scuffed as ever. Minus the fun of occasionally blowing someone up with WF crits

[Rez369]

Thunderhead is useless, replace it with shamantistic focus from tbc talent. make our windfury procs damage numbers on screen to appear yellow, complete white damage is distasteful.. and does not feel great.

add a combined talent tree with spell/melee hit + mp5.

either make the bloodlustbuff in last row 30 % or just remove it no one is even using it as for now, feral spirit orc, taurent link, troll hex are all bad and does not do anything for the shaman issues in vanilla.

it would be awesome if a shaman had the chance to decide for him self if he wants to dual wield with double wf imbues or a 2 hander. we suffer from consistent damage most of all, we have burst if we are lucky 2 out of 10 slow melee attacks is going to do acceptable damage 8 out of 10 melee attacks are dog shit.

we need mp5 / shamanistic focus talent, yellow damage numbers on wf procs, ability to choose between dual wield and 2 hand as we want.

[Verunique144]

Why should dual wield be so tied to TBC.
It solves just these things like the bad availability of equip..rockbiter and windfury together.
hand on heart proc WF chance 20 percent..in real 10 swing 4 hit one crit rest dodge miss parry.
So I feel like a bot that just keeps replenishing mana because as an enha, the biggest dmg they do is shocks.

And btw dual wield was only one from manny options to make enha shamans more fun/playable

[Pttfire29]

I think that most people don't realize that making the game easier doesn't make it more entertaining. In fact in many cases it's the opposite. Making game easier makes it less entertaining. Removing all "obstacles" from the character won't make it more interesting, it'll make it more boring. There should be a balance. Having too much obstacles will make it too hard to play, having too less will make it boring. Don't try to smooth out all the rough edges of a shaman (or any other class) it'll make it boring.

Two-Hander shaman was always iconic for me, making it dual-wield just removes the "magic" from it in my opinion.

[Ziggyw]

I think that most people don't realize that making the game easier doesn't make it more entertaining. In fact in many cases it's the opposite.

Absolutely agree ... Blizz made huge mistake making WoW easier every addon, they still can't figure why ppl love vanilla...

[Stinkyjames]

I think that most people don't realize that making the game easier doesn't make it more entertaining. In fact in many cases it's the opposite.

Absolutely agree ... Blizz made huge mistake making WoW easier every addon, they still can't figure why ppl love vanilla...

None of this is about making shaman easier, its about making shaman viable as a dps

[Ziggyw]

None of this is about making shaman easier, its about making shaman viable as a dps

Firstly - i did agree with, and specifically quoted selected text only, opinion so making game easier is wrong
Secondly - give shaman taunts ? buff their dps but without worrying about threat ? seriously ?

Just to mention - i'm not pala, i'm horde all my heart, bubbleboys are not a topic in here
Wanted just to express my opinion, if you learn to play shaman correctly - their dps is great, their healing is great - all depends how you utilise them in party considering others, giving them bits from other classes will just make another all-in-one brainless one-button bot
Again - it's just my personal opinion, not going to discuss nor convince anyone to agree with it

[Stinkyjames]

None of this is about making shaman easier, its about making shaman viable as a dps

Firstly - i did agree with, and specifically quoted selected text only, opinion so making game easier is wrong
Secondly - give shaman taunts ? buff their dps but without worrying about threat ? seriously ?

Just to mention - i'm not pala, i'm horde all my heart, bubbleboys are not a topic in here
Wanted just to express my opinion, if you learn to play shaman correctly - their dps is great, their healing is great - all depends how you utilise them in party considering others, giving them bits from other classes will just make another all-in-one brainless one-button bot
Again - it's just my personal opinion, not going to discuss nor convince anyone to agree with it

Blizzard never intended for shamans to be played in the enhancement spec as they currently are. Giving them for example, as others have suggested, lightning shock that has 100% hitchance would create an environment where shamans can choose between offheal totem boy with meh damage, or big boy dps with totem as a side bonus.
Shaman is a mess and needs some tweaking, and additions, and if youre not willing to discuss it, then move along from the forums and stop posting.

[Druidik]

I'm not against Nature's Guidance being in Enhancement, but it does weaken Ele PvE builds if you move it from Resto. They'd need to find 3% spell hit in more gear.
Also, out of all the trees, Imp Lightning Shield doesn't belong in Resto.

I think they should remove Improved Lightning Shield entirely and implement its function into the Thunderhead Talent (eliminating its requirement in the process; I know this could be a bit overtuned as it would cost less to cast, do more damage, and be castable on allies for only 1 point but I think enhance needs a good boost atm since it's so weak). In its place they should put Nature's Guidance, but up it to 5% hit for melee and spells with a 3/3 talent point requirement. Finally, for resto, they should replace Nature's Guidance with an improved water shield talent that could implement the mp5 which is so desperately needed to make it worthwhile. I think this would buff all of the specs as Ele can dip into the enhance tree for the spell hit and 5% max mana, enhance will have melee and spell hit to not get those juicy missess all the time on their shocks, and resto will actually have a benefit to using water shield over anything else.