MMO-Champion Latest Blue Post (shaman)

[Schwarz]

Shaman (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9095))
Spirit Walk
Spirit Walk should break anything with the root, frozen or snared mechanic. This should include all of the things you think it does, such as Entangling Roots, Frost Nova or Hamstring. If you are finding any of these are not included, it is most likely a bug, so do let us know. (Source)

No changes to Enhancement tree after the 10% armor buff on bosses
We didn't think we needed to buff Enhancement because your boss dps is really high right now. Plus, as you pointed out, some amount of your dps comes from spell damage already so it will affect you less than say rogues and warriors. (Source)

Elemental Tree DPS
We think Elemental single-target damage is good once you can use your fire spells. It is up there with Moonkin and Shadow Priests and similar specs. We have looked at this issue a lot, because it is something we were really worried about.

Your damage may be low at 70 and this is something we're evaluating. We're not sure it is worth the changes it would take to fix it, because it risks messing with the balance between Lightning and Fire that we have now. Your damage is still plenty high enough to level and to do 5-player instances. I don't mean to suggest Elemental is catastrophically broken, or then we would do a major intervention to fix it. At the moment, the level 70 raids are so easy that we're not very worried about you getting benched for the next couple of weeks until LK goes live. Once LK goes live, very few people are going to be doing competitive raiding or PvP at level 70.

Your AE damage is too low. This is something of a design change for us, because we were always satisfied with elemental not being a big AE class. But as I have posted a few times recently, we now think that was a mistake and we want to make some changes. We're not sure yet whether the best way to do that is through new mechanics, or changes to existing mechanics. After all, your totems are supposed to supply some AE damage and it's not hard to imagine the changes it would take to get them there. Thunderstorm is somewhere else we could hit it. (Source)

If Shamans do get more AE damage this might be pretty good for people running 4/5 shaman. How sweet would it be killing a pack of 4 or 5 in the time it takes to kill one. I know right now my fire nova totem * 5 feels pretty powerfull.

[Maxion]

Right now, on my 5 shaman team, elemental mastery plus thunderstorm kills most players within range.

[Ellay]

Ya EM/TS has that Lol factor to it

[mrmcgee21]

Just hope theres not a warrior around with spellreflect up ( yea its reflectable btw ).

[Haruko]

Just hope theres not a warrior around with spellreflect up ( yea its reflectable btw ).

Girlfriend saw a 4 box team die to that. Warrior seemed smart enough to throw it up just before that. I'll try and look out for that team again in BG's when I run them again.

[algol]

If you see four shamans run towards you these days, especially if you're near a cliff, it would take a pretty dense warrior NOT to toss reflect up.

I suppose there's still a use for down-ranked spells after all, even with the mana cost.

[valkry]

Rank 1 flame shock is pretty good to get rid of Spell reflect. I would love more AoE dmg though to help combat pallies/warriors/rogues/mages that swarm all over me given the chance.

[Multibocks]

hell no need to even downgrade, max rank FS is pretty weak in pvp. I was using it all today in WSG to get rid of reflect so I could TS and then EM CL warriors. Was pretty fun until it turned into a turtle honor grind fest. Why do all WSG battles only end when one side gets tired of farming honor and just quits? God I hate that map.

[valkry]

because people are scared of dying or working together and don't attack. One way we combat it it...4 rogues, 1 priest. Jump in, AoE fear, silence healer, 4 rogues open up on FC...dead.

The key is co-ordination. Try to get your team to wait up for everyone before charging in, and it helps if you direct what spells to blow. TELL priests/warriors/locks to blow their fears, you'd be surprised how much more often they will use it in a crowded room if told to.

When I single box my druid, I am in 12khp resto spec with 1900 +healing (before patch). I always kept a ton of Free Action Potions (immune to stuns/snares for 30 seconds), grabbed a fearward off a priest, jumped in, cat form + dash out, then cheetah across the field...hello 30 second cap.

IMO, WSG can be one by the teamwork of everyone combined, or the efforts of 1-2 players using everything at their disposal.

[algol]

hell no need to even downgrade, max rank FS is pretty weak in pvp.

Yes, but if you know you're casting it on yourself, WTH would you cast the painful version for? 8|