Another Shaman AoE Idea

[Pikey]

I suggested this on WoW forums tell me what you think?

I've seen a few good ideas on boosting Shaman AoE Damage and would like to suggest my own.

There were 4 ways the developers are thinking about doing it, I would like to suggest a 5th.

The original 4 are:

* A modification of Thunderstorm.
* A modification of AE Totems.
* A modification of Chain Lightning.
* A new spell.

How about a new shield? that is based off a Totem?
We have a Healing shield, a Mana shield and a Dps shield how about a AoE dps shield?

Call is something like: Fire/Lava/Magma Shield (does earth/fire damage)

Could look something like this:

Magma Shield
Instant Cast
When cast your Magma Totem is consumed creating a magma shield around the caster causing X amount of damage to all enemies within 8 yards. When a spell, melee or ranged attack hits the caster, the shield doubles the release of magma causing double the damage. Can stack up to 4 times.

Stacking would something like this:
100 damage every 2 secs for 8 secs
200 damage every 2 secs for 8 secs
400 damage every 2 secs for 8 secs
800 damage every 2 secs for 8 secs

[Dominian]

Why do they want to boost it btw?

I dont realy see it as weak compared to what other classes have.

[Ualaa]

Basically on their builds in beta, Elemental has comparable single-target dps to other casters.
But on trash they're lacking the AoE power of most other casters.
Which causes Elemental to fall a bit back on the meters.
Sure trash dps is much less important then boss dps, but people look at the meters and say...
Why did <insert class> do 900 DPS more then my Shaman.
If you were to do 400,000 damage on the trash AoE pulls, instead of 35,000 that issue wouldn't be there, or maybe not as pronounced.

Scaling is the main issue they need to look at. I could care less if I'm top or bottom dps for trash.
Having the same relative dps to other casters in both Tier 7 and Tier 9, rather then static non-scaling boosts to bring us to parity is T7... and fall behind as gear improves, just like we did in tBC in T5/T6 content.

Then again, if they want to give me a strong AoE, I don't mind if my numbers are better for a run.
I'm just hoping its something more like Arcane Explosion (macro-able) rather then Blizzard (click the ground).

[Kaynin]

Basically on their builds in beta, Elemental has comparable single-target dps to other casters.
But on trash they're lacking the AoE power of most other casters.
Which causes Elemental to fall a bit back on the meters.
Sure trash dps is much less important then boss dps, but people look at the meters and say...
Why did <insert class> do 900 DPS more then my Shaman.
If you were to do 400,000 damage on the trash AoE pulls, instead of 35,000 that issue wouldn't be there, or maybe not as pronounced.

Scaling is the main issue they need to look at. I could care less if I'm top or bottom dps for trash.
Having the same relative dps to other casters in both Tier 7 and Tier 9, rather then static non-scaling boosts to bring us to parity is T7... and fall behind as gear improves, just like we did in tBC in T5/T6 content.

Then again, if they want to give me a strong AoE, I don't mind if my numbers are better for a run.
I'm just hoping its something more like Arcane Explosion (macro-able) rather then Blizzard (click the ground).

According to some testers I know, elemental is consistantly 30-50$ behind in dps and not far above tank DPS at level 80 in raid environments.

Anyhow, I'm less concerned with dps and aoe, give shamans some stuns or viable cc already. Freaking hex 45 second cooldown. :< I also have a solo shaman, and really, shamans (if nothing changes) are the gimpiest solo class in wotlk. And they were already limited for PvP to a 5v5 spot only as elemental. Which we will lose however, because our burst gets nerfed. And other classes have better burst now.

Oh well, as a multibox it's not that bad. Altho currently PvP is shit. Did some arena the other day and 5v5 fights get decided 4-5 seconds after the first hit nowadays. I atually won a game in under 3 seconds. It's the only way to win though.

[merujo]

And they were already limited for PvP to a 5v5 spot only as elemental.

sorry, but i have to disagree. enhanc shaman, rogue, retri/ms war along with 2 healers or even a 4th dps'r were kinda usual on my bg. maybe not at lower ratings, but once u get past 1900, and with enough gear a enhanc shaman could completly mess a cloth up.

now regarding the AoE, i believe everyone wants whats better for their class ofc, but, are shamans intended to do massive AoE like mage's AE and Locks SoC ? it's just that, from what i read, it looks like this is just another "i want my class to do the same as the other class" thread.
lets give mail and a shield to all locks and mages.
If ppl look at meters and ask why ur behind on dps as an ele shaman compared to mages and locks, maybe they should learn to play the game.
everyone has a role in the game, please dont ask to put all classes equal with different spells.

[Kaynin]

And they were already limited for PvP to a 5v5 spot only as elemental.

sorry, but i have to disagree. enhanc shaman, rogue, retri/ms war along with 2 healers or even a 4th dps'r were kinda usual on my bg. maybe not at lower ratings, but once u get past 1900, and with enough gear a enhanc shaman could completly mess a cloth up.

now regarding the AoE, i believe everyone wants whats better for their class ofc, but, are shamans intended to do massive AoE like mage's AE and Locks SoC ? it's just that, from what i read, it looks like this is just another "i want my class to do the same as the other class" thread.
lets give mail and a shield to all locks and mages.
If ppl look at meters and ask why ur behind on dps as an ele shaman compared to mages and locks, maybe they should learn to play the game.
everyone has a role in the game, please dont ask to put all classes equal with different spells.

I did say elemental. I've been quite succesful in both 2v2 and 3v3 on my solo enhancement shaman. But elemental has no chance there.

And there's some worrying figures in from beta, something about ele dps being 40-50% behind other caster dps classes. But I doubt blizz would allow something like that in live.

[merujo]

thought u were refering to all shamans specs, as how one shaman could fit in a 5v5 teams.

sorry, my bad.

[valkry]

Have Chain lightning continue to jump after the 3rd/last target, jumping to a new target (in range) every 1 second (for the amount of dmg it would do to the 3rd target, can crit). Call it Lightning Charge or w/e and make it a talent in elemental (deep). Lasts until cancelled (all enemies dead or spread too much, can have multiple charges jumping around.

I quite liked that magma shield idea though as well, more dmg dealt if you get hit lol. Though not the consuming the magma totem, would cost a huge amount of mana and if you don't get hit would be a waste.