So is CATA the end to...

[rethele]

quad boxing shamans
FS - LvB = dead?
are we not going to be able to one shot people any more?
LB - CL - ES
I see LvB criting for 20k avg. so 20k times 4 is 80k dmg. well everyone has 90-110HP
Am i right or is it still a one shot kill and my numbers are wrong?

[Owltoid]

Don't ele shamans have ridiculous burst compared to other classes? I honestly think Blizz recognizes shamans are the kings of multiboxing and wanted to retain their appeal with burst.

[BrothelMeister]

Season 8 was the only season I boxed, and at that time, with resilience the way it was even then, 4 LvB would not usually kill an equally geared person.

If burst gets nerfed in Cata, which it IS, then boxers just become even MORE powerful because it just means that burst is harder to accomplish, making it more challenging for enemies to kill us, while we still have flawless coordination.

You won;t have to Global someone either, because healign will also be harder. Just because you drop someone to 25% in one global doesn't mean they will be back to 100% in the next, so damage can still eb spread out over a few seconds to accomplish a kill.

[Kicksome]

It seems like the battles on the beta are more of a mana and CC battle. It's not possible to global anyone.

So one or two people sneak off to drink to regain mana.

Also, DPS casters can't heal like they can now, they heal a bit and go OOM.

[Littleburst]

We can have a quite endless conversation about wether boxing shamans will be viable for pvp. Instead, we can also wait and see, since there is absolutely no way to tell atm if it will be viable.

Besides that there are so many ways to play a quadbox of shaman in BG or arena, that it'll probably take atleast a month till you can really say anything constructive.

[BrothelMeister]

Well if mana is the concern, then that's where Focused Insight goes. It will knock the cost of chain heal down to next to nothing, and take at least half the cost of Healing surge off, while increasing their output by 30%. Since you have to reach that point in the tree, you can also get Tidal Focus to drop it another 6%.

Battles of CC also aren't anything new, wind shear and hex are pretty darn useful for that niche.

[Kicksome]

Yeah, one things for sure, the really good boxers will do fine.

It just might be more/less difficult for the average boxer.

[Boylston]

The more interesting question is the rated BG question!!

Littleburst has nailed it though-- we won't know that answer either until 2-3 months from now.

[Ualaa]

I'm sure there will be premades for the rated BG's.
Very similar to arena teams, where you queue with the same 10/15 players all the time.
Coordinate with vent, have set strategies, etc.

But I'd think the vast majority of rated BG's will be PUGs.
/2 Looking for more, rated 10's, min Res 900 PST.
They won't have vent consistently.
Even if they do, many won't listen or coordinate.
Set strategies won't be possible, and you'll often see some but not all on board.

The first type of team will rate higher of course.
And depending on your skill and the power of your composition, we'll play more of the first or second type of group.
Because our internal rating goes up and down, and we're matched based on that.

[Boylston]

Additionally I hope there will be a lot of PvE guilds that somewhat casually go into a rated BG once a week with their normal raid team. I think the "/2 Looking for more" PUGs will exist, just like the "/2 Need one more to lose some arena games for points before reset" crowd, but I'd like to see another level of not-so-organized BGers that multiboxers should be able to do well against.

I fear we might have a rough go against the best, dedicated and organized rated BG teams. My goals for rated BGs in Cataclysm, in terms of old arena ratings, would be to have something like a 1800-2000 team and not necessarily be pushing 2200 and Glad title.