Firstly, I must say that I am very excited to know that Blizzard really is thinking about shamans! Long blue post means lots of thoughtful stuff, right? XP Now that I've had the opportunity to sit and actually read it, (yes, I was just so excited to see some blue about shamans that I robotically reposted it to spread the news) here are my thoughts on the Cataclysmic plans for shamans... Pun fully intended. And just a tiny reminder: This opinion is coming from an enhancement/off resto shaman who hasn't healed anything since Kara, and hasn't experienced the Ele tree in her entire Azerothian life.
New Spells
Primal Strike (lvl 3) - I'm happy to hear about this one since it will introduce the melee way to play way earlier on in the game.Healing Wave (lvl 4) - I am curious about the specifics of this one since its a new addition, not just a change (with the current Healing Wave changing into Greater Healing Wave). The two existing "Waves" are a no brainer depending on your situation, so I hope the new addition doesn't just confuse the hell outa me.
Unleash Weapon (lvl 81) - sounds like tons of fun for everyone! I know nobody uses it, but I still think its funny that Blizzard didn't mention anything about Rockbiter Weapon.. lol.
Healing Rain (lvl 83) - Sounds to me like it's gonna be the OP, OMG-nerf-our heals-NAO kinda spell even WITH the diminishing returns (OMG, it just hit me, especially with Spiritwalker's Grace, the next new spell, or Natures Swiftness). But, it really depends on how much the HoT ticks for, so I guess we'll know of its effectiveness when it goes live.
Spiritwalker's Grace (lvl 85) - It's macro time!
/cast Spiritwalker's Grace
/cast Astral Recall
And continue running the hell away! I can pretend I'm a pally... kinda sorta. Lol. I'm excited about this spell not only cuz I'm a chicken, but for the major improvement it will provide for Elemental and Resto shamans. Flame Wall anyone? I can't see this spell being very much of a benefit for enhancement, but maybe something will hit me later.. other than running away from PvP like a little girl. XPChanges to Abilities and Mechanics
I'll just go down Vaneras' bulletted list with my commentary. (Please refer to the blizz post for what they actually said.- Resto nerf regarding mana.. unless resto shamans always stacked Spirit and I'm just way out of the loop. But Blizzard's already been planning to get rid of MP5, SP, and AP on gear, so maybe this is a result of making up for that stat change? I dunno. Have resto shamans always relied on MP5 more than spirit? Because I'm an ignorant healer and I thought spirit was always the main mana-regen stat. Maybe I'm just too used to watching my husband heal sh*t on his druid.
- The addition of Cleanse Spirit (even if it is remove-curse only) as a baseline ability = nice. No more removing poisons = nerf. :(
- No more Cleansing Totem?! HUGE NERF FOR PvE!!! "We will balance PvE dispelling with this new model in mind." Good luck with that.
- So long Flametongue Totem. /wave I will miss your pretty little snake head icon on my action bar. Yay for percentages instead of flat numbers. And wow.. Maybe I should just respec elemental? Searing Totem at range?! WOOT! (as in the, "I Want One Of Those" kind of woot.) What a fun addition for Ele's if it goes live!
- Increasing CD on Lava Lash = nerf until I know more about Primal Strikes and all the other cool abilities Blizz wants to "free up Enhancement global cooldowns" for. The fact that the person who wrote this post used the word "rotation" in regards to Enhancement kinda makes me worried if he or she even knows what they're talking about. (Side note: Nethaera, if I'm remembering the name right, posted the same exact text about the Shaman class changes on the US WoW forums, so I'm not personally saying anything about Vaneras nor Nethaera.. just sayin'.. enhance don't rotate! We prioritize. Haha, but then again, I'm most likely just being way too anal about specific language use...*rolls eyes at herself* Moving on!
New Talents and Changes
Earthquake sounds pretty cool, and may make AoE leveling the way to go when the talent becomes available to a player. Spirit Link will be a literal lifesaver. ^_^ And the plans for a new Elemental talent to buff Hit Rating with Spirit will be nice for dual spec'd ele/resto shamans since Spirit will be the stat to look for on gear for both. I'm kinda sad about the planned change for Ancestral Knowledge (changing it from boosting intellect to straight mana), because that may be a huge nerf for enhancement since as it is now, Intellect can be talented to boost our AP. But maybe the switch of the talent Enhancing Totems to Focused Strikes will make up in dps for the AP loss? I haven't read up on the new Mastery System and how it wil work yet, but regarding the passive bonuses: the fact that they're considering removing of some of those passive-bonus-providing talents will be a relief IMO! I always have a hard time deciding how to spend my talents, so I'm looking forward to not only having more talents to spend on other cool/new stuff, but also being able to make the decision more easily without resorting to searching the internet for "the best build".In general, I believe that Blizzard is taking a huge step in making the shaman class a helluvalot more fun to play, not that it isn't already!
Posts
Well it wont be long till someones saying "Please nerf the shammys"
ReplyDeleteYeah, spirit is currently useless for resto and elemental, so regen has come from mp5 and int.
ReplyDeleteThis is just a preview, and frostbrand imbue was left out also, so I reckon the unleash procs will end up very different when it comes to live. The unfortunate thing about previews is that they really are not the whole picture :(
Hi Isolite, Its MutantMouse. I play a 80 enh/resto shaman on icecrown and for current gear when im in my healing gear i have alot of int and some mp5. I dread the work needed to get new spirit gear for shaman. And as I am enjoying enhancement its great that for new shamans to receive some love for the enhancement speced shaman. Great article on your blog!
ReplyDelete@james.wragg - I can only hope that shamans become that OP again someday! These "Class Previews" are nice little teasers, but we can't even be sure that ANYthing said in them will go live!
ReplyDelete@mentalshaman.com - Oh, okay, so the change to Spirit is a huge nerf unless ele's and resto's start gearing toward Spirit now! I'm shocked (no pun intended :p) that I didn't realize they left Frostbrand Weapon out too. Just means there's a lot more to see in later "Previews". And I totally hear ya. Who knows if any of this info will actually hit Cataclysm's release.
@Chris - Heya MutantMouse! Thanks for visiting my li'l bloggy woggy! I am sadly considering respec'ing ele since it's what everyone else wants me to do for raids. :( But at least I can start now.. Maybe I can just pretend I hit 80 yesterday, though my heart will always be enhancement! *corny..rolls eyes* XP
AYE DON'T DISS PALADINS! ok? Paladins may run away, but its a good tactic to run away regroup rethink then attack at a different angle XD
ReplyDeleteThe reason they didn't post anything about Rockbiter is that you don't get any new ranks after you get Windfury. They stated a few patches ago that Windfury is supposed to replace Rockbiter at level 30.
ReplyDelete@deejayfang - lol XP /chicken
ReplyDelete@Whispr - They also didn't mention anything about Frostbrand Weapon as mentalshaman.com pointed out above. Thanks for pointing that out about Rockbiter. Although I was making a joke. Also, I'm not an expert on the shaman class, and I don't claim to be.
@Isolte Good gosh, You like to antagonize people don't you? :P
ReplyDelete