So apparantly two new buffs have appeared on the PTR...however, these only address Enhancement viability in PvP, and doesn't help the other two specs at all. Regardless, these are some very strange changes.
The first is a change to the talent Toughness, as seen here: http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7493/wowscrnshot022708220043ka9.jpg
Basically with 5/5 Toughness, the duration of all movement impairing effects is reduced by 50%. Frost Shocks wil only last 4 seconds, Hamstring will only last 7, etc....I honestly don't believe this will help prevent being kited against anything other than Hunters, Shaman, Mages, and Druids, but its a good step in the right direction.
The other change is definitely unexpected, which can be seen here:
http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2008/february/flametonguedebuff.jpg
Seems Flametongue has gotten a Mortal Strike effect added to it. This is really out of the blue, and I wouldn't be surprised if this gets removed.
And here's yet another change, this time to Shamanistic Rage:
Duration reduced by half, mana return doubled.
And apparantly, there's news coming in that Totems will only have a 1 second Global Cooldown rather than a 1.5 second one. No proof as of yet for the last two. I'm wondering why Blizzard has decided to do this though. This doesn't address the fundamental issues with Enhancement Shaman in PvP. This is a bandaid, and nothing more. I don't like the idea of a "Mortal Strike" on Flametongue, it'll be used against us as an excuse not to give survivability buffs to ANY spec. I'm really hoping they revert it and give us a less lazy change that address the problems we have.
Giving Mortal Strike to classes that perform badly in the Arenas is NOT the answer!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Why Elemental will still need Survivability Buffs
Shaman, despite what some mages will say, ARE glass cannons. Due to a lack of both defensive talents and abilities, they are sorely lacking in comparison to their closest counterparts, the Balance Druid and Shadow Priest.
Many people will say that, coupled with Grounding Totem, Tremor Totem, Frost Shock, Earthbind Totem, Earth Shock, and Nature's Swiftness, we have plenty of burst already. I'm here to tell you, they are mostly wrong. First off, I'd like to introduce you to two macros that render the first two defenses on that list obsolete:
/stopcasting
/castsequence Ice Lance (or Moonfire, or Corruption(Rank 1), or Shadow Word: Pain(Rank 1)), Polymorph (or Cyclone, or Fear, or Mana Burn, etc..)
This stops your current cast, casts a low mana cost, instant that destroys the Grounding Totem, then begins casting a more critical spell. People who say that you should drop grounding totem as they're casting are foolish, because this macro negates that. Someone could be casting Mana Burn, I'll drop the totem, then they click this button to kill the totem and begin casting mana burn again.
/petattack Tremor Totem
/cast Fear
Any warlock without a macro like this is a fool. It renders the Tremor Totem useless and will almost always destroy the totem before it has a chance to break any fears.
Now, regarding Frost Shock and Earthbind Totem: The only classes that we use this against as a defense have a multitude of ways to get around it and get on us: Paladins can Cleanse it, or more simply toss a Blessing of Freedom on themselves. Druids can just shapeshift out of it, or if specced for it, use Feral Charge. Rogues can Cloak of Shadows or use Improved Sprint, or can simply Vanish and sneak around behind us to start another stunlock. Warriors can intercept (quite often actually) and once we're hamstrung, we're unable to kite them any longer.
Earth Shock isn't that great of a defense, because there's still 4 seconds between the end of the interrupt and the firing of another earth shock, and during that time we're quite vulnerable. Sure, we can stop a critical, life saving heal, but then again, that's not usin the ability defensively.
Now when someone says "Use Nature's Swiftness for a heal!" they aren't realizing that, while they are correct, it's a great defensive tool, that we use an "EM+CL > NS+LB > ES/FS" rotation for a lot of burst at the beginning of an arena match. If we save our NS for a heal later in the match, we're prety much negating the reason we were taken on the team in the first place, and that's BURST. In the case of a Shaman saving NS for a heal, the group is most likely better off taking a different class like a mage.
I've heard people also say that, because we have heals, we don't deserve defensive abilities or the title "Glass Cannon". This is simply not true. "True Glass Cannons", like mages, have a multitude of ways to keep opponents off / away from them, as well as abilities to stop and mitigate spells, something Shaman cannot do outside of using Earth Shock and Grounding Totem (and I've already explained those away). Our heals can be mitigated by MS-style effects, unlike most defensive abilities which will prevent more damage than an MS'd heal would restore, and most defenses can't be interrupted to lock out everything, including damage, unlike our heals. The other issue is that Elemental has no escape tools to get those heals off in the first place, which is quite dissimilar to our counterparts, the Balance Druids and Shadow Priest.
So what is my point after all this rambling? Well its that Elemental STILL needs some form of survivability buff to be able to perform in PvP as anything more than a "bloodlust, then burst and usually die" kind of class. I don't care whether its a talent or some form of ability that doesn't rely on totems, the fact of the matter is, the "Glass Cannon" needs some form of defense to be something more than lackluster.
Many people will say that, coupled with Grounding Totem, Tremor Totem, Frost Shock, Earthbind Totem, Earth Shock, and Nature's Swiftness, we have plenty of burst already. I'm here to tell you, they are mostly wrong. First off, I'd like to introduce you to two macros that render the first two defenses on that list obsolete:
/stopcasting
/castsequence Ice Lance (or Moonfire, or Corruption(Rank 1), or Shadow Word: Pain(Rank 1)), Polymorph (or Cyclone, or Fear, or Mana Burn, etc..)
This stops your current cast, casts a low mana cost, instant that destroys the Grounding Totem, then begins casting a more critical spell. People who say that you should drop grounding totem as they're casting are foolish, because this macro negates that. Someone could be casting Mana Burn, I'll drop the totem, then they click this button to kill the totem and begin casting mana burn again.
/petattack Tremor Totem
/cast Fear
Any warlock without a macro like this is a fool. It renders the Tremor Totem useless and will almost always destroy the totem before it has a chance to break any fears.
Now, regarding Frost Shock and Earthbind Totem: The only classes that we use this against as a defense have a multitude of ways to get around it and get on us: Paladins can Cleanse it, or more simply toss a Blessing of Freedom on themselves. Druids can just shapeshift out of it, or if specced for it, use Feral Charge. Rogues can Cloak of Shadows or use Improved Sprint, or can simply Vanish and sneak around behind us to start another stunlock. Warriors can intercept (quite often actually) and once we're hamstrung, we're unable to kite them any longer.
Earth Shock isn't that great of a defense, because there's still 4 seconds between the end of the interrupt and the firing of another earth shock, and during that time we're quite vulnerable. Sure, we can stop a critical, life saving heal, but then again, that's not usin the ability defensively.
Now when someone says "Use Nature's Swiftness for a heal!" they aren't realizing that, while they are correct, it's a great defensive tool, that we use an "EM+CL > NS+LB > ES/FS" rotation for a lot of burst at the beginning of an arena match. If we save our NS for a heal later in the match, we're prety much negating the reason we were taken on the team in the first place, and that's BURST. In the case of a Shaman saving NS for a heal, the group is most likely better off taking a different class like a mage.
I've heard people also say that, because we have heals, we don't deserve defensive abilities or the title "Glass Cannon". This is simply not true. "True Glass Cannons", like mages, have a multitude of ways to keep opponents off / away from them, as well as abilities to stop and mitigate spells, something Shaman cannot do outside of using Earth Shock and Grounding Totem (and I've already explained those away). Our heals can be mitigated by MS-style effects, unlike most defensive abilities which will prevent more damage than an MS'd heal would restore, and most defenses can't be interrupted to lock out everything, including damage, unlike our heals. The other issue is that Elemental has no escape tools to get those heals off in the first place, which is quite dissimilar to our counterparts, the Balance Druids and Shadow Priest.
So what is my point after all this rambling? Well its that Elemental STILL needs some form of survivability buff to be able to perform in PvP as anything more than a "bloodlust, then burst and usually die" kind of class. I don't care whether its a talent or some form of ability that doesn't rely on totems, the fact of the matter is, the "Glass Cannon" needs some form of defense to be something more than lackluster.
EM + NS Shared Cooldown Nerf Reverted!
As confirmed by a blue in this thread: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=4976427746&pageNo=1&sid=1#13
However a veteran poster named Kainazzo, someone who's very intelligent regarding the Shaman and our history with Blizzard, had this to say regarding this issue (Original post found here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=4976277921&sid=1)
=== ===
" Blue confirmed: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=4976427746&pageNo=1&sid=1#13
It seems that the nerf to the EM+NS cooldown was intentionally reverted to its pre-2.4 state.
Normally I'd say "Yay, good job guys! Blizzard DOES listen!", but under the current circumstances I cannot and will not make that assertion. You see, the thing is, Kalgan - king of all things class balance - STILL said that they do not intend for classes to have "one-dimensional burst damage", and the Shaman was not exempt to this. Why now, would he go back on this and have the change reverted?
Simple - they are not going to be giving Shamans the survivability buffs Kalgan alluded to when he said that there are buffs coming, but that certain ones won't make the patch due to time constraints. To nerf Elemental and not give them the buffs they need in other areas (making the class more complete and thus NOT "one-dimensional"), would spell doom for them in PvP and in 5v5 specifically, where Blizzard currently feels Shamans are doing ok.
All in all this should leave a nauseated feeling in your stomach, because in the end we're going to come out looking mostly the same (with a few modifications to Enhancement to help them, but certainly not fix them) and once again get the shaft just before an expansion, meaning we'll have to wait until then, maintaining the possibility that we'll get shafted in the expansion as well.
Don't stand for it. Cancel your accounts if this all comes true, because it seems to me that they now KNOW what they need, they are just not giving us high enough priority to actually get it done."
=== ===
In a sense, he's right. Its not something we haven't seen before (the Earth Shock on DR nerf back in 2.3 that was reverted but nothing else substantially changed) Myself though, I'll be reserving my judgment until all of 2.4 has been finalized...but it wouldn't surprise me if Kainazzo was right.
However a veteran poster named Kainazzo, someone who's very intelligent regarding the Shaman and our history with Blizzard, had this to say regarding this issue (Original post found here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=4976277921&sid=1)
=== ===
" Blue confirmed: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=4976427746&pageNo=1&sid=1#13
It seems that the nerf to the EM+NS cooldown was intentionally reverted to its pre-2.4 state.
Normally I'd say "Yay, good job guys! Blizzard DOES listen!", but under the current circumstances I cannot and will not make that assertion. You see, the thing is, Kalgan - king of all things class balance - STILL said that they do not intend for classes to have "one-dimensional burst damage", and the Shaman was not exempt to this. Why now, would he go back on this and have the change reverted?
Simple - they are not going to be giving Shamans the survivability buffs Kalgan alluded to when he said that there are buffs coming, but that certain ones won't make the patch due to time constraints. To nerf Elemental and not give them the buffs they need in other areas (making the class more complete and thus NOT "one-dimensional"), would spell doom for them in PvP and in 5v5 specifically, where Blizzard currently feels Shamans are doing ok.
All in all this should leave a nauseated feeling in your stomach, because in the end we're going to come out looking mostly the same (with a few modifications to Enhancement to help them, but certainly not fix them) and once again get the shaft just before an expansion, meaning we'll have to wait until then, maintaining the possibility that we'll get shafted in the expansion as well.
Don't stand for it. Cancel your accounts if this all comes true, because it seems to me that they now KNOW what they need, they are just not giving us high enough priority to actually get it done."
=== ===
In a sense, he's right. Its not something we haven't seen before (the Earth Shock on DR nerf back in 2.3 that was reverted but nothing else substantially changed) Myself though, I'll be reserving my judgment until all of 2.4 has been finalized...but it wouldn't surprise me if Kainazzo was right.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Elemental Burst Nerfed, Now How About a Buff?
No doubt everyone is already aware of the nerf to Elemental's ability to burst in PvP due to the 10 second cooldown on EM + NS, as well as the nerf to pushback resistance, which hinders our ability to get spells off in the first place. My biggest concern at this point is that Elemental's performance and representation in 5v5 (the Arena blizzard USUALLY balances around) will steadily decline once 2.4 hits, IF it remains in its current state, which is no buffs to Elemental.
Shaman, especially elemental Shaman, have few survival tools at their disposal outside of Mail + Shield, Grounding Totem, and Tremor Totem. I am almost certain, that this is because of our ability to burst opponents so well. That was the balancing factor: We're pretty much a "glass cannon" right out of the box. However, our burst has been nerfed in a sense. We can't fire off an EM + CL then hit NS + LB to deal upwards 3k non-crit damage to an opponent in patch 2.4.
At this stage in the PTR, Elemental has received no buffs to compensate for the change in PvP play. Our survivability, as well as our "sustained" damage capabilities are the same (although some could argue the latter is nerfed due to the 4-piece set bonus change), and I'm of the belief that either some form of DPS increase (unlikely) OR survivability increase (more likely) will need to be added to Elemental to allow it to retain a healthy representation in Arenas. All we had was our burst, Bloodlust, and totems. You take our burst away, and we're "glass cannons" with spongey "Nerf (tm)" ammo. (Yes, I know its an exaggeration, but bear with me please)
Some form of reactive buff (that occurs when we're crit), a change to the Earth's Grasp talent to provide a chance to root a target when Earthbind Pulses, making instant ghost wolf baseline, or any number of other ideas will come to mind for most players. I don't doubt that by the end of the 2.4 testing phase there will be SOMETHING, but I just figured I'd put in my 2 copper on the issue.
Shaman, especially elemental Shaman, have few survival tools at their disposal outside of Mail + Shield, Grounding Totem, and Tremor Totem. I am almost certain, that this is because of our ability to burst opponents so well. That was the balancing factor: We're pretty much a "glass cannon" right out of the box. However, our burst has been nerfed in a sense. We can't fire off an EM + CL then hit NS + LB to deal upwards 3k non-crit damage to an opponent in patch 2.4.
At this stage in the PTR, Elemental has received no buffs to compensate for the change in PvP play. Our survivability, as well as our "sustained" damage capabilities are the same (although some could argue the latter is nerfed due to the 4-piece set bonus change), and I'm of the belief that either some form of DPS increase (unlikely) OR survivability increase (more likely) will need to be added to Elemental to allow it to retain a healthy representation in Arenas. All we had was our burst, Bloodlust, and totems. You take our burst away, and we're "glass cannons" with spongey "Nerf (tm)" ammo. (Yes, I know its an exaggeration, but bear with me please)
Some form of reactive buff (that occurs when we're crit), a change to the Earth's Grasp talent to provide a chance to root a target when Earthbind Pulses, making instant ghost wolf baseline, or any number of other ideas will come to mind for most players. I don't doubt that by the end of the 2.4 testing phase there will be SOMETHING, but I just figured I'd put in my 2 copper on the issue.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
More News and minor tweaks? Come on Blizz!
So now Elemental, arguably the Shaman's strongest 5v5 Arena spec, has just been hit with yet another nerf. To further add to the 1% crit nerf from the Call of Thunder change and the nerf to 4-piece Arena set gear, they've also nerfed Nature's Swiftness and Elemental Mastery:
* Nature’s Swiftness and Elemental Mastery now share a 10 second cooldown.
This is absurd to say the least, considering Shaman already have such little representation in Arenas as is, and they're swinging the nerf bat hard on Elemental Shaman over and over this patch, and we have YET to see one good change beyond being thrown a bone. Don't know what I mean by "being thrown a bone"? This is what I mean:
* Earth Shield: Mana cost reduced roughly in half, and charges reduced from 10 to 6. (Mana cost reported 450...that's not "roughly half" of 900, that's exactly half, with 6 charges instead of half the charges at 5. A minor change)
* Ghost Wolf: Cast time reduced to 2 seconds, down from 3. (This doesn't help escape options much, because it still doesn't remove movement impairing effects and has no pushback protection. This just pigeon-holes Shaman who want an escape into 7 points into Enhancement.)
* Healing Grace: This talent now reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by 10/20/30%.The resistance to being dispelled modifier from this talent now applies correctly to Water Breathing. (Nice change, its what we wanted, but in the wrong place. This will further "marry" the Shaman to the already bloated Restoration tree, and force the Shaman to sacrifice points from other talents to put them here.)
* Totem timer icons will now show up under your player portrait when you cast totem spells. Right-clicking a totem timer icon will destroy that totem. (Its about 2 years too late.)
* Tremor Totem now pulses every 3 seconds, down from 4. (Still, just a bone, even though we've been begging for this change forever)
Nothing that has changed is going to help a Shaman of any spec with any of the problems we have. The Ghost Wolf change will make it instant with talents, however, this is of little consequence because we can STILL be kited without any ability to remove movement impairing effects. All this does is help with runners who got out of Frost Shock range.
This is very disappointing, and I'm beginning to lose faith in Blizzard ever making any positive changes to the Shaman this time around. With the way things are looking, we're going to need a pretty big change to get over the nerfs we've gotten.
* Nature’s Swiftness and Elemental Mastery now share a 10 second cooldown.
This is absurd to say the least, considering Shaman already have such little representation in Arenas as is, and they're swinging the nerf bat hard on Elemental Shaman over and over this patch, and we have YET to see one good change beyond being thrown a bone. Don't know what I mean by "being thrown a bone"? This is what I mean:
* Earth Shield: Mana cost reduced roughly in half, and charges reduced from 10 to 6. (Mana cost reported 450...that's not "roughly half" of 900, that's exactly half, with 6 charges instead of half the charges at 5. A minor change)
* Ghost Wolf: Cast time reduced to 2 seconds, down from 3. (This doesn't help escape options much, because it still doesn't remove movement impairing effects and has no pushback protection. This just pigeon-holes Shaman who want an escape into 7 points into Enhancement.)
* Healing Grace: This talent now reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by 10/20/30%.The resistance to being dispelled modifier from this talent now applies correctly to Water Breathing. (Nice change, its what we wanted, but in the wrong place. This will further "marry" the Shaman to the already bloated Restoration tree, and force the Shaman to sacrifice points from other talents to put them here.)
* Totem timer icons will now show up under your player portrait when you cast totem spells. Right-clicking a totem timer icon will destroy that totem. (Its about 2 years too late.)
* Tremor Totem now pulses every 3 seconds, down from 4. (Still, just a bone, even though we've been begging for this change forever)
Nothing that has changed is going to help a Shaman of any spec with any of the problems we have. The Ghost Wolf change will make it instant with talents, however, this is of little consequence because we can STILL be kited without any ability to remove movement impairing effects. All this does is help with runners who got out of Frost Shock range.
This is very disappointing, and I'm beginning to lose faith in Blizzard ever making any positive changes to the Shaman this time around. With the way things are looking, we're going to need a pretty big change to get over the nerfs we've gotten.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Another Round of Dot Shock...
It seems the US Forums have exploded in another round of Dot Shocks, apparently this time because of the change to Elemental's 4-piece set bonus. Currently, the set bonus reads:
"Gives you a 70% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting Lightning Bolt."
However, currently on the 2.4 PTR, it has been nerfed to only 50%.
I can see why Shaman are upset. I mean, we've had something that is a big issue for us (spell pushback) being nerfed, without any rhyme or reason. We don't even get a talent to compensate for this though, so its pretty much a direct nerf on Shaman PvP effectiveness (on our "Strongest" spec in the most "balanced" setting, 5v5) as well as solo play. It seems really unreasonable for Blizzard to have made this change, and without a hint as to why they did it.
It seems there may be many more Shaman banned from the forums and quitting because of this. Not because of this change itself, but because of the ever increasing anger people are feeling each time news of the 2.4 PTR reveals itself. I'd like to think Blizzard will redeem itself, but that's likely not going to happen until Wrath of the Lich King, if at all. (And I certainly hope they prove me wrong)
"Gives you a 70% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting Lightning Bolt."
However, currently on the 2.4 PTR, it has been nerfed to only 50%.
I can see why Shaman are upset. I mean, we've had something that is a big issue for us (spell pushback) being nerfed, without any rhyme or reason. We don't even get a talent to compensate for this though, so its pretty much a direct nerf on Shaman PvP effectiveness (on our "Strongest" spec in the most "balanced" setting, 5v5) as well as solo play. It seems really unreasonable for Blizzard to have made this change, and without a hint as to why they did it.
It seems there may be many more Shaman banned from the forums and quitting because of this. Not because of this change itself, but because of the ever increasing anger people are feeling each time news of the 2.4 PTR reveals itself. I'd like to think Blizzard will redeem itself, but that's likely not going to happen until Wrath of the Lich King, if at all. (And I certainly hope they prove me wrong)
Monday, February 11, 2008
Netherea Posts, Shaman Rejoice!
Twice today Netherea has taken part in discussions on the official Shaman forums, saying they are reading what we have been saying (Even the parts about them not listening :P). Here's a link to both threads:
2.4 ACTUAL constructive criticism
And while I dislike making myself the focus of attention on this blog, I can't help but feel incredibly giddy about this one:
Shaman Concerns for 2.4
Two victories for the Shaman!
2.4 ACTUAL constructive criticism
And while I dislike making myself the focus of attention on this blog, I can't help but feel incredibly giddy about this one:
Shaman Concerns for 2.4
Two victories for the Shaman!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Problems That Will Remain After 2.4
The patch has done nothing to address Shaman issues except for dispel resistance on our spells (its barely a bone, in many Shaman's opinions) and Earth Shield requires being cast almost twice as often for just under half the same mana cost from what I've been hearing (damn 4 day queues to get onto the Test server), which end up causing problem sin PvP because we need to cast it more often, eating up valuable GCDs.
However, there are other problems that still remain. Below is a summarized list of problems that have yet to be address, or even acknowledged / commented on by Blizzard:
Just to name a few. Should we be expected to wait for an expansion to have this sort of thing fixed, when specs like Retribution have gotten changes to help them with runners, PvE raid viability, and alleviating their reliance on +damage stats? No, we shouldn't, especially when these changes should've occured over a year ago when we should've gotten the other half of the review that we were told would be coming.
I can guarantee that out of that list up there, most Shaman will quit because of at least 2 or more of those, ESPECIALLY the Enhancement Shaman who enjoy PvP. Now, do I personally want all of these fixed? NO! Of course not. It would be unreasonable to expect all of these fixed. Would I like them to at least be addressed to some extent? YES! That's what I would expect from a company, especially when they have made requests for feedback.
A note to posters: Don't reply with any arguments pertaining to PvE DPS, performance, etc...WE KNOW WE ARE GOOD IN PVE, the issue is itemization and PvP. So don't waste my time.
However, there are other problems that still remain. Below is a summarized list of problems that have yet to be address, or even acknowledged / commented on by Blizzard:
- Rockbiter, Flametongue, and Frostbrand all either scale horribly, or are all together useless. (Namely Rockbiter)
- Pet Control Issues. Nothing beats having a 20 minute cooldown go oom in 20 seconds out of its 120 second duration, or having it break CC, or run off an pull adds.
- The Totem System is outdated and is in need of revision. It's good in theory, but poor in reality.
- Lack of pushback outside of 4-piece arena gear. Some of us Elemental Shaman farm. Why be pigeon-holed and forced to sacrifice +hit and +damage for a resilience set just to keep from being delayed on spell casts?
- Enhancement spec shut down by snares, with no gap closing abilities / abilities to mitigate being kited like other melee specs and classes.
- Elementals inability to escape, combat immunities, or combat being locked out.
- Enhancement itemization. We don't need MP/5 or Intellect. That's what Water Shield and Shamanistic Rage are for. We also have Shamanistic Focus to help even more. Why do we still need MP/5 or Intellect? This makes non-set pieces better than the Enhancement tier sets because our stat points are being eaten up by stuff we don't need.
- Restoration Shaman, along with Holy Paladins, being the most immobile healers. Shaman are in an even worse situation because they cannot cleanse / remove CCs or prevent an assist train like a Paladin can, but that's another topic for another day.
Just to name a few. Should we be expected to wait for an expansion to have this sort of thing fixed, when specs like Retribution have gotten changes to help them with runners, PvE raid viability, and alleviating their reliance on +damage stats? No, we shouldn't, especially when these changes should've occured over a year ago when we should've gotten the other half of the review that we were told would be coming.
I can guarantee that out of that list up there, most Shaman will quit because of at least 2 or more of those, ESPECIALLY the Enhancement Shaman who enjoy PvP. Now, do I personally want all of these fixed? NO! Of course not. It would be unreasonable to expect all of these fixed. Would I like them to at least be addressed to some extent? YES! That's what I would expect from a company, especially when they have made requests for feedback.
A note to posters: Don't reply with any arguments pertaining to PvE DPS, performance, etc...WE KNOW WE ARE GOOD IN PVE, the issue is itemization and PvP. So don't waste my time.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Blue Comments on Shaman, from EU Forums
I had to post this because, quite frankly, what this blue said is absolutely absurd and is a slap in the face of every forum-going Shaman out there. This was posted in response to the "Why Shaman are Angry" thread that's going on over on the EU Forums. (click here for the link to the blue post) I'll be dissecting this to add in my own commentary (blue's words in bold, mine regular)
" So you've posted a thread which compiles all the negative changes from all the patch notes, but conveniently omits all other changes (either neutral or good) - I've seen this in other class forums already so I'm not particularly impressed by it."
That's because, generally, the only Shaman changes in the patches were bug fixes, aesthetic changes (changes to tooltip icons), and nerfs. The poster was only highlighting the nerfs aspect.
"You then go on to talk about the CMs and how when they get ill it's clearly a conspiracy just to avoid shaman concerns, and how a little bit of mis-communication during a very busy period is a blatant attempt to nerf or deride the shaman class. "
When you consider the fact that, when we were told that none of our feedback made it in and there were no further attempts to rectify the situation, you can't help but feel a little miffed that you're being "held back". If such things were truly a mistake, then why has nothing been done to fix the situation? Where did the other half of our review go? Why is Blizzard so tight-lipped about everything that has to do with Shaman? If there truly is no conspiracy, then stop acting like there is one!
"You post no links to threads of any the comments you are referring to, most likely because they are blown way out or proportion or taken out of context, and you put a negative spin on any blue presence that you have been given (I personally remember participating in a very constructive thread on this forum). "
This is false. The post history should still be there, and if not, it should be recorded on the internet. Much of what is said in that thread is summarized from posts by CMs.
"However, saying something more than once does not make it any less true or relevant. "
Of course it doesn't! Blizzard said for the longest time, over and over, that we'd get the second half of our review, and well, look how that turned out. Glad you learned something from that!
"The stats don't show a lack of popularity for shaman, they just show a ridiculous popularity for other classes. It takes a negative mind to assume that other peoples popularity is a reflection of your own unpopularity, if that makes sense. "
No, that doesn't make sense. If other classes are more popular than Shaman, then clearly, Shaman are unpopular. It doesn't matter how you word it, if there's less Shaman playing than any other class, then they are unpopular. Whether it's because the class itself is unpopular, or if other classes are more popular, it doesn't matter. The end result is the same.
In all honesty Tharfor, you're looking like the next Tseric. I understand where you're coming from, but your choice in words and your decision to say "Well there's no links to actual blue posts so your fabricating things" is very ignorant, and it basically feels like you're saying "Put up or Shut up!". If what you've said is Blizzard's stance on Shaman, and things continue the way they are, the Shaman Exodus is going to become much worse until we're all either Heal bots or rerolled as something more fun.
" So you've posted a thread which compiles all the negative changes from all the patch notes, but conveniently omits all other changes (either neutral or good) - I've seen this in other class forums already so I'm not particularly impressed by it."
That's because, generally, the only Shaman changes in the patches were bug fixes, aesthetic changes (changes to tooltip icons), and nerfs. The poster was only highlighting the nerfs aspect.
"You then go on to talk about the CMs and how when they get ill it's clearly a conspiracy just to avoid shaman concerns, and how a little bit of mis-communication during a very busy period is a blatant attempt to nerf or deride the shaman class. "
When you consider the fact that, when we were told that none of our feedback made it in and there were no further attempts to rectify the situation, you can't help but feel a little miffed that you're being "held back". If such things were truly a mistake, then why has nothing been done to fix the situation? Where did the other half of our review go? Why is Blizzard so tight-lipped about everything that has to do with Shaman? If there truly is no conspiracy, then stop acting like there is one!
"You post no links to threads of any the comments you are referring to, most likely because they are blown way out or proportion or taken out of context, and you put a negative spin on any blue presence that you have been given (I personally remember participating in a very constructive thread on this forum). "
This is false. The post history should still be there, and if not, it should be recorded on the internet. Much of what is said in that thread is summarized from posts by CMs.
"However, saying something more than once does not make it any less true or relevant. "
Of course it doesn't! Blizzard said for the longest time, over and over, that we'd get the second half of our review, and well, look how that turned out. Glad you learned something from that!
"The stats don't show a lack of popularity for shaman, they just show a ridiculous popularity for other classes. It takes a negative mind to assume that other peoples popularity is a reflection of your own unpopularity, if that makes sense. "
No, that doesn't make sense. If other classes are more popular than Shaman, then clearly, Shaman are unpopular. It doesn't matter how you word it, if there's less Shaman playing than any other class, then they are unpopular. Whether it's because the class itself is unpopular, or if other classes are more popular, it doesn't matter. The end result is the same.
In all honesty Tharfor, you're looking like the next Tseric. I understand where you're coming from, but your choice in words and your decision to say "Well there's no links to actual blue posts so your fabricating things" is very ignorant, and it basically feels like you're saying "Put up or Shut up!". If what you've said is Blizzard's stance on Shaman, and things continue the way they are, the Shaman Exodus is going to become much worse until we're all either Heal bots or rerolled as something more fun.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Post by Ralu of Greymane
Here's a great post by Ralu from the Greymane server making a suggestion regarding making our Shield spells not only more versatile but also a desirable buff to takes into groups outside of just our totems.
His idea is well thought out, and he seems well versed in all things Shaman, so I urge you to support his thread.
His idea is well thought out, and he seems well versed in all things Shaman, so I urge you to support his thread.
Elemental Spell Rotation Longevity
So lately, I’ve been wondering what the best spell rotation is for a Shaman in a given situation….
“Lightning Bolt spam, Danemoth…DUUURH!”
Which is obvious for long fights. But what about those short ones where you can just swallow a few Manna Biscuits afterwards? A “Chain Lightning > Lightning Bolt x3” rotation is higher DPS, but less mana efficient. This post will attempt to come up with a chart that will allow someone to decide which rotation would be best to use given the time frame…and I’ll use a few benchmark numbers for mana pools as well (8000, 9000, 10000) as well as MP/5 (50, 100, 150). All numbers will be using their base values after being modified by appropriate talents, and I’m only looking at longevity here, because most of us already know that in short fights, CL + LBx3 is better DPS. This post is only to give a rough estimate of how long one can last. I won’t be counting Clearcast procs in here because, frankly, that makes things a lot more difficult. So just assume that your ability to DPS for long periods of time gets better with higher crit.
For those that don’t think CL + LBx3 is better DPS, here’s some very basic math explaining why it is. CL casts in 1.5 seconds talented, with LB at 2.0 talented. Using their average damage when fully talented, I’ll go for 30 seconds of casting (which is enough to sync up the casts in that amount of time. One rotation finishes in 6 seconds, the other in 7.5 seconds, so the best way to do this is to find a time where they sync up. 30 seconds is that number) Lightning Bolt’s average damage talented is 633, while Chain Lightning’s is 825.
LB Spam (15 casts in 30 seconds): 633 x 15 = 9495 / 30 = 316 DPS.
CL x LBx3 rotation (4 CL, 12 LB in 30 seconds): (633x12) + (825x4) = 10896 / 30 = 363 DPS.
So there you have it. CL + LBx3 rotation is higher DPS. Now I can go on to see how long one can DPS depending on their MP/5 and their mana pool…
If anyone wants to add anything or disprove what I’ve said, be my guest. Ad hominem will be disregarded, however. If you can’t argue without it, I’ve no reason to pay any attention to you.
So to start, let’s get some numbers down regarding mana cost, and cast time.
Lightning Bolt
Mana Cost: 270
Cast Time: 2.0
Chain Lightning
Mana Cost: 684
Cast Time: 1.5
Now for a CL + LBx3 rotation, that’s a mana cost of 1494 over 7.5 seconds. So assuming 0 MP/5, you’ll end up being able to DPS for (all numbers rounded down):
8000 / 1494 = 5 * 7.5 = 37.5 seconds
9000 / 1494 = 6 * 7.5 = 45 seconds
10000 / 1494 = 6 * 7.5 = 45 seconds
Then depending on your mana regen, you might be able to get even more spells off. How many more? That depends on both your mana pool and the amount of MP/5 you have. Let’s take 8000 mana with 100 MP/5. You’ve been DPSing for 37.5 seconds. That’s 6 ticks for your MP/5, giving you an additional 600 mana, effectively making your mana pool 8600. However, this doesn’t make it enough to get another rotation going…
Let’s see how long someone can cast with just Lightning Bolt.
8000 / 270 = 29 * 2 = 58 seconds
9000 / 270 = 33 * 2 = 66 seconds
10000 / 270 = 37 * 2 = 74 seconds
So as you can see, for every 1000 mana, you are able to DPS for approximately an additional 8 seconds. (…that looks awfully dismal to be honest…) but again, MP/5 and Clearcasts will factor into this to allow you to DPS for longer periods of time. If we take 8000 mana with 100 MP/5 again, we can see that with an effective pool of 8600 mana, you can cast for an additional 4 seconds.
This math is incredibly simple, and probably wrong in parts, but I never claimed to be an expert, mostly just someone with too much time on their hands (I’m very bored at the moment, as you can see.) So what conclusions can we draw from my rambling up above?
For short fights, generally <>
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
History of Shaman
Here's a great post from the European Shaman forum describing exactly why Shaman are upset at the current state of the game: This is Why Shaman are Angry
For those who may not understand why Shaman are upset, this is a great post to get some background information. If the post is deleted, let me know and I'll repost it here, I have the whole thing saved to Notepad.
For those who may not understand why Shaman are upset, this is a great post to get some background information. If the post is deleted, let me know and I'll repost it here, I have the whole thing saved to Notepad.
Unconfirmed "fake" patch notes for 2.4
World of Raids has made a few posts lately regarding 2.4 patch notes that may or may not be fake. Here's the parts that pertain to Shaman specifically:
Shaman
- Lightning Shield mana cost reduced and now grants Nature spell damage for each remaining charge.
- Water Shield now has a small mana cost and now grants mana every 5 sec for each remaining charge.
- The spell damage coefficient of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells has been slightly reduced.
- Ghost Wolf now frees the Shaman from movement impairing effects when cast, renders the Shaman immune to polymorph effects and can no longer be dispelled.
- Windfury Weapon now only grants 1 extra attack and the bonus attack power granted has been reduced by approximately 19%, but the chance to proc has been increased. Overall shamans should see more consistent dps.
- Windfury Totem: The attack power bonus has been reduced by approximately 46%, but the chance to proc has been slightly increased. Overall the totem should see a slight decrease in effectiveness.
- The bonus that Frostbrand Weapon and Flametongue Weapon receive from bonus spell damage effects has been slightly increased.
- Frostbrand Weapon: The movement slowing effect has been increased to 40%, from 25%.
- Bloodlust/Heroism: The duration has been reduced to 30 sec, from 40 sec and the cooldown reduced to 5 min, from 10 min.
- Elemental Weapons: This talent now increases the damage caused by Rockbiter Weapon by 10/20/30% and the attack power bonus of Windfury Weapon by 15/30/45%.
- Stormstrike now grants a 30% spell damage bonus for the next 2 Frost, Fire or Nature spells cast by the Shaman.
- Healing Grace: This talent now also reduces the chance your Restoration spells will be dispelled by 10/20/30%.
- Focused Mind: This talent now also gives your spell criticals a 33/66/100% chance of reducing the cast time of your next healing spell by 0.5 sec.
- Earthshield now has a 20 second cooldown, but the mana cost has been reduced by approximately 50%
(from here)
- 30% dispel resist on that threat redux nature talent
- Earth shield mana cost reduced by 50%?
- Tremor totem and poison cleanse totem reduced from 5s pulses to 3s pulses (!!!!)
(from here)
Now, I have to have my say on these changes. While at first glance things like a passive +nature bonus is nice, it in fact will turn out to be a nerf. Now bear with me. Take a look at the reduced coefficient on Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning. Obviously, a change to Lightning Shield would help to keep our DPS the same, but their presents another problem, and that's picking between either the same DPS we had before by using Lightning Shield, or longevity using Water Shield.
I will not comment about Windfury. Blizzard is very good at being vague with how they word stuff, and there's no point discussing it if these changes turn out to be true. The increase in frequency for cleansing totems to pulse is definitely a nice thought, as well as the changes to Ghost Wolf, Elemental Weapons, and Flametongue / Frostbrand (all but the changes to Elemental Weapons are things I have fought for in the past)
Now one will say "But Dane, why are you talking about fake patch notes? If it's white, it aint right!"
Well for one, the thing that adds credence to these notes is the fact that a lot of what is in them did end up popping up from Blues on the forums. (The combat log changes, the Earth Shield and Nature's Grace changes, etc...) so it makes it hard to discredit these "fake" notes, especially since they came out before the blues even began discussing what was coming in 2.4
Hopefully the reducing to Lightning spell coefficients and the changes to Windfury don't go in. Everything else seems rather good, and helpful, but to change these to things, (especially after the uphill battle we faced the first time the Lightning Bolt coefficient was reduced) would be purely silly, in my opinion.
Shaman
- Lightning Shield mana cost reduced and now grants Nature spell damage for each remaining charge.
- Water Shield now has a small mana cost and now grants mana every 5 sec for each remaining charge.
- The spell damage coefficient of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells has been slightly reduced.
- Ghost Wolf now frees the Shaman from movement impairing effects when cast, renders the Shaman immune to polymorph effects and can no longer be dispelled.
- Windfury Weapon now only grants 1 extra attack and the bonus attack power granted has been reduced by approximately 19%, but the chance to proc has been increased. Overall shamans should see more consistent dps.
- Windfury Totem: The attack power bonus has been reduced by approximately 46%, but the chance to proc has been slightly increased. Overall the totem should see a slight decrease in effectiveness.
- The bonus that Frostbrand Weapon and Flametongue Weapon receive from bonus spell damage effects has been slightly increased.
- Frostbrand Weapon: The movement slowing effect has been increased to 40%, from 25%.
- Bloodlust/Heroism: The duration has been reduced to 30 sec, from 40 sec and the cooldown reduced to 5 min, from 10 min.
- Elemental Weapons: This talent now increases the damage caused by Rockbiter Weapon by 10/20/30% and the attack power bonus of Windfury Weapon by 15/30/45%.
- Stormstrike now grants a 30% spell damage bonus for the next 2 Frost, Fire or Nature spells cast by the Shaman.
- Healing Grace: This talent now also reduces the chance your Restoration spells will be dispelled by 10/20/30%.
- Focused Mind: This talent now also gives your spell criticals a 33/66/100% chance of reducing the cast time of your next healing spell by 0.5 sec.
- Earthshield now has a 20 second cooldown, but the mana cost has been reduced by approximately 50%
(from here)
- 30% dispel resist on that threat redux nature talent
- Earth shield mana cost reduced by 50%?
- Tremor totem and poison cleanse totem reduced from 5s pulses to 3s pulses (!!!!)
(from here)
Now, I have to have my say on these changes. While at first glance things like a passive +nature bonus is nice, it in fact will turn out to be a nerf. Now bear with me. Take a look at the reduced coefficient on Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning. Obviously, a change to Lightning Shield would help to keep our DPS the same, but their presents another problem, and that's picking between either the same DPS we had before by using Lightning Shield, or longevity using Water Shield.
I will not comment about Windfury. Blizzard is very good at being vague with how they word stuff, and there's no point discussing it if these changes turn out to be true. The increase in frequency for cleansing totems to pulse is definitely a nice thought, as well as the changes to Ghost Wolf, Elemental Weapons, and Flametongue / Frostbrand (all but the changes to Elemental Weapons are things I have fought for in the past)
Now one will say "But Dane, why are you talking about fake patch notes? If it's white, it aint right!"
Well for one, the thing that adds credence to these notes is the fact that a lot of what is in them did end up popping up from Blues on the forums. (The combat log changes, the Earth Shield and Nature's Grace changes, etc...) so it makes it hard to discredit these "fake" notes, especially since they came out before the blues even began discussing what was coming in 2.4
Hopefully the reducing to Lightning spell coefficients and the changes to Windfury don't go in. Everything else seems rather good, and helpful, but to change these to things, (especially after the uphill battle we faced the first time the Lightning Bolt coefficient was reduced) would be purely silly, in my opinion.
Welcome to the Spirit Lodge
This will be a place for me to post my thoughts on the Shaman class as well as the forum community itself (when I'm bored enough).
I've created this as a place to discuss the class without worry of being banned for speaking out on the official Blizzard forum. I don't know how well this blog will be updated, how informative it will be, etc...
For now, just consider it a place where I can put my thoughts on the class down. :P
I've created this as a place to discuss the class without worry of being banned for speaking out on the official Blizzard forum. I don't know how well this blog will be updated, how informative it will be, etc...
For now, just consider it a place where I can put my thoughts on the class down. :P
A Call to Blizzard
I started a forum post today that attempts to inform Blizzard why the Shaman Community is in such an uproar and attempts to open up a dialog with them in hopes of getting some discussion going.
You can find the post here.
But in case it was deleted, I'll add it here as well.
=== === === === ===
A message to Blizzard from a concerned, self-appointed "community representative".
Blizzard, the Shaman communities world wide are devolving into horrid cesspools of...something, because of the way this class has been handled throughout the last year and a half (and this is going all the way back to the Shaman half review that was promised in the patch after that...then in the patch after that...then in TBC...then never showed up).
We're tired of uninformed community managers spewing nonsense like:
- You can lightning bolt spam for 5 minutes without consumables (before the Clearcast and Water Shield changes)
- Resto/Elemental Shaman melee using a 41.5 DPS weapon + Flametongue is > Priest/Mage wand DPS (absolutely false!)
- Enhancement is just a leveling spec
- False statements about an improved totem UI (statement by Eyonix after our half-assed half review) that never came to fruition.
- and, like I said, making false statements about when we'll see the other half of our class review.
The reason the community has devolved into what it is now is not because you people don't moderate it (in fact, mass bannings of "protesters" only exacerbates the problem) it is because of the lack of "back-and-forth" style communication between us, the devs, and the CMs. (We're the only class not to have had a thread started by Kalgan to discuss anything about our class, unlike every other class did during TBC-beta).
Bus Shock, Dot Shock, and other such "memes" are a result of this lack of communication, and if you honestly think banning people is the answer, then you're only going to be losing subscribers, especially when it's the only form of PR you have with Shamans and threads like this, like Nert's and Zifna's, and like countless others, go on seemingly ignored.
It's time for this to end, Blizzard. It's time you started talking and working hand in hand with the Shaman class...no, with all classes, so as to avoid things like Warriors crashing entire servers, the Shaman corpse line up from Durotar to Orgrimmar, and other such problems. Because at this point, that sort of inappropriate behavior seems to get you to do something more than any constructive posting full of well reasoned arguments and suggestions ever will.
If the rumors I'm hearing that China as well as EU are getting upset about your mishandling of our class, then maybe it's time to own up and take a serious look at the class, because as it stands if there aren't some serious discussions going on, changes being made, or anything else of the sort, Shaman will start quitting, if they haven't already. Want to know why we're the least played class?
Because of you.
If you feel I'm wrong, by all means, come and have a talk with me here. I won't lash out any more than I may have in this post, and I'm willing to talk civilly, because I believe that's the only way things will get done.
You can find the post here.
But in case it was deleted, I'll add it here as well.
=== === === === ===
A message to Blizzard from a concerned, self-appointed "community representative".
Blizzard, the Shaman communities world wide are devolving into horrid cesspools of...something, because of the way this class has been handled throughout the last year and a half (and this is going all the way back to the Shaman half review that was promised in the patch after that...then in the patch after that...then in TBC...then never showed up).
We're tired of uninformed community managers spewing nonsense like:
- You can lightning bolt spam for 5 minutes without consumables (before the Clearcast and Water Shield changes)
- Resto/Elemental Shaman melee using a 41.5 DPS weapon + Flametongue is > Priest/Mage wand DPS (absolutely false!)
- Enhancement is just a leveling spec
- False statements about an improved totem UI (statement by Eyonix after our half-assed half review) that never came to fruition.
- and, like I said, making false statements about when we'll see the other half of our class review.
The reason the community has devolved into what it is now is not because you people don't moderate it (in fact, mass bannings of "protesters" only exacerbates the problem) it is because of the lack of "back-and-forth" style communication between us, the devs, and the CMs. (We're the only class not to have had a thread started by Kalgan to discuss anything about our class, unlike every other class did during TBC-beta).
Bus Shock, Dot Shock, and other such "memes" are a result of this lack of communication, and if you honestly think banning people is the answer, then you're only going to be losing subscribers, especially when it's the only form of PR you have with Shamans and threads like this, like Nert's and Zifna's, and like countless others, go on seemingly ignored.
It's time for this to end, Blizzard. It's time you started talking and working hand in hand with the Shaman class...no, with all classes, so as to avoid things like Warriors crashing entire servers, the Shaman corpse line up from Durotar to Orgrimmar, and other such problems. Because at this point, that sort of inappropriate behavior seems to get you to do something more than any constructive posting full of well reasoned arguments and suggestions ever will.
If the rumors I'm hearing that China as well as EU are getting upset about your mishandling of our class, then maybe it's time to own up and take a serious look at the class, because as it stands if there aren't some serious discussions going on, changes being made, or anything else of the sort, Shaman will start quitting, if they haven't already. Want to know why we're the least played class?
Because of you.
If you feel I'm wrong, by all means, come and have a talk with me here. I won't lash out any more than I may have in this post, and I'm willing to talk civilly, because I believe that's the only way things will get done.
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