Shaman Class Q&A

Blizzard has started a series of class-specific question and answer sessions where they take community questions and provide answers or feed back. First up: shaman! The goal of the Q&A was to “find out more about the design philosophy behind the class, the expectations for the class, and what may lie in store for it in the future.” The usual topics are brought up. Things like totems are the current system for using totems as well as the viability of the three talent trees for both raiding and pvp.

The original post is huge. Over 4,000 words! Most of which was prepared by Ghostcrawler and other members of the Blizzard development team. It provides some useful insight in the direction Blizzard wants to take the shaman class.

Most of the comments are positive accross all three talent trees. I want to clip out a few excerpts that are specific to enhancement shaman or to the class in general and post them here. For the full experience, check out MMO-Champion’s cached version here or a summary posted by WOWInsider.

The first set of questions from the community revolves around the role and history of the shaman and how its changed from the original description of the class.

Q. Where do shamans fit into the larger scope of things currently and where do you see them going from this point forward?

A. In PvP, especially Arenas, shamans have never really been a powerhouse class and we view this as a problem. Shamans have always had a place in the 5 vs. 5 bracket, where their buffs are most meaningful spread out among multiple characters. Elemental has sometimes had a niche as the “kill the wounded guy” spec. Currently, however, much of the PvP community is very focused on the 2 vs. 2 bracket, where teams that pack a lot of abilities into a single class tend to dominate. This is something we need to improve for the shaman class.

Q. What is it that makes them unique compared to all other classes?

A: Totems, totems, totems! Okay, that’s the obvious answer, but it goes deeper than that. The weapon enchants are an unusual part of the shaman class, as are mechanics like the shield spells (Earth Shield, Lightning Shield) and Frost Shock. Shaman buffs and utility spells are quite powerful, including the infamous Heroism / Bloodlust, but also their self-rez ability, Reincarnation. As envisioned from the start, shamans were also the “offensive” hybrid. Things have inevitably blurred a bit since then, but they are still a counterpart and complement to paladins

The next group of community questions revolved around totems and even included some potential changes to the current system.

Q. Are there plans to look at totems in general, the way they are managed, their uses, and their benefits in the future?

A: Absolutely. One of the features we have been working on is a way for shamans to drop all four totems at once (on one global cooldown). This will hopefully make the totems more attractive while soloing and will let the shaman in a group environment quickly get his or her totems down again if the group has to move or they get destroyed.

In PvP, we want to make sure we end the use of “totem stomping macros” where a pet class essentially programs their pet to automatically kill any totem they see. It’s perfectly acceptable for pets to kill totems, but the player should at least have to make a decision and spend some of their attention to do so.

Q. Is there any plan to look at the way totems are being used and either update little-used totems or consolidate totems that don’t seem to be of a particularly great strategic value individually?

A: There are still some totems that just aren’t cutting it anymore, and we want to continue to consolidate those so that shamans don’t have any totems that they just never, ever use. Sentry Totem is a possible candidate for the chopping block. It’s hard to really carve off unique niches for Magma Totem and Fire Nova Totem, so those may get merged. Stoneskin is not a terribly exciting totem, so maybe there is a way to just tack that benefit onto another Earth totem. Finally, we are exploring the possibility of the elementals coming out of any Fire or Earth totem respectively rather than to have to drop a new totem just for their temporary benefit.

They even quickly and briefly addressed the issue of low stamina.

Q. Is there any reason that they start this way or is there any future change in store to address this disparity between their base health and that of other classes?

A: This is one of those weird legacies that has been in the game forever. Nobody currently working on classes can remember why that decision was initially made, so we plan to revert it for 3.2.

Next on the docket is PVE itemization.

Q. When itemizing for the shaman class, what are the aspects that are looked at, and are there plans to make additional improvements to the way itemization is done for the class or for specific talent specs?

A: One of the problems we have with dropping one-handed weapons is the overlap. If we drop axes, rogues can’t use them. If we drop swords, shamans can’t use them. If we drop fists, death knights can’t use them. We are looking at changing one of these restrictions in 3.2, though it likely won’t be for shamans to use swords. It is our basic assumption that Enhancement shamans dual-wield and Restoration and Elemental shamans go for a one-handed weapon and shield.

Q. What is the expectation for how shamans choose the gear they use?

A: Players sometimes have the expectation that everything that drops that they can use should be an upgrade for them. This isn’t strictly speaking the developer view though. We want gear to be a little bit of a puzzle where you have to analyze if that piece is really an upgrade or not and how it fits with your other stats.

Q. Where do we feel the role of the shaman is in raids now and where do we see that going in the future?

A: We want all three shaman specs to feel like they can contribute to raids, and to be honest, we think they’re in a pretty good spot certainly relative to some classes that have specs that are perceived as much more viable than other specs. Enhancement can do great melee damage. We’re pretty happy with Enhancement shamans in raids, though we want to continue to analyze whether their DPS is where it should be and if their buffs are comparable to other classes that can bring the same benefit.

Next on to the PVP environments.

Q. Are there any other considerations in store for improving overall performance for shaman in PvP encounters (whether in Arena or in Battlegrounds)?

A: Mobility is a big problem. A lot of the spec’s damage come from procs and sustained effects, while PvP is more about front-loading damage at the right moment. We definitely can make some changes to give Enhancement more of that, but it requires a lot of changes to the talent tree and playstyle and not the kind of thing you can just hotfix in. On the other hand, Enhancement can offensively dispel, interrupt, and use Tremor and Cleansing Totems while still being a melee DPS. They do have a lot of utility — they just need a little help in order to bring it about. They no longer have mana problems in the longer matches.

Q. What considerations are being made for combating the use of totem-killing macros in PvP, and is this seen as a problem currently?

A: It is a problem. Totems are fragile by design, since they essentially can do their jobs while the shaman does other things. We’re fine with this except in the case of pets being able to target and kill totems via macro without any input from the player. We want the player to at least have to target the totem first before commanding the pet to attack.

And finally.

We’re working on a lot of updates right now in light of all the new things that will be coming with the next content patch. We also plan to work on continuing dialogue in the class forums as much as we can aside from these large Q&As. It’s a lot of work, but we think it’s worth it and we’ll keep finding ways to keep everyone informed as much as possible.

This is all good news and even comes complete with a teaser to keep us coming back for more. I’m sure they’ll give more updates at BlizzCon. Stay tuned. I’ll keep you posted.

Popularity: 6% [?]