Shaman Review - Page 18

Dozer · 06/06/06, 10:43 AM

The one thing that does irk me is that they did not implement a "summon totems" and/or "destroy totems" spells. It can't be all that hard to create this kind of thing. Reeks of laziness, ignorance, or apathy..... i'm just not sure which one.

Humbaba · 06/06/06, 10:58 AM

That's one of those core mechanics things that they were pretty clear about not changing right now.

Kytrarewn · 06/06/06, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by Humbaba

That's one of those core mechanics things that they were pretty clear about not changing right now.

That's the thing, though, that they're probably *not* going to change a core mechanic like that outside of a formal class review. So, as it stands, with fights being made more and more mobile... well, you can see the obvious extrapolated end-point.

Anyway, it's an "I wish" thing, and, well, you can wish in one hand and shit in the other. Hopefully, they'll eventually realize their oversight and come around to something like Gurgthock's "Totem drains mana, destroy totems at will" idea. It's fairly doubtful that they will any time in the near future, though.

Humbaba · 06/06/06, 11:53 AM

Has there been any indication that they'll ever change the core totem mechanic? Perhaps in a future patch, in the expansion or just on the horizon somewhere?

Unrelated, but how hard is flametongue hitting now? Has anyone tested it lately?

Muroka · 06/06/06, 11:58 AM

If you're talking about flametongue weapon it does about 36-112 depending on weapon speed plus 10% of your spell damage.

Nite_Moogle · 06/06/06, 12:13 PM

Flametongue hits just as hard on test as it does on live, plus 10% of your spell damage regardless of speed. It's actually somewhere from 9.5% to 12% but you may as well figure it at 10% since I'm sure it's just rounding errors.

Has there been any indication that they'll ever change the core totem mechanic? Perhaps in a future patch, in the expansion or just on the horizon somewhere?

I sincerely doubt that they ever will, sadly. Any sort of major change to the totem mechanics is going to drastically change the way Horde guilds approach a lot of bosses, and they'd probably have to give them all a once-over again for balance reasons. The best chance is the expansion, but I'm not going to hold my breath. I think they would have flat out told us they were going to do it in the expansion and pushed our talent changes back to the 11th hour.

Maledict · 06/06/06, 12:16 PM

Eyonix has posted today that the review, although unlikely to be changed before 1.11 goes live, is not yet complete, and that this is the "first pass" at the Shaman class. They will be watching the realms for feedback and further modifications will be made in subsequent patches.

Seems to indicate to me what most people suspect - that the shaman review was bumped up because the mage review was done too quickly, and they wanted more info for E3 and 1.11. The fact that huge changes were made to the mage review, including massive sweeping aggro talents that up till now we have been repeatedly told would never be implemented makes me think both reviews were done on the rush, and that, in Shamans case, other stuff is still being looked at.

Patch 1.11 fixed the shaman in solo play, and 5 player group stuff - perhaps for 1.12 they will have had time to look at the last area that really needs work, shaman in raids.

Sebudai · 06/06/06, 12:28 PM

My last post was actually sarcasm.

I'm not sure why talents like Earth's Grasp, Guardian Totems, Enhancing Totems, and Improved Weapon Totems still exist in their current forms. I'm also not sure when the hell I'm supposed to use Flametongue Totem, or why our class still doesn't have a fire totem that enhances spell damage. Anyway, I'm sure once they review our class they will address these issues.

Oh, wait.

Kytrarewn · 06/11/06, 11:00 PM

Some interesting thoughts here:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...haman&t=492370

Some rather similar to Gurg's, and though I think that his "Totem = Mana Drain with Destroy Totem skill" would be more elegant than some of the ideas she proposes to help mobility with totems, though not quite as effective, I think she's got the right idea.