Warcraft Experience

Eyonix, the Community Manager handling the Shaman community in the midst of their review, has been a busy little bee tonight - offering up tidbits about what to expect with the remainder of the review (though we’re still not sure when that’s coming at this point). Here’s a quick snippet:

We appreciate all the feedback we’ve received concerning the Shaman’s totems. We don’t believe the current totem system is as “broken” as it’s currently being made out, despite a few recently implemented encounters that make totem-use a little bit awkward. With that being said, we will be looking into “quality of life” improvements. Such as UI showing which totems are currently active, and a means to destroy active totems etc…

Also, it should be known that we have currently decided against having totems affect the entire raid group. There are a few reasons for this, but primarily we don’t want to decrease the number of Shaman desired in raids.

Got something to say about that? There’s plenty of discussion going on right now over at the Official Shaman Forum. Read more for a list of all the new posts tonight, with direct links.

On Stormstrike:

Further improvement to Stormstrike is most certainly a possibility, especially as we continue to evaluate the Enhancement tree as a whole. However, it’s doubtful it will ever change in the manner that you’re presenting. We have considered numerous other suggestions for improvement, however.

Regarding Shaman Mana Regen:

I’ve seen quite a few discussions concerning mana regeneration capability in general. This is something we generally prefer to give to the core caster classes. That isn’t to say we don’t want to add “staying power” into the Shaman talents, but one that requires the Shaman to place great emphasis on Spirit isn’t the right direction as far as we’re concerned.

We’ll continue to evaluate this aspect of the Shaman, we promise.

Enhancement Shaman Improvements:

We realize that many of you feel this tree is lacking raid viability, Badomen. As I’ve stated before, we definitely wanted to add more to the tree in terms of what it has to offer the “raider”. In any case, we’ve read the feedback and concerns provided on these boards and will be watching this tree very closely once patch 1.11 releases.

Continue to provide your feedback, and we’ll continue to make adjustments in problem areas.

Concerning the Two-Handed Weapon skill being trainable. We’ve considered the viewpoints of those that have suggested this change, however, we feel that this is an important element of the Enhancement Shaman that makes them unique compared to others specs. We simply don’t feel that this is a good candidate for a core ability.

Mana Tide:

We’ve seen a number of the discussions concerning this talent. We’ve read pages of feedback and suggestions. You should know that while we’re not making additional changes to the ability for patch 1.11 we will continue to evaluate its usefulness. Currently, there are no plans to make the ability “core” to the Shaman.

Frostbrand Weapon, Healing Stream Totem, Windwall Totem, etc:

We see requests to improve many Shaman abilities beyond just the Frostbrand Weapon. Such as Healing Stream Totem, Windwall Totem, Stoneskin Totem, and even Stoneclaw Totem. These are just a few off of the top of my head. We’re going to be evaluating each of these abilities, along with all of the changes brought about by 1.11. We’ll be reading through your feedback and watching players engage in all aspects of the game. Please continue to post your thoughts, and I’ll do my best to be consistent in providing some level of detail in the areas that I’m able. Patch 1.11 is bringing about a number of improvements and it’s important that we watch them play out to some degree before making additional tweaks.

Totem system in general:

We appreciate all the feedback we’ve received concerning the Shaman’s totems. We don’t believe the current totem system is as “broken” as it’s currently being made out, despite a few recently implemented encounters that make totem-use a little bit awkward. With that being said, we will be looking into “quality of life” improvements. Such as UI showing which totems are currently active, and a means to destroy active totems etc…

Also, it should be known that we have currently decided against having totems affect the entire raid group. There are a few reasons for this, but primarily we don’t want to decrease the number of Shaman desired in raids.

Some thanks and acknowledgement:

You’re welcome, Nert. Thanks for the dozens of constructive posts. It’s always appreciated.

I wasn’t around until recently, and the few days I have been back in the office, my time was spread catching up in two-dozen areas. During this period I became “Enemy-to-the-Shaman”. I’ve apologized for my absence, and the lack of communication. I’ll try to never leave work sick again.