At least you're honest about using AI. Other than that, oh boy. Hyperbole and falsehoods galore.
First and foremost, MnM is not slated to be a raiding game. It's not made to be, advertised to be, or pretends to be a raiding game. From the onset, your proposed paradox is almost entirely irrelevant. Yes MnM has raiding, but the devs have very clearly stated NUMEROUS TIMES that raiding isn't the focus of the game. The focus is on small group content, leveling, world exploration, etc.
Dylvish The recent Shaman rework has successfully carved out a specific niche for high-end raid encounters, but it has done so by breaking the class’s viability across the vast majority of the game’s core loop.
Completely untrue. Shamans remain viable healers throughout the game. There may be certain areas where the other healers bring tools that make them better than Shamans, but one class being better than another in some cases isn't a negative.
Dylvish The current design introduces a structural double standard when compared to other healing and utility archetypes,
There is no double standard. Shamans heal, Druids heal, Clerics heal. Shamans debuffs, Enchanters debuff. Shamans buffs, Enchanters buffs, Bards buff. That's called overlap.
Dylvish leaving the Shaman fundamentally obsolete during the standard leveling and farming experience.
Hyperbole and completely false.
Dylvish MMORPG pacing dictates that players spend roughly 95% of their total in-game lifecycle group-grinding camps and trash packs to gain experience, farm reagents, and acquire gear. Bosses account for less than 5% of content.
Untrue. There is no rule that forces MMO developers to follow this design, nor is there some grand consensus among fans that this is a required formula for a good and/or successful MMO. Just looking at WoW and FFXIV disproves your point as both games focus heavily on raiding. Hell, I'd say FFXIV is 95% bosses and 5% everything else. At least once you get through their annoying Main Story Quest line.
Dylvish By anchoring the Shaman’s "group power budget" almost entirely to a high-mana, single-target physical slow, the class has been optimized exclusively for that 5% end-game loop.
Untrue, ignores reality, disproves your own point. Shamans bring a hell of a lot more than Slow to a group. Their main purpose, believe or not, is to heal. They also bring Enfeeble, Root, Haste, Berserker Fury, some damage, and SoW. Anyone have SoW? SoW please? And if Shamans were "optimized exclusively" for raiding, they'd be the only class to have a Primary Slow. But there's overlap with Enchanters. Yeah sure the Shaman slow is better than the Enchanter AT 60, but the game isn't going to revolve around 25 or 40 man groups beating down on one target for 5 to 10 minutes. Hell, I'm willing to bet that it won't be uncommon for raids to only have a Shaman and no Enchanter, or vice versa.
Dylvish During a continuous dungeon grind, high mana costs and a 45-second Consume (Cannibalize) cooldown completely lock the Shaman into a passive "Meditate & Slow" trap.
You forgot about healing and Enfeeble, and the magic resist debuff. And the constant battle with rebuffing. And rooting. And sometimes meleeing or casting a dot. And looting. There's also a lot of pushback against the 45 second Consume, so it's entirely possible that the cooldown may be lowered a bit so it feels less like a button you push as soon as it comes off of cooldown and more of a decision you make mid combat.
Dylvish They cannot spare the mana to cast their non-stacking DoT lines without actively starving their own healing pool
Untrue. They can sometimes spare mana for dot. In double healer parties, they'll want to dot more frequently, too.
Dylvish leaving them with an incredibly unengaging moment-to-moment loop.
Shaman gameplay is far more engaging than the other healers. Not only that, but MnM isn't meant to be a deeply engaging game where you're constantly spamming buttons and following a strict rotation. Poor argument.
Dylvish The argument that a Shaman is "required" for group physical mitigation completely collapses the moment a group introduces a Bard or an Enchanter:
Poorly framed argument. Your argument should be along the lines of "Enchanters and Shamans have overlap, so having both in a group causes problem" or "balancing content around having an Enchanter or a Shaman to reduce enemy physical DPS is an issue".
Dylvish The Enchanter provides highly efficient crowd control, reliable arcane slows, and the premier mana regen line in the game.
Yeah that's what they do. I've also been told that Bard mana regen scales better than the Enchanter's.
Dylvish The Bard dynamically twists stat amplification, attack haste, and health/mana regeneration completely for free with zero mana costs.
Yeah, that's what they do. The mana cost part isn't an argument since bringing this utility to a group is pretty much all a Bard can do. Also, they're getting reworked because Bards are currently pretty awful when compared to the arguably overpowered Enchanter.
Dylvish If standard dungeon mobs do not require the absolute maximum physical mitigation of a Shaman slow, a group running a standard grind will always prefer a Bard or Enchanter for utility, alongside a Cleric or Druid for superior healing throughput.
You're talking about min-maxed guild groups. The reality here is that you take what you can get for the most part. A group that already has a Cleric or Druid healing will obviously prefer an Enchanter over a Shaman.
Dylvish The Shaman becomes entirely redundant on an average dungeon roster.
Denying the antecedent. Certain group compositions not preferring a Shaman does not make the Shaman class entirely redundant. The "average dungeon roster" is also a poor argument, since most groups will fill the key roles (CC, tank, healer, puller) and fill the other slots with whatever makes sense and whatever is available. An average group which brings both a Shaman and an Enchanter won't be at any real disadvantage. Bringing both classes means that Slow and Enfeeble are applied faster (less overall healing required and more group DPS), the Shaman can more easily back up the Enchanter with CC, and that the Enchanter can focus more on Charm/pulling/mana battery duties. They don't automatically become redundant, they share the burden and then use excess mana for DPS or to have faster pulls.
Dylvish Forcing a group-dependent design onto the Shaman while explicitly protecting and buffing the solo capabilities of alternative hybrid casters creates an unsustainable ecosystem imbalance.
Holy AI garbage.
Dylvish Druids are permitted a highly efficient, autonomous solo kit (high-level animal charms and snare-kiting) under the justification of "high twitch risk."
More AI garbage, but this more is more sensible at least. Druids are great soloers yes. Nothing wrong with that.
Dylvish Clerics retain slow but incredibly safe attrition soloing via heavy plate armor, shields, and defensive loops.
Even more AI garbage. Clerics even being able to solo is relatively new and will most likely get nerfed some more in the future since they do way too much damage still. A class being able to solo somewhat effectively is a good thing.
Dylvish Shamans have had their entire solo footprint systematically removed (pet removal, stacking dot removal, root mechanics heavily penalized, and high spell costs preventing root-rotting entirely, with no option for melee).
And yet more AI garbage. The pet being removed is a necessity due to game having way too many pet classes, making the real pet classes feel devalued. Yes, it's a DPS loss, no it's not coming back. Stacking dots felt like an exploit, or least super cheesy. In return, they got good DoT scaling through Wisdom. Root rotting being worse isn't an issue since you have SoW. Just root, DoT, and run until the mob dies. I also think melee Shaman may be viable for twinks. With a good mix of STR/DEX/AGI/WIS chain gear I don't see why they wouldn't be able to melee down mobs with their buffs and debuffs. May not be viable in the 50s, but before then I don't see why it wouldn't work.
Dylvish A social game still requires baseline personal autonomy.
Which Shamans have. Having access to SoW also makes them great for gathering.
Dylvish If a player logs in during off-peak hours or has a limited window to play, being mathematically incapable of soloing a single even-level mob out in the open world means they simply cannot play the game.
Completely untrue. Shamans can DoT and run just fine.
Dylvish A class cannot survive a live launch if it is treated as a specialized raid tool that is optimal only when standing on a boss platform
Hyperbole.
Dylvish only played to be a buff bot.
Plenty of reasons to play Shamans, including and not limited to: wanting to heal, not caring about the META, liking the class identify, disliking how passive the other healers are, wanting to play a healer of a race that doesn't have access to other healers, RP, etc.
Dylvish To restore a healthy balance, the design team needs to implement hybrid compromises rather than a flat "no solo" mandate:
More AI garbage. Healers already decently balanced while leveling. There is no "no solo mandate". In fact, the devs have gone out of their way to make the crappier solo classes more viable over the past few months. Rogues gained cooldown resets and bleeds and snares, Fighters gained a self heal, and Inquisitors are still Inquisitors but at least they can regenerate their health faster now.
Dylvish Enable a Solo Melee Attrition Path: Open up a clear pathway for Shamans to engage in a slow, high-downtime, but viable solo melee loop. Allow the class to reasonably stack its own kit—applying a single DoT, slowing the mob, maintaining self-haste/regen, and executing spot heals—while standing face-to-face with an even-level target. Even if the kill speed is intentionally set to be incredibly slow, giving the Shaman enough defensive scaling (or weapon-proc adjustments) to trade blows out in the world is paramount to keeping a baseline solo identity.
Shamans should already be better at tanking melee dmg than Clerics due to Slow/Enfeeble. And like I said above, slapping on some STR/DEX gear should let them do some acceptable levels of melee damage.
Dylvish Reduce DoT Spell Costs: Lower Shaman DoT mana costs by 15% to 20% so they can actively contribute damage during group grinds without risking a total mana pool collapse.
Letting Shamans contribute even more DPS to a group than they already do would create an imbalance between the healing classes. I'm against this.
Dylvish Dynamic Consume Cooldown: Implement a dynamic scaling timer for Consume. Retain the 45-second cooldown while grouped to protect the team economy, but drastically lower the cooldown when un-grouped to allow baseline solo survival.
Almost impossible to implement properly. And giving a class near infinite mana while soloing is extremely unhealthy for the game. Terrible idea, and I'm completely against it.
Dylvish Address the Redundancy: Re-evaluate the utility overlap with Bards and Enchanters.
The first good point you bring up, although not in the way you meant it. Can groups that don't have access to an Enchanter or a Shaman perform adequately in later levels?
Dylvish If the Shaman’s unique stat buffs and physical mitigation do not noticeably outclass passive, mana-free Bard songs during a standard leveling session, the class has no structural foundation left to stand on.
The only overlap between Shaman and Bards is for primary haste. Also, hyperbole and false statement at the end there.
Overall, that was a poorly thought out post.
