TexKSAH This right here.
Shaman got taken behind the woodshed and beat within an inch of its life with the nerf bat. And got nothing new out of it.
Our deep dive was phoned it. Our class design wasnt even followed.
I keep hearing from folks "the games not done" "theyll be more updates later"
And I agree with that. We saw the new canni update after the backlash to a horrific overtuned nerf.
While every other class has gotten a deep dive very much inline with their class write up, and when they didnt, they got an explanation of why they departed from the design.. shaman got nothing. Here are some examples from the most recent deep dives.
Pally: we originally sought to create more distance from Cleric ..... we walked back on this a bit.
Elementalist: One thing we'd planned on in the original class overview, but decided against as we worked on the update:
"Less: generic convenience conjurations" didn't happen. When talking with elementalist players, it was clear that they valued these spells and the utility they bring to a party and did not want to lose them.
So lets look at the shaman class design write up.
Has the strongest physical buff suite in the roster, capable of enhancing strength, speed, and endurance
This is not true, unless the remove STR and Haste from Enchanter.. or at LEAST nerf them to do less then shaman.
Damage is focused on persistent DoTs with limited direct damage options
This didnt happen. They removed 1 singular low level DD spell. No new DoTs. No AoE DoTs.
Manifests spirit animals as expressions of ancestral force in their spells, but not as pets
This didnt happen at all. Not even pretending to do this one.
Healing is also getting a pass to sharpen the distinction between the Shaman, Cleric, and Druid. Each healer should feel like a different tool for a different situation and, for the Shaman, that means leaning into their self-sustaining character. Distinction as a healer from the Cleric and Druid
This didnt happen at all. There has always been strong parity between Shaman and Cleric. I dont think anything needed to be done there. But we are virtually identical to Druids in healing.
Less: Animal transformations and pets. Overlap with Druid utility
They doubled down on animal transformations and are building new content around it. So the ONLY part of this that was true was the murdering of our SPIRIT pet. Which is the opposite of focusing on spirit for shaman.
The spirit realm bleeds into everything they do.
All of this and not a single word or explanation why the design wasnt followed. Nothing about, doing it later, which was mentioned on some deep dives that couldnt meet the entire vision.
I will never ever believe that key members of the dev team do not have an anti shaman bias or outright hatred of the class. It shines through clearly in everything the did and didnt do. It is made even more clear in every other deep dive put out.
