I have always heard complaints about shaman buffs whenever I cast them on raids. I usually cast stats and acumen after soulbonded buffs for certain melee classes and pets to enjoy. However the rest of the raid ends up bitching about the fact that they have to click three entire buffs! I know clicking buffs is a highly stressful part of raiding at high tiers in SoD but there is a solution.
First though, I think the unacquainted need to be familiarized with how Shaman buffs work. For those not familiar with the Shaman class, we have four buffs that we cast on raids.
Spell: Relic: Ancestral Focus
Slot 1: Increase Max Hit Points by 455
Slot 2: Increase Current Hit Points by 455
Slot 3: Increase CHA by 70
Slot 4: Increase ATK by 35
Slot 5: Forced Spell Stacking Slot 1: Max Hit Points
Slot 6: Forced Spell Stacking Slot 1: CHA
Relic: Essence of Tarhansar
Slot 1: Increase STA by 80
Slot 3: Forced Spell Stacking Slot 1: STR
Slot 4: Increase STR by 80
Slot 8: Ultravision
Slot 10: Waterbreathing
Relic: Essence of the Wild
Slot 1: Increase AGI by 80
Slot 2: Forced Spell Stacking Slot 1: DEX
Slot 3: Increase DEX by 80
Slot 9: See Invisible
Slot 10: Increase Hit Points by 8 per tick
Spell: Acumen of Dar Khura
Slot 1: See Invisible
Slot 2: Ultravision
Slot 3: Increase Stamina Regeneration by 5
So let’s take a look at these buffs. First off, we have Ancestral Focus. This buff uses the same slot as WON and gives hp, atk, and a lot of charisma. Great for classes that worry about resists or melee classes that want extra proc and spell damage. However most mana users generally want the mana regen from WON so that leaves melee as the main users of focus. No point in using WON if you don’t have any mana, right? Unless the tiny amount of AC appeals to you.
Next we have Essence of Tarhansar and Essence of the Wild. These are both stat buffs and which also bestow extra cool abilities like vision stuff and waterbreathing. They are very useful at lower tiers but generally most people don’t have the buff slots to use them later on. At high tiers, almost no one actually bothers with them and you can quickly anger a raid by casting stat buffs over and over. Players are limited on buff slots and between all the other buffs and clickies, shaman stat buffs are the first to be clicked.
Lastly we have acumen which I am throwing in here because some classes benefit from it. It is nice having extra stamina regen, you can go way longer
Also a cool buff for cool people.
So my proposal is to combine Essence of Tarhansar, Essence of the Wild, and Acumen into one magical buff that people won’t click!
Leave focus as is. Some people like WON and some people like Focus, it’s not a problem because people either have one or the other and some classes will only use one.
Combining the two stat buffs and acumen would free up 2 buff slots which would help out certain classes a ton, especially tanks who barely have enough buff slots as is.
Essentially the new buff would look like this
Relic: Essence of the Wild Tarhansar (or cool name)
Slot 1: Increase AGI by 80
Slot 2: Forced Spell Stacking Slot 1: DEX
Slot 3: Increase DEX by 80
Slot 4: Increase STA by 80
Slot 5: Forced Spell Stacking Slot 1: STR
Slot 6: Increase STR by 80
Slot 7: Increase Hit Points by 8 per tick
Slot 8: Ultravision
Slot 9: See Invisible
Slot 10: Waterbreathing
It is essentially the same buffs that people are already using but it would free up extra buff slots, allowing for other buffs to be used. Sure it looks like a lot but it is just EoT and EotW combined.
This would leave a problem of a missing shaman relic spell. I have a few ideas and the one that made the most sense to me would be a targetable Ancient: Slumber of the Beast.
Currently, the progression for Shaman heal over time spells that slow the person goes like this.
Spell: Torpor
100 Mana 6 Second Cast time 4 ticks
Effects (from parser):
Slot 1: Heal Over Time by 300 per tick
Slot 3: Decrease Movement by 100%
Slot 11: Decrease Attack Speed by 80%
Torpor is nice when you get it but Slumber of the Beast is a direct upgrade so you never use it once you get slumber.
Ancient: Slumber of the Beast
100 Mana 6 Second Cast time 4 ticks
Effects (from parser):
Slot 1: Heal Over Time by 350 per tick
Slot 2: Increase Armor Class by 13
Slot 3: Decrease Movement by 100%
Slot 4: Increase All Resists by 25
Slot 11: Decrease Attack Speed by 80%
This spell is great for shaman survivability. It’s slightly better than slumber but is improved in every way. You can keep it running all the time. However the fact it has AC prevents you from turning into a polar bear and being able to use slumber which I dare to say is game breaking.
Runic: Spiritual Attuning
Mana cost: 950 Cast time: 6.6 seconds 4 ticks
Effects (from parser):
Slot 1: Heal Over Time by 500 per tick
Slot 3: Decrease Movement by 50%
Slot 11: Decrease Attack Speed by 20%
This spell doesn’t make sense for the line of HoTs that slow the target. Spiritual Attuning AKA Runic1 is a good spell and useful in certain situations but it doesn’t make sense that shamans go from only being able to hot themselves to being able to shit out a group hot that is better in every way.
There needs to be something in between.
Something cool.
Something like a targetable version of Ancient: Slumber of the Beast or Torpor. It just makes sense. Shamans go from being able to HoT themselves to getting a better self HoT. Then they master that and can HoT other people. Lastly real powerful shamans can HoT their entire group. It makes sense in terms of a Shaman becoming powerful as they grow more experienced and wiser.
Currently, there is something missing. How does a shaman go from being able to only HoT themselves to being able to do an entire group? I know Shaman are pretty awesome but I didn’t think they were that good…
So the new spell would look something like this…
Spell: Relic: Spirit Slumber (or a different cool name)
Mana cost: 300
Cast time: 6 seconds
Duration: 4 ticks (24 seconds)
Effects (from parser):
Slot 1: Heal Over Time by 300 per tick
Slot 3: Decrease Movement by 50%
Slot 11: Decrease Attack Speed by 20%
It is essentially a targetable version of torpor. It would be useful for keeping healers and casters up as well as providing a nice buffer during certain situations where casting a runic1 would be detrimental.
There are other options for a new relic spell for Shamans but a new targetable torpor would fit that spot nicely. With the shaman buffs combined, it would allow more flexibility for which buffs you can use while not increasing the power of people who use those buffs normally.
Thanks for reading this terrible mess and feel free to tear it apart and point out all my stupid flaws or ideas.
First though, I think the unacquainted need to be familiarized with how Shaman buffs work. For those not familiar with the Shaman class, we have four buffs that we cast on raids.
Spell: Relic: Ancestral Focus
Slot 1: Increase Max Hit Points by 455
Slot 2: Increase Current Hit Points by 455
Slot 3: Increase CHA by 70
Slot 4: Increase ATK by 35
Slot 5: Forced Spell Stacking Slot 1: Max Hit Points
Slot 6: Forced Spell Stacking Slot 1: CHA
Relic: Essence of Tarhansar
Slot 1: Increase STA by 80
Slot 3: Forced Spell Stacking Slot 1: STR
Slot 4: Increase STR by 80
Slot 8: Ultravision
Slot 10: Waterbreathing
Relic: Essence of the Wild
Slot 1: Increase AGI by 80
Slot 2: Forced Spell Stacking Slot 1: DEX
Slot 3: Increase DEX by 80
Slot 9: See Invisible
Slot 10: Increase Hit Points by 8 per tick
Spell: Acumen of Dar Khura
Slot 1: See Invisible
Slot 2: Ultravision
Slot 3: Increase Stamina Regeneration by 5
So let’s take a look at these buffs. First off, we have Ancestral Focus. This buff uses the same slot as WON and gives hp, atk, and a lot of charisma. Great for classes that worry about resists or melee classes that want extra proc and spell damage. However most mana users generally want the mana regen from WON so that leaves melee as the main users of focus. No point in using WON if you don’t have any mana, right? Unless the tiny amount of AC appeals to you.
Next we have Essence of Tarhansar and Essence of the Wild. These are both stat buffs and which also bestow extra cool abilities like vision stuff and waterbreathing. They are very useful at lower tiers but generally most people don’t have the buff slots to use them later on. At high tiers, almost no one actually bothers with them and you can quickly anger a raid by casting stat buffs over and over. Players are limited on buff slots and between all the other buffs and clickies, shaman stat buffs are the first to be clicked.
Lastly we have acumen which I am throwing in here because some classes benefit from it. It is nice having extra stamina regen, you can go way longer
Also a cool buff for cool people.So my proposal is to combine Essence of Tarhansar, Essence of the Wild, and Acumen into one magical buff that people won’t click!
Leave focus as is. Some people like WON and some people like Focus, it’s not a problem because people either have one or the other and some classes will only use one.
Combining the two stat buffs and acumen would free up 2 buff slots which would help out certain classes a ton, especially tanks who barely have enough buff slots as is.
Essentially the new buff would look like this
Relic: Essence of the Wild Tarhansar (or cool name)
Slot 1: Increase AGI by 80
Slot 2: Forced Spell Stacking Slot 1: DEX
Slot 3: Increase DEX by 80
Slot 4: Increase STA by 80
Slot 5: Forced Spell Stacking Slot 1: STR
Slot 6: Increase STR by 80
Slot 7: Increase Hit Points by 8 per tick
Slot 8: Ultravision
Slot 9: See Invisible
Slot 10: Waterbreathing
It is essentially the same buffs that people are already using but it would free up extra buff slots, allowing for other buffs to be used. Sure it looks like a lot but it is just EoT and EotW combined.
This would leave a problem of a missing shaman relic spell. I have a few ideas and the one that made the most sense to me would be a targetable Ancient: Slumber of the Beast.
Currently, the progression for Shaman heal over time spells that slow the person goes like this.
Spell: Torpor
100 Mana 6 Second Cast time 4 ticks
Effects (from parser):
Slot 1: Heal Over Time by 300 per tick
Slot 3: Decrease Movement by 100%
Slot 11: Decrease Attack Speed by 80%
Torpor is nice when you get it but Slumber of the Beast is a direct upgrade so you never use it once you get slumber.
Ancient: Slumber of the Beast
100 Mana 6 Second Cast time 4 ticks
Effects (from parser):
Slot 1: Heal Over Time by 350 per tick
Slot 2: Increase Armor Class by 13
Slot 3: Decrease Movement by 100%
Slot 4: Increase All Resists by 25
Slot 11: Decrease Attack Speed by 80%
This spell is great for shaman survivability. It’s slightly better than slumber but is improved in every way. You can keep it running all the time. However the fact it has AC prevents you from turning into a polar bear and being able to use slumber which I dare to say is game breaking.
Runic: Spiritual Attuning
Mana cost: 950 Cast time: 6.6 seconds 4 ticks
Effects (from parser):
Slot 1: Heal Over Time by 500 per tick
Slot 3: Decrease Movement by 50%
Slot 11: Decrease Attack Speed by 20%
This spell doesn’t make sense for the line of HoTs that slow the target. Spiritual Attuning AKA Runic1 is a good spell and useful in certain situations but it doesn’t make sense that shamans go from only being able to hot themselves to being able to shit out a group hot that is better in every way.
There needs to be something in between.
Something cool.
Something like a targetable version of Ancient: Slumber of the Beast or Torpor. It just makes sense. Shamans go from being able to HoT themselves to getting a better self HoT. Then they master that and can HoT other people. Lastly real powerful shamans can HoT their entire group. It makes sense in terms of a Shaman becoming powerful as they grow more experienced and wiser.
Currently, there is something missing. How does a shaman go from being able to only HoT themselves to being able to do an entire group? I know Shaman are pretty awesome but I didn’t think they were that good…
So the new spell would look something like this…
Spell: Relic: Spirit Slumber (or a different cool name)
Mana cost: 300
Cast time: 6 seconds
Duration: 4 ticks (24 seconds)
Effects (from parser):
Slot 1: Heal Over Time by 300 per tick
Slot 3: Decrease Movement by 50%
Slot 11: Decrease Attack Speed by 20%
It is essentially a targetable version of torpor. It would be useful for keeping healers and casters up as well as providing a nice buffer during certain situations where casting a runic1 would be detrimental.
There are other options for a new relic spell for Shamans but a new targetable torpor would fit that spot nicely. With the shaman buffs combined, it would allow more flexibility for which buffs you can use while not increasing the power of people who use those buffs normally.
Thanks for reading this terrible mess and feel free to tear it apart and point out all my stupid flaws or ideas.
