Kalgan comments on Shaman in General

#0 - Feb. 20, 2008, 11:50 p.m.

The thread on the General forums that contained Kalgan's comments appears to have been deleted.

I have quoted Kalgan's comments below and Kalgan himself has posted in this very thread. So this appears to now be where the discussion should take place.

Q u o t e:
Shamans in general will be getting buffs to go along with their nerfs. Bear in mind that there's still quite a bit that hasn't been implemented yet.

I'd share some of these with you, but some of them might not be technically do-able for this patch, which in turn changes some of our decisions about exactly what changes we make, so we're hesitant to give specifics until the work has been done.

Philosophically though, we're planning to make a number of improvements related to the totem dropping mechanic, improving specific under-used totems, and a few other non-totem related improvements.

To provide a little bacground, our general outlook on the class is that they're actually in good shape for all 3 specs for raid PvE, on the weak side for heroic PvE, pretty solid in battlegrounds and 5v5, on the weak side in 3v3, and pretty well gimped in 2v2. We're hoping to get at least 1 spec viable in 2v2 for this patch (we're thinking Enhance), but hopefully all three specs will be viable for 3v3.

*edit - removed link to deleted post and added intro.

Kalgan

#19 - Feb. 21, 2008, 12:03 a.m.

Q u o t e:
Just posted

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=4665326019&pageNo=1&sid=1#10

I have no idea where the thread went lol. I'll check with the forum mods. We can pretend for now that it was this thread instead.

Kalgan

#51 - Feb. 21, 2008, 12:06 a.m.

Q u o t e:

Why nerf elemental when you admit we need help in 2v2/3v3?

Because one-dimensional massive burst damage isn't the way we want to achieve that balance.

Kalgan

#179 - Feb. 21, 2008, 12:20 a.m.

Q u o t e:
Kalgan,

There was another comment you made in that thread that got deleted that might be of merit to mention here.

Someone had ask something along the lines that if you couldn't get all the fixes / buffs in this patch if you would roll back the nerfs.

I think your reply was along the lines of there will be buffs in this patch. Is that correct?

I'm not trying to put words in your mouth. I thought it was a good bit of discussion and I don't want it to get lost. Could you confirm or clarify?

Yep, true. We do have buffs in the works for 2.4, it's just we don't know with 100% certainty exactly which ones they'll be, since some might not be do-able for now.

Kalgan

#392 - Feb. 21, 2008, 1:16 a.m.

Q u o t e:
Kalgan has not posted in a while..

::eyes shift back and forth::

Hath we been abandoned?

Still reading it all. =]

Kalgan

#421 - Feb. 21, 2008, 1:24 a.m.

Q u o t e:

Out of curiousity, what did you felt when Shamans were in such uproar?
Do you think upcoming buffs can nullify the nerfs that has been done?

To be honest, we know the uproar is a natural part of it all.

What matters is what the patch looks like once it actually goes live, and how it actually affects the game. The PTR forum mayhem while things are still in transition is something that will pass and be forgotten, as it is with each patch.

Kalgan

#541 - Feb. 21, 2008, 2:02 a.m.

Q u o t e:
This is all the lead designed called in to do some CC because people are canceling and are sick of this.

That's what people say every patch, it hasn't ever been true though (not that I'd want it to be). =]

Kalgan

#554 - Feb. 21, 2008, 2:06 a.m.

Q u o t e:
Kalgan can you please explain why 3 years into the development of the game shaman have no cc. I want to see some sort of reason behind it. Most of the answers i've seen are reguarding people asking for it, and developers/CM's saying wait till WotLK, just wondering.

Because not every class is intended to have cc. That was a conscious decision made many years ago for the sake of class diversity. I wouldn't expect this to change, other than cc versus elementals (which obviously wouldn't really be "pvp cc"... other than the occasional funny team that will be named something like "Jackin' Yo Water Ele Dawg").

Kalgan

#577 - Feb. 21, 2008, 2:10 a.m.

Q u o t e:

By "not every class" you mean "shaman."

You don't have to play around with words, just say it.

I certainly don't think of Paladins or Warriors as having substantial cc either, the definition is somewhat vague.

Kalgan

#616 - Feb. 21, 2008, 2:17 a.m.

Q u o t e:

crowd control according to most is losing control of your character

hammer of justice and intimidating shout both do this, shaman have no moves that do this

Yes, there's just a huge difference between whether having a one-shot ability like intim shout makes anyone feel like "yeah, my class has cc", versus a re-usable mechanic like cyclone/poly/etc (for example).

Kalgan

#661 - Feb. 21, 2008, 2:24 a.m.

Q u o t e:

Who said anything about sustainable CC? Shamans have no roots/stuns/fears/incapacitates/disorient/anything. We want ANYTHING.

I don't think "anything" would really satisfy. Do tauren shamans feel like they have no need for the cc you're asking for since they have war stomp? Probably not.

All it would do to give every shaman that kind of "cc" is water down the feeling of distinction without really solving much (at least for now now... maybe someday in the future could be just the perfect solve for some balance problem, but today it would be marginal).