Shaman Class is Being Held Back

Introduction:
The Shaman class has MANY shortcomings, to the point where it is CLOSE to broken. It still functions well in many regards just because of band aid fixes. Elemental Focus proccing of crits was a band-aid fix in 2.010 to allow Elemental to be worthwhile raid DPS. It's being nerfed because the intended band-aid ended up becoming more of a heart, kidney, and liver transplant all in one.

Dual wield was a band aid fix to giving Enhancement sustainable DPS. The only thing better than getting two extra attacks on 20% of your successful swings with a two-handed weapon was doing so two times as often by dual wielding (20% per hand, ideally).

The problem with the class in two lines, Tseric:

A Shaman is a hybrid class that has to specialize to be competitive, but can not achieve its potential because it is thought that it functions as a hybrid in both PvE and PvP situations. It has base abilities to attempt to alleviate its problems, but other classes have MUCH better abilities, trained and talented, which prevent their deficiencies from cropping up.

Elemental Shaman comparison

Compared to other casters and ranged damage dealers, Elemental Shamans lack:
-Group PvE and solo/group PvP Crowd Control (Mage/Warlock/Shadow Priest/Balance Druid/Hunter)
-Silences (Interrupts aren't the same thing) (Mage/Warlock/Shadow Priest)
-Ways to keep distance (Mage/Warlock/Shadow Priest/Hunter/Balance Druid)
-Passive casting pushback resistance (Mage/Warlock/Balance Druid)
-A way to actively replenish mana without use of consumables (Mage/Warlock/Shadow Priest/Balance Druid/Hunter)

While Balance Druids obtained such powers via talents and BC abilities because they have to shapeshift to mimic a pure caster, Elemental Shamans were held back. Why? Because we are thought to be a hybrid. Tseric, you have stated yourself that an OOM Elemental Shaman should melee with his melee caster weapon. You know, the 41.4 DPS one that doesn't scale at all. We aren't hybrid enough for our melee without melee-based gear and without Enhancement specialization to be worthwhile. We are literally better off staying at a 40 yard range from a raid boss and going to the bathroom and then eating dinner waiting for our mana to regen instead of going into melee range.


Enhancement Shaman comparison

Compared to other melee classes, Enhancement Shamans lack:
-Anti-CC/CC Breakers (Rogue/Warrior/Paladin/Bear Druid)
-Way to get into melee range (Rogue/Feral Cat+Bear Druid/Warrior/Paladin)
-Solo/Group PvP CC abilities to keep people out of combat for a moderate to long duration (Rogue/Paladin/Druid shifted into normal form)
-Solo/Group PvP and Solo/Group PvE stuns/ways to stay in melee range/and disabling abilities to let you get an upper hand (Rogue/Warrior/Paladin/Bear+Cat Druid)


I make a noticeable difference here. Moderate/long duration CC to take someone out of combat is something like Sap, Repentance, Cyclone, etc. Stuns/disable abilities are short term CC that are meant to let you commit to a combo of some sort. Hammer of Justice + Seal of Command + Judgement of Command combos to do extra damage is one thing Paladins like. Rogues stunlock as we all know to prevent their opponent from geting away. Warriors enjoy Mortal Strike and Hamstring and stuns and such to keep their opponent in melee range and unable to react.

An Enhancement Shaman is the only class that tries to get the jump on someone without a Charge or Stealth ability. Paladins are in the same boat, but they have Blessing of Freedom which breaks out of slows/snares/roots AND MAKES THEM IMMUNE TO THESE ABILITIES. They also have a Divine Shield if they really want to blow the cooldown to run at their opponent with impunity. A Shaman is a Rogue without stealth, or a Warrior with Charge. And Frost Shock is like a ranged version of Hamstring that is a mana hog and has insane diminishing returns.


Where am I going with this?

The point of the matter is that a lot of issues are thrown under the rug because the Shaman has abilities that make it seem super powerful. Enhancement Shamans are Warriors with instant cast ranged abilities that work as well as Pummel, Rend, and Hamstring. An Enhancement Shaman can do the damage of a dual wielding Rogue with Windfury without having to spend ANY mana, whereas a Rogue has to manage his energy properly. An Enhancement Shaman can absorb spells with a Grounding Totem and slow people with an Earthbind totem and remove buffs from his enemies. ZOMG OVERPOWERED!

However, the variety of spells we have are not overpowered. And throwing in other abilities would not overpower us - they'd just replace these "buffer abilities" we currently possess.


A Shaman's hybrid abilities do not make up for our deficiencies as well as other classes' CC abilities

While an Elemental Shaman has higher armor and slightly better melee ability than a pure caster so that, on paper, it can hold its own in melee range, the other ranged damage dealers have multiple forms of CC to get out of melee range and continue doing their business.

While an Enhancement Shaman has better ranged attacks with solid utility, mana/rage/energy free melee via powerful weapon buffs, and debuffing and buffing totems that keep him protected and weaken his enemies by slowing them or doing damage to them, the other melee classes have ways to get into melee range and stay in there and not even need ranged attacks to begin with.

If you were a Warrior, why ask for an instant cast, ranged interrupt ability, when you can just Intercept Stun instead? Why ask for an Earthbind Totem or Frost Trap ability, when you can just Charge + Hamstring instead? If you were a Mage, why ask for Plate Armor against a melee class, when you can just Frost Nova + Blink instead?

The problem with the Shaman class is that it has remnants of being a hybrid melee spellcaster that look good on paper but in practice don't hold equal footing with other melee or spellcaster classes. And because of this, it seems the developers are not very keen on giving the class any sort of buffs.