Issues with the Cataclysm Elemental Shaman.
I really like concept of Ele shaman. Molten has done awesome in getting the class close to retail cata, but I'm not happy with the way Blizzard designed it.
I have seen some gallant ele shammies in bgs and raids, but they are all trying really hard for only modest results. The class is very underwhelming in pve and pvp.
1. The burst is okay... but there is nothing spectacular about it. Worse is that the cast time reduction doesn't line up with our haste soft caps. It doesn't allow us to fit extra Lightning bolt into the ~basic rotation, so it isn't that beneficial. Although, for shammies that aren't haste capped Elemental Mastery feels great for sure haha.
2. I don't understand why Lightning bolt's cast time is longer than chain lightning. It makes so much more sense if they were switched. As a result, lightning bolt would have same cast time as lava burst, and we wont have to stack so much haste in our gear. And, our aoe wont be as overpowered as it is now.
3. No stun? No spec-wide stun breaker? That is only acceptable in pvp for a class with unparallelled hitting power, Ele does not have that kind of damage or heals.
4. What is the point of earthquake?! Chain lightning completely eclipses earthquake in damage and mana cost. If mop's Elemental blast existed in cataclysm, it would be perfect to replace earthquake in elemental talent tree.
5. Stoneclaw totem's absorb was set at a steady value, instead of scaling with spellpower. As a result its really weak. You also cant have it up as the same time as earthbind totem, which is fairly stupid in pvp. Thankfully these issues were both improved in mop.
Currently Elemental shamans are mere aoe slaves for non-boss raid mobs and Madness tentacles. Everybody levels, raids and pvps as Enhance. Blizzard really screwed this one up!!
