Enhancement shamans, now 50% more huntery

by Matthew Rossi Jul 20th 2008 at 11:00AM

Yes, I know 'huntery' isn't a word.

Tipster Korgak sent in a piece of news from the Wrath Shaman forums: shamans now get AP from agility. To quote Blue poster Koraa:

Sorry about that, it should of been in the patch notes. The idea is for DPS mail (with AGI and AP) to be viable for both Hunters and Shaman. Strength is mostly now only a stat for Death Knights, Warriors and Ret Paladins.

While this won't immediately take shamans out of wearing leather for their enhancement DPS needs, it does make the leather that feral druids wear less attractive. Rogue leather, which tends to have agi, attack power and crit will still be fairly attractive, but now all that mail that has stats for hunters will look a lot more appealing to our melee branch of the best class in the game. One depressing note seems to be that our agility to crit formulas seem to have changed negatively as well, most likely because we're expected to push agility more than currently.

(Thanks again to Korgak for the tip)

Tags: Gear, itemization, mail, Shaman, Stats, wrath of the lich king, wrath-beta, wrath-beta-patch-notes, WrathOfTheLichKing

Filed under: Shaman, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Expansions, Wrath of the Lich King

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Tridus Jul 20th 2008 11:03AM

Makes sense, Enhancement Shaman get ripped off on itemization right now due to most mail being stated for Hunters instead.

Demgar Jul 20th 2008 5:56PM

Ya most for hunters - thats why there are 3 shaman belts at the new badge vendors and... oh ya NONE for hunters, pretty much that way on down the line, there are 3 shaman pieces per hunter piece of mail

So what if you have different specs, we need gear too.

Ryan Jul 21st 2008 7:46AM

Well, no more strength on mail, so you should be happy. May be a bit too much +hit for you though.

s256 Jul 21st 2008 6:39PM

It's okay, we'll need the hit too since the Resto talent has been removed. It's always helped our white damage anyway :P

I'm a little disappointed in the loss of Strength as our primary attribute though, I liked being in league with warriors and paladins as far as that was concerned, and having distinct gear from hunters was cool. I like the Shaman-gear look.. I don't want to look like a hunter :(

They could still have some mail specifically for shamans if they have Str, Agi and Intellect and maybe a hit rating bonus. *crosses fingers*

(I have a hunter too, she'll be hitting 70 before the expansion comes out.)

Balasan Jul 20th 2008 11:22AM

Excellent! Now hunters have proper competition on their gear.

Personally, having an enhancement shaman, I approve of this change (in fact I specifically asked for this change when they asked our opinions for class changes in Wrath in the forums. Yay me!). Wearing leather makes me feel naked.

Sean Jul 20th 2008 12:06PM

Totally agree.

I always never understood how Enhancement Shammies got a nice DPS "tip-of-the-hat" with dual wielding, yet we weren't given that much mail itemization that allowed maximum damage output and contribution.

This change gets my support :D

Elmo Jul 20th 2008 11:52AM

would it be worth it to regem and re-enchant my T6 Shaman gear?
that was my first reaction, I don't think so tbh since it's only levelling and not trying to down some Boss.

still an awesome and very needed change.

Khanmora Jul 20th 2008 12:08PM

So what are they going to do about all the wasted int and mp5 on mail gear? I know enhancement shaman don't want that crap, so they're probably still going to prefer leather to the horrible mail itemization that we've been seeing.

Matthew Rossi Jul 20th 2008 12:09PM

Enhancement Shamans will have a talent that converts Int to attack power.

http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=51885

Shamayonaise Jul 20th 2008 1:07PM

Considering Int also = attack power for shamans it wont be wasted. Also, enhancement shaman are going to be burning through mana like no tomorrow, that MP5 will be useful as opposed to right now when our spells cost like nothing due to various procs and earthshield/sharage can keep our mana up.

SaintStryfe Jul 20th 2008 12:59PM

Well with INT being converted to AP (via talent points) and more spell slinging (Maelstrom Weapon), both INT and MP5 may well be much more important for Shaman in the future. +hit as well.

Shamayonaise Jul 20th 2008 1:11PM

I mean watershield/ Shamanistic Rage

my2cents Jul 20th 2008 1:39PM

On top of int turning into AP, it looks like CL, LB, or Lava Burst will now (often) be instant cast (from a buff) for enhance which obviously will add them to the dps rotation thereby using significantly more mana.

Jeeru Jul 20th 2008 12:13PM

Well enh shammies will be getting AP from int too now...so Int is not so bad...the mp5 however...we'll see...there may be a need with so many things costing % of base mana...i.e GW

Blazer Jul 20th 2008 12:23PM

I think with the change to Ghost Wolf's mana cost, and enchancement's new talent that will give instant LB,CL,and LaB when stacked, mp5 might be more desirable than it currently is.

marros@terenas Jul 20th 2008 12:31PM

will they still get the +2ap per 1 str though or is that completely gone

marros@terenas Jul 20th 2008 12:35PM

nvm, checked the beta forum. 1str=1ap

Shamayonaise Jul 20th 2008 1:08PM

1 Str = 1 AP
1 Agi = 1 AP
1 Int = 1 AP (Talented)

Probably one of the best things they could have done to the class, this makes some of the hunter gear that much better, lets look at Badge gear a moment,

Trousers of Scryers Retainer
43 Agi
45 Sta
30 Hit
104 AP
2 Sockets (not going to evaluate these at the moment)

Without Sockets Trousers give us 104 AP 30 Hit ~2% cit pre Xpac

Leggings of Pursuit in Xpac
44 Agi
36 Sta
30 Int
15 Hit
104 AP
Same 2 sockets, different bonus

You are looking at 184 AP, 15 Hit, ~2 AP.

Personally, I would take the 80 AP over 15 Hit especially considering the other benefits the Mail gives, ~.5% Spell Crit, 450 Mana, 476 extra Armor

These enhancement changes are long overdue.