Shaman Changes (9014) Plus Enhancement Shifting

Here are the shaman changes from this latest build. Below, I will write a summar about some disturbing changes made to the enhancement tree, and why they were made.

Skills

Elemental

• Fire Nova Totem - Mana cost now 33% of base mana. (Old 26%)
• Fire Nova Totem - New ranks added. (Level 75 rank 8 – 755 to 843 damage) (Level 80 Rank 9 – 893 to 997 damage)

Enhancement

• Fire Resistance Totem now increases fire resistance by 130 (Up from 70) and lasts 5 minutes. (Up from 2 minutes)

Talents

Elemental

• Totem of Wrath now lasts 5 minutes. (Up from 2 minutes)

Enhancement

• Maelstrom Weapon proc chance changed from 20/40/60/80/100% on critical hit to 3/6/9/12/15% when you deal damage with a melee weapon. Now affects Chain Heal as well.
• Dual Wield Specialization now Increases your chance to hit while dual wielding by an additional 1/2/3%. (Down from 2/4/6%)
• Stormstrike doesn’t affect Fire or Frost damage anymore.
• Unleashed Rage now increases both melee and ranged attack power and works within 45 yards. (Old – Affected only melee AP, 20 yards)
• Flurry now increases your attack speed by 5/10/15/20/25% (Down from 10/15/20/25/30%) for your next 3 swings after dealing a critical strike.

Restoration

• Ancestral Awakening now affects Riptide as well
• Improved Water Shield now affects Riptide as well

The elemental changes are minimal, and the resto changes are a slight improvement. The big thing here though, is the enhancement shaman changes. To the untrained eye or the baby shaman, the changes might not seem much. To a theorycrafter and a seasoned enhancement shaman, it stands out plain as day WHY these changed were made. I will explain below.

Pre-3.0 Rotation

Stormstrike -> Flame Shock -> Earth Shock

Pre-3.0 Twisting Rotation (Many variations exist)

Stormstrike -> Flame Shock -> Windfury Totem-> Grace of Air -> Flame Shock

Pre-9014 Beta Changes (Once again, many variations)

Flame Shock -> Stormstrike -> Lava Lash -> Lava Burst

Post-9014 Beta Changes (More variations!)

Stormstrike -> Flame Shock – > Lava Burst -> ?? -> ??

This may seem like gibberish to you, but I will explain. Pre-9014, it was discovered that by loading up on spell damage gear and using flametongue imbue, we were able to put out serious numbers using Lava Lash and Flametongue. It was also increased by stormstrike. So we were doing a lot of damage, that couldn’t be mitigated, using spell damage gear and melee attacks.

Naturally, the devs were a bit shocked at how this turned out, and thus this change was made. Not only to force us to return to hunter gear, but to possibly abandon the thought of flametongue all-together, as stormstrike no longer affects fire spells.  Where does this leave shamans now? Back at square one, with a Pre-3.0 rotation with added lavaburst. 

Awaiting next beta patch or blue posts for shaman changes.