Thoughts on 66-70 spells

[Ukator Iceblood]

I would guess we will get one more upgrade to SD, 2 new pets (67 and 70 maybe), another new nuke and an upgrade to Kragg. Any thoughts on what we might get or what we should have?

[Kherryn]

I'm hoping for a min-version of Focus of Spirit (meaning single-buff) =P  Hey, Paladins got a mini-aego...I can dream.

Actually, in all honestly I'd like a combo pet proc/haste buff, just to make things easier.  Doesn't even have to be an upgrade, can be the exact same stuff, just in one buff to make bringing pet up easier.

It's hard to think up stuff for us, as we still are pretty well off, despite minor inconveniences.  You've got the normal nuke/dot/pet upgrades, as well as possibly SD/SV upgrades.  Possibly a heal upgrade to chloroblast as well, and resists?

[Tastian]

Hrmmm...

Pets I kinda thought might be at 66, 68, 70 to keep our progression going.  I mean since 54 we've gotten a new pet every 2 levels.  Not sure we really need them that close, so 67/70 works for me.

The usual upgrades to SV, SD, pet haste, pet proc, nuke, dot.  

Absolutely a new heal and a big new heal at that.  Needs to be one heck of a jump imo because CB is already way behind.  

I don't care for a focus all in one buff, I'd rather see a group upgraded hp buff like kragg that infusion and stuff still stacks with.  Most will take kragg(type) buff, but not all need the infusion combo.  Also some I know still run infusion + str/dex/sta/kragg hehe.  Having an all in one focus buff would lower their selfbuffed stats a lot.  Let's people choose the balance between buffs/buff slots that they want.  Although I *REALLY* would like to see more buff slots in this expansion.  With debuffs from mobs taking up buff slots too it's just crazy at times.

I don't want an upgrade to slow %, but I wouldn't mind an upgraded slow that was basically revenge with a modest built in resist check.  *shurgs*

[Ukator Iceblood]

Oh yeah a new heal would rock. CB stinks now. Hehe Tast I'm still one of those IoS/Dex/Sta/Str/Krag guys sometimes :).

[Kylaz]

It can go different general directions:
 - some higher level shammy spells than we currently have (torpor would be a good one imho)
 - better "bst only" spells, like fero or SD,SV
 - new spells for pets we would share with mages/necros.


I do not think we'll gain any new ability/utility we do not have atm, because of class envy...

[Tastian]

Oh come on kyl, I mean we are part monk and shaman that screams for new spells that give us

-  FD
-  Bind
-  Root
-  Gate
-  Avatar
-  GROUP CHA BUFF!!!
-  Malo

Seriously though I don't see a lot of new stuff coming out of it.  I'd like a few things from AA's, but mostly from spells I just want modestly available upgrades to what we have.  Torpor I'm constantly torn on as a heal.  It would help us as downtime healers, but we really need a new blast heal for when casters and others are getting smacked.  I like patch healing and spotting, currently though damage is just too high and lots of people need bigger heals imo.  A slow with a small built in resist adjust would be very nice too.  Lots of mobs mitigate slow later on, but lots are also pretty streaky on the resists.  I don't want a malo/tash type of spell and I don't want more slow % I just want a slightly more reliable slow than bouncing revenge 7 times and pulling aggro a few times only to finally "slightly" land a slow.  Some mobs should be harder to slow and add value to tash/malo/hos, but I think bounced slows are a bit too common atm in spots.

[Oneiromancer]

So, I went to Allakhazam's and looked at the higher level Beastlord spells.  Currently the highest level Shaman spells we get are Celerity and Acumen, which are both level 56 Shaman spells.  Since we get those at 63 and 65, respectively, obviously there is a difference in importance ascribed to them by the developers.  So, I decided to look at all the Shaman spells starting around there to see if there were any that could reasonably be given to us.  It only really makes sense to look up to the low 60's at the most, though.

My possibilities:

Stoicism - 48 (160/tick regen, but 100% reduction to movement and 30% reduction in attack speed)
Rage - 49 (upgrade to Frenzy)
Cripple - 53 (next in the Incapacitate line)
Shroud of the Spirits - 54 (AC buff, next after Shifting Sands)
Riotous Health - 54 (STA buff, next after Stamina)
Maniacal Strength - 57 (STR buff)
Mortal Deftness - 58 (DEX buff)
Talisman of Epuration - 58 (Poison and Disease Group resist)
Pox of Bertoxxulous - 59 (111/tick Disease DoT for 9 ticks)
Replenishment - 61 (upgrade to Regrowth, 25/tick)

Now, spells like Avatar would be awesome...but I somehow doubt that we'd get them.  However, many of the above are upgrades to spells we already share with Shamans, so I wouldn't be surprised if we got them, or at least group versions of some of the stat buff spells.  The only spell in a line that we don't already share I think we might have a chance at getting is Stoicism...I don't think we'd ever get the next higher level version, Torpor.

I also never realized that Shamans got so many upgrades to Frenzy, which they get at level 19 (there's another one, Fury, which they get at 34, and Voice of the Berserker at 59).  I think that we should have gotten Fury in our high 50's or early 60's, this is definitely something I might /feedback about.  If that ever went in, Rage would be a natural for an over 65 spell.

Finally, as for what Beastlord-only spells I'd like...well, I imagine that there will be an upgrade to Ferocity of some kind.  But looking at our Beastlord-only lineup from 60 to 65, we really only have 8 kinds of unique spell lines--Spiritual Strength, slow, pet heal, pet summon, pet haste, Savagery, and of course the ice nukes and poison DoTs.  Out of those 8, only the Savagery line is really truly unique to our class...although the Spiritual line really comes into its own with Spiritual Vigor.  So I wouldn't expect too many new and unique spells in the new expansion...maybe 1 or 2 if we are lucky, but I predict mostly old Shaman spells and upgrades to our current spells.

Game on,

[Gnarloth]

It's been said before, but a couple of non cold-based nukes would be great. Poison or disease based maybe?

I guess these wouldn't have to be for 66-70 exclusively, just be nice to see them in the new expansion.

[Bryc]

Assuming they take the lazy route, and simply continue our spell progression, we can estimate some values for upgraded BST spells:

1) As Tastian said, 66 68 and 70 pets. We average 14% HP increase per pet, so the 70 pet would have ~6300 HP and bite for 83.

2) Pet heal @ 67...3500 hp for 600 mana.

3) SD upgrade (Spiritual Mastery?) @ 69....11 hp/mana tic for 500 mana.

4) Fero upgrade @ 70...~200 ATK, +80 to resists (as if)

5) Scorp Venom upgrade @ 70...233/tic for 550 mana?

6) Chloro upgrade @ 67...556 healed for 200 mana

7) After Sha's Ferocity, pet haste seems to cap at 85%, with upgrades coming in the form of STR, AC and ATK. The next pet haste, @ 67, would give us +15 STR, +11 AC and +15 ATK over the 63 haste.

Stuff that's hard to estimate:

Nukes...I have no idea if Trushar's Frost is part of the progression, or a "perk", since it is access-restricted. Blizzard Blast also muddies our nuke progression. If Frost Spear and Ice Shard are our top two *class* nukes, then the next nuke would fall around level 72. Bummer.

SV line jumps all over the place, upgrades @ 49, 60 and 62. Since we lack an upgrade @ 64, who knows when the next one "should" be.

Sadly, our regens are too far apart to get Blessing of Replenishment before lvl 70.

[Chackra]

I would like an all-in-one group resist spell.  Maybe something like +35 to all resists if it didn't stack; or only +20 to all resists if it did stack with most everything else.  The option of stacking with everything would add a bit of power; the non-stacking option would just add a bit of convenience in most zones.

The only real conflict I would see with the non-stacking option in most groups/zones is other classes' group magic resist spells.  That should be pretty easy to work out in play.  The stacking option would probably be easier to implement, but might have to be nerfed quite a bit to be "balanced."

Sure there are some zones where you want extra cold resistance, etc.  But in most zones, a generic resist would be pretty nice.  While soloing in zones with some casters I used to buff with all five of our resists, but it just got to be too much of a pain and took up too many slots.  I would never think of spamming a group member's buffs like that.

[Kherryn]

Oh yeah, the major thing I want...one of the higher spells of Frenzy line.  Fury, or perhaps Rage.  I'd love Voice of the Berserker, but I really doubt they'd give that to us as it's a 59 shaman spell.

Torpor...eh, I'd rather have a larger direct heal for helping with patch healing.

[Vahaus Warder]

a combo pet proc/haste buff

I like that idea.

New pets obviously
New heal
A Heal over Time (Something like Torpor would be nice)
Some type of mini focus
New Nuke
New Dot
Some type of upgrade to Frenzy

[Tastian]

The biggest problem with pet hastes are that atk and the stats have such a small impact on the pets performance as it is.  Arag's real advantage is that it lasts much longer.  A new haste with even longer duration and stat boot is ok, but I'd rather see the haste also add something else that's more useful.  Maybe Khati sha's frenzy that gives 85% haste XX AC YY ATK ZZ STR and indoor/outdoor 50% movement rate boost.  That would be a useful upgrade to me personally.  

Also remember that levels are more compact atm, it's not nearly as far fetched to think of getting a 64 shm type spell at 70 as it was to think of getting a 49 shm spell at 54 imo.  Depending how big the jumps are in levels and how long they take and how much of a boost AA's are we definetly could be looking at a lot of different spells.  Definetly a new blast heal though and I honestly don't think 500hps is nearly enough.  Even in GoD with max healing AA's and focus 428 is hardly worth trying to use.  Shaman and paladins could use a direct heal upgrade, heck druids too imo bst/rng definetly need, but atleast rangers got some upgrade with GoD (if they can get it hehe).

[Chackra]

How about a spell, aa or ability that gives a percentage chance that any hit (melee or spell) taken by the BST will go to the pet instead.

It seems like the developers can't figure out any way to have the pet take hits that isn't exploitable, and that petshield thing is pretty squirrely.  This would perform the same function, but it would be very easy for the developers to control the use.  They could make the variability as constant or as unpredictable as they wanted.

[Tastian]

Problem with that is if it's too variable then it's almost useless imo.  You wouldn't want to risk pet dieing well you at full life or whatever and if it's unreliable then you couldn't even plan around it.  Ideas like pet divine arbitration were tossed around during GoD, but I'm not sure if they could balance it right.  I kinda like the idea and in many cases it'd be nice to see my pet actually take damage.  With regen off focus, pet mend, and other factors it'd be really easy to have it be unbalanced though.  Still a fun idea imo.  I personally like pet type of AA's.  Sucks at times when you can't use a pet, but makes me feel more like a bst instead of just another melee hybrid.