The Shaman Discord Locks Down Before WoW Forever, Over a Patch That Buffs Shamans

On Tuesday morning, November 3, more than 80,000 players opened the Shaman Discord and found they could no longer write in it. The moderators of the « Shaman Classic » server switched it to read-only, Classic Era, Mists of Pandaria and Season of Discovery channels included, one day before WoW Forever launches. They are protesting the shaman changes in Blizzard’s development notes of November 2, which our article on the patch’s 223 changes already covers.

The odd part is what the patch actually does: a player who reran his simulations finds every shaman build gaining between 20 and 40% damage. The moderators know it and say so themselves, their anger is not about the numbers. My view as a PvP player is that these shamans come out of the patch stronger, even if part of their argument holds up.

What the Shaman Discord moderators wrote

It was Output Lag, in a piece by Steven Mills on November 3, that relayed the announcement in full. It runs three sentences: « We are locking down the entire Shaman Classic server, active immediately. » Then the complaint: « Community Feedback gets completely ignored and Class Fantasies are getting destroyed. » Then the demand: « Give us back our class and spec identities, and fantasies! »

A second message came out later in the morning, to head off the accusation of blackmail. The moderators swear it is not « an attempt at blackmail or coercion », but a way of being heard after weeks of feedback sent through the usual channels. They promise that « the server will re-open regardless of the outcome », with no date given.

They also say their case is about « fundamental design intent and overall class feel », not about numbers. They even offer a deal: « hybrid tax us all you want if the result is a cohesive class with strong class fantasy elements ».

Lava Burst, Riptide, Ghost Wolf: the complaints, spec by spec

The second message from the Shaman Discord moderators, as Output Lag lays it out, lists the complaints by specialization. I set them next to what Blizzard’s official notes say.

Specialization	The moderators’ complaint	What Blizzard’s notes say
Elemental	Chain Lightning chosen over Lava Burst: no second damage school against nature-immune enemies, « a 2 button rotation », and mana problems.	Lava Burst removed Removed. Call of Thunder replaces it: +5% critical strike chance on Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning New. Chain Lightning now has a 2.5 s cast and costs about 225% of Lightning Bolt’s mana.
Enhancement	Windfury Weapon « will not be our primary imbue for raiding »; Intellect and spell power gear appears to beat physical or hybrid gear. Improved Ghost Wolf was moved, seen as a move against Elemental in PvP.	Improved Ghost Wolf goes from the 2nd to the 4th row Changed. Windfury Weapon only gains an extra attack animation.
Restoration	Riptide loses its upfront heal and becomes « a sad copy of Renew or Rejuvenation ».	Riptide heals only over time, costs about 40% less mana, but its cooldown goes from 6 to 12 seconds Changed.

Complaints: Output Lag, November 3, 2026. Right-hand column: Blizzard development notes of November 2. Yellow marks what is new, blue what is changed.

The complaint is about what the shaman is, not about what it deals. An Elemental with no second spell to cast, a Restoration that loses its fast heal, a mobility talent pushed to the bottom of the tree: these are design choices. The moderators add that hybrid Enhancement now overlaps Elemental so much that one spec can no longer be tuned without touching the other.

What the patch really changes: my take as a PvP player

I went through these notes spell by spell, and my reading is simple: this is a big shaman buff. Here is what goes up, in Blizzard’s own numbers.

Talent or spell	Before	After November 2
Lightning Bolt Changed	Lower base damage	Raised at every rank; max rank +80%
Shocks (Earth, Flame, Frost) Changed	Forever beta values	Back to Classic Era values
Lightning Overload Changed	3 / 7 / 10%	10 / 20 / 30%
Maelstrom Weapon Changed	Base proc chance	Proc chance doubled
Stormstrike Changed	100% of normalized weapon damage, 8 s cooldown	150%, 6 s cooldown
Mental Dexterity Changed	33 / 67 / 100% of Intellect as attack power	50 / 100 / 150%

Blizzard development notes, November 2, 2026. Cross-checked with our article on the patch.

Lightning Bolt first: base damage goes up at every rank, and the max rank gains 80%. By my analysis, this is the second buff to that spell in about ten days. Earth, Flame and Frost Shock return to their Classic Era values.

For Elemental, the big piece is Lightning Overload. At max rank, the chance of casting an extra spell, at half damage and with no threat, goes from 10 to 30%. That is a « very, very big buff ». Call of Thunder, which replaces Lava Burst, is not original, but it will at least be effective.

Enhancement gets even more. Maelstrom Weapon procs twice as often. Stormstrike goes from 100 to 150% of normalized weapon damage: if that is not a big buff, I don’t know what is, and it is one of the biggest for the spec. Mental Dexterity now gives 150% of Intellect as attack power instead of 100%, which makes « full intel » builds possible at level 60. The site’s talent calculator lets you lay out these trees, and our Elehance hybrid build already shows what an Intellect-focused Enhancement shaman looks like.

Simulations back me up, except in long fights

I am not the only one who ran the numbers. A player posting as GhostDragon on Blizzard’s US forum reran his simulations on November 3 at 7:48 (UTC). His caveat: none of the shaman changes are in a client build yet, so he applied the notes as written. An anonymous player, working outside the game: the order of magnitude matters, not the decimal.

His verdict: every shaman build gains between 20 and 40%. On a five-minute fight, with a full raid and launch gear, Enhancement goes from 559 to 737 damage per second (+32%), Elemental from 468 to 560 (+20%).

Everything goes up, but Elemental climbs more slowly: it drops to 86, 76 and 72% of Enhancement on 2, 5 and 10 minute fights. Part of that comes from the simulation itself, which saves mana with a rank 4 Lightning Bolt, left at +14% against +80% for rank 10. Spending mana more freely brings Elemental back to 86, 86 and 82%. The gap in long fights remains.

This is where the anger of the Shaman Discord moderators finds support. They talk about mana problems and a spec with no second spell; the simulation sees a spec that falls off as the fight drags on. It adds that a 29/22 hybrid in caster gear sits at 88% of Enhancement over five minutes: Enhancement and Elemental really do step on each other’s toes.

Blizzard has not answered, and the forum is split in two

In its notes, Blizzard had warned: « With the exception of bugs and serious outliers, we don’t plan on making big tuning changes between now and the opening of the raids next month. » A large balance pass is announced for later, once players have gone past level 30. On the evening of November 3, the site’s monitoring found no message from a Blizzard account on this topic in the forum threads, and Output Lag did not find one either.

The US forum thread on the Shaman Discord has more than 350 messages. It opens with « What could possibly make them this upset? These changes are good. » Further down, another player sums up the opposite camp: « Resto changes are horrible. Ele changes are horrible (unless you only like nature spells and spamming one button). Enhancement changes are good. » On r/classicwow, a fake tooltip passed 1,600 upvotes: « Burst of Tears », a 1-day cast, which reads « You close the Community Discord ».

The precedent comes from WoW Retail. PC Games (an article in German by Daniel Link, November 3) recalls that the Retribution paladin channels were also locked down there, and that Blizzard handed out buffs shortly after. Ion Hazzikostas told him at last year’s gamescom that the action had no influence, and that the developers had even hesitated to publish those buffs so as not to suggest otherwise.

WoW Forever servers open overnight from November 4 to 5, Paris time. The Shaman Discord will reopen « regardless of the outcome », on a date its moderators have not given.