So the first step is changing Ascendance from a CD in to a secondary ressource system.
This gives us a better way to balance DPS as a whole. Currently burst and AoE is all a elemental shaman has. Pop Ascendance, hope for a warrior flag, burst like mad, Ascendance ends, DPS drops like crazy.
The ressouce system would work this way:
You get a 1000 steps bar that recharges out of combat (fast!) and in combat with x (balance!) per cast.
When you are at 1000, let’s call it Lightning Power, you can activate Ascendance and gain the current version of the spell as a buff.
So obviously what will happen is that out of combat you’re always sitting at 1000/1000 and every “tick” of the recharge is going to waste. So now we stack a new buff called “Overcharged” that gives you xxxx Mastery (or whatever, balance!) per stack on the first use of Ascendance and lasts as long as Ascendance itself.
The buff is only stacking out of combat.
So now we have a super huge burst at the start of the fight like we used to have and a few smaller bursts while fighting, which gives you guys a very good way to balance overall DPS by adjusting the rate of which Lightning Power regenerates, how long the Ascendance buff lasts and how big the first big burst should be. This will also make it a little more interesting than hitting Ascendance every 3 minutes and snooze the time in between.
For PvP the Overcharged buff will not stack in the Arena/BG waiting room and only starts ticking when the Arena/BG starts. Another possiblity is having a second use for the ressource system like being able to trigger a huge defensive CD on 1000 Lightning Power instead of Ascendance so they have to hold back on DPS to save a mate. Also can have the shaman gain charges for being critted, stunned, whatever. Just want to outline a few possibilities here.
This system can be adjusted and applied to both of the other Shaman specs, too.
