Enhancement players split over Stormstrike's 8-second cooldown: a lost Shock rhythm or the Windfury lottery

"Enha overnerfed gg," Belver titled a thread on the EU forums at 04:31 UTC on 11 November. It reacts to Blizzard's November 10 hotfixes, which cut Stormstrike to 100% weapon damage from 150%, raise its cooldown to 8 seconds from 6, and convert less Intellect into Attack Power through Mental Dexterity. Blizzard's reason is gearing: it wants Enhancement pulled back toward Windfury before the raid opens, so players don't win contested caster items that could lose value after a later change. The thread reached 48 posts by 07:38 UTC. We've read all of them, and we haven't tested any of this in the game.

The lost 6-second rhythm

One complaint isn't about damage at all. Dyf91, level 26 and without Windfury yet, had unlocked Stormstrike that night and was enjoying "the shock-stormstrike combo", with both on a 6-second cooldown. They call the new cooldown the most annoying change for them, but say they still want to play the spec. Belver wants it back at 6 seconds "so it aligns with shock spells", and Thunderstruc calls 6 to 8 the one thing Blizzard "really really didnt need to do".

Buttons or the lottery

Underneath is an argument about what Enhancement should feel like. Trolololz says the spec's pace "was actually in a good spot" and doesn't want half or more of its damage to come "from looking at your character": "I want to press buttons." Swennor, at level 36, thinks the cut was needed and is happy "as long as they dont mess with windfury". They prefer the new Windfury stacking to a stronger Stormstrike: "lottery is what made me fell in love with enhance". KaanyL objects that the Intellect cut came with nothing added to Strength.

Not everyone feels it. Vartoz, at level 42, says the spec "feels just as good", then learned from Trolololz that Rockbiter Weapon and Windfury Totem now work together. Blizzard's notes confirm that weapon imbues and weapon totems can be used at the same time, so Windfury Weapon and Windfury Totem both have a chance to activate. They also make Maelstrom Weapon cut cast time and mana by 20% a stack at every rank, while activating 6 to 10 times a minute by rank instead of 20.

What the thread can't settle

Forty-eight posts from people who chose to post are not a count of Enhancement players, and no Blizzard poster has replied. Nobody posted a damage test of the change. What it does show is that one cooldown number changed how the spec feels to press, for some players more than the damage did.