yeah @#$% shamans
They also did this to Mindfang, the AB exalted wep. So there goes my dual wield shaman dreams.
Not a smart change on Blizzard's end. This is a direct nerf to Elemental Shaman in PvE. Very few would ever want to risk not running a shield in PvP when we are already forced to play as a mid range caster due to Flame Shock. Elemental Sham is GREAT in PvP but is looking to be completely worthless in single target PvE scenarios going by the sims. Allowing Elemental Shaman to dual wield caster weapons buffs them in PvE while providing a major risk for a rather minor reward in PvP. Absolutely no one should be rejoicing over this change. In 3 weeks when Blizzard realizes just how far behind Ele Shaman is compared to most classes in single target boss fights, we will get massive buffs that will be very impactful to our performance in PvE AND PvP. For reference, comparing Elemental Shaman to Enhancement Shaman, my sims with BiS gear has Elemental Shaman at 2.2k DPS (This is with the ability to Dual Wield caster weapons) and Enhance at 3.6k DPS. Out of the classes that I have run sims for, the next lowest DPS is Balance Druid at 2.7k DPS. That's a difference of 22%. I don't think anyone actually wants to see Elemental Shaman get a 10-20% buff, but it's going to happen, and man are we going to wish they could just dual wield caster weapons instead. Also don't forget, all sims are worthless anyways because we don't actually know how much armor or resistance the P4 Bosses will have. But man, when all those MC bosses have 100+ fire resistance, only fire mages and warlocks will be able to surpass how much Elemental Shaman is hurt by the actual stats of the bosses.
Hypnotic Blade is now main hand only as well