If you happen to be a Shaman in the World of Warcraft MMORPG by Blizzard Entertainment, then we're sure you're familiar with the Lightning Shield buff. It's a handy defensive buff that deals direct damage to anybody foolish enough to attack you (be it melee, ranged, or spell attacks), although its current mechanics has left some resident shammies flustered over its lackluster performance.

Konderoga over at the WoW forums is suggesting that Blizzard should do something about Lightning Shield, given its limited charges (only 3), procs, and excessive mana cost (490 at rank 8). Konderoga further noted what Blizzard could do to make the spell workable for PvP.

Personally, I would vote to remove the charges, lower the damage, and make it a 10 minute duration damage shield like retaliation aura or holy shield, or better yet a damaging aura that does periodic damage to combat engaged targets within a small radius around the caster.

But if a fundamental change is out of the question, just lowering the mana cost of this spell by about 100 mana would go a long way to improving its usefulness. For a class that can do about bugger all without mana, inefficient spells are NOT helpful.