Resto Shaman can be a pain to play in PvP! (But I do like the skillcap)

[Deleted]

It sure is challenging to play a Resto SHaman in PvP right now
I like a good challenge and i'm certainly not going to move to something easier, but boy can it be frustrating sometimes.

Is there even another healer that suffers so much under the constant CC right now? Maybe if Riptide was a better heal by itself life wouldn't be so hard.
And let's not begin about the clunky gameplay that totems offer.
It sometimes feels like this is the only class/spec that is still "stuck" in the old days. Or at least, that's how it feels to me compared to other classes.

Hopefully the class and spec get some love in Warlords.

[Eliot123]

By the looks of it you won't have any AoE dmg as resto in WoD so it'll be a lot more ''fun'' interrupting flag caps and/or getting stealthed players out... but that's just my opinion.

[Shockeye]

Battlegrounds are horrible, it's just an invitation to be cc'ed until death.
I used to really enjoy BGs but not this expansion. There's no "skill cap" to not being chain cc'ed.

But you are not wrong in your other assertions; Resto Shaman are horribly clunky, outdated and, as you say, stuck. And that's not really looking to change in WoD.

[Blithe]

I haven't played Restoration since I did a lot of Rated Battleground's back in 5.2, but I remember it being a godsend to have Magma Totem to interrupt flag captures. You were almost certainly going to die if you had a melee class on you, too. Totems by their nature are very clunky and have a lot of weaknesses but I guess that's just how our class is.

At the moment I'm playing my Holy Paladin and it's a noticeable difference. I lack the area of effect healing, and raid utility of my Shaman, but I make up for that by being an amazing single-target healer with the ability to survive without having to be baby-sat. The crowd control is also makes that much of a difference.

My Monk and Druid tend to be the easiest out of all my healing classes because of their mobility, self-reliance and crowd control. I don't play a Priest so I'm not exactly up to date of how they feel when you play one either.

I find Shaman are harder to play than the other healers unless you have a decent team so in essence it's a "carry" class meaning you're almost useless if your team is bad which is the complete opposite for the other classes. Granted, they have an easier time of achieving a higher rating if they find a good team, I do think that everybody tends exaggerate on how easy they are to play, and how strong they are in comparison.

They are definitely not "Earth Shield, Riptide, Healing Stream -> Gladiator".

[Shockeye]

Priests are pretty great in PvP. I haven't tried as Holy, only Disc, but I wasn't as targeted for cc chains as I was on my Resto Shaman. The ability to Fear is huge, as is being able to cast while under the speed buff of Body & Soul (WTB Fear Totem, please!).

[Blithe]

Priests are pretty great in PvP. I haven't tried as Holy, only Disc, but I wasn't as targeted for cc chains as I was on my Resto Shaman. The ability to Fear is huge, as is being able to cast while under the speed buff of Body & Soul (WTB Fear Totem, please!).

Yeah, you move on to another healing class and it's a totally different ball-game. You feel as if you're not an incarcerated prisoner with the guards (enemy team) constantly at your throat. However, I almost always miss the tools that my Shaman has whenever I'm on my other healers. Mostly Tremor, Grounding and Wind Shear but still.

[Shockeye]

Yes, though when showing up to a battle just means cc'ed-til-dead, those tools don't really matter too much. Resto Shaman are very strong in PvP, but you need an organised team. Random BGs are horrible, but with a team that will actually protect the healer the story changes. Sadly, it used to be that Resto Shaman didn't need to be coddled by team mates to be good in PvP.

[Blithe]

Yes, though when showing up to a battle just means cc'ed-til-dead, those tools don't really matter too much. Resto Shaman are very strong in PvP, but you need an organised team. Random BGs are horrible, but with a team that will actually protect the healer the story changes. Sadly, it used to be that Resto Shaman didn't need to be coddled by team mates to be good in PvP.

Shaman have always had to be baby-sat right up until arena was introduced. It naturally comes with the class philosophy where you're a jack of all trades but a master of none. Sure we actually have a few more survivability cooldowns now from then, but we'll never stop being the class that has to be baby-sat to perform well. It's sort of a catch 22, where: "Here's some amazing utility and throughput, but your biggest weakness will be melee classes and lack of self-support."

Our performance is heavily reliant on the teammates we entrust it to, and that's not going to change anytime soon. Also, have you noticed that we tend to "be up there" whenever classes we have great synergy with are very strong? Warlocks have been amazing for the past two expansions, so it's not surprising to see so many Shaman/Warlock teams and especially because of Gateway which effectively nullifies our biggest weakness: melee.

[Shockeye]

In Wrath and Cata I could more than hold my own in battlegrounds without having to be babysat. Especially in Wrath where admittedly Resto Shaman and Resto Druids were stupidly overpowered in PvP but Cata felt good and I had a lot of fun. Then stepping into battlegrounds in Mists was just miserable, it was an exercise in futility. I haven't done any PvP since the painful fulfillment of the legendary cloak quest requirements.

[Blithe]

In Wrath and Cata I could more than hold my own in battlegrounds without having to be babysat. Especially in Wrath where admittedly Resto Shaman and Resto Druids were stupidly overpowered in PvP but Cata felt good and I had a lot of fun. Then stepping into battlegrounds in Mists was just miserable, it was an exercise in futility. I haven't done any PvP since the painful fulfillment of the legendary cloak quest requirements.

Eh, Classic was Priest, Burning Crusade was Druid and Priest, Wrath was more so Druid and Paladin but I did feel the presence of the Shaman but once Bloodlust was removed from rated play we didn't really make our proper debut until Cataclysm and we've been strong ever since.

Mists is definitely disgusting and I feel as if I can't play my character for half of the game. Cataclysm had its crowd control issues but none of this scale... "Mists will solve it" ... no it won't Holinka, no it definitely will not.