Ele shaman vs Balance druid - in terms of fun gameplay.

[Deleted]

Hello guys!

I'm having a hard time deciding which class to keep playing as my main, since I don't have time to play multiple chars anymore. But my problem is what class to pick? Ele shaman is pretty fun except the aoe rotation => spam CL and EQ x 121245 times is not that fun. Druid seems more fun in the AOE regard tho it has a bit more ramp up time compared the ele.

But I can't seem to figure out what is changing in 7.2.5 for the two respective classes - as there are quite a few changes for druid but ele doesnt seem to have any. Both seem to have mediocre ST and very good AOE - and im not raiding mythic, so i dont really care that much about ST, ofc i dont want a class that has the worst ST in the game.

What do you guys think? How does boomkin look for 7.2.5? And would you prefer playing boomkin over ele with 7.2.5 changes in mind?

[narendal94]

From experience I can say that the only fun part of a boomkin this expansion is dungeons, however the "rotation" is just as "boring" as ele's rotation. Dot everything and throw down starfall and see the numbers fly.

I'd say shaman is way more fun to play both in dungeons and in raids. It's way more interactive with procs with more utility and just feels a hundred times more fun to play.

However it's all subjective, try both out is the best tip I can give.

[bleedz]

starfall everything or throw meatballs

ya i'm a druid

[Polarthief]

I haven't played Ele since like ToT (MoP), but Balance you mostly just DoT things (with Sunfire), sometimes with Moonfire (if they live long enough), and Starfall stuff. It's pretty simplistic and has no random procs (unless you have the legendary bracer).

A lot of people call it boring but I rather enjoy the simplistic easy-to-learn rotation. Just means I have a lot more awareness to put on mechanics and avoiding them.

But yeah, with 7.2.5, very little is changing outside of the new legendary which is really good for AoE (and garbage for ST). ST is still quite lackluster.

[Mewseph]

My main is Balance, and first alt is Elemental.

One of the main differences are that Elemental has 3 distinctly different playstyles; Icefury, Ascendance and Lightning rod. Most players run around with Ascendance build because it's the easiest to play, but Icefury can be really fun and is far more engaging than any playstyle that comes from the Balance spec. There's a few 'must haves' like Ancestral swiftness, but Balance spec generally has two modes where there's little actual talent variety.

Speaking of talents. Elementals AoE CLEAVE is pretty much innate to the spec, so outside Totem Mastery and LMT which aren't really neccesary to put out adequate AoE, your talent options mostly serve to boost your ST. This is pretty much the opposite of Balance where the 'cost of oppotunity' is high to achieve strong AoE damage or viable single target damage; SotF and Stellar drift are both mandatory for AoE. Also Balance AoE can cover a much larger space than any other spec in the game, though it's not often utlised and can be to your detriment if not placed correctly.

In high M+ dungeons, Balance is probably slightly stronger due to the sustained AoE damage on trash, but you'll still be desirable as an Elemental shaman. Balance deals relatively better with movement in raid encounters, but they get similarly punished if either spec doesn't plan ahead to mitigate movement costs. Elemental has a severely higher burst window with cooldowns, has a higher variance of performance depending on procs and has a much more dynamic rotation/priority system. The Balance 'rotation' is generally very forgiving so long as you don't clip DoTs, waste AsP or empowerments. When you get into the deeper parts of the specs, their differences become more noticable and that's what usually decides which spec most people play; how it feels rather than how it looks.

[Cowa]

from the balance druid point of view i feel like i would have more fun as an elemental shaman, but i am sure as an elemental shaman i would say same thing about balance

[pkm]

I'm not sure if either class is receiving any significant changes in next patch but as of now I just prefer the druid. This expansion has enough fucking rng as is already, and ele at times is like a Christmas tree lighting up with procs. Also with 4 druid specs it's hard to go wrong!

[Bugg]

Fun is always subjective.
I started Legion as Ele after many years of Resto/Enh shammy. I just could not enjoy the Lightning bolt casting animation.
In general the Ele animations are very flashy, colorful and.. jerky somehow (for me).

I main Balance now and I enjoy the fluidity of the casts, the animations and the way the rotation flows (well except ED rotation, I hate that because of the latency thing that makes me miss some casts).

Since you asked about 'fun' that's all from my part.
Have fun!

[Yakibob]

I recommend the BM HUNTER

[gobio]

As a PVE person stuck in PVP server for guild reason. Thus I speak only for myself in my unfit situation that NOT dying hopelessly while doing WQ is fun enough for me in this game regardless of your item level. And Balance druid has the option to play as guardian and have OP item from order hall, the well known ganker in the server won't even tough you (after they tried). That eliminate all the not fun things, like counting on your enemy to leave your instantly dropping corpse just to res yourself only to find out that you are still camped, silly shaman. When THIS happened a few times as a shaman when you just want to get that WQ box in tight timing or finish invasion, you will think asking for fun is a luxury LOL.