Should I?

[Deleted]

It depends.  Are you comfortable being a support player?  Are you OK with being the one who is always there and does well, but goes unacknowleged?  Are you OK with outperforming other players in many areas, but still being lower in terms of DPS etc?  If you go shaman, chances are you're not gunna be the chart topping, HK leading superstar.  However, most groups will want you, and you'll bring a lot to the table.  If you're OK with not being #1, but with helping #1 perform better, then go for it.  If you like the spotlight, you might wanna look elsewhere.

If you don't look for an easy class, this might be your answer, tho - Resto shamans with Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings turns out to be very very handy, in fact, so much that having 2 of those on resto shamans in a raid turns out to be godlike
DPS - Raidwise, you most likely won't be topping meters if the pure DPS classes in the raid do their job as it should be done, but if you're in to the casual running heroics and pugging 10 mans you might aswell be the one on top. I for one got invited to many heroics by friends in the so called best guilds on my realm, when we were all new to WotlK, and I'm still getting those invites for the daily Triumph run. Might not be on top of damage meters if we have a very well geared hunter with us, but I'm never lacking far behind, speaking of 1-2%.
I love enhancement, Windfury rocks, Feral Spirit rocks, Maelstrom is oh so very handy in every given situation.
Aslong as you play it right, you win!

[Eyetotem]

Honestly, not really. Shamans are very weak overall, especially in PvP. PvE wise, Enhancement is doing alright, but Resto and Elemental do have some problems.

I was unaware that Resto Shamans were still having problems after the latest patch. I guess I am doing it wrong because I am not having a single problem as Resto.

When I am elemental, I (again) must be doing it wrong because I am always near the top on boss fights........12k+ on Hodir is fun as shit

[Denaka]

I was unaware that Resto Shamans were still having problems after the latest patch. I guess I am doing it wrong because I am not having a single problem as Resto.

When I am elemental, I (again) must be doing it wrong because I am always near the top on boss fights........12k+ on Hodir is fun as shit

[Daez]

Enhancement is shifting away from intellect in the expansion. The only way that is going to happen is if Blizzard completely redoes the spec. So, it will be very interesting to see what happens to enhancement in the expansion.

They are also most likely going to buff chain heal even more, and shamans already can be chart topping group healers. They do need to work on their single target healing however.

Elemental brings a lot of buffs, but they don't have the same damage as a pure caster. They aren't supposed to have the same damage as the pure caster because they bring all the buffs.

The synergy in this game was broken with the retarded bring the players not the buffs idea that was put into WotLK. Now, people really don't care how much utility you bring they care where you are on the damage meters.

[Deleted]

I play Enh / Resto for 2 years now, and it never got boring
We had our bad times, but since the last patch we are doing awesome imo
Enhancement needs a bit of help, so does Ele (more as Enh) but Resto is where it should be

Healing as Shaman is awesome and i never felt like i was behind on the other healers

My suggestion: Level a Shaman (eventho lvling kinda sucks untill lvl 40) as Enhancement
Leveling as Shaman is challenging but fun, and after getting Dual Wield (with 2 heirloom Maces) it goes like a rocket


P.S. the people saying Shamans still suck (ok, Ele does suck) must be terrible gamers imo.

[CookieEater]

Go Enhancement. Personally I hate Maelstrom Weapon and love everything else about Enhancement, but I'm insane to begin with.

[Ninthelora]

Shamans are cool!

[Wolfhunter]

Like the others said, Shaman's are not very effective in PVP atm but with enough practice, still okay.

PVE wise, its really fun.

1-39 = Leveled as Ele
40-79 = Enhancement
80 = Elemental

Changed to Ele and Resto dual spec after.


Best part of being a shaman was being Enhancement. Feral Spirits + Heroism + Totems pretty much allow you to solo almost any group quest with ease. Think of Enhancement as 'Rogue with Mana'.
The mad numbers flying everywhere and you never have to sit down and drink. With Water Shield and Shamanistic Rage, you hardly go oom.

1v1 PvP is pretty good too. Popping Feral Spirits can really turn the table for you. But I felt like a "3min Shaman". :P

At 80, I went Elemental after crafting and collecting spell power gear. Its really nice to see 14k Lava Burst crits.
Again, 1v1 PvP's pretty good too if you play your class well. NP with going up against DKs, I just keep running in Ghost Wolf and drop a 10k Lava Burst crit on him every 8secs.

If Resto, PVE is pretty nice too. Earth Shield the tank and just sit back. Hardly have to do much. For emergencies, Riptide and refresh Earth Shield. Easy mode.


TLDR:
PVE = 9/10 (I love to PVE on my shaman)
PVP = 7/10 (This is for BGs and 1v1)
Arena = I gave up. LoL. Focusing on my rogue and DK.

[Sesto]

Roll a Hunter

This, mon.

[Drunkenfinn]

Actually Shamans are pretty damn good in some 3vs3 setups (cleavelol).

I'm not much of a PvP person, allthough I sometimes do enjoy a hour or two of dueling outside IF or some BGs.
I did quite a bit of arenas at some point too, but havent been doing so for a while.

Anyways, I dont know about you guys, but being one of the best geared Enhs on my realm, I'm being spammed by PvPers asking me to join their 3vs3/5vs5 or whatnot ever since S7 started. I guess we're an important part of a few FOTM comps.

Warrior+Enh+Healer is pretty damn nice. A high rated restodruid in my guild asked me to come and play some games with them and I most certainly will atleast give it a try at some point, just to see what its like. I never played that much 3vs3 at any point, allways 2vs2 or 5vs5.

As for PvE... Well you wont beat the hunters/rogues/warlocks and good mages... But you're right there after them. And there difference aint THAT large. I'm usually around 500dps behind them in ToC25, ending up in 5th-10th spot on the meters :P... We have quite a few locks/mages/rogues/hunters
I hope I'll be able to catch up some more after I get some new weapons off Anub'arak 25man

[HevyDevy]

People telling you that Shamans suck in PvP right now are wrong. As has been posted before, they're doing great in 3's, may suck in 2's, but who cares 2's don't even matter anymore.

Shaman are the most fun class in the game IMO. Make an Orc for extra awesome.

[Arcsecant]

Roll a shaman if you are lucky. If not be prepared to get boned hard by RNG. As others stated they are very gear dependant and have poor scaling so you are going to have to work for your numbers unlike many other classes. But its amazing seeing a solid increase in DPS after just getting an upgrade. Learn to play whatever spec you take thoroughly and you will be set.

As far as resto I'm not seeing any problems with them after the patch anymore. Chain heal needs a little cast time reduction I think so it can be usefull without having to have crazy amounts of haste.