As an elemental shaman would you...

[Deleted]

to the op; i dont get what you're saying, i'd never trade my eleshaman for any other class, i'm pulling off more than COMPETITIVE raid dps (8k + singletarget with all raid buffs- thus always being top dps) and i'm not even fully tier 9 geared., to me it seems to just be a l2p issue, watch for your elemental focus stacks, only use CL/LvB if you have one up :|, 25% haste = win.

[Marakara]

I've been playing a shaman since WoW first hit shelves, and I've definitely enjoyed the class. I played resto (like any raiding shaman did) prebc, had a lot of fun with enhance in bc, tried enhance in wrath but never really liked the changes (removal of totem twisting and MW nonsense). I liked being able to put out respectable dps while providing major buffs. By bringing up raid dps, I was providing more dps than a hunter that was bringing barely anything to the table. I was hoping that come wrath, hybrids would get stronger buffs to cement their raid spot, and instead my buffs were spread out to other classes (including a pure class), and my dps was "brought in line" with the pure classes -"5%".

I love my character, but I'm probably rerolling in cata depending on the talent/spell changes at 85. I just feel frustrated that no matter how well I play my character, my dps is limited by my class. Every time I win loot over a mage or a warlock, I think that I'm getting 90% use out of this item (at best) that they would, and until blizz changes their outdated philosophy, my shaman is going to be collecting dust once cata comes out while I have fun with my goblin rogue/mage/warlock.

Currently, I am having fun with my elemental shaman and topping pug meters. I know my class very well, theorycraft in my free time, and squeeze out all the extra dps I can, but there's a limit. Anyone who is topping the meters with a hybrid (other than maybe feral druids at the moment) is running with bads, and would be doing more dps as a pure dps class.

[Nightime]

I can't stand doing ranged dmg. UNLESS it's on my Shammy. I just love the mechanics of both Elemental and Resto. I can't say I love Enh, but that's what my DK and soon my Paly will be for. Still gonna be using the Sham just as regularly though.

[Seregon]

If focus is going to make ranged caster obsolete, why isn't rage or energy doing it now?

And no I wouldn't trade my shaman for a hunter or mage. Yes I would love to be level (we are getting there) but deep down I do like being the underdog and being able to say to the pures "Well, I'm beating you.... WTF?"

This probably sums it up pretty nicely for me too. I just like the elemental play style. And whenever I beat pure dps classes I have the best time.

[Baabinator]

I love being a lazer turret.


FS+LvB+Ele Mastery+LB+OVERLOAD+CL+OVERLOAD = RIP

[Xiaz89]

Keep fighting the good fight eh? I know a few close friends of mine Why do you continue your shaman? All they can do is sit there and smile, and most of them reply saying that having a shaman is a great experience and they wouldn't have it any other way.

This. Somehow, at every xpac, i end up on my shaman:

vanilla, rogue, then shaman.
TBC, warlock, then shaman
wotlk, DK, then shaman

The shaman is just fun, even in pvp, we are the underdogs, but its fun, and i guess thats what a game is all about, fun...

As blizzard said, they have a little dilemma, buff up a underpowered class that is very popular even when beeing the underdog or keep them that way since the shaman community loves their class? a stupid statement, they should buff us up, naturally, but as far as i know every shaman player i meet love the class and isnt trading it for increased damage or pvp compability

[Epar]

I wouldn't trade it for any class in the world, and Thrall has always been one of my favorite characters in Warcraft lore..which was a big reason behind me becoming one.

My dps is great, I'm valuable to my fellow raid members, PvPing isn't the hardest thing in the world, I get nifty spells such as Thunderstorm, Astral Recall, Reincarnation, Totems, being able to summon elementals, water walking, my elemental shields and shocks...Oh, it's just so great being a shaman.

[Zero_Caliber]

I've been playing the same sham since release, I can honestly say he is my only and will continue to be my only max level toon. I love being a sham, sure ok fine I'll never be the best healer out there and I'll more than likely never be number 1 on the meters unless everyone else fails, but there is something to being a sham. After all these years of playing one I still havent figured out why I love playing it so much, but Its kept me entralled this whole time. In vanilla it was old school enh for pvp, and resto for raiding, BC it was ele all the way and I haven't changed back since then. Having the ability to change and adapt to any situation your thrown into is something that alot of classes cant do, having a totem for everything that could possibly go wrong is a great thing, I've been raiding with the same guys for about 3 years now and they swear hands down they dont know what they would do without me sometimes.

[Bats]

PvPing as elemental, wont trade that for anything, the class is awesome, the spec is awesome, the skill you need to play the spec well is high.

It's not one of the classes with "ohh shit" buttons which makes it a fair challenge.

You don't have some CDs you have to rely on (at least they are not long ones).

Also it's awesome not to be hated, because you're not overpowered.

Thunderstorm. Do I need to say more here?

Overall, it's an awesome spec and class!

[Taurentony]

I stopped raiding with my shaman when 3.2 came out. The piss poor scaling that the elem shamans have is just ridiculous, what gets me is that other classes (hunters for example) can do x2 my dps with shit gear compared to me.
I am now happy playing my prot pally I love it!

[Mackeyser]

No, I wouldn't trade my Shaman for anything, tho I've certainly considered retiring him a few times.

I mean how hard is it to make ToW an effect of all fire totems so I can help the raid AND not gimp my personal dps?

Ranged casting of fire totems (unless they buff the snot out of Searing along with making it attack my target) should also be done.

I get frustrated as all sin... then I log on... and realize I really like most of the stuff about this spec and class.

[tacklebox]

I enjoy playing an underplayed class. Good shaman are rare, its alot more to manage than most classes. Would be nice if we could compete with at least other hybrid classes, pallys, druids, and with the new haste glyph possibly spriests.

[barrsftw]

Pre-BC I was enhance for raids. In BC I was resto (damn Sunwell!). For Wrath, I am finally what I've always wanted and that is Elemental. I love the class despite all of it's flaws, but I still have fun.

there were no ENH shamans in raids pre-bc it was all ele

[op3l]

I've thought about it and if I had the opportunity I would switch it out for a mage. It kind of gets tiring to see all those caster items drop all with spirit and not being able to use a single one cause spirit to us is wasted stat.

But honestly though, I would still play my shaman mostly simply because I like to be able to heal in a pinch. I have tossed quite a few heals on healers while in raids to get them back up over 50% and that is probably why ele shamans suffer so badly in damage.

I also love the attention we get when we join a group either as ele or enhance. The other DPSers love ya to death :P

[A Shaman]

I don't really remember why I picked shaman to be my first character class... It was about a year ago and I started leveling enhance.

My friend, who also plays a shaman, said I would like playing a mage if I liked elemental...
But I would never give up my shaman. Thunderstorm is too much fun. Clearcasting CH makes my pants wet.
Doing dailies is super easy when I can kill things in 2-3 gcd. Oh, and Thunderstorm!