Thread: Druid or Shaman

  1. #1
    Field Marshal Tucows's Avatar
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    Druid or Shaman

    Hey all,

    I just reinstalled wow last night. I've been away for almost a year I think. I've decided to start a new character and cannot decide if I want to play a druid or shaman. My play style leans more towards healing and ranged dps. I do not have access to MoP beta so I can't test them on there. My goal is to level one character to 85 and at least get into the LFR cat raids before MoP comes out.

    Please let me know what you guys think

    Thanks.

  2. #2
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    i'd pick resto druid. They have always been at the top healer classes. And MoP changes look pretty good for druids. But if you want to go pvp healer, then pick resto sham

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    Field Marshal Tucows's Avatar
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    Thanks.

    I've never been a huge pvp player...I dabble in it but not hardcore by any means. Druid was my favorite class through wrath, i switched to feral in cat and it was never the same. I loved being able to switch from healing to dps and only have to change a couple pieces of gear and able to do really well still.

  4. #4
    Field Marshal Tucows's Avatar
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    Priest was the last class I hit 85 with...I didn't enjoy it as much as wrath resto healing and i've never healed anything end game with a shammy.

  5. #5
    Scarab Lord Grubjuice's Avatar
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    Why not both?
    Both can heal and both can Ranged Dps

    and of course, the healing styles of each are very different and the ranged dps styles of each are very different,
    so how will you know which you like unless you try both?

  6. #6
    Bloodsail Admiral bloodkin's Avatar
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    both are good healers atm, but if you want to be ranged dps too, i'd go with druid, moonkins are in a good spot now. i play both, and i prefer druid above shammy dps wise because i don't like watching proc's ( certainly not lava surge ). healingwise i haven't tried druid, but as a healer i really like shammy.

    so for dps, go druid, otherwise go with shammy
    'Something's awry.' -Duhgan 'Bel' beltayn

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  7. #7
    Over 9000! Myrrar's Avatar
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    In cata raids, and not just LFR, you will be pushing 2-3 buttons on any healer you play. They are all mindnumbing and boring. If you are choosing a class to eventually play for MoP I'd go through the MoP Rdruid threads and Rshaman threads and do some research.

    Basing it off what class is better is a poor choice, things change very quickly the beginning of expansions. Pick what healing model looks more fun to you.

  8. #8
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    It depends on your playstyle really. I have both a resto/balance druid and a resto/ele shaman. Healing-wise I prefer playing my druid, but that might be because it has slightly better gear. DPS-wise I prefer my shaman, just find it more interesting.
    But yeah maybe give both a go and then decide.
    Personal preference.
    Maybe consider other things like the race you'd like to play, the racials, read up on MOP, etc.

  9. #9
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    If you want to heal, id go with resto shaman imo one of the most active class/spec. As for the quote -In cata raids, and not just LFR, you will be pushing 2-3 buttons on any healer you play- i cant agree with that, maybe as holy pally and resto druid but even then you're not doing it right, since as healer you still have to play active most of the time, there's allways something you can do better, but both resto druid and resto shaman are very fun to play, i love healing since its mostly different everytime and cant say alot about resto druid have'nt been healing with one much in DS, but atleast as a shaman i can tell you that its very fun and that you should totally go for one if you want an active role cause imo most other classes/specs/roles are quite lame only other role i liked was as a dps warrior mostly since its quite active playstyle aswell, played them all except mage, cant bring myself to play one... oh ye and priest as some other suggested is also very nice, also an active class and quite fun aswell.

  10. #10
    Comin from lots of experience, Resto shammy/ Ele shammy are ALOT of fun to play; the same goes for Druids of the same roles, but I prefer shaman

  11. #11
    Over 9000! Myrrar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ceila View Post
    If you want to heal, id go with resto shaman imo one of the most active class/spec. As for the quote -In cata raids, and not just LFR, you will be pushing 2-3 buttons on any healer you play- i cant agree with that, maybe as holy pally and resto druid but even then you're not doing it right, since as healer you still have to play active most of the time, there's allways something you can do better, but both resto druid and resto shaman are very fun to play, i love healing since its mostly different everytime and cant say alot about resto druid have'nt been healing with one much in DS, but atleast as a shaman i can tell you that its very fun and that you should totally go for one if you want an active role cause imo most other classes/specs/roles are quite lame only other role i liked was as a dps warrior mostly since its quite active playstyle aswell, played them all except mage, cant bring myself to play one... oh ye and priest as some other suggested is also very nice, also an active class and quite fun aswell.
    The point is, you can clear any content right now with little effort. You don't need to worry about class difficulty, because you don't need to be playing at max. So yes, you can clear almost everything on any healer only pushing 3 buttons. You don't need to stress about the learning curve on a new character at the end of an expansion.

  12. #12
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    Druid playstyle is much more fun in MoP then it is now in cata.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Myrrar View Post
    The point is, you can clear any content right now with little effort. You don't need to worry about class difficulty, because you don't need to be playing at max. So yes, you can clear almost everything on any healer only pushing 3 buttons. You don't need to stress about the learning curve on a new character at the end of an expansion.

    True, it is very easy now, thanks to the nerfs and all that so i guess if you're just after steamrolling normal it wont matter much difficult wise, aslong as you got a decent group with dps that acctually can do the dps that fits the minimum.
    I guess it wont matter to much no, however i still cant approve of the 3 button theory:P did a normal DS just yesterday i belive, first time in like half a year or so, so pre nerf experience then now after the nerfs, it was mostly an alt run, characters with still good gear around 380-385ilvl i guess and the players have downed all the content previously on their mains.

    We went 2 healer obivously, me on my shaman and a friend of mine on his priest that was more or less freashly dinged, well like 7h playtime or so in 85 but he still had 384 ilvl lucky i guess, anyhow you could say he was average geared and average skilled.
    Even tho the dps was a tad low but we obviously made it through with little problems part from abit annoying zonoz as usual. seriously hate that fight, but ye i still had to use all my spells and abilites that i used to use pre nerf aswell, as in i still used my entire toolbox, in otherwords definetly more then 3 buttons.
    As i said i cant say for sure about the other classes but as a shaman i still had to use most of my spells, the only one i skipped most of the time was stoneclaw totem with the glyph, now im not sure it was partially cause of abit lack of dps or the fact that my friend wasnt the greatest healer with that gear and experience even tho i had 396ilvl or so and much experience in resto i cant say that i could "skip" using abilites because it requires "little effort"
    I acctually think i was still playing at the same level i normally did before the nerfs, if anything even higher since abit less geared/experienced group to what i was used to only fight we wiped on was madness and spine, and spine was abit of lack of experience from the tank that messed up a tad
    However with some ajusting we did it, not the easiest kill i've been on but we still made it.
    On madness however we lacked the dps and failed a few times, even tho i was doing around 70% of the healing done and still used all my toolbox, not sure if i could get by just using 3 buttons on any fight part from like ult and morchok i guess.

    However this is with the fact that i've got decent gear for normal since i only can replace my shield(378 one from beth in FL), trinket( got the proc haste one from DS normal wich isnt optimal as resto shaman) and chest (got raidfinder tier atm).
    And as i said just my opinion as a shaman, and not quite sure how exactly you want to count those "3 buttons" :P oh and you still need to "stress about the learning curve" just not no where near as much

    And it all depends if you can group up with decent people, since sadly there's quite alot of players thats not very active players and tend to die from silly mistakes or cant make the best of their character with their current gear etc, so ye most of depends on what kind of players you group up with, if their on the same level as you or higher / implying you're a decent player/ then it is very easy, but if you group up with people with less experience/people that slack of abit to much then it gets quite alot harder, even tho it is towards the end of the expansion., oh and sorry for wall of text...
    Last edited by mmoc645f7dced3; 2012-07-08 at 11:11 PM.

  14. #14
    Pandaren Monk shokter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ceila View Post
    oh and sorry for wall of text...
    To type the above took about 25-30 keystrokes, whereas you could have just pressed 'Enter' maybe 3-4 times at relevant thoughtbreaks while typing and produced a post the reader can more easily make sense of.

    holy run on sentence batman
    "Brevity is...wit"

  15. #15
    Druids are fun because you can do it all. Tank, ranged and melee dps, and heal. The downside though come MoP is that you'll have to roll against Monks for gear, along with rogues.

  16. #16
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    ye sorry i was just a tad lazy earlier, decided to go with the quote instead of changning it, but should be abit better now atleast^^

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by baller1308 View Post
    Druids are fun because you can do it all. Tank, ranged and melee dps, and heal. The downside though come MoP is that you'll have to roll against Monks for gear, along with rogues.
    Both druids and shamans will have to roll against monks for gear as shamans will be sharing tier tokens with monks. So when it comes to gear it doesn't matter which one you pick.

  18. #18
    Field Marshal Tucows's Avatar
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    Thanks everyone for their great feedback. I have a 74 shammy on the server I started back on and I've just started a new Druid. I think I am going to get comfortable with the leveling, dungeons, and addons with the druid and then try out my shammy some too. I think my end goal will be to have both maxed.

    Thanks again.

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