Before I start my so-called rant here I am mostly satisfied with the toolkit my shaman has at its current state in terms of spells, class features, etc. My main reason for this post today is basically give or take how in-viable I am as a resto sham for this season.
Survivablity
Now I have no complaints of the throughput I can do as Resto its the fact of the matter that I can be basically globaled by almost any competent dps in the right circumstances (position, cooldowns, etc) whilst a Resto Druid or a Discipline Priest can be COMPLETELY out of position (i.e: standing in the middle of the bloody arena) and be completely fine and make it out with mere scratches even without a peel from a teammate.
The lack of ANY defensive cooldowns other then battlemaster if you choose to take and possibly a warlock healthstone we have nothing. Yes, we do have Astral shift, but is completely overhauled by the Natures Guardian passive (fall below a certain % you gain x amount of health and an extra % of healthpool for x amount of seconds) which is amazing and very helpful as it takes us just out execute range for a slight amount of time and the extra life % is very useful with our mastery Deep Healing. But that is it, Every other healing class has a effective tank cooldown such as Pain Suppression, BoP, Ironbark, Monk Bubble, which is a huge buff that Resto Shams have been absent from since time began. Not to mention the lack of any passive class specific damage reduction cooldowns such as Barkskin, various palidan defensives (including Bubble), fortifying brew, also I can even throw in symbosis in there for Detterence, Bone-shield, unending resolve, and so on..
Raid/Healing Cooldowns
To make a point against myself Resto Shamans do have amazing raid/healing cooldowns, such as Healing Tide Totem, Spirit Link Totem, and Ascendance. But also to counter that, 2 of our 3 healing cooldowns are easily nuked down within seconds if targets unless a valueble major glyph spot is sacrificed to give them some more health and not destroyed within one GCD.
So whats all this boil down to?
We have very weak defensive's and rely way to much on peels which puts the team in a defensive play style and the fact of the matter is Resto Shamans cannot be self-reliant at all while your team pressures in for a kill on the enemy team and leaves you very vulnerable in contrast to a Disc Priest, Resto Druid, Monk, and Holy Palidan. I am much more susceptible to go down ages before any other healing class given the skill level of that player of course and EASILY pressured into blowing healing cooldowns.
Think of it in terms of comps when sitting in waiting room waiting for a match to start, It gives you a very advantagious feeling when you go up against a comp with a Resto Sham rather then say a Disc Priest. Even myself, playing a resto sham get reassurance when I see we are playing a team with an enemy Resto Sham because I know it will just make the kill that much easier for my teammates.
Hell, verse many comps all 3 of my cooldowns are required to survive an opener such as TSG, and RMP that just come in with every cooldown that have in hopes to burst me down real quick and still at that point its a toss up if I survive or not.
Long story short, Resto Shamans are bassically in-viable and less superior to Resto Druid/ Disc Priest this season for ANY and all comps in My eyes, and remember I play at a 1900 rating and im fairly sure I am easily capable of playing at a 2-2.1k rating but I am limited due to my class this season. And if it means anything the enemy comps I que up against are majority a mix of Disc and Resto Druid healers with a stray Shaman every now and then, if that doesnt scream some complete overpowered classes just by that ratio I dont know what does.
PS: This is my first hardcore pvp season I have played competitively for rating and what not but I am very knowledgeful and skilled at multiple classes playing for the amount of years I have been.
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So there you have it, Quite a rant but I do want to get some feedback possibly some banter on the topic as well as some constructive criticism possibly.