Page 1 of 2
1
2
LastLast
  1. #1

    To Shaman or not to Shaman, that is the (oft) asked question.

    When BFA hit I went straight to 120 on my Pallie and smashed out the rep needed to unlock Dark Iron Dwarves. I always wanted an adventured (this means expac by expac completion) toon.
    Having seen all the bad press and general malaise over Shaman coupled with some burnout of unlocking DI I kinda took a hiatus. I am back now and am wondering if making a Shaman at least to have an adventure on would be enjoyable, I can be quite solitary while lvling so I am more worried about soloing things other classes find easy.

    Hit me with your Yoda shaman wisdom!

  2. #2
    Shaman can solo hard stuff very easily because of Earth Elemental.

    You also have nice tools like stun and slow totem to kite and giving you time to heal.

    If you go with warmode on as enhance you have access to pvp talents that nearly double your dps (which means that in normal pve situation your dps is complete fucking garbage, yes) so it's fun.

  3. #3
    If you're just levelling it's absolutely fine. You might struggle to find groups at higher end content, but once you find one you'll likely be fine. At PuG levels, skill>class balance usually. They're not that far off the pace. That said, the gameplay is very unpopular right now. You're welcome to give it a go, but a lot of long-time shaman mains have ditched the class because they weren't having fun any more.

  4. #4
    Deleted
    As stated above, you can solo stuff with earth elemental but lvling a shaman is not enjoyable. It's a pretty squishy class with unimpressive dmg, at least elemental.

  5. #5
    Solo adventuring shouldn't be much of a problem, shaman has plenty of utility to get you out of jams - shortest CD interrupt in game, baseline AoE stun, Purge, Earthbind totem / Frost slow, ghost pupper, self-healing, and Big Daddy Earth Elemental who is your get-out-of-jail-free card. You are pretty squishy though, so expect to make use of said tools, especially as you get close to 120 and your gear vs. your level drops your relative output.

    I would definitely level as Enhancement, since it hasn't changed much from Legion, only really losing Doom Winds; it has fine burst with Earthen Spike (single target) and Sundering (AoE) and generally strong cleave from Crash Lightning. Elemental, on the other hand, is really hard to play coming off of Legion - damage isn't anything to write home about, Flame Shock has a fixed cooldown and no mechanics to spread it, Earth Shock has a fixed Maelstrom cost, and Stormkeeper is mutually exclusive with Ascendance, taken together makes Elemental feel very rigid and clunky. Make sure to level in Warmode, the talents you get are amazing for throughput, and the downtime from getting ganked is more than made up for with the XP bonus.

    Finding groups as a sham may be semi-difficult, just because of the class stigma at this point. Well-geared and raid-buffed, shamans are middle of the pack dps. However, with buffs coming down the line, and with Mythic MOTHER's super easy cheese strat demanding an Rsham, there are definitely guilds looking for their token shaman for the tier, and they're more than fine with you playing Enhance or Resto. Resto always gets a bad rap in raiding because shaman doesn't parse well compared to other healers, but that's because a farm boss does relatively little damage to an experienced group, and with little damage going out, resto Mastery is a dead stat; but on progression, when people are constantly on low health and still learning, shamans are heroes and gods - but wipes aren't parses.

  6. #6
    Classes that I have to level at 110 are Priest, Warlock, Warrior and Shaman. I also have a 110 boost. I would still pick Shaman last.
    RETH

  7. #7
    If you wanted character for soloing, I would just make a hunter tbh.

  8. #8
    My GM swapped from shaman to druid. He said he wishes he could go back to 2004 and slap some sense into himself. I'm still a shaman but basically phoning it in this tier.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Jotaux View Post
    My GM swapped from shaman to druid. He said he wishes he could go back to 2004 and slap some sense into himself. I'm still a shaman but basically phoning it in this tier.
    Im actually swapping from Dru to Sham for next tier. Balance is incredibly tedious and zero fun to play. Lots of buttons that do absolutely nothing. Im also not a huge of fan of Stellar Flare and thats going to be a thing next tier. Druid also has terrible spell animations compared to Shaman. Its just very bland and the other Dru specs are even less fun than Balance.

    Hopefully the numbers are there, if so Im expecting to see a lot more Shams 8.1 and forward.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Xirrohon View Post
    Hopefully the numbers are there, if so Im expecting to see a lot more Shams 8.1 and forward.
    The numbers are rarely there. For about 3 expansions now if you wanna play a caster, just play a mage or warlock, Blizzard will never make any of these 2 trash because they have a vocal class community that is gonna eat them alive if they're bad, and still complain if they're middle of the pack and not insta pick.

  11. #11
    Officers Academy Prof. Byleth's Avatar
    15+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Fódlan
    Posts
    2,225
    I am a 10 year Shaman vet. In my opinion give Shaman a miss right now and come back later when they're better.

    Even I put my Shaman away for now, and am focused on my Rogue.
    Here is something to believe in!

  12. #12
    Herald of the Titans Dristereau's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    2,531
    There's a post that's appeared on Wowhead a few hours ago saying that they're pretty much just disappointed that despite the problems with Enhance 8.1 is just talent hotfixes that won't really change anything which is what the community has been asking for since Beta. Elemental also has some annoying things like a cooldown on Flame Shock that just feels like it was put there to make ability more unfun to use.

    Overall the class is playable but it's one of those that is according to their community is a poor state and people are dropping it. Enhance however has insane burst in PVP from what I've seen when things proc but the Class isn't particularly tanky, something that has a Tank Spec or perma pet is great for solo things but I think Shaman is fine for everything people would expect to solo.

    I originally planned to use my BFA boost on a Shaman to have a Dwarf one as an Alt on my Alt Alliance Realm but given current opinions I've held off for now but honestly just play what you want. You can always Class Trial one at 110 because by that point people have all their abilities and talents.
    Dristereau - Axxolentus - Infernus - Sequentia - Nulo - Desterrar

    Silvermoon
    - Shadowsong/Aszune - Tarren-Mill/Dentarg (SL Mage Tower: 29/36
    )

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Packers01 View Post
    The only think shaman is good at right now is Resto PVP, at least I think.
    Enhance pvp is also holding strong, we'll see what happens in 8.1 when they're reshuffling / changing some pvp talents.

    Now when and where was the last time ele was good, that's another question. In Legion some people enjoyed the "gamble spec" but basically it was only doing well when you got some insane procs, otherwise it was middle of the pack, and tbh not everyone could embrace the joys of extreme rng.

  14. #14
    I just started a shaman, as its one of the few remaining classes I've never touched during the entirety of my WOW career. I'm actually REALLY enjoying enhancement right now.
    http://thingsihaveneverdone.wordpress.com
    Just started my 24/7 LoFi stream. Come listen!
    https://youtu.be/3uv1pLbpQM8


  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Bathory View Post
    I just started a shaman, as its one of the few remaining classes I've never touched during the entirety of my WOW career. I'm actually REALLY enjoying enhancement right now.
    You've not learned yet.

    As a long time enhancement player its disappointing to see shamans always start out terrible in the start of expansions. The only reason I could even do my M+ PUG in legion is my ilvl from doing mythic raiding carried me. Don't have that luxury this time and I can't find a group for a decent key ever.

  16. #16
    Just level a rogue.

    Shamans are fun to level, I am leveling a dark iron enhancement shaman right now. As soon I hit 120, I'm done with it. Maybe I'll do some WQs and some alt raid runs with my guild.

    Definitely not a class to take seriously in this expansion.

  17. #17
    Bloodsail Admiral Razeo's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Some place
    Posts
    1,088
    weird... its doom & gloom on these forums where people are free to make wild claims. Yet on the shaman discord; where people actually post video content (live or recorded) & logs to support their claims are optimistic about 8.1.

    JS.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by SoulForge View Post
    You've not learned yet.

    As a long time enhancement player its disappointing to see shamans always start out terrible in the start of expansions. The only reason I could even do my M+ PUG in legion is my ilvl from doing mythic raiding carried me. Don't have that luxury this time and I can't find a group for a decent key ever.
    Eh, I don't care about keys, and speculating about the future in a system where classes rise and fall regularly, serves me no purpose. I'm having fun learning the new the class as I level, that's what matters.
    Last edited by Bathory; 2018-11-24 at 08:49 AM.
    http://thingsihaveneverdone.wordpress.com
    Just started my 24/7 LoFi stream. Come listen!
    https://youtu.be/3uv1pLbpQM8


  19. #19
    In my experience Resto Shaman is one of the most fun healers, but not the preferred one in raids and keystones. Situation in dungeons can get quickly out of control due to weird HPS(mainly because chain heal is a wet noodle heal), but the utility is good - purge, tremor, earthbind, wind shear.

    Elemental will get better in 8.1. Right now it does OK, but talents don't feel impactful.

    Mail armor looks as ugly as it always has. Every transmog looks like a hunter set.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Razeo View Post
    weird... its doom & gloom on these forums where people are free to make wild claims. Yet on the shaman discord; where people actually post video content (live or recorded) & logs to support their claims are optimistic about 8.1.

    JS.
    Not sure which shaman discord you've been going to.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •