Why do you play Shaman? Real feedback, please

[PopVanish]

Why do you play Shaman? Real feedback, please

Seems like a very fun class with totems and self res. Why do you choose to stay with the shaman over different DPS and healers?

[gd8]

strong class theme, elemental is fun when you get a lot of procs

[TigTone]

To drown everything in lightning.

Wish lava burst got changed into Plasma Burst.

More lightning the better.

[Korrah]

Thematics.
All about that Avatar feeling of controlling the elements.

[keelr]

Created my shaman because of totems, stayed for the ELE crits. 'Till this day i enjoy ELE as day1

[promoothevs]

Shaman currently is in a fairly strong spot. There's a lot of utility in 1 bundle that you'd have to rummage through multiple other classes to find.
I mostly chose it because it's a dual ranged/heal class where the dps has very good priority target damage and the healer has a lot of utility

Disclaimer: this is from the standpoint of mythic raiding

Utility includes:
-AoE stun (1m cd)
-12s (lowest cd), ranged(!) interrupt
-group sprint totem (shared with cat/bear druids only, but this one persists for 15s)
-purge (actually I mostly use this in M+)
-one of the lowest-cd 40% personal DRs with astral shift (1.5m)
-ankh for encounter cheesing/more robust prog
-minimum 100% speed ghost wolf
-ghost wolf can be kitted out to be very tanky, with talent for 20% DR + pack spirit azerite
-tremor totem for aoe fear dispel

If resto:
-Ankh totem can significantly lower the difficulty of some raid mechanics (see Jaina, Uu'nat)
-3x igneous potential build lets you do tank-level dps (1/2-2/3 of a pure dps) while providing some very strong 1-button resto spells (spirit link, healing tide, ankh totem)

If ele:
-damage profile is very consistent (flat, unlike fire mage & destr lock that get a huge burst every 3 min then trail off)
-very strong priority target focusing, especially when 2-3 targets are present (with lava burst procs and lava shock azerite trait)
-damage cds are very low duration and you can pool a lot of alpha strike damage (20x lava shock buff with full maelstrom + stormkeeper) to nuke priority adds if needed

If enhance... maybe play the other two

[Advent]

Because when I first saw a shaman in TBC wielding full gear from ZA, with a whirling tornado whipping around him and lightning dancing from his weapons I had to play that spec. I still can't get that image out of my head. It is and always will be how I see enhancement; The melee-fighting stormbringers.

[l3l]

-class theme and lore
-lightnings shocks and lava bursts
-earthshield and lightning shield effects
-awesome transmog
-elemental feels crazy and chaotic when using cds
-great visual effects
-support role
-bloodlust (!)
-i love purging buffs in pvp

In essence it seems I’m a hipster as I dont play shaman for performance either in pve or pvp. Just fetish for the looks and effects it seems.

I play both enha and ele equaly. If ele gets very pet oriented I will dump the whole class.

[Sughs]

Enhancement since TBC. I just like the theme a lot. We are like a Warrior that can heal and transform into a wolf. We use the elements to our favor, including awesome lightning attacks, what's there not to like?

[Angrie]

Why do you play Shaman? Real feedback, please

Seems like a very fun class with totems and self res. Why do you choose to stay with the shaman over different DPS and healers?

I started my first shaman back at the end of vanilla during the Burning Crusade prepatch (when enhance got dual wielding). I loved enhance then, but only got to level 47 or so.
For Burning Crusade, 2 of my guildmates and I rolled Draenai shamans (1 ele, 1 enh, 1 resto). I played Ele for the entire expansion.
Wrath, i played ele for a bit before giving up on shaman, where i dabbled shaman until Legion, where i played ele through all of Antorius, into BFA beta.
BFA, i leveled my shaman and been off and on with it. Until....

Recently i rediscovered, all the way back from vanilla, my love for enhancement. Ele & Resto are both FANTASTIC to play, but i never knew the joy enhancement would bring me. I never geared up as Enhance, never got weapons for it, always read the boards about how enhancement sucked and took it as gospel.... how i came to my rediscovery:

I preordered Shadowlands and used my free 120 boost on my warrior, which is a class i have played with great passion when i was all about pvp. After playing the warrior for a bit (not even a week), i thought, the class is pretty braindead easy when there's no more stance dancing. Nothing about it separates a good warrior from bad one if you can roll your face on the keyboard. So something in me decided to log on my shaman and give enh a go. Enh is pretty similar to a warrior in a lot of ways, figured it was worth trying.

With 2 370 weapons, i hit a training dummy and wasn't very impressed. Meh, it does things, but those things are easier done by other classes. Took all my ele azerite gear and respec for 3x Strength of Earth 1x Ancestral Resonance 1x Roiling Storm 1x Undulating Tides. Hit the dummy again, it was a bit better. Respecced my talents for 1111233. Got better at using Rockbiters and noticed i was doing doing more single target damage than my fury warrior (who had much better weapons and overall gear).

The real test for me, is if i can have fun pvp'ing with it (or doing select pve content). Took it into arena scrims, got UTTERLY destroyed. I guess the boards were right... enh sucks.


Wrong! Stuck with it, did about 100-150 Scrims, started figuring out how to use the entire Enh kit. Realized i can't play like a warrior, can't sit in the "pile" and expect to live. Have to use hit and run tactics, go in, burst for like 10-15 seconds, retreat.
Took it into the 15year AV event and had THE MOST FUN I HAVE EVER HAD IN WOW. I was killing people left and right. I literally 1 shot mages. You know you're doing something right when healers take notice and start healing YOU and ONLY YOU. I ended an AV with 48 killing blows and only 3 deaths. Last time i did something like that, Lvl 60 Ret paladin with my Might of Menethil.

I use a very weird spec now, something so unorthodox that if i said it people would immediately dismiss it. However, 411 ilvl, a 415 MH and a 370 OH, it doesn't matter if what i do is unorthodox if i'm having fun. I run the same azerite stated above and the spec i run is: 1123232. I have taken Lava Lash off my bars, never use flame tongue unless i'm rooted and need a ranged ability. Between StormStrike Procs, Sundering, and 40maelstrom lightning bolts, i output RIDICULOUS damage.

So to answer your question, why do i play shaman? I haven't had this much fun since vanilla!

[TripleZero]

My reason is honestly, that ele is the most fun caster to play in the game for me. Its not bloated, lava surge is fun and the GFX is amazing.

Ive tried all casters in the game but nothing came close to ele for me.

Although the fun took a somewhat big hit when they added the 6 second cd to flameshock, i still wouldnt want to play anything else.

[Ragnarocket]

Originally enjoyed the Totem gameplay. It was also a niche none of my guildies went for when Burning Crusade came around and Alliance got them. I had originally rolled a Tauren Shaman as my first character ever and ended up quitting around Barrens time. When I came back with some RL friends we rolled Alliance so I stuck with them. I wanted to be a bit more unique than "Night Elf Hunter #3481" so I took the time to level a Draenei Shaman. I loved the class aesthetic of flinging lightning and Flame Shocks everywhere as well as being a "support caster". Totem of Wrath back in the day as Elemental felt great to just throw down and grant the spellslingers about....2? 3? Something around there more % crit.

I ended up becoming one of the main healers for my guild as well that helped us progress through TBC/Wrath/Cata before the guild ended up leaving for SWTOR. Shaman healing has always been my thing I come back to. I enjoy the aesthetic and gameplay of throwing water, rain, etc around and healing people up with it. And there is nothing cooler than being able to keep people alive with a great Spirit Link Totem or Healing Tide totem while slinging Healing Rain and Chain Heal around a group.

[Kalisandra]

Why do you play Shaman? Real feedback, please

Seems like a very fun class with totems and self res. Why do you choose to stay with the shaman over different DPS and healers?

I love the visuals when Chain Lightning procs lots of overloads, and you get to go all Sith Lord on some group of mobs. I love the sound and visuals of Lava Burst (and Elemental Blast as well, though that's not a recommended choice right now). I liked it a lot more back in the day (MoP was the best), but it's still a fun spec now (though at BfA's launch it was awful).

Enhance I have no real opinion of - I've not played it to any degree since Lich King.

Resto - I like the toolkit, I like the general lack of gimmicks, and I like the theme. Again, it was best in MoP (and good in Cata and WoD and Legion). It's not the rest PvE healer these days, but what it does, it does in a solid and straightforward manner.

[Ayirasi]

I had an awesome name for an Orc in mind, and shaman was one of the few classes I hadn't rolled yet.

[Latuchi]

I play shaman because I like to splash water on to people and they think it heals them somehow.. but it works. For reals tho, I play shaman because I feel so lost with all the other healer specs and shaman is just so simple and straightforward with a lot of utility thingies.

[Xorzor]

Because:

- they're fun
- I like being at range
- the Draenei Shaman on the back of the TBC box first attracted me to the class
- elemental powers in general are fun to wield

[Dakara]

Because, alongside Druids, they're the only class ingame who can Heal, RDPS & MPDS... and I prefer their playstyle over Druids.

However, I don't main a Shaman for cosmetic reasons... I just don't like the Alliance Race options for Transmog. However, I'm seriously considering swapping to Rest Sham for 8.3 so I might have to compromise.

Dranaei - Hooves
KT - Their "well rounded figures" distorts a lot of armor models and they don't fit on many of my favorite mounts.
Dwarves - Also distort some armor for Transmog, but probably the best option.
Pandas - Same problem as KT. To jelly.

[wanax]

To drown everything in lightning.

Wish lava burst got changed into Plasma Burst.

More lightning the better.

That could be a great glyph

[Zeek Daniels]

Unlimited Power, nuff said.

[StillMcfuu]

I loved them in vanilla through wrath for the totems and the smacking people with big hammers and then swinging around goblets to murder people (brewfest 1 hand mace). Plus the wolves, the totems, the 5 maelstrom stack chain lightning, lava totem... I loved that class.
After cata, that cooled off a lot and stopped playing, but picked shaman up again at the end of Wod when I came back to the game. I love ele now, mainly the theme, master of elements, plus there isn't a cooler looking class, especially when you are popping off.
I still think the tool kit resto shaman have is the absolute standard for what I think a healing class should be, so there is that too.

I hope SL brings back a strong Enh feeling that's unique... I just think they are a boring version of ele, but close range, instead of Lightning you have SS, instead of LB you have LL, etc...
And it just kind of feels like they wanted it to fit together the same, but in practice it doesn't work out.