Rerolling Question

[Jaylan]

Hey guys. Currently have an 80 Prot Warrior, Holy Priest, Warlock and DK and was looking to level a new class as currently bored with the end game malarky.

My friend has played a shaman since vanilla release, and says I should roll one.

I'm a bit anxious because most of the shaman I group with, (except my mate who I hate to admit is actually good) seem to be a bit rubbish, which I put down to the class being difficult to play. Is this a fair assumption or have I just been grouping with poor players like that happened with Hunters and DKs?

Guessing that leveling to 40 as elemental then switching to enhancement is the way to go leveling wise, with some restro instance action after duel spec kicks in?

Also I'm guessing that the race doesnt matter too much, I'll probably roll an Orc if I do

[Metaknight]

Hey guys. Currently have an 80 Prot Warrior, Holy Priest, Warlock and DK and was looking to level a new class as currently bored with the end game malarky.

My friend has played a shaman since vanilla release, and says I should roll one.

I'm a bit anxious because most of the shaman I group with, (except my mate who I hate to admit is actually good) seem to be a bit rubbish, which I put down to the class being difficult to play. Is this a fair assumption or have I just been grouping with poor players like that happened with Hunters and DKs?

Guessing that leveling to 40 as elemental then switching to enhancement is the way to go leveling wise, with some restro instance action after duel spec kicks in?

Also I'm guessing that the race doesnt matter too much, I'll probably roll an Orc if I do

We're really not super challenging to play. Enhancement has a fairly complex priority rotation but other than that, its an absolutely rewarding and fun experience. I love my Shaman. Also idk what scrub shaman you've been playing with, but I see ele shaman topping dps charts all the time. My mainspec is resto, but even with my shittily geared offspec i pull pretty solid dps.

So do it do it do it

[HidaRonin]

We're really not super challenging to play. Enhancement has a fairly complex priority rotation but other than that, its an absolutely rewarding and fun experience. I love my Shaman. Also idk what scrub shaman you've been playing with, but I see ele shaman topping dps charts all the time. My mainspec is resto, but even with my shittily geared offspec i pull pretty solid dps.

So do it do it do it

Topping dps? Saurfang is the only exception and thats if the fire mages aint tunneling.

[HotSauce]

I have been in the same position as you. Almost have all the same 80s too. I decided to roll a shammy about a year or two ago. He was one of my first characters. I have recently (Thanks to Heirloom gear) Decided to level him up. I baught all this nice enhance gear only to realize, being sub 58, you don't really feel like much of a melee class. So I braught over my cloth heirloom gear and am leveling him as elemental! My main was a boomkin, and really enjoyed it. Then I played mage and enjoyed some of the silenced and shields. But Ele is the funnest class I have pvp'd with and im only 48, mind you. We have the "Pom" from mages for instant casts, wind sear ( I think it's called ) For an interupt, totems for a shield ( If glyphed ) and grounding totem. Plentiful of elemental pet totems, bloodlust, and a chance to shoot off a free mini lightning bold! I think it's fun and exciting, even at a low level. Can't wait for lava burst! (I know some people might "TL;DR" but this is for you mr.poster!

[Jaylan]

Ok cool, thanks for the advice. Much appreciated. I might give it a go later. I was leveling a mage up, but he's got stuck at 74.

Would I be alright just leveling as elemental and using the cloth gear + 2 sp trinkets + staff? Is the leather/mail conversion gear better? Also is it better to pick up the mace and use a shield?

Lots of questions sorry!

[Hypernetic]

Ok cool, thanks for the advice. Much appreciated. I might give it a go later. I was leveling a mage up, but he's got stuck at 74.

Would I be alright just leveling as elemental and using the cloth gear + 2 sp trinkets + staff? Is the leather/mail conversion gear better? Also is it better to pick up the mace and use a shield?

Lots of questions sorry!

Nah, you'd be fine with that cloth + staff for leveling. I haven't actually done the math or even looked anything up, but I'm just assuming that the heirloom staff is going to be better than w/e shield you can find around the world while you are leveling. The mace is also SP+MP5 I think.

Anyway, join the shaman revolution noaz.

[Fornaw]

We're really not super challenging to play. Enhancement has a fairly complex priority rotation but other than that, its an absolutely rewarding and fun experience. I love my Shaman. Also idk what scrub shaman you've been playing with, but I see ele shaman topping dps charts all the time. My mainspec is resto, but even with my shittily geared offspec i pull pretty solid dps.

So do it do it do it

Lying will get you nowhere. No spec of shaman truly tops charts unless they are in a group of horribles or they massively outgear everyone. Our dps is probably in line with what hybrids are supposed to do, at least most of the time, trouble is there are several hybrids who do more.

The advantages to playing a shaman are the flexibility of playstyles (only druids also have the option of being ranged/melee/heals) the fact that each spec has a unique playstyle from every other class and the fact that you are in high demand as a 10 man buff bot (soon to be taken away in Cata). The disadvantages are that Enh is particularly hard to master, and has some frustrating inequalities to other melee, mail gear/properly itemized pieces can be on the rare side, and your output (as a dps anyway) will generally not be anything to brag about.

I'm just being honest. Shaman need work, as does every class really, but personally I think we may need the most work. Look at the Enh tree for the Cata Alpha that was released earlier. I didn't see a single other tree that got nearly as many changes, there were entire classes that got less. The grass is not greener, just a different shade of green. If you are interested in diversity, you may like it. If you are interested in the claims of superiority that are being posted here, don't believe it.

[HidaRonin]

Lying will get you nowhere. No spec of shaman truly tops charts unless they are in a group of horribles or they massively outgear everyone. Our dps is probably in line with what hybrids are supposed to do, at least most of the time, trouble is there are several hybrids who do more.

The advantages to playing a shaman are the flexibility of playstyles (only druids also have the option of being ranged/melee/heals) the fact that each spec has a unique playstyle from every other class and the fact that you are in high demand as a 10 man buff bot (soon to be taken away in Cata). The disadvantages are that Enh is particularly hard to master, and has some frustrating inequalities to other melee, mail gear/properly itemized pieces can be on the rare side, and your output (as a dps anyway) will generally not be anything to brag about.

I'm just being honest. Shaman need work, as does every class really, but personally I think we may need the most work. Look at the Enh tree for the Cata Alpha that was released earlier. I didn't see a single other tree that got nearly as many changes, there were entire classes that got less. The grass is not greener, just a different shade of green. If you are interested in diversity, you may like it. If you are interested in the claims of superiority that are being posted here, don't believe it.

Couldnt have said it better myself.

[whowherewhat?]

I would hazard to say that the elemental alpha tree got the same amount if not more work done to it. Plus the changes to ele (if they survive to live) will fix many of our problems with solutions that originated in the community itself, which makes me rather proud to play a shaman :3

[sethers656]

Lying will get you nowhere. No spec of shaman truly tops charts unless they are in a group of horribles or they massively outgear everyone. Our dps is probably in line with what hybrids are supposed to do, at least most of the time, trouble is there are several hybrids who do more.

The advantages to playing a shaman are the flexibility of playstyles (only druids also have the option of being ranged/melee/heals) the fact that each spec has a unique playstyle from every other class and the fact that you are in high demand as a 10 man buff bot (soon to be taken away in Cata). The disadvantages are that Enh is particularly hard to master, and has some frustrating inequalities to other melee, mail gear/properly itemized pieces can be on the rare side, and your output (as a dps anyway) will generally not be anything to brag about.

I'm just being honest. Shaman need work, as does every class really, but personally I think we may need the most work. Look at the Enh tree for the Cata Alpha that was released earlier. I didn't see a single other tree that got nearly as many changes, there were entire classes that got less. The grass is not greener, just a different shade of green. If you are interested in diversity, you may like it. If you are interested in the claims of superiority that are being posted here, don't believe it.

Maybe in guild runs where you are with your best people, but on my shaman alt (my old main), i am ALWAYS in the top 5 in ICC25 pugs. He is enhance and I definently hold my weight in dps no matter what raid I'm in. Yes shamans have the hybrid tax, but any good shaman can still do good dps and top charts, especially in pugs.

[HidaRonin]

Yeah we only need to be surrounded by shit players to make ourselves look good ;D

[cubby]

We're really not super challenging to play. Enhancement has a fairly complex priority rotation but other than that, its an absolutely rewarding and fun experience. I love my Shaman. Also idk what scrub shaman you've been playing with, but I see ele shaman topping dps charts all the time. My mainspec is resto, but even with my shittily geared offspec i pull pretty solid dps.

So do it do it do it

This. My main is an enh shaman, and I love every minute of it. The versatility of play while leveling is great (elemental to 40, then enh/resto for leveling after that - and resto to get into instance queues faster).