Shamans need to make use of curses and voodoo

[Omanley]

why is that drastic... the LK disowns them and darion does his best to get a safe place for his DKs. and even so they were horde/alliance before being dead so why not?

Because they killed hundreds and thousands of their brethren under the Influence? Have you actually played a dk? After the starter zone you end up in stormwind/orgrimmar, and every npc boo´s at you, throwing moldy fruits at you. Most Horde and Alliance members do not care wether or not the dk´s were enslaved to do all that or not, they distrust the Death Knights and if it weren´t for Thrall or Varian, they´d probably kill all Death Knights in their ranks.

"Warlocks are former arcanists, or in the case of the orcs, former shamans, who, in pursuit of ever-greater sources of power, have cast off their studies of the arcane or nature magics to delve deeper into the darker, fel-based magic of shadow."

cant rly have shamans using curses whne that is how warlocks started.

some are, some are not. witch doctors use curses and are no warlocks. fel magic is not the only source of curses. there are also dark loa´s, the source of troll shadow priests.
a caster in contact with the spirits can very well curse. "The spirits of my ancestors curse you..."

Cursed by the spirits of hundreds of dead shamans should do a thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism nothing to read about voodoo there =P

http://www.wowwiki.com/Witch_doctor

In World of Warcraft, witch doctors are semi-playable as troll priests (with shadowy magic, ritualistic chants and spiritual guidence) or shamans (with wards being replaced by totems).

http://www.wowwiki.com/Shadow_hunter

Shadow hunters can cast Chain heal, turn enemies to harmless critters with Hex, summon ward to assist him in battle, and point-blank area of effect spell that turns allies around shadow hunter invincible.

read again, sounds like shaman to me.

[Trollin Mon]

Um, chain heal, hex, and wards ARE a shadow hunter thing. They were shadow hunter spells in warcraft III, and again, were given to shamans so that they would at least be in-game.

[Omanley]

yes, but hardly anyone would now say that chain heal is a non shaman spell, because it existed since vanilla beta. it became a shaman thing.

also it just shows how close the different spiritual casters are.

they could have made a organisation of all hordes shamans, farseers, witch doctors, shadow hunters, spirit walkers and tauren chieftains, sharing their wisdom to train the spiritualist of the horde from thereone out and call them <insert name>

cause that´s essentially what shamans are. people pay to much attention of wc3 unit names.

[zcks]

Eh shaman need curses & vodoo magic about as much as shadow priests do. Either of them could easily be considered a witch doctor or vodoo priest depending on the location & race they come from.

Speaking of which If they ever do make another class it will probably end up being a caster/healer hybrid as death knights filled the melee dps & tank roles and there is always a need for more healers.

Knowing that it would be nice if they made a class out of the vodoo priest/witch doctor kind of like they did for Diablo 3

[Omanley]

Eh shaman need curses & vodoo magic about as much as shadow priests do. Either of them could easily be considered a witch doctor or vodoo priest depending on the location & race they come from.

true, but shaman is already a mix of all those spiritual caster types, whereas priest is not. furthermore, priests faith goes towards they different kind of gods ( trolls =>loa ), whereas shamans are not really limited that way.
as a spiritualist, you can use voodoo magic, speak with the ancestors, call the elementals for help, heal wounds, do prophecies and so on
as a priest, you are limited to your god

that´s why i think voodoo matches better with shamans.

[Xeraxis]

true, but shaman is already a mix of all those spiritual caster types, whereas priest is not. furthermore, priests faith goes towards they different kind of gods ( trolls =>loa ), whereas shamans are not really limited that way.
as a spiritualist, you can use voodoo magic, speak with the ancestors, call the elementals for help, heal wounds, do prophecies and so on
as a priest, you are limited to your god

that´s why i think voodoo matches better with shamans.

I think you need to brush up on your understanding of Voodoo as it is based around Deities the same as your description of a Priest.

[Straye]

Shamans get their power by asking the elements for their assistance.

Do you really thing the elements have the power to curse? I can't see a fire, water, earth, or air elemental cursing me.

[Omanley]

I think you need to brush up on your understanding of Voodoo as it is based around Deities the same as your description of a Priest.

right, but priests are particular about the deity they worship. you cannot be priest of god/deity and at the same time be a servant of god/deity two. just think about an undead priest worshipping the loa. it doesn´t fit.

Shamans get their power by asking the elements for their assistance.

Do you really thing the elements have the power to curse? I can't see a fire, water, earth, or air elemental cursing me.

that´s one aspect of the shaman, not the only one. the elements do not curse, but you can course through dead spirits => ancestors/killed enemies, which the shaman comunes with.
you´re telling me a spiritual medium like the shaman isn´t able to curse? lol

and where do warlocks get their power to curse from (since you´re asking for the source of cursing ability)?
demons? demon xyz says you gotta speak demonic!! yeah right.

[TheTieThatBinds]

I had a post on a topic about 2 months ago. I think its better than what anyone has stated here so far since it lets us keep our current spells, but also changes the way they work.

I have mixed emotions about this. I like the idea they are increasing the totem buff distances, but, does buffing a broken mechanic fix things?

I think they should do away with the majority of the totems, leaving ones like Mana Spring/Healing Stream, Tremor, Grounding, Searing, Fire Elemental(debatable), Earth Elemental(debatable), and Magma Totem, and then convert them into buffs, call them something like Mantras since Paladins are "Blessings". It would still keep the shamanistic characteristics, but change the way they work.

Have each Mantra do the same thing their totem counterparts did, having the same allotted time, and only able to have 1 of each school active from 1 shaman. Would solve everyone's problems, having us keep our totems, and also giving us buffs from the removed totems.

Anyone like that idea or does it just totally suck?

[Vesheke]

I have mixed emotions about this. I like the idea they are increasing the totem buff distances, but, does buffing a broken mechanic fix things?

I think they should do away with the majority of the totems, leaving ones like Mana Spring/Healing Stream, Tremor, Grounding, Searing, Fire Elemental(debatable), Earth Elemental(debatable), and Magma Totem, and then convert them into buffs, call them something like Mantras since Paladins are "Blessings". It would still keep the shamanistic characteristics, but change the way they work.

Have each Mantra do the same thing their totem counterparts did, having the same allotted time, and only able to have 1 of each school active from 1 shaman. Would solve everyone's problems, having us keep our totems, and also giving us buffs from the removed totems.

Anyone like that idea or does it just totally suck?

Mantras are already given to Priests. Instead make it shamanistic like tribal drums, similar to the first 5 items on this page.

[TheTieThatBinds]

Mantras are already given to Priests. Instead make it shamanistic like tribal drums, similar to the first 5 items on this page.

I believe ur getting mantras and CHAKRA'S mixed up. There is no class taking use of mantras in the world of WoW.

[Trollin Mon]

Omanley, think of a troll worshiping the light. That doesn't exactley fit either. I think priests to you are christian priests, who are indeed Monotheistic. But priests don't have to believe in one god, see this:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/priest

In a nutshell, priests are religious leaders. Any religion, including the troll's Loa and Voodoo based religion, which contains several gods.

P.S. When I said trolls don't believe in the light, I was disincluding Zabra. He is a rare case, and back to what omanley said, there can be a rare case for an undead to worship the loas.

[Omanley]

there can be religions that worship more than one god. example being trolls with several loas. as you admitted yourself, all a troll has to worship is zabra for light, and a dark one for shadow.

although it´s a little silly you can switch your faith with the respec button, you switch from a follower of one god to another.

im not seeing priests as christian priests specifically, it´s just that gods are usually in competition, and dont want their followers to also follow a rival, you know?

since the elements and ancestors do not embody a god, it´s easier for a shaman to follow a voodoo based religion, because he has no other one it would conflict with.

and i just dont see undeads worshipping the loas. it´s just no.

[TheTieThatBinds]

and i just dont see undeads worshipping the loas. it´s just no.

an Undead Troll is still a Troll, there are lots of undead Trolls in ZG

[Trollin Mon]

Okay, I guess I didn't understand what you meant at first. When you said, "Worship another deity" I thought you meant not believing in more than 2 gods. But still, if you are a priest that's into rp then it would matter if you respec. But bliz didn't want to change the mechanics of one class to fit rp'ers wants. Besides, people don't need to respec, so it doesn't matter.

[Omanley]

an Undead Troll is still a Troll, there are lots of undead Trolls in ZG

stop being a smartass, we both know what i meant.
@ trollin mon: yeah i know blizzard gives a shit when it comes to lore. just look at worgen or draenei death knights. as it was core part of this thread however wether or not voodoo and curses would be matching the shaman class, i decided to follow that direction. If blizzard wanted they could give priests voodoo (although except 1 race, non would fit with it), warriors wands and druids crossbows.

[Trollin Mon]

Why do we even need to give this to classes already in place? I'm talking of the Witch Doctor class again. But this time, I'll give the talents, which I don't think anyone else has before.

1) Voodoo- Curse you enemies with dark magics while striking them with the aspects of spirits.
i)basically, cursing and melee dps with attacks based on certain loa spirits

2) Soul Mastery- Attack the very soul of your enemy in hopes of them back as your minion
i)basically, shadow spell dps and raising different kinds of undead. And yes, witch doctors can be necromancers(such as Zalazane!), so don't say the can't.

3) Blessings- Ask the spirits for aid in battle by mending the injured and strengthening your allies.
i)Basically a healing spec, but you are able to cast buffs that last only of a few seconds but greatly increase some aspect, such as decreasing damage taken or raising another's attack power.

Anyone think this is a bad idea and have a valid reason why? Otherwise, thanks for reading!