Considering playing shaman in Cata. I have a few questions!

[CuyGuy]

Hello Shamans! At this moment my Shaman is level 67. I have been cruising on the character like crazy. I have really enjoyed my time with Shaman so far. My original plan was to level my Mage first for Cata, but now I am sort if siding with Shaman. I have been playing Resto/Ele and love both. I'll cut to the questions!

1. Does Ele Shaman do comparable AoE DPS now? Earthquake must do decent damage with how impressive it looks! =P

2. Does the whole totem thing get old? I dont mind it at this point, but at 80?

3. Shaman healing mechanics seem pretty simplistic. In Raids, is it simple button smashing while watching a movie?

4. Does Ele handle its own fairly well in PvP? I plan on doing a fair amount of PvP come Cata, and being squishy can be very frustrating.

Thats it for now. Thank you a bunch! Leave any additional if you'd like!

[Keimier]

Hello Shamans! At this moment my Shaman is level 67. I have been cruising on the character like crazy. I have really enjoyed my time with Shaman so far. My original plan was to level my Mage first for Cata, but now I am sort if siding with Shaman. I have been playing Resto/Ele and love both. I'll cut to the questions!

1. Does Ele Shaman do comparable AoE DPS now? Earthquake must do decent damage with how impressive it looks! =P

2. Does the whole totem thing get old? I dont mind it at this point, but at 80?

3. Shaman healing mechanics seem pretty simplistic. In Raids, is it simple button smashing while watching a movie?

4. Does Ele handle its own fairly well in PvP? I plan on doing a fair amount of PvP come Cata, and being squishy can be very frustrating.

Thats it for now. Thank you a bunch! Leave any additional if you'd like!

1-Yes. It does.
2-No. It doesn't.
3-Dunno.... not healy specced
4-did very little PVPing. But the ones i did do.... FS and LB along with Purge did fairly well. Plus you can Hex people too.....

[Deleted]

Roll a shaman! Dey be awzum mon!

To answer your questions:

I play resto/enhancement and will continue to. Earthquake does decent AoE dps, but it DOESN'T look impressive.

The totem thing doesn't get old. It's very cool to put down 4 buffs at a time

Raid healing is much more than spamming chain heal, which I guess you're referring to. Chain heal doesnt top off characters since the patch anymore. Ofc it's a very efficient spell, but healing in Cata will different from what it is now anyway, so hard to say at this point. (At least healing will be different to me, I'm used to using Healing Surge which is a mana inefficient spell, but gotta incorporate Healing Wave now)

I think Elemental can hold it's own in pvp. I think most shamans who wasn't healing in Wrath PvP was elemental. I haven't pvp'd since Vanilla.¨

But roll a shaman. But don't roll an alliance shaman!

[valiorik]

1. Does Ele Shaman do comparable AoE DPS now? Earthquake must do decent damage with how impressive it looks! =P

2. Does the whole totem thing get old? I dont mind it at this point, but at 80?

3. Shaman healing mechanics seem pretty simplistic. In Raids, is it simple button smashing while watching a movie?

4. Does Ele handle its own fairly well in PvP? I plan on doing a fair amount of PvP come Cata, and being squishy can be very frustrating.

1. Earthquake can buyout if you are hitting 6+ monsters with it. For less chain lightning + magma totem.
2. It's not getting old, but it's getting useless. Every cool buff totem can provide is replaced by other classes buffs, so totems are left for buff gaps filling in case you won't have a DK in a group for example. However totems are still very powerful and fun in PvP.
3. In Wrath - yes. In Cata - hope not.
4. Yes.

[Bloodpyre]

Hello Shamans! At this moment my Shaman is level 67. I have been cruising on the character like crazy. I have really enjoyed my time with Shaman so far. My original plan was to level my Mage first for Cata, but now I am sort if siding with Shaman. I have been playing Resto/Ele and love both. I'll cut to the questions!

1. Does Ele Shaman do comparable AoE DPS now? Earthquake must do decent damage with how impressive it looks! =P

2. Does the whole totem thing get old? I dont mind it at this point, but at 80?

3. Shaman healing mechanics seem pretty simplistic. In Raids, is it simple button smashing while watching a movie?

4. Does Ele handle its own fairly well in PvP? I plan on doing a fair amount of PvP come Cata, and being squishy can be very frustrating.

Thats it for now. Thank you a bunch! Leave any additional if you'd like!

1. Yup, it does it's job ;p

2. Totems will always be used, for spell power buff, strength agility buffs, spell/melee haste buffs, armor etc. They're great.

3. Well after 4.0.1 mana seems to be commodity not just a tool. It needs to be managed, but I can't say from experience, only play Elemental and a little bit of Enhancement a few months ago.

4. I've PvP'd quite a bit as Elemental, it's viable imo. Have had great fun, we certainly have some great tools for pvp, such as grounding totem, ghost wolf, thunderstorm, stoneclaw totem(glyphed), earthbind totem, bind elemental for those pesky mage water elementals, frost shock, and superb damage from FS and LvB as mentioned above.

As a side note, I've played my shaman for about a year and a few months now, I use to be a warrior tank, but remember dueling some shammy and getting chain lighting'd LvB'd and all sorts and immediately set off to level myself one. Never looked back, it's a great class with lots of utility. I don't think I would ever change mains from my shammy. Although the class is not without it's faults, I would highly reccomend trying it out for PvP and end game PvE.

I'm new so can't post a link to my armory page.

[Eijnar]

1. Yes, Ele is atm. doing decent damage.
2. Totems, not really a biggy only issue I have is as ele with Searing Totem and its retarded range which is getting fixed
3. After patch healing has imo. changed since you "can't" top of people with the intial burst from CH anymore so you have to use more of your arsenal e.g. Healing Surge / Healing Wave / Greater Heal and I must admit I find it slightly more entertaining now since you will get more penalized if you just spam CH in the tank as instead using HW / HS, but then again the shaman is only my alt so I haven't really any experience with progress raiding, but with the changes to resto e.g. Shock = burst more burst healing I do look forward to Cata and have already decided that my shaman will be my 2nd character to hit 85.
4. No clue, never bothered with pvping but you do have an immense amount of burst as ele aswell as a lot of utilites.

[Aleksej89]

1. Elem is doing decent damage, but still not like Mages/Locks.
2. Totems are cr*p most of the time. Actually, all of the time.
3. Resto is the most fun healing spec imo, but that's just me.
4. Elem is okay in PvP, but again not like Mages or Warlocks or even Shadow Priests.

[Deleted]

Being a long-time expert with the Shaman class, I believe that I can help you with these questions.

1. Does Ele Shaman do comparable AoE DPS now? Earthquake must do decent damage with how impressive it looks! =P

2. Does the whole totem thing get old? I dont mind it at this point, but at 80?

3. Shaman healing mechanics seem pretty simplistic. In Raids, is it simple button smashing while watching a movie?

4. Does Ele handle its own fairly well in PvP? I plan on doing a fair amount of PvP come Cata, and being squishy can be very frustrating.

1. Even without Earthquake, Elemental could hold its own in AoE damage thanks to Magma Totem and Chain Lightning. Now, our AoE DPS has become even higher, now that we have Fire Nova and Earthquake added to the mix! Earthquake however will usually only be useful on large packs, or as a filler while your other AoE spells are on cooldown. Also, keep in mind that Cataclysm will bring back lots of CC, so don't expect to do a lot of AoE damage - Single-target will be the main damage source, of which Elemental Shamans have plenty as well!

2. It can sometimes be a bother, but Totems can be very useful for the group. Sure they are overwritten by certain other class buffs, but being able to use them as a back-up is a great boon - Not to mention that once Elemental specced, your strongest Totem can't be overwritten at all due to an additional bonus! (Flametounge Totem)

3. While AoE Healing, it can sometimes boil down to just spamming Chain Heal, though you need quite a bit of Haste and Spirit to keep that up. Since the patch changes however have Shamans also been able to Tank Heal, which is an entirely different story - You have to keep a close eye on your procs, and make sure that you spend your Riptide procs carefully. Not only will Riptide increase the healing done by Chain Heal (Which can save a Tank's or even a whole melee group's life, trust me), you also gain a proc yourself if you cast Riptide or Chain Heal, if talented correctly. You want to have this up as much as possible while you're Tank Healing, as you need your faster burst heals in tight situations.
Long story short - Raid Healing is easy, Tank Healing is not.

4. While I do not have that much experience in PvP with Elemental Shamans, I do know that they can pop out some very high, unpredictable burst damage, and have some methods of getting away. The very first thing you will want to do is keep the Melee away from you, for which you can use Thunderstorm, Earthbind Totem, or even Earthquake if you are in luck. Combine this with Improved Ghost Wolf, and you can be nearly unreachable if you practise enough. As for Casters, make sure to use your Grounding Totem as much as you can, it will save your life more then once. Lastly, a well-timed Reincarnation can cause havoc on an unsuspecting group of enemies, even if you are forced into a kamekaze attack.

[innocent51]

Hello Shamans! At this moment my Shaman is level 67. I have been cruising on the character like crazy. I have really enjoyed my time with Shaman so far. My original plan was to level my Mage first for Cata, but now I am sort if siding with Shaman. I have been playing Resto/Ele and love both. I'll cut to the questions!

1. Does Ele Shaman do comparable AoE DPS now? Earthquake must do decent damage with how impressive it looks! =P

2. Does the whole totem thing get old? I dont mind it at this point, but at 80?

3. Shaman healing mechanics seem pretty simplistic. In Raids, is it simple button smashing while watching a movie?

4. Does Ele handle its own fairly well in PvP? I plan on doing a fair amount of PvP come Cata, and being squishy can be very frustrating.

Thats it for now. Thank you a bunch! Leave any additional if you'd like!

1. Elem is not the king of AoE but its fairly good "cleave". You still can handle the AoE role in an 5men. Earthquake damage is fine, but it looks like a broken tea-cake on a frying pan (worste spell effect ever I have to say)

2. The totem "thing" is great. I dislike the change on tremor tho.

3. You can play holy paladin smashing holy light or a priest smashing flash heal. It doesnt make you good. If you only cast Chain Heal you will be a horrible healer, this is not Balck Temple anymore.

4. Elem shaman isnt amazing at lvl 85 in the current state of the game. Burst doesnt kill anyone at 85 and elem is based on burst.
Tho, the new fast heal added to root, grounding, cut, glyphed stoneclaw, thunderstorm and instent wolf makes you extremely hard to kill. Thunderstorm alone is a potential "win" button on half the BG you will play.

PvP-wise healing shaman is the most survivable healer along with paladins at lvl 85. Earth shield, riptide and Healing Stream can almost let you ignore a rogue on you.

[CuyGuy]

Thank you very much! I appreciate all of the responses. I like what I hear. I am going to continue leveling, and I really needed this Shaman love boost!

[Deleted]

I will just refer to point 3.

Healing is more than just CH spamming, you will srs heal less than other shamans who have a decent healing strat. I find group healing at the moment more stress than healing the tank or better healing tank + melee group, if you can balance your hw hs riptide and ch you wil allways heal more and more efficient than just spamming.

[Kruv]

3. Shaman healing mechanics seem pretty simplistic. In Raids, is it simple button smashing while watching a movie?

Not quite. Most resto shamans will tell you that it's just chain heal spam, however there's a lot more to it. A lot of our heals are used based on priority, and, having played beta, prioritizing will come into effect at its fullest. Those who spam chain heal in the future will find themselves ineffective with healing, as our mechanics have altered quite a bit.

At the moment, with our infinite mana supply in 4.0, it's pretty mindless healing. But it'll become very interesting in 3 weeks, come the new expansion.

[neonlights]

i love the waterelemental



you should turn this into a poll

[WarCrimez]

shaman aoe us nice if you use another spell in conjunction with Earthquake, run up and trow magma, backpedal while hitting Elemental Mastery and Chain Lightning + Flame Shock then EQ at a safe distance always makes my screen fill with satisfying numbers,

if you dont want to run up; use Searing Totem instead, but you will be gimping yourself, hey its trash but still

[Rukus]

After reading this thread, I have also decided to roll a Shaman in Cataclysm (it was between a shaman and hunter). My only problem is I cannot decide which race to play. I am stuck between Dwarf, Orc, Tauren or Troll. I really dont care about racials that much, I just want to look badass in gear lol.

Btw, I will be coming from lvl 80's Rogue/Paladin/Mage background so INB4 "dont roll our class baddie"

[Vashta]

Check out the Tier sets on the front page and choose which you like the best

(P.S. The answer is Tauren )

[GrossGuy147258369]

Were people REALLY casting CH just to top off the tank? I mean there's always jokes about "LOLZ SHAMENS R JUST CHAIN HEAL SPAMZ" and in certain situations, that is true, festergut 25m when the gas is on the ground comes to mind. But if all you're doing is literally just spamming CH, you are a horrible resto shaman. Why cast a slower AoE heal in a situation where your faster heal that hits harder on a single target would work better?

Anyway to answer your question:
1. Ele AoE is fine, enhance's kinda sucks, but if you take two points out of improved shields (I'm told the dps increase from those two talents on single target is extremely minimal) and put them into imp fire nova, it's not horrible.
2. Yes and no. On the one hand, it's annoying to be placed in a situation where your buffs as a resto shaman might not reach the melee, but on the other hand, they're sweet, and it's nice to be able to drop windfury if your raid already has the 5% spell haste buff instead of just stacking buffs needlessly. Also, tremor totem is still amazing.
3. See above rant. In 25s, shaman healing is actually more boring than in 10s, imo. In 10s, you're really forced to make quick decisions of what spell to use that may affect whether or not the group wipes. In 25s, it's generally CH spam. In cata though, if you spam CH, you WILL go oom (beta tester here, it's happened to me before). So, I think it will force shaman to become more intelligent about their healing style. I love resto healing, having a tool to deal with almost any situation is a nice feeling. It may seem super simple from the outside, but play it for a while and you'll undoubtedly experience the "I should have used healing surge instead of chain heal and now somebody's dead" guilt that comes with making a poor decision.
4. Don't pvp that much, but I get the impression that ele is fine. Especially with the addition of spiritwalker's grace, which makes them less turret-y.

[Deleted]

I can see that many people here mentions the 'new' tremor totem... did they even change anything? If so, what? :x


Thanks!

[Rukus]

Check out the Tier sets on the front page and choose which you like the best

(P.S. The answer is Tauren )

Idk man..the Dwarf looked pretty badass to me

[Goatcheese]

Dwarf Shaman imho.