Hit Outland last night and started questing...already 59, yay! I've been running into a problem, though--my low damage output (I'm Resto) was just enough to slide by with in Azeroth, but right now it feels as if I wouldn't even be able to take down a single same-level mob without having to use potions. Which sucks. I just don't do enough damage, the fight drags on, and eventually someone shows up, takes pity on me, and one-shots it. <.<
Now, don't get me wrong, I still love Resto--and I do level quickly when I'm with my group (2 MM hunters and a Prot Pally)--and I did after all manage to keep one of the hunters alive when he pulled a level 61 elite mob and a couple extras, which feels great--but I'm starting to think that if I want to get any solo questing done I should switch to a DPS spec. And with my current gear, Elemental looks like the way to go.
So... what's playing Ele like? How's the survivability? I'm guessing it's much easier to take down mobs...
I may not make the switch, since I really love Resto, but if I have much more trouble I'd like to know if it's a viable option for solo questing in OL.
Gear's here, if you want to take a look--maybe it's part of the problem? My shield's different now, but everything else should be up to date.
http://wow.allakhazam.com/profile.html?2514960
I'm sure I'll be picking up better stuff from quests and drops, but for now, that's what I have.
/sigh
Edited, Apr 15th 2008 6:01pm by isyris
Edited, Apr 15th 2008 6:22pm by isyris
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Elemental for leveling?Follow
I leveled from 1-70 as Elemental and it is certainly viable for leveling. The nice thing about switching from Resto to elemental is that they use basically the same gear up to the level that you are at right now.
At 60ish it starts to push in one direction or the other as far as bonuses to healing and/or Damage, but the upside is that everything that has bonus damage will have bonus healing too, just not as much.
The key to elemental leveling for me was to drop a mana spring totem before the fight and make sure to be at max casting range when attacking. Start with lightning bolt. If you are at max range when you start and do them back to back to back, you should get off 3 before the mob gets to you (Quartz is awesome at helping you time your casts perfectly to chain cast).
Once the mob gets to you if he is above 50% health I would drop a Magma or Searing totem (depending on aggro range of other mobs) and fire shock and begin melee. While the fire shock is DoTing I would then use a chain lightning (for it's quicker cast even while being hit) to do a chunk of damage and then earth shock if needed at the end.
In this manner I could kill 3-5 mobs in a row quickly before drinking. The ones I crit'd on (lightning overload is a blessing imo) that were below 50% i could usually earth shock/chain lightning and they would be down.
I always used Flametongue on my weapon as it seemed to do more damage for me consistantly than any of the other enhancements. I know that windfury is awesome for enhancement, but I never got it to proc enough when I was leveling and using a mace + shield. Also keep water shield up at all times for the mana regen once you get it at level 62, until then the lightning shield is fine.
This is just my opinion, but I leveled my shammy solo (minus a few 3+ group quests/instance) from 1-70 in about 2 months (12 days played) and I never had any problems with this strat.
Of course as always, feel free to critique me.
Here is my Shammy's Armory if you want to check out where I am now. (he's being neglected for my drood at the moment)
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Thorium+Brotherhood&n=Gavinitis
(edit: crit changed to proc)
Edited, Apr 15th 2008 8:56pm by Galenmoon
At 60ish it starts to push in one direction or the other as far as bonuses to healing and/or Damage, but the upside is that everything that has bonus damage will have bonus healing too, just not as much.
The key to elemental leveling for me was to drop a mana spring totem before the fight and make sure to be at max casting range when attacking. Start with lightning bolt. If you are at max range when you start and do them back to back to back, you should get off 3 before the mob gets to you (Quartz is awesome at helping you time your casts perfectly to chain cast).
Once the mob gets to you if he is above 50% health I would drop a Magma or Searing totem (depending on aggro range of other mobs) and fire shock and begin melee. While the fire shock is DoTing I would then use a chain lightning (for it's quicker cast even while being hit) to do a chunk of damage and then earth shock if needed at the end.
In this manner I could kill 3-5 mobs in a row quickly before drinking. The ones I crit'd on (lightning overload is a blessing imo) that were below 50% i could usually earth shock/chain lightning and they would be down.
I always used Flametongue on my weapon as it seemed to do more damage for me consistantly than any of the other enhancements. I know that windfury is awesome for enhancement, but I never got it to proc enough when I was leveling and using a mace + shield. Also keep water shield up at all times for the mana regen once you get it at level 62, until then the lightning shield is fine.
This is just my opinion, but I leveled my shammy solo (minus a few 3+ group quests/instance) from 1-70 in about 2 months (12 days played) and I never had any problems with this strat.
Of course as always, feel free to critique me.
Here is my Shammy's Armory if you want to check out where I am now. (he's being neglected for my drood at the moment)
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Thorium+Brotherhood&n=Gavinitis
(edit: crit changed to proc)
Edited, Apr 15th 2008 8:56pm by Galenmoon
(edit: Sorry about the double post, thought Allakhazam ate the original)
Edited, Apr 15th 2008 8:55pm by Galenmoon
Edited, Apr 15th 2008 8:55pm by Galenmoon
/sigh
There are already tons of threads of this subject already floating around out there that you should have seen had you been willing to do five minutes of research. Since you're not, I'm going to make this very short.
1. Your gear is terribly weak for Outland. Your leveling speed in Outland will be about the same as it was in Azeroth as soon as you get the introductory Outland greens from the HFP quests and blues from HFC, but...
2. ... If you want to change then your gear is going to need a total overhaul either way, so if it's just speed you're concerned with, you might as well go Enhancement. Elemental grinds fast as well, but in order to match (or, as some claim, exceed) Enhancement in leveling, you'll need to drink constantly. Even if you don't, you'll still level faster than Resto though, so if you'd prefer its playstyle over Enhancement, have at it.
There are already tons of threads of this subject already floating around out there that you should have seen had you been willing to do five minutes of research. Since you're not, I'm going to make this very short.
1. Your gear is terribly weak for Outland. Your leveling speed in Outland will be about the same as it was in Azeroth as soon as you get the introductory Outland greens from the HFP quests and blues from HFC, but...
2. ... If you want to change then your gear is going to need a total overhaul either way, so if it's just speed you're concerned with, you might as well go Enhancement. Elemental grinds fast as well, but in order to match (or, as some claim, exceed) Enhancement in leveling, you'll need to drink constantly. Even if you don't, you'll still level faster than Resto though, so if you'd prefer its playstyle over Enhancement, have at it.
Gaudion wrote:
/sigh
There are already tons of threads of this subject already floating around out there that you should have seen had you been willing to do five minutes of research. Since you're not, I'm going to make this very short.
There are already tons of threads of this subject already floating around out there that you should have seen had you been willing to do five minutes of research. Since you're not, I'm going to make this very short.
If you know of a way to search the forums without paying for a premium membership, please let me know. And you're right, I wasn't willing to do 5 minutes of research--I did closer to forty minutes, going back through the last 5 pages of threads and reading anything that seemed relevant. There were plenty of threads about which spec to choose at low levels--not relevent--and a few about elemental vs enhancement, which were not helpful since most of the replies were pretty much "lawlz go enhancement noob".
Quote:
1. Your gear is terribly weak for Outland. Your leveling speed in Outland will be about the same as it was in Azeroth as soon as you get the introductory Outland greens from the HFP quests and blues from HFC, but...
2. ... If you want to change then your gear is going to need a total overhaul either way, so if it's just speed you're concerned with, you might as well go Enhancement. Elemental grinds fast as well, but in order to match (or, as some claim, exceed) Enhancement in leveling, you'll need to drink constantly. Even if you don't, you'll still level faster than Resto though, so if you'd prefer its playstyle over Enhancement, have at it.
Why, thank you for pointing out the obvious! I know my gear is weak--that's why I'm questing. I don't have that gear yet because it's taking a long time for me to finish even those basic quests, which is why I'm considering a re-spec. Was this not clear from my original post?
And, just like anyone who's spent more than five minutes on a shaman forum, I am quite aware that Enhancement is "the" leveling spec--but I'm not interested in it, which is why I didn't even mention it in my post.
Thank you for your unhelpful reply, I look forward to many more.
Restatement of my original questions:
Quote:
So... what's playing Ele like? How's the survivability? I'm guessing it's much easier to take down mobs...
isyris wrote:
Thank you for your unhelpful reply, I look forward to many more.
My pleasure.
Quote:
Restatement of my original questions:
So... what's playing Ele like?
So... what's playing Ele like?
Like playing Elemental.
Quote:
How's the survivability?
Survivable? I don't know. Compared to what?
Quote:
I'm guessing it's much easier to take down mobs...
For a lot of people "easy" and "fast" tend to be synonymous so... if you're one of those people... yes? I guess? Elemental and Resto grind nearly indentically. You just do more damage. So... easier, no. Faster, yes. Let's go with that. Are we done yet?
Hey, here's a novel idea. Go spec Elemental and try it for yourself.
Gaudion wrote:
Hey, here's a novel idea. Go spec Elemental and try it for yourself.
In my dealings with the rogue forums, this is often too hard of a concept to grasp.
Also is the fact that the same questions might be asked over and over and over again, and regular posters might be irritated by them.
Well, like I said, Ele is an easy level. I didn't have to drink that much. Contrary to what might be the belief of the enhancement community.
The key is to remember you don't need to drop ALL your totems every time you fight something. Unless I'm fighting 3+ mobs I'm only dropping my mana totem. I stopped even dropping Fire totems after my Lightning/shock damage started to increase.
So if you're dropping only the totem that regens mana and you use your lightning bolt to max effectiveness(3 bolts before they get to you, 4 after you get the extra range) the mana used from lightning bolt is very low and you should be taking them out quick with a few melee hits once they reach you.
When I said I could kill 3-5 mobs in a row before drinking, I meant in roughly 10 seconds or less per kill. That means the 10-12 seconds I spend drinking is equal to an enhancement shammy just running through kills without drinking. I'll pop a quick lesser healing on myself from time to time if I need it and it just adds back up when I drink.
Like my original post said. It took me 10 days played to hit 70 leveling elemental. It's fun if you like throwing pain instead of swinging it. Plus you have the added survivability of carrying a shield and wearing mail at 40. When I wear a shield at 70 I have about 9k armor.
The key is to remember you don't need to drop ALL your totems every time you fight something. Unless I'm fighting 3+ mobs I'm only dropping my mana totem. I stopped even dropping Fire totems after my Lightning/shock damage started to increase.
So if you're dropping only the totem that regens mana and you use your lightning bolt to max effectiveness(3 bolts before they get to you, 4 after you get the extra range) the mana used from lightning bolt is very low and you should be taking them out quick with a few melee hits once they reach you.
When I said I could kill 3-5 mobs in a row before drinking, I meant in roughly 10 seconds or less per kill. That means the 10-12 seconds I spend drinking is equal to an enhancement shammy just running through kills without drinking. I'll pop a quick lesser healing on myself from time to time if I need it and it just adds back up when I drink.
Like my original post said. It took me 10 days played to hit 70 leveling elemental. It's fun if you like throwing pain instead of swinging it. Plus you have the added survivability of carrying a shield and wearing mail at 40. When I wear a shield at 70 I have about 9k armor.
Coming from someone who's levelled enhanced all the way, I'll give my input.
Once I reached 60, I wanted to test out my healing skills WITH a resto spec. Without one, I could still heal quite well. Anyway, I hated the resto spec for levelling. Don't get me wrong. I love healing (will respec resto when I hit 70), but as for levelling it wasn't the best, and the fights were much, much longer.
So, I decided to try out elemental now. I haven't gotten the chance to try it out in full force, but so far I enjoy it. Perhaps not as much as I enjoyed enhanced, but then again, like I said, I haven't gotten the chance to fully test it out.
I say, if you have the money, try it out. Doesn't hurt to test the waters of other specs.
So which is it? 10 or 12 days played? *raises eyebrow*
=P
Edited, Apr 24th 2008 10:26am by xNocturnalSunx
Once I reached 60, I wanted to test out my healing skills WITH a resto spec. Without one, I could still heal quite well. Anyway, I hated the resto spec for levelling. Don't get me wrong. I love healing (will respec resto when I hit 70), but as for levelling it wasn't the best, and the fights were much, much longer.
So, I decided to try out elemental now. I haven't gotten the chance to try it out in full force, but so far I enjoy it. Perhaps not as much as I enjoyed enhanced, but then again, like I said, I haven't gotten the chance to fully test it out.
I say, if you have the money, try it out. Doesn't hurt to test the waters of other specs.
Quote:
This is just my opinion, but I leveled my shammy solo (minus a few 3+ group quests/instance) from 1-70 in about 2 months (12 days played)...
Quote:
Like my original post said. It took me 10 days played to hit 70 leveling elemental
So which is it? 10 or 12 days played? *raises eyebrow*
=P
Edited, Apr 24th 2008 10:26am by xNocturnalSunx
The main problem with leveling elemental is the spell pushback. You can normally get about three lightnings in before the mob reaches you and then you have to either switch to melee and shocks, or take 5-6 seconds trying to get off another lightning. Now, this may not matter because you may be able to down most same-level targets in 3 shots or less, but if you can't, then it can be bad. Of course in a group this shouldn't ever matter as you would have a tank.
If you're leveling solo, you should really think about enhancement. It will be the fastest way to level.
If you are going to be in a group, then elemental will be a better option.
All specs do well in end-game.
Now, you want to be elemental over enhancement and that is fine, I don't have a lot of experience with it. I tried it out at level 54ish and hated it (my main at the time was a caster as well).
You mentioned you have a group with a tank and two other ranged dps. Elemental will work great in that situation (although with it being two hunters enhancement would be slightly better dps as you would all take advantage of the Grace of Air and Strength of Earth). Also you could definately heal when needed as you would have the mana pool to do it from.
As far as survivability, elemental will be much less survivable than resto. As resto I can easily handle 4-6 mobs at once. You won't be able to do that as elemental, but with a pally tank, you won't need to.
(i hope this makes sense...)
If you're leveling solo, you should really think about enhancement. It will be the fastest way to level.
If you are going to be in a group, then elemental will be a better option.
All specs do well in end-game.
Now, you want to be elemental over enhancement and that is fine, I don't have a lot of experience with it. I tried it out at level 54ish and hated it (my main at the time was a caster as well).
You mentioned you have a group with a tank and two other ranged dps. Elemental will work great in that situation (although with it being two hunters enhancement would be slightly better dps as you would all take advantage of the Grace of Air and Strength of Earth). Also you could definately heal when needed as you would have the mana pool to do it from.
As far as survivability, elemental will be much less survivable than resto. As resto I can easily handle 4-6 mobs at once. You won't be able to do that as elemental, but with a pally tank, you won't need to.
(i hope this makes sense...)
Quote:
So which is it? 10 or 12 days played? *raises eyebrow*
It was 10, I didn't realize I had that mistype on the original post until you just said something. I have around 16 days played on him now total so he's just getting ready for raiding at the moment. I haven't played him in awhile due to leveling my druid up.
Also I wonder why this has to happen in every post that Gaudion gets into.Anyone else noticed this?
Quote:
/sigh
There are already tons of threads of this subject already floating around out there that you should have seen had you been willing to do five minutes of research. Since you're not, I'm going to make this very short.
There are already tons of threads of this subject already floating around out there that you should have seen had you been willing to do five minutes of research. Since you're not, I'm going to make this very short.
I.E. I don't know the real reason why you asked this question but I'm going to be a **** and assume. Also I know everything because I raid endgame and so if it has to do with Shaman and it is my opinion, then it might as well be fact.
Also if you don't plan on getting into raiding because you are a casual player, then I don't even know why I spend my time talking you to. Go away and roll another class so you don't have to bother me in my forums. If you don't I'm going to say the same answer over and over again in different words and flame others with my smartass comments.
Quote:
Thank you for your unhelpful reply, I look forward to many more.
Deja vu
Galenmoon wrote:
I.E. I don't know the real reason why you asked this question but I'm going to be a Richard and assume. Also I know everything because I raid endgame and so if it has to do with Shaman and it is my opinion, then it might as well be fact.
Also if you don't plan on getting into raiding because you are a casual player, then I don't even know why I spend my time talking you to. Go away and roll another class so you don't have to bother me in my forums. If you don't I'm going to say the same answer over and over again in different words and flame others with my smartass comments.
I see what you did there.
Small update:
I've been picking up a bit of gear, but I think I'm probably gonna stick with resto. My fiance's been questing with me most of the time, and he's decided to respect to ret from prot for questing since I have no trouble keeping him healed and stuff, which is really going to speed things up.
Also, I was asked to dps for Blood Furnace tonight since the group picked up a Resto Druid as well as me--I was a bit hesitant, except for one hellish ZF run I haven't been DPS since level 19 or so--but it went pretty well, with me keeping even with the shadow priest (not counting totem stuffs) and switching over to heals as needed. So I'm thinking I've got good enough gear now (and water shield, yay) that I shouldn't have too much trouble when it comes to questing and such...
Eight more levels until it doesn't matter anymore.... <.<
Anyway, thanks for the info about elemental. It does sound like something I'd enjoy...maybe I will respec for just a little while to try it out anyway--I've seen the insane damage Ele Shammies do. :)
Edited, Apr 25th 2008 8:05pm by isyris
I've been picking up a bit of gear, but I think I'm probably gonna stick with resto. My fiance's been questing with me most of the time, and he's decided to respect to ret from prot for questing since I have no trouble keeping him healed and stuff, which is really going to speed things up.
Also, I was asked to dps for Blood Furnace tonight since the group picked up a Resto Druid as well as me--I was a bit hesitant, except for one hellish ZF run I haven't been DPS since level 19 or so--but it went pretty well, with me keeping even with the shadow priest (not counting totem stuffs) and switching over to heals as needed. So I'm thinking I've got good enough gear now (and water shield, yay) that I shouldn't have too much trouble when it comes to questing and such...
Eight more levels until it doesn't matter anymore.... <.<
Anyway, thanks for the info about elemental. It does sound like something I'd enjoy...maybe I will respec for just a little while to try it out anyway--I've seen the insane damage Ele Shammies do. :)
Edited, Apr 25th 2008 8:05pm by isyris
Galenmoon wrote:
I.E. I don't know the real reason why you asked this question but I'm going to be a Richard and assume. Also I know everything because I raid endgame and so if it has to do with Shaman and it is my opinion, then it might as well be fact.
Just as long as we understand each other.
Quote:
Just as long as we understand each other.
Seems that way doesn't it.
Isyris, now that I've gotten the chance to test out elemental this weekend, I'll just give insight on it, compared to the other two specs. It's not too shabby. =).
I still do prefer Enhanced with levelling, but as elemental (as someone stated above), I can get off 3, maybe 4 LBs before the mob gets to me. Making them at least down to half life, then I usually switch to melee/shocks.
Once I get Elemental Focus (I think that's what it's called), I'll throw off another LB. The mob still goes down pretty fast and my health stays up there more than Enhanced, but, as said, the mana does go down pretty quickly.
Usually after 3 mobs or so I have to drink again. Survivability wise, although someone said resto above, in my personal experience, I didn't survive very well. Could be due to the fact that I'm not used to it or what, but I hated it (I don't hate resto, love it in fact. It's the surviving lol)
So, in my opinion for levelling, I would suggest Enhanced - Elemental, close behind - then Resto.
I'll definitely be switching to resto at 70, but right now, I'm focused on levelling =)
I still do prefer Enhanced with levelling, but as elemental (as someone stated above), I can get off 3, maybe 4 LBs before the mob gets to me. Making them at least down to half life, then I usually switch to melee/shocks.
Once I get Elemental Focus (I think that's what it's called), I'll throw off another LB. The mob still goes down pretty fast and my health stays up there more than Enhanced, but, as said, the mana does go down pretty quickly.
Usually after 3 mobs or so I have to drink again. Survivability wise, although someone said resto above, in my personal experience, I didn't survive very well. Could be due to the fact that I'm not used to it or what, but I hated it (I don't hate resto, love it in fact. It's the surviving lol)
So, in my opinion for levelling, I would suggest Enhanced - Elemental, close behind - then Resto.
I'll definitely be switching to resto at 70, but right now, I'm focused on levelling =)
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