I am psyched, this is my first ever online game and I want to make the most of it, I hear this is better than a lot of the free ones so I am giving it a shot. I have a couple of questions I am hoping you can answer.
I wanted to start something like a Battlemage although they do not exist in name in WoW, I thought the closest thing would be a shaman, casting spells while still being very capable in melee, is this a fair assumption? I know they only get leather armor until level 40, is this a hindrance while soloing?
I also hear in the player vs. player aspect they are not that good in something called arena and in world player vs. player, is this true as well? How easy are they to solo in pve? Are there any hints for me that you can give to help me in the beginning? and finally, after looking at the shaman races, I was thinking about the Draenei, but I see that a lot of people are playing as them so should I avoid Draenei because of this fact? Is there another race I should consider? Thank you for any help you can give.
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Hey there and welcome to world of "world of warcraft". It's a strange world I tell you =)
Nice that you found a helping forum right in beginning. Few things that might help you to start..
1st you need to check both factions, ally & horde, since later on you will make more characters and it's easier and nicer to have all of them in same server and same faction.
What races you like the most? It's really important that you choose character that you visually like. I personally think that Draenei is ugly and that they have ugliest mount in game, also I hate gnomes, so from that you might start thinking that I have chosen horde myself... You're right about that.
After visual point you want to look at some racial talents, me shaman is a tauren so he has warstomp and many people think it's worthless but I can say that it has saved my life in pve and pvp several times. If I would make a new shaman I would go for orc since they have like extra trinket as racial.
Shaman indeed has abilities to melee and cast spells so you got the right class. How ever Shaman population is smallest in wow since this is not the easiest class to master. If you want a no brainer to level you can pick hunter. Very fast and easy but do you find that satisfying? Me neither. Just remember that shaman is not a candy in low levels. Until 30 you might have a feeling that the class is broken since you dont have all what makes it so fun. Trust me and all other shamans, after you hit 30 things change, you will be going through mobs faster and when you get to 40/41 you get really powerfull. This is btw if you pick enhacement as your specc.
You asked also about pvp: Shamans are really not that powerfull in pvp. It does not mean that they can't be fun however. I love doing bg's (battlegrounds are for pvp, range from 10 vs 10 to 40 vs 40) as a resto shaman. Maybe it's not as easy as it would be as resto druid or warlock but when you master your class and specc you can do almost anything.
Every class and every specc is capable of solo pve and also do some pvp. Some are easier in both so you just need to find what kind of play style you prefer. We will be needing three roles in the game, tanks, dps and healers, if you choose shaman you will be able to pick 2 of these roles. So in later you can respecc your shaman to be either dps or resto, thats nice. My 1st class was mage so I'm only dps and I have no offspecc to choose.
I hope I made some sense since this is before my morning coffee and my mind is wondering. Just ask many questions and read many posts here and you do better than most, this is cos many dont get information and they might just fail @ wow =)
Nice that you found a helping forum right in beginning. Few things that might help you to start..
1st you need to check both factions, ally & horde, since later on you will make more characters and it's easier and nicer to have all of them in same server and same faction.
What races you like the most? It's really important that you choose character that you visually like. I personally think that Draenei is ugly and that they have ugliest mount in game, also I hate gnomes, so from that you might start thinking that I have chosen horde myself... You're right about that.
After visual point you want to look at some racial talents, me shaman is a tauren so he has warstomp and many people think it's worthless but I can say that it has saved my life in pve and pvp several times. If I would make a new shaman I would go for orc since they have like extra trinket as racial.
Shaman indeed has abilities to melee and cast spells so you got the right class. How ever Shaman population is smallest in wow since this is not the easiest class to master. If you want a no brainer to level you can pick hunter. Very fast and easy but do you find that satisfying? Me neither. Just remember that shaman is not a candy in low levels. Until 30 you might have a feeling that the class is broken since you dont have all what makes it so fun. Trust me and all other shamans, after you hit 30 things change, you will be going through mobs faster and when you get to 40/41 you get really powerfull. This is btw if you pick enhacement as your specc.
You asked also about pvp: Shamans are really not that powerfull in pvp. It does not mean that they can't be fun however. I love doing bg's (battlegrounds are for pvp, range from 10 vs 10 to 40 vs 40) as a resto shaman. Maybe it's not as easy as it would be as resto druid or warlock but when you master your class and specc you can do almost anything.
Every class and every specc is capable of solo pve and also do some pvp. Some are easier in both so you just need to find what kind of play style you prefer. We will be needing three roles in the game, tanks, dps and healers, if you choose shaman you will be able to pick 2 of these roles. So in later you can respecc your shaman to be either dps or resto, thats nice. My 1st class was mage so I'm only dps and I have no offspecc to choose.
I hope I made some sense since this is before my morning coffee and my mind is wondering. Just ask many questions and read many posts here and you do better than most, this is cos many dont get information and they might just fail @ wow =)
SillyJilly wrote:
I wanted to start something like a Battlemage although they do not exist in name in WoW, I thought the closest thing would be a shaman, casting spells while still being very capable in melee, is this a fair assumption?
It's an assumption a lot of players new to Shaman make, but it's incorrect for the most part. Right now WoW is, and probably always will be, a game of specialization. Even for the hybrid classes, the talent tree you choose to invest your points in and the gear you pick up is really going to narrow the list of abilities you use on a regular basis instead of expanding it.
Enhancement probably comes closest since they hit like a truck in melee while still using their Shock spells regularly, and due to a new talent in the next expansion they'll likely be using their other damage spells as well once they've built up a full stack of procs. Elemental is just a Mage with more armor and less control. Resto, as the healing spec, sucks at DPS in both melee and ranged by comparison, though you can throw out a little damage every now and then when you need to.
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and finally, after looking at the shaman races, I was thinking about the Draenei, but I see that a lot of people are playing as them so should I avoid Draenei because of this fact? Is there another race I should consider?
If you want to play a Shaman on the Alliance side then you have to play a Draenei. Beyond that, it depends on what you want to do. Personally, I recommend you ignore what everyone else is doing and just roll the race you like best. You're going to have to look at it for 70-80 levels so if aesthetics matter to you at all then you'd damn sure better approve of what you're seeing.
If it's raw effectiveness you care about, roll a Tauren Shaman. They have the best racials for the class.
Quote:
If it's raw effectiveness you care about, roll a Tauren Shaman. They have the best racials for the class
Well this is propably 1st time for me when I hear someone say this. Are you serious Gaudion? I'm not saying that you are wrong because I really hope that you're right. I do like my shamans racials as he's a tauren but I have always had a feeling that orc had like another trinket due to :
Wiki:
Quote:
Blood Fury
Activate to increase attack power and spell damage/healing by an amount based on level/class for 15 seconds, decreasing healing done to the user by 50% for the duration. The cooldown is 2 minutes.
Hardiness
Increase resistance to stun effects by 15%.
Activate to increase attack power and spell damage/healing by an amount based on level/class for 15 seconds, decreasing healing done to the user by 50% for the duration. The cooldown is 2 minutes.
Hardiness
Increase resistance to stun effects by 15%.
Also hardiness as healer wouldn't be bad. Well more hp as tauren can never go wrong. So when you say tauren has best racials for shaman, could you open this little to me because I want to know why?
-edit: 3 seconds after posting I realized that maybe you are pointing some small "cc" ability. Am I right?
Edited, Sep 8th 2008 1:32pm by Causa
If you're going to roll a toon based on racials then you should be aware that racials will be changing shortly.
The responses that I saw to the OP are why I love this shaman forum. Not once did I see, "read the faq noob". I know I don't post a whole lot, but I read this forum daily. I always find that people are willing to help each other out here, which is great. I find it ironic that I am now typing, to the OP, to read the faq. Not to belittle Silly Jilly, but to point her to the great information that people have put in there.
I would reccomend leveling as enhancement. I found the first 20 levels were the hardest for me. Once I got ghost wolf, getting around got to be much better. I didn't find the grind from 20 to 40 as gruelling as many people might say. I found that I did not have that much down time between mobs, as melee just requires a quick heal/bandange in between fights. And believe what people say about not needing to drop totems each and every fight. I would usually only drop totems when I would pull multiple mobs or a very tough one. Or, if I knew I was in a spot where I would draw different mobs/groups to.
As Causa pointed out, if you don't like the way your character plays, you can for a small fee, you can respecc your character to fight in a different way.
I would reccomend leveling as enhancement. I found the first 20 levels were the hardest for me. Once I got ghost wolf, getting around got to be much better. I didn't find the grind from 20 to 40 as gruelling as many people might say. I found that I did not have that much down time between mobs, as melee just requires a quick heal/bandange in between fights. And believe what people say about not needing to drop totems each and every fight. I would usually only drop totems when I would pull multiple mobs or a very tough one. Or, if I knew I was in a spot where I would draw different mobs/groups to.
As Causa pointed out, if you don't like the way your character plays, you can for a small fee, you can respecc your character to fight in a different way.
Causa wrote:
Quote:
If it's raw effectiveness you care about, roll a Tauren Shaman. They have the best racials for the class
Well this is propably 1st time for me when I hear someone say this. Are you serious Gaudion? I'm not saying that you are wrong because I really hope that you're right. I do like my shamans racials as he's a tauren but...
There is no better PvP racial available to a Shaman than War Stomp. It can relieve pressure, let you get a heal off, interrupt, or help lock down a target for a few more precious seconds while you finish them off. The extra 5% stamina is just glossy icing on a very tasty cake. A cake made of War Stomp.
A shaman is the closest thing to the fabled "battle mage" in Wow and will get more so in the expansion. You will probably go enhancement, which is melee-centric but does occasionally cast spells and will use them more with new talents available in WotLK. (The other two, elemental and resto, do almost exclusively casting and less melee.)
Shamans are (generally) lousy at one type of PvP, arena, which are small-scale team matches of 2v2, 3v3 or 5v5. Some people contend that's the only part of PvP that counts because it's purely skill-based. But, frankly, most people encounter PvP through battlegrounds (large-scale fights of Horde vs Alliance in instanced settings) or world PvP (confrontations in PvP servers or doing certain PvP quests). Particularly in BGs (the most common PvP setting) shamans are terrific. It's only in smaller-scale encounters (most arena) that they suffer because their skills are more based on helping teammates and less on surviving 1v1 faceoffs.
But you don't really have to worry about that. Arena isn't until 70 and if you're just starting the new abilities from the xpac will be out by the time you reach that level. Shamans are getting some buffs that may make them quite viable in arena. Try it, have fun. It'll be tough til 40, but at 40 you become a God and can kill most anything very quickly. As noted, the FAQ at the top has more info.
Shamans are (generally) lousy at one type of PvP, arena, which are small-scale team matches of 2v2, 3v3 or 5v5. Some people contend that's the only part of PvP that counts because it's purely skill-based. But, frankly, most people encounter PvP through battlegrounds (large-scale fights of Horde vs Alliance in instanced settings) or world PvP (confrontations in PvP servers or doing certain PvP quests). Particularly in BGs (the most common PvP setting) shamans are terrific. It's only in smaller-scale encounters (most arena) that they suffer because their skills are more based on helping teammates and less on surviving 1v1 faceoffs.
But you don't really have to worry about that. Arena isn't until 70 and if you're just starting the new abilities from the xpac will be out by the time you reach that level. Shamans are getting some buffs that may make them quite viable in arena. Try it, have fun. It'll be tough til 40, but at 40 you become a God and can kill most anything very quickly. As noted, the FAQ at the top has more info.
Quote:
There is no better PvP racial available to a Shaman than War Stomp. It can relieve pressure, let you get a heal off, interrupt, or help lock down a target for a few more precious seconds while you finish them off. The extra 5% stamina is just glossy icing on a very tasty cake. A cake made of War Stomp.
As Gaudion mentioned those are truly nice racials in pvp but my point was more in pve and raid enviroment. There I would rather take that extra trinket. But once again, it's not the racials, it's the visual side that you can enjoy your character for hours after hours.
My 1st 70 char was mage and she's belf, I hope I could change that to undead just for racial even that I love the looks of that hot girl :P
Same with my tauren shaman, would change him to orc but just for racial cos I love the looks of that huge horny dude (well he has horns so doesn't that make it horn'y'?).
I r Tauren,I smart, touch me horns perhaps?
My 1st 70 char was mage and she's belf, I hope I could change that to undead just for racial even that I love the looks of that hot girl :P
Same with my tauren shaman, would change him to orc but just for racial cos I love the looks of that huge horny dude (well he has horns so doesn't that make it horn'y'?).
I r Tauren,I smart, touch me horns perhaps?
Quote:
I wanted to start something like a Battlemage although they do not exist in name in WoW, I thought the closest thing would be a shaman, casting spells while still being very capable in melee, is this a fair assumption?
Yes.
Quote:
I know they only get leather armor until level 40, is this a hindrance while soloing?
No
Quote:
I also hear in the player vs. player aspect they are not that good in something called arena and in world player vs. player, is this true as well?
I hear this all the time also. My shammy is only lvl 46, but in the world encounters (running across Horde while I'm questing) I usually end up slicing them up like butter. I have not taken her into BG or Arena yet though.
Quote:
How easy are they to solo in pve?
I first made a tank (Protection Paladin), then a healer (Holy Priest). Both are always in high demand and I found to be lots of fun. BUT, After the first 10 lvls in my Shammy I just fell in love. After lvl 20 (getting ghost wolf) he ruled in my book. After hitting 40 (and going 2 wep and getting mail) it's been nothing but pure joy. Not an easy class to master, but worth the challenge. And the way they build your totems through quests is kinda fun. Keeps you wanting that next lvl till you hit 40/41.
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Are there any hints for me that you can give to help me in the beginning?
As you play your shammy, have fun. Also, read and ask questions a lot. This forum has been really cool to me and full of info. If it's not posted here someone can usually send you in the right direction.
Race?
If you go Alliance you have to play Draenei. The options open up in Horde, but I understand Tauren is the best. I play Alliance on bolderfist (pvp... you can only pick one faction on a pvp server), so I didn't leave myself an option unless I wanted to give up my easy money from my other toons and switch servers.
GL
8 posts
I saw in one post that they are getting rid of the ghost wolf, is that really true?
Edited, Sep 10th 2008 10:41pm by SillyJilly
Edited, Sep 10th 2008 10:41pm by SillyJilly
They're not getting rid of Ghost Wolf. They're just taking away an Enhancement talent that actually makes Ghost Wolf useful. Right now, outside of flag-carrying in BG's, you won't ever use Ghost Wolf once you get your first mount. So, really, at this point it's like it's not really even in the game at all and they could just as well remove it.
This post is very informative for a new shaman. Rate up for everyone who contributed.
Since there isnt much more I can really add, I just wanna re-affirm that you should pick a race that appeals to you dont worry about racials as they will be changing quite a few of them shortly.
Shaman arent the best toons in PVP, but certainly they can hold their own, and they are very fun to play pvp or pve.
Keep in mind, shaman's have a lot of abilities and it can be hard to toggle everything when your a new player. Once you start collecting totems you may want to look into an add-on like Flo totem bar, as it will help you keep organized.
Good luck in your adventures!
Since there isnt much more I can really add, I just wanna re-affirm that you should pick a race that appeals to you dont worry about racials as they will be changing quite a few of them shortly.
Shaman arent the best toons in PVP, but certainly they can hold their own, and they are very fun to play pvp or pve.
Keep in mind, shaman's have a lot of abilities and it can be hard to toggle everything when your a new player. Once you start collecting totems you may want to look into an add-on like Flo totem bar, as it will help you keep organized.
Good luck in your adventures!
My view about PVP in Wow is that 90% of population aren't that good in it. I'm part of that 90%. People who are good at it know their characters pros and cons, but they also know strong sides about their opponents and have discovered weaknesses also.
A mage perhaps is not willing to go 1 vs 1 against druid if they have experienced that they just can't hold them back or snare. Enhacement Shaman is perhaps choosing a fight where he has chance to shutdown the opponent and not get kited to death with rank 1 frostbolt.
In Bg's the difference is huge amongs all those players. 1) A rogue jumps on you while you have antirogue-totemset down, you get sapped (even tho you thought that you were back against wall) and in next 1.5 sec you notice that at the same time when you get beaten to death, all your totems get destroyed too. You don't get a chance to turn or get one heal in.
2)A rogue jumps on you while you have no totems down. You get sapped, some small dmg is coming but after 2 sec you get warstomp in and take some distance while dropping earthbind-poison cleanse-nature res-fire totems. You give immediately flameshock so he cant vanish and u keep him in combat. Even tho he try to vanish and get popped back when shock pulses. You start kiting him keeping flameshock and frostshock up, he's running towards you when he gets a hit from fire totem and he turns back to destroy it(?), damage from totem was 200 so why bother? Then you end the fight with Chainlightning+earthshock... /dance
As long as you get to know your class little more than those 50% know theirs, you are propably winning more fights. You might win more with different class but would you enjoy as much with a class that you dont find that interesting.
Edited, Sep 12th 2008 9:34am by Causa
A mage perhaps is not willing to go 1 vs 1 against druid if they have experienced that they just can't hold them back or snare. Enhacement Shaman is perhaps choosing a fight where he has chance to shutdown the opponent and not get kited to death with rank 1 frostbolt.
In Bg's the difference is huge amongs all those players. 1) A rogue jumps on you while you have antirogue-totemset down, you get sapped (even tho you thought that you were back against wall) and in next 1.5 sec you notice that at the same time when you get beaten to death, all your totems get destroyed too. You don't get a chance to turn or get one heal in.
2)A rogue jumps on you while you have no totems down. You get sapped, some small dmg is coming but after 2 sec you get warstomp in and take some distance while dropping earthbind-poison cleanse-nature res-fire totems. You give immediately flameshock so he cant vanish and u keep him in combat. Even tho he try to vanish and get popped back when shock pulses. You start kiting him keeping flameshock and frostshock up, he's running towards you when he gets a hit from fire totem and he turns back to destroy it(?), damage from totem was 200 so why bother? Then you end the fight with Chainlightning+earthshock... /dance
As long as you get to know your class little more than those 50% know theirs, you are propably winning more fights. You might win more with different class but would you enjoy as much with a class that you dont find that interesting.
Edited, Sep 12th 2008 9:34am by Causa
13 posts
LOL the only problem with that Causa is it's never just one rogue. ;)
In my BG experience Rogue vs shaman = dead shaman most of the time.
In my BG experience Rogue vs shaman = dead shaman most of the time.
8 posts
OK, since this seems to be a "friendly" thread, about a few noob questions, I have one to throw out! How will the expansion packs and/or the WOWLK update effect current play? I've thought about updating / expanding, but will I need to start another character, or will the changes just addapt to the character im playing. Will it be a whole new world with new towns to learn, or will it just be modifications to what we already have?
Should I "master" the current version first, OR just go ahead and start from scratch with a new toon in the new LK game?
Also, if I could ask 1 that already seems obvious??? I just started a new shaman last night before researching it much ...... I didnt go with a tauren (I opted for the "casting speed" trait) should I re-roll before I get too far? Is a tauren (warstomp) that big of an advantage? Yep --- im a Noob! LOL
Edited, Sep 27th 2008 12:15pm by saftiman
Should I "master" the current version first, OR just go ahead and start from scratch with a new toon in the new LK game?
Also, if I could ask 1 that already seems obvious??? I just started a new shaman last night before researching it much ...... I didnt go with a tauren (I opted for the "casting speed" trait) should I re-roll before I get too far? Is a tauren (warstomp) that big of an advantage? Yep --- im a Noob! LOL
Edited, Sep 27th 2008 12:15pm by saftiman
Well you should just keep leveling your current toon since the exp pack will bring new towns and new lands to discover. Your talents and skills will change when the pach updates and that will be before Wotlk comes.
Many people have many lvl70 toons and they also just start new leveling from 70 to 80 when Wotlk comes. It takes some time to learn new features about your class but then again you are in good position since you haven't played at 70 for months with that toon.
About race question, let me Quote my self here:
Every race has some nice skills to work with shaman so most important thing is visual side. If you enjoy looks of your toon, just keep that. Sure warstomp is nice but it's not gamebreaking.
Actually that visual side is fading little bit when you start getting better gear. Better the gear is, less you actually see your toon.
Ps. My opinion is that Trolls have perhaps best looking mounts in game. Mounts can be purchased with honor so even that will not affect choice.
Many people have many lvl70 toons and they also just start new leveling from 70 to 80 when Wotlk comes. It takes some time to learn new features about your class but then again you are in good position since you haven't played at 70 for months with that toon.
About race question, let me Quote my self here:
Quote:
What races you like the most? It's really important that you choose character that you visually like. I personally think that Draenei is ugly and that they have ugliest mount in game, also I hate gnomes, so from that you might start thinking that I have chosen horde myself... You're right about that.
After visual point you want to look at some racial talents, me shaman is a tauren so he has warstomp and many people think it's worthless but I can say that it has saved my life in pve and pvp several times. If I would make a new shaman I would go for orc since they have like extra trinket as racial.
After visual point you want to look at some racial talents, me shaman is a tauren so he has warstomp and many people think it's worthless but I can say that it has saved my life in pve and pvp several times. If I would make a new shaman I would go for orc since they have like extra trinket as racial.
Every race has some nice skills to work with shaman so most important thing is visual side. If you enjoy looks of your toon, just keep that. Sure warstomp is nice but it's not gamebreaking.
Actually that visual side is fading little bit when you start getting better gear. Better the gear is, less you actually see your toon.
Ps. My opinion is that Trolls have perhaps best looking mounts in game. Mounts can be purchased with honor so even that will not affect choice.
saftiman wrote:
OK, since this seems to be a "friendly" thread, about a few noob questions, I have one to throw out! How will the expansion packs and/or the WOWLK update effect current play? I've thought about updating / expanding, but will I need to start another character, or will the changes just addapt to the character im playing. Will it be a whole new world with new towns to learn, or will it just be modifications to what we already have?
The changes will all adapt to the character you're playing. Also, all of the new Northrend content is only available on a brand new continent that can be accessed once you reach the high 60's, so the current "world" won't be modified terribly much. (There are a few exceptions, like moving Dalaran, and King Varian Wrynn returning to Stormwind.) If you're worried about missing out on something because you're leveling now and not during the expansion, you needn't be.
Also, there will be a patch before the expansion even releases to adapt most of the game to the changes.
Quote:
Should I "master" the current version first, OR just go ahead and start from scratch with a new toon in the new LK game?
A lot of things are going to be turned upside down with the new version, but those who adapt quickest are going to be those who have already played the longest. If you're new to the game I recommend you keep playing to get a general feel for it.
Quote:
Also, if I could ask 1 that already seems obvious??? I just started a new shaman last night before researching it much ...... I didnt go with a tauren (I opted for the "casting speed" trait) should I re-roll before I get too far? Is a tauren (warstomp) that big of an advantage? Yep --- im a Noob! LOL
If all you care about is PvE--conquering the scripted AI encounters in the game along with other players--then it honestly doesn't matter. Most racial abilities, especially the active racial abilities, have an extremely minute effect on PvE. If it's PvP combat you care about--besting your fellow players in a fight--then yes, Warstomp really is that big of an advantage and is worth re-rolling for unless you want to play Alliance or you have some kind of aversion to Tauren.
Edited, Sep 29th 2008 9:25am by Gaudion
8 posts
I appreciate the advice and input, Thanks! I rolled a tauren since I was only a few hours into the other, and I like him well enough. I'm not really far enough along to notice any huge difference anyway, so I'll keep what I have. If I could make one recomendation to the guys at Bliz... how about making a ghost race just for me? that seems to be how I spend most of my time anyway, so you might as well let me do something while I'm there! LOL
Thanks again!
Thanks again!
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