Pros and cons of a shaman?Follow

I am asking this on a few class boards because I am trying to get back in the game and trying to decide on a class to stick with, If you would, can you please share what you like and dislike about the class? I hear they arent the best in pvp and it takes a long while to start leveling and a good pace.

Cons

Starting out leveling can be slow, but same goes for some other classes.

PvP is pretty bad unless your resto and have the right setup. You can still have some fun in BGs as any spec, but when your singled out it's tough.

While totems are a unique game mechanic, they are kind of annoying at first. You'll wish you could just buff yourself once and be done with it.

If you play alliance you have to be a night elf or squid.

Your kind of the ******* step child of the Devs. Shams were so OP at one point that Blizz feels any buffs may bring the end to man kind as we know it.

Armor sets. There's no in between here. Either you'll look cool or you'll look like a party favor.

If your a bad player, it will really show.

Pros
It's a freaking shaman dude. You can heal the sick, walk on water, and rise from the dead. Your Jesus.

Gear, it's all yours if your ele or resto. If your enh you just have to fight with hunters for it.

If you play horde you get to be a tauren. Ok ok, or a orc or troll...... TAUREN!!

Wanna heal? OK! Wanna melee? OK! Wanna be a caster? OK!

Ghost wolf has a cool dance.

If your a good player, it will really show.

Windfury crits anyone?

Leveling as enh past once you get into the 30s is fun, leveling as enh at 50+ is amazing.

BLOODLUST!!!!



That's all I got, long day at work. Need a beer.

When Blizzard moved water shield from level 60-something to level 20 with patch 3.0, leveling a shaman got a lot easier. It was never hard to begin with, but mana efficiency is key to fast leveling and water shield gives you a huge boost. I've always leveled enhancement and it's a lot of fun. It starts off fairly easy and just gets better as you go along. As enhancement you get Windfury Weapon at 30 and dual wield at level 40.

The addition of the totem bars has helped a lot. It used to take 6 seconds (4?) to drop all of your totems...time when other classes were already starting their rotations. Now you can drop your totems on one GCD and set about the carnage. Enhancement shaman are one of the strongest buffing classes in the game and they can put up some pretty solid damage to boot.

In terms of PvP, dps shaman have always suffered from low survivability combined with how easy it was to lock a shaman down and keep them from getting away while you pound on them. Things like Frost Shock, Frostbrand Weapon and Earthbind Totems were supposed to be our counter for classes like warriors and rogues but they were difficult to use effectively and they were too easily countered. Blizzard has very recently made an effort to give us more tools to pick our battles and control a given situation, but you're still a mail class trying to compete with plate wearers and rogues.

For PvE, shaman is one of the most fun classes I've played.

Leveling Shaman now is piece of cake what it used to be. Historically downtime while leveling was highest from all classes and you were OOM and drinking almost after every fight. DPS was never the problem compared to other classes but downtime was hellish until you gained Shamanistic rage. Now you gain water shield in level 20 and it reduce downtime a lot.

PRO:
- Very good and unique buffs trough totem system.
- Very tactical class (you can heal, purge, use totems, interrupt and DPS you really need to think especially in pvp what to do and if you play well you really could tip the balance to favor your team.)
- Totem system is not break anymore (now shaman is playable without totem macros, multiple totem dropping also give totems more practicality in soloing and pvp)
- You have three good talent trees melee, caster and healer in same class.
- There is not much competition for spell casting mail drops as only Shaman needs them and only hunter that compite non spell casting mail drops. TIP Avoid groups that have other shamans or hunters that is zero competition.
CONS:
- Need to fill many roles same time this can be hard sometimes if you are required to DPS, purge, interrupt, heal and drop right totems at right time during arena match. This is reason why good players really shine and poor player don’t. (You really need to know what is best for whole team even if somebody is requiring healing you need to know fast if it’s good for whole team to give it or skip it.)
- You might get blamed for losing just because you can heal even if you are DPS spec people will still demand lots of healing from you.


Edited, Aug 15th 2009 1:02am by Jakerp

From a non-shaman player:

Pro - You play the best looking class in the game, even more so if you spec enhancement. Just equip the shaman T5 along with the Claw/Fist of Molten Fury set that drops in Hyjal. Unargueably the best looks in the game.

Pvp survival is definitely an issue. If you get singled out, you're toast. If you just happen to be in a huge group and haven't pulled anybody's attention? Watch them drop like flies after a few CL bursts. But yeah pvp sucks. Its the only real con I can think of.

And how about the pros? A shaman in a dungeon or raid group is like bringing a gun to a knife fight. I used to swear by priest heals until I tried resto. I get invited into raiding guilds at least twice a day. Especially when they see those 18k chain heal crits. You can purge, res, heal, cure anything except a curse, and buffs galore. And a grip of armor that only a paladin (severely limited healing class imo) can outmatch. Yeah they're pretty awesome healers.

Enhancement is just flat out fun. Its like a rogue with mail armor, heals, spells and totem buffs. Yeah and windfury crits are insane burst damage. I won't even get started on elemental.

Shamans are incredibly fun. They are also very technical and you can't be a tard when playing them because it will show. Also the majority of high level shamans I've encountered were pretty damn good also. And theres not a whole lot of them so most groups are more than happy to pick a shaman over another DPS class because they don't have to worry about fighting over gear. I gave up on my DK because nobody wanted me in their group and I got **** before the dungeon even started. Anyways go for it. Its my newest 80 and by far the most played.

Resto shammies can cleanse curses with a talent, but we're SOL for magic ;)

Of all my toons, my resto shaman is by far the most skill based toon I play.

To be good you have to heal the right target at the right time. You have 4 heals to choose from and there is almost always an optimal choice. You have a couple of talent abilities that you need to be aware of to be the best healer you can be. As a resto shaman you have combat roles as well -- something needs interrupted? You can do that and you should be doing that. The right totem and well timed heroes matter. There's just more to being a shaman than almost any other class. The pros are all wrapped up into the depth of the class.

The cons to shaman are few. There's some weaknesses of the class in some areas, and people who are interested in, for example, being the best toon in a pvp situations won't like shaman as much as other classes. But the biggest con is that shaman are a deep, complex class to play well. If you don't/can't/won't develop your skill as player in this class, it will show, and show quickly.

Edited, Sep 8th 2009 2:17pm by kingpatzer