Shaman's Hut

[Kretol]

Ooh, I like these latest talent changes. Going this route, I can max out dual-wield spec while also keeping NS (for now) -
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Very nifty. Now if I want to try out shamanistic rage, I can simply drop NS and the one point in tidal mastery and put it into SR and... uh... probably an extra point into anticipation.

[Fanae]

* Parry - Renamed Spirit Weapons. Now "Gives a chance to parry enemy melee attacks and reduces the threat generated by your melee attacks by 15%."

Oh, nice! I've been hankering for a melee threat reduction for eons.

In fact, doubly nice; I can get everything I really want without putting a single point in anything I don't care about, now:

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[Ulfric]

I'm still extremely disappointed with how the Shaman has worked out. They will never be a strong dps class compared to a lot of others. Even warriors can do more dps, which is really annoying since they were designed from the beginning to TAKE damage, not deal it.

And I know, I know... there will be a whole string of people who want to argue the fact that shaman are great at dps, but I'll say again, by comparison, they really aren't. That and the fact that in raids they settle more and more into healing which only takes away from their melee. In battle grounds, they can focus more on dps, but even then, the new talents they've been given are for dual wielding which wont be able to kick out as much hurt as two handed weapons, hence you'll probably never see shaman who PvP while dual wielding. So why give it to them? In the hopes that they’ll use it in raids to help provide more attack power via “Unleashed Rageâ€

[Oryx]

Ulfric, I won't argue that shamans are great at DPS -- compared to a pure DPS class, they're not.

It's pretty clear by this point that designers' goal for shamans are for them to be an offensive-oriented support class. I have read that the target for shaman DPS is about 80% of an equivalent "pure-DPS" class (fury warrior or rogue), and from what I've seen of the BC so far, that's about where we're going to be. I believe that the target for elemental caster DPS is about the same. They can't make us more powerful than that without taking away our buff and healing capabilities.

Through the use of our standard totems and our tree-specific talents (Unleashed Rage and Totem of Wrath), we can buff the melee and caster DPS of our group more than anything else in the game. We can make an offense group sing -- but we'll be the harmony, not the melody.

[jabadue]

One of my goals with Jabadue is to make him into a primary healer. Thus, this is the spec I am thinking of for the expansion:

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As you can see this is a 100% resto spec, which I believe would make him a viable primary healer in instances.

The question is, Can shaman be primary healers in 5-man dungeons? The other night I was the primary healer (with Zeengo and Vortok, also shaman backing me up) in UBRS. I thought we did a respectable job. We only wiped once on Drak when he got loose from the kiting. The main problem, as I see it, for shaman healing is agro. I always pull agro on the last few pulls in UBRS if I am primary healing. To reduce my healing agro, I try to use lower rand healing wave and chain heal as much as possible, saving lesser healing wave for emergencies. In addition, when I did draw agro, I dropped a stoneclaw totem to draw the agro away so that perhaps someone else could pick up the mob Of course, the epic gear that I have acquired helped a lot.

Opinions on shaman as primary healers and the role of shaman in BC? As I see it, restoration will still be our strongest tree and healing our most valuable contribution to a party.

-Jaba

[Fanae]

I don't know, Ulfric. It really depends on the instance and the role. I've done a full ZG run and come out on top of the damage charts, but it's really contingent on not having to do a lot of boss healing, etc.

[Oryx]

Opinions on shaman as primary healers and the role of shaman in BC? As I see it, restoration will still be our strongest tree and healing our most valuable contribution to a party.

Reports from the beta indicate that Earth Shield is very, very useful. it benefits from +healing, and effectively provides a big heal-over-time on the tank that only fires when it is needed. And, since it can be cast before the fight starts, it can be aggro-free. A shaman in full Earthfury with Jindo's Judgment was getting 328 per globe - so, 3280 points, 900 mana, at 3.38 HPM, without increasing your threat. (forum post here)

I've also heard that there is a questable trinket to reduce threat, and I've even seen comments about a new threat reduction potion.

Re: your build - looks good, though it is a shame to give up Ancestral Knowledge. Any chance you could slip it in somehow? Nature's Guardian is a nice emergency-recovery trick, but is it worth 5% more mana? Or perhaps Tidal Focus - is it better to have 5% more total pool than 5% cheaper heals?

[Guest]

After reading and talking to a lot of the beta shamans I have shelved Cleeyo... The concensus is that restoration is a level 70s best pvp spec - all the other trees are nifty but have been left in the dust by just about every other class (save for mages - talk to Selerinus about that one >.<)

Nonetheless, I'm still waiting to see BC in January before I completely smother her with a pillow.

[Kretol]

Consensus or not, I don't give a damn what other people think about enhancement and my spec. It's what I've always been (except for a small period of time right after the honor system came out and before BGs existed), and what I've always enjoyed. I can still beat the snot out of people, and burst damage is nifty.

With that being said, I've reconsidered my potential level 70 talent build.
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I reasoned that Nature's Swiftness isn't really going to be as needed, considering everyone will have substantially more hitpoints and take longer to kill. That'll give more time to determine whether they need a heal or not.
However, I cannot justify dropping healing focus and totemic focus. Considering I do tend to get up close and personal, meaning I'll be likely taking hits, I do need to be able to toss up a heal while I'm being assaulted. Furthermore, the extra range on totems is just nice in general.
I shifted my two points from guardian totems to enhancing totems since the extra buffage from agility in specific will be useful with hitting things while dual-wielding (let alone critting and having a bit higher armor). I put some more points in anticipation since that extra chance to dodge seemed more important to me than extra chance to hit. I need a bit of defensive umph in there to balance things out.

[Amato]

The question is, Can shaman be primary healers in 5-man dungeons?

Cora (Who happens to be 41 Elemental) has healed me through such places as UD Strat and BRD with no problems. I should think you'll do just fine.

[Shillatae]

I don't think there's any doubt that shaman can primary heal 5-mans currently. I think Jabadue is speculating about the relative difficulty of the new 5-man content, unless I miss my guess here.

I'm hoping so, that way I can just bring a shaman and VE it up otherwise. : )

Tae

[jabadue]

Tae is right. I am wondering if a shaman can be the primary healer in Outlands. Perhaps, I will get a chance to give it a go.

One thing I have noticed so far, is that solo'ng with a full resto shaman seems slow. Jaba never dies and has little downtime for health or mana, but killing mobs takes awhile.

What are the experiences of other Shaman with BC and their builds?

-Jaba

[Oryx]

One thing I have noticed so far, is that solo'ng with a full resto shaman seems slow. Jaba never dies and has little downtime for health or mana, but killing mobs takes awhile.

What are the experiences of other Shaman with BC and their builds?

I've done just a little soloing with my full resto build. It is, as Jaba notes, very slow. I can speed it up by shocking more frequently, but then of course I have a lot more downtime. Since my usual mode is to duo with Zlinka, though, I think it will work fine.

Last night I ran the Ramparts twice with Jivundus, Vanea, Naruth, and Zlinka. What a great little instance! Less than an hour from start to finish once we had the pulls down, three bosses, and great loot. Naruth was able to handle nearly all of the healing, so I shock-pulled and DPSed on the trash mobs. On all the bosses, Earth Shield on Jivundus was very useful; on the Nazan/Vazruden fight, I switched to healing since there is a lot of AoE fire to worry about.

[Fanae]

What are the experiences of other Shaman with BC and their builds?

Dual-wielding is god. It does insane amounts of damage.

Here's my spec for 70 (I've played this spec up to level 67):

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