A Shaman before Shaman was cool
by Mike Schramm 
Nov 9th 2006 at 2:24AM
Considering my main at the moment is an Orc Shaman, I'm listening in on the news about Draenei shammys with (you might say) scornful interest. One the one hand, they are my favorite class, and I can't wait to see the new totems in action (even as I Earth Shock them out of existence). But on the other, more important hand, they're Alliance, and that means, of course, that they're the scum of the earth. (Don't worry, I'm also having issues with the fact that Paladins will soon be coming on raids with us-- what is the world coming to?)But I am very interested to see what the differences in the two factions are within the class. For a racial, they've got that nice Blessing of the Naaru, a small (but useful, I'm sure) heal over time. As an Orc, I've got Blood Fury, but to tell the truth, I've never once used it effectively (I only just realized the other day that I didn't even have it on my actionbars at all). And then there's the "look and feel" of the class itself-- the totems are going to look completely different, groovy little space age things that will make my winged sticks look, well, primitive. But some things won't change: Blizzard has said on the forums a few times now that Draenei Shaman will have a ghost wolf form that looks like, well, a ghost wolf.
And strangely enough, of all the differences I expected between the two Shaman factions, that's the one I most expected to be... different. The OP of that thread says (and I agree) that the wolf is definitely a symbol of the Horde. And another poster points out, rightfully so, that as alien as creatures are looking in Outland, why would the Draenei even know what a wolf is, anyway? Shouldn't they have something a little more alien as their travel form? Tseric says the devs don't care, but I can assure you that us traditional Shaman do.
Which leaves out one of the most important questions-- right now, in the Raid listing, Shaman character names show up as pink-colored text, and I'm told that on Alliance, Paladins do. So who gets to keep the pink text? A while ago, I heard it was us Shammies, but now a few players are saying Pallys will keep pink. So which is it, Blizz? I was a Shammy before the Draenei made it popular, and I'd appreciate it if us Horde Shammies got the respect we deserve-- if that means pink text for our names, so be it.
Filed under: Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, PvP, Draenei
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bet Nov 9th 2006 3:36AM
Earthshocking totems isn't very mana efficient, newb.
Brim Nov 9th 2006 4:44AM
Wonder what they gonna do with the Blood elf Paladin mount....
Seltor Nov 9th 2006 6:05AM
That's one of the most important question? Who gets to use the pink text? really? I mean, REALLY?
The ghost form thing I can understand. Not changing it is just lazy, something that Blizzard isn't known for (or, at least, wasn't until they went MMORPG)
White Rabbit Nov 9th 2006 6:16AM
What are you even TALKING about? Pink text? wtf?
and I think the biggest question I see for the differences between Dranei and Blood Elves...
how come the Dranei can STILL be Paladins while Blood Elves can't be Shaman?
I guess Blizzard didn't want the alliance fanboys to start complaning about them not having enough Alli paladins
Droopox Nov 9th 2006 7:39AM
White Rabbit:
Only thing i can think of is that, us Horde already have 3 races that can be shaman (Tauren, Orc, Troll) while the Allinace only have 2 races for Paladins (Human, Dwarfs). With Draenei being paladins, will make it 3.
But don't quote me, I might be wrong.
DÖT Nov 9th 2006 8:30AM
I totally understand about the wolf thing...in playing WoW I have noticed A LOT that the game seems half finished at best. There are some thing that just shouldn't be the same between factions...maybe Blizzard is trying to show how truely similar the waring nations are, but I doubt it.
But honestly, who cares. They two new races are just going to be bastardizations of what we have now and I have feeling that after a month or two of playing BE or Draenai some people will go back to their main characters.
Last night I feel in love all over again with me Warlock...I should have spec'd Affliction from the beginning...Anywho
Kyle Nov 9th 2006 8:27AM
Brim: Their mounts are recolored red and black.
As for why the BE can't be Shaman, well, for one, it'd require Blizz to bend things a lot further. I can buy them draining a Naaru and becomming paladins that way. But how would they become a shaman? Drain nature?
And the other reason is probably what Droopox says, balancing things out a bit.
Jusk Nov 9th 2006 9:31AM
As for the wolf thing:
There are wolves in the outland. The outland was the Orcs homeland, and they were shamanistic before they were corrupted. The draenei are also coming from the outlands, so I dont see the problem.
Ryan Nov 9th 2006 10:02AM
If any current horde re-roll a Pally, you will lose all respect and will never have someone to play with again. Just a little heads up.
Bunkai Nov 9th 2006 10:09AM
Well, this seems like as good a place as any to say...
I HATE CHANGES FOR THE SAKE OF BALANCE!!!
There are different factions, races, classes, and builds for a reason... stop the whining and crying about making things balanced... Every character does not need to have the ability to taunt, slice-and-dice, and greater heal!!!
It seems like people won't be happy until the game is so watered down that every character has the exact same abilities as every other character... all in the name of balance!!!
I for one am completely upset at Pallys and Shammys crossing over!!!
It Sucks!
And stop nerfing the talent trees into vanilla flavored ice cream... I like having chocolate with sprinkles sometimes... making things bland is taking away from the game.
Krianna Nov 9th 2006 11:05AM
If wolf is too alien to Drannies, then why do their neighbors the Orcs know what they are? Since the Orcs taught the Dran to Sham, I don't see why their totems are *different*.
Clementure Nov 9th 2006 11:12AM
This pink text for the horde thing makes sense. Since we all know the horde wears lacy panties (+ 2 to avoid panty lines), the pink text fits right in.
Donner Nov 13th 2006 10:48PM
/sigh well I think Ryans a dumbass just because the alliance are going to be full of poons that wont go to shaman, doesnt mean that the horde cant accept something new in the means of a class. We will end up using pallies over shammies at least in raids as far as healing goes, Im not too certain on the dps thing though shammies as far as I can tell do that better then pallies.
Kemayo Nov 9th 2006 12:25PM
Draenai Shamans currently have their color as a sort of teal-blue. I haven't made an oldskool Shaman in the expansion yet, so I can't confirm whether they've changed their color yet.
Mat Nov 9th 2006 12:51PM
I'm totally rollin' a BE pally.
Name: Loladin
hahaha
warforge Nov 9th 2006 2:23PM
@Kyle
Yo...We can totally justify shaman BE over paladins.
First off you gota know Yu Yu hakusho anime and Bleach..
Spirit Energy you see...they get there power from Spirit energy =) yah thats it >.>
Mick Nov 9th 2006 4:31PM
Using a low level Earthshock on a totem is fine, dude who replied first. And Tseric saying "The Devs don't care" pretty much sums up ALL their views on the Shaman class.
Irhardcore Nov 10th 2006 3:52PM
SHAMAN POWER brother keep the culture alive. SHAMAN POWER, PINK TEXT PINK TEXT PINK TEXT SHAMAN WOO WOOO WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Christian Stricker Nov 15th 2006 3:46AM
It's all about balance. The heart of the horde's PvP strength lies within the extreme fact that shaman can take down, and/or provide excellent and extremely well support for their allies in BG. A paladin? Well.. Some paladins might be bothered to put a 5 min mana regeneration buff on a priest, but as far as that goes, you can't really expect more from them. I like that Alliance will be able to have access to Shamans, and I'm already twinking up on gear for one, when TBC is finally released.
Serenadium - 60 (Disc/Holy) Priest @ Daggerspine(EU)