> I mean, when is the last time shamans got a substantive buff?

The latest (as of Feb 18th) changes to Water Shield.

runguO, touche` you are correct. I'll stop QQing now.

I guess I didn't remember that, because my Shaman isn't high enough level to have that ability

I think he meant a buff for one of our specs that isn't fine as is, resto that is.

> I'll stop QQing now

Please don't. This buff does not justify months of nerfs.

And, Lucas, which shield would you prefer as an enhancement or elemental shaman?

Can't speak for high level shamans, mine's only 48 atm, but there's nothing remotely hard about being a holy pally.

I disagree about how Holy Paladins are 'hard mode'. I've played a Holy Paladin for 2 1/2 years now and find myself not only surviving but also killing with ease. The 40/11/10 build is becoming one of the Paladin builds for the jack-of-all-trades aspect of the class. A balance druid is supposed to be able to be a DPS character as well as off-heal. A Paladin should be able to main heal and off-tank. A Shaman should be able to go DPS and off-heal. You can see all across the realms that Shadow Priest can main heal. If you think that just because we are playing hybrids means that we're playing on 'hard mode', then please learn how to play hybrids like they are supposed to be played before making statements like you just did.

-Aticus, http://www.paladintales.blogspot.com

Lol, yeh the water shield is nice. I'm not high enough in lvl to use it so I do not really know hos nice it is, but I see other lvl 70 shamans using it constantly to keep up their mana lvl. Looks like it does the trick, but isn't that being tuned down as well in the next patch?

1.) I play a 70 shadow priest, and NO, shadow priests cannot main heal Level 70 content or raids. We do fine as a main heal with the proper gear up until then, but after, we don't have enough +heal or mana efficiency to keep up.

Hard/Easy is a relative term. I play a Ret Pally. Well geared, he's not bad as a DPS or tank. (lvl 35). My Shamman (lvl 59), in the best gear I can buy/quest for can't handle multiple mobs as well as my S-Priest did, nor can he solo mobs 4+ levels higher than he is as easily.

Shaman don't solo as well as other classes solo. You can tell me to L2Play as much as you want, but it won't change that fact. And as a 'hybrid' they aren't as desired in 5 man instances, so they don't get to group as much early. I'm spec'd Enhancement (0/41/8), and I do reasonable DPS, but I don't DPS as well as a Rogue or Lock. I don't have damage mitigation like a Priest or a Pally. I don't have crowd control like a mage or a hunter.

I DO have a bunch of very cool, powerful group buffs, on proc group buffs, and nice on proc buffs of my own. But as they are 'group' buffs, they are toned down over 'self' buffs. Shaman are built for grouping, not solo. They are viable, just harder to play solo than other classes.

You should probably use gear that isn't all +shadow damage when healing. I hear it works wonders.

/tongueincheek

"Level 70 content" is a very vague term. I'm guessing you meant Heroics and Raids, as those are the harder portion of level 70 content. Despite that, I must still disagree with your assessment.

Off-specs of all kinds can heal and even main heal these instances. All it requires is they take the time to develop a decent healing set for when it is required. I've seen it done, and it's difficult, but it's certainly not a "can't".

You certainly main heal Karazhan in all blues as a Shadow Priest, but you certainly can if you're lucky enough to pick up the healing gear no one else needs.

Darian, I agree with you, as I said before Shadow Priests can heal most instances up to Raiding and Heroics. But even in my 'healing' set (mostly blues, haven't been raiding long), the best +Heal I can manage as a S-Priest is +800. Which is not enough to get invited along for Kara and definitely not enough for ZA or SSC. If I respec Holy, I jump to over +1k healing. I am working on my primal mooncloth set, but the 4 day cool down (And huge time/expense -- I am beginning to HATE water elementals) is slowing me down.

But again, that is not the main thrust of my post. The main thrust is: Soloing as a Shaman is more difficult than other Hybrid classes (Druid? Pally?). I wish I knew how to put it to a vote to see if I am off base.