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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsKoraa hints at the future of Shaman. Kind of. Maybe.
by Alex Ziebart 
Jun 7th 2008 at 1:00PM
While it isn't especially earth shattering, class designer Koraa popped into the official Shaman forums (gasp!) to say something simple, yet intriguing. Eronar of Argent Dawn posted a thread asking the question, "Are you staying a Shaman in WOTK?" and Koraa's simple response was, "I think you'll stay." It could be a completely simple statement with no deeper meaning at all, but it isn't like the WoW community to let something like that go without coming up with some kind of conspiracy theory.Last we knew, Shaman spells and abilities hadn't yet been implemented into the Wrath alpha. Could this be a sign that the devs are planning to move into the testing phase for Shaman soon? That's probably something to be excited about, if the other classes are any indicator. While certainly not everything in Alpha will make Live, things are looking pretty exciting so far, even for the classes and specs that have felt left behind in the past. Hopefully Shaman will feel the same. It's definitely something to look forward to seeing, at the very least.
Filed under: Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Wrath of the Lich King, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
anodien Jun 7th 2008 4:59PM
this is uthopic, but a spirits of the wild totem would be so cool! :P
Ambethia Jun 7th 2008 5:31PM
Shield Specialization, Guardian Totems, Anticipation (+dodge), Toughness (+armor), Spirit Weapons (+parry), Frost Shock (+threat)... It has always seemed to me like enhancement shamans were half-way to tanking. Tweak the talents a little bit, give Rockbiter weapon a +threat component, and give us the itemization.
Just a pipe dream though, I'm sure.
Fendrieon Jun 8th 2008 12:11AM
Enh. shaman could be amazing OT's if they just got a few buffs in the right places. Their burst threat generation is crazy, but I don't think they'll be main-tanking in mail any time soon. Perfect for OT though.
my2cents Jun 7th 2008 7:02PM
I'm quite happy with my Shaman tbh. Are there issues? Yes. 2v2 is pure fail with my ele spec and MgT groups seem to think the only way to go in is with 3 mages (although that's narrow-minded players causing that problem, not actual class mechanics imo) but when I raid, I feel like a god =P My shaman is my most recent 70 and is very poorly geared compared to my guildies (most guildies are in T5 equiv and I'm in some T4 equiv and blue rep vendor pvp gear lol) yet I manage to do pretty decent on dps meters and still get a spot in 25man content due to my totems and heroism. We have enhance and resto shammies as well that all perform wonderfully and are in extremely high demand for 25man raids (and our resto shaman is practically required to attend all za runs)
my2cents Jun 7th 2008 7:03PM
Oh, and if I really want to PvP, I can do always do 5s as there is quite a demand for ele shammies in 5s (at least on my server)
Coherent Jun 7th 2008 11:21PM
I'm a die-hard shammy. No matter that the class has kind of sucked because of some major oversights in TBC; Shammy does what I want to do, and I don't anticipate playing anything else in WotLK.
Good to hear there's some hope for fixing up the class beyond TBC.
Autumnbear Jun 7th 2008 11:25PM
What's that? The new Furbolg allies and Draeni Shammies taught Humans how to be Shamans too? Considering there's now a Shaman trainer in Stormwind, maybe one day it could be true. Until then, I'm waiting for my Undead Paladin. Oh wait, it's on it's way. Deathknight.
Danath Jun 8th 2008 3:38PM
Shamans in wow atm are one trick ponies, we are mainly there for heroism, and in the case of melee groups, windfury, We are loved for our group buffs, the exception is resto, which I think is well designed overall, elem and enhance suffer though due to damage not scaling like other classes and at least in the case of enhance, poor itemization, which is only really fixed in Sunwell T6 items.
Angus Jun 8th 2008 5:42PM
Go look at those Kil'jaedin kills. Go on.
4+ Shaman. Around 25% of the raid is Shaman. Of course 3+ are resto.
Enhancement shaman are desired for raiding guilds. Okay, I said that wrong. AN Enhancement Shaman is desired for raids. 1 per guild. They also have itemization done by retarded monkeys flailing at keyboards.
Elemental do less damage than their counterparts and their contributions are not as beneficial as others using debuffs or CC.
That comment was about as useful as Eyonix saying we are getting buffed if we are naked or just ignore all spell damage past 300 for spell haste.
I think you'll stay.
The damn class better be so cool it makes NPC's head explode when we target them.
I hope you folks will have a WARInsider website.
kellzea Jun 8th 2008 9:34PM
lol, my shammy is my main (chevin mazrigos eu)
and shammys are rediculus.
best raid healers in the game. (as in raid wide damage)
ot in any spec
best buffs in game
most versatile class in game.
if u fail with a shammy, you phail,
ok we are shit in 5v5, boo hoo.
2v2 we pawn, and 1v1 there is no beating a resto shammy
blackwolf675 Jun 9th 2008 10:06AM
Resto is recognized as the best sham spec - not just with talent synergy but also in gear availability.
Cout yourself lucky, the other spec trees are not so fortunate.
The reasons have been done to death - but poor itemization, no aggro dump, no cc, conflicting talents and other well documented reasons are why sham are not burning up the population charts.
Sure, looking from a Resto's point of view - we're fabulous, heals and totems in one? sure!
But not all of us want to spam chain-heal.
Our class population is low - most of the good shams got tired of the Bliz 2-step and have rerolled to more rewarding classes. Those of us who are left are either die-hard sham fans, resto, or players new to the class.
rihahn Jun 9th 2008 12:57PM
Meh, I really don't care what Blizz does with the talent trees, I'll adjust... Just, please, for the love of whatever god you pray to, please fix totems...
I mean, yes, totems are neat and all but when your class mechanic has 5 hitpoints, are stationary, glow (hunters are facinated by shiny things), and they can be macro targeted and destroyed for free or 1/4 to 1/2 that mana it took to put them there in the first place, there's a problem.
Otherwise, I'm a happy shaman...
blackwolf675 Jun 9th 2008 2:18PM
Not even, a lvl 1 kid with a stick can kill our 'class mechanic'.
STereo Jun 9th 2008 2:33PM
Shamans have been broken since before TBC. I can't believe anyone is still playing a shaman. The main problem is that there is no developer of importance that plays a shammy. That's why shammies are broken and will continue to be broken. Kalgan is not going to allow his warrior to be outdone by a shammy.
Kaylek Jun 10th 2008 9:04AM
Go roll a paladin, I think you need a little perspective.