3.1 T1/T2 Shaman Class Review

This will be a review of the First 2 Tiers of action. For more revies, check out Warhammer online beta leaks. Leveling on these toons will be a complete mix (the way I think Mythic intended leveling to be). I wont be going over spell orders and stuff like that. More like, playability, and if they excel in certain areas. I will try to mention glaring weaknesses, and absolute strengths if I see them.

Quests / Public Quests in all zones
Scenarios in all zones
Open RvR in all zones

So here we go

Solo PvE Leveling via Quests:

The shaman does decent doing this. If you get a good spell rotation that works for you, you can pretty much pull mobs close to non-stop. Your ability to heal yourself makes you decent at same to higher level mobs. However Champion and Hero Mobs will compeltly eat you up, even if they are lower than you by 1 or 2 levels. They are completly squishy. Sure you can heal yourself, but then you arent damaging the mob, and eventually you will run out of APs, and die. Not to mention that champs will hit you for 10/20% of your hits, and your only big heal has a push back like WHOA. More on that in PvP section. Once you get moral 1 ability, you have a great get-a-way skill. POP your heal/dot on a mob, hot yourself, hit moral ability and sprint, and you will get away 95% of the time.

There was not a single time where I had any problem with any quest same level or 1 higher.

Public Quests:

If you are a shaman and not in the top 3, you are just flat out just sitting there and dpsing. If you heal and dps (the tools you are supposed to use) YOU WILL ABSOLUTLY BE TOP 3. I was doing PQs with people 3-4 levels higher than me and I was still top 3. Only ones I have trouble hanging with is Tanks. I think the PQs give extra credit for holding aggor (which I am glad they do because tanks dont do as much damage as the DPS classes).

Overall PvE weekness: Well if you even consider this a weekness. You cant solo Champ/Hero mobs, and you cant multi pull like the aoe-ers. But you more than make up but the compelte utility you have in the group PvE settings.

PvP Scenarios:

Hmm where to start. Even with the mechanic to split healing RPs within the group, There have been many Scenarios where I was first in healing and top 4 in DPS. Nothing irks me more than shamans that just sit there and DPS, and only heal themselves. This is the #1 reason I believe Order is winning more Scenarios than Destruction. They dont seem to have a problem being "support" with all of thier classes. I have been on my tank with 5 shamans behind me and I would not get a single heal. Geez. how hard can it be. Not to mention that with your 3 second heal you will get much RPs.

Now the difficult part, if you are healing in a Scenario. Order players WILL notice you, and you WILL absolutly be targeted by Witch Hunters and WPs.
For some reason, they seem to be the classes i have REAL problems getting away from.

NOTE: If a tank puts guard on you. HEAL HIM. PERIOD. Heal him.

Oh and last thing. King of the hill is SOOOOO fun. Keep your back to the wall and keeps your tanks up so they can protect you.. FUN!!!

Open RvR:

This is ABSOLUTLY where shamans shine. They have CRAZY utility. Keep fight/zerg fight/Battle Objective fights. Shamans can sit back and DPS the crap out of Order AND heal those tanks that are running back to the safty of the zerg. Keep fights you can heal heal heal, and drop some DPS on the occasional chucklehead that is foolish enough to stand in the way of DESTRUCTION.

They key is to get in a spot where you can heal with LOS, but Order has no LOS on you. Then you pop out and dump 5 WAAG DPS spells on them MUHAHAHAHA

PvP WEAKNESS:

Shamans are OMG squishy. Any melee with a snare will put a hurting on you. Your only completly effective heal is a 3 second heal with CRAZY pushback. Any Lion Elf worth his weight in salt will put his pet on any shaman it sees not DPSing. If you dont have tanks smart enough to taunt them, you will effectivly be shutdown. Communication with your tanks is absolutly essential, as they are the only ones who can save you. This is why organized groups have so much of an advantage. I think if Mythic gives them some sort of PBAoE snare, they would be perfect.

If you level the way I think Mythic intended people to level, you should be roughly Rank 20 RR 12-15 depending if you win more than you lose in Scenarios.

This class is really fun to play, but not going to be easy to master. My idea of mastering a class is being able to utilize all of its tools no matter what spec you are. Shamans who can DPs for 20k and heal for 0 are not masters of thier class. Same for those that heal for 20k and do no DPS.

Your job is to Heal for 20k and DPS for 10k :P And your ability to make any heal INSTANT by DPSing means that you absolutly should be able to keep the tank alive, AND get deathblows by dumping spells on those low health people trying to give you realm points. But in all seriousness, it will be your 15$ so play how you want to play.. have fun and dont let anyone else tell you how to play your class.

If enough people find this helpful, I will do more for the other classes I have spent a TON of my life playing since I got a chance.

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