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Advise on spec


Crikrunner

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Many muun hab me been spoiled by da blessing ub weapuns. Me nub sur wat da earth mother intends fer us shaman des days.

Thinking of this spec mostly for pvp/arena combat:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classe...000000000000000

I dont like having to spend 4 points in dodge but couldn't see any of the other talents mattering much in the short duration of combat there, like wise the 4 spend in lightning on crits could be spent maybe on the elemental soak and then 1 point else where? any ideas comments?

Also I can't decide what a shaman is best at anymore for 5/10 man raids. I can come close to healing as well as a druid or priest but still can't replace them. I can make a great back up healer I can do this with out spending 41 points in resto even, as long as I save all mana for healing and pay attention. Though I can see in a 10 man you and a priest + pally could keep everyone alive allowing the druid to be feral, and more dps to come along. Elemental spec has always interested me but lack of +dmg mail up till now has prevented me from exploring that build and roll in a 4/10 man. Having spec'd enhance for so long I went back to resto 41/20 enhance last night and found pve pure torture, killing enemies took on average 5 times longer. Can't decide what I want so I'd like to hear the other shamans stories of their specs and what that like/dislike of them. Dabu

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Well, you know what Im going to say!

I think that all shaman should be part enhance, unless you are really willing to be on the fringe. Right now, its very difficult to be a fringe player in the 5mans, and possible 10-man content. Why do I speak such heracy(sp)? Because I like being able to do a little bit of everything. Resto shaman are great for instance healing, but horrible everywhere else. You'd have to ask Gwen about elem spec... Ive never gone fully down that road.

Crik, you and I have talked, but Ill say it again for the other shaman out there: It is perfectly possible to backup heal decently being elem/enhance with the proper gear. If yer willing to put forth the time and boost your +healing a bit, then you can still make a big difference. Also, that leaves you able to dps when yer out on your own, whether you carry a shield or not. Currently, Ive gone Enhance/Resto... Im giving serious thought to dropping Sham. Rage as its very inconsistent and NS might be more useful.

Right now, I see DW shamans as one of the premier DPS classes, and we can backup heal on bosses making us very useful. We boost our entire party. Sadly, with druids being nerfed we're going to have to be more careful, but we'll find a way.

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Right now, I see DW shamans as one of the premier DPS classes, and we can backup heal on bosses making us very useful. We boost our entire party. Sadly, with druids being nerfed we're going to have to be more careful, but we'll find a way.

This is more of a related comment but two things come to mind...

First, I totally agree that DW shaman have become much more powerful and more prevalent from a damage perspective, and I am very happy that it's happened (you all deserved it!). I know it's a big switch, though, so take a lesson from another (formerly) heavy-damage class: Aggro control is not something reflective of how good your tank is (or even their class, including druids), but a function of your own ability to meter your damage appropriately. Heavier-damage mages in the past have made this look easy in MC and such, but believe me, it takes tons of practice to know the limit, and I frequently had to scale back my spell ranks just to stay under the "threat line". As Uncle Ben once told Peter Parker, with great power comes great responsibility...

Also, I've been looking more critically at the proposed changes to feral druids with regards to tanking. While a flat comparison is easy (before vs after), I've been taking a deeper look at each form and it's designed purpose, as well as their relation to the "parent" classes that each form's role is akin to. I actually think this isn't as much of a nerf to individual skills as it is an adjustment to the way bear tanking was intended to work vs. how it is now.

If you consider that dire bear has traditionally been similar to a protection warrior (takes tons of damage, deals little, generates threat based upon abilities rather than pure damage), and cat form similar to a rogue (aggro reduction ability, high damage output, fast attack speed, increased critical strike chances, low damage mitigation)...the proposed changes actually are in-line with restoring those roles....I'll explain...

What I've noticed with most druids post-BC is that bear form is being used to deal heavy damage (when combined with mangle) which has resulted in a greater amount of threat being generated than a comparable protection warrior ability-wise. This could not have been foreseen or intended, as bear tanks would effectively replace warriors or at least relegate them to "special circumstance tanking" (e.g. stance dancing required or crushing blow mitigation). We've actually been seeing this happen and I've heard many people comment that they love druid tanks. Makes me happy to the see the acceptance, but warriors were and should be as good or better at tanking if spec'ed for it (and skilled at doing so)...druids should not totally supplant that design.

From a druid perspective, the changes appear to be focused around ensuring adequate rage is being made available to generate threat via methods that don't include doing lots of damage. I still think the threat generation will need some work (swipe may need another modifier change and I'd love to see some tweaks to maul), but I'm considering it an adjustment that doesn't cut the knees out from under the class in PvE tanking. As such, I think that druid tanking will remain very viable, but will be back on-par with warriors' abilities and also will be removing the "dps'ing bear tank" role, as it appears to not be part of the intended design according to what I've seen commented by Blizzard.

Threat will be harder to generate now, but any serious tank (bear or otherwise) knows how rewarding it is to beat an encounter and just how much work it takes to tank something effectively. I hope we'll all see it as a challenge to overcome rather than an outright defeat :D As for people that frequently draw threat from the tanks...don't forget the lessons we learned in MC about threat management...the 5-mans are a cakewalk to recover from that kind of mistake, but I'm sure the 10- and 25-man raids are another story, where an unintended aggro pull may wipe everyone. Controlling the encounter > damage meter epeen :tease:

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I agree totally, V.

Keeping the crits down is going to be key. For example, with our Karazhan run, Im going to be switching to flametongue to ensure that the major crits dont happen, unless the trash is a pushover. I still have yet to get good level 70 weapons, but when I do, it'll hopefully lead to better average dps vs. the insane crit dps Ive been putting out.

As you said, if its anything MC taught us, controlled Boss fights in raids are much better than fast boss fights.

And so, I embark on this not-yet-fruitful quest to gain those damned fist weapons from Botan/Arca, ugly as they may be.

- Bar

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  • 2 weeks later...

*nibbles* Basically elemental is good until you have to do hand combat then you can run into some trouble...so it is good to have some in enhancement....Unless you want to be crazy like me and lightening bolt there butt, while they look at ya. >:L

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Dabu, latz fer the advise currently i'm 40 ele/ 21 resto for ns, but next time i respec I think i'm going for

41/0/20

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classe...050005000000000

After 2months of being enhance and almost 2 years of being resto i'm really enjoying the change to elemental. It plays completely different, like Gwen said I just cast even when they're on me. My dps went up as did my ability to heal do to gear and better mana regen. I think i'll keep this spec for a month or two and gear up this way, have about 1/2 enhance gear on still. Shaman are a really diverse class as I have 2 whole bank bags dedicated to off spec suits of armor, and depending what dress I pull on for the day it really changes what your best at. Besides who doesn't like spending 100 gold a week on respecs its fun :(

(( sorry for the poor grammar no coffee yet, trying to cut down :) ))

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*bites Gwen*

Hey crick, remember Zorrander?

That fella swore by enhancement and does to this day. His current spec is 40/0/21 (for NS and otther crit goodies in the resto tree)

And he pwns in pvp :(

If you sent him a tell i'd bet he'd chat with ya about it if you wanted too,

-Harne

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