shaman
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WTB plush totems
Alice from Wonderland linked to this guy, a homemade plush Tauren Shammy (named Proudhorn after the maker's boyfriend over on the Stonemaul server), complete with a little mace and a bark shield. I suppose someone less masculine than me might call it "adorable," but being as I play a Shammy and all, I call it awesome! Little known fact: she actually hit 300 tailoring by making this.And don't get me wrong, I'm totally impressed, but if you're taking requests, I'll take a Bloodfang UD rogue next. And hey, Slow_Rabbit, how's that Crochet set coming?
Pet Care for Shamans (a.k.a "Mike Told You So")
You laughed when I said it, readers. You said I was just whining. You called my character a "dirty Shaman." You even told me to reroll Hunter! Yes, when I suggested Shaman pets to Blizzard, you tried to laugh me off the Internet. But the new talents and spells came out this week, and lo and behold, look what Blizzard added to the Shaman class.That's right, suckers! Pets! Ok, well, I didn't get my shadow wolf, but two new totems will give Shamans the ability to summon at least two elementals-- a Fire Elemental (to "rain down destruction"-- sounds like a caster), and an Earth Elemental. I suggested we should get them for sixty seconds, but Blizz doubled that, and we will get to have them around for a whole two minutes in the expansion. Serves you all right for questioning my suggestions. Don't do it again!And there's more pets on the way-- Mages have picked up a 41 point talent that will summon a Water Elemental for them to play around with. And while the Druid (or "Drood" as I like to call them) talents haven't been officially released yet, the rumors say they'll get their very own Treant (that has some really neat talents of its own). Pets for everyone! Although maybe this is why they lowered the raid limit to 25. If everybody brings a pet, you'll have 50 entities fighting on your side. Sweet!
Has Blizzard Filled All the Class Roles?
Well, there was a ton of new info about the expansion late last week, and along with new info comes-- you guessed it-- lots and lots of speculation. One of the more interesting things that came out of the interview Joystiq had with Jeff Kaplan was the revelation that Blizzard was giving Horde pallys and Alliance shammys not just to give either side a chance to play with the class, but because they wanted to make the classes more different in how they worked. Paladins are headed for a "holy tank that heals," and Shaman can expect more "DPS and utility roles."So while we're not technically getting a new class with the upcoming expansion, we're actually getting two. Before, Blizzard had to balance out the changes they made to either one of those classes, but now they're much freer to send either class one way or the other. A few people are worried (aren't they always?) that with all the work being done on hybrids, single role classes will be left out, but Nethaera assures us that smaller, 25-player instances will actually give more individuals a chance to shine in their own roles.Which leaves one more question: Considering this class balancing act is getting harder and harder, will Blizzard ever come up with another class for us? Of course, it wouldn't be until the next expansion (which we already know is years from now), but Tigole has specifically told us it's still an option on the table. Are there any other roles that need to be filled, say, by a Necromancer or a Monk type class? Or, by differentiating the Shaman and Paladin class roles, has Blizzard filled in all the blanks?
Shaman Solution: Give Us Pets!
A lot of Shamans (myself included) are under the impression that they've been getting the short end of the stick lately. First, we had pretty much the rockiest respec Blizzard has done yet-- half in one patch, half in the other, and we ended up getting nerfed anyway. And then there's the news that those despicable Pallys are going to be invading our side and taking our raid spots! Well, it's enough to make us Shamans feel like we're being left out a little bit.But Hennifer of Khaz'goroth has been poking around the old Warcraft III site, and I think he's come up with a solution for Shamans that will make us all happy: Shaman pets!Ok, well it won't make any of the other classes happy. But I have to say that giving Shamans a sixty-second summoned Shadow Wolf (say that three times fast) to use as extra DPS would be amazingly cool. And since the expansion will take all the talent trees ten points further, I think it would make a perfect addition to the Shaman's Elemental tree. Not all of Hennifer's suggestions are so great (portable totems? even I don't buy that one), but I think the Shadow Wolf is gold, Jerry, gold! After all, pallys get to summon a whole horse, don't they? We should at least get a wolf, right?
Shaman Review in 1.12?
As other class reviews have come and gone, the remaining classes have become quite touchy about who is going to be next. We already know that mages will be reviewed in 1.11, and yesterday Eyonix let us know that shamans are scheduled after mages, leaving them patch 1.12. To the rogues groaning on the sidelines, remember that being last may not be for the worst - after all, shaman was the last class reviewed by Blizzard before the game's launch.
Resources for beginning shamans
The tribal nature of the shaman class makes it a lot of fun to play, and the buffing totems provide a great deal of help to players both going solo and in groups. The only Horde-specific class, shamans are good all-rounders, with healing and resurrecting spells as well as the ability to wear mail (after level 40). Shamans also have useful caster interrupt abilities with Earth Shock, and melee slowdown abilities with Frost Shock; many non-shamans complain that these abilities leave the shaman overpowered, if played well, so we may see some changes in the future. These are some useful references for the shaman class: Stratics has a general overview to help understand what shamans are all about. MysticMoon's FAQ only covers Trolls and Orcs, but provides a detailed list of abilities. Gamespy have an article covering the first few levels of playing a Tauren shaman, from Camp Narache to Bloodhoof Village. The most frequently asked shaman questions (on broadcast) concern the shaman-specific quests ("Call of..."), so check out Thottbot's information on all the quests for maps and guidance. This walkthrough is also quite useful. WoWWiki's Starting a Shaman page is a great read if you're considering rolling a shaman. The official forums have a comprehensive FAQ and guide to the various races. The European forums also have a FAQ which includes addon suggestions if you're the customising sort. I personally enjoy playing my shaman, but have found that the class doesn't hold up too well in one-on-one PvP; I play on a PvP server and frequently get ganked while questing. Having read some of the above guides I'm now prepared to go back and try again, but I may practice my PvP in battlegrounds for a while. I leave you with these words of advice: Frost Shock! [Previous classes: Paladin, Mage, Priest, Druid, Hunter]
