Tag Archive for 'shaman'

I’m a Shaman, hear me roar

February 8, 2008
2 Comments

This is actually a group exercise of sorts, suggested by Siha at BlogAzeroth.com, and I have to say it’s very interesting to read other people’s views on their own classes!

I realise I’m late to the party (watch me chase the band wagon…) but, as promised in my last post; the things that I like about playing a Shaman.

  • The most important reason for me is that Shaman is a truly unique class with a rich history in the Warcraft lore. I’m not a roleplayer, but those kind of details are important for me!
  • I really enjoy the versatility of the class. Shamans can do nearly everything in the game and they can do it well. I like the fact that, no matter what my talent tree looks like, I’m always a support class. In theory I can fit into any group, and I can make any group better. Bloodlust is the bomb, and I get a kick out of seeing those windfury cyclones caused by the warrior and the rogue.
  • I love my totems. It’s a lot more fun to plant a totem on the ground than to simply cast a buff on another player. I love how I have a totem for every situation, whether I’m in a group, or farming stuff, or fighting in a battleground. I’ll agree that the totem system has its flaws, especially that they are a pain to manage as you level up, but I really wouldn’t want to play without them. I miss them when I play my alts. Also: horde totems > space totems.
  • Rawr I like my trademark Shaman spells. Chain lightning and chain heal look awesome and they’re quite useful too. Lightning shield is good to have around when levelling, but water shield and earth shield are simply brilliant. I alternate between the two when it’s just me farming, that way I can go on forever without ever having to eat or drink. In a group water shield is an awesome MP5 buff for myself, while earth shield gives that little extra edge to the tank. I like my array of shock spells, with earth shock being a very reliable interruption tool on a short cooldown, flame shock a mana-efficient DoT, and frost shock arguably the best single-target snare in the game.
  • Being squishy is not my thing, so I like that I get to wear mail and a shield. I’m not a paladin by a long shot, but I’m still pretty hard to kill!
  • I love my ghost wolf alter ego. It’s simply a cool looking shape, and it’s fun to run around faster than anyone else at such an early level. That’s also a fun thing to tease druids with :P
  • I like reincarnation, as does everybody else. I hate it when I forget to buy ankhs… as does everybody else.
  • I like the quirky little things that come with my class. The earth and fire elemental have limited use, but I try to unleash them on every boss fight anyway. It’s possible to Far Sight from Tanaris to Winterspring, and although I have no idea why I would want to, the fact that I CAN is still pretty awesome. I can create a cooking fire while standing on the water, and cook the fish that I just caught right there. I never have to worry about my hearthstone being on cooldown.

It’s all those little things that give the Shaman class so much charm. I could probably write just as long a list for every single one of my alts, but there is only one class that I have played so much and that I have taken so far.

Somebody calling a doctor?

February 3, 2008
2 Comments

Vol’jinThis seems like the post I should have written on day one of my blog, not on day… *counts on fingers* … day 129. But, as Blizzard would say: better late than never.

Why do I play a Troll Shaman?

It’s a good question actually. Why is it that I play as both the least played class and the least played race?

It certainly wasn’t an obvious choice. In these kind of games I’ve always preferred to pew pew with magic. In Ragnarök Online I was a frost/lightning mage, in Final Fantasy XI I was a Black Mage, and in Oblivion I was the Arch-Mage of the Arcane University. So when I started playing World of Warcraft, I should have picked Mage right off the bat, right? Right!

Except… I didn’t.

The reason can be found in Warcraft 3: I simply loved playing as the Orcs. Their army consists of the most charismatic races in the game: orcs, trolls, and tauren, and they also have the most awesome heroes. I usually preferred the Far Seer or the Shadow Hunter, coupled with an army of Grunts, Wolf Riders, and a handful of Shamans and Witch Doctors. Ah yes, the Witch Doctors. Weak units by themselves, but have one plant a healing sentry in a strategic place, and your army becomes virtually invincible. Toss in a few Shamans casting bloodlust on all units, and your army becomes truly invincible. Happy times, happy times.

Trolls are awesome. I’ve decided that early on, trolls are awesome. They talk funny, they look cool, and they have an interesting history. When my boyfriend bought me the trial version of World of Warcraft almost one year ago, and I was faced with the character creation screen, I just knew it had to be a troll. The female trolls looked cool and sexy enough, and, as I was happy to discover in-game, they too have the crazy Carribean accent.

I had picked a race, so the next step was to pick a class. Most of them seemed straight forward enough: the fighter, the thief, the ranger, the white mage, the black mage. But Shaman? That one didn’t fit into any RPG cliché I knew. Masters of the elements, swingers of totems, backbones of the Horde, fighters, magic users, healers, and all of that all at once? I must have had a wide smile on my face while reading the class description. This was not an RPG cliché, this was a unit from Warcraft 3!

I named my tealhaired troll girl after a brand of Scandinavian yoghurt, and one minute later I was running about in Durotar, zapping boars with my lightning bolts. And the rest, as they say, was history.

~ Epilogue ~

Over the levels I discovered that the Shaman class in World of Warcraft is far from a carbon copy of the Shaman unit in Warcraft 3. In fact, it’s a mixed bag of spells, talents and abilities of the Shamans, Witch Doctors, Far Seers and Shadow Hunters from that game. I remain mildly disappointed that we don’t get to Hex like the Shadow Hunter, but all in all, 69 levels later, I’m still happy with my choice. Shamans are positively one of the most enjoyable classes in the game.

As for the pew pewing that I loved so much in the other games, Shamans are obviously more than capable of doing just that. Interestingly enough I’ve never specced deep Elemental. I’m going to try it sometime though, and then PvP my heart out for a weekend or so.

I have also tried my hand at playing a Mage. In fact, I levelled my bank alt, a frost Mage, from 12 to 17 just last weekend. As for how I liked it… well, I have to be careful here, as I’ve been told that the frost spec doesn’t become fun until after you’ve acquired shatter. But still: I’m not enjoying it. I’m not a huge fan of the other cloth classes either, but at least Warlocks have their Voidwalkers and Priests have their heals. Mages feel so fragile, and I can’t seem to grasp their playstyle at all.

So then, what is it exactly that I enjoy about Shamans so much? The answer to that question… I will save for the next update ;)