How effective is Shaman? Should I even bother?

[Noslock]

Healing good on shaman require more effort than doing good on dok or zealot.It is true that a good fotg shaman can top heal charts in city and i witnessed with my eyes with a shaman from Phalanx.
Dok and zealot are probably the favourite choice in a proper wb setup when u have 7 spots for them and maybe 1 for a good shaman.Unless ofc you play in a rp wb where everyone is green or with pugs where you can have wathever.
That being said shaman is a fun class to play and very good looking plus its very fun to play it as dps if you have decent gear.If you take your time and master mechanics you probably can do decent heal on it but expect pain and failure at the beginning.

[Wam]

I'm a little torn here guys and I was hoping I can get a bit of feedback and advice. I'm currently leveling up a Shaman and enjoy the race/class combo. I don't seem to be having issues healing, but I've already come across a few people that have said the following.

• 1) Re-roll, Shaman is garbage and useless. Play a Zealot or DOK.

• 2) Your class mechanic is Broken, you are a broken class, play another healer.

• 3) You cannot withstand bursts you are useless, roll a DOK instead for group heals.

I've even had people tell me, "haha a healing Shaman? you are joking right? most of them DPS." I've played both the Zealot and DOK and it just doesn't feel as fun as Shaman is to me. I don't really like the melee oriented skills of the DOK and the Zealot seems a tad boring. Then again I suppose I can put more time into them.

So should I even bother continue playing my Shaman? There seems to be A LOT of negativity towards them. Like I said I thought I was doing okay, but they said the class takes too much effort to get the same benefits that a Zealot or DOK would bring. No point in leveling it. So I'm at an impass if I should work on my Shaman, even though I find the class fun. Any advice would be great!

only a handful of "good shamans" on the server

alot more good doks/zealots... they generally synergise better and shamans need more support to shine and easily hunted if you lack proper support.

God Tier shamans can "do more" than dok/zealot ... but again rare breed, high glass ceiling hard to play... its hard to mess up on zealot/dok but still people manage too.

Ultimately play what you find fun and ignore nay sayers if you enjoy it that much, find a group which suits your needs.

Shaman gets alot of hate because there are many bad DPS shamans, and many bad heal shamans... generally all dps healers get hate (even the few good ones) but there are more bad heal shamans (easy to not be bad dok/zealot) so easy to see why you are getting those comments by salty players tired of teaming with poor healers but doesn't take much to make some people in the community salty lol.

If you play long enough and rez enough people like drwho you can become a legend on shaman

[xruptor]

Thanks for all the advice and feedback here. I've seen stuff on both sides of the fence. Most of which I had originally mentioned in my list on my original post. I'll continue playing my Shaman. However, the fact that I will have to work harder and with much more effort, to do what the other two healers can do easily, is not very reassuring. Nor will the fact that I would be hindered without some backup. I'll keep these things in mind as I continue leveling my Shaman and determine if it's truly worth all the effort in the end, even if I enjoy the class/race.

[Wam]

Thanks for all the advice and feedback here. I've seen stuff on both sides of the fence. Most of which I had originally mentioned in my list on my original post. I'll continue playing my Shaman. However, the fact that I will have to work harder and with much more effort, to do what the other two healers can do easily, is not very reassuring. Nor will the fact that I would be hindered without some backup. I'll keep these things in mind as I continue leveling my Shaman and determine if it's truly worth all the effort in the end, even if I enjoy the class/race.

you need rr 60-70 before you can get build you want ... and be in vanq / genesis / subj / beastlord minimum... plus rely on alot of AP potions, that is when shaman starts tbh

In low tiers (especially t1 shammy is OP, just because enemies are weak, and no white lion with pounce / pull etc) but in the middle part of game it loses this advantage... fresh 40 until you get the gear above is going to be pretty rough, and even when you got the gear it still helps to team with Choppa and Black ork with CDR (cooldown reducer) to help you spam your maximum heal potential and you also need good targeting when doing this.

[Futuro]

Honestly you will never win

If you go DPS shammy people will yell at you for not healing

If you go healing shammy people will yell at you for not picking a "better" healer

And then when the sc is over and you came first in heals AND dps and polity point that out and link them a screen shot and then ask them if they need any help or suggestions on how to play there class and they put you on ignore.

you just never win so play what is fun and dont worry

[phononHYPE]

I'd like to note that so many classes have areas they excel, and places that may only want 1, if any. WE/WH excel at solo kills and skulking around, but you'd be hard pressed to see a city WB with more than 1 (I've seen one with 2 and they did great - don't tell anyone). Shaman (to me), excel at open areas. You can kite whole WBs, all the while your instant or on the move hots will be rocking. There, you rule. Of course DoKs can soak up the damage and not need to kite, or zealots can just out-heal damage with preservation buffs. In SCs, same thing but some SCs require movement, flag capping or w/e the mechanic is. Here too shamans excel, but DoKs and Zealots still do well from the above statements. Forts, every healer is a stationary aoe heal bot, but shaman instant rez can be oh so useful. Getting knocked off a ledge and nailing the rez mid-air, stun on way down, land and run off healing your now alive mate, priceless. No zealot or DoK will ever have that joy. Cities, you lose your movement often. But you'll still get an invite as a healer, so who cares.

You're healing and having fun, keep playing. Most of my toons are played in the most opposite meta spec (2h choppa, snb BG, shaman with Run Away & the run-proc rr ability - man I love running, and zealot healer with absorb ritual). Playing to your enjoyments, as you've said, will go so far. I hate my zealot (no matter what spec), my WP, and my DoK, all just glorified bank alts now. Shaman is the way to go for me.

Go HoT something and run away. Go Waaaagh!

[Goermsi]

Hey Git,

the shaman has his right to exist. Even when it comes to healing. You get incredible numbers on the scoreboard in big fights with "Fury of the Green". But you need someone to reduce your coolowns (Spalta/BO). Your hots can hit critically with unbelievable effectiveness and with "Aint done Yet" you also get a super boost on your performance.

On the other hand, a good healer takes damage out of the game before it can even occur. A well-aimed puddle on the ground will bring a whole Meele-Train to a halt. This won't show up anywhere, but this significant slowing of incoming damage over several seconds... that's your achievement.

Also you must not forget that the shaman can work with 3 detaunts and is a "hit&run" class. Yes, you only have robe and yes, many sets don't fit the shaman with their bonuses (-6% armor penetration on Souv set with light armor? Lol! Give us Minus Krit!)
But as soon as you take incoming damage you should get a speed boost. Plus a possible Auto-Detaunt and 2 single detaunts. Who or what should destroy you?

Of course you're not a DoK that can take the damage standing up with AOE-Detaunt and thick armor. Nor are you a Zealot who can work with his mega procs and instands. You my friend have to run, run and run again. Your positional play is extremely important - but if you mess it up, you are the healer class that can compensate this mistake the best. Or did you ever see a DoK or Zealot kiting a warband behind them?

[Tyrex2017]

Shaman = best healer class in game atm, from my point of view. shaman = big... i mean very big heal (fotg crit 2k-3k heal, hot tick crit for 1k). You need to use a lot fotg et hot, the both hot. perma hot your frontline tanks-mdps, use Morale2 at critical moment. His couterpart AM is subpart, too squichies. Shaman can be played frontline » tali wounds et tougness, top geared, you can have 9k+ wounds and 600-700 toughness.

Run hight heal crit rate » 40%+ heal crit. Run the tactic Aint done Yet.
+ insta rezz. I play my shaman frontline, i m a noob.

But you need to run, always run, move, never stay at the same place, follow the fight, follow your frontline, hide in your melee ball.
For that, if dev nerf fotg for not be castable on the move »»»» RIP heal shaman.

[Lilim]

4.6 Avoid thread necromancy.