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WoW: WoW Shaman Forums – Class Q&A: Shamans

Shamans around the world Rejoice!!! On the class Shaman Q&A series with Greg “Ghostwalker” Street and the development team, Shaman players around the world
give great feedback and opinions on the WoW Shaman Class Forums.

What makes the Shaman Class unique? Unique powerful spells like Bloodlust/Heroism to start with. Totems and weapon enchants are a unique but unparallel part of being a shaman class.
Last but not least, shield spells like Earth Shield, Lightening Shield, and Water Shield along with Shock spells and self-rez ability make the shaman a unique “offensive” hybrid class.

The new totem bar in 3.2, will it fix the problem? One of the single biggest concerns in the Shaman community is totems.I believe with the insertion of the new Totem Bar, it will solve a lot of these concerns. In my experience as a Restoration Shaman, when engaging a boss encounter, I run in and drop all four of my totems which can take up to six or seven seconds based on mods, quickness, and global cool downs and then throw a heal on the tank which can be from 1.35 seconds (Lesser Healing Wave + Current Spell Haste) to 2.26 seconds (Chain Heal + Current Spell Haste). This inordinate amount of time can often result a tank or careless DPS being two shotted. Having the reduction in time from a single GCD on totems could be the difference between life and death.

Do Shamans need more hit points? Currently Shamans have the lowest base hit points of any class in the World of Warcraft. Blizzard recognizes that and is looking to address that problem in 3.2. Improve on PvE itemization for all three specs? For example, one of the biggest concerns regarding enhancement spec in Ulduar is the stat Armor Penetration, which many weapons and armor in Ulduar possess, but it is not a desirable stat for an enhancement shaman. 

Will Restoration Shamans once again be effective raid healers in Ulduar and future instances? I quote from Blizzard “We do think Restoration Shamans are at the risk of running out of mana perhaps more than any other healer right now, and in fact the seemingly unlimited mana in some healers is what leads to Chain Heal getting stomped on by other big heals. This is a problem we plan on addressing.” HOORAY!!! I personally love what Blizzard addresses about Restoration Shamans in this Q&A.

Last but not least – PvP. Mobility is the single biggest concern regarding Shamans and PvP. Designers often call Shamans “Turrets” and “Sit and Spin and Shoot (or heal).” Restoration Shamans survivability is low because of the lack of mobility and Earth Shield being too easy to dispel.

Questions, Answers, and Concerns wrap up into one big Shaman discussion. Join the discussion on the official forums Here
And click below to join in our forum discussion as well.