Since I’ve just gotten back in to the swing of WoW blogging, I’ve taken notice of the ongoing weekly class-related topics started by Laeleiweyn of World of Lae. These “alt appreciation” topics celebrate a different class each week, giving those of us with alt-itis a chance at giving said class our own personal attention.
This week, as the title of this post implies, is Shaman week.
I haven’t had much experience with Shaman, aside from my stint raiding as Enhancement back in TBC through Kara and Zul’Aman. I avoided the class altogether in Wrath and didn’t get my Draenei Resto Shammy (Tvparty, after the Black Flag song) out of Outlands in Cata.
I took part in the RAF program during MOP and got my Troll Elemental Shaman, Eightbit, up to 88, but never sealed the deal. He’s still sitting there collecting dust, and I logged on him for the first time in months today just to take these screen caps. I leveled him up to 85 as Resto, swapping to Elemental to quest out Pandaria but getting lost somewhere in Kun’lai Summit.
I’ve recently rolled a Pandaren Enhancement Shaman (named Mutoh, after my original Enhancement Shaman I mentioned earlier and also the same name as my Prot Warrior over on Uldaman) on my normal realm, but haven’t gotten him beyond level 15 yet. I did farm JP for a 2nd BOA mace, so I intend to do something with him.. I just don’t know what yet.
I remember playing Enhance back in TBC and being miserable trying to find the right gear. Itemization was a clusterfuck in that expansion, especially for a STR focused mail-wearer when mail was either stuffed with AGI for the Hunters or INT for the casters. Everything eventually balanced out, with AGI becoming the primary statistic and making everyone happy again.
Also gone are the days of dropping 4 different totems every single pull, but I rather like the more cooldown-focused mechanic they have today. I’ll also always remember playing Horde first and hearing the sound of Bloodlust. I defected to Alliance at some point during TBC when they finally got their hands on Shaman, and I remember laughing my ass off the first time an Alliance Shaman popped their version of Bloodlust, called Heroism. Going from an Orcish warcry to cheering Alliance yelp left much to be desired.
Horde Bloodlust = RAWRGALGJKEJAR!!! FUCK SHIT UP, BRO!! *pyro and death metal music*
Alliance Heroism = YAY GUISE WE CAN DO DIS! *hi-five*
Even though I don’t play my Shaman much, very few things are as fucking rad as spamming Chain Lightning over and over again, summoning fire elementals and teabagging your dead friends as a Ghost Wolf. I also like screaming OPRAH WINDFURY!
Cheap Boss Attack 
Wow goes to show how long since I played with sound on my Shaman, I didn’t realise about the heroism/bloodlust sound effects. The only thing I can remember from Horde to Alliance was the ‘pop lust… uh heroism’ and everyone knowing you were one of those side swappers!
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Yeah, that pretty much called you out asking for the wrong one lol.
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Maaaan, back when I played WoW, a Troll Shaman was my main. Started raiding with him in late TBC, just to get bored of killing massive bosses halfway through Ulduar. Still recall the days when that boss hit the 25% mark, and I heard my raid leader shout “BL! BL! BL!!!”. Naturally, I complied, and the whole raid went bonkers on that poor loot pinata.
My little Troll Shaman, you will not be forgotten…
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That’s when you always knew that you were going to kill a boss for the first time. It was a good feeling.
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Mutoh?
http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/Mutoh
Is that you, Mutoh?
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Pretty much, but with much less clothing.
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Was thinking it was Ashirogi Mutoh from Bakuman. Good series, if you can get into the DRAMA of making a manga.
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It’s actually after Keiji Mutoh, or known better in the States as The Great Muta. I was obsessed with pro wrestling as a kid in the 80’s and he was one of my favorites.
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I remember Enhance itemisation still being a bit of a clusterfsck in Cata, mostly due to a lack of slow agi 1-handers and the fact that none of their stats apart from Mastery actually improved their DPS. That made the few pieces with mst on them godlike, and everything else a disappointment.
Dragon Soul was great once you got a couple of those axes off DW, though. Zero stats, but my word that elemental proc! It’s like they were built for Enhance.
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I skipped my Shaman for Wrath and Cata mostly, so thankfully I never had to deal with that. I remember overnight in TBC, Enhance Shaman went from using daggers for mass amounts of Windfury procs to wanting slow, STR-based 1H weapons. It was like Blizzard couldn’t make up their minds.
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Oh, don’t worry… somewhere in Firelands enhance became the first spec to receive the now-familiar “you don’t get spell power from any source other than a % of your AP” passive, simply because their itemisation was so screwed that their BiS weapon was the Eye of Purification – an Int-based axe designed for pally and shammy healers/ele shammes.
Blizz decided to extend that same passive to every melee with any spell damage by the time Mists rolled ’round, but back in FL it was quite the insult – as mentioned there had been pitifully few good enhance weapons, and even the blacksmithing plans from Defenders of Hyjal didn’t include any agi other than a dagger. Hell, back in t11 we had a set – as in, with a set bonus and everything – of fist weapons… one of which had agi and one of which had str, and BOTH of which were too damn fast.
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Blizz dev: “Nailed it!”
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