Origins of the Shammy+Pally Fad/Phase/Craze/Insanity(?)

[Vyndree]

On my way home from work last night, Suvega and I had a little chat about the sudden influx of shaman, or shaman + paladin groups.

Musing about my own situation when I stumbled across dual-boxing.com, the world was flooded with 1x priest 4x warlock groups. There basically WAS no other group makeup due to the ability for aoe healing, pet tanking, and mobile dps that was warlock/priest.

All of a sudden, it looks like everyone and their mom is rolling shaman. Now, since I like to consider myself a beautiful and unique snowflake, this got me searching...

This is my observation about the current trend:

Jun 08 - the use of tanking classes as an option isn't really even seen in this example. If you look at the results (as of today):

• 4 Warlock 1 Priest 35%
  5 Shaman 26%
  4 Mages 1 Priest 13%

You can see the 4 lock/mage + 1 priest setups solidly on the board, most likely Xzin-spawned.
Of course, I have no idea who voted recently on this, so we may have a skewed view since it's not a perfect snapshot, but by the list 4x shaman 1x paladin wasn't even considered a viable/popular group makeup. 5x Shaman look like they're just starting to bud into a viable class makeup.
At the end of the post, you can see myself blow up on the viability of shaman as a healing class, whereas everyone else seems to be pro-priest. Nothing wrong with priests, I just like reading old posts of me being my stubborn pro-shaman self.

Jul 9 - A link comes out of nowhere to Æbox's 5 shaman videos

Sep 1 - Tequilale's shammy multiboxing video (pve)

Sep 12 - Vyndree's RFK video showing 4 shaman + warrior tank

Sep 24 - Another link to Æbox's 5 shaman videos

Sep 26 - Vyndree's SM video, again 4x shaman 1x warrior tank

Nov 9 - Ellay releases 4x shaman arena PvP video. The world explodes.

Nov 28 - empeha posts 5x shaman strat run

Dec 3 - Paladins as tanks start to join the list
But, not with shaman... However, 5x shaman begins to emerge:

• 5x Shamans! 41%
  Priest 4 Warlocks 19%
  Priest, 4 Mages 12%

Again, who knows from which dates people were voting. They could still be voting to this day and skewing all of my data. So take this as you will.

Dec 9 - Ellay-lovers everywhere wonder what they should roll with their 4x shaman

Dec 10 - Class selection FAQ released

Most common setups:
Tank/Priest/Some-Mix-of-Locks-and/or-Mages
Tank/Priestx4 (holy-nuke or shadow)

Paladin is the most common tank. Shaman subbing in for priest is also fairly common.

Shaman, sadly, do not make the "most common" cut in either 4/5x shaman, or shaman + tank.

Dec 11 - 5x shaman PvE viability is questioned

Dec 11 - Vyndree's video of 4x shaman, this time with 1x paladin tank in RFD

Dec 11 - Vyndree's ZF video, again with 4x shaman 1x paladin

Dec 19 - Remote's 5x shaman Heroic SP vid

Dec 20 - Remote's 5x shaman Heroic Sethekk vid

Dec 29 - Remote's 4x shaman arena PvP

Jan 1 - Los submits to the dark side of the force, and abandons his hunters for shaman. More videos from Los.

i changed from my current group to a pally and 4 shammies . Think that in the end run the group its self would run a lot better.

Jan 4 - Ellay's 4x shaman EoTS

Jan 6 - Vyndree's 4x shaman 1x paladin world pvp


It seems, now, that every other new multiboxer is rolling some form of 4-5x shaman, or 4x shaman 1x prot paladin. Which brings me to...

My Hypothesis:
People roll what they think is exciting. What gets people excited? Videos.

Prior to Ellay/Xbox/Vyndree/Remote/Los posting this multitude of shaman videos, the only videos I could find were primarily 4x lock, 1x priest (i.e. Bradster: RFK, BFD, ZF, PvP and more -- not to mention Ughmahedhurtz and others). I believe the sudden influx of shaman videos is the cause for this massive Shaman/Shaman+Pally influenza that's sweeping over the forum.

Now that I've proven that you're all lemmings and under our frapsing and video-editing powers, I'd like to say that resistance is futile. You will all be assimilated.


P.S. STOP PMing ME PEOPLE! I AM NOT THE LIBRARY ON SHAMAN MULTIBOXING. Make another forum thread of the billion shaman threads already out there and there are many other people who can tell you what you already would have known if you had done a search.

Kthxbai.

[Suvega]

I am waiting dillgently to post my videos of:

1 War
3 mages
1 Priest

It will be teh dawning of a new era of mutliboxing, where mage war and priest become the most talked about, and played classes. People will drop there 'unwieldy' shaman groups for WAMAPRIEST.

I will call this time, the "ERA OF SUVEGA". Suvega will bestow upon us many of videos, overwhelming the boards with leetness. And it will be good.

[Vyndree]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqD0RufWwYw

...And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, "O Lord, bless this Thy hand grenade that with it Thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits, in Thy mercy." And the Lord did grin and the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats and large chu... [At this point, the friar is urged by Brother Maynard to "skip a bit, brother"]... And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it." Amen.

[elo]

My decision to roll 4xShammy, 1xPally was completely and totally autonomous. You people, nor those you listed had any influence what-so-ever. In fact, the day the game launched I said, zomg!! I gotta roll 4xShammy, 1xPally!!

Ok... maybe not so much.

Sure the videos play into it, they get the idea in your mind, but if your goal is PvE it really makes a lot of sense.

4x healing totems (zomg)
4x reincarnate
5x rezzing
5x healing
5x shields (significantly sturdier than mages)
Don't have to worry about sheeping - very effective but has to be managed well
4x Heroism (zomg)
No cloth or leather in group (sturdier)
Assundry other totems
Great tanking with Pally + more mana for Shammy
Pretty decent dmg output

Sure I think maybe Pally, Priest, Mage, Warlock, Hunter is my preferred group of all time but they're all so different that it's going to be really tough to get your head around how to handle them all at once.

Rogues are right out
Warriors are out because Pally's AOE tank better, no rage, etc.
Druids are an option, but if you just HAD to heal, you'd have to change form and die (tank wise)
..
..
..

Attention span gone. Any-who, look at it like this. If you're doing a 1x4 setup with your 1 tanking and 4 doing the rest, then the 4 have to be able to heal AND dps. That gives you the following options for the 4

Priest, Druid, Shaman, Pally

Right off the bat Pally is out for the 4 because of melee and that's tough x4. So then you're

Priest, Druid, Shaman

Priest - Squishy... but VE meh... only CC is shackle, blah.... lots of power, all the rez you can want, have to break SF to heal or just not use it... maybe go holy nuke but my impression is that's a little underpowered PvE wise

Druid - Sturdy, No CC, have to change out of Boomkin to heal, only rez once every half hour with reagents... good power, group HoT on timer and channeled

Shaman - Sturdy, Totem CC (which can be fairly effective), good amount of power, all the rez you can want PLUS reincarnate x4. Group HoT for 2 min at a time (limits micromanagement of healing), spell disruption, grounding totems ( <3 ), etc.


So anyway, that's my thoughts on the phenomenon

[Vyndree]

Quick-ish comments:

Priest - Squishy... but VE meh... only CC is shackle, blah.... lots of power, all the rez you can want, have to break SF to heal or just not use it... maybe go holy nuke but my impression is that's a little underpowered PvE wise

Shackle is nothing to be snuffed at in kara, and on my 70 spriest I made a simple macro that pops me into shadowform during combat (i.e. after i've popped out to heal) if and only if inner focus is ready. They also have AoE fears which, let me tell you, is KILLER in PvP situations. As for spell interruption, they do have a talented silence, and if you're draenei/dwarf, you can pop out of shadow to use chastise. Draenei priests get an additional aoe mana regen ability that's amazing when you castsequence them. Can you tell I have a bunch of draenei priest alts?
Furthermore, with a pally, they have awesome synergy given that the pally gets mana regen from VT as well as healing+mana regen from VE. Very solid group, just FYI. Like shaman, you rarely have to pop out and heal unless it's a dire emergency or a long boss fight. Holy damage is decent but the mana regen can be a problem (which is why I mentioned the draenei mana regen racial), but with imp SoCrusader and surge of light it seems like nice synergy with 1 ret pally and 4 holy priests.

Druid - Sturdy, No CC, have to change out of Boomkin to heal, only rez once every half hour with reagents... good power, group HoT on timer and channeled

CC- cyclone, awesome in PvP
Boomkin aura does not stack, unlike ToW
Rez- every 20 minutes, not 30
Cons: Must be a button jammer due to the talent that gives you spell haste per crit. Prepare for finger arthritis.

Shaman - Sturdy, Totem CC (which can be fairly effective), good amount of power, all the rez you can want PLUS reincarnate x4. Group HoT for 2 min at a time (limits micromanagement of healing), spell disruption, grounding totems ( <3 ), etc.

Note that the "true" group HoT is only for alliance - GoTN. Healing stream can be considered a HoT, but I do make use of Fire Resistance totem, disease cleansing totem, and poison cleansing totem situationally and prefer mana spring (x1) over healing stream (x1).
Tremor totem is awesome for those who didn't roll undead.
Reincarnate is nice, but let's be honest. How often are you wiping? And DI works for non-shaman groups (since we are talking about pally tanks, I'm assuming).

[Pulphero]

My first dual boxing team was a hunter and a druid - I was unstoppable, I think I only died with I did something stupid. Back when Broken Tooth was the fastest thing around since a 11 year old boy discovers Victoria Secrets. Coupled with Mark of the Wild and Torns on my pet and toons it was hard to stop the damage. I also was a master at the pre-patch feign death/trap crap for hunters. This made LoS and Trap AoE with the hunter very nice . (I also did things the hard way - used two keyboards and two hands and two mice...
Then per chance I found Ellay and the boards - though I am a troll lurker I read them everyday. Like my grail I began working toward getting the 5 box setup. And searching the boards for a Hunter, Druid combo - actually I was thinking 1 Hunter, 3 Druids and a priest. But finding macro's thoughts, examples of such a set up was un-heard of... alas, I didnt find it.

The super sexy videos of Ellay and Vyn made the 11 year old boy in me rediscover Victoria Secrets. I have never played a shammy and I saw the Twenty Totems Site - it was over. Shazam Shammies...

If I were to refer to Ellay & Vyn as the Adam and Eve of Sham Slam Movement - its only because when I watched the videos the amount of time it took to down a few ppl was insanly quick and easy. Learning to play the shammies and the tricks that you two have relayed throughout the boards just made it seem like you handed us your teams and said go... had there been a set up of the Hunter-Druid combo I would have gone that way. Instead they sit with 150% xp @ 60.

As for Xzin - I find him more influential than the beatles, has outlined his ten commandment of multi-boxing, I never liked locks... sorry

[Stealthy]

I'm not sure if it's the video's that are making people roll shamans. I think the videos have highlighted one thing however: multiboxing shamans will allow you to experience the most PvE content without the backing of a guild (i.e. heroics), whilst being excellent for PvP as well.

The locks n priest combo still have their place - they are insane in BG's and world PvP, but I think shamans have emerged as the best "all round" group makeup so far...The great thing is that not all options have been explored yet, so it's possible down the track another group makeup may come emrge as the ideal setup (maybe tank/hunter combo or druids)?

Cheers,
Stealthy

[Slats]

Nice thread =)

Videos are awesome! I love videos. Videos got me into this whole shebang.

[Vyndree]

At the same time, though, when I started multiboxing we had Xzin's voice via PTR shaman that having classes with cast-time spells was a weakness in PvP due to facing. Also, I recall Xzin mentioning the lack of "true" aoe was another weakness (though I mildly disagree with nova/magma).

This was another reason why warlocks took off and mage groups didn't when paired with a priest. BC brought much higher health pools that didn't scale as well as a warlock dot-driveby, plus there were no real videos advocating the power of the mage/priest combo post-BC (Hopefully Suvega can rectify this).

Both mages and shaman have to face their targets, which honestly is a weakness with all of the aoe fears. Xzin's solution was to scare them away with aoe and use WoTF+pvp trink, whereas the shaman solution, tremor totem, was considered a poor game mechanic due to the pulse system, which Ellay proved could be mitigated by stagger.

With the "retiring" of Bradster, the rise of the shaman was heralded with a sudden drop in the availability of warlock videos. In fact, you can see Bradster's "I'm moving to EQ2" message on Oct 10, RIGHT before Ellay came out with his arena PvP video.

Coincidence? I think not.

[Quix]

I don't believe the video's affected my original class selection.

I loved bradster's, Aellie's, & Xzin's videos. But the thing is I knew going into it that I wanted 4xmages & 1 priest.

Now that they are 70 & doing what I wanted, I will freely admit that watching Aellie PWN in 5v5 made me roll 5x shammies.

Thanks again to everyone here for making this such a great resource.