Viability of 5 shaman in WoTLK

[Multibocks]

Ok so after playing a little beta and then watching some hi end dungeon streams, I'm kinda worried that we wont be viable anymore for dungeon crawls. For example, I watched bosses that hit for 9k a pop(!!!) and Im sure 5 earth elementals just wont be able to survive long enough for us to win. Anyone else get the feeling our days are numbered? :(

[Naysayer]

4 shaman, 1 pally if you're worried.


Though, don't be shocked at any numbers you see right now unless you know what a players stats will be that is intended for that encounter is as well. Look at what tanks were preBC and what they are today.

[Multibocks]

I like the 5 shaman setup, however, even if you have say 25k health, you wont last long taking 9k hits. What worries me is if the earth elementals scale with level up to 80.

[Fuzzyboy]

It's beta. None of us know what things will look like. Maybe the bosses will hit for less, maybe the elementals will be able to take more abuse, maybe we will, maybe we won't. With the itemization changes, noone can predict what it will be like.

At the moment 5 shaman can do heroics, but in a gimmicky sort of way instead of the way the content was designed for. I'm not saying one way is more correct than the other, but the only thing we can be fairly sure of is that content will be doable with tank/healer/dps - as for the rest we can just hope for the best :-)

Either way, if you wan't to be on the safe side, level up a druid or paladin while waiting for wotlk.

[Multibocks]

I have a 4 druid team waiting to level up with a DK, but like I said I really enjoy my shaman team.



edit: also these are level 80 dungeons and some current TBC dungeons are still a bitch with new releases of better gear.

[TheBigBB]

Bosses now hit for way too much to handle with a shaman team. The final boss in ramps at level 60-63 will totally annihilate a shaman if you have to tank it for any more than a couple seconds. The shaman end up successful when they outgear instances and then DPS burn things and overwhelm content to the max.

[Multibocks]

Hmm I was thinking maybe thunderstorm on a round robin may make bosses "tankable" if earth elementals suck.

[ilas]

Although, I'm new to multiboxing, I was worried about this too. I was multiboxing 3 shaman to begin with (2 days before RAF, cry). Saw a few 5 boxer shamans in BGs, and decided I want more!. I am currently leveling the following classes for WotLK to leave me alot of options. Now with the next patch reducing the experience fomr 60-70, I'm very happy :)

Account1: Holy Priest(70), Shaman(70), Pally(59), Hunter(40), Warlock(21) To be gifted: Mage(60), +1 Any Class(Death Knight if I still have RAF after the expansion hits)
Account2: Warrior(70), Shaman(70), Druid(59), Hunter(40), Warlock(21) To be gifted: Priest(60), Mage(60)
Account3: Shaman(70)
Account4: Shaman(59), Hunter(40), Warlock(21)
Account5: Shaman(59), Hunter(40), Warlock(21)
Account6: Hunter(70), Warlock(70), Warrior(70), Rogue(70)

I am pushing hard to level all these guys to 70 before the expansion hits. I will do the math on the gifting after I level all the characters to 60 and then level the characters I want gifted to the minimum level

[Ellay]

I don't forsee any bosses hitting that hard, unless it's unmitigated. I've heard Hunter pets are able to tank heroic trash fine. With Mail armor and a shield, were basically as close as it gets to being a tank without really being one.

On top of that clearing trash is easy with earthbind totem down a line method. 4-5 Earth Ele's + Bloodlust is more than an encounter is designed for, we pretty much overwhelm the encounter with damage.

For reference if we are able to clear the hardest Heroic dungeons currently, we'll be able to glide through normal instances post expansion :) They aren't going to make this game insanely difficult and our setups are as coordinated as you can get.

[Multibocks]

Wow learn something every day, I didnt even think of doing all my EB totems in a row. /smack

[Multibocks]

if anyone was interested Im watching the stream at http://www.mogulus.com/petra_wow_channel

it's pretty good and Petra does dungeons all the time. I just watched a fight in the occulus that I have no idea how a mb'er will be able to beat the boss. You all get on dragons and dogfight the boss. Not sure /follow would work in that ?(

[Maxion]

Bosses now hit for way too much to handle with a shaman team. The final boss in ramps at level 60-63 will totally annihilate a shaman if you have to tank it for any more than a couple seconds. The shaman end up successful when they outgear instances and then DPS burn things and overwhelm content to the max.

My shaman team cleared ramps at lvl 61 using the strategy to dps the dragon first in the air without aggroing the rider.

[Multibocks]

Not to resurrect an old thread, but.... I just realized that the way shaman win most boss fights has now been disabled in WotLK, Bloodlust now has a giant cooldown that means you will be only able to use it once per boss fight. I'm thinking I may have to actually level a tank now for doing instances regular-like... I guess I could use the 5 shaman to clear trash faster and then bring in a paladin/druid/war/dk to tank the boss. /cry

[Xar]

Not to resurrect an old thread, but.... I just realized that the way shaman win most boss fights has now been disabled in WotLK, Bloodlust now has a giant cooldown that means you will be only able to use it once per boss fight. I'm thinking I may have to actually level a tank now for doing instances regular-like... I guess I could use the 5 shaman to clear trash faster and then bring in a paladin/druid/war/dk to tank the boss. /cryHmmm, most of the bosses go down within the first heroism. I also use drums for haste and haven't tried stacking it yet but there's the haste potion. So far in beta I'm doing more damage (haven't tested since the last patch though).

[Schwarz]

I have downed all the bosses in heroic slavepens without the use of bloodlust or totem of wrath. I don't think this is going to be that big of a problem.

[Multibocks]

bah I always forget about drums and pots... gotta work those into my macros I guess.

[maxcom]

earth elementals are still lvl70 at 80 :(

[Multibocks]

OH.... MY.... GAWD.... shamanx5 is screwed.

[Vyndree]

earth elementals are still lvl70 at 80 :(

Bug report it. It's a beta, it's not polished. Some things haven't even been implemented yet.




OH.... MY.... GAWD.... shamanx5 is screwed.

CALM DOWN.

[Rin]

earth elementals are still lvl70 at 80 :(

Bug report it. It's a beta, it's not polished. Some things haven't even been implemented yet.




OH.... MY.... GAWD.... shamanx5 is screwed.

CALM DOWN.^ This. Also, I understand that the 5x shaman team may not be as effective as it has been in the past, so a consideration may be to level a tank. With the R-A-F, I've heard of people doing 1-60 in less than 24 hours (most of us have at least 1 level 70 around to help us complete the kill quests, right?), You can pull off the other 60-70 in probably a maximum of 5 played days. Please keep in mind that Blizzard isn't totally done with WoTLK (hence, beta), but if the final release does end up like the beta, you've gotta start thinking outside the box a little :). There's nothing wrong with 5 shamans, but if you're going to want to survive WoTLK Heroics, you're going to want to have a tank (at least for the time being).

[Hachoo]

Yeah and worst case is, use a tank + 4 shamans until your 4 shamans are overgeared, and then bring the 5th shaman back in - once you're all overgeared keep progressing upwards and you'll be able to annihilate almost anything :)

Personally I'm 99% sure they will at LEAST add new ranks to fire/earth elemental if not just make them scale altogether - I seriously doubt they'll just leave 2 class defining abilities to just go to the wayside and never be used again.

[Tidomann]

Easy solution, shamans now have the ability to wear plate!!

On a serious note, it is test realm and beta.. Things are going to get ironed out or cut completely. As every new change there is always a "OMG THIS IS OP" or "This sucks" and with the mass player complaints I find that with every new possibly exciting change, that sometimes blizzard is forced to revamp everything because of player whining.. I really only got recently excited for WOTLK.. Because the release date is official.. I find that although it's nice to get hyped up about new abilities, or realize potential nerfs early, that in the end so many things are going to get revamped it's not worth all the worry. In the end maybe our playstyle will have to slightly adjust, but it in no way means that our playstyle will completely be unplayable.

[Tidomann]

Easy solution, shamans now have the ability to wear plate!!

Welcome to 2004, original WoW Beta.

I'm pretty sure Shaman could wear plate at some point. They were the exact counterparts to Paladins. And rogues and hunters could use shields. lolCouldn't rogues use 2h weapons, or warriors had an insane ability that literally 1 shot everything? It was a lonnnnnnng time ago.

[Gurk]

I only play 4 shaman, and they are not even 70 yet, but way back in the day I used to play an enhancement shaman as my main. There were times where I would tank some instances for my group. Back then I think shamans even had a weapon buff that increased agro, rockbiter.

Couldn't you 5 boxing shaman just specialize 1 shaman to enhancement? I seem to recall a lot of tanking type talents in that tree. Then just have the other 4 shaman do a rotation, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Lesser Healing Wave on the tank. With 4 LHW on the tank it should be close to a complete heal. This is exactly what I am doing with my paladin friend. We went into blood furnace at level 58 and very under geared, so it should be a comparable level of difficulty.

With talents you can get.
+5% chance to block
+25% block amount
+3% dodge
+10% armor
+20% armor from stoneskin
+5% parry
-30% damage for 15 seconds from shamanistic rage.
Instant Chain Lightning after 5 crits from Maelstrom weapon

With a shield I see a pretty good potential for a shaman to be tanking instances if the 4 other elemental shamans can drop the NPCs fast enough. And the enchancement shaman has quite a few abilities to hold agro including chain lightning pulls and frost shock. Then instant cast nukes after 5 crits.

Also with the change to Spell Power. Elemental shamans should have just as much + healing as resto shamans, so its not like the heals will be gimped.