FOTM seems to be changing.

[Contents]

So I believe Wilbur is officially right. There seems to be a lot of attention going to the 5 boomkin route now.

What has caused the change from "PEW PEW Shamans" to ..."Forest of Death"?

[Eteocles]

I was a Boomkin before it was cool *shakes fist* I think I said it all in my last post about them...heals, stealth, armor(though obviously not all at once), high dmg output post-58(though you WILL SUCK HARD before outlands gear); Boomkin pvp takes some getting used to too, it's more about being aware like a rogue while abusing the fact that you're ranged, and kiting like a hunter.

[Boylston]

I gotta say that there's still a lot of Fear Bomb weakness with the boomkin... Maybe if moonkin aura stacked, it would be worth it (ZOMG 25% crit!!), but the times my little shammies have gotten destroyed in BG/world PvP, it's because I didn't have my array of tremor and grounding totems going.

I bet it's damn nice until you get feared, and it's probably incredibly versatile for PvE. (Can always run a Tank/Healer/3 Boomkin setup if needed).

[Slats]

I dont think its really changing.

Two or three people are interested in it and only one person ahs them at 70.

When there is 400 million threads about them and everyoens signiture says 5x Moonkin then I will have to agree itts changing.

[Contents]

A change starts somewhere.

[Ellay]

I really think it's great to diversify, Shamans "look" to be the best because of some videos out there. I think a lot of the classes have the potential to be just as amazing.
Mages could really make a come back since Iceblock is trainable now.
Hunters have a non dispellable 18 seconds of immunity to everything with BM spec.
Priests have 3 ways to get out of fear every 2 minutes.
If melee was possible ( someone might be able to pull it off) Rogues would be down right devistating with Shadowstep.
Warlocks are able to have INSANE survivability to both melee and casters, or INSANE damage that is completely mobile.

There is a ton of options out there - I'm glad were not pigeon holed into 1 class as the end all be all.

[Boylston]

Must.... resist.... hunter.... temptation...

[Eteocles]

Now that Shadowstep works out of stealth...it might just be possible in pve to run rogues effectively. Use your main/lead char to cheapshot the mob, then immediately shadowstep with the other rogues and simul-ambush it. As I lvl'd both of my rogues full daggers/subtlety and never had any good daggers, I'd still do a third to half the mob's HP in a single Ambush, and that was without Hemo or Shadowstep's dmg multiplier included...multiply that by 4 rogues and you just oneshotted a mob. I'm doing 2k-3.5k ambushes now at 70 with blue 70 daggers, if you have imp ambush and time it right you could shadowstep behnd something(or someone), ambushx5, backstabx5, bam dead =x

[Boylston]

"if you have imp ambush and time it right you could shadowstep behnd something(or someone), ambushx5, backstabx5, bam dead =x" Then what? Vanish and repeat in 25seconds?

This sounds like AP+POM+Pyro to me. Devastating, but on a timer. It'd be a shortish timer compared to 3min, but not something that would be an i-win button in Arena...

[Contents]

I've been thinking of making a different group.... 1 healer (druid or priest) and 4 warriors. I figure 4x arms warriors would make for quite the pain train...just if people move I'm screwed.

[Eteocles]

Yeah that's why I made sure to say "in pve", you'd only be using it vs mobs or a single lone person in world pvp :p

[chihiro]

Well, as far as FoTM goes... For boxers it's a bit different. Probably the majority of us feel like we are pigeon-holed into certain class combinations when making new teams. For instance, I like to play 5 of the same class, or 5 very similar classes. It makes things flow much smoother imo when questing around the world and PvP'ing. It is also a lot easier to set up macros for 5 of the same class and you possibly have less to think about when choosing how to handle situations in the world.

Another factor is class combination effectiveness. Melee classes do not seem to mesh well due to positioning. From my experiences, having ranged attacks is a blessing. I'm taking a break from a team I was leveling that consists of four shamans and one paladin, all of which are currently level 48-49. I think I'll add that this team makeup is awesome, and very viable for instance running. Shamans tear stuff up, and so does my pally with 16 totems backing her. Anyway, back to the topic at hand. In non-instance PvE I find that the paladin doesn't really do much other than buff the group and lead the shamans around while they tear stuff up before it gets to the group. I just tried a group of all melee characters and it just seems so much less efficient, and not worth the trouble to me. I know some people who enjoy it though, so I'll leave it up to you to decide.

So at this point in the thinking process most people have probably come to this conclusion. I want multiple of the same, or similar, classes for ease of use. I want something with ranged power, so I don't have to be constantly bothered by positioning myself for every pull, or PvP encounter. So rogue, warrior, and paladin are all out. That leaves six classes. When you add up all the pluses of five shamans, obviously they are the main point of interest. For starters, they have both PvE and PvP encounters well under control. They can deal with the fear, which is our number one enemy in PvP. They can deal with AoE. They are very tough to take down from a melee perspective if they have a shield equipped and a few totems up. Also tough to take down from the caster side of things due to grounding totem, immunity to fears, multiple spell interrupts, and the list goes on and on. Shamans have the best stackability(is that a word?? :D ) It is no wonder at all they are the FoTM. Everyone wants a piece of the pie. You shouldn't be surprised when they take their share of it. It's pumpkin after all.

As for druids, they are quite desirable as well. They can all stealth everywhere, which is obviously a huge bonus to awesome factor. At 70 they have very scary ranged attack dmg... Multiply that by 5. Five starfires on my head? No thanks. Moonfire dot does indeed stack. At 70 moonfires hurt badly.. They have good range, are spammable, and instance cast. 15 treants is also something that would peak the interest of many. The dmg reduction of moonkin form is also very desirable. For fun add in some roots, cyclone, free insta-cast flight form(I have a 70 druid and let me tell you flight form is a blast), five moonkin dances, and the relative uniqueness. Though, if you happen to be night elf, you can't cast starfire from shadowmeld without it breaking.. Lame I know. You'll probably be in moonkin form anyway, but I think this should be put out there.. Rejuv stacks. Wewt. Spec one into feral and you have yourself a very efficient tank. Spec one resto and you have a great healer.

What I'm trying to say is that some classes just mesh very well together. Some class combos work better for multiboxers. Most people look at all the benefits, and are drawn into choosing classes that seem to be built for boxers. Like what stacks, how far they will be able to progress into PvE territory, how well they can do in PvP with their team, and fun factor. Shaman and druid should be pretty high up there on the list.

[Vyndree]

You'll probably be in moonkin form anyway

You can shadowmeld as a NE in moonkin form.

[Eteocles]

Yeah the up, and downsides, to boomkin are that unlike bear/cat/travel form, it is treated as "Humanoid";
the upsides: Can't be scare-beasted or hibernated, you can use POTIONS and other items without unshifting, and yes, you can Shadowmeld while boomkin
the downsides, however: You CAN be sapped. You can be MC'd. I'm fairly sure the hunter talents that add dmg vs Humanoids work in pvp and thus apply here too. You may be able to pot but you still can't heal or de-poison yourself

In pvp you'd never be in boomkin form vs casters anyways because most of the times you'll have to heal and all that extra armor ain't doin diddly vs spells and that 5% crit ain't worth the lack of heals in those cases lol

Either way I do notice more boomkin related posts popping up besides this one, but that's in general too, more showing up ingame also now that those of us who went early and showed how powerful a good one can be everyone's jumping the bandwagon like when DeathCoil became trainable for locks ;p

[thinus]

"if you have imp ambush and time it right you could shadowstep behnd something(or someone), ambushx5, backstabx5, bam dead =x" Then what? Vanish and repeat in 25seconds?

This sounds like AP+POM+Pyro to me. Devastating, but on a timer. It'd be a shortish timer compared to 3min, but not something that would be an i-win button in Arena...

You can 1-shot mages and priests and also out of stealth rogues and druids and you can do it 3 times.

Sprint -> Shadowstep -> Ambush + Backstab -> Vanish -> Get the hell out of there -> Prep -> repeat

The most risky part is the "get the hell out of there" when you are vulnerable to AoEs. A Charge -> Intimidating Shout by an alert warrior could be fatal, or a frost nova or a hyper active jack in the box arcane explosion level 1 spamming button masher.

Perhaps a Cloak of Shadows before the Shadowstep or before the Vanish.

On mail/plate you can premed and open with Garotte -> Backstab -> Rupture and keep the healer blinded.

Even if you only manage to kill 2, it is still 5 on 3 from there. You have no heals though but 5x evasion + shiv + rupture spam should take care of any plate. You just need to take care of the healers first. Pally bubble is going to be the biggest problem I would imagine or maybe two warriors. If you engage 1 warrior you get a Charge/Intercept + Intimidating Shout.

The biggest problem is going to be the AoE fears. SL/SL locks don't have the instant Howl of Terror which is a blessing. Affliction locks and priests might get a chance to pop a Psychic Scream or Howl of Terror though.

A better opening combo might be:
1x Garotte, 4x Ambush -> 5x Backstab

The silence effect of Garotte will prevent a Psychic Scream or Howl of Terror before the backstabs land. All mages can survive with a quick Ice Block though which could really ruin your day.

[Stealthy]

I'm not so sure that 5 Boomkins will catch on the way shammies have. While they do have some nice CC and damage spells, having to shift hout of moonkin form to heal is a pain. Moonkin form offers great physical damage mitigation, but spell damage mitigation is a bit limited (barkskin, and thats about it?). No fear bomb protection other than pvp trinket is really their achilles heel.

I think they would be great in PvE, but not so great in PvP...maybe for 5 boxers - 4 x shammies and 1 x moonkin could have potential though...

Cheers,

Stealthy

[Knytestorme]

I'm thinking the 5 boomkin idea may have a few drawbacks for higher-end PvE instancing but I still think a 5 druid team could be quite powerful.

1 x Feral Druid
1 x Resto Druid
3 x Boomkin

Here you have all the usual benefits of tank + healer + 3 dps, your 4 non-tank chars are still all ranged and you have the benefits of shapeshifting (eg all 5 can stealth run, have aquatic form so no waiting for straglers in water zones, all 5 have bird form etc)....you do again lose out on any form of CC though, but since most of the teams seem to run without CC that may not be as big of an issue as I think it is.

Anyway, those are my thoughts, and I can see it could be fun to try so I may go for a 5 NE team once I get my new crew leveled up.

[Mac]

..you do again lose out on any form of CC though, but since most of the teams seem to run without CC that may not be as big of an issue as I think it is.
Don't forget Cyclone, Hibernate, and Roots for CC ( I know they are situational and cyclone has the DR problem), and although Hurricane is kinda weak with one, x3 it might be a worthwhile AOE in some cases.

[Mac]

..you do again lose out on any form of CC though, but since most of the teams seem to run without CC that may not be as big of an issue as I think it is.
Don't forget Cyclone, Hibernate, and Roots for CC ( I know they are situational and cyclone has the DR problem), and although Hurricane is kinda weak with one, x3 it might be a worthwhile AOE in some cases, thinking birds in sethekk here.

[glo]

Leveling 5 boomkins would be easy mode and you have more flexibility then any other class when it comes to 5 man content.

Sure you are going to get owned in arena but you are guaranteed to get at least one kill ;)

Someone mentioned there is a level 70 druid team? I can't find a link to any video if anyone could post it that would be great!

[chihiro]

You'll probably be in moonkin form anyway

You can shadowmeld as a NE in moonkin form.What I meant to say was that you can't cast heals in moonkin form. I blame my bad word usage skills.