Musings on Shaman and Druid

I have really enjoyed both my shaman and my druids (and the pally that is thrown in with the shaman), and they both seem to be more different than i expected. There are some things about shaman that i didn't appreciate as much till i played my druids and some things about druids that i only realized as so awesome from my time playing shaman.

Part of the druid jazz was the shaman sub-dpsing. I am hoping after next patch that shaman will be on par with druid in this way.

For the shaman Purge rocks socks. So often playing druid i might like to purge something and i can't. Having a dispel like mechanic is so nice in so many situations. Both Tremor Totem and Grounding Totem are abilities i miss dearly when not playing my shaman, in addition the ability to cleanse both Disease and Poison is something i love to have (shaman). All in all totems are fun and do nice things but it seems druids have ways of doing everything else that i really like. I also love having earth shock and wind shock as interrupts. My druids don't have cyclone yet and often i see a cast and really, really wish i could interrupt it... and i got nothing. My shaman don't have Lava Burst yet either but i am really looking forward to it. I like that all my important casts as shaman are all short and often 1.5 sec as opposed to the 3 sec cast on Starfire. Seems like Lava Burst could be the shaman burst and dps equal (or better?) of Starfire. LvB has an 8 sec cooldown but i wonder in pvp if you get the chance to use SF more than once every 8 sec anyway (i don't seem to be able to).

Flametongue totem and mechanics like that are not as great, as they feel like bonuses we need to take the time to lay down just to be competitive with others instead of anything that puts us ahead.

On my druid i love stealth. Stealth is a whole new realm of fun i wasn't even allowed into until i had an all druid team, so many options, opportunities and experiences open up with Stealth. With the druid i also love the dots. Moonfire and Insect Swarm give two dots that can be applied in an instant and can do some serious damage. It seems like the talented damage of Flame Shock is about as good as the regular damage on Moonfire. On my druid i also love the AOE!! My shaman have some means of doing this with totems but it all seems so shallow compared to the druids abilities. Even with the new shaman totems not being able to cast them at a distance makes it not as fun for me... i know it is nice to be able to have an AOE and then also be free to cast other spells which is something shaman totem AOE opens up. Given the long CD and lack of scaling on the shaman pets i am really, really liking the druid Trees. The CD is short compared and their contribution is often huge. I like swimming fast and breathing underwater better than walking on top of it and breathing under it.

CC. I have found that the CC on druids is way, far and away better than on my shaman. Roots (cast and instant), Cyclone, Pounce, Bash (maybe Typhoon). My love of shaman CC (sort of) is that they can AOE slow and druids can not. When a whole mob is on me i can affect them all... on my druids i don't have quite the same options. Of course one hit ends all the shaman love AOE snare (/cry). Shaman did get a CC Hex and for boxing this works, but for single play is seems woefully less than druid love. Hex has a long CD and will be trinketed right away leaving you with no other real CC and nothing else to really force or threaten a trinket.

For the druid breaking snares on shapeshift is so lovely, especially when combined with Travel Form.

For me the choice of which class to multi-box also rests on which classes are fun to play in single player mode. I like to be able to play my boxed toons single and have fun there as well. Playing in single mode opens up experiences and encounters i don't get the chance to meet in boxing. I want whatever class i play to offer some really fun multi and single boxing play. Beyond all my fun or interest in them i wonder how good the design is on both classes.

Three second cast on a main damage spell for druids seems like a lot in pvp... but with superior CC maybe it works just fine. Shaman don't have CC that is as good but with short casts maybe that is ok. Seems like shaman have more trouble with rogues though seeing as druid have escapes and cc they can reapply and shaman seem to lack the same skill set there.

Just musing. Any thoughts from you are welcomed.

I am in the same situation. I have a 4-shammy/pally team on pve and a 5 druid team on a pvp realm. This was actually my first try on pvp and I like it. ATM I cant see myself liking pvp without a stealth class. My first world kill was at lvl 31....I actaully killed a hunter who tried to gank me. lol.

I like my duid team more though. It seems more powerfull and moonkin form rocks. Shammies are in the mid 70s so they are my first priorty atm.