Shaman vs Druid...

[ethvia]

evening all....I'm still having a blast with the game and am throughly enjoy the crafting aspect.

I started off with a Shaman because I heard they made the better solo class (necro being the other...but I just can't play a necro). I was sold on the shaman til I saw the damage from the druid spells...OMG it was incredible. As I understand it those spells can only be used every hour or something like that...but the damage dwarfed what the Shaman was putting out.

Due to my life I need to do alot of solo...but can group on friday and saturday nights (don't have to get up at 4:30am for work). In your experience, which class is better for soloing with occasional grouping?

thanks for taking the time to read this !

[AllahInside]

I havent played a druid, but I really like my shaman. At first he seemed really weak, but after I picked up a little better weapon and I aquired a few more spells, I got pretty decently powerful.

I can't deal out ridiculous damage, my hardest hitting spell probably hits for around 200 or so....But there are multiple DoTs and debuffs, a few of which are instant cast or close to it...there are a lot of ways to stack damage.

Then you get some instant melee abilities that add damage or affects. You can nuke/snare/nuke to pull, throw up some DoTs and then can usually plink away at it with a weapon while you heal yourself. A little slower, but there is pretty good survivability there. Plus, the +30% run buff at level 6 or whatever is awesome. (the run buffs stack with your mount speed also, which is nice.)

[ethvia]

thanks Allah...so in your opinion, the Shaman is a viable option to solo with>?

[Ppanda]

If you wanna be able to solo alot and still get groups Shaman would prolly be your best bet if you like playing healers. Any class can solo really some better then others but o well. I would say shamman though would be your best bet.

[zeekle]

grouping wise a shaman is going to be better just cause you wont be competing with sorcs and rangers for DPS spots.

I doubt shamans will ever be as flashy as some of the other classes in either healing or damage but they will be a decent all around class to have around

I hear their pets are kinda fubar right now but I am sure they are running the same code as the necro pets which are also reportily not the best. I am sure they will get some lovin at some point.

[BlakMajiK]

I currently have a 15 druid and an 18 shaman, and as for soloing, I prefer the shaman. I have very little downtime with him, the druid on the other hand seems to use too much mana for the damage he does.

[Smoothbrain]

I would go shaman for soloing as well. You will have more options in the long run I think.

[ethvia]

thanks all...appreciate the input

[Ardenya]

I guess I need to step in and drop a few lines in favor of the druid. Considering my shammy is pretty low level (around 6, I dont play him much) I cant comment reliably on that class, I am playing a druid as my main adn will do so for release.

I dont know much about a shaman's arsenal of spells but from what I heared (and that was before the revamp either) they start to be real fun at levels 15+ but then they rock. They are good healers, have great buffs and the class defining quests add alot of difference.

Yet I love playing the druid class, it has been much fun ever since. When it comes to soling I can take light blue 3dots and green 4dots without any hassle. If you go against meele type mobs (no caster, no ranged attacks) you can kill a mob without beeing hit once if you are careful. Druids kite pretty well in Vanguard as they recieve a 40sec snare, combined with the movement buffs from SoW and Wolfform you are always faster than your enemy. After youve snared a mob you can move backwards and cast and still be as fast the the mob.

Still, soloing as a druid requires skill and a cool head at times. The downside to kiting is that you need room to do that. As you are running around, circeling the mobs you may get an add here and there which just adds to the fun imo

Yet if you go against simple 2 dot mobs there isnt much of a difference I guess. Before the recent changes to the mobs HP I could chain pull yellow 2dots without even worrieng about my mana. After the changes I have to rest after each 3 4 kills. In todays patch they increased the experience gained from all cons above 2dot so this might have turn the table in favor of the druid either but I havent been able to test yet as the servers are down still.

As always I'd say test both classes and take the one that you connect more with. Soloing should be possible with both of them, its all about the risks you are willing to take. Grouping on the other hand may be different but to be honest I havent had any troubles getting in a group so far. While druids may compete with rangers, bards and sorcs for DPS, as a shammy you'd have to compete with BMGs and CLRs for the healer spot. And if you'd ask me Id say that Id rather take a tank, healer and 3 misc DPS classes over having 2 3 healers in a generic exp group.

My 2cp :P

[Reichill]

It all depends on which playstyle you like, so if you don't know then try both classes out.

As Ardenya said, the druid is more about kiting and avoiding taking damage, since they are wearing cloth. The shaman can stand toe to toe with a mob, using a combination of melee and spell damage. You can also play the shaman a little differently depending on which patron you choose at lvl 15 and which attributes you want to focus on.

I personally couldn't get very far with the druid because I didn't care for having to kite mobs in order to solo. I also enjoy playing main healer, and a shaman in a group is definitely a main healer. In my opinion they are a healer with utility, so I don't know why anyone wouldn't want a shaman in their group. As far as competing with spots with other healers, I guess that just depends on how popular healing classes are in this game at launch.

Edit: oh and I forgot to mention after last night's patch the pet damage and the damage of all Shaman spells was supposed to have been increased. Also our DoT's were not stacking properly before but that has been corrected as well. I haven't gotten to try out the changes yet but this should help our soloing abilities.