Which faction for Shaman and how viable is it?

[Izamas]

Hey guys,
I really want to play a shaman, as it was my first character on retail.
But from what i´ve read they are not in the best place in WOTLK.

Now my question is, if there is a faction which has a higher need for Shamans, i´ve read that there are less shamans on Alliance? Of course I would like to be somewhat needed.

Second question, is Enhancement somewhat viable? I dont need to be topping the DPS charts, but I dont want to be a liability to my guild mates.
(Wouldn´t mind playing Elemental either)

Thanks so much.

[dfangv6]

The usual reply is alliance for pvp and horde for pve. Since this is icecrown, there is no lack of class for both factions.
If you want to raid, I suggest playing elemental and restoration spec. Raid groups have a higher demand for range dps and healers.
Enhancement is viable for raiding but this spec suffers a stigma from icecrown players, since most players underperform when playing this spec.
In addition enhancement shamans are replaced by frost death knights, they bring the same raid buff.
At the end of the day, play what spec you enjoy.
You play this game for fun

[Izamas]

Thanks alot for the reply!

I think I might actually try to get to 80 with just playing enhace and maybe switch out to one of the other specs, to ease myself into the raiding scene.
And yes, I absolutely agree with the aspect of fun.

Is there a better performing spec for PvP?

[Ambr0sia]

Thanks alot for the reply!

I think I might actually try to get to 80 with just playing enhace and maybe switch out to one of the other specs, to ease myself into the raiding scene.
And yes, I absolutely agree with the aspect of fun.

Is there a better performing spec for PvP?

Depend what kind of pvp you want .. for 1v1 shaman is maybe the worst class .. bgs/arenas resto/ele/enh all of them are good depend of your skill lvl

[taralej]

I was wondering how the hell you can think shamans are bad on WotLK until I noticed that you want to play Enhancement.

Yes, Enh is bad for both PvP and PvE. In PvP, it has no gap closers, no healing reduction, hardly any hard-CC apart from Hex, and is pretty squishy. In PvE, it is simply one of the worst DPS specs while also requiring the highest skill to play, rivaled only by Feral Druid. Basically, you will have to do more than any other DPS spec in the game and your reward for it will be seeing yourself at the bottom of the DPS meter. There is no reason to bring an Enh to a raid because MM hunters have your aura but do more dmg and have Misdirection, Frost DKs have Horn of Winter and Icy Talons covering your Strength of Earth and Windfury Totem and do more dmg, and there will be at least one Resto Shaman in the raid anyway for Bloodlust.

Elemental is OK in PvE and good in PvP.

Restoration is godlike in PvE and OK in PvP.

[Izamas]

Damn, so Enhancement is really that bad?
That is a real shame, but I guess that settles it an i´ll switch to ele/resto once i hit 80.

[Kronosxviii]

Enh has HEAVY gear requirements but once you have the gear it does ok.

[AluschI]

Enh is not that bad. It is just that a very well equiped rogue does 14k dps on dummy while using only two buttons and you need to dance on your keyboard to do 14k dps in a raid. But with great effort you will do good dps as supporter class and most raids will have a slot for you.

Ele´s dps is as well at the bottom.
If you realy want to be needed by any raid, resto is the way to go.

I never had a problem to be part of a raid as supporter class. Fury, rogues or DK´s have more problems, just because there are so many of them.

[zwitter321]

Enh has HEAVY gear requirements but once you have the gear it does ok.

Does ok ?
What does it ok ?
Performing good in comparison to crappy geared players ?

If you top dps metter as Enh shaman, you just outgear opponents or they are terrible.

[wcgludix]

Enh and ele can both be great dps, is just depends on the player, yes it is hard to be top but its done. ive seen enha on top at end of lod fights with 11m damage done at 17k dps recently

[zwitter321]

Enh and ele can both be great dps

They can't.

Do not spread false information, newbies may follow it with great dissapointment at the end.
Sure ou can top dps in pugs where 80% players have resilience gems inserted, but in a serious raid you won't shine.
Wait, serious raid won't accept you any way except resto spec.

[truthwow1]

Does ok ?
What does it ok ?
Performing good in comparison to crappy geared players ?

If you top dps metter as Enh shaman, you just outgear opponents or they are terrible.

Rather the opposite.
When u fall far behind equal geared players in DPS then u don't know how to play ur shami.
In fact EnH is one of the most complex spec in Wotlk with a terrible complicated dmg rotation.
Sadly most players aren't able to master the spec and that makes other players falsly assume that EnH sucks.

[dfangv6]

Rather the opposite.
When u fall far behind equal geared players in DPS then u don't know how to play ur shami.
In fact EnH is one of the most complex spec in Wotlk with a terrible complicated dmg rotation.
Sadly most players aren't able to master the spec and that makes other players falsly assume that EnH sucks.

^ this, totally agree with this.

[zwitter321]

Sadly most players aren't able to master the spec and that makes other players falsly assume that EnH sucks.

Any nicknames who mastered this spec ?

[Icyheart]

Any nicknames who mastered this spec ?

Nynaeve from old Deathwing/now Icecrown.

But from the looks of armory, looks like he's changed to mainly ele+resto specs at the moment too.