Why so few Shaman?

[Darkbrood]

<p>Mystic + Defiler = very low, why?</p><p>Is it due to Wards not working when the game first launched </p><p>or</p><p>Slows not being as valuable as EQ1</p><p>I'm comming back to the game and think the spell lines look fun but see so few playing them, any particular reason?</p>

[EternallyConfuzzled]

<p>It's hard to say, maybe not many people understand warding enough to see why they rock in a group. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Didi]

<p>Certainly they're highly valued at higher levels when you get into raiding!</p><p>I'd say it may be a case of them falling "in between" clerics and druids.  The druids are particularly popular since (a) the fury gets great damage spells, unlike other healers, and (b) both druids get portals.  If you're rolling up a healer there's clearly a lot to attract you to a druid.  If you don't want a druid however, the clerics look pretty attractive in the other direction with their full plate mail mitigation - if you didn't want to be a druid because of the leather armour then plate is probably going to lure you in.  Shamans, having neither the portals and DPS of druids nor the plate mitigation of clerics, just get a little overlooked in the middle I think!  They also have to work a little harder than the others when healing a plate tank as the single healer (though they really shine with monks and bruisers) so it's not really till they get into raiding that the need for them becomes quite so obvious.  </p><p>My 2cp anyway, never having played a shaman, take it with a few grains of salt therefore!  <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Specteral]

A good part of it is stigma.  Clerics are the generally thought of healers for groups (namely templar) and druids are generally more capable (read: fun) soloers. A shaman soloing at lower levels with poor gear/spells is about as much fun as pulling teeth.  Once ya get up there and have some decent gear/spells it picks up alot. The other thing is that Shaman are a little harder to get used to judging by what I've been told.  Preemptive/proactive healing is alot different than reactive (health-over-time and reactive spells of druids and clerics) and puts alot of people off. Just my half copper.  <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  Dunno where the other 1.5cp went, but meh.

[Isisalthea]

Mystic's are not as flashy as Fury's and heals not as stong as warden, but their wards are awesome.  My mystic has helped keep group alive just with wards and a few small heals.  We are understated and misunderstood, but of great value. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> 

[Specteral]

Aye.  It was a running joke for awhile that if a mystic had to 'heal', he was being lazy.  lol. If you can get used to (or are used to) the whole 'heal before taking damage' idea of wards, we're pretty powerful.  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Darkbrood]

<p>Thanks a Ton for the great responses, much appreciated!</p><p>I had not considered the portal point at all thanks for that additonal insight. </p>

[Deyaneyra]

<p>I started my mystic right after launch of EQ2, and she is still my main character. It's right that shammies are "different" healers with their wards and such, but they are a great add to any raids / groups. If you want to solo a bit maybe better think about starting a defiler, mystic solo fights take forever. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> </p><p>At high level mystics have a few real good spells for tanks, like Bolster, Torpor and others. I am used to be the only mystic in raids and most times added to maintank's group, thats a lot of work but much fun.  </p>

[Cadaveria]

the way i hear it, a lot of people decline to roll a shaman due to not being able to solo well. that seems somewhat strange to me, as i really dont understand why healers classes would want to solo to begin with.

[Finora]

<p>"Not able to solo well" for most people seems to mean you can't solo fast like some other classes can.</p><p>I solo just fine. So does my baby defiler /shrug. My little one isn't as fast as some other classes at soloing, but it's mighty safe.</p><p>After getting some AA under your belt and good spells and half way decent gear (at the very least some common crafted) soloing shouldn't be too much of a chore.</p><p>I must note that I heal plate tanks just fine =). Doesn't go much differently for me plate tank or leather, other than the fact with the brawlers I know I'm more likely to get agro over the plate tanks, that is likely as much to do with who is more used to tanking for me. Kind of funny to see the 'shaman heal brawlers'  better thing. Groups with my guild often go the opposite. The templar has a monk tank and I have a berserker =) (our respective significant others).</p>

[Bastus]

<p>Compared to other classes, defilers cannot solo well. If you check out how many furies are out there, you'll see that the all-roundedness to Furies (can heal well and dish out alot of dmg) seems to be widely appreciated. Furies are not all that easy to play well, but they are still easier than alot of other classes because of their versatility.</p><p>My defiler shines as a priest, but sux big time in the dps department. I could prolly solo somewhat if I wanted, but I dont have the time to solo him. It's not like it would kill me, but I would take forever and a day to kill IT. Defilers are much more group oriented than most other classes - imho.</p>

[Daevin]

<p>Something else I'd like to add here is that Defilers (and possibly Mystics, as well) aren't as <b>directly</b> effective as other healers. You don't necessarily see big nuke numbers or big heal numbers floating off of mobs and your groupmates, and I think that can discourage a lot of people from continuing on with the Shaman. One of my major issues as a Defiler (level 53) is that a lot of what I do can't be seen. With my debuffs, I weaken a mob tremendously, but it's nearly transparent to people I group with. It takes understanding from both the Shaman and the people with whom you hunt that you do truly bring an arsenal to the fight, even if you don't always show up in the parser. </p>

[Dasanhgul]

<p>I solo just fine... well its not bad, we aint the best of solo'ers out there, and we arent supposed to be. But its very time consuming, and as painfull as watching paint dry.</p><p>There is some stigma concerning shaman, and that is due mainly to lack of knowledge and experiences. My job is not to heal you (I will if it comes to that), but its to avoid you needing heals, and that is something people have a problem with, as it may seem to the naked eye that the haman aint actually doing any kind of healing duties (you HP bar is always green).</p><p>It is common to see a few Shaman out there LFG that usually add the word "healer" in their LFG message, and there are quite a few other people from other class that have no idea what a Shaman is capable of, and that is level independent (the Defiler forum even has a post dedicated to it).</p>

[Kellin]

<p>Shaman are hard to solo.  I think that's a lot of it right there.</p><p>My mystic does okay on low greens that can't heal, but get much higher, or get a healing mob, and a battle can take half a day.  The dog isn't much help, as it can't take a hit, but is okay as a kind of power-free DoT.  So whenever I happen to be in the soloing mood, either I'm tradeskilling or playing an alt.  I feel like a fool asking for help for grey and green solo quests, but if I don't, I'm there for ages trying to kill what I need to complete them.</p><p>Then you have the not-as-evident usefulness.  Wards can't really be seen; all anyone ever sees is that the tank isn't taking damage.  Add to that the debuffs, which prevent even more damage, and you have the shaman - the ultimate in preventive healing.</p><p>Put us in a raid and it becomes very clear, though.  Big bad boss mob hits for 10K right off the bat?  Well, 2-3K of that never touches the tank.  Effectively, a ward adds that many hitpoints to its target, and that can be the difference between life and death.  And watch the damage spike up when those debuffs wear off...</p><p>I love my mystic.  But I'll be the first to tell you that soloing her is excruciatingly slow and boring.  Fortunately, I never have trouble finding a group.</p>

[Ebjelen]

<p>I took a mystic to 70 and it was a very fun class for me to play.</p><p>When I was grouped, I was often accused of doing nothing. People just didn't know to look for the green numbers over the tank's head. In fact, they didn't even see the green numbers over their own heads as my group wards protected them. A lot of misunderstanding, but the people that knew what to look for gave me many compliments. And, most had to figure out that the mob would have wiped the group if not for the lone healer, me -- the mystic.</p><p>With the addition of the new AAs the mystic pet, aka "wolfie", goes a long way towards helping the class solo. I could take on even cons and low yellows with the help of that pet. </p><p>The Mystic AA lines buff that pet up pretty good. In groups though I had to ditch the pet, it uses 3 concentration slots, so I could get some of the alacrity line on the tank and scouts in the group. If you think some of the scouts are cuisinarts solo, throw an alacrity spell on them, increased combat speed! yes, a mystic can have multiple alacrity spells active as long as they are on different targets.</p><p>Finally, I think there was a large glut of Druids when they got the portal spells with the EoF expansion. When that came out, every guild wanted a porter so Furies and Wardens quickly became the FoTM for awhile. Now you see templars becoming more common as people grow bored of the furies and look for plate tanks.</p>