Shaman compared to Druid. Discuss.

[Ginnsu]

I have played most of the classes but Shaman is one I haven't gotten to. I play a fury now, and I've heard the difference between Fury and Warden is one of a melee nature vs nuking, but how does the Druid compare to their spiritual cousin, the Shaman? Which is easier to level/solo? What is the role throughout one's career? Are Shaman needed/desired in groups? Raids? Is their role/strengths understood or does one need to educate the unwashed masses of one's proper purpose?I've played alot of MMOGs and priest flavors can be a challenge, especially if you can fill more than one role or are a hybrid (WoW druid, AoC priest classes etc) so I always like to cover my bases before I go beyond the dabbling phase.Thanks in advance!

[Soulforged_Unre]

There's always (or should be) a shaman (usually a defiler) in the MT group in raids.The difference is shamans primary healing method is wards, while druids is HoT. Shamans have better tank buffs than druids, as well as debuffs, though druids should usually parse higher.Shamans job is to buff group, keep wards up, debuff mob, cure. They and rogues are the best debuffers in the game imo.

[Azekah1]

Shamans "heals" are actually wards which prevent damage. Though they also have smaller regular heals available.Defilers are more similar to furies, they will be casters (though much less dps), and mystics, like wardens, can spec for melee and can do decent damage.I've played a melee warden and a nonmelee mystic and I liked both. I prob would have gone melee with the mystic but I had her before AA's were all that big. My melee warden is pretty awesome though.

[Finora]

<cite>Ginnsu wrote:</cite><blockquote>I have played most of the classes but Shaman is one I haven't gotten to. I play a fury now, and I've heard the difference between Fury and Warden is one of a melee nature vs nuking, but how does the Druid compare to their spiritual cousin, the Shaman? Which is easier to level/solo? What is the role throughout one's career? Are Shaman needed/desired in groups? Raids? Is their role/strengths understood or does one need to educate the unwashed masses of one's proper purpose?I've played alot of MMOGs and priest flavors can be a challenge, especially if you can fill more than one role or are a hybrid (WoW druid, AoC priest classes etc) so I always like to cover my bases before I go beyond the dabbling phase.Thanks in advance!</blockquote><p>Well, I have one of each of those 4 classes =) (80 mystic, 56 defiler, 32 fury, 20ish warden). </p><p>I've had zero trouble soloing with any of them, just takes slightly different tactics with the caster types versus the meleeing priests. The mystic USED to be more difficult to solo, but that was way back in the days before there were achievements hehe, post achievements she's great to solo with.</p><p>Both shaman, as druids, their primary role is that of a healer. A big difference between the shamen and druids is that shaman have MANY more debuffs, and debuffing helps everything, particularly on difficult targets. Secondary role is that of DPS as we can(much like druids again). I've found shaman to be highly desirable. I've had many invites to raids with my main and a couple lower tier invites with my lower end defiler (not many folks raiding t5/6 these days). I've spend a great deal of my raiding time in the main tank group. Most people who've been playing the game any time at all understand what shaman do and greatly appreciate them.</p><p>Good luck =)</p>

[Donilla]

<p>I have both a mystic and a fury. Both play well, both can solo, and both can do some dps since I've spec'd the mystic to the CA AA line and fury has a nice asssortment of nukes and DoTs. I do find that I play them very differently between solo and group, but that difference is the same for each. In a group I shift almost entirely to heal mode, with dps fit in when possible. Solo play is more balanced between heal and fight. </p><p>It's in the group that I find the mystic to be at the advantage since her wards are more efficient. They last longer, and you can layer them on the tank and the group, up to 3 rings of protection if you will. If you do it right, you never actually heal at all. And if you do get behind, I find its easier to play catch-up with the mystic then the fury.  The fury Hot's are much shorter in duration (though they definately cast quicker) and you can't pile on multiples of them so if you get behind, you find yourself resorting to nukes to try and get the mob dead to save your group. I find the Fury gets behind more easily mostly due to the duration on the HoTs. But the fury can definately make something dead more quickly, shes far better at damage.</p><p>And my mystic is my only toon who ever successfully soloed a yellow ^^ mob. Now it took lots of power potions, manastone use and time, but she did it. It's the efficiency thing and the debuffs that tipped the fight, and I don't think the fury could have done the same.</p><p>So in the end I think it really comes down to which method of "heal" suites you best. I find I like the ward system better then the HoTs so while I play the Fury a lot, I actually think the Mystic is better at her job and better at soloing.</p>

[DwarvesR]

I have a 76 Fury, 56 defiler, 53 warden, and 40 mystic, as you can see in my sig <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />My opinion is that the fury is fine (and wanted) in any situation -- solo, group, and raid.  That said, I prefer to group with the fury over any other playstyle.  Solo I get interupted enough that it's a pain, and while I feel like I'm a competent raid healer in the squishy group, I find that most raids move reaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllyyyyyyyy slowly, and since I work overnight I tend to have to leave raids early to come to work anyway.The defiler I've not played in a raid.  I love her to death in a group.  I refuse to solo with her.  Watching paint dry is more fun to me.My warden I have primarily soloed -- she's got amazing capabilities in the melee spec.  I started killing named ^^^ mobs in my mid 20's without fear.  I have grouped some with her, and any time a group I'm in spams "lf 2nd healer" I tell them flat out they don't need it.  And they never have either.Finally, the mystic -- also melee spec'd.  It needs more base AA's than a warden to "shine" for melee, (IMO -- warden needs 21, mystic needs 3<img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> so for soloing I've felt like it's been a longer road -- but it's still never been bad either.  I've grouped here and there and no one's ever complained about the debuffs and wards either.  I still want another 20-ish aa's to feel "where I want to be" but I dont feel like a poor healer in solo or group situations without them by any means either.I'll eventually get them up higher to try raiding with them, but for now I'm perfectly happy with them all.

[Odys]

I prefer m warden over my mstic in PUG, the reason is that mystics are a bit slow and need to preward and in most PUG the tanks may even pull you are warding which means agro. In most pre t8 groups after trying for long to debuff monsters i simply stoppedwho care when monsters die in 4 seconds, instead is just trigger all my CA. Occasionnaly on a yellow/red boss i may slow/debuf mitigation but it's rare. I a perfect group my mystic is probaly better but in a group in which mister nuke will get the aggro twice per pullmy arden is much more likely to save the life of the dps-parser addicted. Soloing is similar the warden is more efficient on easy stuff but the mystic can probably defeat stronger opponent bu pre-warding fully and debuffing.I love both classes but i favor a bit the warden becauseit's a more dynamic and quicker class. And for healing wardens are just amazing, plant a tree, put spores on you (or on your tank) hit and heal with a fast weapon (druid str line), get amazing HOT tick (improved cloro line) and last throw quick and strong spells. But the main reasons are Evac and ports. With Evac i can try things that my mystic would not and i can save m group from a wipe. Evac and port make also traveling and questing quicker. I have two exploit trees but each time i go to heal a group people tell me that i can come with my solo tree. Apparently the heal spec is only necessary for raid or high end instances.I have a fury too but i dislike it, mainly because i dislike the root and nuke ideas (other love it <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />) and my warden is a better healer.Note also that warden ma spec as nukers too (even if furies do it better) our root is totally amazing, even with zero AAs in the int tree i can kill yellow ROK mob without them hitting me. I just do it to train my subjugation and nuking skills and my nukes re not up to date (i miss the last ones and use adept 1)clearly using int gear the int tree and upto date adept 3 my warden could clearly play like a fury.