Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them.Lately I have been leveling a Shaman, and I was surprised to learn that Druids (my all-time favorite class) and Shamans (might become my second favorite) are quite similar. I know I am a Shammy noob, having never leveled one before, but am quickly learning to love them and hoping to suck in all the knowledge I can in coming days.
Not only with Shamans and Druids, I guess you could say that there is a lot of class crossover in many areas, for example, a Warlock functions much like a Hunter, being a long ranged fighter with a pet, or how druids double up on many of the Rogue's trademarks, at least in feral form. The list is endless, and I could go on, but after all, this is a Druid column, so let's get to it.
I don't think crossover is all that uncommon, nor is it detrimental to any class, in fact, much of the time, the class crossover actually helps and can fill a void especially in instances when your (insert loser class here) bailed on you at the last second before a big fight. This is what makes druids the cream of the cat, um, crop. We druids can do almost everything, but with varying degrees of effectiveness depending on spec, motivation, and of course fun-ness index. Shammies are also quite versatile and varied in their skills, which makes me like them for sure, and thus our first class crossover comparison between Druids and Shammies today.
The mix of healing and damage dealing abilities, a delightful cocktail enhanced by talents trees created to cater to one or more of those abilities are common to both Druids and Shammies. Both make great backup healers, if your primary mode of transit is to deal damage like an ice cream truck in a crowded neighborhood.
When the main healer is out of mana, and with a Druid's Innervate, you can have poor old lu over there in the corner guzzling down the Mountain Dew back in action fast. I have been pretty shocked of late at the number of peeps I group with at high levels who don't have a clue that Druids have that ability. Merry Christmas! Once they find out, they love it. Want to be a mana-user's best friend? Throw up your Innervate on them and add a cherry on top, there you go!
A great thing common to both is the ability to selectively pull and hold aggro, even though that may not be your primary job in an instance. Druids do this, as you know through the bear's Growl ability, and Shammies have their Earthbind Totem for this as well. Another great thing that makes us animals (cat, cat2, bear, butt-ugly mongoose) love the other animals (ghost wolf) too. I still don't like Murlocs, no matter what form I take.
One thing that is different about Druids and Shammies is definitely the armor specs. Druids wear only leather or cloth, and Shammies can wear mail and use shields, adding to a Shammy's survivability when pulling aggro right off the bat. You might say "well geez, who doesn't know that," but let me tell you, as a lifelong druid who is starting to love the Shammy, mail and shield armor is a breath of fresh air. Wow, never thought I would hear that particular sentence ringing in my head. Don't mind me, I'm just sticking my head out the window on the freeway to get that breath of fresh mail!
Has anyone else seen the extent of the symbiotic relationship these two classes have? Do you like playing them both? Do you think playing one makes you naturally gravitate toward the other? For me at least, loving the one makes me appreciate the other. That, and I love playing the "hard" classes which require much focus to handle all the forms and abilities. I guess I am just a versatile kind of guy.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-13-2007 @ 5:08PM
Jason said...
Just as a random note -- innervate is a spell that increases mana generation based on the targets' spirit. It's terrible for a druid to give this to pretty much any classes but priests/druids/(possibly if desperate) mages. Innervating a shaman or a paladin just results in ...pathetic...results.
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11-13-2007 @ 5:35PM
Tenrai said...
I play a ret paladin (lolret for those of you with mental deficiencies) and I've found it to have some similarities to what you're saying here. I'm geared to the teeth in ret gear, but I've kept up with my tank and healing gear also.
Now, I can't just fly into healing like an elemental shaman or a dreamstate druid, but I can switch gear between fights and be just as efficient. In kara, I've been the off-healer, off tank and melee dps in one raid. From the times I've tested it on the PTR, I could do the same in ZA effectively. (In 25 mans, I'm just the threat booster for our pally tank -- yea, we don't mind offspecs).
So, if you like flexibility, try a paladin. It's a ton of work, but still worth it if you can ignore all the people that either can't play the class and give it a bad name or complain about it without actually understanding its use.
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11-13-2007 @ 5:45PM
FireStar said...
I may have to look further into this idea, because i love my druid and hate my 30 shaman.
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11-13-2007 @ 5:59PM
Karl said...
@1. True, but Pally healers are efficent healers and can make it through a fight with smaller amounts of mana. An innervate to one of them could mean you are saving your own life. Shaman healers as well, as innervate along with the totems can bring a shammy back to a good position. Earth Shield is one of the best spells in the game for healing and is mana efficient in the sense that it procs on damage taken, therefore does not waste needless healing. This means they can heal through a longer fight with less mana needed. Innervates on these classes are not as bad as one might think.
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11-13-2007 @ 6:09PM
Saragi said...
Just a quick note -- Shamans and druids at low levels can seem immensely similar; but it'd be nice to note that Shamans end up stealing leather gear (i.e. rogue + feral gear) much as resto druids steal cloth gear. And by steal, I mean reallocate for the greater hybrid good!
Also; shamans are much more bound to spec than the other two "hybrid" classes, at least at later levels. Probably should be of note, wouldn't want people reading your column and getting the wrong idea about shammies!
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11-13-2007 @ 6:35PM
Kinetik said...
I ran a Druid up to 42, then bought BC and rolled Draenei Shaman and haven't looked back. I loved the flexibility of the Druid, but found shapeshifting annoying. Shaman have the ability to melee/cast/heal all without shifting, and (at least for my Enh spec) dropping totems is often optional. That being said, I will likely re-try my Druid after 2.3 because of auto-shift, a much needed feature.
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11-13-2007 @ 6:45PM
Vyndree said...
"A great thing common to both is the ability to selectively pull and hold aggro, even though that may not be your primary job in an instance. Druids do this, as you know through the bear's Growl ability, and Shammies have their Earthbind Totem for this as well."
Uhm... what?
Did you mean Stoneclaw? If so, lawl. Like stoneclaw can pull aggro off of anyone mid-fight. Sure. *rolleyes*
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11-13-2007 @ 7:27PM
Zwwel said...
Vyndree Stoneclaw generates a lot of aggro. For like 5 seconds, when it gets destroyed. It can, however, save your life or your group if you use it in the right situation.
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11-13-2007 @ 7:44PM
Jun said...
What a pointless article... In summary hybrids can off-heal and do other things too. Wait, what was new here?
I play both a druid and a shaman and they're really not all that similar. Any decently geared decently specced druid or shaman is piss poor at the other roles its class can do; a resto druid is an extremely mediocre tank and a feral druid goes OOM healing faster than you can say cricket. Resto shamans are impossible to kill but deal damage like a wet dishcloth and enhancement shamans have terrible threat issues, buff melee, but cant save their own lives at a pinch. Hybrid? Hardly.
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11-13-2007 @ 8:36PM
None said...
This post is so full of misinformation it boggles the mind.
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11-13-2007 @ 11:53PM
Malcor said...
Both the druid and the shaman can take on many roles, including melee dps, magic dps, healing, and in the druid's case, tanking. The difference between the two is that druids are most effective in one role at a time, and shamans can be effective in many roles at the same time. Of course, there are pros and cons to each situation, and that is what sets the two classes apart.
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11-14-2007 @ 4:36AM
Sashenka said...
I have a lvl 70 Druid that I would not swap for any other class. I'm almost totally balance with only 11 points in feral. It's true I cannot tank as well as a full feral druid but I can certainly heal big time and my dps is usually only second to the warrior. I do have a shaman also but I find the one big drawback is speed at which they get through mana. They can certainly deal a punch but that is partly negated by the need to keep stopping to replenish mana.
Also the large number of forms a druid can take is a big plus, especially when you reach level 68 and get flight form which means you can get to places other classes can't a full two levels earlier. Also when you get to 70, if you do want to buy a flying mount...simply because it looks nice, it will only cost you the price of the mount as druids do not need to pay the training fee :)
I still think the Druid is the most versatile class in the game. If only they could wear mail :(
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11-14-2007 @ 6:47AM
Borna said...
Hm I don't want to sound like a party breaker but you may want to level your shaman to 70, do a few heroic runs (if not raids) and then compare the 2 classes. Read your article again then too(just for laughs).
Having all hybrid class high-end chars I feel I can compare them pretty well. There are some drastic differences between them.
One of those is the fact that shaman can't tank, while the other 2 can. That aggro holding you've mentioned is simply silly. Some of shaman's tools do have increased threat effect but they are totally impractical for anything but occasional kiteing (similar to hunter distracting/concussive shot) and add management (similar to traps). Mitigation and avoidance are practically non-existent both in talent/skill and itemization department.
As for caster dps they are similar, although elemental shaman can effectively offheal and dps at the same time (that is just using different spells) and keeping their relatively decent survivability (high armour), whilst moonkin obviously cannot without shapeshifting which removes the added armour protection and gimps the dps.
Feral dps is also quite different than enhancement one due to latter being part magic and having oom issues which the first does not. Cat form also enjoys the stealth privilege which is unique among hybrids.
Healing builds are in effect similar although very different in their respective strengths and weaknesses and modes of use.
However the real difference for me personally comes from a whole different feeling when playing those 2 classes. My paladin actually feels much more similar in-game to my shaman than my druid. Druids do have that unique versatility (bordering on OP or occasionally crossing the border) that no other class has.
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11-14-2007 @ 8:23AM
Vestras said...
My 2v2 team is a Balance druid and an enhancement shaman. Except when chain feared by warlocks, we tend to dominate. I love to root the warrior in place while we pound his healer/caster buddy to dust. Sleeping hunters pets is another great one.
The classes do work together as a great mix of two slots in a party becasue they are both diverse enough, even unspeced, to cover for a moment should one of the others go down. Druids can drop in and tank, Shamans can toss heals, or yank aggro off a clothie long enough to get a fear or heal off. They both bring useful and situational abilities which while not procding the same CC as other classes, they are non the less useful.
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11-14-2007 @ 6:50PM
Calardren said...
One of my RL buddies plays an enhancement shammy and I've got the boomkin. When the two of us get going, it's just a bad day for the other side. Throw in a warlock, a mage and shadow priest and we form the DPS backbone of most of our raids and tend to slaughter whatever's in our way.
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