While leveling, you'll probably be a healer most of the time. You've noticed the shortage of clerics in the lower and mid-levels - this is because the class is so boring to level up that most clerics are just alts and are power-leveled up to the point where they can do more interesting things than sit in Oasis. Expect to be the healer probably until 45+. Another factor in this is that shamans can't really do all that much besides healing until the higher mid-levels. You don't get proper buffs and slow until level 29, and most debuffs besides slow aren't worth the mana in a grind setting. Don't bother casting your disempower line, it's a waste on mobs that die in 20 seconds and when the only risk of death is from trains.
Once you enter the harder dungeons (basically 50+ content really) it starts to become beneficial to have a dedicated slower and/or a backup healer. That's where the shaman fits in, also because your buffs will be great by then. Right now you can barely buff, but after the 44 and 49 spell levels, you can really make a difference. A shaman can fill one of two roles: main healer or buffer+debuffer+backup healer. You generally can't do both at the same time (maybe at 60 with Torpor) and since you can't debuff much and don't need to at your level, that just leaves healing. Throughout your 20s and 30s, shaman is the best healer in the game for a chain-pulling exp group due to canni and the fact that clerics don't have their unique heals yet at that point. Greater healing has almost the same mana efficiency as superior healing, and regen-canni is basically free clarity (that stacks with actual clarity, in case there's a chanter around).
The shaman class is a late bloomer, but it becomes one of the best classes in the end.
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