Shaman questions

[Estu]

Originally Posted by khailibowen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Soloing is very tempting! I will head over to SK then.

Thanks for the advice!

The thing is that sometimes I want to group lol, maybe I should make a more group friendly class for those times when I want to group [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

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Jellia - Lvl 15 Shaman - Freedom Guard

Shamans are very group friendly. Hang around dungeons - at your level, Upper Guk and Unrest are good.

[Cynosure]

I've chosen a shaman specifically to be a healer. I've been grouping for over 11 levels and have not yet had any problem being the main healer of a group (even when I was using inner fire). I'm sure filling this roll will get harder and harder as I level up, but I will strive to compete with clerics!

Use your slow on mobs that take a good minute for your group to beat down and spam your inner fire heal when needed. I feel that taking time to buff is necessary and increases your group's defense and damage output.

I found soloing to be unbearable after level 12 and it only got harder after that.

I highly recommend Kurn's tower; I received 9-16 there within the matter of a week or two of relaxed play without any dead members of groups (aside from those pulls where they didn't even make it back to me).

[Ciel]

Anyone know when the Indoor-only restriction on Shrink was lifted? HHK used to be one of my favorite zones back on live (for some weird reason...), but nowadays I just tend to avoid it, being a troll shammy unable to shrink. Couple other zones this is annoying in.

[quido]

Like someone already mentioned, debuffs are pretty pointless at low levels. Similarly, the benefit from buffing at low levels can sometimes not be worth the effort. In my opinion, a strength buff is worth it on anyone who is meleeing, but aside from that, I'd only bother with hp buffs and maybe agility/dex on a main tank if you have one designated, and possibly the puller depending on where you are. There are plenty of good exceptions such as an enchanter who is going to be handling some volatile mezzes, but in general, your dps and patch healers don't need hp buffs.

[Deverell]

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.

[godbox]

Originally Posted by Ciel [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Anyone know when the Indoor-only restriction on Shrink was lifted? HHK used to be one of my favorite zones back on live (for some weird reason...), but nowadays I just tend to avoid it, being a troll shammy unable to shrink. Couple other zones this is annoying in.

i always carry a few 10stack shrink pots because a) I can b) I alwasy wanna be shrunk

[mwatt]

Shamans are miserably underpowered from about level 15 to until at least 24. Just grit your teeth and get through these levels as best you can.

In the end, though you will be called upon to heal now and then, it is not your primary strength and not something that you should be happy to have assigned to you. As a grouper, a Shaman is typically a buffer of melees, a slower, and a smattering of one or all of the following:
* back-up healer
* CCer
* light DPS
These are desirable, though not critical capabilities for most groups.

As for soloing, A Shaman can solo all the way to max levels - one of the best classes for doing so.

Again, 15 to 24 simply suck - either solo or group. Do your best to leave it behind ASAP.

[Polyphemous]

Originally Posted by khailibowen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I have been the only healer... I have yet to be in a group that actually has a cleric...

This is explained by the following being a common experience:

Originally Posted by khailibowen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I got into 1 group and it was just terrible, with 3 people chain pulling multiple reds, to me (I was highest in group by 2 lvls) and then dieing right and left and blaming me for it, because they would pull when I would say OOM. So, I logged and played my lvl 4 alt for a bit.

...but the tank got mad at me for doing it, I was like more mana efficient, I could even see the difference, but he said the cast time was to slow. I thought that maybe if he wasn't such a terrible tank it wouldn't have been so bad (LOL, but I digress.... [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Welcome to the wonderful world of the healer, where people who don't know how to do their job are experts at telling you how to do yours!

"Dude, just like click a button so I stay alive even when I pull at OOM how hard is that broseph?!"


edit: another reason for the shortage of clerics at your level is that 99% of those not being PLed will spend lvl 12-35 in Unrest.

[Estu]

A nice way to stay in control of pulls is to only heal people if their % hp is lower than your % mana. So if you're at 40% mana they're going to be at 40% HP and will maybe think twice about running and aggroing five mobs.

[Swish]

I try not to do it, but pull the "AFK" trick if you're oom and they're not listening when you say you need to med [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

EQ101 subtley states that if the healer is afk, you have to hold the pulls...and nobody wants to die [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]