Shaman questions

Curmudgen · #1 09-11-2010, 10:50 PM

Hey guys it's me again, this time some questions on shaman.

Thinking about starting one and wondering to get opinions on why you chose the race you did. I am trying to flesh out main pick differences.

Barbarian- liked in cities, ok stats. Anyhing else?

Ogre- no frontal stun ( is that really super handy or not?), good starting stats, evil ( does it make travel and any good shaman quests difficult? Like paw or such?)

Troll- good stats, regeneration( does that make a huge difference with cana?), evil ( same questions as ogre), snare necklace ( is that in game?)

I know the prevailing and wisest answer is to play what you like but did anyone make a decision based on the exp penalties?

I do like the idea of NOT having to deal with research for spells.

Curmudgen · #2 09-11-2010, 10:59 PM

Oh I forgot to ask one big question. On some of the creation pages I have read confusing info. Inferences were made about what armor shaman can wear. I always thought it was chain, but one site off hand mentioned plate.

Shamans get plate? Or chain?

Harrison · #3 09-11-2010, 11:02 PM

Chain

Harrison · #4 09-11-2010, 11:03 PM

Troll, regeneration bonus, good hp, slam.

Best option you have until Iksar, and arguably comparable in every sort.

Alawen Everywhere · #5 09-11-2010, 11:18 PM

If you like to solo outrageous stuff, make an ogre. It pays off hugely in Kunark and Velious.

Estu · #6 09-11-2010, 11:20 PM

I went ogre. Better stats than trolls, no frontal stun is nice. Don't have the regen, but less exp penalty, and the regen isn't that big a deal. I don't know to what extent being evil affects quests since I don't know much about what quests are out there, but I've leveled my shaman to 25 solo without much trouble with travel and stuff.

Harrison · #7 09-11-2010, 11:20 PM

The mechanics last I checked, for the reasons ogres would make that somewhat marginally true...don't work.

Noleafclover · #8 09-11-2010, 11:23 PM

Troll's the best by far from the regen.

For pedantics sake, barbarians get a few race-specific armor and weps, the barb spiritist hammer is really good atm but will be upstaged in kunark.

The "no frontal stun" I don't think is that great, you can take hits but you essentially lose mana for them, so you won't want to.

I think it reduced chance melee hits would interrupt pre-melee-push patch, but does not anymore. I can't be certain on either point though, should get confirmation from a shammy.

Estu · #9 09-11-2010, 11:43 PM

Quote:

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

Troll's the best by far from the regen.

For pedantics sake, barbarians get a few race-specific armor and weps, the barb spiritist hammer is really good atm but will be upstaged in kunark.

The "no frontal stun" I don't think is that great, you can take hits but you essentially lose mana for them, so you won't want to.

I think it reduced chance melee hits would interrupt pre-melee-push patch, but does not anymore. I can't be certain on either point though, should get confirmation from a shammy.

I'm having trouble parsing your last paragraph, but if it means what I think it means, here's my experience: with my ogre shaman pre-that patch (said patch was the server restart that changed the double exp to a 25% exp bonus, after the server got reverted 12 hours), I was never interrupted in my spellcasting by melees from the front; there wasn't even a 'you regain concentration' message. So I could have like three mobs (or however many) tooling on me from the front, and could cast no problem. Post-that patch, I now get interrupted from the front just like everyone else, but I'm still immune to stuns from bashing.

I'd also like to point out that shamen can make good meleers with their various buffs and debuffs and their chain armor and a nice weapon, so it's not always necessarily best to just sit back and let your dots and/or pet do all the work. (Although my untwinked level 25 shaman hasn't meleed since level 9 since it hasn't been worth it; his gear isn't good enough for melee dps to compensate for the lack of medding and the getting hit.) On that note, when and if you start meleeing, that stun immunity is gonna come in handy. Really, though, it's not that big a deal; the main reason I went ogre was the stats and the smaller EXP penalty.

Noleafclover · #10 09-12-2010, 12:05 AM

You read me correct, but...

Well for one, I thought melee push went in earlier? But I've been playing mage lately, so not sure...

Anyway, a cleric I was duoing with during double-exp-heaven saying he wasn't getting any interrupts --- I think that was a general bug at the time; maybe they'd been moving some of the scripts over for melee push but had not completed.

Really... not too sure, heh.

Do you have any experience as to whether or not you were getting interrupts a month or more ago? That would certainly answer the question. And yeah, this is just a vague remembrance of something an ogre shammy told me, so def. take it w/ a grain of salt.