Hello all, I’ll be rerolling from Warrior to a new main in TBC but I for the life of me cannot decide.
The two I’ve boiled it down to are either a Draenei Enh Shaman or a Blood Elf Paladin. I’m not considering their numbers with this decision so who ever deals more damage doesn’t mean much to me, I just enjoy the aesthetic and styles of both.
Which would have more buttons to press in combat? the last thing I want is a boring playstyle. I know Ret is rather boring, but would Seal Twisting help make it more engaging with timing seals and attacks? Or is this too mana costly to even be considered?
As well as who would I have an easier time finding a spot with on a raid team based on their damage/utility they provide.
I can’t speak too much for Ret in TBC but I mained Enhance throughout the whole thing back in the day and I always found it to be the most enjoyable Melee spec. Totem Twisting is similar to Seal Twisting except less exact with its timing since you’re essentially just switching between WF and Agi totem every 7-8 seconds.
Enhance is also loaded with utility, not even mentioning Bloodlust you have mana totem, healing totem, grounding, tremor, earthbind, str/agi etc. You always have a way to contribute. Plus it’s always satisfying to see the Windfury numbers fly.
Of course it’s personal preference at the end of the day. Ret has the big numbers and plenty of utility of its own, but I feel like everyone and their mother is rolling a Ret pally so your competition will be much higher for finding a spot. Most guilds already have people lined up to reroll so if you’re not already in a guild I think Enhance will have an easier time finding a spot in one.
Most raid teams have more Shaman slots than Pally.
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You’ll find a raid group easier as a sham but imo ret is cooler
Enhance is better than ret in every way possible.
It offers way more utility to the raid and it’s damage is pretty respectable. Ret doesn’t really get good until WOTLK.
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Enhance Shaman.
Unless you’ll make a Male Draenei, then Ret Paladin.
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legit the dumbest looking race in the game is male draenei
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IMO… Blood elves are the worst. Human all the way.
When it comes to the ret play stylw, I found it much more engaging if I played it as a hybrid. Clinch heals, cleansing, properly timed BoP and BoF… So much more fun. You’re not gonna top any meters, but if you play the class well, your presence will be felt.
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Considering Shamans have more totem "buttons’ that are effective to use in the middle of combat than paladins have total spells, I would most certainly say shaman.
Shaman will button mash more. Paladin will require more exact timing and pushes buttons less. (But regardless of the DPS trolls) And makes great big numbers pop up on the screen as you crit things 
If he wants to see big numbers, he literally will not get bigger than an Enh shaman running Stormherald with windfury. Not impossible to crit swing for 4-5k.
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A fully raid buffed Warrior with WF / MS may see numbers that bif with an endgame 2h-er outside execute.
A WF Crit combo total may result in more than 4k damage however.
This guy gets it! Yeah, combos and chains make a LOT of numbers, but truly BIG numbers belong to either a fully raid buffed Arms warrior with 100 rage and all his CD’s blown hitting Execute, or something like a ret pally dropping 2500-3k crits on a regular basis.
And in TBC, isn’t it mega meta for Enhance to be dual wield? Or is that Wrath?
Most raids will take 1 enhancement and 1 ret paladin. If you are alliance id go shaman and horde id go ret just because the populations are gonna be alot smaller and you’ll have better chance to find a static raid spot.
Ret can do that too with blues and Lionheart Champion. Melee crit for ~2200 with Seal of Command proc for 2100. Properly timed Seal of Blood/Martyr twist thrown in you can add another 500-800 damage.
In PvP openers, many shamans will use a stormherald for the stun proc and fat WF burst, but then use DW for sustain DPS or PvE, because of all the buff procs we get.
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I think ultimately it will come down to what area of the game you enjoy the most. If you are asking between Enhance or Ret for PvE reasons you really could pick either. Most ideal raid comps will end up bringing 1 of each.
If you are looking to PvP strictly as Enhance or Ret, I would actually say Ret would be the stronger PvP class in terms of dueling and 2v2 ability. Enhance will likely see some representation in 5s b/c of bloodlust, grounding, earth shock interrupt, and tremor. In terms of 1v1s, Ret is stronger against melee specs whereas Enhance does pretty well against most casters. So it does boil down to what you value.
Moreover, Shaman may be a more flexible option if you like to PvP more than PvE. Because if you don’t love Enhance in PvP you can play Ele which is a very strong 5v5 and BG spec and also Resto which is really good in most forms of PVP.
Whereas Paladin does give you some great PvE and gold farming options. You could roll Prot and have access to several ways of farming great gold per hour or you can roll Holy which is decent as well.
TLDR
For PvE most raids will bring 1 of each
Depends what type of PvP you value when choosing between these two specs
Shaman more PvP options (Ele and Resto)
Paladin more PvE options (Prot for gold farming)
Oh, we are adding in additional abilities too? Well then, lets add stormstrike and earthshock too. In less than 3 seconds, that 4-5k now becomes 7-8k. These are conservative numbers.
For burst DPS, Enh shaman will top ret pally. All day, any day.
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