I’m having a hard time choosing between them for classic, I’ve never played classic before. Things to consider would be leveling, fun, endgame raiding nd pvp.
If they keep it true, shaman(and druid) was always subpar compared to the rest of the game. Mage has Always(Mostly?) had a spot for almost everything. Mage also might be the quickest and easiest to level with.
mage pretty much wins all of those hands down
they are one of the easiest classes to level, they are very raid viable but the spec you use depends entirely on the raid you are going into. in PvP mages have so much control they wreck.
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Every raid out there will be looking for Resto Shamans. Mana Tide + Windfury totem makes them absolutely amazing. Oh and almost forgot tremor totem, since no dwarf priests horde side.
on the other hand, mages will be a dime a dozen, and if you don’t mind healing…
I wouldn’t call Shamans sub-par. It is true that Ele and Enhance are not very good in raids, and that Enhance in PVP can be fun but is generally not as good as people think (if you don’t get WF procs you’re gonna have a bad time). But Resto is great in PVE, most raids will take at least a few of them for their chain heals and totems. And once you get decent gear, Ele can absolutely destroy people in PVP. Unlike Enhance, Ele’s burst capabilities are more controlled and less dependent on RNG.
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Mages are super amazing and very fun to level, raid with, and top tier in pvp. Mages will probably the most played class in classic because they are just that good and just so useful. Great damage, great cc, great mobility.
Shamans are wonderful too, good leveling and one of the better 1v1 pvp classes. A bit pigeon holed into healing for raiding though, their damage just doesn’t scale great and they have sustain issues. Such a great support class though and very “bursty” in pvp which can be really fun.
I meant subpar as in lesser played, bit harder to level than mage. I agree with the resto though, but the fun part is leveling Resto to 60.
The only reason anyone ever thinks shaman are weak is because they’re playing them wrong.
Regardless of spec, shaman is a support class. If you want to be a solo hero outputting tons of damage, go mage. If you want to buff, heal, and support your allies (as well as contributing damage and utility), go shaman.
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Human mage was my first WoW toon. Will be again in Classic. Ports alone make it worth it. Others run, mages port. And as others have pointed out, mages have versatile builds.
Well if Blizzard stays true to Vanilla Mage will be a pure DPS and Shaman will be more of a support class. Shaman are excellent in group settings for PvE and PvP. It will really depend on how you want to play, I suggest rolling both and deciding from there.
Well it depends really. The general rule in Vanilla was: If you don’t want to heal don’t play a class that can heal. So, if you don’t want to heal and just want to do damage then play mage. If you want to heal then play Shaman.
Vanilla was not very hybrid friendly in some ways. Most Shaman were forced into Restoration for raids. I had a friend who was able to play Elemental for raids, but the rest were resto. Most Shaman I think were resto in Vanilla.
Now it could be different this time around since some people will have already done Vanilla and will just be doing it for fun and community, which could lead to more freedom in builds since they won’t be trying to complete world firsts or prove themselves, but I wouldn’t bet on it at this point.
Mages were very good in Vanilla. It was probably the peak of the mage class in fact. What people forget about mages though is that while we were quite powerful we were also incredibly squishy in Vanilla. The fragility of the mage class turned a lot of people off from it because you literally have to run away from everything or it will kill you; kiting is a skill that must be mastered to play mage well in Vanilla. One of the ways I evaluated the skill of a mage was whether or not they could Frost Nova a mob without getting hit by the mob. Kiting really is that important.
The portals are a big help, but you will get whispered by others asking for one. You can charge them if you want, but you will still the whispers.
Being able to conjure your own food and water is also nice, but if you raid you will need to conjure enough for your entire raid and then manually trade it to each member. Oh and you will also need enough food so the Hunters can give it to their pets and keep them happy. And you will need to run Dire Maul and Stratholme to get your max ranks of food and water.
True, there were a lot of mages around in Vanilla, but we also had the best CC in the game (which always gave us a dungeon spot), and there were 40 spots available for raids (which meant having 5 or 6 mages was no problem).
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Hunters pet’s eat mage food …?
Some of them can. Wind serpents, iirc.
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Roll an ally warlock on a pvp server. You’ll be as rare as rocking horse droppings, so raids will want you.
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Mage is great for raids, dungeons, PvP, and leveling. Shaman are great PvE and PvP healers. Enh and ele were great for PvP, but not great for PvE. An enh shaman with a 1h and shield was pretty efficient at leveling.
Yes. I didn’t play a hunter, so I don’t know which pets could and couldn’t, but most, if not all of the hunters in my raid always asked me for food for their pets. They were the only class that asked me for food.