I have a 70 shaman that I’ve been trying resto out on.
It just feels very cumbersome to play. Don’t really know how else to say it. As per title, it’s like walking through mud.
When I play my resto druid or holy priest, it’s like riding a bike. It comes so naturally, and the gameplay feels smooth. Maybe that’s because I’ve played those classes for a long time by now, and Resto shaman is still kind of new to me, but idk. I feel like I’ve given it a fair shake and have had enough time to know if I enjoy the class.
It’s like to get the same amount of healing oomph out my resto shaman as I would on my priest or druid, I have to cast 3 times as many spells.
And they changed how chain heal looks and now it’s no longer a pretty green beam. And you can’t even glyph it to customize it back to how it used to look.
That is most likely a huge part of it. Not everyone enjoys every class, and thats fine. But not being familiar with the spec is most likely why it feels like druid/priest are 3x stronger.
This seems like it’s just a lack of familiarity with the class. Sometimes playing resto shaman does take a little bit of knowledge of what mechanics are coming in and preparing so that you are not caught off-guard. For example, the Khajin fight in Halls of Infusion. If you’re not prepared for it as a resto shaman, you’ll be playing catch-up until someone dies. But if you have your riptides out, a primordial wave, cloudburst, and maybe even a nature’s swiftness, you can top the entire group exactly when you need to.
I felt the same way when I was casting too many chain heals in a row and not taking advantage of using riptides to reduce the cast time of chain heal. Once you get the hang of resto shaman, your opinion might change. Also, hitting a 1m+ cloudburst heal right when people get hit by a big AoE is really nice and you can do that a lot
This is how it feels going from my MW monk to my R sham again.
For what it’s worth on the Beta Resto sham seems to feel better game play wise compared to DF for some reason. Maybe it’s just how I set my talents up on beta, maybe it’s the talent tree fix combined with the hero talents, but I am having a lot of fun, it could just be me though. I havent Resto Shammed much in a very long time. I just know it feels better and more fun on beta compared to when I tried to pick it up in DF.
It’s definitely just familiarity with the spec. I don’t feel the same when I play Resto Shaman because it’s been my main since MOP. But when I swap to Resto Druid or Holy Pally, I’ve no idea what I’m doing and feel completely ineffective as a healer.
Familiarity is a big part of it. Consistently having/getting Riptides out is pretty key for the flow.
I had a similar ‘mud’ experience with Evoker at the start of the expansion- if Dream Breath/Spritbloom were on CD I just felt completely at a loss until I got used to it.
Yeah beta Resto feels really good, especially totemic hero talents. Much smoother than rSham in DF from what I played.
It’s probably like most people have said rSham is just different than other classes because it needs more setup. Ive played all healing classes but the only one I couldn’t get a hang of was holy pally, but I’ve heard good things for beta for them as well (no more stupid glimmer playstyle required).
Now they just need to fix healing on the beta as a whole before launch or a lot of people will stop playing them.
This should really just be your entire post, and quoting it should really be our entire response.
You play a Rdruid for 19 years or whatever, swap to Resto Shaman for a month and then complain it doesn’t feel as “natural” to you?
…
Resto Shaman is a very well designed healer. It’s approachable, most things make sense and you have a button for almost every situation. Granted, I’d like to see some power removed from Chain Heal and placed elsewhere, but that’s a different argument for a different day.
Earth Shield on yourself and the tank, keep riptides ticking on all 5 group members, primordial wave into a huge AoE burst whenever you need it, keeping Healing Stream down, try to cast 2 Healing Waves or Healing Surges during Undulation. Chain heal when it’s empowered. You have Healing Tide Totem and Ascendance for meaningful cooldowns and the Ancestral Guidance + Stormkeeper combo is also super clutch. You have a short CD Spirit Walker’s Grace that essentially neutralizes any movement phases.
And that’s just healing. Not even to mention we have the best Healer utility in the entire game with the short AoE stun, the best interrupt, the shortest CD group sprint, an offensive dispel, poison cleansing, hex and a short cooldown knock-up that’s EXTREMELY strong in the current “stop” meta.
Rshaman needs better survivability and mana efficiency, but it’s a well designed spec friend. Doesn’t feel like wadding through mud at all.
I have the opposite feeling, rsham just seems to come to me naturally. It’s always the healer i gravitate back to, and even if the playstyle has changed I can always pick it back up fairly quickly. I find the spec to just be a blast to play and am VERY much looking forward to maining it in TWW.
So far it feels like mud to me because it’s do slow. When I played rsham last, you stacked the crap out of haste. These slow casting healing surges make me cry. Yes, my gear sucks, but is this how it’s supposed to be?
I mean, some people will say there is a rotation. I dont believe there is. Every pull and every group is different. Sometimes I can DPS the whole run, and some runs are so rough I can only heal.
Idk what build is showing on my profile, but if its my M+ build Id say copy it and go run some practice M+ dungeons. Get to understand your spells. For instance, toss out 2 Riptides and a PW, then hit a 4th target with a healing wave.
My casts are very quick. And my crit and vers are solid so if i crit a healing wave, that basically tops off someones health.
And if you feel like youre wading in mud, weave in and out of Spirit Wolf. Life saver, plus, its just fun to do.
I personally find resto druid so much easier to play despite it having so many buttons. it’s basically just keeping all dots up as much as possible, with some dots being more important than others. There’s very little thinking involved, mostly housekeeping.
That’s great but they should have added a glyph for the old version. The original looked a lot more like the iconic spell from Warcraft 3 shadow hunter. I really dislike the new version (and the general direction to move shaman away from spiritual healing and towards water benders)
Shaman was always the elemental bender, with Elemental using all 4 elements, Enh is mostly Wind + Fire, Resto is mostly Water + Earth.
Most of the heals were always named after water things, the spx just didn’t look watery due to limited tech.
Resto is also unique in it being the only spec in the entire game that uses water effects. Things like Fire, Nature, Fell, Holy, Shadow (even that spirit theme) are present in multiple classes.