None of the SL zones fits for a shaman, makes me unmotivated to level one. Why can’t there be an area with tribal ancestral spirits or rugged landscape? Some core themes in warcraft isn’t represented.
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Some kind of primeval afterlife of volcanoes and jungles and ragged crags where dragons go.
EDIT: Honestly they could just re-use the entire Gorgrond tileset and call it a day 
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I’d assume the Zone would resemble a cross between Mulgore, Nagrand, Shadowmoon Valley and Arathi Highlands! All buildings would be like the Shadowmoon Clan’s buildings crossed with Tauren buildings.
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I think Maldraxxus and Ardenweald are the only warcraftish zones but the Elementals are supposedly more attached to the living world and their planes.
However there is a Venthyr summoning Elementals.
Summoner Marcelis and his cohorts are dabbling in dangerous magics. They are calling forth ashen elementals to ravage these Light-scorched lands.
The Venthyr is summoning Ash Elementals… The ones seen in the Ember Ward more specifically… Ash Shaman do seem to exist in Revendreth.
I’m really surprised there isn’t. It would’ve been a much better place Bwonsamdi to go than blue fairy land.
No the question is, would this zone be a seemingly infinite land of rolling plains, or many things at once?
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They really should have made an ancestral spirit shaman zone instead of Ardenweald. Ardenweald didn’t need to exist, it retcons so much druid/Dream afterlife lore.
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This expansion has definitely made me rethink which classes to level up. I only leveled up this hunter first because it’s my main.
Here is how I see it. The various elements are their own primordial element and would have a zone wholely unrelated to the Shadowlands, which is the realm of another primordial part of the cosmos, death.
My headcanon is there is probably a “true firelands/abyssal maw etc” where elements from the entire cosmos(not just Azeroth) end up congregating.
As for individual shaman I expect Bastion would be a good place for them to go(considering they spend a life serving the elements). Or possibly one of the other infinite Shadowland realms that we do not see.
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Personally, I feel like Ardenweald is the closest to shamanism as a concept. Not Warcraft shamanism necessarily, though. i.e. “EARTH WIND FIRE WATER, FORGET ALL THAT OTHER STUFF”
We can’t pretend shamans are totally divorced from non-elemental forms of nature, given the spirit wolves and, in particular, tauren shamanistic focus on ancestor/beast spirits. Spirits of the land and spirits of nature are not treated with some arbitrary divide that game mechanics place on them.
There’s a fair chunk of thematic overlap between druidism and shamanism, only that one is focused in one direction, and one is focused in the other.
Here’s how envision it. Let’s say there’s a Spirit Meter. Just kinda…
Flora/Life - - - Fauna - - - Elements - - - Ancestors/the Dead
On this little scale, shamanism sits firmly beneath the “Elements” category, with some bleed-over into Fauna and Ancestors/the Dead.
Druids, however, sit firmly under Flora/Life or Fauna, with some bleed-over into Elements (i.e. astral powers and weather control).
This is by no means accurate as the lore is both nuanced and contradictory, but I feel like shamanism and druidism both exist in the same wheelhouse and it’s more a matter of how they’re employed. Whether you’re a shaman or a druid, you can feel the pain of the earth and the spirits around you. Thrall felt the loss of Teldrassil from Outland.
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I have the exact same head canon actually! I’ve especially considered the idea that there might be one True Firelord out there, as well as a True Earthmother etc. each with cosmic level strength to represent the strength of all the elements in the universe.
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The expansion isn’t over. I assume they will have more zones over the course of the expansion, one of them would have Baine’s parents in them.
Yeah there’s 3 open spots in the Oribos portal floor, so if one of them isn’t Shaman Land, I will actually be Extremely Mad.
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If you are Kyrian and open up the second tier for the anima conductor, you have access to a daily quest at the Temple of Humility. Essentially, it’s a test for you. 3 souls that were judged in the past and you have to figure out whether or not they go to the Shadowlands or were brought back to life.
Today’s souls were interesting ones. The first was a basically a soldier for the Lich King whom you send back because he was tied to the LK and the other was a lich whose phylactery was not destroyed. Despite wanting the peace of death, you send him back as well.
But it was the third I found really interesting and relevant to this conversation. It was an NPC from the Firelands who had been slain, one similar to Shannox. Same choice - live or send to the Shadowlands.
If you choose Shadowlands, you’re wrong and for one reason. Any elemental being who dies is still tied to their elemental plane. So, they get sent back to their plane of existence.
I would love to see a Troll Zone/Covenant in the afterlife. It’ll be more fun with Totems, Masks, and all kinds of that Shaman Stuff.
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Maybe a zone in De Other Side?
The background in the Hakkar fight looks really funky and awesome. Going there would be pretty cool.
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Tbh I feel like Blizzard forgot what Shaman originally represented down the lane further with WoW. In Vanilla / BC, aside from the elements they also seemed to be tied akin with the spirits & spiritual realm. Then later on it kinda seemed to be ‘Just elements’ and they brought in the spiritual side only out of convenience.
I’d be 100% okay, if this expansion they had a Shaman-only questline where they strengthen their bonds & ties to the Shadowlands to have a deeper connection with the spiritual realms & powers.
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Development restraints aside, I think there is logical story reason to only be going to the current afterlives available. They are the places that serve particular functions for the Shadowlands. Redeemers and chief anima extractors, soul ferrying, defenders and wild god rebirth. The current content is all about saving these Covenants from the most immediate threats. It makes more sense to venture out into other afterlives when there isn’t canonically a huge hostile presence in every Covenant’s lands anymore.
shamans get nothing
except nerfs
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That’s Zul’Gurub as per the map, I’d wager that’s the Emerald Dream’s ZG
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