Struggling to choose between the two! I really would like to play any kind of PvP, but I would do PvE stuff as well. Im not concerned with who the best is, that will always change. Just want something fun that I can main for years to come!
I find the class fantasy of paladin and the look better than shaman. Both Holy and Ret seem fun. I love two handed weapons and wearing plate. Not really interested in tanking at the moment, though. I also feel like everybody plays paladin and I’d have to figure out if not having a ranged spec will ruin it for me. Although, I wouldn’t mind just healing as my “ranged spec”.
However, all three specs interest me with shaman. I just dont care for how they look and I really wish I could use a two handed weapon with Enh. Overall, I don’t care for the elemental tie ins to the class fantasy. I just try to imagine myself as a battlemage. Lol
What brought you to play your respective class? Was it lore, class fantasy, play style, something else? I know fun is subjective, but I’d love to hear your opinions!
Done both, and I like both. Paladin edges it out for me, at least this expansion. Shaman feels too dependent on lava burst procs (though those can be fun) and a bit less dynamic than paladin.
It’s the difference between two top shelf classes though tbh. Maybe go for the one you enjoy the theme of more?
Also, yes, it’s melee vs ranged. While maybe not as good at melee as a warrior (at least as of last patch my little fury warrior was outhealing my paladins while still doing damage) we do hang tough, and have a ton of panic buttons, maybe more than any other class.
I tend to prefer ranged (mage is my other baby) but when I do melee, it’s almost always a paladin and I’ve capped at least one of all the others but monk.
Paladin for life. I love the class fantasy/aesthetic and the versatility. I usually go Prot/Ret, though I have mained Holy previously (I just hate it with Holy Power now).
My paladin just feels more sturdy than other classes. I have many ways to shield or heal my way out of trouble.
I do have a shaman alt in the 50’s and he’s fine, just feels like it’s more finicky than the paladin. More things to have to setup before I can make damage happen, and less ways to survive through trouble (granted that may be due to inexperience).
i like shaman more. why? cause it has not only a melee dps spec but also a ranged one. healing wise i’d prefere paladin but minus the melee dps range i mean i used to love melee dps but for some odd reason i just can’t get behind it much in WoW. maybe it’s the pace of the game idk.
the biggest issue for me between the 2 is idc for tanking i mean i can tank but i don’t like tanking at all. so thats 1 less spec for me to really play as a paladin and to me ret always felt very slow and clunky to play but i haven’t played a paladin since i mained one back in cata so idk if it’s changed or what. not saying they suck or anything it just feels slower to me.
what i mostly go off of though is 2 things 1. class fantasy/lore 2. if i can potentially see myself playing all of it’s specs. like say for paladin i can play ret probably won’t be my go to spec but i wouldn’t mind playing it as an offspec to toy around with but prot is more iffy
Anecdotally, paladin is far more popular than shaman. Most likely because plate mogs and the fact that pally can tank.
Personally, I play prot and ret (hpal is stupid), and quite like it. Ele and enh on the other hand are bit borked in their logic flow. Both specs need a rework and can probably stand to lose a couple spells to bring them into line with pally in terms of effecient play.
Literally the 2 classes I have the most time /played on.
At this point though, I’d lean Shaman.
I LOVE Prot Paladin. But that’s not exactly a PvP Spec. I WANT to like Holy Paladin, but their AoE healing kit is nonexistent and relies entirely on talent gimmicks that tend to go away within an expansion or two, which I hate. Ret is lame.
I like Ele Shaman a lot. I like Enhancement Shaman a slightly less amount, but it’s still fun (especially the Chain Harvest Lava Lash AoE Funnel build, but again, maybe not the best choice in PvP). Resto I enjoyed a lot in the past, but I haven’t really tried it recently, so I can’t talk about it in modern WoW so much.
Shaman definitely fits horde more, and if the two hander is a selling point what I do on a couple of characters that duel wield one handed weapons is transmog one hand to a one hander that is either on the larger side or shares the same model as a two hander then the other hand into small brass Knicks that way in battle it looks like your just brawling with a large axe or mace.
Ele Shaman is just Flame Shock → Lava Burst → Filler Lightning Bolt → Earth Shock when you can afford it. That’s it. That’s the core of the spec. There’s some procs but the logic there is very simple.
Enh Shaman is only as borked as Fury Warrior, in that you’re hitting an AoE Button to fill Globals if other stuff isn’t available. But really it just comes down to “don’t sit on your globals”. That’s the logic. Hit the buttons, because button > no button. Also, 4-set Enhance with Wolf Bones legendary has ridiculous Wolves uptime which pretty much eliminates empty globals due to lack of procs/MW stacks.
Ret is an easy 1800 in 2s (in most seasons, maybe not this one?) and pairs well with alot of classes.
Enh is strong in 3s, but lacks enough cc for 2s. Doesn’t have a whole lot of strong comps. Pairing with a warrior is historically your best option
Ele is where you can probably push the highest in 3s. Goes great with sp and destro. Falls to rogues easily and rogues are everywhere.
Enhance is finally in a good spot. It doesn’t need a rework, it just needs a couple of tweaks.
Ele needs a slight buff IMO and some tweaks as well, but not a full rework.
I didn’t get it either. Shaman is in one of the best places I’ve seen it. Enhance has this weird thing with using Lightning Bolt in our rotation, but with the Shocks finally not being on the same GCD (THANK YOU FOR LISTENING, BLIZZ), we rarely ever have a “no button” time in our rotation. And yeah, the uptime on Spirit Wolves/Raptors is just insane. I’ve had 3 sets out at a time. It’s nuts.
For single target? Yeah, Elem rotation makes sense. For aoe suddenly it’s counter-intuitive. At least that’s how it feels to me and might be what Trust is referring to.
Ret pally is relatively simple, sure, but I like it that way. Get some haste and I don’t find it slow at all. And the switch from single to multi target is as easy as using a different finisher. I like that better than my whole rotation changing.
If I could only play one and had to agree to never play the other one ever again, I’d play shaman and ban myself from playing paladin. The paladin class fantasy just doesn’t appeal to me at all