im currently playing ele shaman and i enjoy it but i am not into shaman class lore. actually wanted to go resto shaman but decided to not last minute so stuck with ele .
i am wondering though does boomkin feel kind of similar to ele shamans or totally different? im more into druid class lore and i haven’t played boomkin ever only resto.
I would say elemental plays a lot simpler than boomie. you don’t have to worry about juggling eclipses, deciding between burning resource in one eclipse or saving it for the next, or keeping as many dot-plates spinning.
With that said, I think boomkin is a lot more rewarding to master overall. We’re a pretty mobile spec if played right, we scale better with mass AoE than any other ranged class save MM, and the utility from spells like Rebirth and Innervate are difficult to top.
thanks yea ele shaman rotation is pretty simple but we got plenty utility only 1 dot though hardest part is just spamming dots depending how long the mobs stay up or just spamming chain lighting and earthquake which can be boring most of the time.
I’m also battling this decision. Shaman lore really doesn’t feel for me tbh. Druid lore is cooler also they are the real “ nature” class really.
I don’t play elemental so my perspective on some things may be wrong. I’d say in the previous iterations (Legion and BfA), Balance and Ele were fundamentally the same (build up a “Rage” resource and dump into either ST or AoE), so we’re pretty interchangeable with one another and you could easily swap between them.
Balance is still sorta the same, but now has Eclipses layered on top. Our rotation now for ST is heavily focused on pooling and spending AP primarily when you first enter or during the beginning of an Eclipse. The only thing special for AoE would be maintain 100% Starfal uptime and filling with maintaining DoTs, using your Eclipse builder, and using the occasional excess AP on Starsurge effectively.
So overall, I want to say the fundamentals are similar, just with another mechanic (Eclipses) layered on top.
It depends what sort of player you are and what sort of content you want to do. You didn’t mention content type, which is a pretty major factor. I’ll answer from a m+ perspective, having played both specs.
If you want to do ok to good without too much effort, go ele.
If you want to do ok to amazing, depending on skill and effort, go boomy.
With the changes, boomy is now the most complex caster spec to play well in dungeons in my opinion. Single target is simple, i’m talking about the other 90% of the dungeon. There’s a whole lot going on in terms of manipulating eclipse states to try and be in the optimal one at the right time, as often as possible. Our dot priorities also have more variables than anything except perhaps aff lock, and we have a whole lot more going on than them outside of dots.
You will do decently just mindlessly following the eclipse pendulum and dotting everything, but you can really min/max things if you want. Requires a lot of judgement on how long packs will live and how long until next pack and what is the next pull, etc. But in my opinion the skillcap is now almost limitless and very rewarding if you’re into that sort of thing.
If tanks pulling mobs out of earthquake annoys you and you like mastering your class, boomy might be for you.
2 things about ele annoyed me. Tanks pulling out of earthquake and a lack of mobility. I found it quite plant and cast, although rng procs can cover a lot of this if you get lucky. On AOE, boomy can cast while moving the majority of the time (starfall talent), and your tank would be doing well to move mobs out of starfall.
Think this answers it. 
Boomkin isn’t that complicated to play, but even with simple talent choices it has a high skill ceiling. The biggest things would be utilizing your legendary correctly, pooling AP if you know you’ll be moving, and choosing the right eclipse for the right situation. It’s alright, not my favorite as the best talents are mostly passive and dull but it hits hard
yea that is why i like them. irl im kinda more naturey/animal friendly type of guy. i mean i dont go out hiking and what not but i enjoy nature/plants and all types of animals/insects
play shaman over boomy. enhance and elemental are performing really well at the moment, and are easy to get in groups for m+ with their interrupts and bloodlust. boomkin only really has their damage to compete which isnt that much better than either shaman dps spec.
can always take hunter for lust or mage. depending on what kinda hunter it is though could be a dps loss possibly for the hunter only though i think. not too worried about m+ though because i personally dont like M+ and if i do them max i’d go is +15 since no steady group to run them with.
i mostly interested in raiding and pvp. raiding not too bad since i can’t run mythics due to schedule and pvp still didn’t get into seriously yet so i pvp casually.
I just dont like the rotation and the spell noises. Went Resto since first day, and bear is boring to look at.
yea that is the reason why i kinda dislike druids too is they got nice mogs but were always in our damn animal forms unless we go resto. boomkin got that star glyph but i mean not everyone like me wants to look all transparent and blue.
What? Just say no to drugs! Druids have a ton of utility to offer as well. Solar beam, vortex, typhoon, treants, innervate, battle rez, on top of ridiculous single target and AoE damage.