by Rommuluss » Sat Jan 03, 2009 10:25 pm
Well, two months into the expansion, I can appraise the situation, in my view, in simple terms: Yawn. The new Shaman AA's are nothing short of horrible, including spire 3 that debuffs focus, an AE slow from a 58th level spell, a series of debuff expanders( when the original debuff's should work effecectively as stand alone spells), miserable upgrades to all our old AA's, from Ancestral Aid to Virulent Paralysis, and everything in between, to patheticly old, worn out, boring AA's that are nothing short of inconsequential.
Not to be outdone, our spells are even WORSE. Yep. From 81 to 85, they simply suck. The DPS boosts are minimal, they are thoughtless, uncreative, repetitious and in some cases, utterly useless. All of you can spend countless hours prying them apart and comparing and investigating, and so forth, ad nauseum, and a person of average intelligence can make that conclusion after spending 2 hours playing this class.
Its one thing to be 'jack of all trades', its another to fall behind or to the side, in a most callous manner---benign neglect.
Our 3 most useful spells/effects----remembering that Clerics and Druids can outheal us without hardly making an effort( let alone Mercs)-----are Epic, Champion, and the new Panther upgrade...the former two, 5 expansions old, and the latter, a painful, mana burning, mind numbingingly brief GROUP DPS upgrade.
We still have FOCUS. I suppose thats something.
As a guildleader, raidleader, Shaman forever, I can honestly say, for the very first time, I have absolutely despaired about this class, have no desire to play, or even to raid; that we wouldnt remotely consider recruiting another---two, possible even 1, is sufficient for any raid, to cast focus and champ 3 groups, panther a few, and cast a couple slows on occasion. Heck, we dont even have to cast slow---get a BST or Chanter( the latter still remaning absolutely crucial for success in multiple events).
I get the biggest kick out of our Clerics( some) whining about how terrible it is for them---as they tank 3k hitting mobs---and we get our XXXX handed to us, even slowed, haha. Or watch Druids solo rot/nuke/dot/egress/port/fernspur, and generally run circles around us.
Here is my SOD Shaman 'quick writeup": Find a new class, or a new game. Or, if you persist( like me) on playing, regardless, then prepare for constant dissapointment: EQ has no intention of changing whatever maniacal paradigm that allowed them to make our proud class putrid. Where once there was hope---now there is just reality.
Happy New Year.
Rommuluss, Diligence Guildleader, 7th Hammer.