A little help.

[pakman]

Hello. It's been a long time since I posted and read the LL, but I picked up WoW back in November (I made a post about it then, too, if I remember correctly). First of all, here are my characters:

Nyssan my hunter.
Mynameispat my shaman that I just respecced to enhance.
And finally Mastik my twink warlock. These are the characters that I play the most often.

I started out with only the intent of staying PvE, but quickly came to realize that PvP is where my heart truly lies. I hated the 10-19 bracket because of all the twink rogues with fiery on one hand an crusader on the other or two firey, etc. So I levelled to the 30-39 bracket where I do nothing but win. My hunter is currently BM spec and is very easy to be on the top of the battleground lists with, but it's still incredibly fun. I've always loved Arathi Basin.

So I decided to make a twink warlock just to see how overpowered I could make myself at this level, and I am impressed with the results so far. I have a few questions, though. The first one is: do +damage and healing items contribute to things like Life Tap? Currently, I have +121 to spell damage if you only count shadow spells. So when I just around Life Tapping myself, am I hurting myself even more? Second question: How exactly does +spell damage work with DoTs? Does +healing apply to Siphon life and Life Drain? Third, is affliction really the way to go for PvP or should I be going Demonology for the +health/stam skills I can get? How well does Destruction work out? PvE is a joke at this level with these items and I have no downtime. Should I level to a different PvP bracket instead?

I know twinking is usually looked down on in the Lounge, but I had to try it. I didn't want to post on the Blizzard WoW forums because all I'll get is, "ROFL l2p nub lolololololz."

In another unrelated topic since I'm not going to start and entirely new thread for it: How do shamans fare these days? Is enhance really that good or should I spec back to elemental since I can get the highest burst damage possible with the guaranteed crit an 0 mana cost and a 1.5s cast lightning bolt. I keep reading that resto is the way to play, but I'm just not interested in it. Are shamans even a really viable class anymore?

Sorry if I'm bothering you will all this mumbo-jumbo and repeating questions that have already been answered. I haven't had the time to search the forums, yet.

Thanks anyways for any help you can provide.

[Gregorius]

I'm not a very good PvPer, but I've found my Shaman rides the winds...paired with a good team, my Shaman helps out with the incredible dismantling of the enemy, and in a bad team, she's free honor. The main problem is that at least from 30-45 at mid levels (don't really know any further than that), a Shaman has pretty much no defense for sheep, stuns, fear, etc. In 20-29, you have Ghost Wolf which is a HUGE advantage over everybody else at least.

I played Elemental from 10-39 and played with Elemental Mastery for a few minutes at 40. (okay, I was chain lightning-ing level 25 mobs in Redridge because I was at 20870 with Stormwind) Personally I think it's probably the best for PvP, since Shaman don't hold large mana pools and are pretty squishy in melee. I was wearing cloth rewards from Southshore, which I'm not sure was the best idea but it only cost me a few % in mitigation at the time...and I had 2300 hp unbuffed and 2800 mana. Was using Arcanist Doan's staff and...well anyway, it seems pretty good for kiting since you just slam down Earthbind and move away with a couple Frost Shocks (hopefully you can get a kill before immunity kicks in). With a good staff you can get decent burst damage in melee, which is really important against Hunters and sometimes Mages (must have something to do with when they get Blink, because I haven't seen it used much).

Playing Enhancement in battlegrounds has left me even more up to the whim of the team selectors, but that's probably partly because I'm in the low end of the bracket. You get comparable (probably greater) damage with less downtime, plus at 40 you can wear mail. Except, obviously, you *have* to be in melee range for Enhancement (caster gear for level 40 shamans is something I haven't really noticed yet) which hurts. It seems potentially viable at mid-levels but I know that most higher-level shamans complain about Enhancement being extremely lacking.

Restoration I'm not familiar with at all, but I was about to start a thread about this ("this" meaning mid-level Shaman partying) because I was really frustrated with my performance last night in Uldaman. Shaman healing sucks down the mana pool *really* fast, and Healing Wave is pretty slow in PvP, which means using the even more inefficient Lesser Healing Wave (and Chain Heal, which I haven't used much yet).

[Artega]

I've heard good things about Elemental in the -49 bracket. I'm not much for spellcasting, however, so I don't think I was ever really good at it. I found I was better at healing than nuking (which led to me making a Resto shammy twink, interestingly enough), but again, I've heard some very good things about Elemental and -49.

For leveling, Enhancement is still going to be the best because melee attacks are always free. Restoration, unsurprisingly, is painfully slow to level as. Elemental was actually quite a bit of fun to level with, but you spend a pretty good bit of time drinking if you go that route.

As far as efficiency and effectiveness go, picking up Improved Healing Wave is a no-brainer if you want to heal in PvP (and it helps in PvE as well.) Shammies do tend to be a little bad in terms of mana efficiency, but I was still able to heal for some time before running OOM, at which point I'd chug a mana potion, kill my totems with totemic recall (for a little extra MP), and keep healing:)

If you've found that you enjoy twinking, you might want to see if your battlegroup has any dedicated mini-guilds for your bracket. Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin tend to be more enjoyable when you're facing similarly geared and organized groups:)

[Xanthix]

I have a few questions, though. The first one is: do +damage and healing items contribute to things like Life Tap? Currently, I have +121 to spell damage if you only count shadow spells. So when I just around Life Tapping myself, am I hurting myself even more? Second question: How exactly does +spell damage work with DoTs? Does +healing apply to Siphon life and Life Drain? Third, is affliction really the way to go for PvP or should I be going Demonology for the +health/stam skills I can get? How well does Destruction work out? PvE is a joke at this level with these items and I have no downtime. Should I level to a different PvP bracket instead?

• +damage does add to LifeTap; you take more damage and get more mana. Not sure of the coefficient.<>
  
• +damage adds at least 100% to DoTs. At one time it added more if the DoTs lasted longer than 15 seconds but I don't know if this is still the case.<>
  
• I don't think +healing adds to the life-stealing abilities, but +damage does affect the damage and healing component. The new high-level warlock armor does boost the life gains.<>
  
• It seems to me that any tree is good for PvP. Go destruction and play it like a mage, go demonology and have a "free teammate," or go affliction and cripple the enemy. A high level warlock may be able to give you a more first-person review, but I say use what you enjoy.<>
  [st]

[pakman]

Thanks for the replies.

If you look at my gear out on my shaman, I really need to get better stuff since I just bought what was available on the AH when I switched specs. I have never really run an instance with him, but I'd imagine that if I were to get the WF crit procs, then I would most likely steal aggro from the main tank which would be not good. As Elemental, I did notice that I was taking a lot of breaks to sit down and drink which was quite annoying after a while. At least with enhance, I can just sit there and swing while mana regens. However, I notice that I either smash the mobs face in completely or I sit there with "Miss" popping up on my screen for a while. Is there any way to help this other than to get +hit rating? I don't really plan on using a shield ever again, and I know I can put points in the Duel Weapon Specialization, but do other enhance shaman notice this as well?

Also: WTF is up with paladins and the ability to be 12% faster on a mount than a hunter? I don't understand that. Warning, what you are about to read is personal opinion: I think paladins are broken. But I digress.

I do enjoy the affliction tree a lot and plan on putting about 43-45 points into it and then go for enough destruction to get Shadow Blast.

[Skandranon]

Also: WTF is up with paladins and the ability to be 12% faster on a mount than a hunter?

No such ability. Pursuit of Justice doesn't stack with anything, so they are 8% faster if you don't have a Riding Crop or carrot/glove enchant/spurs. If you have any of those (and if you're in a bracket with a mount, at least the second combination is accessible) you're faster.

[Tuftears]

Crusader Aura? +20% speed when mounted.

[Lissa]

Crusader Aura? +20% speed when mounted.

You have to be above 60 to get Crusader Aura and Pak's dealing with sub 60 PvP.