Questions from a noob

nonameform

Legend
Hello!



I bet those questions have been asked countless times in the past, but after browsing several pages I still haven't found answers that I was looking for.



I've started a level 1 twink last night. It's an orc shaman (I know, obviously not the best choice). Can't link you any sort of profile yet unfortunately, but I will describe the gear I have as best as I can.



Head: [item]Violet Hat[/item]

Neck: [item]Voice Amplification Modulator[/item]

Shoulders: [item]Champion Herod's Shoulder[/item] (32 Armor/1 AGI/1 STA/2 AP)

Back: [item]Linen Cloak[/item] + Lesser Agility (+3)

Chest: [item]Haliscan Jacket[/item] + Exceptional Stats (+6)

Wrists: [item]Dirty Leather Bracers[/item] + Superior Stamina (+9)

Hands: [item]Worn Leather Gloves[/item] + Superior Agility (+15)

Waist: [item]Squealer's Belt[/item]

Legs: [item]Haliscan Pantaloons[/item] + Rugged Armor Kit (+4 Armor)

Feet: [item]Dirty Leather Boots[/item] + Greater Agility (+7) / Minor Speed on "traveling boots"

Trinkets: 2x [item]Swift Hand of Justice[/item] (1 haste rating each)

Weapon: [item]Repurposed Lava Dredger[/item] (8 DPS/1 AGI/2 STA/2 AP) + Agility (+25)



Obviously, I need to replace trinkets (1-2x [item]Arena Grand Master[/item] and [item]Inherited Insignia of the Horde[/item]) and get a [item]Furbolg Medicine Pouch[/item] (but considering that level 1 shaman is dead in Cataclysm, I might not do that). My professions are Mining (for some extra Stamina) and Skinning (for critical strike rating). Mining is already at 150, Skinning is at 50. Before you ask: Yes, I have 0 hit rating (I have the Stained Shadowcraft set which I'm currently using on my rogue for leveling, but can swap it at any moment).



My questions are:

  1. Which enchants would you recommend to change (I believe my HP is 299)?
  2. Do I need to replace my weapon with 1-hand and a shield/pouch and which enchant should I put on it (Crusader, Lifestealing or Agility)? I also have [item]Bloodied Arcanite Reaper[/item] (8 DPS/1 STR/2 STA/1 critical strike rating) with Crusader on it, which I used to level a warrior, paladin and DK.
  3. Mining vs. Herbalism: Does it really make such a great difference to have Lifeblood at the moment (i.e. while shamans can heal)?

Can't say if I'm going to do PvP or PvE yet. Assume that I will do both and that I can afford all the necessary gear and mats.



P.S. I know about [item]Formal Dangui[/item], so you can skip the bit about it being BiS because of the [item]Greater Rune of Warding[/item].
 
nonameform said:
My questions are:

  1. Which enchants would you recommend to change (I believe my HP is 299)?
  2. Do I need to replace my weapon with 1-hand and a shield/pouch and which enchant should I put on it (Crusader, Lifestealing or Agility)? I also have [item]Bloodied Arcanite Reaper[/item] (8 DPS/1 STR/2 STA/1 critical strike rating) with Crusader on it, which I used to level a warrior, paladin and DK.
  3. Mining vs. Herbalism: Does it really make such a great difference to have Lifeblood at the moment (i.e. while shamans can heal)?

Can't say if I'm going to do PvP or PvE yet. Assume that I will do both and that I can afford all the necessary gear and mats.
Click to expand...



This is an impressive starting set of gear.



I would not "change" any of those enchants but rather add some new pieces with alternate enchants. I would get a set of Stamina boots to go along with your other boots. I've never really played a Shammy so I don't know what other stats you want but I would work on getting one piece of each of the useful enchants such as the +9 Str bracers, the +150 health chest for travelling and such, Haste gloves, hit rating boots, various cloaks such as +70 armor, various resistance cloaks.



When you do go single hand weapon, def get the pouch - it only takes 90 min or so with a friend. Lifestealing is what I have on main hand but I know there are several opinions.



I can not imagine life without lifeblood (herbalism). Can shammy's heal on the run? I can. I currently use mining but am considering going skinning for the DPS boost. But then again, I am not a shaman. (using your same argument since Shaman's heal, why do you need +5 stam?).
 
Thanks for a swift reply.



The reason why I picked up Mining is that I didn't want to stack Stamina gear just to walk around the world, so I've decided that an extra 50 HP I get from mining saves me from getting one of the +X Stamina / +X Health enchants on one of the pieces of gear. Lifeblood vs. Healing Wave is hard to compare. While first one basically gives me almost twice of my current HP, HW heals for 39 average, but the mana cost is pretty low on the other hand and with some haste it's not that bad at all.



Last night I've been leveling my skinning outside Silvermoon City by killing different dragonhawks (level 5-8). Even the level 8 mobs with my current stats were hardly dropping me below 50% HP without any healing. I was using a different chest though (haven't noticed that Haliscan Jacket is better than hunter/shaman heirloom chest) with +100 HP enchant and in that gear I had 70 Agility, which reduced damage by around 45%, and 349 HP. I will have to try the set that I've mentioned in the first post to see if it's really worth dropping Mining or not. However, apart from duels (or soloing Razormaw), I don't really see how Lifeblood can be useful. Might be wrong though, since I haven't explored much yet and don't know how bad it gets once you meet mobs higher than level 10.



At level 1 Strength seems to be a decent option, though Agility is better due to it providing some melee critical strike chance on top of AP and extra armor. So if I want to get more AP, I will have to drop Stamina from bracers.



"Impressive" starting gear was made by my other characters and bought with the excessive amount of badges I had from raiding. Guess I was lucky with gloves though, since it took me around 10 mobs to get them.
 
Well, I learned from Chubs and others that when traveling all you need is stam so you might as well stack. Now that I have explorer, I think I am going to drop mining for skinning. But I am gonna hold onto my stam gear. I will need to get around during the holiday quests. I can get to 955 quick with Rum and a scroll - no other buffs. Throw lifeblood on top and I can pretty much get across any 20-30 zone with out dying once (staying near the road) and move fairly well across the 30-40 zones.



I still think herbalism is way to go. I am not at 150 yet but getting 75 herbs was the best thing I have ever done for this twink including the AGM's. I use it constantly.



Haliscan Jacket > BOA chest because you can put +6 stats and +150 health on it whereas you can put +4 stats and +100 on BOA. I think chubs said BOA is BiS for PVE dps though but I don't really mess with it.
 
BoA chest has 1 AGI on it and 3 AP. With +4 stats on it that's 8 more MAP from 4 STR and 4 AGI. In terms of MAP, it's the same as Haliscan Jacket (12 MAP from 6 STR and 6 AGI). However, 6 AGI on Haliscan Jacket also gives higher melee critical strike chance. How come BoA is better then? Unless we are speaking about [item]Stained Shadowcraft Tunic[/item], which is better since it has hit rating on it, which is quite valuable. Even though one gets just 11 MAP and smaller melee critical strike chance, 2.6% hit beats the loses.
 
1) First of all, PvE vs PvP. You said you didn't know yet, but if you don't, then you're not asking a question that can be answered.

2) I can't imagine a reason why you'd be playing your Shaman as Enh ... they suck at lvl80 and they pretty much at lvl1 ... lightning bolts and heals are your god ... so forget the agility and stack haste/int/mp5/sp (in that order)...does rockbiter even stack with sharpening stones?

3) Your 2H mace is fine if you put 20 haste on it ... would probably get you to 1 sec LB/Heal with 10 haste on gloves ... plus a little fire resist and the occasional melee swing

4) If you must melee, then stack agility and wear Stained Shadowcraft Tunic for all melee dps classes because of the hit ... you lose 1 ap and 1.86% crit, but gain 2.6 hit ... that's huge and will more than offset the loss

5) 5 hit to boots isn't a suggestion ... it's a requirement unless you're healing / tanking / healtanking

6) If you're not wearing a shield, then str loses it's sexiness on bracers for shaman. I'd skip the 9ap and pickup the 9 sta if you keep on melee'ing ... or put the mp5 on if you cast

7) 1 AGM would probably be sufficient for whichever you do and would still allow you the extra haste or the pvp trinket

8) Mining is really only good for tanking ... even if you are a shaman and can heal yourself, lifeblood is too amazing and probably offsets your 50 static health



all-in-all though, you've done pretty good ... might I suggest http://chardev.org/ for future references though? makes it easier for us to read and quicker for you to enter







edit: oh yeah .. go farm the Wispy Cloak (all 5 minutes it takes) looks much better with Haliscans for the fashion conscience lvl1 :)
 
As I said, I wasn't able to link a profile at the moment I was posting. Will fix that in the future of course, as it is much easier to "read" a character sheet than that list of mine.



Don't think that Rockbiter stacks with other temporary enchants. Same class of enchants, so it's either it or a stone. However, I believe that you can only use Rough stones on a heirloom weapon. Rockbiter gives same 2 damage increase for free.



Since I was just stacking MAP, I can't really compare my caster DPS and my melee DPS. With 0% hit, my melee hits miss a lot, but I have seen 80 crit on a level 6 mob, while my bolts hit for around 25. Oh, well. I have noticed myself that I'm casting LB much more than I'm attacking mobs in melee.



I have my cloak hidden, so not really bothered about fashion :)
 
Profile at Chardev.org



Couldn't find [item]Squealer's Belt[/item], so had to use [item]Animal Skin Belt[/item] instead (2 extra armor). Let's assume I'm a caster, not a melee shaman. I have a question about the weapon though: is it worth using [item]Grand Staff of Jordan[/item] with +22 Intellect over [item]Repurposed Lava Dredger[/item] with +20 haste rating? Staff also has 1 hit, which allows to continue using Haliscan Jacket over Stained Shadowcraft Tunic.
 
nonameform said:
Profile at Chardev.org

is it worth using [item]Grand Staff of Jordan[/item] with +22 Intellect over [item]Repurposed Lava Dredger[/item] with +20 haste rating? Staff also has 1 hit, which allows to continue using Haliscan Jacket over Stained Shadowcraft Tunic.
Click to expand...



No. Haste > Int. Shaman spells are cheap and with the regen of a level 1 you won't find yourself OOM too fast.
 
It seems to me that an optimal choice for a caster shaman (without an off-hand) is to use [item]Bloodied Arcanite Reaper[/item] since it has 1 critical strike rating on it and because you can pop +20 haste on it, while [item]Repurposed Lava Dredger[/item] has no stats on it that benefit a caster.



What is better to put on cloak? 12 dodge rating or 70 armor? With the gear available to me I'm at 290+ armor.
 
nonameform said:
Profile at Chardev.org



Couldn't find [item]Squealer's Belt[/item], so had to use [item]Animal Skin Belt[/item] instead (2 extra armor)..
Click to expand...



um, what gives? isn't the quest that gives Animal Skin Belt a L4 quest?



Edit: I saw a note that says this quest only available to those who have skinning as a profession (though it also says L4 required). I was gonna drop mining for skinning anyway see if I can pick it up.
 
Don't think that Rockbiter stacks with other temporary enchants. Same class of enchants, so it's either it or a stone. However, I believe that you can only use Rough stones on a heirloom weapon. Rockbiter gives same 2 damage increase for free.
Click to expand...



that was exactly my point ... a shamans only melee ability isn't really a melee ability if you can already get it from another source ... if it stacked with stones, then maybe it would be more better



It seems to me that an optimal choice for a caster shaman (without an off-hand) is to use [Bloodied Arcanite Reaper]
Click to expand...



yeah .. you are right ... plus orcs racial would come into player when you do melee







Quote Originally Posted by nonameform View Post

Profile at Chardev.org

is it worth using [Grand Staff of Jordan] with +22 Intellect over [Repurposed Lava Dredger] with +20 haste rating? Staff also has 1 hit, which allows to continue using Haliscan Jacket over Stained Shadowcraft Tunic.
Click to expand...

No. Haste > Int. Shaman spells are cheap and with the regen of a level 1 you won't find yourself OOM too fast.
Click to expand...



This ^





edit: after reading your posts again, it seems that you've already found your niche/groove with your shaman ... i'm not trying to detract from that, if you like to melee smack things, then go for it (i'd still put that +hit on boots so your 80 crits happen more often). it's not 'wrong' to it and if you're having fun, then that's what matters. sometimes i forget that aspect of the game :) plus, a melee'ing shaman has a novelty factor to it and that's a lot of what lvl1 twinking is about ... but if you brought one to my lvl80 raid i'd laugh at you :)
 
grizzleghost said:
um, what gives? isn't the quest that gives Animal Skin Belt a L4 quest?



Edit: I saw a note that says this quest only available to those who have skinning as a profession (though it also says L4 required). I was gonna drop mining for skinning anyway see if I can pick it up.
Click to expand...



I only meant that I can't get Squealer's Belt to display at Chardev, since for whatever reason it's not listed in their DB, so I had to "equip" another belt.



chubs said:
after reading your posts again, it seems that you've already found your niche/groove with your shaman ... i'm not trying to detract from that, if you like to melee smack things, then go for it (i'd still put that +hit on boots so your 80 crits happen more often). it's not 'wrong' to it and if you're having fun, then that's what matters. sometimes i forget that aspect of the game :) plus, a melee'ing shaman has a novelty factor to it and that's a lot of what lvl1 twinking is about ... but if you brought one to my lvl80 raid i'd laugh at you :)
Click to expand...



It seems that for melee fun I should roll a Rogue, a Warrior or a Paladin, but not a Shaman.
 
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