I offer the Idea that we change the defenses for both Healers and Shaman.
While I do not dispute the balance issue that giving these classes another defense would cause, instead I suggest that the character be allowed to select either shield block OR two-handed. In this game its not always about choosing the right kind of weapon, sometimes characters need the exact right weapon. Often the weapon needed is two handed and these classes have to settle on weapon choice. Any other Ideas or Comments?
I think shamans should get spirit shield and two handed.
My recent shaman was dealing with huge incoming damage. you could barely get a mal landed before losing nearly 80% of your hp.
Then when you did land any of the curable mal's they immediately ran to a city or cabal healer.
The melee output even while paying to cure was so high they could keep me back. Maybe give all shamans abduct? lol.
I find the lag for curing mals, especially at cabal healers, quite insignificant.
Its the staff that troubles me most. YES a healer can craft a one handed staff. NO its not the perfect weapon for all battles. A shaman, can wield a staff too. Unfortunately almost every decent staff is two handed. So the player gets one less defense, and reduced damage from the weapon for not knowing how to wield two handed things. It just seems broken.
The only thing this suggestion does is allow you to choose which defense you get. Assuming 2h vs shield+1h, it will not give you another defense, nor will it make you lose one.
No, spirit shield does not give you the shield block proficiency, it just gives you a virtual 0 AC shield that can't be disarmed and leaves your hand free. Just because you can wear a shield, doesn't mean you're going to block with it. This suggestion means that should the healer go the two-handed weapon route, they shouldn't bother practicing spirit shield.
If you choose two handed, with one command you'll lose both of your defenses when someone disarms your weapon. Where's your god now? Additionally, fewer classes have the ability to disarm, cleave or otherwise remove shields.
Yes, healers can craft a one-handed staff. That's pretty significant when combined with a shield. That shamans can use staffs means little in regards to this. There's only 3 standard classes that can't.
Every staff (with the exception of healer/druid staffs and the awl pike) is two handed, by the way.
I'm not certain where you think that wielding a two-handed weapon is often needed. Sometimes, sure. Often? No.
No, this isn't a rehash of the "2h block <> shield block" discussion from previous.
I don't even understand what this thread is about...
Another point I forgot to make.
7 hours ago, Kyzarius said:
I think shamans should get spirit shield and two handed.
I don't think that shamans should get spirit shield. Goods as a general rule are more defensive in nature while evils are more offensive. Healers get spirit shield; shamans get spirit bind.
So the suggestion is to give healers and shamans more defenses?
Um.. Gonna say no this and I can list scary shamans that have killed top tiered, decked enemies while wearing JUST a shield. The strategy against a shaman, in my personal opinion, is to do as much damage as fast as you can so they can't keep spelling you up and dance around you. Even with this high damage, shamans can still flee and heal. The longer a fight goes, the better it is for a shaman. Why? Because once things go bad against a shaman, they go bad VERY fast.
Shamans are very, VERY strong. Even stronger when put into cabals like Syndicate or Council.
Healers? Meh.. I say we rename healers, rewrite their help file, and let them PK. Maybe throw in a few offensive spells and call it a day.
we have done SO much to increase saves in this game what Kyz experienced with a shaman is about average. Maybe shamans used to kill decked people with just a shield...but today is a new day. And this is sparta. or something. im retired, blow me.
Good point. I forgot about the power creep and how it would affect the shaman class. That being said, I still don't see shamans struggling all too much. Increases to spell level, higher -ac, and higher hp are all ways to protect yourself.
Shamans don't fight the same as other classes. Its not a "fast" fight. Its not one that you will see end quickly, especially against top tiered opponents, but it is one of the few classes that can kill anything. (Undead is harder to kill, but I've seen Chesta do it with his shaman. He whooped Garacci's ass with his shaman.)
A perfect example are my fights against Lykiss as Belderon. I think we can all agree that as Belderon I had some of the highest damage output in the game at that time. Lykiss and I fought for HOURS. HOURS. That damage can be overcome and Lykiss, despite me being decked out, being dwarf, having saves, and spouting that damage was still able to get me in some precarious spots. Had I been a weaker combo I would have died.
Yeah but you never died. wouldn't that be a detractor from your point?
A shaman outside of syndicate is screwed these days. period.
I had enemies who could sit at a temple, while deteriorated, and still shrug off my mals. Healing anything I did land while dishing out 150 + a round.
Then we have the cabal warfare side. it took me 45 minutes to kill a cabal guard. while melee enemies could do it in 5. Raid mobs? hah.
And trust me, I know how to peel down saves, land sneaky mals and then finish with key ones. It took all of this to get the kills I did manage.
I never killed him either. He just put wimpy at 50% and auto-fled from my first hit while running around curing or trying to spell me up while I was lagged from the murder.
Lykiss didn't have much of a problem capping anyone from what I saw. Send'em a PM and he might give you some tips. Cabal side, I could agree with. Its pretty difficult to take a standard as a shaman, but its pretty damn easy to take it back as one though, isn't it? Set your mals and wait.. That's all Lykiss did. He had ZERO problem taking it back.
Not all classes are supposed to solo travel...
I think shamans are OK. sure everyone can get Max saves with a few easy pieces. shamans are hit and run like trick said. if u allow yourself to remain in combat dirted spamming mals. shame on u. get AC and some decent saves and u will b fine. the days of naked shield fighting for a shaman are over.....and as for a dwarf vs a shaman....it's like cliffclimbing without shoes.
I would have to agree. Shamans can chop down the best of them. Especially if you focus on getting that spell lvl up. Doesn't matter what toon I roll, I always respect and fear shamans. It doesn't matter how many times you kill them, or send them for the hills, at any given moment you can lose your advantage and be pretty much screwed. Last thing i wanna seen is a boom in shamans because of some extra defence or something, ya no thanks.
There isn't a single class that I am scared of more than a shaman.. I agree with you there @sarcon. I can send one running 10+ times and each and every encounter is still just as terrifying. It can be so easy to fall into that lull of "winning" vs a shaman that you let one thing sit on your affects and it ends up screwing you.
All I suggested was allowing them to SELECT two handed instead of shield block. So the Staff skill would make sense for the class. The alternative in my mind is to give them a new skill entirely.
Shaman Staff: Creates a one handed staff for the shaman. Just to make sure you all continue to fear Shaman forever lets let the staff syphon small amounts of mana from the shamans opponent and convey it to the shaman as hit points.
Seemed Two handed was the lesser of two evils. It was not like I did not consider other things.
I think shaman would rather syphon hp and get it back as mana xD