Builds for leveling...
As I was catching up on all the wonderful blogs out there, I recently read Anna’s post entitled “Be a Shamanistic Genius (while you level)!” Coupled with her post on the basics of playing a shaman, the article is both thoughtful and helpful to any new totem-twisters out there. And she makes me feel guilty that I haven’t written a post about leveling an elemental shaman. I really should work on that!
For now, however, I merely want to offer up an opinion related to Anna’s post. Like others, Anna recommends leveling with an enhancement build. To be honest, and to her credit, that is probably the quickest build for leveling a shaman. Nearly every post I’ve ever read about shamans tells you that enhancement is the way to go. And this is pretty typical even across classes, as most classes are said to have one build that is the best for leveling. You’ve heard it before: fury for warriors, shadow for priests, enhancement for shamans, retribution for paladins, and so forth.
Yet based on my own experience, I would actually like to recommend something different. In my opinion, you should level your characters according to the build that you eventually expect to play. You see, while I know that there are people out there who level characters in a matter of days, I’m not one of them. I dedicate weeks and months to leveling my characters, and over the course of that experience I am developing a number of important playing habits.
I’m sure that many people would argue that things change when you hit 70. And that’s true. But it’s also true that I learned how to play an elemental shaman over the course of many months, at all different levels. Each level brought new abilities, as well as new talents. I worked on an elemental build and developed my habits accordingly. Playing an enhancement shaman is very different from playing an elemental shaman — you don’t suddenly go from a melee mindset to that of a caster.
And this isn’t an attempt to claim that an elemental build is better for leveling than enhancement. Instead, I am claiming that the time spent leveling as an elemental shaman will be more beneficial to you if you ultimately plan on building an elemental shaman. The same holds true for any build, and any class. Soloing as a restoration shaman can be brutal, but if you want to be a healer you should find groups and friends to quest with, and learn the art of healing. Or if you want to play a protection warrior, for example, you shouldn’t wait until level 70 to learn how to tank.
I know this goes against the conventional wisdom of doing everything in World of Warcraft faster and faster, but for me it is an important aspect of developing a character, a playing style, and having fun. As I have begun leveling two more characters recently, I am reminded of how much I enjoy the game prior to level 70 as well. No sense skipping over everything along the way. I’ve quested in new areas, attempted new quests, and am learning a new class. And I really enjoy playing, which is what I think is most important.
Comments:
I can tell you that as a resto druid, I struggled to play doomedkin at 70, having never specced it before. But, I leveled feral up to 50 because it was just easier than resto. And even playing all those levels as feral, I still stink at it. But I'm good at healing.
Personally, I wouldn't spec my end spec from the start or even from the 20's, if the one I picked is going to be slow going. Just because I'm not healy/dps/whatever specced-doesn't mean I can't learn how. It just means it's going to be easier when I switch.
I'm still trying to figure out just how to work this into the post, but it'll be there for sure :)
I will use Resto Shamans as the example as that was what the article was about. You don't even get chain healing until level 40 so any pre-40 healing is entirely useless. You don't get earthshield until even later. Heck water shield is 62 and completely changes the way you play because it changes your mana regen so much. Not only that but the jump in gear from 69-70 is quite large and a Resto shaman in level 68 greens plays drastically different from a 70 in entry 70 quest green/blues.
So given that the class changes so drastically as you level, is there any benefit to playing it all along? No, none at all. Spend 15-30 minutes and read some guides on how to play your chosen class / spec. There are well written guides for EVERY class & spec out there. You will learn the basics, now go play it in an instance run...go with something below your level like mana tombs at 70 so when you stink it won't hurt people. 1 or 2 runs is all it takes to learn the basics and then the rest just comes with experience *that you cannot get before you have the gear/stats*.
While I agree that you gain different abilities, talents, spells, and so forth at higher levels, you also develop playing habits along the way.
Sure, you might not get chain healing until level 40. However, you can develop healing habits earlier than that, habits like monitoring your party's health, knowing how much mana you are using, and so forth.
And the point of my post isn't to make everybody level as the build they eventually want to play. It is merely a suggestion that we shouldn't necessarily choose to level with one build because it is "faster" than another. I think there is a lot to be said for learning your build as you level -- even though that experience will constantly be changing as you level up and gain better gear and stats.
And as for your suggestion that you take 15-30 minutes and read a few guides on how to play your class, I think that is bad advise. Not because you won't "improve" as a player, but because it just isn't that fun -- at least to me. I enjoy the game for the experience of learning in-game what is successful and what is not, and from spending the time actually playing my character and developing my own play style -- not one prescribed in a guide.
However, that is merely my opinion based on what makes the game enjoyable for me. That being said, it is likely that the entire WoW blogosphere would disagree with me on that point.
I switched my shaman from enhancement to elemental at around level 61 (with Outlands gear as the sweetener). That gave me plenty of time before 70 to learn how to behave in instances, manage my threat, drop appropriate totems etc. I levelled enhancement thinking that was how I wanted to be, and let me say, I was reluctant to switch once I got to the end of the enh talent tree! The tipping point for me was that I already had a level 70 melee toon (rogue), and I wanted to try out a caster spec. The result was that I initially hated elemental, and died a lot more often. But I'm glad I stuck with it, and got myself that experience as a caster managing the various situations encountered in Outlands.
I guess I understand exactly what you're saying - rapid progression shouldn't be at the expense of not understanding the fundamentals of a class/ spec. But at the same time, levelling with a different faster spec can give you that feeling of uberness that only comes from being able to do things quickly and easily! (eg. I don't enjoy doing dailies with my healer, because it takes too long. My dps classes are much more fun). So, what I'm trying to say is, rapid levelling can be fun too.
If I was making a recommendation to a shaman who was wanting to get to level 70 as fast as possible, I would say level enh to Outlands (about lvl 58-60), then switch to your end spec (elemental or resto, or even stay enh) and learn how to quest/ instance that way.
On the issue of guides, I think they're a great resource if you are doubting your abilities and how they stack up against others that you party with. I've used them on a number of occasions (though originally of the opinion that I would rather work it out myself), and it has actually made me enjoy the game even more... I must be getting those uber feelings again!
I think I might now go and comment on your altitis post... I'm a shocker. No pun intended.
I've done it both ways, my Druid was feral from day 1, and loves life as a Bear even at level 70.
On the other hand my Pally went 1-60 as Retnoob, and then went Holy (shockadin) to be a battleground shock-medic. The transition really wasn't that tough and leveling holy honestly would not have been worth it in my opinion. I tried to stay Shockadin when TBC came out (at that point I had spent more time as a shockadin than as a retnoob) but found it still to be a terribly unfun way to level (had to drink after every fight). Tried Ret again, and then eventually figured out that Prot was actually the best way to level 60-70. But once I got back to 70, I'm Holy again (and happy with it).
I think what I would advise is level however you enjoy playing. My thoughts is learning a playstyle really doesn't take that long, but leveling takes a long, long time and should be done in the way that is the most fun for you.
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