I want to be a shaman

[seraph shay.6170]

Not an ele, a Shaman.

[Trise.2865]

Okay, you're a shaman. Congratulations, I knew you had it in you!

[Vishnok.7059]

im a pretty girl!

[Fueki.4753]

But, what even is a Shaman to you?

Is it a Jack of Elemental trades, like in WoW?

Is it one like in Shaman King, which gives spirits a physical form or stuffs them into things?

Is it simply the spiritual leader of old cultures with no special powers at all?

Or is it something entirely different?

[Ogwom.7940]

Why not be a that_shaman???

[seraph shay.6170]

I always thought of Shamans being a cross between a necromancer and an elementalist. I rather like the idea that you can CHOOSE what element that you want to use like being a fire shaman, ice shaman, etc.

[Vash.2386]

And here we see the problem. Everyone has a different idea of what a shamen is. For me it is “the spiritual leader of old cultures” as @"Fueki.4753" listed above.

[Danikat.8537]

I agree with the other replies: shaman is not self-explanatory, you need to explain what this means to you. What does a shaman do? What don't they do? How is it different to the existing professions?

 

For example I'm imagining something like a cross between a ranger and an elementalist. They're primarily a magic user like an ele, but with animal/plant themed spells instead of elemental ones. Maybe with a bit of the GW1 ritualist thrown in where they summon spirit animals to help them. Kind of like Elder Scrolls Online's warden but without the random ice magic thrown in.

[kharmin.7683]

I've always considered a shaman to be in tuned with spirits, not elements. To me, the Revenant is as close as we have in GW2 right now.

[Turkeyspit.3965]

> @"Trise.2865" said:

> Okay, you're a shaman. Congratulations, I knew you had it in you!

 

Just don't call me Shirley....

[Genesis.8572]

Spirit Ranger or Spirit Druid seem like a nice way to play a "shaman." You summon water, burning, frost, earth, electricity, and life/plant spirits. This is probably one of the closest things we have to the old Ritualist apart from the Renegade and Turret Engineer.

[crepuscular.9047]

> @"kharmin.7683" said:> I've always considered a shaman to be in tuned with spirits, not elements. To me, the Revenant is as close as we have in GW2 right now.

> @"Wikipedia" said:> Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner, a shaman, who is believed to interact with a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct these spirits or spiritual energies into the physical world, for healing or some other purpose.

[kharmin.7683]

Thanks @"crepuscular.9047" That's pretty much how I've thought about what a shaman is.

[Chaba.5410]

The spirits have to choose you. Shamans usually get physically sick and only recover after they've accepted the spirits.

[Tiilimon.6094]

I'm just playing scrapper engi as a shammy, heals, mitigates and cleanses by using all sorts of strange trickery and concoctions.

Also using flute for mystique and spiritual healing.

 

Shaman is just a clever fellow, there's no need for magic when the world is already magical enough.

[seraph shay.6170]

I suppose I didn't think as far as ya'll. I simply saw the shamans in the newly released story content and instantly loved them.

[BadSanta.6527]

Careful what you wish for , I always wanted to be druid “the mage of the forest “ (maybe a shapeshifter) but look what i got ...... maple stoey cleric with the name druid

[Ryou.2398]

Generally shamans in fantasy games I have played have had spiritual buffs, like one user saids they connect with the spirit world which actually is more related to real shamanism, but usually they also get some lightning and animal shifting or summon abilities, as well as some earthly spells, but then again so do druids.

[Fueki.4753]

> @"BadSanta.6527" said:

> Careful what you wish for , I always wanted to be druid “the mage of the forest “ (maybe a shapeshifter) but look what i got ...... maple stoey cleric with the name druid

 

To be fair, The term Druid is filled with as much ambiguity as the term Shaman.

 

In reality, the term is almost exclusively used to describe the highest ranking religious leaders in the Celtic culture.

In games, they have a wide variety from simple Nature mages like in GW2 to the weird form shifters in WoW.

The Druid in Rift is primarily a Spirit Summoner.

 

In games Druids were (as far as I know) mostly used as buffers/healers, just like other classes fashioned after real life religious positions (like Priests, Paladins, Monks in GW2).

I think the GW2 Druid fits that pattern.

 

Maybe Shaman will be the next elite spec for Ele, giving them a better healer/support function as well (with Tempest being reworked into a Attunement-camping dps).

[Westenev.5289]

I mean, a Revenant is kind of a shaman. They can talk to dead people (spirits) through the mists, and can deal damage and heal and enhance allies (typically a shamans role in a rpg). That said, they're more of a melee class than a caster... but maybe a future Espec could change that?

[Fueki.4753]

> @"Westenev.5289" said:

> I mean, a Revenant is kind of a shaman. They can talk to dead people (spirits) through the mists, and can deal damage and heal and enhance allies (typically a shamans role in a rpg).

 

Originally, the concept was that we channel the memories of the Mists about certain individuals and events surrounding them, not actual spirits.

That's why I think the small talk with the characters was a bad addition.

 

But the original, interesting concept was completely ruined with the additions of Renegade, which suddenly turns us into budget Ritualists and summon actual Charr spirits, rather than memories of the Mists.

 

> That said, they're more of a melee class than a caster...

Shamans in WoW also have a Melee specialization. Ritualists in GW1 could also successfully be played as melee characters.

I don't think melee fighting is much of a problem when designing a Shaman for a game.

[Fat Disgrace.4275]

Bearshaman looks bad on female, awsome on male

[Sirius.4510]

I could see Shaman as a new elite spec in next expansion. Revenant would seem a natural fit, or Ranger possibly, or perhaps Elementalist or Necromancer.

 

> @"Fueki.4753" said:

> In games Druids were (as far as I know) mostly used as buffers/healers, just like other classes fashioned after real life religious positions (like Priests, Paladins, Monks in GW2).

> I think the GW2 Druid fits that pattern.

 

I'm not sure whether you've already counted this, but I get the impression most of the "druid" classes in video games are derived in some form from how they were presented in Dungeons and Dragons. As it happens, the D&D version (at least early on; I think it's a bit narrowed down in 5e) seems to have one of the most diverse capability sets; there's the nature-themed magic part, which had a little bit of healing but also things like moving earth and plants around, calling lightning or ice storms, and summoning wild animals; there's an animal companion; there's a shapeshifting component; and a certain amount of combat capability with simple weapons like a staff or a dagger.

The common modern archetype of druids being healers might have come courtesy of EverQuest. They don't appear to have had that focus in other contemporary RPG series, such as Ultima, Might and Magic, or Diablo.

[coso.9173]

To me, a shaman (in video-games) is pretty much your standard elementalist, but dressed in fur and Leathers.

[Doleron.3719]

> @"Chaba.5410" said:

> The spirits have to choose you. Shamans usually get physically sick and only recover after they've accepted the spirits.

 

Whereas most individuals get physically sick *after* accepting spirits.