I know, late to the finish line for the BA topic as usual but better late than never, eh?

I’ve played a variety of classes - some to 70 and some not - and have experienced a wide range of play-styles amongst them.   There are two classes, though, which draw me in completely: Druid and Shaman.  I’ve always been a bit of a nature-lovin’ hippy at heart - I don’t kill critters and I’ve hugged lots of trees.  I like the ‘nature’ of the classes (harhar) and how they play but for very different reasons.

Druids

Versatile, Graceful, Strong, Fast

Druids are the jack-of-all-trades - even unspecced they can fulfil any role in a pinch and fully specialised are a force to  be reckoned with.

Doing anything as a druid has always felt slightly graceful to me, in that I feel there is a nice flow to my actions - one leads to the next which brings you to the next.  There are so many buttons and so many ways to do things that one has a plethora of choice and can turn any situation around like some sort of choreographed dance.

Druids are also strong -  when the goin’ gets tough they hunker down and can outlast a flurry of blows under a thick fur hide or protected by barkskin.  In leather gear they’re no pushovers and even our caster form has a big, feathery shell to protect them!

The nature of hots and other instant abilities makes this class feel very ‘fast’ paced for me - though I guess that might just be lack of practice!

Shamans

Solid, Strong, Powerful, Flexible

Whilst I think of druids as versatile - able to take on another role in a pinch - I think of shamans as flexible.  Why? Well, I’ve spent a lot of my time as a resto shaman in any other group except the healer group - I buff the melee or casters most often and, although I may not have the buffed totems that enhance or elemental do, I am still able to provide some measure of benefit to almost any group I join.  I can tweak my totem set-up and tailor it to the needs of my party - flexibility within my chosen role.

Shamans are healers in mail.  Not as tough as paladins maybe but they have a shield and can take a few bumps and bruises in a dire situation - they also tend to have reasonably high health pools and generally survive better than their squishier leather and cloth counterparts.  I’m a big fan of survivability so this aspect of shamans is greatly appealing to me.  The fact I can add an Earth Shield to that and make a warrior get so bored of lesser healing wave spam that he walks away has always tickled me.

Resto is my chosen spec and, despite being a little focussed on one particular spell, I do feel it is a powerful one - not only in terms of ‘efficiency, hps, etc.’ but when my chain heal connects it hits reaonably big.  As much as I do like being a resto druid from time to time I admit that it can be a little disconcerting having to wait for all the little numbers to add up…

But what about rogues, etc.?

As much as I do love my rogue and enjoy playing him, and although his ‘personality’ is more in line with my own, I don’t feel I am, deep inside, a roguey type.  Maybe the hugging sorta gives that away?  I like happy, cheerful and strong - which is why of all races I chose a dwarf for my rogue.  I can be happier playing a dwarf rogue than any other race but as much as I loved my big swords I’d hang them up in a moment for a good sturdy staff or hefty, healy mace.

Overall

I think that both druids and shamans are the best fit classes for me - playing both gives me the ability to help others and be a strong solo player - druid gives me the ability to play a complex, graceful class with many twists and turns to it and shaman gives me a nice, earthy, solid and dependable healer to help my teammates with.