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Leveling 1-80: Enh or Ele?
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Post by
axmojo
I raid as a rogue, and I'm about to start a shaman alt; I aim to level it straight through to 80 and do resto for my main spec. Now, I've read the stickies, I know the differences, I know the best way to do each... what I really want to know now is what people think.
Based purely on experience, what do you all think is the easier/quicker levelling spec: enhancement or elemental?
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Post by
Erethzium
Even though everyone will parrot the line "Enhancement is best!" I find that either Elemental or Enhancement are fine for leveling. It just depends on what you want to do.
Enhancement - Melee
Elemental - Caster
Post by
Booterang
Enhancement. It has better gear options at early levels, and has more a more 'leveling friendly' talent build. (though both specs take level 40+ to really get interesting).
Enhance is also capable of soloing group quests once the player learns feral spirits, whereas an elemental shaman is not capable of killing elites as easily. By the same token, enhance also spends much less time drinking and eating after mob kills.
At level 80 both specs become about the same, though enhance still is superior at grinding/soloing content.
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361041
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Post by
ZoraLink
Enhancement. It has better gear options at early levels, and has more a more 'leveling friendly' talent build. (though both specs take level 40+ to really get interesting).
Enhance is also capable of soloing group quests once the player learns feral spirits, whereas an elemental shaman is not capable of killing elites as easily. By the same token, enhance also spends much less time drinking and eating after mob kills.
At level 80 both specs become about the same, though enhance still is superior at grinding/soloing content.
I would disagree. I leveled from 1-80 as elemental while another (alliance shaman, as compared to the first being a horde), with enhancement. I leveled almost exactly the same on each, slightly easier on the elemental one due to having the heirloom shoulders from my priest.
I would also disagree with enhancement being able to solo stuff better. Both can do it fine. Enhancement just has passive health regeneration through the wolves, while an elemental shamans just blasts things with lava burst then can heal up quickly and more effectively than enhancement due to their higher spell power and clear casting.
Post by
axmojo
if you're going to go the heirloom route then elemental is a fun change of pace from the constant melee damage you must've done on your rogue by now.
are there any reasonable heirloom weapons for either spec? as far as i can tell, there are no axes, fists, or melee maces for enhancement and only one caster mace for elemental. is a staff a viable option?
Post by
Punkenjoy
There is a spellpower mace if you level ele
for enh there is not a lot of option. you can always use the dagger but enh sham with quick weapon = not that much dps.
i lvled enh and for the first 45 lvl i used Bloodied arcanite reaper. it helped a lot but after lvl 40-45 when you start getting Stormstrike, DW and other stuff, it's a lot faster to use 2 slow weapon in each hand. i bought some cheap at the AH or i took some in quest reward.
one of coolest thing for lvling a enh shaman is when you get maelstrom weapon. it's very nice to get a instant cast healing wave in the middle of a fight when you run low HP.
but i think the most important thing to level quickly and succesfully a toon is to enjoy it. if you enjoy playing ele, play ele, if it's enh, play enh.
Even if everyone tell you to lvl enh, if you don't like it, you will find that's a long way to 80
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Post by
Avandare
First shammy lvl'd all the way enhancement. Heaps of fun and is my main (check sig). Second shammy lvl'd all the way elemental (
currently 60
). Heaps of fun as well but a tad slower until I got Lighting Overload (douple CL procs FTW).
To be honest, killing multiple mobs is easier (even faster) as elemental than enhancement. Magma => CL => Heal => CL => Heal is really great for pulling 4+ mobs of a similar lvl to myself.
Play whatever you feel like.
Post by
windstrum
I play Elemental/Resto in end-game, yet I wouldn't level any other way than Enhancement. In the context of soloing and questing, its a blast. Not to mention easy to gear as you go. Elemental will be a tad more boring, a tad slower, and a tad harder to gear.
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Post by
windstrum
If you're planning on healing at L80, I'd suggest Enhancement until L70 and then switch to Elemental so you could start collecting spellpower gear for healing.
I don't even think this is necessary, if you didn't want to go that way. You can still collect enhancement gear right up until your last 5-10 quests in Storm Peaks/Icecrown, when you can then start taking spell power quest rewards. Particularly with the blue quest rewards, it should put you in a good position to start healing at level 80.
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