I have seen this flaoting around for quite some time on the shaman forums ...
"No Blizz dev plays an 80 shaman!"

...and I just wanted to hear your side of it blizz.

So I want to know...

Do any Developers have and frequently play a Shaman in order to provide a balanced first person veiw into the class instead of skewed input from the top .01% of shaman?

If not, why do you not play a shaman?

If you do, the discontent on the shaman forums is evident of a lack of communication between dev and players, perhaps someone could facillitate a collaboration between players and devs to really discuss where the class is as a whole, and not through a vauge poll either.

Edit: Please note, this is NOT a QQ thread, I legitimately want to prove or disprove this rumor once and for all.

Second Edit: Title changed to better reflect the point of this thread which really was to disprove the rumor that no dev has a shaman because it was driving me nuts on the shaman class forum.

If they said yes, would you believe them?

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Q u o t e:
If they said yes, would you believe them?

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Well after seing ghostcrawler's comments on Ankh I am somewhat reluctant to accept that they do, however I would love to hear their input. I am curious.

I just think shaman are somewhat at odds with our creators, and I want to find out why that is. I really don't want this to turn into a blizz bash thread because those go nowhere and don't make anyone happy.

So if any blues are watching please shed some light on this issue.

That's really what this issue boils down to, though, as GC already responded to a similar thread a long time ago.

If they publicized that they played a Shaman (or replace it with any other class you want), what would the responses be like?

"You can't possibly play a Shaman, or else you wouldn't be making these kinds of posts / change justifications"

"You're obviously not playing *my* spec, which is suffering greatly as a result of your patches"

"Are you playing Shaman correctly at all? Because I do and I'm reaching conclusions different to yours"

"At what level are you playing this Shaman? If you were [raiding HTOC] / [playing 1800+ Arenas] the experience would be very different and I think you'd see things my way"

Either you take their responses at face value, or you don't.

If there's a lack of communication, it's because you players tend to be incredibly rude to CMs. I remember the Class Q&A. You Shamans were incredibly mean to the CM that posted there. Perhaps they'd be more willing to talk to you if you didn't cry and whine about every little thing.

Well certain comments I have seen from blizzard show a fundimental lack of understanding for the class and it's mechanics. Such as the logic behind not lowering the ankh CD more.

Like the bit about dying so you could ankh in a different place, that is not at all how the skill works. Or dying to ankh and get mana?! What shaman would do that? You rez with less mana and no buffs. Bad plan. Plus the repair bill part of it.

I mean really it just seems like there is something off.

Once again, even something along the lines of, "We make it a requirement to play every class so we may make a balanced assessment." would put my mind at ease.

You're taking his words far too literally. Tell me, why do you want Reincarnation's CD lowered? To be able to utilize it regularly, correct? The problem is that the developers do not want you to use it regularly because it's a self-res. Soul Stone and Rebirth are different; they require coordination and teamwork.

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Q u o t e:
If there's a lack of communication, it's because you players tend to be incredibly rude to CMs. I remember the Class Q&A. You Shamans were incredibly mean to the CM that posted there. Perhaps they'd be more willing to talk to you if you didn't cry and whine about every little thing.

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No crying or whining here.

When I propose an idea its not a QQ MAKE ME OP request, I don't want to be op. I wan't to be put on par with other dps. Shaman aren't looking to be OP or we wouldn't roll shaman, we are asking for balance and to have our abilities put on par with other similar abilities.

Also it seems like Shaman unintentionally are getting hit the hardest by the new direction of the game, making many shaman feel attacked. I am not defending shameless QQ and Flaming, it is wrong and stupid.

I want more communication and more like an actual Discussion instead of "state your issues" and one blanket statement to adress the entire thread. We need an in depth intelligent conversation between shaman and Devs.

Shaman would have to turn off the QQ and flame.

Blizz would have to turn off the mystic vaugeness and broad statements and get down to brass tax.

They don't have the time or manpower to devote to what you're requesting they do.

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Q u o t e:
You're taking his words far too literally. Tell me, why do you want Reincarnation's CD lowered? To be able to utilize it regularly, correct? The problem is that the developers do not want you to use it regularly because it's a self-res. Soul Stone and Rebirth are different; they require coordination and teamwork.

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Ok then tell me how else the words could be taken?

and clicking a button on the dead guy is not coordination or teamwork.

Nor is clicking two buttons on a guy you think is gonna die before the fight.

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Q u o t e:
They don't have the time or manpower to devote to what you're requesting they do.

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I'm not saying they do it for weeks on end, merely an actual conversation instead of literally one or two blue posts for an entire thread. If anything it would make shaman feel like blizzard cares instead of us feeling like we are being phased out by buff homoginization.

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Q u o t e:


I'm not saying they do it for weeks on end, merely an actual conversation instead of literally one or two blue posts for an entire thread. If anything it would make shaman feel like blizzard cares instead of us feeling like we are being phased out by buff homoginization.

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And they'd have to do it for nine other classes as well. And they'd have to address PvP and PvE. And they'd have to make sure all specs get their turn. Your single scenario has suddenly bloomed into 60 different conversations.

Without trying to derail this into a Reincarnation thread:

Blizzard is very careful on treading ground that they consider to be potentially exploitative.

1. Look at how Druids did not get an out-of-combat rez until WOTLK: The devs were very weary that a Druid would use his Cat Form's stealth combined with an OOC rez to skip large parts of a dungeon. You and I both know that this this very rarely happened and was extremely impractical, but they stuck with that stance for 2 expansions.

2. Look at how spec-switching drains all your mana: The devs are weary that a player would use dual-spec to enhance the power of a single spec, their example being someone dual-specced into Resto/Holy and would switch to that whenever he needed to heal himself.

You and I both know that it's much faster to simply cast the heal on yourself without taking the 10 second spec-switch cast time, but the devs are still afraid of any potential exploitative behavior that could arise from people retaining the use of their resources when using dual-spec.

Reincarnation is the same thing. You and I both know that the examples cited by GC are quite improbable or impractical, but they're still afraid that it would lead to players promoting bad practices. Their examples may not capture what those bad practices would turn out to be, but then again no one saw the "whole raid Soulstoned" gimmick until someone actually did it.

EDIT BECAUSE I REALLY WANT TO EMPHASIZE THIS POINT: Just because GC's examples do not correctly capture how Reincarnation could be "abused" does not mean that it cannot be abused, and they're not willing to take the chance that it will be abused by going ahead and giving them the lower cooldown anyway.

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Q u o t e:

And they'd have to do it for nine other classes as well. And they'd have to address PvP and PvE. And they'd have to make sure all specs get their turn. Your single scenario has suddenly bloomed into 60 different conversations.

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the 9 other classes havent been disgruntled for the past 4 years...

and you wouldnt need seperate conversations for pvp and pve those can be taken at once. the specs would be difficult ya, but it's worth the time. Shaman need an overhaul moreso than any other class to bring them out of the clunky RNG past and into the reliable present.

Remember when Tseric suggested that warrior damage was overpwered because we could "just pop enrage?"

Yeah, that was dope.

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Q u o t e:


the 9 other classes havent been disgruntled for the past 4 years...

and you wouldnt need seperate conversations for pvp and pve those can be taken at once. the specs would be difficult ya, but it's worth the time. Shaman need an overhaul moreso than any other class to bring them out of the clunky RNG past and into the reliable present.

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You're looking at it from an extremely selfish perspective. If you care to look around the forums, every class is complaining about something. Most, if not all, of it is unwarranted, but yet they still complain because it's important to them.

What you're saying is "I should get the attention because I want it." That perspective is wrong and immature.

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Q u o t e:

You're looking at it from an extremely selfish perspective. If you care to look around the forums, every class is complaining about something. Most, if not all, of it is unwarranted, but yet they still complain because it's important to them.

What you're saying is "I should get the attention because I want it." That perspective is wrong and immature.

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Or I am saying that shaman have been putting up valid suggestions for YEARS with no or little aknowledgement from Blizzard. We cried out for a CC for a few years and when we finally got hex it was (and still is) half@$$ed.

We cried out for Reincarnate to be put on par with the new rebirth and LOH and we get a 60 min cd trimmed to 50 mins.

They did an overhaul of ret, why not do the same for shaman?

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Q u o t e:
That's really what this issue boils down to, though, as GC already responded to a similar thread a long time ago.

If they publicized that they played a Shaman (or replace it with any other class you want), what would the responses be like?

"You can't possibly play a Shaman, or else you wouldn't be making these kinds of posts / change justifications"

"You're obviously not playing *my* spec, which is suffering greatly as a result of your patches"

"Are you playing Shaman correctly at all? Because I do and I'm reaching conclusions different to yours"

"At what level are you playing this Shaman? If you were [raiding HTOC] / [playing 1800+ Arenas] the experience would be very different and I think you'd see things my way"

Either you take their responses at face value, or you don't.

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Have my babies?

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Q u o t e:
They did an overhaul of ret, why not do the same for shaman?

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You mean being changed to use Hunter-compatible gear, getting a consistent and reliable mana regen mechanic outside of a single cooldown, increased interactivity via Maelstrom Weapon and Lava Lash, synergy with spell damage talents/abilities via Flametongue Weapon and Lava Lash, removal of the archaic "Shaman-tanking" talents such as Shield Specialization, easier totem management, better totem raid utility, and a pet-based cooldown?

Because Shamans, as a whole, are not bad. It's honestly just that simple. Paladins needed the overhaul to their mechanics. Shamans do not need any drastic changes. Have you already forgotten about the introduction of Wind Shear? Are you familiar with why it exists? That spell, alone, proves the Blizzard does listen to your comments and suggestions. However, you need to accept that they want things a certain way and you need to understand their view on it.

You've still not answered why you want Reincarnation to be at such a low cooldown. The reason for that is simple; the way you'd use it is exactly the reason Blizzard doesn't want it on a short cooldown. Reincarnation is an 'oops' spell, as quoted from another thread. Once it becomes reliable for every fight, Shamans can afford to be a little careless because after all, they can just pop right back up.