Shaman race dilemma: Re-roll?

[Boarder981]

Thanks for all the great input, guys! I’m still torn about the decision. I actually went ahead and rolled a Troll just to see how it was. Hit level 9 (yay SoW!), but it seemed to take a long time to get there. TBH, I don’t remember how long it took to get to lvl 9 on my Barb, so it could have just felt longer because I know there’s a higher XP penalty. After all, perception is a powerful thing [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]. I’m definitely interested to find out if the Barb penalty actually is 10%. If so, that’s total BS, especially because Barbs don’t have any defining racial benefits.

One thing I DID notice is that since trolls are so large, it’s difficult to click targets in front of me when in 3rd person view. Yeah I know I can use the target nearest/next hotkeys, but a lot of times it’s easier to click. I imagine with an ogre it’s probably worse.

In the end it may just come down to the time factor. If I could play a few hours per day consistently and twink the Troll, then it wouldn’t be such a big deal. Unfortunately that’s not the case, and if the regen won’t be game-changing, then I’m not sure it’s worth the extra time & effort. It’s not that I don’t like Barbs, just that regen has such great synergy with Canni and I think Trolls are a bit cooler.

Any other input is greatly appreciated!

[Darkatar]

Originally Posted by Boarder981 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

One thing I DID notice is that since trolls are so large, it’s difficult to click targets in front of me when in 3rd person view.

Well, at 55 you'll probably spend your life as a bear anyway.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Form_of_the_Great_Bear

[isoka]

Originally Posted by Boarder981 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Thanks for all the great input, guys! I’m still torn about the decision. I actually went ahead and rolled a Troll just to see how it was. Hit level 9 (yay SoW!), but it seemed to take a long time to get there. TBH, I don’t remember how long it took to get to lvl 9 on my Barb, so it could have just felt longer because I know there’s a higher XP penalty. After all, perception is a powerful thing [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]. I’m definitely interested to find out if the Barb penalty actually is 10%. If so, that’s total BS, especially because Barbs don’t have any defining racial benefits.

One thing I DID notice is that since trolls are so large, it’s difficult to click targets in front of me when in 3rd person view. Yeah I know I can use the target nearest/next hotkeys, but a lot of times it’s easier to click. I imagine with an ogre it’s probably worse.

In the end it may just come down to the time factor. If I could play a few hours per day consistently and twink the Troll, then it wouldn’t be such a big deal. Unfortunately that’s not the case, and if the regen won’t be game-changing, then I’m not sure it’s worth the extra time & effort. It’s not that I don’t like Barbs, just that regen has such great synergy with Canni and I think Trolls are a bit cooler.

Any other input is greatly appreciated!

First 14 levels are horrible as a shaman. Then it's getting better and better. Regarding the regen, it is game changing, and especially 51+ where it makes a huge difference compared to non iksars / shamans.
Keep on playing the troll, you won't regret it.

[Nycon43]

Wouldn't call racial regen game changing.

[Crede]

Originally Posted by Nycon43 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Wouldn't call racial regen game changing.

For a class that uses its hp for mana? Yea I’d say it’s pretty game changing. That’s like saying playing an Iksar necro isn’t game changing. It is.

Thousands of extra hp per hour for literally doing nothing. Maybe not for face tanking a named with torpor at 60 it isn’t. But any other normal leveling situation it is, IMO

[Nycon43]

Guess when I think of game changing in this context I mean does it allow you to do something a non-iksar/troll couldn't do. Sure regen/FSI are nice perks but ultimately they don't allow you to do something you normally couldn't do.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Crede [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

For a class that uses its hp for mana? Yea I’d say it’s pretty game changing. That’s like saying playing an Iksar necro isn’t game changing. It is.

Thousands of extra hp per hour for literally doing nothing. Maybe not for face tanking a named with torpor at 60 it isn’t. But any other normal leveling situation it is, IMO

Thousands of extra HP per hour? Below level 50 a Troll/Iksar regens only 3 HP more a tick than a non-Troll/Iksar. That's a net of only 1800 HP per hour, which isn't even thousands ... and that's only IF you never stand for that entire hour (every tick of standing only gives you 1 HP more).

It does get better at the higher levels, but don't discount how long those first 50 levels take. And then even at higher levels it's only a difference of 7 (at 51-55) or 10 (at 55-59), for a total of 4200/hour or 6000/hour.

Now, factor in that that the Barbarian has a 10% less experience penalty, and so only needs to earn 91.7% of the XP each hour that the Troll needs. Does 1800 HP an hour make up for that? Also consider that it takes time to convert that HP to mana: at level 39 when the Shaman first gets Cann II they can get about 800 mana from that HP ... from about 27 castings of Cannibalize II.

To be fair, the ratio gets better as the Shaman goes up in level from there, or they could be more efficient (but need more casts) by using Cannibalize I (or less efficient with fewer casts once they get Cann III). But look, the Troll will already be behind the Shaman however long 27 casting of Cann II takes (assuming they convert all the HP into mana; if not it will take a less casts ... but then HP doesn't help you level as fast as mana does). The Troll needs to not just make up for that time (not just once per level, but per hour played), but also (more significantly) the 8.3% of a level the Barb gets from the XP penalty difference.

Since different levels take different amounts of time to gain it's hard to properly compute things, but the point I'm trying to make is that some extra HP (that you still have to convert to mana) every hour is just not going to make the Troll/Iksar sail through the levels while the Barbarian lags behind: it's going to be the opposite.

But don't get me wrong: regen is great, and even if it doesn't mean leveling faster than the Barb, it does seriously help make up for the increased XP penalty, and it mean less time sitting on your ass during that leveling (which pretty objectively makes them "more fun" to level, in that sense). And at 60, even with Torpor, Troll regen still beats Barbarian's racial non-powers of faction and polar bear illusion (since FashionQuest is hard to quantify).

I'm just saying that I don't buy that overall Troll regen makes Trolls level faster than Barbarians, because when I crunch the numbers it doesn't look like it does.

[Cillaz]

2 options - Re roll : knowing that it will take a long time to get 51 (plus all the skills, spells, quests, keys, faction etc you earnt along the way)
Dont re-roll and get a fungi - regen dealt with.

youll probably get 51-60 in the same time as 1-51 on a troll. Torpor can be gained in groups in seb, or from guilds via raids, its not as hard as some think.

[Wallicker]

At level 60 when your sitting as a troll/iksar it’s like having an extra chloroplast on, I don’t play a shaman but don’t y’all keep your regen spell up 24/7? All ya gotta do is sit and get insta chloroplast that stacks with everything...could make this debate if you were an ogre, or thought barbarian looked cooler but that’s not the case. Sell everything on your barb and buy a fungi or iksar regen bp and a decent weapon and head to upper Guk / com /HHK and you’ll be level 55, full faction and a bear in a couple months as a troll.

[Crede]

Originally Posted by Wallicker [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

At level 60 when your sitting as a troll/iksar it’s like having an extra chloroplast on, I don’t play a shaman but don’t y’all keep your regen spell up 24/7? All ya gotta do is sit and get insta chloroplast that stacks with everything...could make this debate if you were an ogre, or thought barbarian looked cooler but that’s not the case. Sell everything on your barb and buy a fungi or iksar regen bp and a decent weapon and head to upper Guk / com /HHK and you’ll be level 55, full faction and a bear in a couple months as a troll.

Great post. Do this.

Getting to 51 is extremely easy if you know how to ride the zem wave. Barb will make for a good naggy vox toon