General Talent Tree InfoFollow

Some basics that i thought would be good on paper for some noobs out there. Experienced players might find a tibbit they didn't know so here i go.

All talent trees get an Ability/Passive that will only cost 1 point, and will make a big difference in playing style(well some do). This talent that cost 1 point will come in each three talent trees.

So in order to get this skill u'll have to spend, 11, 21, or 31 points. I'll call the skill u get @ 11 tier 1, the talent @ 21 tier 2, and talent @ 31 tier 3.

Or easier way to look @, and some personal rating on it.

Tier 1
Elemental Focus - VERY GOOD. You cannot have your game around this talent, but when it kicks in 2+ more times in a row you'll love it.
2 handed axes and maces - GOOD. Staff's the normal 2 handed weapon is a highly valued and rolled on item. While 2 handed axes and maces are equal if not better stats, can only be used by few classes. Few classes = fewer people rolling for them, the more likely you'll get it. One bad point in this talent is that everytime you respec your talents, you will have to retrain your two handed wpns if u wish to use em again.

combat endurance - CRAP CRAP CRAP. Maybe i can't see the difference, maybe there is no difference. But this is crap. But if someone has a pleasent experience with it, plz post.

Tier 2
Elemental Fury - VERY GOOD. Normal spell Crits do 50% increase of damage, this makes it 100%. At lv 60, my earth shock does around 550, so when it crits it has 1100 instead of 800 damage. I like doing more than 1000 damage :)
Parry - GOOD. Good for soloing. At higher lvls you will not be tanking anything other than soft targets.
Nature's Swiftness - GOOD. Good for that emergency heal. But the problem with this ability is the word EMERGENCY. Rarely used on the offense.


Tier 3
Elemental Mastery - GOOD. If you have this, then i'll assume you have elemental fury. Works very well with chain lightning, all three hits of chain lightning do crit. Just an auto crit every 5 minutes can save your life in PvE. And it is fun in Pvp.
Stormstrike - BAD. The number 1 reason i hate this ability is the mana cost, and the chance that the attack can miss like a noraml attack(nothing like spending 400+ mp for an miss). the 20% increase does look nice, but given that my earth shock does only 550 damage, it's only an increase of 200 damage.
Mana tide totem - NO EXPERIENCE, I've not experienced this spell. So i cannot make a clear comment on it. But Rank 3 Totem gives 960 mana in 12 secs. Mages at this time have around 7k+ mp so it's a drop in a bucket. Not saying bad, just not that great.

At lv 60 you will only have 51 points, and so you'll have to make a choice in our your talents are put in, here's what i've called each type.

Specialist - Spending at least 31 points in 1 talent tree. You will have a tier 1,2 and 3 abilites of one talent tree. And 1 tier 1 ability of another tree.

Duelist - Spending at least 21 points in 2 talent trees. Will get u two tier 1 and tier 2 abilities.

Generalist - Spending 21 points in 1 talent tree, and 11 points in 2 others. You will have all tier 1 abilities, with 1 tier 2 ability.


Things i've tried.

Enchancement Specialist, No Totem Improvements- used this til lv 40 when i got stormstrike and was disapointed by it. Very good @ soloing, and even in group situations you will be pleased.

Enchancement Specialist, With Heavy Totem Improvements - I found this to be the most disapointing talent build. The talents i spent in the totems didnt' seem to improve them that much. My solo abilities were weaker than the specialist mentioned above. I tried this @ low 40's.

Generalist - Fun, useful, and overall good. Good at soloing, and had alot of fun with. BUT the few points i had in elemental really made an improvement, and doing generalist just made me decide to do...

Elemental Specialist with Enchancement - Is what i have @ lv 60. Fun for pk and useful for pve. This is the most offensive a shaman can get.

What i'll Try nxt -
Elemental and Restoration Duelist. Nature's swiftness for PvP, and i still love the elemental tree. But will miss Elemental Mastery.