Ep, the Shaman is surprisingly fun to play. I like the utility of hunters, and shaman have many similar characteristics.
- Fighting a Mob and you pick up an add? A hunter can drop a freezing trap. A shaman can drop a stoneclaw totem.
- Need to kite a mob? hunter uses concussive shot to slow down the mob. A shaman can use earthbind or frost shock.
- Need to pull a mob away from a group? A hunter can either pet pull or shot pull (with misdirect at level 70). A shaman can pull with lightning or a shock.
Shamans have much better melee capability then hunters. Shamans can kill mobs of much higher level just like hunters. Shamans can self heal. Shamans have an array of cool group buffs and can pretend to be a main healer.
Hunters have some advantages that I like: Hunters rarely have to melee if played competently. Send in a pet and fire away. Hunters have superb agro control with feign death and disengage. Hunters traps provide superior crowd control.
So far, I’m very happy that I chose a shaman as my healing alt.