Is It My Year?

Tap Tap.  Is this thing still on?

After my brief dalliance with the Arcane as Mage, I thought I had returned to my Shaman for good.  But no, this time I went even further and completely betrayed my Shamanistic roots by switching to Warlock for the new expansion!
Even worse... an Orc Warlock!

After such a betrayal, how could I come to post on this Shaman blog?
It just wouldn't be right.

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it, let's move on :)

So why post now?
Well... I'M BACK!!
Yes, the Shaman is now a troll but he's back ready to take over in 8.1

Dismayed by the constantly poor position of the Shaman and the proposed changes for BfA, I was determined to play something which would be decent no matter what was thrown at it so chose the Warlock.

Demonology was the spec that really interested me so that's how I prepared and levelled, typically it was brokenly poor when the raids opened up (and before) so not really viable.

Affliction was the go-to spec for pretty much every situation so I reluctantly switched over.
The thing with Affliction is that it's all about those DoTs, and keeping those DoTs up takes a fair amount of concentration with all the other stuff going on.

This did not fit very well with me being raid leader...
Learning a new spec/class is one thing
Learning to raid with that spec is another
Learning to raid with that spec in new fights is another
Learning to raid with that spec while raid leading new fights is a whole other thing altogether!

I couldn't do it.

After every raid, I felt disappointed with my performance as both a Warlock and a Raid Leader.
I'm just not good enough to do that, I thought doing it from the start of the expansion might give me the time to become comfortable enough on the Warlock to allow it but it didn't.
I even had to ask for a night off raid-leading on one Heroic clear so I could do some half-decent dps and show the newer people in the guild that I could actually play the game.

It's a shame as I really thought I could do good things with the Warlock but don't really feel like I had the opportunity.
It was similar to the Mage, and a similar reason for switching back.  To be a decent RL, I need to be playing my Shaman!

Thankfully, the 8.1 changes are looking good for Elemental.  As long as the damage balancing is done properly (hahahaha), we should be fine.

That is the really sad part of this... my Shaman is only a few ilvls behind my Warlock now as I prepare for the change but even if I played it perfectly, I would still do more damage playing the Warlock as poorly as I do.

Ah well, I feel like the Warlock ship has sailed now.  It's Shaman time once more, which at least allows me to feel good about my play (and a bit better about my raid leading).

Or is it Shaman time?
The latest rumblings around the guild are that our main tank wants to switch back to his hunter!
Maybe it's time for me to step up!
I've boosted a paladin, sent her to Zuldazar and set her spec to Prot.
Ok, she's still 110 and I have no xp but...

Is it finally my year?