Rakurr Shaman Beatdown ;)

[Sigurd]

The following is from the 1/31/2007 patch notes:

- Shaman – Removed two abilities from the Rakurr (wolf) pet that were not intended.

- Shaman – Skin of Rakurr now grants 8% chance to crit instead of 108%.

- Shaman – Skin of Rakurr should now modify chance to crit for auto attack, too.

- Shaman – Skin of Rakurr’s movement speed bonus should no longer stack with other movement speed buffs.

- Shaman – Skin of Tuurgin now properly raises auto attack damage.

- Shaman – You should no longer be able to be in patron form while you have a summoned attendant.

- Shaman – Removed the + spell damage from Skin of Rakurr and lowered the melee damage mod by 2%.

Seems like Rakurr got quite a bit of beatdown. Unfortunately that will be my totem when the time comes (lvl 13 atm)

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I am not concerned about the following:
- Shaman – Removed two abilities from the Rakurr (wolf) pet that were not intended.
=> In Beta I only got to 17 and there were only ever 2 abils and they made 'sense' so it is prob not these they mean (some bite and something else? Bite did liek 70s dmg)
- Shaman – Skin of Rakurr now grants 8% chance to crit instead of 108%.
=> Oops bug
- Shaman – Skin of Rakurr should now modify chance to crit for auto attack, too.
=> Not only is it a bug, its fixing is a Good Thing(TM)

These hurt
- Shaman – Skin of Rakurr’s movement speed bonus should no longer stack with other movement speed buffs.
- Shaman – Removed the + spell damage from Skin of Rakurr and lowered the melee damage mod by 2%.
=> Being in the skin seems less and less useful - of course I am going by memory but the dmg in that form was reduced just before end of beta and didn't seem much different than without it... take away the extra speed and it doesn't seem worth changing into - especially with the removal of the spell dmg bonus. Not sure how hard a hit the lowering of melee dmg is b/c I don't recall if that means 2% off of a +5% / +10% / + 15% / +30% (it isn't 30 but just sayin'...)

I'd love for the Shaman-guy to give us a newly update 'rundown' of the advantages/tradeoffs of the totem types. Right now, I am seeing:
- If you want to pettank/solo: Go Tuurgin.
- If you want to group or solo magic-vulnerable mobs easily - go Hayatet for the huge DPS increase
- If you want to look like a wolf (me lol) and can wait till lv26 to get some sneak abils (if they are still there and if they work since I never got to 26...) go Rakurr.

The others seem to have a benefit to being in the form itself. Prior to the following change:
- Shaman – You should no longer be able to be in patron form while you have a summoned attendant.

I used to think the bonus was that in Wolf, you got to do a bit more dmg melee and spells personally than in human form while your pet did a little more dps than a bear in a grp (it can't tank solo against other than below level/easy mobs) Now, after the changes I think the only benny for the form is the movement...but they ALSO took that away in the same patch...

Feedback anyone? Anyone hit like 16+ with it and remember playing one in Beta?

[Sigurd]

Btw - I posted this on beta boards whenever the subject of:
- Shaman – You should no longer be able to be in patron form while you have a summoned attendant.

was covered...

The Rakurr shaman gets a skill at 15 called 'vicious bite' or some similar name. I assumed this only worked in wolf form, but found it worked anyhow so maybe my point is moot (although I find it wierd it works in any form)

The pet has a special attack that exploits a weakness "bitten" which is only created by the Rakurr Shaman's bite abil ... this made me think they either expected Rakurr Shammy to be in wolf form and with pet to be able to do the combo OR they expected 2 Rakurr to hang and alternate.

Now that I see I can 'bite' with my mace... while in human form... I guess my argument falls apart. However, I really think the abil we get should be renamed to something like "assault" and make the pet's rake or whatever take advantage of the "assaulted" weakness ;P I mean... comeon now ...

[Bludtung]

Maybe it's the whole "Feel the bite of my blade" thing. ha!

[Sigurd]

Well, to be fair - it was my fault.

I never realized in beta (doh) that the 'bite' abil you got when you did the spirit walk worked while NOT in animal form. I mean... something like 'savage bite' or whatever and you get to transform into a wolf... so I ASSumed of course it made sense that that abil was only avail to you in wolf form... since in beta I was always in wolf form, I didn't find out otherwise.

So my bad - my inference argument for why we should expect to be in both form and have the pet is gone.

I still feel some of the other changes, like reducing wolf form speed is a little too much since I see the other 2 forms/pets have much stronger specialization. If the shaman is in a grp at higher levels, maybe the bear isn't good - but the buffs he gets are quite useful to the main tank and the bear is still a good temp offtanker. Phoenix is great in a grp for a 'free' dot and of course mana-related buffs. Wolf - since lost the + to spell dmg also, seems not good to be ever in wolf form but the wolf pet is so minor in dps add, it nearly pays to take the +8% in the form and melee some more... still not as good as the tuurgin melee though.

Tuurgin / Hayatet guys have any envy of Rakurr? It may be I am looking at it wrong since only tried the other pets in beta.