Not much to say other than i think the class should get a overall rework on its kit, dividing into succession and awakening as everyone else etc etc... I dont think anyone disagrees that the class is way too strong in group pvp and lacks on solo capabilites. And especially its unfun to play with. This is refferring to nodewars and sieges, capped ones, its 100% unfun to play the class, no one likes it.

Im not sure why you are trying to make Shai like every other class. It was never intended to be like the other classes.

While they should rework her I doubt PA want to change her from being a meme class into a proper one.

If this is the case shai should deviate further to compensate

Path A, B and C (Combat, life and Gear/Item) should be up to par or deviate further in a positive way rather than be a burden)

Path A Awakening and succession brings a lot to the table for each class

Path A for shai No real succession, the attacks are strong, Sol cannot be caphras'd in any sort of way - No Blackstar Sol - No 42+ monster damage Sol - No Godyr Sol - No hopes of any kind of sol added besides the dated one from release. Sounds excited for being a little different huh..

B Yeh Joy of gathering / Alchemy..great, passives you forget you even have after a certain point. No Doom wolf, No winged Alpaca, No horned Donkey. 10% life skill buff on Kro donkey gear that takes 60+ days of dailys each piece leading to the last pieces sold on market being in 2019. Sure shai starts at higher gathering to be a made-and-forget when needed alt for people. Shes really not that different and unique here. Sure she can kill 7-9 Rhinos a minute using Sun moon and stars + roll before switching to matchlock while hunting; but theres already a huge wave of petitions from Striker/mystic hunters to get that nerfed or gated in some way. 

C Drak can craft a unique all in one church buff at 56+ Sage has its Ancient location farming access

Shai-There is music skill creation that offers no combat benefits at all with the skill itself gated behind dailies. 44 days is a common average to access everything that it is from beginner set to marni - 32 if you just hop in 4billion on silver/mats for the last bits that is marni.

Even access to the Alpaca is daily gated that offers zero benefit to the player and, the alpacas sprint skill (slower than running) uses running stamina as if it was as fast as running or a horse (meaning your waiting a ful minute every time it depleats as if your running on auto path without the actual speed modifiers of just running as normal.)

Sure shai is different in many ways but it comes to a point where pissing glass shards may be different or new but it still sucks.

Riddle me this then, if shai such a good design for an "enjoyment" class, why do we keep getting all combat classes and not a single one similar to shai?

If it was never meant to be a combat class, explain this:

The class performs at the same levels as others yet it can't defend it's spot.

If it was meant to be for the casual to just chill and enjoy the game, why are the casuals forced to suffer through enhancing their sols while the other classes have the option to get their weapon with a single click?

Why is it that music is shai's whole thing and PA first restricted the feature to shai, and now they decided everyone gets it. How the fresh hell does that work? 

How can accept their excuses for not fixing the class when the devs make design decisions going against their oh so sacred vision left and right?

Let me spell it out for those who think dev's excuses vision is a valid argument:

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN "ENJOYMENT" CLASS, THE CLASS YOU ENJOY IS THE ENJOYMENT CLASS. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A RP CLASS, THE CLASS YOU DECIDE TO RP WITH IS THE RP CLASS. THEY HAVE LITERALLY HAVE NO VALID EXCUSE TO KEEP SHAI OUT OF THE LINE OF THE OTHER CLASSES. 

We keep getting combat classes and not enjoyment classes because its a niche archetype. Not many players are really satisfied with playing a mascot or supportive or roleplaying character. for the players that do enjoy and do want that sort of gameplay shai exists. Theres no need to add more because the archetypal niche is already satisfied by the shai herself.

As far as why shai can pull decent trash, I think they should be able to be great in pve. The game is in a lot of ways mostly based around pve and grinding. Shai are quite good at grinding and are already irreplaceable for groub pased content. I dont think any of these things clash with their dentity as an enjoyment class.

Again, there is not such thing as a dedicated rp or enjoyment class. You enjoy what you enjoy, and you rp with what you rp with. There is no niche to be filled in that way, as it is the part of the game that should not be restricted to a singular class.  I can go gather with my musa, farm with my zerker, or go sailing on a corsair, i can look cute with my guardian.

Let's tally the so called enjoyment features the shai has:

-The privilege of needing to purchase a dp set gear so they can buffbot for their guild in pvp

-The privilege of their awakening being a glorified buff bot

-The privilege of needing to enhance their own sol instead of just buying it off the market like all the other classes

-The inability of copying their awakening weapon like the other classes using the tag system

-The inability to go toe to toe with a similarly geared class in order to defend their grinding spot, in a game where the devs think open world pvp is a core part of their game

-Jankier lifeskilling experience in active lifeskills compared to the "normal" classes

and in exchange you get:

-A bad donkey mount(here is where i note shais couldn't even ride horses for a while, effectively gimping their travel too)

-Marginal increase in effiency in afk lifeskills (weight passive)

-Starting out as pro 1 in alchemy and gathering (you can achieve this in a couple hours on any character, the only thing this is good for is making milk alts)

-An alpaca whose only purpose is to be screenshotted

-Making music(soon(tm) to be released to other classes)

-Uncanny dances imported from DokeV (will probably released to other classes like the composing will be)

-A joke donkey for april's fools (which the devs also won't release, even after the players asked for an awakening feature with the same mechanics as horses)

Regarding the buffbot role the shai fills, in no other MMO the task is relegated to a single class. If there is a niche playstyle that needs to be filled, you won't find a singular class filling the whole role. You won't find THE support or THE healer class in most MMOs in recent memory with the sole exception(that i know of) of New World where the healing is relegated to lifestaff users, but that game is young and with really troubled development(but they teased a new weapon that is rumored to be another support type).

When i talk about failed experiments, i mean that there was nothing unique being tried with classes after shai (to a lesser extent archer, but he is just another class with his full kit combined into one from the get go). Their biggest innovation with classes was releasing two at the same time. If their experiments were well received or successful, you can bet there would be more types of them running around.

I think if one class is good at grinding mobs, then it should be good for defending their spot in a game whose devs see open world pvp as a core tenet.

All shai players ask is to not be gimped over stupid reasons, but even a small change like being able to buy a not vomit inducing underwear required several years of crusading of the community.

Im not sure what you mean by there is no enjoyment class. Shai is an enjoyment class. Its literally what the devs have labeled her. You might not like it, but it is what it is. Maybe you think it shouldnt exist.

I suppose my main question to shai players who always ask for these changes is Why did you pick this when you knew what the class was from the beginning? Its no secret that the shai isnt intended for pvp. Theres no way you diddnt hear about it before or slightly after you chose shai. Why then did you pick the class that cannot compete in pvp when obviously you actually wanted something else?

I imagine that at the beginning you thought you diddnt really care about it not being solo pvp viable and thats fair enough, but as your desires in the game change thats why people reroll to other classes. If what you want as a player has drifted from when you originally chose this class, just move on to something else instead of trying to change this class from what it was intended to be.