I have a Lvl 17 Barbarian Shaman and I love it! Out of all the alts I have he's the best solo'er (Crusader, Summoner, Monk, Warrior)The wards are awesome, and the Slows, and dots and weakening debuffs make solo'ing much easier.
Myself and an 18 Warrior paired up and camped crows in the N. Fields with no problem, fights got ugly sometimes but we had no deaths and got some killer XP.
Among other spells, Shammy's get a Phantasm Spell that confuses npc's to get agro off them, it's an AoE spell, so in tight situations when all seems lost, you can cast this and run! run! run! But works well in groups too if you get agro.
SoW is not as fast as in EQ1, but it's effect seems to get better with higher levels, and it's the only buff that lasts outside the group if the Shaman leaves group or dies, which can come in handy for those dresswearers to kick up their heels and run!
Overall, I would say Shaman are a very well round Class, and it was said during beta that they we're. I can't comfirm this because I haven't played a Druid yet, but I did have a cleric in beta, and my shaman is much easier to play, and frankly more fun IMHO. So don't no Clerics go flaming me, because thats just my play style, I'm sure there are clerics that feel their Class is awesome as well.
Haven't made it to Mystic yet, so I don't have a lot of info on them, but will post again when I do.
And for all you Priest classes that can swing a G. Hammer, here's a link to the weapon I use, and it works very well for me, as I'm not big on 2hnd'ers. I like my 1hnd'ers and bucklers
http://eq2players.station.sony.com/en/item.vm?itemId=5508