New beta notes (and Shaman spell)
by Mike Schramm 
Dec 15th 2006 at 2:48PM
Curse Gaming has posted the unofficial notes of the newest patch (2.0.3) on the beta BC servers, and in among the newness (Ore stacks to 20, Elite quests renamed to "Group" quests) is a nice little tidbit for Shammies like myself: a new spell called "Totemic Recall."That's right, we can finally, finally remove our totems from the ground. Shaman have been asking for this for a long time-- totems grab aggro and have a short lifespan, so anytime a patrol happens to run by a totem you've left in your wake, your group gains an add, and it heads straight for you. Not so bad if you're Enhancement, not so great if you're the main healer in an instance. There are ways around it right now; whenever I see a totem in the way of an oncoming mob currently, I can just drop a totem of the same element in an out-of-the-way place, and it removes the first one (because you can't have more than one totem at a time down from a certain element).
But the problem with that is it takes mana to put another totem down, and considering mana is at such a premium with us already, it's a pain. That's why Totemic Recall is so neat: every time you hit it (no cooldown in the notes-- if you're in the beta, please let me know what it is in the comments below), it'll clear all your totems, and refund you 25% of the mana you spent putting them down. Gets rid of the totems and returns a small part of the mana to you-- now that's productive.
Of course, insert standard disclaimer about how these are beta notes and we may never see this spell in the game. But as a Shaman who needs to clean up his totems every once in a while, I sure hope we do.
Filed under: Shaman, Expansions, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
acariquara Dec 15th 2006 3:18PM
More important, the Black Book nerf:
-Black Book effect changed to "Empowers your pet, increasing pet damage by 100% and increasing pet armor by 100% for 30 sec. This spell will only affect an Imp, Succubus, Voidwalker, or Felhunter."
GG Dec 15th 2006 4:01PM
This is a most wonderful and welcome addition to us Shamans. So if I recall totems 1 second before they disappear, I get 25% mana back? And what if I replace a totem with a new one before it goes away--do I get 25% mana from the replaced totem?
Mino Dec 15th 2006 4:13PM
@1 all scaling trinkets/set bonuses were nerfed this patch.
I don't recall the exact changes but here are some off the top of my head.
Lifegiving Gem(Warrior): Static +health and healing of 1500 instead of 15% hp
Naturally Aligned Crystal(Shaman): +250 dmg/heal costs 20% more mana for spells instead of +20% dmg/heal
Druid crap trinket: set amount of mana reduction on shifting instead of free
Rogue ZG madness trinket: 40 energy instead of 60
Warrior ZG madness trinket: reduced rage given, don't remember value
Black Book(warlock): been mentioned above
3 Piece Trancendance Set Bonus(priest): static m/5 instead of 15% spirit regen while casting(20m/5s I think)
3 Piece Stormrage Set Bonus(druid): Same as above
Feel free to add
Bunkai Dec 15th 2006 4:34PM
w00t!
I'm glad they've finally given us at least ONE thing that we've asked for.
Remove totems and gives back some "Blue Juice", hell, I'd be happy with being able to right-click on their buff icons to remove them like a beneficial buff. Let alone, gettin' some mana back.
Kahja Dec 15th 2006 4:40PM
@2 I too want my spells to serve their purpose then I can click a button and get free mana...
Maybe if active longer than 20 seconds (or something) you get nothing back. Or something a little more reasonable than having a totem do it's entire job then you get free mana.
Kaziel Dec 15th 2006 5:39PM
@Mino: "3 Piece Trancendance Set Bonus(priest): static m/5 instead of 15% spirit regen while casting(20m/5s I think)
3 Piece Stormrage Set Bonus(druid): Same as above"
As much as it pains me to see this, I really understand why they did it. That set bonus was practically unreplaceable. It's an effect that could only be gotten from gear or talents (unless you're a mage...) As a result, people would get and hold onto 3 pieces of Stormrage or Trancendance even at level 70 (and possibly higher...). This set bonus was so powerful because it would scale with level, thus meaning that even if those three pieces were weak, the rest could be strong, and give you what you want. Also, with the changes to how +healing works, for raiding healers mana and the ability to recover mana during a fight have become the two strongest traits in the game. An ability that would give you a lot of mana regen with enough spirit (like the old set bonus gave) is now worth it's weight in gold.
Churm Dec 16th 2006 2:29AM
This is in effect. it costs around 50 silver, trainable at level 30. It is an instant cast with no cooldown or mana cost itself.
Herman Dec 18th 2006 8:17AM
Any changes on the Darkmoon Card: Blue Dragon? On every spell that lands, it gives a 2% chance of 100% mana regen from spirit for 15 seconds, regardless of the five-second-rule. I love this card and paid good money for the Beasts Deck. I would hate to see the effect replaced.