Patch 5.4 patch notes
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The latest patch 5.4 newsBlessing of Wisdom and Mana Stream totem go exclusive
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 11th 2009 at 2:30PM
Eyonix has posted some bad news for Pallies and/or Shamans on the forums: the Shaman's Mana Spring totem, while still providing a raid-wide buff, won't play nice with the Paladin's Blessing of Wisdom spell. The two mana regen buffs will essentially be equivalent, but won't stack in the upcoming content patch.The reasoning? Eyonix says that Blizzard feels that Pallies and Shamans brought too many unique buffs to a group, and that this change was designed to pull in an either/or choice: either Pallies can hit up Blessing of Wisdom, and Shaman can go with Healing Stream (which isn't, apparently, being combined with the Mana Spring totem as we first heard) or do some cleansing with their Water totem slot, or Shaman can use the raid-wide Mana Spring, leaving Paladins open to use Blessing of Kings.
Which makes a strange kind of sense, even though lots of Pallies and Shammies will likely be disappointed to hear of one less unique buff they can bring to a raid. There is one hidden benefit here, however: since raids were previously recieving both benefits together (and now can only get one or the other), we can probably look forward to a buff for at least one (since the Totem suffers the weakness of not being portable, you'd expect it to have some extra ability) or both.
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
Muse Mar 11th 2009 5:47PM
I honestly already thought they were mutually exclusive. It seemed sensible considering all the other buff consolidations.
hpavc Mar 11th 2009 6:22PM
You thought you couldn't have the effects of blessing of wisdom and a mana totem in your group?
Probably because no shaman are high enough level to have mana spring totem in deadmines with you.
Muse Mar 11th 2009 9:40PM
I didn't see why Wis/Mana totem would be an exception from all the other buff consolidations. And apparently the developers agree with me.
apoxic Mar 11th 2009 10:00PM
Because Mana Spring has always only supplied it to you group. Also, see all the other drawbacks of totems, I can't be arsed to list them all again..
Radiophonic Mar 11th 2009 6:03PM
Nerf spirit-based mana regen, then take away stacking mp5 spells/abilities. What's left?
tonedeff Mar 11th 2009 7:15PM
Anyone know why they aint combining Mana&healing totem?
GC said they had something else planned for the mana totem, Any idea what that is?
mitch Mar 11th 2009 9:46PM
Because GC is a pathetic excuse for a dev.
I stayed off the hatewagon for a long time. He's shown his colours one too many times for me to have any respect for his ability.
CSJenova Mar 12th 2009 6:14PM
@mitch
Because Ghostcrawler is the one completely in charge of everything, amirite?
He is the lead, that doesn't mean he calls the shots. He has said repeatedly they operate on a consensus basis, so the entire team finds a balance everyone can agree on. Now all you REALLY want is a scapegoat....so I guess GC fits that bill for you, and the other bandwagon riders, just fine. If the game is going in a direction you don't like, then leave, but the developers run the show, now you.
Gyft Mar 12th 2009 5:32AM
Hi, I'd like to apply to join your guild
sorry we already have a shaman
nitroneo Mar 12th 2009 8:47AM
I believe this may be a poor decision by Blizz, and this is why.
When a Paladin buffs a raid and then dies during a fight the buffs stay intact on the other raid player. When a Shaman dies the totems disappear and the "Buffs" also disappear.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Haeranu Mar 17th 2009 6:03PM
I am sooo happy I've been working on my priest and left my resto sham behind. Pity he's the one that's current on holiday achievements.
Namahst Mar 12th 2009 5:38PM
Remove totems please and be done with it!
With all the buff consolidation theres little point to totems now other than to take 6% of my mana every 5 minutes to recast them
If I need to move in a fight, like in most fight I just dont bother using totems at all.
If a totem followed a Shaman around like a little train or maybe rotate round a Shaman like a shield or even make Totemic Call summon the totems to the Shaman, then it could be possible to make some use of them otherwise they are pointless.
Shaman are by no means Over Powered and could use a general class boast, I dont mean a spec boast either. Just a little something to make Shaman in general that little bit better.
Mallek Mar 12th 2009 8:34PM
""make Totemic Call summon the totems to the Shamaan"
This.... is a brilliant idea.
ShammyGuy Mar 12th 2009 11:35PM
Awesome:
"Blizzard feels that Pallies and Shamans brought too many unique buffs to a group, and that this change was designed to pull in an either/or choice:"
well, it's a simple choice, bring the paladin. They wear plate, top dps charts, and their buffs are better, can bubble themselves or others in trouble. The "unique" buffs were all the same, just the pallies are better. 550 ap for might, vs str totem at combined 176 str +agil (that's 352 ap), +10% all stats vs +10% ap when it happens to proc, wisdom blessing vs mana spring. consecrate vs fire nova totem....
Well, at least now I get to give up my raid spot to DK's AND pallies..woot. time to dump the enhancment shammy for a hunter.
Bella Mar 17th 2009 9:26AM
LOL .. I hear this one all the time about it being a group concensus on what would be good. Committee decisions rarely end up with what was intended.
A committee is formed to design the next generation of racehorse. Some members of the committee would like to see longer legs so that greater distance is covered per stride. Others would like to see fantastic endurance. Oh Oh .. a long neck to give an advantage in photo finish situations and wider hooves so that slow tracks are less of an effect.
What did the committee set out to design - a racehorse
What did the committee actually design - a camel
Stop tinkering with what works - fix what is broken. If it is too hard to design instances to challenge players as they stand now without nerfing them to the ground ... that is a really sad comment to the imagination of the developers.
Ferdii Mar 17th 2009 5:06PM
I just hope that Blizzard know where they're going with this...
The decrease in mana regen, the lifebloom double mana cost dealy, and now an either / or buff for two more healers.