A video look at the new Shaman toolbar
by Mike Schramm 
Jun 26th 2009 at 9:00AM
Here's a great video from Arawn of CrusaderAura.com that offers up a first look at the new Shaman totem interface coming in patch 3.2. As expected, you'll soon be able to drop four totems all at the same time, as well as eventually (you'll need to be in the higher levels somewhere) have a few different sets of totems to drop whenever you want. As you can see, you have four slots, one for each type of totem, and then you can switch each of those on each of your Call of Air, Water, and Fire settings. Finally, the last button on the right is Call of Earth, which used to be called Totemic Recall, and will let you call all of the totems back, getting a little mana back for each.
It looks like it works great (save for, of course, the small bug with no cooldown on the elemental totems, but we're sure Shamans won't have a problem with that, right?). The bottom line is that Shamans will only need one button and one cooldown to smack their totems down wherever they want -- you can still light up totems on their own by pressing their buttons, but if you just hit the Call button, then you'll get them all, in the same cooldown with the usual mana cost. It'll be interesting to see what kinds of UI hooks are in this thing as well, and how it might work with addons. But that's for the future -- for now, it looks like Blizzard has done a great thing for Shamans here.
Patch 3.2 will bring about a new 5, 10, and 25 man instance to WoW, and usher in a new 40-man battleground called the Isle of Conquest. WoW.com will have you covered every step of the way, from extensive PTR coverage through the official live release. Check out WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2 for all the latest!Filed under: Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Talents, Buffs
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Zarfay Jun 26th 2009 9:07AM
Looks great, I can't wait for this :D
Naix Jun 26th 2009 9:13AM
Interesting and OP at the same time.
Drahliana Jun 26th 2009 9:14AM
Shamanic party buffs are back in the house!
Knyle2 Jun 26th 2009 9:17AM
GOD thats hideous, 1 GDC is legit, only fair really.
I hope i can just make a
____________
/cast
/cast
/cast
/cast
____________
macro, and disable this ugly screen cluttering Piece of Garbage.
and I hope my action bar mods will be rdy to disable shrink and move that POS, I wonder if it will get treated as the "stance bar" automatically.
Why they would do it like that, and not make it a submenu with 4 abilities for my hotbar i dont know, do they really thing only 4 set ups will do the trick?
This is Way too little, Way too late. They should have just taken them off the GCD, or given it 1/4th the GCD and not bothered with the interface change.
Errorah Jun 26th 2009 9:23AM
i'm thinking more along the lines of...
/cast call of fire
Moonfaxx Jun 26th 2009 9:37AM
I agree this type of change was a long time coming... But goodness, Knyle2, who peed in YOUR cheerios? I, for one, am appreciative of what Blizz has done for shammies here. Beggars can't be choosers! Thanks, Blizz! This is some good stuff, and I can't wait for 3.2 to go live.
Alchemistmerlin Jun 26th 2009 10:53AM
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Thorie Jun 26th 2009 9:28AM
A much needed buff for the poorly underplayed Shaman. Although I think a buff such as this is FotM worthy, can't wait to reroll Shaman!
Angus Jun 26th 2009 9:45AM
This doesn't fix the fact that they last 5 minutes.
Magma, fire nova and searing last less time so they have to be redropped during fights.
Totems are still a cruddy mechanic. 5 minute immobile buffs only work well in tank and spanks. Those fights have been getting less common.
FotM? No way.
Considering the resto changes don't do enough, elemental is still immobile and relies on a totem to do AE which conflicts with their 41pt talent, and Enhance is still too squishy having totems only be marginally cruddy won't fix things.
You want to heal, be a druid. Melee be a rogue and cast spells, be a moonkin or mage. Any of those has much better control of fights, tool kits, and buffs.
Moonfaxx Jun 26th 2009 11:43AM
@Angus
Do you honestly think Blizzard designed the class without regard to the environment within which it would be placed? You're largely comparing pure DPS classes saying they're superior to shammies. Some of us didn't roll shammies to be topping any meters. After all, you'll notice that great guilds play as a team, not as individuals.
I actually enjoy having to strategically place totems as it requires a little more brain power, and mobile fights (like Grobbulus) are a breath of fresh air every now and again. As for fire damage totems not lasting five minutes, that's exactly how Blizz wants it. We're supposed to work that into our priority rotation.
Want to be a healer, melee, and/or caster DPS, all while having your party/raid love you for all your dead sexy buffs? Be a shammy! /shammylove
Luci Jun 26th 2009 9:39AM
I love this! It is especially wonderful for the ever-mobile enhancement shaman! Sure eliminating the GCD would've worked, but I like the idea of having preset combos to drop. W2G Blizz!
Bubsa Jun 26th 2009 9:44AM
Pity the video's ruined with that dude's voice.
Draenors Jun 26th 2009 9:57AM
I didn't see any problem with it. And I liked that the video had a narrator instead of just silence.
conker87 Jun 26th 2009 10:27AM
That's what the mute button is for >.>
wowinsider.5.omestes Jun 26th 2009 2:02PM
Better some guys voice than crappy Eurotrash music, Slipknot, or the music from Requiem For A Dream.
Arawn Aug 29th 2009 5:40AM
I thought my voice was just fine in the video.
TyKell Jun 26th 2009 9:58AM
That looks so simple and intuitive that it just amazes me that they didn't think to implement it from the start.
Pets are an integral part of warlocks and hunters and there were bars for them from the start it's strange Blizzard didn't have that thought process for Shamans' totems.
This isn't QQ by the way just some thoughts, the totem bar looks savage.
ChiperSoft Jun 26th 2009 1:02PM
This is feature for feature a direct duplication of the YATA mod (Yet Another Totem Addon). I'm glad that blizzard recognized how good that addon was and made it part of the game. Shame the author wont get credit for it tho.
I'm stoked, this is going to be an excellent addition.
Wulfkin Jun 26th 2009 10:01AM
Nice for all the non-addon users out there, in fact its long overdue. Personally however I shall be sticking with TotemTimers addon, which should be getting some even greater functionality thanks to this.
lordbyr0n Jun 26th 2009 10:09AM
Judging by the video, is it now possible to have out both rock and fire elemental out at the same time? Or is this just for show?