Totem Talk: The Shaman of 2009
by Matthew Rossi 
Dec 24th 2009 at 4:00PM
While all of this was going on, shamans also saw some controversy about itemization, gear scaling and having to share caster mail between two specs that value different stats, as well as the constant battle with holy paladins to keep their grubby, grasping mitts off of our mail. Yeah, we know you don't want that MP5 plate, but since you're the only ones who can possibly get anything out of it, go away and leave our precious alone. (Cue the pages of discussion on why it's perfectly acceptable for holy paladins to take caster mail and explanations in detail of why I'm an inhuman monster who drowns fish. Yes, fish, That's how evil I am.)
Now that we've got the pleasantries out of the way (remind me to tell you the story of the year my mom beat Santa Claus up in front of the extended family) we move on to shamans in 2009.
Class Interactions/Changes to Buff Stacking
From the discussion of how Totem of Wrath compares to the Warlock version to the murmurs about the 'mystery DPS leak' being related to our DoT's not working properly or being affected by another class being nerfed, shamans and the complexity of their various totem buffs were possibly the single class most affected by the change to how buffs work in Wrath of the Lich King. As a shaman, you now have to pay more attention to the make up of your party or raid than ever before to make sure you're not dropping a totem that duplicates a buff already present (and after a while, you can end up simply running out of totems you can drop without duplicating someone's efforts) - as an example, you're probably going to drop Totem of Wrath in your raid (as an elemental shaman) even if you have a Ret Paladin providing the same debuff to the boss with Heart of the Crusader, or a demo lock surpassing the spellpower benefit of the totem with his pet, depending on the situation. (You may well drop a Magma Totem and spam glyphed Improved Fire Nova on a big trash pull, of course. You can hit that bad boy six times before the totem despawns, not that I've been doing this and making tanks cry or anything.)
I'd definitely put the changes to how buffs stack down as a big change to shamans in this expansion so far, and frankly, all too often the shaman version of a buff or debuff loses out to some other class's. I get that our totems stand in one place and provide their buffs as an aura, meaning that if the other class' buff wasn't superior our totems would just overwrite them and we'd have to rebuff people who were going to leave the totem's area, but there has to be a way around this that favors the shaman once in a while.
Dual Talent Specialization
Seriously this should be in just about any class' list of "Big Things of 2009". I've seen Elemental/Resto, Enhancement/Elemental, Elemental/Elemental (PvP/PvE), Resto/Resto (both PvE specs, just focused differently)... Dual Talent Specialization gives players the chance to customize and channel their characters to succeed at an aspect of the game without immediately locking themselves out of other aspects. Healers want to grind? Boom, here's your DPS grinding spec. DPS want to help out the raid when a bit of extra healing is needed? You can have a healing spec ready to go. Want to PvP as elemental but still enjoy raiding as enhance? We have you covered.
Totem Bar Interface
Honestly, this was an idea that took so long to come to fruition (how many of us had various totem addons to try and automate the process out a little before patch 3.2) and was such a nice change it really deserves to be celebrated. The Call of the Elements, Call of the Ancestors and Call of the Spirits spells allowing shamans to pre-select four totems and drop them as a group is simple and made a process that was irritating (run after the group, drop totems one at a time wasting globals) and could even be deleterious (a resto shaman trying to get the totems down in between casting healing spells, for instance) into something easy to use. You can even change the call spells on the fly via a very easy to use tab system, so you don't have to keep dropping Strength of Earth in your Call of the Ancestors set if you have a DK in the group without having to use an entirely different Call if you don't want to. (I like Call of the Spirits to be my PvP set of totems.)
Patch 3.1 and 3.2 both redesign shamans
Frozen Power was introduced to help enhancement out in PvP, our poison and disease cleansing spells and totems were rolled into one, Spirit Weapons, Improved Stormstrike, Chain Heal, Shamanistic Rage, Elemental Mastery, Lightning Overload... the list of talents and abilities that saw redesign in one of these two patches is pretty significant. Booming Echoes was introduced for elemental (Shamanism, an even more significant talent for elemental scaling, was actually added in 3.0.8). Even things like base health were adjusted this year. It's really safe to say that shamans have been one of, if not the, most highly adjusted and redesigned classes of this expansion. (Patch 3.3 continued this trend with the introduction of Fire Nova, or as I like to call it, "Lookit me, I'm Arthur Brown! I'm sorry, Mister Tank.")
It's been a really astonishing year of changes and re-changes for shamans. Between itemization and scaling issues, buff controversies, and nigh-continuous redesigns, it's a wonder we can still recognize the class, but shamans keep on dropping totems. (Even if those totems look really different now.) Here's to another year of dropping sticks in the ground and setting everything on fire, or healing everything. Whichever you prefer.
Check out more strategies, tips and leveling guides for Shamans in Matthew Rossi's weekly class column: Totem Talk. Filed under: Shaman, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Expansions, Classes, (Shaman) Totem Talk, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
rino Dec 24th 2009 4:16PM
Once again mister Rossi you succeed to write an interesting and well worded post.
Thank you :)
tak Dec 24th 2009 4:24PM
Forgot to mention how patch 3.3 buffed shadow priests so shaman no longer have any class they can beat in dps. Hooray for useless buffs!!
Sky Dec 24th 2009 10:46PM
Look on the bright side there's still fury warriors!
No seriously, L2P
BigBadGooz Dec 24th 2009 11:20PM
cough* 6k dps single target *cough* l2gear and faceroll
Lightsource Dec 24th 2009 4:32PM
Thank you Matthew. While i believe your commitment's to both the warrior and shaman class leave both articles a tiny bit short of the focus required, your articles are always well written and enjoyable. Merry Christmas
JC_Icefox Dec 24th 2009 4:39PM
"explanations in detail of why I'm an inhuman monster who drowns fish. Yes, fish, That's how evil I am."
I knew you had hair, Mr. Rossi, but I was unaware that it was blonde...
For the sake of it, I rolled my current main fairly late into Wrath after an incredibly long hiatus, even going so far as to eschew the new expansions allure until I had completed my typical incredibly slow slog through 1-70. (Seriously, my /played at 80 isn't even half of my total time recorded). Having never had experienced the roller coaster that has been the Shaman class prior to Wrath, I only had stories and histories of what the class used to be through both Vanilla and BC era.
However, I can completely agree with the statements made here about the incredible steps the class has made, even in a short time by game progression standards. Things like the totem bar, improved totem capabilities and modifications to existing spells have made the class much more fun and versatile than before, without going so far as to be too simple or too streamlined. I can always appreciate things that force some degree of extra thought.
I admit I am not intimately aware if each individual class and specialty niches, but I feel that with 2009 coming to a close, the Shaman class in every spec was one of the most, if not THE most, improved and balanced classes in game at the moment. I could be wrong (it has been known to happen) but when I look at the net buffs and nerfs of each class currently, Shaman decidedly got one of the best deals this year without feeling excessively OHPEE.
Except you, Mr. Multiboxing Draenai Shaman in Alterac Valley. I hate you.
BigBadGooz Dec 24th 2009 11:27PM
i shall wait for your return to av with much enthusiasm *bow*
Jaxal Dec 24th 2009 4:53PM
The shaman changes in 3.2 brought me back to my old main, which i hadn't touched since the launch of Wrath. The totem interface was the single biggest thing that made me pick up my shaman again, and the changes to improved water shield and general increase in awesomeness of resto kept me playing him. i havent touched any of my other characters since 3.2. Resto shamans are just in such a lovely place after 2009, i have no desire to play anything else. thanks blizz!
Link Dec 24th 2009 6:20PM
So, I hear your mom won't be getting much for Christmas this year?
Angus Dec 24th 2009 7:04PM
She's getting a ton of stuff from what I heard.
Heck, how many men go out and buy flowers after getting yelled at?
You really think he's going to not give her presents after a beating? That's like asking for a death sentence.
Gentleman, mark my words, never mess with an angry momma.
Kaltarr Dec 24th 2009 7:15PM
Merry Christmas Shaman of WoW! What a long, strange journey it's been.
Dboy Dec 25th 2009 3:59PM
Which shaman are you talking to?
Merry Christmas!
katyanna Dec 24th 2009 7:25PM
I can say the biggest complaint I have is one you stated, and that's about having to worry about who is using what buff, I have come to feel a bit useless totem wise given that even a 10 man raid you have all the buffs that my totems give.
but overall I can't complain. They have made resto THE spec to play if you are a Shaman, elemental is great too but resto is exactly where it needs to be. With a HoT, the totem interface, and just all around greatness, I don't for see switching classes anytime soon.
Anom Dec 24th 2009 9:52PM
oh pallies.....holy pallies.
stop jacking my shit and stick to plate
BigBadGooz Dec 24th 2009 11:26PM
yeah we have a special shamman support grp in my guild.....well more like hey pallies jack our shit we start jacking yours since we are a /roll anyitem guild. we have ways of makeing palies crys my shammy core of 5 have our ways of holding gear hostage :D
D Dec 25th 2009 12:16AM
I think what this year as taught me about the class is that Blizz seems at an utter loss as to what to DO with elemental shaman in particular. They seem to have very little grasp of how the class is played and what we're capable of (or incapable of).
They buff our AoE through Magma Totem -- but we have to run into melee range to use it. They give us a talent in Thunderstorm that is well-nigh useless in PVE unless glyphed (want to piss off your raid? Don't glyph for it and use it often). They make our Totem of Wrath not only redundant but VASTLY inferior to a buff brought by warlocks.
Instead of giving us a useful t10 set bonus, they nerf t9. Oh and the t10 bonus "buffs" what is primarily a PVP talent.
The fact that they cannot balance our burst in PVP leads to bottom-of-the-barrel DPS in PVE as they are terrified that any buff will send the PVPers into a shitstorm of QQ.
To add insult to injury, Ghostcrawler's response to all of this is basically, "L2P."
What I've learned in 2009 is that Blizz doesn't care about elemental shaman. They've proven this by their constant disregard and obliviousness about our playstyle and the problems the spec has.
Not looking for a fix until Cataclysm. By then I'll have a new main and won't care about my shaman, who has been my main for the 2 years I've been playing.
Tanglebones Dec 25th 2009 1:36AM
@D
Maybe you should actually try to understand your spec's mechanics before QQing about it.
The fact that you apparently cannot manage your Thunderstorm without glyphing for it pretty much invalidates anything you have to say and suggests that perhaps you need to L2P.
There is no way that Elemental Mastery (which the T10 buffs) is "primarily a PvP talent". Perhaps you didn't notice that in 3.3 it was changed to grant spell haste rather than crit?
D Dec 25th 2009 4:05AM
@tanglebones: And maybe you should read what I wrote thoroughly before making assumptions:
1. elemental shaman must be in MELEE RANGE to do maximum DPS due to Magma totem's small range. (Drop Searing? Not an option *if you want to maximize your DPS* -- Drop Fire Elemental? Dangerous in many raid situations due to the absolute lack of control we have over it -- it's as likely to stand there doing nothing as it is to attack something on the far side of the room)
2. Try Thunderstorming a group of mobs while in MELEE RANGE without it being glyphed. Your raid won't be very happy with you, will they? Also -- the mana return, in most cases is well-nigh useless as even with dropping Magma and using the new Fire Nova, elemental shaman don't have many mana issues.
3. It has taken over a year for Blizz to realize that due to the way Flame Shock + Lava Burst works that crit is a sub-par stat for us. While not as useless as Mp5, it is far from being as useful as pure spellpower or haste. -->Over a yearhaste is welcome but EM is still a PVP talent first and foremost. How is it ok for it to take over a year to put in a very simple fix to ANY spec? (Shadow Priests, I feel your pain.)
4. So we have 2 key talents that are bordering on useless or so situational or so cumbersome that they must be glyphed to use often in a PVE situation. Let's take a look at them:
Totem of Wrath -- not only does dropping this totem decrease our personal DPS by as much as 5-20% (depending on the fight) but its SP buff is far and away outstripped by Demonic Pact at current gear levels. (And at earlier gear lvls, DP is outstripped by ToW -- neither is fair to the respective specs). Since Demo Locks have been buffed (as they should have been), if you bring a Demo Lock, you get better DPS and a better SP buff. The other aspects of ToW are easily found elsewhere.
It's worth noting that ToW and Elemental Oath are the only unique buffs ele shaman bring. Everything else can be brought by resto (decent healers) or enhancement (who also bring better personal DPS than ele).
I fail to see how this is just QQ from someone who doesn't know how to play the spec. These are issues that were brought up on WotLK BETA. The devs said, "Oh it won't be an issue." Guess what -- they were wrong, refuse to admit it and elemental as a spec falls further and further behind b/c the relatively simple fixes are not in-coming. This is why after *every* major content patch they need to band-aid fix the spec -- because they have not fixed the major underlying problems the spec has. I have zero desire to top the charts over pure casters -- but I would like to do competitive DPS with other hybrid casters and feel like that I have the personal DPS and utility to be an asset to my raid, not a detriment. My guild has no need for melee or healers so switching specs isn't an option for me if I want to remain in my guild and play with my friends. My only choice: reroll.
One may say, well that's all fine and good but why just QQ -- where are the solutions? Try these out for size, if you will:
1. Remove ToW entirely as we know it. Since there are no 100% unique buffs, give the buff to another spec -- Shadow Priests for instance, as they could use a bit more utility.
2. In place of ToW, make a talent that allows elemental shaman to use Fire DPS totems *AT RANGE* -- a targeted spell. This talent would be out of the reach of resto and enh and allow ele to be the ranged casters we are meant to be. This talent could also buff Magma/Searing/Fire Elemental slightly. *slightly* This would improve PVE DPS while not being a hinderance in PVP as our burst would remain the same and all totems would still remain 5hp, easily killed in a PVP situation.
3. Add a small buff (notice I said SMALL) to Flame Shock's periodic damage to another talent (Storm Earth and Fire, perhaps or Lava Flows).
4. Make Fire elemental a little smarter: this should be done for all shaman. A very simplistic pet bar would make this totem usable in any situation, increasing our DPS without having to buff anything. An "attack target/stop attacking" would be enough.
None of these fixes are calling for huge buffs. We don't NEED huge buffs. We need small, quality-of-life changes that put elemental shaman back into play as a viable DPS spec.
The fact that as far as we know none of our issues are going to be addressed before Cataclysm is absolutely irresponsible. Anyone who has played a bottom-DPS spec understands what I mean. It is discouraging to maximize your toon to the limit, to research everything and to play your heart out and see your DPS DROP on patch day and be told that it's a player-issue when the community generally agrees it is a SPEC issue. And by community I don't mean forum trolls -- but ppl in respected, high-end raiding guilds who DO know their spec inside and out, know the numbers and see them lacking. Take a look over at the forums at any of Strawberry's posts, for instance. Or go and have a look at Binkenstein at EJ (from what I have heard, he has retired his shaman -- though someone please correct me if I'm wrong).
All of the above leads me to believe that either Blizz has ZERO idea how to "fix" us or plain doesn't care.
chachet Dec 25th 2009 9:05AM
I think you are looking at the Shaman class through a very small lens. Not everyone is a prolific raider. It seems that you are, and you have valid concerns for raiding, but many of your concerns don't even touch on the other parts of the game.
When leveling or doing 5 mans, even level 80 5 mans, how many times are you going to be grouped with every class that over writes ever single one of our buffs? If I could carry a warlock in my pocket and not have to worry about dropping ToW, I'd do it, but I don't have a pocket warlock. I don't think a lot of other players do either.
I use unglyphed Thunderstorm somewhat often in 5 mans. I stand by the healer and knock any loose adds back into the tank's aggro radius. It's saved us from a wipe many times in the past.
Also, while crit doesn't mean much in raids to shamans, it's nice to have Lightning Bolts crit fairly often in pre-raid content. I still stack haste, but if crit is there, I'm not going to turn it away since I fire more Lightning Bolts then Lava Bursts.
While the new Fire Nova spell doesn't do too much for Elementals who like to stay away from melee range, it does help Enhancements who are in the thick of it. Enhancement also has more of a priority cooldown rotation that makes it easier for them to squeeze in a new spell, where as Elementals typically have a tight rotation that makes it difficult to put in a new spell. I've seen the Fire Nova spell as an Enhancement thing since it was changed. No worries there. It would be nice to be able to better utilize it as Elemental, but it would also be nice if pink elephants rained from the sky and gave us mana while eating mobs. So, no big deal.
I think the best thing about playing a Shaman is the versatility of it. It's nice for me to be a healer's pocket healer if he/she gets a little overwhelmed or if something comes out of the woodwork and starts chewing on them. I don't care that it drops my DPS. I care that it helps the group survive. That's what it boils down to, for me. The Shaman is a support class. The Shaman is not going to out DPS a "pure" class, but a Shaman is going to support the group in ways that other classes can't. We can DPS while throwing out emergency heals. We can provide buffs that other classes can't (at least in 5 mans). We have the option of playing melee, caster, or heals. It's a wonderful mix for people that get bored of doing the same thing over and over again. It's not a good mix for those who want to melt faces as well as a Mage. If you want to do that, roll a Mage.
Lastly, Blizzard doesn't hate Shamans. They don't hate any class. I'm willing to bet that they have people on staff who know how to play Shamans far better than you or I do. Just because it takes "over a year" for them to do something that you deem beneficial to our class doesn't mean that they don't like us or want to kick our puppies. They can't just simply implement your whims and desires. They have to balance those for all scenarios in the game. They have to take into account how a change affects leveling, pre-80 instances, lvl 80 instances, raiding, and pvp. Not to mention, how the change affects other classes in all of the above situations.
Take a break. Let Blizzard send us Shamans in the direction that they want us to go. Enjoy the benefits of playing this class. Or don't.
chachet Dec 25th 2009 9:06AM
Wow. Ignore me. I can't seem to reply properly. This was supposed to be a reply to D.