Totem Talk: The later history of restoration shaman
by Joe Perez 
Aug 30th 2011 at 5:00PM
Last week, we started our trip back to the beginning of the days of our restoration shaman pioneers, those brave souls who endured 40-man raids, laggy servers, limited toolkits and short-duration totems! They survived the harrowing times of downranking and the collapse of the 40-man raid into 25-man raids and helped restore the Sunwell. Truly, this was a time of legends.
This week, our trip through WoW's history will lead us toward more recent events. While we can reminisce about the good old days of the release and first expansion of WoW, we can't deny the impact the current expansion, as well as the one before it, had on the evolution of the shaman healer. I mean, it's not like they heralded the end of the world as we know it, right?
The big expansion, the one that everyone had been waiting for since the game was first released, The Wrath of the Lich King represented our opportunity to step into the world and right one of the great wrongs that has plagued the lands of Azeroth. Arthas, a name that would forever haunt the good citizens of both the Alliance and the Horde, was finally within our reach.
Truth of the matter is that this expansion helped play a rather large role in the future of shaman healing. It started with the first beta and the inclusion of our new tier of talents. It was the first time that we got to see the glorious vision that was Spirit Link. The spell never made it to live, however, and it was replaced by what would become our ultimate 51-point talent, Riptide. It would mark the first time that restoration shaman had access to a controllable HOT that wasn't Earth Shield. The early days of raiding in the expansion carried on in a way similar to what they did at the end of The Burning Crusade. Chain Heal and MP5 were still kings of the castle (or rather, the citadel). The tight confines of Naxxramas and the encounters themselves certainly gave us a bit of an advantage.
Then Ulduar was released, and the raid environment shifted drastically for shaman. The raid boasted fights where players had to be quite spread out, and the room sizes themselves edged Chain Heal out of being an effective healing spell choice. We suffered for it at this time, and in this period of competitive world firsts and progression, two well known restoration shaman spoke up on the topic. Restoration shaman were being put on spot heal duty or in some cases even being sat during hard-mode encounters. It even sparked a response from myself during this time on the topic. To stay competitive with other healers, shaman started rolling Riptides and Lesser Healing Waves. It was an uphill battle all through this tier of content, and one that continued through the Trial of the Crusader.
It wasn't really until Icecrown Citadel that we started to get some of our moxy back. We ended the raid content better than where we started, but at the end of an expansion cycle, that was little consolation to many of the restoration shaman struggling to maintain their raid spots.
Probably the biggest factor, though -- the thing that weighed most heavily on us throughout our healing careers in Wrath -- was the introduction of the variable raid size and the nature of the new hard-mode encounters. Smaller raid environments, namely the 10-man raid, further emphasized the size of the zones we were in. If it was tough to get a good Chain Heal bounce in a 25-man raid, it was near impossible in most of the 10-man encounters. Add to that hard-mode encounters that could really push the value of tanks, DPS and healers, and you have a recipe for potential disaster. Every shortcoming of every class was highlighted during this time, and ours definitely were noticeable. That said, we weren't quite defeated yet and still had quite a bit to offer. It would not be the last we were heard of.
Now we finally make our way to current day. Cataclysm brought with it the potential for change as well a new hope for restoration shaman. First was the inclusion of new talents and spells such as Telluric Currents and Spiritwalker's Grace. They seemed to answer many of the questions and concerns that we had leaving the last expansion. eventually lead to the current 31-point talent tree system. It also introduced our new Mastery, which gave us an interesting new stat that played right into the mechanics of hard-mode fights and progression raids. We were also informed that resto shaman were being looked at as the model of healing for the new expansion, both in terms of mana consumption and healing styles. While we rejoiced at that sentiment, when the game was actually released, we had yet to see how we were the healing model. We could make it through the encounters with hard work, but we certainly seemed to be a deficit, especially when it came to raids.
Before release, there were rumors and discussion of bringing Spirit Link back. While it didn't make the initial cut, Spirit Link Totem was added as a much needed cooldown back in March where we first said hello to our new talent. The totem gave us a new versatility and really helped to give us an edge in many encounters already in the game. It was used with great effect through Blackwing Descent, the Bastion of Twilight and Throne of the Four Winds. It continues to serve us well through Firelands.
Healing Rain has proven to be quite a champion for us in any fight where we can get people grouped up, and all of our talents and spells have a place. Throughout the entire course of the expansion, restoration shaman have been tweaked and adjusted to help balance the class against the other healers. We've charted these changes here on Totem Talk since the expansion's release. While it's true there are some fights we seem to struggle with, I know many restoration shaman who are fighting tooth and nail and earning their raid spots by proving they can keep up.
I'm not saying that we're perfect, as I'm well aware of the amount of hard work we have to put in as healers, but it is possible to keep up and not wind up in last place even in hard modes with enough elbow grease. I think we've endured more tweaks and changes in this expansion than any other before. My gut tells me that we haven't quite seen the last of those tweaks, as the developers strive to seek balance between all the healing classes and the current content. But only time will tell.
It's been a bumpy ride from the days of Molten Core being endgame content, but it certainly has been a fun one. For all the hiccups, the valleys and peaks, I know I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'll be a proud restoration shaman until the bitter end.
Head honcho for a day
Last week I asked a question for a bit of input from you, the readers, and I want to repeat it here. Let us say that you got the chance to be a developer at Blizzard for a day. Your task is to review the restoration talent tree for shaman. Take a look back over all the years of the game, from vanilla WoW to The Burning Crusade to Wrath, all the way up to the most recent patch for Cataclysm. What changes would you propose? Would you change a key ability? Would you change any of the restoration tree talents from their current incarnations? Would you take anything away or maybe add something that we don't have access to at this time? Feel free to leave your answer in the comments on this post, on my Twitter or in email. Your replies will have a chance to be featured in my post next week.
Totem Talk: Restoration lets you Ask a Shaman about the tricks of the trade. We'll introduce you to the very latest pre-raid gear and show you how to manage your cooldowns. Happy healing, and may your mana be plentiful!
Filed under: Shaman, (Shaman) Totem Talk
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matthew Aug 30th 2011 5:24PM
I'm new to Shamanism, and must say - a world without riptide? /shudder
Frank-potato Aug 30th 2011 5:53PM
I don't play a shaman, hell i don't even like 'em. It's the only class i haven't tried in my 5 years playing the game.
However,
THAT IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS OF ALLLLL TIME!!!!!!!!!
Joe Perez, you my friend, have an exquisite taste in music!!!!
PodPeople Aug 30th 2011 6:06PM
things that I would like to see changed;
1. instant cast ghost wolf should be either baseline or at most cost a glyph. (yes, that druid did steal my lunch, and by the time I get finished casting ghost wolf he'd already run away in travel form and eaten it.) also is it just me or shouldn't it also be a stealth mode? I guess that could be another option for making it more interesting, it can keep the cast time, but it's now a stealthy travel form.
2. water shield should be a 9 stack, just like the other elemental shields and possibly with a glyph like the lightening one that keeps it from going below 3, and you regen more mana/stack. or if that worked out to be too OP, break it in to 3s; ie 1-3 you regen X mana, 4-6 is (X+5%), 7-9 is (X+15%) or whatever the most optimal numbers work out to be.
3. reduce the number of talents in the resto tree. either combining them or lowing the number required to get max value. the tree is far too bloated and also requires far too many talents in other trees to be viable. most notably moving spirit link totem to the top and rolling riptide in with another talent, it doesn't really matter which one as long as it is above 2nd tier.
Stay Aug 30th 2011 6:08PM
So I leveled Enhance and that was rad, afterwards I just kind of put my lil goblin away for safe keeping. Now I'm getting the urge to play a healer and instead of leveling a priest or pally up I figured why not just change my stance on my lil goblin.
Whoa this is a hard step, having leveled so quickly and only grabbing hunter gear.
So now I sit at the crossroads of gearing and learning how to heal with this 85 shammy or leveling a new class specifically as heals. I'd rather just learn and gear as a shammy but is the challenge of finding gear and learning to heal too much for an 85? Meaning should leveling as heals be a better approach to learning?
Any comments on the topic would be grand.. and any links anyone found useful if they were in the same situation?
Also, first time writing a comment but a long time reader of insider! Great read as usual. :]
BB Crisp Aug 30th 2011 6:22PM
I'm a priest and have never played a shaman. However, I would say that there is no reason for you to have to level as a healer to learn how to heal effectively. Most of my healing was learned in bg's and dungeons at level 70, but I almost exclusively heal raids now. Always pay attention to efficiency vs throughput (i.e. try to be as efficient as you can) and don't neglect your cooldowns. I'm sure WoW Insider has some basic guides on healing strategies that you could use. Also, look for a good healing addon. I use Healbot, but it seems like more people prefer Grid. Just try them out and see which works best for you.
The only reason for you to ditch your resto shaman for another class is if you don't enjoy playing it.
Artemisian Aug 30th 2011 8:22PM
Levelling as a healing class is certainly very useful, as you get to be comfortable and familiar with the toolkit. But that doesn't mean you can't dive in and learn at max level! The shaman toolkit is still quite small, so you shouldn't have any issues :)
Earth Shield tank, Riptide tank and other damage-takers, then use your three direct heals as you see fit. Chain Heal/Healing Rain if people are stacked and all taking damage.
Tada!
stay Aug 30th 2011 8:31PM
Thanks! I was mainly concerned with the gear.. the AH is pretty costly and since i've already done most of the quests for 85 those are out of the question. What I'm going to do is basically grind out in bg's.. (as enhance until i get a couple spirit pieces) then go from there.. I'm going to try and heal bg's first then maybe try some dungeons. Seems like a big leap in responsibility tho..
But again thanks guys!
Camo Sep 1st 2011 10:48AM
The way I learned healing with my priest was to grind BGs.
It's pretty useful as you always have someone that needs to be healed and there is no danger of wiping if you let someone die.
And you can trade the honor for justice points and obtain your PVE set.
Byeble Aug 30th 2011 7:10PM
This was my song of choice during the hurricane :P
dsharples Aug 30th 2011 7:28PM
I'd first of all get rid of telluric currents and replace it with a talent that gave a mana CD that only affected the shaman (maybe 10% mana?), I'm sick of being in mana conservation mode myself only to have tide called for the paladin or the druid. And especially in 10man raids but still in 25mans there really isnt much time to use telluric currents to supplement mana returns.
I would bring back the focus on chain heal, it is the unique spell of the shaman and should be used more, I loved wrath for the machine gunning of chains going out. With this I would also get rid of the consumption of riptide on chain heal, even if this meant getting rid of the 25% bonus to the actual chain.
A glyph would be introduced similar to lightning shield's glyph, removing the constant refreshing on some fights (beth'tilac I'm looking at you), if not putting this to baseline.
I would remove the totem requirement on spirit link and have it either eminate from the caster, or have it be castable on someone else and have it eminate from them. finally I would add a tank CD, 1 that would increase dodge for a time instead of being a clone of another, say 20% extra dodge for 12secs, it wouldnt be game breaking but would cement us as the all rounder
redikolous Aug 30th 2011 10:41PM
I actually like Telluric Currents. It seems like on my druid I run on fumes, even with Core of Ripeness and Innervate, and my priest never can rock out, without panicking. I like that I can control my mana, and it's actually pretty overpowered when you have the time. There are some fights where there is no time at all, like Baleroc, but there are fights where there's ton, like Beth'tilac, Staghelm, Shannox. I can't speak for heroic difficulty of course. But I've found that on normal difficulty there has always been time on most fights, and some fights very little.
I would like more AOE but I'm not sure if I like the focus being on chain heal all the time. Back in ICC the focus on chain heal made it so that there were no spells to cast. It made little sense to ever use other spells when you could chain heal and hit more people. Stat weights were based on improving chain heal. I think there's more of a balance and I diversity of approaches nowadays, which I really appreciate. I think there's more of skill divide. It was way less apparent who knew their stuff and who was there to chain heal and collect loot back then.
I agree about a tank cooldown, and maybe a slight redesign for Spirit Link Totem, for it to be like Healing Rain.
Crispn Aug 30th 2011 11:02PM
They won't get rid of telluric currents with a passive mana regen.
All you do with that is press a button a recieve mana. Whereas telluric currents has a lot more thought such as, can I actually afford to stop healing right now, there's a big difference and ur idea is much less engaging.
now change it to something less clunky I'd agree, but still engaging... it is really wierd to be healing and mousover the boss or some add, but tbh I can't really think of a less clunky way, to make it work while keeping that engaging aspect.
That being said it seems to me that this is a love hate talent. I personally love it, but you hate it and frankly, I think Blizzard stands by my side right now with their "more dynamic gaming style' schpeel.
dsharples Aug 30th 2011 11:28PM
Its less of me hating telluric currents, and more that I don't have time to use it enough to warrant it, I raid mainly 10man but occasionally 25man, and in 10 man there just isn't enough time to stop healing and throw out a couple of lightning bolts, 25 allows for more situations as the other healers in the team can generally pick up the slack for a few seconds here and there.
And my idea for chain heal becoming our main heal isnt about diversifying the classes, now that 4/5 healers have a slow cheap heal, a fast expensive heal and a slow massive heal it just seems like theres very little difference between playing each class. Having chain heal more or less replace healing wave would just make us a bit more interesting
Alexa Aug 31st 2011 9:29AM
@dsharples
I recently went from 0/2 in TC to 2/2 in TC. My primary role is a 10 man resto shaman. I actually think there are tons of fights in Firelands which allow you to regen mana through TC. I think one of the other posters named a few... Shannox, Beth'tilac, Rhyolith. The only one I honestly don't have time on is Baleroc.
You may want to see if your heal team is maybe missing something that's causing you to have zero time for TC in your repertoire of spells.
dsharples Aug 30th 2011 11:29PM
*is about diversifying the classes