Totem Talk: Restoration's pre-BlizzCon special
by Joe Perez 
Oct 18th 2011 at 2:00PM
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how.
Can you feel the electricity in the air? Can you feel the anticipation? This is one of the most anticipated weeks of the year for those of us who play World of Warcraft. Everyone from the most casual to the most hardcore of players tends to love this upcoming weekend.
It will be a weekend of news, a weekend of events, and a weekend of amazing meetups. BlizzCon will be an amazing time, for sure, and an opportunity for many questions to be answered. There will be several panels of interest to us and plenty of opportunity for us to ask questions. The World of Warcraft Class Talent System panel, World of Warcraft Dungeons & Raids panel, and many more will all have potential news for us. This week, I'd like to talk about what we could possibly get news of this weekend.
Can you feel the electricity in the air? Can you feel the anticipation? This is one of the most anticipated weeks of the year for those of us who play World of Warcraft. Everyone from the most casual to the most hardcore of players tends to love this upcoming weekend.
It will be a weekend of news, a weekend of events, and a weekend of amazing meetups. BlizzCon will be an amazing time, for sure, and an opportunity for many questions to be answered. There will be several panels of interest to us and plenty of opportunity for us to ask questions. The World of Warcraft Class Talent System panel, World of Warcraft Dungeons & Raids panel, and many more will all have potential news for us. This week, I'd like to talk about what we could possibly get news of this weekend.
More totems!
Totems are something that has been a defining element of ours since we first became a playable class. Over the years, we've lost and gained quite a number of totems. We've lost Cleansing Totem and Sentry Totem, all in the name of progress. In exchange for them, we've received Totem of Tranquil Mind and the ever-amazing Spirit Link Totem. While Tranquil Mind may not really get used quite as much as the others might have, SLT certainly has been getting a workout since it was introduced into our spellbooks.
Many of our other totems have undergone massive mechanic changes over the many years. Mana Tide Totem has been tweaked many times since Cataclysm was released, and even Tremor Totem has been adjusted from how it originally worked. Totem duration has been adjusted so that our totems (mostly) last much longer than they did before, and we've even gained Totemic Recall to keep us from having to drag our totems with us whenever we go and to help return some of the mana spent on casting them.
Every time there is a patch, content update, or expansion, many of us wonder what changes will happen to our totems next. Will we gain more of them? Will we lose more? Are there any other tweaks that we should expect to our totems? Well, with us rapidly approaching the end of the current expansion, the focus will shift pretty soon to the next expansion. Now, if we are going to start to hear anything about any more potential totem changes, it will likely come out of this weekend.
What I would like to see this weekend would be an announcement as to a new totem, preferably one that is another elemental. I mean, we have a Fire Elemental Totem and Earth Elemental Totem, and mages even get Water Elemental. The only elemental not represented in the game is one made of wind. I would really like to see us get an air elemental totem.
I'd also like to see something that helps modify the way our totems work a little bit, maybe in the way of a cooldown that lets us launch a totem. Dropping totems can sometimes be incredibly hazardous to our health, and being able to launch one where we need it to go every so often would be quite useful.
Do I think that we will see these changes? Honestly, I don't know about the air elemental, but I'm fairly confident we won't see a totem launcher. Will that stop me from asking about it at the class panel or open Q&A? Nope, not even a little bit. I'm certainly going to ask about our totems if I get the chance.
Mechanics, cooldowns and healing
When Cataclysm started, healers were a lot more on even footing than they are right now. The disparity between specs and classes was a lot less noticeable, and all the healing types could be quite competitive. With the move into the tier 12 content and several patches between, things have changed and the balance is not there like it used to be. We're still pretty capable healers, but it takes a bit more work to keep up. It's been a topic of hot debate among many forums, blogs and even the official forums for many months now. Some healers just seem to pull far ahead of others, and others just seem to fall behind on certain fights.
I expect that we'll get an official response that is more in depth than the ones we've gotten so far. I have a feeling that healing numbers and class balance among healers is something that has been looked at quite a bit by the developers at Blizzard Entertainment for a while now. I also think that it is a question that is going to get asked by a few people, given the opportunity.
During the Catalcysm beta, we heard that shaman were the model for healing going into the expansion. That there would be much more mana management and triage healing throughout the expansion as players leveled, geared and faced down the various tiers of raid bosses. In the beginning of the expansion, this was very much true and goes along with the first point. For the most part, healers were on par, each carrying their own little tricks. Our Healing Rain became quite a champ of the various fights that allowed our raid group to stand together, and things were good. One question I really want to ask is if the healing model is still something that Blizzard wants to follow, if shaman healing in particular is still looked at in the same way as before the expansion was released.
Healer cooldowns is another topic of hot debate as of late. Some have been considered very overpowered, while others have been looked at as just there and in need of being paired up with another cooldown to be effective. Both luckily and unluckily for us, SLT has been considered a bit of an overpowered cooldown by many people. It's true that it's a very strong cooldown and when used right can turn the tide of some of the most gruesome fights.
I'm hoping that we won't hear any news of any SLT nerfs in the near future, as it is an ability that I personally have grown to love quite a bit. What I would like to ask is if there are any plans for healers to receive any more cooldowns as a whole. We have our raid cooldown, sure, but it would be nice to have an individual cooldown for 5-mans or those one-off tank healing moments when an SLT just isn't the right tool for the job. I don't expect we'll get one, but I'm sure going to ask.
What would you ask?
So that's what I'm hoping to ask about, but now I turn to you, the readers. If you had the chance to ask the developers at Blizzard any one thing about our class during BlizzCon, what would you ask them? Is there something that you would like me to try to get an answer for this weekend? What are your predictions for restoration shaman news at this weekend's BlizzCon?
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 2)
Natsumi Oct 18th 2011 3:05PM
The only place I can see SLT being overpowered is in Arenas and other PvP where you are trying to focus down 1 target. With the Shaman's godlike AE healing abilities this becomes impossible for the duration of the Totem, but it's no more powerful than some of the other CDs in PvE.
Powerkeeper Oct 18th 2011 3:08PM
Personally, my big question would be something along the lines of, "When are you going to fix my healing?".
I raid with a holy pally and a resto druid. I know for a fact that I work about twice as hard as the both of them on most fights, just to keep up; I have had to switch to a pure throughput build just to compete as it is. Even so, I usually lose to the pally on single target heals and the druid beats me in raid heals. I understand that we are supposed to be a utility class, but things have gotten ridiculous. When the raid spreads out as they have to on most fights, my Chain Heal is all but useless as typical minimum range is just a bit to far to allow for jumps. Single target I can't keep up with the big, fast heals that the pally is pumping out, let alone the extra free heals from Beacon.
I just feel that in the rush to bring the healers in line with one another, they hit shamans (and from what I hear, priests are in a similar boat) a bit too hard with the nerf hammer. It is very discouraging to have to work so hard to heal based on the model put forth at the beginning of the expansion just to have other classes beat me while eating a sandwich with the other hand.
Lissanna Oct 18th 2011 5:39PM
What more specific changes would you want to bring shamans' numbers up?
Powerkeeper Oct 18th 2011 6:12PM
Well since I can't find an edit button.
I feel like they nerfed the healing of CH a bit too much. I understand the reasoning behind the change, in Wrath we could basically spam it to the exclusion of most anything else. But the current incarnation is too weak. Further, as I mentioned earlier, the most common minimum distance between players for an encounter is in the 6-10 yd range. This puts players too far apart to allow for CH to jump. If they extended it's range a couple of yards, it would alleviate some of the problem by itself. CH is the shaman's signature heal, having it useless during a good portion of a fight would be like a pally unable to use Beacon if his target is too far away or a druid's Tranquility having a 6-10 yd range.
The only other solution that comes to mind is adding an extra charge to the Tidal Wave buff. This way, you would get a third decreased cast time GHW or HW; proper management would allow for 75% or better uptime on the TW buff.
Boobah Oct 19th 2011 12:48AM
Doesn't Chain Heal have a 12.5 yard bounce range? I don't recall a lot of mechanics that require being spread out more than ten yards, and more commonly six seems to be the magic number.
Admittedly, in ten mans, your raid is likely more spread out; same size room, fewer people.
Alysandir Oct 19th 2011 3:09PM
I run both a holy paladin and a resto shaman, both in T12 (the shaman slightly undergeared to the paladin by comparison). I can confirm that the throughput I get from the shaman is an order of magnitude less than the holy paladin on farm content, but is superior on progression content. This makes sense to me, because shaman get stronger the weaker the raid gets. I also find that the shaman tends to have more utility, while the paladin has more OH SH*T buttons to mash. I also note that there is a definite rotation to shaman healing that forces me to look ahead and plan for incoming damage, whereas the paladin is almost completely reactive.
The question for me is: is it truly that resto shaman are underpowered when it comes to raw throughput, or is it that I'm spending less time healing because I'm doing other things? (I should also note that I'm a 10-man raider; I would imagine that my numbers would favor the shaman more if I were 25?)
Jack Mynock Oct 18th 2011 3:09PM
I'm not sure you're remembering the beginning of the exansion correctly. As I recall resto shaman were widely considered underpowered. That's why our passive healing specialization was buffed from 10% to 25% sometime around 4.0.6. It also explains why we finally got a raid cooldown.
Natsumi Oct 18th 2011 3:49PM
Honestly I found that to be a misconception, especially in PvP. Many times did I solo heal 7 defenders (myself included) at Warden's Vigil against an onslaught of 15-20 Horde. usually the only thing stopping me was the one smart Rogue the remembered where his Kick button was, only then did people start dying.
Note: My Shaman only has PvE gear, with an ilvl of about 350 :p
Jack Mynock Oct 18th 2011 4:49PM
Apples and oranges. Resto shaman have beens trong pvp healers throughout cataclysm. In fact they've had a few nerfs aimed squarely at reducing their pvp effectiveness. Keep in mind that when healing in TB, where most of your targets are heavily clumped on a flag, healing rain and chain are more effective than in many 10-man raid scenarios.
Teh Mowtems Oct 18th 2011 3:16PM
Pants.
I want INT/spirit mail pants.
Diop Oct 18th 2011 3:33PM
The only time I ever hear of SLT being overpowered is in arena, everywhere else I generally hear it being referred to as a joke to passable at best. I think one of the DPS in my raid summed it up best when he said "I don't really like SLT, when we use SLT we all end up equal health at like 50% health, when we use tranquility we all end up equal at 100% health. It's short range is a hinderance (only useful when stacked up), and the whole 'equalize health' aspect is generally useless since if we're all getting hit by the same AOE health values generally stay around equal anyway, oh except it also steals your tanks health generally. Basically I just consider it a 10% damage reduction totem, it's nice, it's better than no totem but when every other healer is brining multiple CDs I definitely think we need another one (which I think we're getting in Resto t13 4set, to cover the gap till the next expansion without making us more OP in pvp).
On Totems, I'm really hoping for a revamp that makes totems interesting or useful. As a Shaman I dislike that I dislike totems, I want them to be useful but at the moment they feel like a class mechanic that makes us weaker, "oh, you want to give the same buffs as other classes, except they have a much smaller range and will disappear when you die" My favorite idea is turn most of the buffs into just general auras and make totems more along the lines of personal utility totems, i.e. so Strength of the Earth totem would become a aura, but tremor would remain a totem, that way at least putting totems down would feel like you're actively doing something.
Finally I want some kind of non-range limited AOE, probably not a new spell but a method to modify either Healing Rain or chain heal, either through a glyph or talent or other method to open that option. This is something I feel is especially needed in 10mans.
I hope this doesn't come across as too negative as I really do like my class, this is a 'wishlist' thread so I've tried to address some areas where I feel we're weak, overall though I do love my class and will continue to play it (enhance MS, resto OS).
Kierbuu Oct 18th 2011 3:48PM
On Totems,...
Been saying this for years now. Nice to see some others thinking along similar lines.
vlad_dracul2k2002 Oct 18th 2011 4:31PM
I like my shaman's totems as well, they help define the shaman as a class. I do think they need to be reworked though. Either some need to be turned into an aura or they need to be made more mobile. Blizz could use different elemental models for each kind of shaman or something like that.
Gwynna Oct 18th 2011 4:41PM
I agree totems are unwieldy. Then again, you can bring 3-4 raid buffs at once. Most other classes only get to bring 1. With that in mind, having them be a little difficult makes sense.
My wish for a totem change is a sort of totem-backpack. Load one totem into your 'totem-backpack' and carry it around for its duration. This way you can drag your Fire Elemental along with you to the next fight, or bring whichever buff you don't want to lose while wandering around. Imagine questing with your Searing Totem on your back, and not having to drop it every 10 seconds in a new area.
If only.
Teh Mowtems Oct 18th 2011 5:07PM
Gwynna; Agreed.... mostly.
Every time i think about a way to make totems less cumbersome (usually more aura-like), they end up feeling OP'd compared to other calsses.
That said, i think the new interface (was that from Wrath?) where we can drop all 4 with one button is a massive improvement. I can't suggest much more without taking away what makes totems totems.
If I had to have a complaint, though, I'd ask for another earth totem. Depending on what buffs the rest of the raid brought along, i can always find something to do with my other totems, but I often find myself grouped with a pally and a DK/Warrior so that my Earth totem buffs are rendered moot.
Ziras Oct 18th 2011 5:12PM
Call Totems.
I want to be able to move to another location in a large fight, and then summon my totems to me. Not recall, then recast. Call. I have to move? I move, then I pull my totems to me.
That would be awesome...
PodPeople Oct 18th 2011 5:25PM
I'd like to know why they decided it was a good idea to make FL rep caster mail have suboptimal stats for either spec that can use it. seriously, WTF is with the Stam, Int, Crit and haste belt? the total lack of Spirit on the gear make it nearly useless to resto, and crit is near useless to elemental. why even make the item? especially if it's from a rep vendor. I guess there's always reforging, but should we really have to reforge a item that is from a rep vendor that should to be good for at least 1 of 2 specs to use, but is in fact good for neither of them.
Be sure to ask them what they are planning to do to fix the water shield problem? having to refresh it every 10sec because of fight mechanics is not "engaging game play," it's annoying.
Crispn Oct 18th 2011 6:13PM
Blizzard has always made it a point to not make the perfect itemization for all your gear. Also with the introduction of reforging in Cataclysm badly itemized piece can be made easily usable.
Would it be engaging gameplay to have to click a water shield buff every 10min? No, it would be annoying because you'd forget occasionally to refreash before a fight... and you'd call for an aura water shield, making is not even a thing anymore.
More QQ
LordXenu Oct 18th 2011 6:17PM
It's like there was MP5 on the armor, but it fell off.
skhidmarks Oct 20th 2011 12:27AM
a simple minor glyph to WS would be great (nothing like taking constant aoe damage). something similar to lightning shield were it doesnt drop below 3 charges. I know in many fights where, if not properly paid attention to, you find yourself getting short on mana, simply due to raid aoe damage. Possibly modify it that if your targeted by a mob it will be removed