Totem Talk: While my Chain Heal gently weeps
by Joe Perez 
Feb 28th 2012 at 7:00PM
Last week was a massive update to the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator for shaman in general but especially for restoration shaman. There were quite a number of surprises, a fair amount of tweaks and the implementation of a brand new mystery in our yet-to-be-named level 90 talents.
Among all those changes was one that I didn't bring up. Instead, I wanted to wait until this week because I felt the topic required a bit of time all to itself. That is the change to Riptide in the new talent calculator. No longer will it be consumed by Chain Heal whenever we cast it on someone with Riptide as our primary target. This is certainly a cause for celebration, and as I imagined it in my head, Chain Heal gently wept with happiness at the news.
While we're at it, be sure to enjoy the ukulele stylings of Jake Shimabukuro, who is a genius on the uke.
Riptide and Chain Heal, a match made in Azeroth
Why should you be excited about this change? Well, to be honest, it's a huge potential boost to our healing per second. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but it really is a big deal. It essentially takes the tier 12 restoration four-piece bonus and rolls it into the base ability for Riptide. That set bonus, while it may have been over shadowed by other classes' healing in Firelands, was part of the reason going into tier 13 we were such healing badasses out of the gate.
If you were lucky enough to have the four pieces of your tier 12 gear going into Dragon Soul, it was a treat; basically, the mechanics of the new raid zone, combined with our ability to continually boost Chain Heal by an additional 25% without having to worry about cutting Riptide short, meant that we could throw heals out with impunity. In layperson's terms, this meant that we could just sit in one place and dump out healing without having to check if we were going to screw ourselves by cutting Riptide short. The result was an overall massive boost in healing that made a lot of us restoration shaman question if it was worth breaking our four-piece tier 12 bonuses for tier 13 until we were capable of donning a full four pieces of the new tier gear.
I noticed that after breaking my four-piece tier 12 that my healing took a bit of a dip. Looking back on it, it was exactly for the reason that I was either cutting my Riptides short by using them to boost my Chain Heals or picking targets without Riptide on them to cast as my primary target for Chain Heal.
Moving into Mists, that will no longer be an issue. We'll be able to roll our Riptides out like normal and be able to continually boost our Chain Heal every single time we cast it without having to worry about hurting ourselves in the long run. This really seems like an attempt to bring us further into focus with other healers and give us the ability to use our tools more aggressively to be more competitive in healing situations.
If you think about it, this isn't just a change that will be good for a little while, either. It's something that will continue to improve throughout the course of the expansion. The higher our intellect totals get, the higher our spellpower and healing gets, and then it will just continue to explode in an escalating manner when we continually buff our Chain Heal by that 25%. I don't know about you, but that's something that I'm super excited for in Mists.
If it stays as it is, that has the potential to be a pretty serious buff to our overall healing, especially when you consider that with our new cooldown, Ascendance, if we can stack haste and pump out a ton of Chain Heals that are boosted by an additional 25%, we could have a metric ton of healing done in short period of time. Ultimately, it's a minor tweak that could just result in a strangely large difference going into Mists and one that I'm eager to get my hands on and see exactly how far I can push it.
Let the speculation begin!
I've been thinking a lot lately about what could possibly fill the gap on that is sitting primly at the top of our level 90 talents. It's been occupying a lot of my time, to be honest. What would possibly fit in there without being so overpowering that all the other healers shed tears of dismay whenever we took to the healing stage? What could be put at the top and still not fall so short of our own expectations or be so lackluster that we write it off as something that we'd never use? This led me to look around at the other healing classes and what they get as possibilities when they hit the new level cap in Mists.
Druids seem to get some form of utility in their level 90 talents, with an emphasis on shapeshifting or taking on different roles. Heart of the Wild giving 50% agility as intellect and increasing hit rating by 100%. On top of that, it regenerates 2% of maximum mana every 5 seconds. If that wasn't enough, in this form it also allows your damaging spells to cost no mana!
Priests get access to things like Void Shift, which allows them to swap their health total with another raid member and then heal themselves for 25% of their health. That is a pretty strong talent, and the raid utility of it is something that I can see being very strong. Vow of Unity also adds utility that is strangely reminiscent of the original Spirit Link Totem that we first saw in the Wrath of the Lich King beta years ago. It also allows that link to supply you with a binding heal that gives you 20% of the healing done back to the caster, which looks a lot like our Glyph of Healing Wave.
Paladins get a veritable smorgasbord of items with Holy Prism, Light's Hammer and Stay of Execution.
So now the question is to you, dear readers. If you were asked to design our level 90 talents (or at least the portions that deal with us restoration shaman in particular), what would you pick? We'll share some of those answers in next weeks column, when I will share mine as well. Feel free to leave your ideas in the comments here or email me directly and let me know how you would design our level 90 talents.
Totem Talk: Restoration lends you advice on healing groups, DK tanks and heroics and mana concerns in today's endgame -- or take a break and look back at the rise of the resto shaman. Happy healing, and may your mana be plentiful!
Filed under: Shaman, (Shaman) Totem Talk
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Boz Feb 28th 2012 7:19PM
+1,000 Internet Points for the song reference; one of Harrison's best, in my opinion.
Snuzzle Feb 28th 2012 7:49PM
The druid hybrid talents aren't so great, actually. Remember, unless you're resto or boomkin your max mana is base mana, which means you can chuck out maybe 5 HTs or Wraths before ooming. Which is... well, poop, really.
I'm hoping my shaman gets some kickass utility. Something like calling up a rock wall (think rogue's smoke bomb) to protect a certain area for X seconds; or maybe a wall of fire so it can be crossed (slightly less OP) but hurts enemies if they do. Or maybe we summon an Air Elemental (we can already do Earth and Fire and mages get Water) that.. I dunno. Does something air-ish (okay, didn't think this one through... but the ring of fire is awesome, isn't it?)
Twill Feb 28th 2012 10:22PM
remember in mists, all mana is base mana. int doesnt increase mana pools anymore.
Adam Feb 29th 2012 10:36AM
It's been shown that Holy paladins have their base mana boosted. This would imply that healing mana pools will still be large in comparison to melee mana pools.
Of course, this could all change when Greg Street opens his big mouth very soon™.
Luotian Feb 28th 2012 10:02PM
Hi there Joe (yes it is me, again).
This topic is, kind of almost exactly what my question was in a round about way. So, I finally got my main spec resto dwarf shaman up to 85 and with an ilevel (in her bags) high enough to heal heroics. After three days of gathering my courage, I qued myself up specifically for Throne of Tides because I thought it might be the easiest.
It was an unmitigated disaster. We didn't wipe until the first boss fight, but I could NOT heal through it. Now, granted, there were some things the DPS could have been doing that would have made it easier, but as far as I can tell there is no reason I shouldn't have been able to handle it except my bad-ness. After several tries, I seized the first excuse I could and dropped group in shame.
What I can't figure out is what key I was missing. Keeping ES and Riptide up on the tank, and keeping it rolling on two other targets when ever possible. Healing Wave constantly, GHW when things get crazy. And that's where things get a little screwy. I don't like to Chain Heal because I hate losing my Riptide. What is the cut off point for when it is better to drop my Riptide and everything that gives me? Is there some rule for Chain Heal that I'm just not understanding?
Any and all tips would be great. I want to be an awesome healer by the time my brother gets back from Japan in August.
Also, her armory, if it helps: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/silver-hand/Aisl%C3%ADnn/simple
Thanks Joe (and all :D ).
icepyro Feb 29th 2012 1:38AM
Chain Heal is not the answer it used to be. If you can healing rain most of the group, it's better to do so. Most people will know it's okay and stay in it if they can. If you want to use CH to consume the Riptide and boost its healing, then I usually wait until it has only a few seconds left, though I'm not sure of it's sweet spot (obviously 1 sec is sweet, but I usually go at about 5 and I'm not sure if that's good or bad).
Also, just because you can't heal through a fight doesn't make you a bad healer. Each healer has strengths and weaknesses and the trick is to figure those out. Being undergeared is particularly hard for any healer because you can't even try to power through it. You'll be OOM fast if you try to keep everyone at 100%, but people will die if you let them drop too low without enough mastery.
There isn't a rotation for us. Keeping riptide on 3 sounds nice, but is it needed? Would healing someone else be a better use than a riptide on someone who doesn't need it? Are people so spread out or healthy enough that CH isn't worth using? Rather than the third Riptide, I've sometimes cut one short with CH and reapplied right after (usually the tank, but sometimes stupid dps if the CH will also bounce to the tank).
Personally, if heroics just don't seem doable, then there are still normal 85s that give points and practice. I ran them until I was ilvl 332 equipped myself (my shammy is my first geared healer and I've really not done it long myself.) Or just keep trying heroics with friends. Group attitudes and knowledge do make a difference and I found out recently that even an ilvl 386 can't heal stupid even with a nearly equally geared tank on normal heroics.
Eberron Feb 29th 2012 2:04AM
Hi Slinn,
So here's the basic rundown of your problem: You don't have the raw stats to keep up with any measurable amount of damage.
You have no enchants or gems. These are things you absolutely need for progression content. Even relative progression content. I understand the desire to avoid spending tons of money on stuff that's going to be obsolete very quickly but throwing some relatively cheap lesser enchants/gems could go a long way.
At a glance I figure you could pick up the following on the relatively cheap:
Cloak - Intellect (+30)
Gloves - Haste (+50)
Shield - Mastery (+50)
Wrist (Possibly) - Spell Power (+23) from WotLK
Weapon - Exceptional Spell Power (+50, WotLK)
Ghostly Spellthread (50 int, 45 spirit)
Boots - Haste (50 haste)
Shoulders - Your profession buff! Felfire Inscription! Do it! Do it now! (130 int, 25 haste)
Ebonsteel belt buckle
Gems, you've given up 5 gems. Even socketing 30 int/15 int+15 haste green quality gems in to them you're missing out on 140 int, 30 haste, 10 crit assuming you stick to int/haste gems with socket bonuses.
For the (relatively) low cost of the following you could be...
4 blackfallow ink
10 infinite dust
2 greater celestial essence
24 dust
2 greater cosmic essence
1 lesser cosmic essence
+270 intellect (an approximately 8.5% gain over what you have)
+155 haste
+50 mastery
+10 crit
+45 spirit
+73 spell power
Keep in mind, this could cost you a fair bit if you bought it all outright on the auction house with mats but shopping around a bit can probably get you some deals. I'm currently sitting on a pile of +mastery to shield enchants because they're selling for less than a gold on my server and that's not worth moving.
In total this'll cost you several hundred gold, so pick what you can do carefully and see if you have any friends who can help you out.
Also, drop Ancestral Resolve and Totemic Reach in favor of three points in Acuity. You can use the output right now.
Good luck. :)
murmaiderxx Feb 29th 2012 2:13AM
@Luotian While what you're doing is a great thing you want the everyone else to do their part also, this is no longer the game it used to be where you could just heal through the cyclones for instance in that first boss fight. If they do not pay attention to mechanics it will fall apart. The timing for your chain heal and riptide should be fine and losing a charge on the tank I wouldn't worry about so much, they should be fine while you LHW the others if they dip. GHW should be used more when you're expecting to have the tank or someone else take a lot of damage. Lower ilvl is going to be tough until you get yourself higher to get better gear. I would suggest grinding rep for the zones to get their 359s until you have/work up to points of your own to spend on better gear. Healing rain for melee or groups of range is great and chain heal is great also. Practicex3, you'll see it will get better as you go on, but you'll also see that you'll get better too.
EverythingRuned Feb 29th 2012 10:12AM
Real reason: healing isn't balanced for your item level, it's balanced for people in full dragon soul gear. Healers are continuously nerfed as new raids/armor comes out, which kind of screws over the people getting in late.
Just hope you can be carried by smart & overgeared guildies/pugs.
P.s. blizzard recognizes this issue, which is the main reason intellect is being nerfed in mists
Joe Perez Feb 29th 2012 8:59AM
Looks like you readers have beat me to the punch here! (pesky sleep interfering)
@Luotian I can only echo what's already been said, it's darn good advice. Take what Eberron said to heart here. While we're capable healers there's no sense in giving yourself an handicap. Making sure you have gems, even if they are green quality, and enchants will give you a huge boost in your stats and make your job healing that much easier.
Icepyro has some very good points. Keeping Riptide on three targets is fine for raiding, but in a dungeon it's not as necessary. Judge your heals. Chain Heal, as awesome as it is, is not always the right answer for the job. If people are too spread out you have to rely on your other tools. Don't be discouraged either, Cata heroic are rough on healers that just reach them. There's no shame in that. If you find it's too hard, don't be afraid to hit normals and farm some gear. Also rep rewards are also available and can help you gear up as well. Remember it's a game of leapfrog when it comes to gear. Quest>rep/dungeon>heroic>raid
Here's a list of rep gear http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/12/14/totem-talk-restoration-shaman-guide-to-cataclysm-reputation-gea/
Should help you find pieces to fill the gaps.
Also keep in mind what murmaiderxx said. If you're in a group and peopel are not doing what they are supposed to, especially with a new or undergeared healer, things will unravel quickly.
Ultimately keep trying, fill in your gems, get enchants, farm up some rep gear and make sure you're using the right tool for the right job. Keep trying, keep practicing until it feels right to you.
WanderingNomad Feb 28th 2012 10:06PM
absolutely phenom genius talent on the uke.....made my day....thank you Joe and Joe! =)
WanderingNomad Feb 28th 2012 10:07PM
ummm....replace one of those Joe's with Jake :o\
wizarddray Feb 28th 2012 10:47PM
That performance was great. Check out the solo on this version, it's from when George was inducted into the hall of fame!
http://youtu.be/ifp_SVrlurY
peter.boer90 Feb 29th 2012 4:04AM
One thing i'm afraid of, is that with that boost to our chain heal, and the already lower mana cost of it compared to other heals, we'll start stacking Haste asap, and then go back to the chain heal spam of wrath. Yes, i'd love to get a bonus to aoe healing when needed, but removing that limit (by not consuming riptide anymore) allows to spam it a lot easier.
So i am just very curious it won't bite us back in the arse with an undynamic healing style.
Soulstriker Feb 29th 2012 9:32AM
You're extremly naive to believe that chain heal not consuming riptide is a buff.
Yes, it rocks, cause you no longer worry about reapplying riptide, BUT, exactly because so, you'll be balanced around targetting riptide targets to chain heal, which means an overall nerf to your riptide+chain heal combo.
In short, from now on, if you don't target your riptide to chain heal, you're gonna be penalized.
This change simply took away your ability to do a slightly larger AOE heal once every riptide CD.
Good or bad, will determine on your playstyle.
Adam Feb 29th 2012 11:03AM
I'm really excited for our 90 talents. I'm hoping they give us some unique tricks to use.
What I would love, but I don't think we need, is another cooldown. We have hero/lust, SWG. And we're getting a new one already.
I would like to see one that changes our fire elemental into a wind elemental, and depending on the spec we're in, it would behave differently. In ele, it would aid in casting speed and also throw out lightening bolts. In enhance, it would increase melee attack speed/reduce melee gcd. In resto, it could increase targets healing received, and also give a feedback debuff that increases damage output by X% as nature damage (lightning).
Redsnake Feb 29th 2012 3:54PM
Unstable Barrier
8% Base Mana
Instant Cast
2 minute cooldown
The earth embraces your target with a volatile layer of sediment, reducing incoming damage taken by 40(?)%. After 10 seconds, the barrier is destroyed by an earthquake centered around the target, dealing damage equal to the amount absorbed over 5 seconds, split among all targets within 20 yards.
I liked the idea of Spirit Link totem and how it's very powerful, but doesn't actually heal any damage, rather making it easier to heal among more people. So, this would give damage protection when it's needed the most and turning it into something more manageable by Healing Rain/CH.
peter.boer90 Feb 29th 2012 5:15PM
Did anybody notice that our talent that increases the health of targets that we heal by a certain % is just gone?
2 bad, because i really liked it.