WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com WoW Insider http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogobig.gif WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2015 AOL, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. View our terms of service here: http://legal.aol.com/terms-of-service/full-terms/ Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Post-patch enhancement shaman still waiting for buffs]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/11/01/totem-talk-post-patch-enhancement-shaman-still-waiting-for-buff/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/11/01/totem-talk-post-patch-enhancement-shaman-still-waiting-for-buff/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/11/01/totem-talk-post-patch-enhancement-shaman-still-waiting-for-buff/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shamans. Rich Maloy lives and breathes enhancement: his main spec is enhance, his off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance and leads the guild Big Crits (Season 2 Ep 06 now out!) as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

We're now two full weeks into patch 4.0.1 with our new and improved enhancement spec. Improved? Actually, no. Our DPS is only marginally improved over the previous incarnation, while our fellow melee brethren were buffed to the teeth. My rough analysis shows the difference between us and top melee DPS, usually warrior and death knight, has widened significantly since the patch.

I'm going to preface all of this analysis by saying that I am not the top enhancement shaman, by far. I play well, I study my class, I optimize my spec, gems, forging, gear and rotations. I don't die to stupid stuff -- well, at least not often! In other words, I try to push my damage without sacrificing myself. Be forewarned that some of these numbers I'm embarrassed to post in such a public manner, and while I'm hardly the benchmark for DPS, I can at least provide a baseline of what your average progression raider's numbers look like.

On average across eight of 12 hard-mode fights in ICC (excluding the gimmick fights Gunship, VDW and BQL, and excluding H-LK because we're just now working on him), the top melee DPS was doing 50 percent more damage than me pre-patch and 64 percent more post-patch. I could narrow that gap down to about 15 percent on a standstill fight such as Deathbringer Saurfang, but on high-movement fights such as Sindy, the top melee would do as much as 80 percent more damage than me overall.

As much as it pains me to say this, as a raid leader I have to ask the question: Am I dead weight in raids right now? Will level 85 with Unleash Elements bring better output?

Continue reading Totem Talk: Post-patch enhancement shaman still waiting for buffs

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Totem Talk: Post-patch enhancement shaman still waiting for buffs originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> analysisanalysis-opinionclass-helpdpsdps-analysisenhancementenhancement-dpsEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguideguide-to-shamansmaelstrom-weaponnerfpatch-4.0.1patch-4.0.1-shamanshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentstheorycrafttheorycraftingworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Mon, 01 Nov 2010 21:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: A feast of enhancement macros]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/25/totem-talk-a-feast-of-enhancement-macros/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/25/totem-talk-a-feast-of-enhancement-macros/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/25/totem-talk-a-feast-of-enhancement-macros/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Rich Maloy lives and breathes enhancement; his main spec is enhance, and his off spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance and leads the guild Big Crits (Season 2 Ep 05 now out!) as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

This week, I was hoping to provide a thorough analysis of the new and questionably improved (though most definitely changed) enhancement shaman DPS in patch 4.0.1. Unfortunately, I ended up missing raid on Tuesday and so missed our 11/12 ICC hard mode power clear and have very limited data to analyze.

I know you're right there with me when I say it is quite disconcerting to have gaps in our normal frenzied button mashing activities. The long, lonely periods of two or three global cooldowns where we have nothing to do but hope for that fifth Maelstrom Weapon proc, while idly staring at our keys with the strange feeling that we're doing something wrong. Fret not, young shammy. It is the way of the enhancement right now; we will have periods of non-mashing where we can take a deep breath and enjoy the forthcoming five-stack of searing enabled Lava Lash crit.

In last week's article I alluded to a macro that combines Magma Totem and Fire Nova into one button, and there were some comments about it. I'm a big macro user; in fact, I have all my macro slots filled up on Stoney and my druid, Finn. I think it's about time I divulged the treasure trove of macros I've accumulated over the years.

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Totem Talk: A feast of enhancement macros originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpenhanceEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedferal-spiritguideguide-to-shamansmacromacro-modifiermacrosshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Enhancement post-patch theory]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/18/totem-talk-enhancement-post-patch-theory/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/18/totem-talk-enhancement-post-patch-theory/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/18/totem-talk-enhancement-post-patch-theory/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shamans. Rich Maloy lives and breathes enhancement: his main spec is enhance, his off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance and leads the guild Big Crits (Season 2 Ep 04 now out!) as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

This patch hit me hard, harder than any patch before it, and I know I wasn't the only was one to be drastically affected by it. Other than the usual spate of patch-related addon issues, I was struggling to keep the downloader connected. After turning off all anti-virus, firewall and other sorts of computer safety monitoring programs, I finally got into game on Friday night. Mostly, though, I just lacked time to log in this week. Once in game, I was faced with just as many challenges getting Stoney in order and raid-ready as I was trying to get online. This patch was more disruptive in game than any patch before.

A far an enhancement goes, there's so much that still needs to be tested and refined. The greater enhancement community is working hard at the theorycrafting, but even the simulations are not fully refined for level 80 testing; the latest alpha of EnhSim is tuned to level 85 right now. The decisions I made in game are based on the best available data as well as some things I want to test out for myself. There was a lot to accomplish in-game including, respeccing, retraining, regemming, reforging, readjusting and refining.

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Totem Talk: Enhancement post-patch theory originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpenhanceenhance-shamanenhancementenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedgemminggemsguideguide-to-shamansMasteryre-specreforgingrotationshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentsspecstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Enhancement's path to victory in patch 4.0.1]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/09/totem-talk-enhancements-path-to-victory-in-patch-4-0-1/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/09/totem-talk-enhancements-path-to-victory-in-patch-4-0-1/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/09/totem-talk-enhancements-path-to-victory-in-patch-4-0-1/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shamans. Rich Maloy lives and breathes enhancement -- his main spec is enhance, his off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance, and leads the guild Big Crits (Season 2 Ep 03 now out!)as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

Are you ready? Charge up your Maelstrom Weapons and dust off your Searing Totems -- Patch 4.0.1 is nearly upon us! Not sure what to do on your enhancement shaman? The quick-hit guide to enhancement in the cataclysmic world is below.

What's not changing

Let's start with some things that are not changing. Slow/slow is the way to go (for your weapons, I mean). Your weapons shouldn't be faster than 2.00 and ideally should be between 2.50 to 2.70 speed. Be wary of any weapon with a speed below 2.00; most likely it's been touched by a rogue and still has some residual poison on it meant to cripple your Windfuries and Flametongues.

We're also staying with the same imbues: Windfury on the main hand and Flametongue on the off hand. With this patch (as with every patch, it seems), there was a little bit of banter about going full spellpower, with fast/fast and a caster weapon main hand along with FT/FT, reforging spirit, and otherwise doing crazy things like looking for the next Torch of Holy Fire. Don't do it. Stay slow/slow, with WF/FT. We're meant to be melee doing primarily melee damage.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Enhancement's path to victory in patch 4.0.1

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Totem Talk: Enhancement's path to victory in patch 4.0.1 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 09 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> cat-betacata-betacataclysm-betaclass-helpenhance-shamanenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguideguide-to-shamansreforgingshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-betaworld-of-warcraft-cataclysmworld-of-warcraft-cataclysm-betaworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-betawow-cataclysm-betawow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-expansion-betawow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 09 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Enhancement shaman changes for patch 4.0.1]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/26/totem-talk-enhancement-shaman-changes-for-patch-4-0-1/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/26/totem-talk-enhancement-shaman-changes-for-patch-4-0-1/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/26/totem-talk-enhancement-shaman-changes-for-patch-4-0-1/#comments Axes, maces, lightning, Windfury and wolves. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance and leads the guild Big Crits (Season 2, Episode 1 now out!) as enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

I can't wait for the new talent trees to kick in with patch 4.0.1. The game designers truly streamlined talent trees, including Enhancement. They've even gone so far as to make Primal Wisdom, our mana regen talent, into a base ability, and they've taken one point out of Unleashed Rage. This frees up two talent points right away and gave us some very viable specs to use right out of the gate of 4.0.1 for our last hurrah at level 80.

I see two different possibilities for level 80 specs for enhancement: Fire Nova or Improved Shields. First, an Improved Fire Nova spec of 5/31/0. Not only did this talent get moved to the enhancement tree, but it got dropped down deep, out of reach for elemental. The unfortunate part is that come Cataclysm, Fire Nova will require a Magma, Fire Elemental or Flametongue Totem and will not work off our new and improved Searing Totem. To further confound matters, the improved nova is right beside Searing Flames, the Searing Totem special kicker.

The improved novas make a big difference in fights requiring both boss and AoE damage, such as heroic Halion-25. Outside of that fight (or any future fights like it), Improved Fire Nova is a waste; better to put the points in Improved Shields. My main spec at 80 will be 5/31/0. Just moving those points isn't going to push your DPS up significantly, but with the changes to Lightning Shield, making it effectively a 10-minute, non-depletable buff (when glyphed), those two points are well spent there at 80.

Dipping into the elemental tree, after our requisite 31 points in enhancement, three points in Acuity are a must-have, especially as we start to level again. The last two points going into Concussion will pack an extra punch.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Enhancement shaman changes for patch 4.0.1

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Totem Talk: Enhancement shaman changes for patch 4.0.1 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> ancestral-swiftnessclass-helpenhanceenhance-shamanenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedfire-novafire-nova-totemghost-wolfguideguide-to-shamanspatch-4.0.1searing-flamessearing-totemshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentsstormstriketalenttalent-treestalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Enhancement beta update]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/04/totem-talk-enhancement-beta-update/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/04/totem-talk-enhancement-beta-update/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/04/totem-talk-enhancement-beta-update/#comments Axes, maces, lightning, Windfury and wolves. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance, and leads the guild Big Crits (Week 13 now live!)as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

It's been a few weeks since my last beta post. I feel like I'm back in grammar school at good ol' St. Louise de Marillac, "forgive me readers, it's been four weeks since my last beta post. Since then I've been mean to my guild, and I tried to kill my own priest." In game priest, in game! I can't wait to read the letters to the editor about that slip up. Oh well, at least I didn't use the word "casual."

Moving right along to important topics that everyone cares about: beta changes for enhancement shamans! Well, I suppose "everyone" excludes people that are not interested in beta spoilers. Great, two paragraphs in and I've already offended Catholics, priests, and people not interested in beta spoilers. Look on the bright side: at least I didn't use an offensive font this week!

If you are interested in the latest beta changes as they relate to enhancement shamans then please read on. Please note that beyond this point, this post will not further offend your good, wholesome middle Azerothian sensibilities.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Enhancement beta update

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Totem Talk: Enhancement beta update originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 04 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> cat-betacata-betacataclysm-betaclass-helpenhanceenhance-shamanenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedGlyphglyphsguideguide-to-shamansshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-betaworld-of-warcraft-cataclysmworld-of-warcraft-cataclysm-betaworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-betawow-cataclysm-betawow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-expansion-betawow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 04 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Defining Playstyles: Beyond casual vs. hardcore]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/31/defining-playstyles-beyond-casual-vs-hardcore/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/31/defining-playstyles-beyond-casual-vs-hardcore/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/31/defining-playstyles-beyond-casual-vs-hardcore/#comments In a recent Totem Talk post, I made a loot list for enhancement shamans that have access to ICC but are not progression raiders, because they are either alts or they are -- drum roll, please -- casual. That's right: I used the c-word without context. Casual. There, I said it again without context. Excuse me while I duck from the rotten vegetables being thrown in my direction.

The use of that c-word in relation to an Icecrown Citadel loot list sparked a very interesting comment thread. Most comments were well thought-out, added value and furthered the discussion. Some were, to borrow Adam Savage's favorite term, vitriolic, because of my heinous misuse of the term "casual." I said it again without context. I'm just casually throwing around "casuals" here.

Given the reaction that post received, I started doing some research into what exactly "casual" and "hardcore" actually mean. What I found was not surprising at all: They mean completely different things to absolutely everyone. The MMO population of players, across all games, is estimated at over 61 million people. There are as many variations on play time and playstyle as there are players in the game. Do you really think we can divide this many people simply into two groups of just casuals and hardcores?

I think it's time we move beyond the polarizing definitions of casual and hardcore and come up with some definitions of our own.

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Defining Playstyles: Beyond casual vs. hardcore originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> analysisanalysis-opinioncasualcasual-raidingclassificationDaedalus-Projectdaedelushardcorehardcore-casualnick-yeeopinionplay-structuresplaystylepvpraiding (Rich Maloy) Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Enhancing your gear in only four dungeons]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/28/totem-talk-enhancing-your-gear-in-only-four-dungeons/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/28/totem-talk-enhancing-your-gear-in-only-four-dungeons/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/28/totem-talk-enhancing-your-gear-in-only-four-dungeons/#comments Axes, maces, lightning, Windfury and wolves. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance, and leads the guild Big Crits (Week 12 now out!)as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

Holy Stormstrikes! I'm going to refrain from using the term casual in a post ever again. Wait, I just used it there. Ah well, rack that promise up with "I'll never drink again" and "I'll never die to cutters again." Lies, all of them, lies.

We all have different definitions of the term and judging by the comments in the last post, others' definition of casual is more severe than mine. I'll get into casual vs. hardcore and the ridiculousness of those classifications in another post. For now, I hear you loud and clear, so let's refrain from diving into that now.

I digress. As I was writing last week's article I had this sneaking suspicion that I already wrote several articles on gearing your non-end game enhancement shaman. In fact I had written articles many moons ago, and they are all on my neglected blog, Big Hit Box. Time for a revisit.

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Totem Talk: Enhancing your gear in only four dungeons originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpdungeonenhance-shamanenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedforge-of-soulsgeargear-guidegearinggearing-for-raidsGearing-Upgearing-up-at-80guideguide-to-shamanshalls-of-reflectionlootpit-of-saronshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentstrial-of-the-championworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:59:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Gearing your casual or alt enhancement shaman]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/24/totem-talk-gearing-your-casual-or-alt-enhancement-shaman/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/24/totem-talk-gearing-your-casual-or-alt-enhancement-shaman/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/24/totem-talk-gearing-your-casual-or-alt-enhancement-shaman/#comments gearing your enhancement shaman altAxes, maces, lightning, Windfury and wolves. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance and leads the guild Big Crits (Week 12 now out!) as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

Casual raider? Or not fortunate enough to play a shaman as your main, but instead stuck on another, lesser class? This article is for you. If you need to go out and gear up your shaman from guild alt runs, PUG raids and mucking about in daily dungeons for your two frost emblems, then read on for your gear choices.

From the applications we received over the past few months at Big Crits, it seems that guilds and PUGs alike had a hard time getting past Deathbringer Saurfang -- that is, until the bigger ICC buff hit. Now the breaking point is 6/12 ICC, with kills on Festergut and Rotface being commonplace but little experience beyond that available. Taking into consideration how far casual guilds or alt runs can realistically get into ICC, I've listed the loot in order of progression, from easy to hard.

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Totem Talk: Gearing your casual or alt enhancement shaman originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguideguide-to-shamansshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Enhanced moves with Halion]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/14/totem-talk-enhanced-with-halion/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/14/totem-talk-enhanced-with-halion/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/14/totem-talk-enhanced-with-halion/#comments enhanced moves with halionAxes, maces, lightning, Windfury and wolves. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance and leads the guild Big Crits (Week 10 now out!) as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

The last patch of an expansion feels like the last gift of Christmas; you want it to be the most epic and the most incredible gift of them all, the one gift by which you'll remember this time forever. But instead, you're at your in-laws' doing the family gag gift exchange with a price limit of 20 bucks and a penchant for As Seen on TV products. In some ways, Ruby Sanctum is like that; it's not huge, it's not epic, it's not expensive, but it does have some potential. Maybe Ruby Sanctum is the Slap Chop of this expansion. None of this has anything to do with the article today. Except that I'm talking about Halion.

Halion, the Twilight Destroyer. Three phases, good loot and a huge scale-up in difficulty on heroic mode. It's a good fight that requires paying attention throughout the entire 8-minute enrage timer, in which one death can mean a wipe, especially on heroic. There's no 30 percent buff incoming, so you either learn it and beat it, or you don't and fail. For our part, as enhancement shaman, there are a few tricks we have up our sleeves.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Enhanced moves with Halion

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Totem Talk: Enhanced moves with Halion originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpenhanceenhance-shamanenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguideguide-to-raid-leadingguide-to-shamanshalionhalion-guidehalion-strategyhalion-the-twilight-destroyerleadershipraid-guideraid-leaderraid-leader-guideraiding-guideraidsruby-sanctumruby-sanctum-raid-guideruby-sanctum-strategyshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-guide-to-raid-leadingwow-raid-leaderwow-raidingwow-raidswow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Enhancement Cataclysm update]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/07/totem-talk-enhancement-cataclysm-update/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/07/totem-talk-enhancement-cataclysm-update/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/07/totem-talk-enhancement-cataclysm-update/#comments
Axes, maces, lightning, Windfury, and wolves. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance, and leads the guild Big Crits (Week 9 now out!) as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

With such a lame title, you'd never guess we have so much to talk about this week! Mastery bonus is all elemental damage, not just nature! Smarter Searing Totems! Four Ghostcrawler replies (11 paragraphs!) about Shamans, with four paragraphs solely about Enhancement! Longer Hex! New crit-increasing talents! Increased totem ranges! Well, okay, maybe that last one isn't as exciting as the first few. But there's so much news out there for us enhancers, I don't even know where to begin.

The logical place to start is with the biggest news: Enhancement Mastery bonus "increases all elemental damage done by 20%. Damage increased further by mastery rating." This is a change from the first Cataclysm build that included mastery; previously our bonus was only increasing our nature damage. The nature-only mastery was great for our core spell, Lightning Bolt (LB), but with Maelstrom Weapon (MW) now including Lava Burst (LvB) we would not benefit from our Mastery bonus with LvB. This was a problem for two reasons: first LvB does more damage than LB, and second, LvB could be used to keep Elemental Devastation up. Lava Burst will automatically crit when Flame Shock (FS) is on a target, making it a smart choice to used to keep Elemental Devastation active.

That choice changed. Mastery now affects all elemental damage, which includes Lava Burst. Hence, Lava Burst plus Flame Shock plus mastery equals happy enhancer. This is a great buff for us. Because LvB has an 8 second cooldown and LB has none, we'll still keep LB handy for when LvB is on cooldown.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Enhancement Cataclysm update

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Totem Talk: Enhancement Cataclysm update originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> cat-betacata-betacataclysm-betaclass-helpenhanceenhance-shamanenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedGhostcrawlerguideguide-to-shamanslava-burstlightning boltLightningBoltmaelstrom-weaponshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentsstatic-shocktalenttalentstotemtotemsworld-of-warcraft-betaworld-of-warcraft-cataclysmworld-of-warcraft-cataclysm-betaworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-betawow-cataclysm-betawow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-expansion-betawow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Enhance me]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/31/totem-talk-enhance-me/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/31/totem-talk-enhance-me/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/31/totem-talk-enhance-me/#comments Axes, maces, lightning, Windfury, and wolves. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance and leads the guild Big Crits (Week 8 now out!) as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

Two weeks ago a fellow enhancement shaman contacted me on Twitter asking how to improve his damage output. He was kind enough to let me use his email as the topic for the weekly enhancement shaman column here on WoW.com. Because he was brave (crazy?) enough to face the public scrutiny that comes from being in the spotlight here, show him the high level of respect our fellow enhancement brother deserves. Here's his email:

I just switched to enhance for raiding a couple of weeks ago and I still feel like my DPS is lower than what it could be. I'm using Shock and Awe and still depending more or less on the priority frame, which I hope to ween off of soon. I'm still not 100% sure if I have the priorities set up correctly at this point. They are set at:
  • SR
  • MT
  • LS
  • MW5 LB
  • SS
  • ES if SS
  • FS
  • LL
  • FN
I also use Wolves every time they are up and also Fire Elemental when off CD. With just my buffs at the heroic dummy I seem to be maxing out around 6-6.5k. Again, seems a little low to me. If you would like to look at my armory, the name is Alyssian on Durotan. We use WoL, too, and my guild is Chi Cerca Trova.

PS - Any tips for helping me get off of the SAA priority window? I'm mainly concerned with keeping the shock rotation going, I think I can handle the rest.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Enhance me

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Totem Talk: Enhance me originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpenhanceenhance-shamanenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedgear-guidegemsglyph-of-fire-elementalglyphsguideguide-to-shamanspimp-my-profilerotationshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentsspell-rotationtalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 31 Jul 2010 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Dual-wielding topics]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/25/totem-talk-dual-wielding-topics/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/25/totem-talk-dual-wielding-topics/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/25/totem-talk-dual-wielding-topics/#comments Axes, maces, lightning, Windfury and wolves. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance and leads the guild Big Crits as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

This week I'm dual wielding topics. Neither one was enough to keep you entertained, my lovely and intelligent readers, for a full week's worth of enhancement, but combined together I think we can accomplish something. Consider a Stormstrike post with fire elemental mechanics in one hand and Cataclysm changes in the other.

If you're firmly in the "don't tell me anything about Cataclysm" camp, then just read the first section and skip the rest, though all I'm talking about are the recent changes to the shaman talent trees. If you don't mind a sneak peek at enhancement 4.0 as it stands now, then enjoy!

Continue reading Totem Talk: Dual-wielding topics

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Totem Talk: Dual-wielding topics originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 25 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> ancestral-swiftnessbloodlustcataclysm-gamecataclysm-guidecataclysm-newsclass-helpenhanceenhance-shamanenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkexpansionexpansion-threefeaturedFire-Elemental-Totemguideguide-to-shamansheroismnext-xpacshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsthird-expansionworld-of-warcraft-cataclysmworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-4.0wow-4.0.2wow-cataclysmwow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-expansionwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guidewow-third-expansion (Rich Maloy) Sun, 25 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ventrilo vs. Mumble]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/18/ventrilo-vs-mumble/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/18/ventrilo-vs-mumble/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/18/ventrilo-vs-mumble/#comments "What's your Vent info?" is as ubiquitous as "What's your GearScore?" Voice chat programs are a fact of WoW life, and by all means Ventrilo dominates the market. After five years of using Ventrilo, I say it's time to change to something better.

One of the most common questions I get from the show Big Crits is "what's the mod that shows who's talking in Vent?" It's actually not a mod, and in fact it's not even Ventrilo. Big Crits uses Mumble, a low latency VOIP program for gaming. It's mostly unknown in WoW, as Ventrilo clearly dominates voice chat in our world. Mumble is perhaps better known in FPS circles, where the low latency really gives it a competitive advantage.

I started this article with every intention of making a pros-and-cons comparison between the two programs, but in truth, I had a hard time coming up with pros for Ventrilo. I'll run through features, but don't be surprised if you come out of this with a new perspective on voice chat options and a strong desire to switch to Mumble.

Continue reading Ventrilo vs. Mumble

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Ventrilo vs. Mumble originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> authenticationcomparisonlatencymumbleopinionoverlayraid-leaderraid-voice-chatraidingraidssecurityventrilovoicevoice-chatvoipwow-voice-chat (Rich Maloy) Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Cataclysm Beta: Enhancement talent preview]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/15/cataclysm-beta-enhancement-talent-preview/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/15/cataclysm-beta-enhancement-talent-preview/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/15/cataclysm-beta-enhancement-talent-preview/#comments shaman talents in cataclysm beta As many of my fellow Wow.com bloggers noted, the starting talents are a welcome change, and even more so for enhancement. New shaman will hit level 10, choose the ultimate spec, and bam! We'll have dual wield, dual wield specialization, Mental Quickness and Lava Lash! This means no more playing as an elemental wannabe lobbing Lightning Bolts until the 2 button on your keyboard wears off.

The way things stand now, leveling as enhancement doesn't feel like enhancement until the 30s, when we get Windfury, or 40s, when we currently get Dual Wield. That stretch of 20s and 30s really is rough right now, if you are true to the path of enhancement. Heck, even Faience from Choose My Adventure is feeling the pain of the lack of enhancement in the 20s. But no more! We will be enhancement from the beginning with dual wield plus hit, attack power conversion to spellpower and an off-hand attack!

The talent tree is highly streamlined, but with only 41 talent points to spend, we won't be painting the trees with points. I don't see any tough choices in the enhancement tree, and getting down to Feral Spirit should be easy with something like 0/31/0. The last 10 points could look something like 8/33/0, but that remains to be seen.

Continue reading Cataclysm Beta: Enhancement talent preview

Cataclysm Beta: Enhancement talent preview originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> cat-betacata-betacataclysm-betaclass-helpenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguideguide-to-shamansshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-betaworld-of-warcraft-cataclysmworld-of-warcraft-cataclysm-betaworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-betawow-cataclysm-betawow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-expansion-betawow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Breakfast Topic: The illusion of choice]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/15/breakfast-topic-the-illusion-of-choice/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/15/breakfast-topic-the-illusion-of-choice/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/15/breakfast-topic-the-illusion-of-choice/#comments My first reaction to seeing the new, streamlined talent trees was, "We'll all be cookie cutter specs now!" I mulled it over for a bit, hashed it out with some people on Twitter and came to the conclusion that the new streamlined specs are a good thing, in principle. Ask yourself, when was the last time you respecced to move one to two points around? How much are you really losing with the slimmed-down trees?

My shaman, Stoneybaby, hasn't respecced in ... I don't even know when, but I'm sure it's been many months. I have my raiding spec, in which I could move one or two points around -- should I take 2/3 Improved Shields or 3/3 Improved Shields? Ultimately, it makes little difference; I picked my raiding spec and my PvP spec, and I go forth with those until the game requires a change. I don't need a lot of choice because I won't use it.

On the other hand, my druid is a bit different. He's specced balance for AoE farming Chunk o' Mammoth (my wolves need their Spiced Mammoth Treats!) and feral bear for tanking alt raids. For raids, I either tank or I tank -- take your pick. He's mostly useless as DPS in raids because he doesn't have the proper hit, mana regen or focused damage talents; he's built to kill a dozen mobs at once out in the field. I like the choice so I can specialize in AoE farming.

In the case of my shaman, I really don't need that one- or two-point customization, and so lamenting the loss of deep, complex talent trees is just the loss of choice for the sake of choice. For my druid, I really do want and use the complexity of the current specs. Overall though, I think the slimmed-down trees will enrich the game without dumbing it down.

What about you? Do you really want deep choice in spec customization, or are you just lamenting the loss of the illusion of choice?
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From goblins and worgens to mastery and guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.

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Breakfast Topic: The illusion of choice originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 31-point31-ptcata-betacataclysmcataclysm-newscataclysm-wowfacebookfeedgame-discussiongamer-discussionspecspecstalenttalent spectalent-treestalentsTalentSpecworld-of-warcraft-discussionworld-of-warcraft-topicswow-discussionwow-hot-topicswow-issueswow-topics (Rich Maloy) Thu, 15 Jul 2010 08:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Enhance DPS on the move]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/10/totem-talk-enhance-dps-on-the-move/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/10/totem-talk-enhance-dps-on-the-move/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/10/totem-talk-enhance-dps-on-the-move/#comments Rich Maloy, master of the turn-around-Frost-Shock, nerd-rager of the Big Crits (week 7 coming next week), and blogger of the enhancement variety prides himself on keeping the pressure on the boss at all times. He encourages you to work on your turn-around jump shot this week.

I love being melee. I love being up in the middle of the fray right on the boss' heel, breathing in the fumes of battle and mashing my abilities as fast as global cooldowns will allow. But the cost of being in the heart of the action are cleaves. And whirlwinds. And tail swipes, dragon breaths, shock vortexes, running around the room chasing ads, and oh yeah, dodging cleaves. Did I mention whirlwinds yet?

Granted, there's not as much hate on melee in Wrath as there was in The Burning Crusade, but our DPS is still limited by time on target. We are after all, melee. Yet the great thing about enhance is when we're not in melee range, we can still lob some spells and drop some fire bombs all while running around dodging those whirlwinds.

It was Sindragosa's Permeating Chill that first got me thinking about maximizing my damage output while I'm not doing melee attacks. Also, her Blistering Cold got me wondering about ways to keep damage on boss even while running in the complete opposite direction. What follows are some of my simple strategies for maximizing time on target and keeping the damage pumping even while running around.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Enhance DPS on the move

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Totem Talk: Enhance DPS on the move originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 10 Jul 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpdamagedpsenhanceenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguideguide-to-shamansmeleemelee-DPSshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 10 Jul 2010 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Ruby Sanctum loot for enhancement]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/03/totem-talk-ruby-sanctum-loot-for-enhancement/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/03/totem-talk-ruby-sanctum-loot-for-enhancement/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/03/totem-talk-ruby-sanctum-loot-for-enhancement/#comments Rich Maloy subsists solely on enhancement air. He experiences shortness of breath when offered spellpower gear and is easily confused by spirit and MP5. You can ask him anything about enhance at the Totem Recall roundtable or watch his WoW reality series, Big Crits.

In case you missed it in all the news about the Cataclysm beta, Ruby Sanctum was released into the wild on Tuesday. With a new instance out everyone is asking, "What's in it for me?" But my question is, "What's in it for enhancement?"

The short answer is ArP. For a stat that's going away in a few months, we're seeing a lot of it in Ruby Sanctum gear from both the 10- and 25-man versions of the raid. Armor penetration (ArP) is not the ideal stat for enhancement. Not ideal, but definitely usable. There are some definite winners among the RS loot -- on both 10 and 25.

I've created a new enhance gear spreadsheet on Google Docs including the new loot. It's read-only, so either make a copy to your Google Docs file or save a copy to your desktop as an Excel file. I've also included some sample EP values for different levels of play, including EP values derived from the latest Elitist Jerks BiS gear, setup and rotation.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Ruby Sanctum loot for enhancement

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Totem Talk: Ruby Sanctum loot for enhancement originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 03 Jul 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> armor-penetrationclass-helpenhanceenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedgeargear-guideguideguide-to-shamansruby-sanctumshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentstrinkettrinketsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 03 Jul 2010 23:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Cooldown management in ICC part 2]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/06/26/totem-talk-cooldown-management-in-icc-part-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/06/26/totem-talk-cooldown-management-in-icc-part-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/06/26/totem-talk-cooldown-management-in-icc-part-2/#comments
Rich Maloy lives and loves enhancement. Enhance is his main spec, his off spec, and his off-off spec. The other trees are there purely for his amusement. Whatever your shaman's spec, get your questions ready for the Totem Recall shaman roundtable on Raid Warning coming July 13. Send your questions in now to be answered by the top shaman from around Azeroth.

Last week we covered the Lower Spire of ICC and how enhancement shaman (or any damage-dealing class, for that matter) can maximize their cooldown usage. This week we'll use the 25% buff and power-clear the rest of the instance.

Rotface

Regular and Heroic Another fight where Heroism off the start is the best way to go. The oozes come out faster the lower his health gets, so my theory is to get as much damage on target early on. At the end, things are hectic and too much damage is lost as too many people are running around or dead. You can pre-pot here to have another Potion of Speed available to use later on in combat. An early Hero makes cooldown management easy; use at the beginning and then again at every opportunity.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Cooldown management in ICC part 2

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Totem Talk: Cooldown management in ICC part 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 26 Jun 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> bloodlustclass-helpcooldowncooldownsenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguideguide-to-shamansheroismicecrown-citadelicecrown-citadel-raidicecrown-citadel-raid-guideshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 26 Jun 2010 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Cooldown management in the Lower Spire]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/06/19/totem-talk-cooldown-management-in-the-lower-spire/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/06/19/totem-talk-cooldown-management-in-the-lower-spire/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/06/19/totem-talk-cooldown-management-in-the-lower-spire/#comments
Axes, maces, lightning, fire, frost, wolves, and best of all, Windfury. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance at Big Hit Box, pens the enhance side of Totem Talk, and leads the guild/reality-show Big Crits as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby. (pic: grats Saltycracker on Big Crits' first Shadowmourne!)

This article originally started as an enhancement shaman's guide to cooldown usage in ICC but given that cooldown management is universal to all damage dealers I've expanded the scope of the article. Actually, "expanded the scope" is a bit grandiose; it's more accurate to say I just changed the wording from enhance-specific spells to using the generic 3-min, 2-min and 1-min cooldowns.

In some cases I kept the enhancement abilities because they bring other abilities in addition to just straight damage. Here's a quick rundown of our major cooldowns for the unenhanced:
  • 10 min - Bloodlust/Heroism - you know it and love it
  • 10 min - Fire Ele (5 min with glyph) - yeah he's dumb but what do you expect, his brains are on fire
  • 3 min - Berserk & Bloodfury - Troll & Orc racials, respectively
  • 3 min - Feral Spirit - two wolves who do damage and heal you simultaneously. Rad.
  • 2 min - on-use Trinkets - Currently my trinkets are not on-use but I take them into account in case yours are
  • 1 min - Shamanistic Rage with t10 2pc - normally this is a mana-regeneration and damage-reduction spell but with 2pc t10 it increases damage.
I still talk about using Bloodlust/Heroism, Fire Ele, and Shammy Rage because they have their own unique aspects to deal with in raid. Namely, BL/Hero helps everyone, the Fire Ele is dumb as hell, and Shammy Rage mitigates damage.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Cooldown management in the Lower Spire

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Totem Talk: Cooldown management in the Lower Spire originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpcooldowndpsenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguideguide-to-shamansicecrownicecrown-citadelicecrown-citadel-raid-guideshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Cataclysm Talent Preview: Enhancement shaman]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/06/10/cataclysm-talent-preview-enhancement-shaman/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/06/10/cataclysm-talent-preview-enhancement-shaman/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/06/10/cataclysm-talent-preview-enhancement-shaman/#comments With the release of the Shaman talent tree came some big news for enhancement, some new spells, and a request from Blizzard for feedback.

What are we enhancers looking at with the talent changes in Cataclysm? Other than some rearranging of the clothes in the closet there are some notable new talents:
  • Focused Strikes
  • Ancestral Swiftness
  • Searing Flames
  • Totemic Vigor
  • Improved Lava Lash
What did Ghostcrawler have to say? How do the new talents play out?

Continue reading Cataclysm Talent Preview: Enhancement shaman

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Cataclysm Talent Preview: Enhancement shaman originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> cat-betacata-betacataclysm-betacataclysm-talent-previewclass-helpenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguideguide-to-shamansshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-betaworld-of-warcraft-cataclysmworld-of-warcraft-cataclysm-betaworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-betawow-cataclysm-betawow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-expansion-betawow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Basic Power Auras for enhancement]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/06/05/totem-talk-basic-power-auras-for-enhancement/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/06/05/totem-talk-basic-power-auras-for-enhancement/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/06/05/totem-talk-basic-power-auras-for-enhancement/#comments
Rich Maloy developed a location-aware, augmented-reality GuinnessAura application for his DROID that would automatically guide him to the nearest bar with perfectly poured pints while simultaneous putting 10 yard radius red warning rings in virtual space around the attractive women in said bar. His girlfriend declared it a little too close to a "do everything and go everywhere this app tells you to" and subsequently broke it. Thankfully Rich has an innate sense for well poured pints--and only that, baby, I swear.

In an ongoing effort to spend my extremely limited time doing things that aren't critically important, I undertook some UI tweaking. Granted, everyone that watches Big Crits is subject to my UI, so I do try to keep it clean enough for the show but functional enough to play and raid lead. I wanted to replace the memory-hog Shock and Awe with the lighter and more configurable Power Auras. Surprisingly it wasn't that difficult, and so after just over an hour I had auras set up for Maelstrom Weapon, Lightning Shield, and Water Shield.

To get Shock and Awe setup to display MW counts, shield status, and other enhancement-specific items is very easy: open the options panel and enable the ones you want. I wrote about Shock and Awe a few months back, wherein my poor choice of font was quickly noted. The plus side of SaA is its ease of use and quick setup, the downside is the limited customization and massive amounts of memory.

Besides, it's well established that using the SaA priority system is a net dps loss for experienced enhancement players. Once you learn your enhancement rotation the priority window is nothing but a distraction. I wasn't using the priority system in SaA. I was only using the bars for MW, wolves, and shields so I could replace it with something better.

After the break we'll dive in to a basic enhancement shaman Power Auras setup as well as some good suggestions from the WoW Twitter crew for more information on shaman UIs and PA setups.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Basic Power Auras for enhancement

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Totem Talk: Basic Power Auras for enhancement originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 05 Jun 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> add-onadd-on-configurationadd-on-guideaddon-configurationaddon-guideaddonsclass-helpenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguideguide-to-shamanspoweraurasshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentsshock-and-awetalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-add-onwow-add-on-guidewow-add-onswow-addon-guidewow-addonswow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 05 Jun 2010 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Enhancement trinkets]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/05/29/totem-talk-enhancement-trinkets/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/05/29/totem-talk-enhancement-trinkets/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/05/29/totem-talk-enhancement-trinkets/#comments
Currently Stoneybaby is trying to come up with witty article titles and failing miserably due to a splitting headache, so "Enhancement X" will have to suffice for this week. And yes Rich Maloy lives and loves enhancement. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance at Big Hit Box, pens the enhance side of Totem Talk, and leads the guild Big Crits (Week 4 now out!) as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

Since last week's weapons column went off with slightly less trolling than normal, I'm going to push my luck with another article about gearing. Today's topic: trinkets.

Trinkets are not nearly as hard to acquire as weapons. Unless of course the RNG gods hate you and Death's Choice/Verdict drops only once in your guild in all of the god-forsaken months you spend in ToC and the first time it dropped you passed to a hunter who really needed the upgrade and you thought to yourself I'll be a good leader and let someone else win because it will drop again and I'll get it next time only it doesn't drop again ever and you're convinced the RNG gods do in fact hate you so you wrap yourself in your towel and rock yourself gently to sleep.

Thinking back on that, maybe trinkets are a bit hard to acquire. Thankfully for us, one of enhancement's best-in-slot trinkets is very easy to come by.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Enhancement trinkets

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Totem Talk: Enhancement trinkets originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 May 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> best-in-slotclass-helpemblem-of-frostemblemsenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguideguide-to-shamansshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentstrinkettrinketsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 29 May 2010 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Enhancement weapons]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/05/24/totem-talk-enhancement-weapons/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/05/24/totem-talk-enhancement-weapons/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/05/24/totem-talk-enhancement-weapons/#comments Ebon Blade weapon rack Axes, maces, lightning, Windfury and wolves. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance at Big Hit Box, pens the enhance side of Totem Talk and leads the guild Big Crits (Week 3 now out!) as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

As a melee class, weapons are our most important items. Not surprisingly, good weapons (emphasis on "good") can't be bought with emblems and only drop off a select few bosses, with the best weapons dropping off the hardest bosses. While trinkets can be hard to acquire (Death's Choice/Verdict is a lie!), you can fill in the gaps with emblems or even some subpar trinket choices and not have as big an impact on overall damage as a good weapon. Nothing beats a big stick.

Today we're looking at enhancement weapon options in dungeons, plus Trial of the Crusader and Icecrown Citadel in 10s and 25s, regular and heroic. I am skipping over Naxx, OS, EoE, Ulduar, and Ony because it seems to me that it's far easier to get in and gear up in a ToC/ToGC PuG these days than any other raid. There are some good weapon choice in those older raids, but even starting out as a fresh 80 you should find ToC-10 PuGs doable.

Let's dive in to our weapon options.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Enhancement weapons

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Totem Talk: Enhancement weapons originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 24 May 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedgearguideguide-to-shamansitemizationshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsweaponsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Mon, 24 May 2010 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Hasteybaby]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/05/16/totem-talk-hasteybaby/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/05/16/totem-talk-hasteybaby/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/05/16/totem-talk-hasteybaby/#comments
Axes, maces, lightning, Windfury, and wolves. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance at Big Hit Box, pens the enhance side of Totem Talk and leads the guild Big Crits (Week 2 now out, Week 3 coming!) as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

Haste. It's the killer stat for enhancement shamans in end-game raiding. In the beginning of the expansion, the killer stat seemed to be attack power, and it continued to maintain dominance through Ulduar. Around ToC (i245) level of gearing, we could choose between AP stacking and haste stacking. Personally I tended toward AP stacking until midway through ToGC, when I ran some sims and realized haste will be the killer stat for Stoneybaby going forward. Why is that? Let's take a look at haste and how it affects our damage output.

For starters, let's use the ICC equivalent of Patchwerk (at least for melee), Deathbringer Saurfang. This is a fight where we get to stand in one place and only focus on our rotation while the ranged go crazy with picking up, slowing, DPSing and evading angry blood beasts. While the healers frantically watch the marks, the paladins call out the bubble rotation and the tanks scream at the ranged about Saurfang's ever-increasing blood power.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Hasteybaby

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Totem Talk: Hasteybaby originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 16 May 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpenhancementEnhancement-Shamanfeaturedgemsguideguide-to-shamansHastehaste-ratingshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sun, 16 May 2010 22:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Leveling enhancement 71-80]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/05/02/totem-talk-leveling-enhancement-71-80/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/05/02/totem-talk-leveling-enhancement-71-80/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/05/02/totem-talk-leveling-enhancement-71-80/#comments Axes, maces, lightning, Windfury, and wolves. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance at Big Hit Box, pens the enhance side of Totem Talk, and leads the guild Big Crits (Week 2 now out!) as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

We're in the home stretch now: Northrend. Once we hit our max level I'll throw out some recommendations dungeon, raiding, and PvP specs. Though admittedly I'm not the best PvPer so you'll have to bear with me on that and add in your recommendations in the comments. But that all comes at level 80 and we last left off at level 70 with a spec of 9/52/0. This spec still includes the Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem, but if you find you're tearing apart mobs and barely getting touched I recommend replacing that with Glyph of Stormstrike for the extra nature damage.

Let's dive in and continue!

Continue reading Totem Talk: Leveling enhancement 71-80

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Totem Talk: Leveling enhancement 71-80 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 02 May 2010 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguideguide-to-shamanslevelingleveling-guideshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sun, 02 May 2010 22:30:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Leveling Enhancement 61-70]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/04/25/totem-talk-leveling-enhancement-61-70/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/04/25/totem-talk-leveling-enhancement-61-70/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/04/25/totem-talk-leveling-enhancement-61-70/#comments

Axes, maces, lightning, fire, frost, and wolves, and best of all, Windfury. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance at Big Hit Box, pens the enhance side of Totem Talk, and leads the guild Big Crits as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

We left off last week with the spec 0/51/0 and already killing boars in Outland. Comments from last week were mostly opposed to my advice to go WF/FT for weapon imbues, saying that it's best to wait until more elemental talents are added before leaving WF/WF behind. I can see their point, but can't imagine that either way is going to make a significant impact in terms of time lost due to deaths or slower kills. My rationale for WF/FT is that its likely you're facing off against higher level mobs than your current level which may take a bit more to whack down. This means more DoT ticks from Flame Shock, more Maelstrom Weapon procs, and more Earth Shocks, and thus a healthier balance between physical and magical damage.

Regardless of you off-hand imbue of choice, we're really in the heart of enhancement right now. After hitting 60 we get spell upgrades every level instead of every other level, but the exciting talents and spells are already in our books so there's not much new and fun stuff happening.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Leveling Enhancement 61-70

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Totem Talk: Leveling Enhancement 61-70 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 25 Apr 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedglyphsguideguide-to-shamansleveling-guideshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentsspecstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sun, 25 Apr 2010 22:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Leveling Enhancement 41-60]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/04/17/totem-talk-leveling-enhancement-41-60/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/04/17/totem-talk-leveling-enhancement-41-60/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/04/17/totem-talk-leveling-enhancement-41-60/#comments
Axes, maces, lightning, fire, frost and wolves -- and best of all, Windfury. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance at Big Hit Box, pens the enhance side of Totem Talk and leads the guild Big Crits as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

As we get deeper into levels, the new spells from trainers taper off and we start to pick up all the fun stuff from talent points. In the next 20 levels we're going to finish out the enhancement tree, pick up some great talents and have a ton of fun blowing up elite mobs.

But before we get there. we do have to get out of the level 40 doldrums. We left off with one point in dual wield and a spec of 0/31/0. At this point, you're probably missing as much as you're hitting with dual wield. If you were to spend one more level with a two-hander or a one-hander + shield, no one would fault you for it. It's really only at level 43 that enhancement starts to take off. Let's dive in and continue.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Leveling Enhancement 41-60

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Totem Talk: Leveling Enhancement 41-60 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 17 Apr 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpenhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguideguide-to-shamansleveling-guideshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 17 Apr 2010 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Cataclysm Class Changes: Enhancement Shaman Analysis]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/04/07/cataclysm-class-changes-enhancement-shaman-analysis/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/04/07/cataclysm-class-changes-enhancement-shaman-analysis/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/04/07/cataclysm-class-changes-enhancement-shaman-analysis/#comments

Today is a good day to be a shaman. Actually, it will be an even better day when Cataclysm hits, based on the initial changes we were shown today. There are some very exciting things coming down the pipeline for us enhancers. While I'm not keen on all of the changes, the stuff that I don't like is rather minor and everything else looks like it will be fun.

Let's dive in and see what they have in store for enhancement when the world is torn asunder!

Continue reading Cataclysm Class Changes: Enhancement Shaman Analysis

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Cataclysm Class Changes: Enhancement Shaman Analysis originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 07 Apr 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> cataclysm-guidecataclysm-newsclass-helpenhancement-shaman-totem-talkexpanionexpansion-threeguideguide-to-shamansnext-xpacshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsthird-expansionthird-xpacworld-of-warcraft-cataclysmworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-4.0wow-4.0.2wow-cataclysmwow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-expansionwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guidewow-third-expansion (Rich Maloy) Wed, 07 Apr 2010 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Leveling enhancement 21-40]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/04/04/totem-talk-leveling-enhancement-21-40/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/04/04/totem-talk-leveling-enhancement-21-40/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/04/04/totem-talk-leveling-enhancement-21-40/#comments
Axes, maces, lightning, fire, frost and wolves -- and best of all, Windfury. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance at Big Hit Box, pens the enhance side of Totem Talk and leads the guild Big Crits as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

Welcome back to the enhancement shaman leveling guide. This week we'll be covering levels 21 to 40, where we finally start to feel like enhancement, instead of just saying it's something we're going to do as we're Lightning Bolting down boars.

There were some commenters who suggested going with Flametongue Weapon early on and just focusing on casting. Call me an enhance purist (go ahead, I can take it), but I'm of the opinion that if you're going enhance, you might as well go all the way. Plus those early levels of 1 to 20 are so easy and mobs will do down so fast, you could practically /dance your way to 21 -- probably to 30 if you wanted.

One idea that was awesome and bears repeating is making your first glyph, Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem, and using said totem for pulls. It absorbs damage you take and shields your totem if you've got an extra-angry Searing Totem that can't seem to play nice with the naga.

We're going to start with gear you should look for from quest rewards then continue the every other level breakdown.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Leveling enhancement 21-40

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Totem Talk: Leveling enhancement 21-40 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 04 Apr 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguideguide-to-shamansshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sun, 04 Apr 2010 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Leveling Enhancement 1-20]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/29/totem-talk-leveling-enhancement-1-20/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/29/totem-talk-leveling-enhancement-1-20/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/29/totem-talk-leveling-enhancement-1-20/#comments
Axes, maces, lightning, fire, frost, and wolves, and best of all, Windfury. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance at Big Hit Box, pens the enhance side of Totem Talk, and leads the guild Big Crits as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.


Shaman, welcome! Today begins your journey to the realm of shamanism. You'll learn to tame the power of the elements, request their presence and rely on their support in your daily life. The earth will move for you and fires will lash your enemies. The wind is always at your back and flusters those who would do you harm. You will learn to harness lightning to strike fear into mere mortals and summon elemental pets to aid you in your quests!

It will be amazing! It will be fulfilling! It will... all come later. Now shut up and go over there and Lightning Bolt down some boars or moths.

Ask most shamans how they leveled and the answer usually is enhancement. Let's face it: it's a fun spec to play, it's easy to stay alive, and in later levels after getting a few special talents you can solo elites and fend off filthy rogues on PvP realms.

The purpose of this guide is to get you from 1-80 with the best possible talents, the most amount of information, and get good spell selection into practice now. Everything here is designed to keep you alive, keep you moving, help your quest/dungeon mates and get the most out of the class and spec.

By no means are these absolute must-do and must-have rules. Play your class the way you want to play it and the way you enjoy it. But if you're stuck and not sure what to do, then follow this guide and hopefully it will point you in the right direction.

Read on for BoA gear run down and levels 1-20...

Continue reading Totem Talk: Leveling Enhancement 1-20

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Totem Talk: Leveling Enhancement 1-20 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpenhancementenhancement-shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkguideguide-to-shamanslevel-1-20levelingleveling-guideshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Mon, 29 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Glyphing for Fire Elemental]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/21/totem-talk-glyphing-for-fire-elemental/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/21/totem-talk-glyphing-for-fire-elemental/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/21/totem-talk-glyphing-for-fire-elemental/#comments

Axes, maces, lightning, fire, frost, and wolves, and best of all, Windfury. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance at Big Hit Box, pens the enhance side of Totem Talk, and leads the guild Big Crits as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby.

After writing last week's article and then this week diving headfirst into some 10s and 25s I felt like the Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem needed some love. I felt even more so after looking at my combat parses for Lich King fights and noticing Fire Nova was my second highest damage ability. The fight is a long one -- a very long one -- and it got me wondering if I could step up my output by glyphing into fire ele. After all, who doesn't want more minions running around doing damage for them?

Fire ele has the potential to be a great glyph: the elemental is another pet doing good damage and we can still cast Fire Nova off the totem. Of course the downsides are deal breakers for the glyph in most cases:

  • The pet is leashed to the totem
  • Fire Nova's damage is lost if the boss or mobs move away from the totem
  • The 5 minute cooldown is still longer than most boss fights

Read more to see when and where it's appropriate to glyph into this.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Glyphing for Fire Elemental

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Totem Talk: Glyphing for Fire Elemental originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> analysisboss-fight-analysisclass-helpdamagedpselementalelemental-shamanenhancementenhancement-shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfire-elemental-totemglyph-of-fire-elementalglyphsguideguide-to-shamansshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sun, 21 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Enhancement glyph review]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/13/totem-talk-enhancement-glyph-review/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/13/totem-talk-enhancement-glyph-review/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/13/totem-talk-enhancement-glyph-review/#comments

Axes, maces, lightning, fire, frost, and wolves, and best of all, Windfury. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance at Big Hit Box and pens the enhance side of Totem Talk.

Last week I went over the talents in great detail. Exhausting, two page article detail. I also linked to two specs which included glyphs. Those specs will serve enhancement shamans everywhere well enough to get the basics done, but I didn't get into the glyphs. This is what we'll tackle today.

There are 28 major glyphs for shamans but of course not all apply to enhancement. Of those 28, two are considered must-haves for PvE (once you hit level at least 60). They are: Glyph of Stormstrike (level 40) and Glyph of Feral Spirit (level 60). And when it comes to PvP no other glyph beats Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem.

After the break we'll review the enhance-related glyphs and get into a few options for glyph setups.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Enhancement glyph review

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Totem Talk: Enhancement glyph review originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpenhancementenhancement-glyphsenhancement-shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkglyphsguideguide-to-shamanspvepvpshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Big Crits, a new WoW reality series]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/09/big-crits-a-new-wow-reality-series/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/09/big-crits-a-new-wow-reality-series/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/09/big-crits-a-new-wow-reality-series/#comments
At the end of the summer last year I had this crazy idea: to make a TV show about a raiding guild. I was inspired by the relationships and interactions in my current guild and how much they impacted me personally -- both good and bad. I fleshed out the idea over beers (many beers) with some friends. We talked about logistics, equipment, participation, but most importantly, the goal. I wanted the show to be about the people, to be about the interaction between the raiders. And I don't mean ninja-looting drama-mama QQing. I wanted to explore the things that go on in a group of people trying to work together online to accomplish something great. There's more to raiding than drama. Things like, as I'm fond of saying, "the soul crushing 1% wipes and the absolute exhilaration of taking down a new boss for the first time."

I worked on a pitch and reached out to friends & family in "the biz" but I spent most of my time trying to explain concepts such as a "raid" or a "boss" or that when I said "guild" I meant a group of MMO gamers and not an actor's or writer's union -- which made for some very confusing conversations at first. Frustrated, I wasn't sure I'd ever convince anyone this was an idea worth doing. But I knew it was.

Continue reading Big Crits, a new WoW reality series

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Big Crits, a new WoW reality series originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> big-critsbigcritsguildguildsreality-tvRealityTvrecruitingrecruitmentshowvideoyoutube (Rich Maloy) Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Enhancement talents]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/07/totem-talk-enhancement-talents/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/07/totem-talk-enhancement-talents/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/07/totem-talk-enhancement-talents/#comments

Axes, maces, lightning, fire, frost, and wolves, and best of all, Windfury. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance at Big Hit Box and pens the enhance side of Totem Talk.

Being a hybrid class means there's not a lot of wiggle room when it comes to making specs as one spec can serve us well through 10s, 25s, dungeons, and soloing. While PvE builds don't leave much room for experimentation, I've seen far more variance in PvP specs, mostly depending on play-style.

Of course there are distinct PvP talents built into the trees and there are core talents for both PvE and PvP without which we're just not enhancement shamans. But depending on your gear, team, and how your play you can customize your PvP specs for defensive, offensive, mana-rich, or anywhere in between.

Let's start right out with the two of the more common builds right now:

PvE - 19/52/0 - this spec will serve most all enhancers well across all levels on content and is the spec I use on Stoney.

PvP - 16/55/0 - as I mentioned above there is far more flexibility in specs for PvP. I chose this one because it's a good starter PvP spec that is highly mana-conservative and defensive focused. I've seen many different takes on enhancement PvP specs and experienced players will alter to suit their own play style. But if you need a place to start, go with this.

Read on after the break for the talent-by-talent breakdown of enhancement shamans!

Continue reading Totem Talk: Enhancement talents

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Totem Talk: Enhancement talents originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpenhancementenhancement-shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkguideguide-to-shamanspvepvpshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentsspecstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Enhancement talents, Page 2]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/07/totem-talk-enhancement-talents-page-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/07/totem-talk-enhancement-talents-page-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/07/totem-talk-enhancement-talents-page-2/#comments Continue reading Totem Talk: Enhancement talents, Page 2

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Totem Talk: Enhancement talents, Page 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpguideguide-to-shamansshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Cataclysm: Stat and system changes for enhancement shaman]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/02/cataclysm-stat-and-system-changes-for-enhancement-shaman/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/02/cataclysm-stat-and-system-changes-for-enhancement-shaman/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/02/cataclysm-stat-and-system-changes-for-enhancement-shaman/#comments Breaking news: enhancement shamans get the dumb in Cataclysm. Intellect is gone! Are we becoming rogues with mana?

No doubt you've read the big changes coming in Cataclysm. At this point there are a few confirmed points with the rest falling into the "confirmed they'll be changing" category. What do these changes mean for enhancement shamans? Read on.

Continue reading Cataclysm: Stat and system changes for enhancement shaman

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Cataclysm: Stat and system changes for enhancement shaman originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> armor-penetrationcataclysm-guidecataclysm-newscritenhancementenhancement-shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkexpanionexpansion-threehastehitnext-xpacshamanshaman-enhancement-totem-talkstatsthird-expansionthird-xpacworld-of-warcraft-cataclysmwow-4.0wow-4.0.2wow-cataclysmwow-expansionwow-guidewow-third-expansion (Rich Maloy) Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:30:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Save yourself]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/02/27/totem-talk-save-yourself/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/02/27/totem-talk-save-yourself/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/02/27/totem-talk-save-yourself/#comments
Axes, maces, lightning, fire, frost, and wolves, and best of all, Windfury. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance at Big Hit Box and pens the enhance side of Totem Talk.

A dead DPS does no DPS. It's as simple as that. Whether in a raid, an arena, or out soloing and leveling, staying alive is priority number one. This is as true for enhancement shamans as it is for any class. Thankfully as enhancement we have a few more options than most DPS classes including our saving-throw talent: Maelstrom Weapon.

I consider it an absolutely essential duty to toss out MW4/5 heals in a damage-intensive environment, especially if the fight is new progression for your guild or you're in a tough match in PvP. I remember working on Tidewalker in Serpentshrine Cavern, I'd throw MW5-Healing Waves on the tank constantly. The damage was so intense on our main tanks and their health so spiky that at 4 procs of Maelstrom Weapon he'd be at full health then a split second later when I had 5 procs he was dangerously close to dying. My Healing Waves rarely over-healed when we learned that fight it appears my memory is failing me as MW did not exist when SSC was progression content. I do distinctly recall tossing out Lesser Healing Waves to help top off the tank when the MT healers were Watery Graved.

Tossing heals on the main tank in the Tidewalker fight was the exception, for the most part when using MW for healing it's a matter of keeping yourself alive. Read on to live to fight another phase.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Save yourself

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Totem Talk: Save yourself originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpdpsenhancementenhancement-shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkguideguide-to-shamanshealingmacromaelstrom-weaponshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Shock and Awe]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/02/20/totem-talk-shock-and-awe/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/02/20/totem-talk-shock-and-awe/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/02/20/totem-talk-shock-and-awe/#comments

Rich Maloy is currently working on a real life augmented reality app that will dynamically generate and display his most important priority to accomplish at that moment, as well as cooldowns remaining on important events such as birthdays and anniversaries. Friends and family invited to the private alpha test said the software, known as RichAndAwe, kept getting stuck at "buy more Guinness." Rich reports this is working as intended.

Of all the add-ons in all the mod sites in all the world there's one that stands out among the best for playing enhancement: ShockAndAwe. This mod developed by Pericles has a slew of features to keep enhancers on top of their game. While there are other ways to track information and max out damage output, ShockAndAwe is one mod that makes a big difference for beginners and experienced alike.

We'll cover most of the features here, two of which stand out among the rest: Timer bars and Priority frame. But first we'll start with the options.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Shock and Awe

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Totem Talk: Shock and Awe originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> add-onaddonaddonsclass-helpdpsenhancementenhancement-shaman-totem-talkguideguide-to-shamansmodshaman-enhancement-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentsshock-and-awespell-rotationspell-selectiontalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Rich Maloy) Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Shaman changes]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/02/20/patch-3-3-3-ptr-shaman-changes/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/02/20/patch-3-3-3-ptr-shaman-changes/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/02/20/patch-3-3-3-ptr-shaman-changes/#comments Patch 3.3.3 will bring some interesting changes to shamans.

  • Flame Shock: The damage-over-time component of this ability can now produce critical strikes and is affected by spell haste.
  • Talents:
    • Elemental Oath: This ability is now always on as a passive aura.
    • Unleashed Rage: This ability is now always on as a passive aura.
Turning the talents Elemental Oath and Unleashed Rage into passive auras is a bonus for leveling, soloing, and PvP. Instead of waiting a few GCDs or strikes for that first crit, the aura is up for you (and your team in PvP) immediately. In a raid environment these talents tend to be up continuously so the change for raiders is less significant.

Continue reading Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Shaman changes

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Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Shaman changes originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> breakingbuffsdotelementalelemental-oathelemental-shamanenhancementenhancement-shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkflame-shockglyphglyphspatch-3.3.3patch-3.3.3-ptrraid-buffsshaman-enhancement-totem-talktalentsunleashed-ragewow-patch-3.3.3wow-patch-3.3.3-ptr (Rich Maloy) Sat, 20 Feb 2010 01:00:00 EST WoW Insider