Shaman "FAQing"

Greetings, Shamans! Wait… Shamen? All who play a Shaman? Sha-people? Damnit…

*clearing throat*

Hey! I hope everyone’s been enjoying the new discussions about where our class is going. Everyone was waiting in high anticipation for the “Shaman Q&A” that was due out. Although I haven’t played a shaman for more than a few months through leveling, I’ve been thrust into the notion that the role of a Shaman has dramatically changed since Vanilla WoW. I wasn’t even around for Vanilla WoW. I joined “The Addiction” about one month before Burning Crusade. Destro Warlock to 70, Disc Priest to 80, now my Shaman. I didn’t experience the “Sunwell Chain Heal Party” first hand. I just remember having a Shaman for raid heals was “tH3 W1N”. That’s shifted downward a little bit. The Shaman doesn’t have the mana regen that other classes do anymore. Even healing Loatheb on my Disc Priest is easier than on my Shaman. I can see Druids and Holy Priests flying by me on HPS meters as well as healing efficiency.

Onward with the Shaman Q&A. You can read the whole thing HERE.

Class roles – “What is envisioned as the role and future of the Shaman class?”

Obviously, the cut and dry answer is Enhancement for Melee, Elemental for Ranged, and Resto for tanking.. I mean, healing. =) The one point that is brought up by Ghostcrawler in this response is their original intention to have hybrid classes (such as ours) do slightly less DPS than “pure damage” classes like rogues and warlocks. Although I see the point to this, it’s a little prejudiced in my opinion. Just because my class has more options available means I don’t have the same opportunities as another class in the DPS department. However, for any real skilled player, this shouldn’t be a problem. This is the best part of WoW. If I know how to work my gear, and I know how to heal or DPS as best as my class can, then there’s no reason why I can’t be at the top of the meters. Case in point. SSC. On my destro warlock (ca. Shadow Bolt spam spec), I was topping the meters. Consistently, unless I was filling a utility role, I put out the most dps out of 25 people. Why? I knew how to use my curses and spec to get the most out of my toon. Only one other warlock was able to give me a run for my money. Other similar-geared warlocks were in the top 10, but not the top 4. I did the research. I knew my gems, I knew my stats. The real point I’m trying to make is there was one Enhancement Shaman that could beat me. He knew his rotations, his cooldowns, his totems, everything. We were both in SSC/TK gear, and he would beat me in DPS. A hybrid class beat a pure DPS class.

In my guild on Nazjatar, we have an awesome saying: “No amount of gear can upgrade a bad personality.” I like to take this a step farther. A good person knows that the raid comes before the player. If sacrificing DPS (or heals) to add utility means that I can squeeze even more power out of the raid, then guess what? We probably just downed the boss way ahead of the enrage timer, or with everyone alive.

If you’re Enhancement or Elemental, learn the best possible way to pour every ounce of DPS into that boss. If you’re Resto, same goes for you and HPS.

On a side note, GC mentioned there was an initial plan for a tanking spec for the Shaman class. It’s been phased out….. /cry!!! That would’ve been so much fun.

Totems – “Are there plans to look at totems in general, the way they are managed, their uses, and their benefits in the future?”


They’re working with an idea to enable us to drop our 4 totems at once instead of killing 4 Global Cooldowns just to set up. I think this is a great idea. Although I’ve learned the importance of having totems, and worship them, the chance to drop 4 at a time is a huge relief. However, I would still want to have single drops available, too. When we’re doing quick trash in heroics, I like to drop Mana Spring or even just Flametongue (if there are more casters) and that’s it. Here’s a couple situations I would be grateful for dropping my set of totems at once:

- Fights where there’s damage from the second the pull happens. The fight that comes to mind is Emalon10. Tank runs in to grab the adds is gonna take a beating for a few seconds until the MT can grab Big Ugly. Missing 4 GCDs puts more pressure on the other healer to keep him up alone. I’m a team player. =)

- Fights where you’re constantly moving around. I keep thinking of fights like Void Reaver and Al’ar. Although there’s not anything of that size that I’ve seen yet, resetting totems takes time and can come at a very awkward moment in a boss fight. (This might also be combated by making the buff range for totems bigger to avoid ranging them.)

Like I said, though, a Shaman needs to know what totems to use and when. If I need to drop Cleansing Totem in the middle of a fight, or Magma Totem, I want to drop just that totem, then replace it when I don’t need it. Would this work as “loading” totems into an in-game macro? Would we be able to have multiple “sets” to use in different situations or different groups?

Also, talk of having the 4 Totems in our bag compiled into one that would then fit into a slot in our Character Screen. 4 extra bag slots!! Woohoo!! More room for the “Broken Fangs” I always get. Does this mean, though, that we have to sacrifice our “special totem” that we usually get from emblems? Or will a new slot be created? I’d rather see a new slot created to put that in.

Totem Selection is another issue that is being looked at, which I’m excited about. It’s becoming easier and easier to know what totem to drop and when. GC mentions in the Q&A merging some totems together into one totem (examples being Stoneskin Totem and merging the Elemental Totems into respective Fire/Earth totems). I would like to see Mana Tide Totem turned into a spell that can only be cast with a water totem down. Something like “Imbues the Water Totem with energy that restores X mana over X seconds”. Then, the Water Totem returns to its original energy. Same thing with the Elemental Totems. My problem with merging too many totems is when you have a wealth of Shaman players, you run out of other options for totems to drop to benefit the raid. Having the option to help out the raid in another way is crucial for me. For my air totem, either I can cast Windfury (which is obsolete with a DK) or Grounding Totem. That’s it.

Itemization – “What is the expectation for how shamans choose the gear they use?”

This applies more to Enhancement more than anything. This is primarily a Resto blog, so I won’t really comment on this. I like the Dual-Wield ability for Enhancement a lot. I’d like to see them shift to having equal consideration for weapons. That way, “this one mace” is the best in game. Or, “this fist weapon” is the only off-hand you should use. Make it personal preference. I tend to like Fist weapons or Axes. They just look cool.

Shaman Mana Issues – from “Is the change in how shamans are used situational only as we move forward into the next encounters, or is this a shift in philosophy as to the role of the shaman in raids?”

GC comments on mana issues for the Shaman. At this point of my exploration and experience, I agree with him. I’m interested to see what sort of ideas they have for this without going overboard with mana regen for everyone. We obviously don’t have Spirit, so that regen stat doesn’t affect us. maybe something to do with boosting our personal Mp5 mechanics (Water Shield, or a Resto version of “Shamanistic Rage).

We’ve always been good raid healers, but our niche has shifted a little bit, but not away from raid healing so much as giving us the option to help tank heal if we’re in a pinch. By buffing up our other skills, it’s not a HUGE mana drain to do something else.

As for Chain Heal losing its gusto, I point anyone to the post on World of Matticus about the State of Chain Heal. Lodus does a fantastic job of explaining what our class has. GC adds to that by pointing out that Chain Heal hasn’t lost it’s power, but other skills have been beefed up with Talents and Glyphs. I challenge any Resto Shammy to read that post and then go try to take advantage of the other skills available. You’ll notice your healing going up, your overhealing going down, your mana management stronger, and people will know you’re a better healer.

…. I notice it’s really easy to write a 3.5 page blog post on an 8 hour train ride to Minneapolis.