All My Mains

I am launching a new blog, All My Mains, and closing the door on Totem of Wrath. ToW had a good run but it never had a purpose behind it. It tended to serve as a dumping ground for whatever I felt like saying, whether it was shaman-related or not.

AMM, the new blog, has a purpose (and a schedule and a bunch of other stuff) behind it and it's my hope that it will serve the WoW community better than ToW ever could.

Without further ado, here is what AMM is about (stolen from the About page!):

All My Mains is a blog about World of Warcraft. The content is general because my interests are general! I am an admitted altaholic and I have a number of characters that I play regularly. I don’t consider myself to have one main character, but several, and I think they are all interesting. I am not an expert in any particular class, but I can talk about the ones I choose to play with some intelligence. It is my hope that while this blog may be general in nature, a few people will find interesting tidbits and useful advice.

AMM is not a theorycrafting blog. Sure, I may share meters or WWS reports. I may discuss some basic math or complain about nerfs, but my interest in the game is fairly casual and I’m not good enough at math to figure out the complexities of how the game is designed.

Tl;dr: I'm closing ToW and redirecting traffic to All My Mains. Stop by, look around, and maybe subscribe to the RSS feed! Thanks for stopping by Totem of Wrath. :)

3.1 PTR Notes - Shaman

The Public Test Realm is up and Blizzard has released the first round of patch notes (MMO-Champion version). Here are the relevant restoration shaman changes:

• Bloodlust/Heroism: Cooldown reduced to 5 minutes, but Sated and Exhausted now last 10 minutes.
• Poison Cleansing Totem and Disease Cleansing Totem have been merged into "Cleansing Totem." Cleansing Totem pulses every 3 sec, down from 5.
• Ancestral Awakening: This talent now accounts for your ineffective healing, rather than effective.
• Cleanse Spirit now has a new icon.
• Riptide: This spell has a new icon.
• Tremor Totem: Now correctly pulses every 3 sec, up from 1 sec.

I have to admit, I am disappointed - one tiny buff (Ancestral Awakening), a totem merge, a couple new icons, and two nerfs. The totem changes are undoubtedly pvp-related, but I am really sad about Tremor Totem. It's been absolutely lovely at a 1 second pulse. Many, many wipes have been prevented in 5-man instances because of that little totem (heroic Nexus or Halls of Lightning, anyone?).

I don't understand the nerf to bloodlust, except that Blizzard is apparently trying to enforce the one bloodlust per encounter rule. Disappointing to shaman in 25-mans, definitely. My 10-man won't be affected much because we typically bring one shaman.

Enhancement got some attention and it looks like many of the changes are towards an increase in pvp utility (buff to Frostbrand Weapon?! - I'd forgotten shaman even had that!). I am increasingly tempted to respec Salanthe enhancement and just dps with her. Perhaps I will...

Overall, I'm quite disappointed by the lack of changes to restoration shaman. I've essentially retired Salanthe because druid healing is so much more fun and enjoyable (and hax, I'll admit). I think Blizzard needs to address shaman mana regeneration and they need to give chain heal some benefit from our talents (like Tidal Waves, for example). Maybe even a new healing spell or two to mix things up, as long as the new spell is mana efficient and, well, useful.

If you'd like to read a very good synopsis of what's wrong with resto shaman, let me direct you to the blog Shields Up!, which has a very good post on the subject.

Malygos Down

My little 10-man raiding guild got Malygos tonight. Everyone forgot to take a screen shot though!

It was my first time in there and I have to say, I really enjoyed the fight. The drakes were a little hard to get the hang of, but didn't take too long to figure out. Hit "3" five times, then hit "4," and stay close to everyone!

I did go on my druid, Miothe, instead of on my shaman, however. I've mentioned before that my guild has two regular healers, myself and a resto shaman. After doing some reading on the fight and talking to a few folks that have done it before, I decided at the last minute to take Mio, primarily for healing during the vortex in Phase 1. It was a very wise decision, as I cannot imagine how horrible it would have been with two resto shaman unable to heal while everyone's health is dropping. Of course, I have the key on Salanthe and not on Miothe, so this means Sal will probably never finish the quest chain and get her necklace.

It took me a while to get the hang of healing the fight. I ended up keeping a full stack of lifeblooms up on the tank, usually regrowth as well. I used wild growth frequently to keep the raid topped off. I also used rejuvenation prodigiously. My feeling for druid healing is not very keen yet, so I have no idea if my spell distribution is good. It seemed to work pretty well and I certainly didn't have mana issues.

For reference, here's my WWS breakdown for all our attempts:I only used innervate once per attempt, usually just before Phase 1 ended. I'm not sure it was necessary to use it then, but I was trying to be careful. Miothe's gear is still pretty iffy (she got her first tier piece tonight!), so her regen isn't as good as it should be. All-in-all, Phase 1 was the only time I ran low on mana. All the other phases had enough downtime that I could keep my mana bar nearly topped off. Such a change from shaman healing! I know my fellow shaman was certainly hurting for mana by the end of Phase 1 and doesn't have the regen options to fill up his bar again.

The tl;dr version is that I was very excited to drop Malygos and very pleased with the way the druid handled. If she survives Kel'Thuzad this week, I am going to make a switch in main characters.

Trees Rock (for now)

Let's be honest. Shaman healing is brutal this expansion. It's stressful, horribly reliant on replenishment, and just not fun. Five-mans are awful, raids are a combination of boring and stressful, and the mechanics are bad.

This may be due to burnout from all the healing I did in Burning Crusade, but regardless, I have come to loathe shaman healing with all my heart. I'd rather retire Salanthe and never play her again than heal anything else.

There are a number of factors that make healing awful for me. Mana regen tops the list. I find myself running dry incredibly quickly if I don't have replenishment. This is what makes five-mans particularly miserable. In raids, my heals are not fast enough or don't hit hard enough to make a difference. Not to mention a number of fights in both five-mans and raids in which standing still is very, very bad or very hard (e.g. Heigan, Sapphiron (sort of), Loken, Keristraza).

As a result of my disillusionment of the shaman class due to aforementioned problems, I leveled my druid up and healed my first Naxxramas run on her. I am testing her out to see if I can find a healing class that doesn't send me into an emo rage everytime I try to heal something. I have to say, despite being quite undergeared compared to everyone else in the raid, Miothe the tree did very well.

I wish I had taken screenshots of Recount after the run, so you'll have to trust that I'm telling you the right thing. My raid composition was no different than what it is when I heal on Salanthe. I duo-healed Spider, Plague, and Construct quarters with a resto shaman (I'm fairly certain that some of my frustrations with raid healing are due to the fact that the two healers play the same class and spec). I topped overall healing for the night by a slight margain and some fights went much better than they typically do when I'm healing on my shaman (Anub'Rekhan and Gluth, most notably).

Overall impressions are definitely favorable towards the druid, although I am not passing official judgment until I can heal Kel'Thuzad. That fight makes me want to delete the shaman, so it will likely be the watershed for the druid as well.

Mana efficiency was not an issue. I do need to break myself from the Burning Crusade lifebloom dependency and tweak my healing overall, but there were no glaring problems or stumbling blocks. Unless you count the two trash wipes, which may have been prevented if I were on my shaman. My AoE damage panic healing is definitely not as effective as it is on Salanthe.

There is one thing I miss about shaman though - dispelling. A shaman can cleanse three things (poison, disease, and curses) with one global cooldown. This is a huge advantage over a druid, particularly when you consider that druids rely on heavily on instant-cast spells, so it seems much harder to devote a global cooldown to cleanse than it does on the shaman.

I am quite nervous about the changes to mana regen that are coming in the Ulduar patch, 3.1. Shaman will emerge largely unscathed, but druids will bear the brunt of it. Since mana efficiency and regeneration are one of my major complaints about shaman, I am very afraid that druids will end up the same way.

I will definitely continue to report here as I continue this experiment. Next time I'll use Recount or WWS to back up my claims, too!

(This post was inspired by Aurik over at /hug.)

Free Respec!

Last week, shaman were bestowed with a free respec courtesy the WoW development team. This was primarily due to significant changes with the elemental tree, which really needed a buff. More on that in a bit.
I took full advantage of the free respec to tweak Salanthe's restoration build. Since patch 3.0, I've had Salanthe specced for pure raid healing and made a few small sacrifices to boost her raid healing. Notably, I gave up 3 points in Healing Way. As time went on, I began missing the talent more and more, particularly when I healed 5-man heroics. Such a small talent that can make a big difference in single-target healing.

With the free respec of 3.0.8, I decided to squeeze 3 points out of my preferred raid healing spec and toss them in Healing Way, particularly as the talent was buffed in the patch as well. Instead of requiring 3 Healing Waves to gain the full benefit of the talent, it now takes one. A most welcome change, as it makes it much easier for a shaman to keep Healing Way up on the tank (though Healing Wave itself is still a mana-intensive spell).

Without further ado, here is Salanthe's new spec. I dropped a point in Thundering Strikes, Ancestral Fortitude, and Tidal Force to accomodate Healing Way. I rarely used Tidal Force because I'm terrible about on-use effects like that (I even had it bound to my mouse wheel and I'd still forget to use it!). The extra point in Thundering Strikes wasn't a big deal to me, although I do love my crit. I am not however, particularly happy with losing a point in Ancestral Fortitude. It took much debate before I finally decided that of all the one-point losses I could take, that would be the one place I could do it without hurting my healing per second or mana regeneration.

I have yet to test this new spec in a raid, but it seems to be effective in 5-man heroics.

Now, my promised comments on the elemental buff. Let me begin by stating that I have not tried the new elemental myself yet. Anecdotally, from my observations of an elemental shaman I tank and heal for regularly, her overall damage and dps has improved significantly since the patch. Previously, she was doing fairly high dps but very low overall damage. Post-3.0.8, she seems to be doing competitve damage and dps. One of these days I need to get around to respeccing to elemental and try the changes out for myself.

The Proper Care and Feeding of Healers

Beastclaw of Clan Beastclaw's Blog wrote a post today that resonated with me as a healer. I strongly recommend you hop over to her blog and check it out. Take the advice in there to heart and your healers will love you.

The Proper Care and Feeding of Healers.

Where has Salanthe been?

I have been playing my fresh level 80 protection paladin. About the last time I posted here, I found a new appreciation for my then level 37 paladin. A month later, he dinged 80 and I've been gearing him up to tank heroics and maybe some Naxxramus!

As far as Salanthe herself is concerned, she's been in Naxx a handful of times. My new little 10-man guild, Nocturne, has been a bit slow in getting started and I haven't been interested in pugging on Salanthe.

I have gained a new appreciation for Healing Way, as my spec does not have it. When our talent points are refunded with the next patch, I may try very hard to pick it up, particularly as it will take only one application to gain the full benefit instead of three. Healing Way makes an enormous difference in 5-man instances.

Now that I have an 80 tank and healer, the debate begins as to which alt I should level next. Zgu, my dps warrior, is level 71. Miothe, my perpetually respecced druid, is level 74. And lastly, my death knight, Miyasi, is level 68. (I also have a 53 mage and a 35 priest.)

The obvious choice would be either the druid or warrior for dps. Then I can complete the holy trinity - tank, healer, and dps. However, I am tempted to level up another healer so that I have something capable of filling in for extra Naxx runs when Salanthe is saved to guild runs. When one takes into consideration the fact that the druid is also my farmer for Salanthe's professions, things definitely look stacked in her favor. The druid fulfills all of those ideals - dps, healer, and farmer.

We'll see what happens. The paladin (affectionately dubbed "Sally Pally" by my friends) wasn't even on my leveling priority list before I started playing him again. I may end up power-leveling a brand new rogue!

Tossing Heals - Talent Builds by Salanthe

I was invited to my first Naxxramus run a few days ago as a healer, so I was forced to sit down and think seriously about what talent build to use. I've been kicking some ideas around since I first saw the new shaman talent trees, but I haven't posted anything worthwhile yet. Here's my attempt at it and I'd be very interested in some feedback.

After looking over the shaman talent trees, it looks like Blizzard tried to increase a shaman's effectiveness as a main tank healer. Talents like Riptide, Tidal Waves, Healing Way, Earth Shield, and Improved Earth Shield complement each other very well to make a shaman good at single-target healing. This is particularly useful for five mans and has made us, in my opinion, very good five man instance healers. A glyph that works well with this style of healing is the Glyph of Lesser Healing Wave.

There are also a number of talents that work very well to increase our effectiveness as raid healers. Earthliving Weapon, Blessing of the Eternals, and Ancestral Awakening work to spread healing across as much of the group as possible. There are a couple of glyphs that assist in this style of healing, such as Glyph of Chain Heal and the Glyph of Earthliving Weapon.

Blizzard gave shaman some very good tools for main tank and raid healing. We are effective at both instead of specializing in raid healing. Even our Tier 7 set bonuses benefit both styles, rather than promoting one over another.

Talent point distribution is a problem though. While it seems as though Blizzard has made every effort to prevent a shaman healer from being pidgeon-holed in one style of healing, we end up choosing one style through our talent builds. Thus, I've come up with a couple talent builds - one for AoE/raid healing and one for main tank/five-man healing and by using the corresponding glyphs that I mentioned previously, you can optimize your abilities to fit each style.

Restoration for main tank / five-man healing or this if you don't care about threat reduction. This is the jack-of-all trades talent build. It promotes a more dynamic and exciting healing style, where you rely less on chain heal and more on Riptide, Healing Wave, and Lesser Healing Wave to get the job done. Earthliving weapon is icing on the cake and not the bread and butter of your healing.

Restoration for AoE/raid healing (aka the Earthliving build). This is my favorite talent build because I am enamored with the elegance of earthliving weapon. It is designed for chain heal spam and spreading the earthliving HoT over as much of the raid as possible.

Your choice between builds depends on what sort of healing you do most frequently and what meshes well with your style. Shaman can be main tank/single-target healers or AoE healers with either talent build.

You Can Go No Higher

Salanthe finally reached level 80 last night! I got up early yesterday morning and decided to try and power level those last two levels. I did it, too. 78-80 in one day!

Long Time No Post

It has been a while! Based on my previous post, I think you can guess what I've been up to though!

I've been taking it nice and easy while leveling my shaman. She had some really good rested experience accumulated while I couldn't play her, so I decided to use that as my leveling timer. When she runs out of rested experience, I switch to leveling either Miothe or Zgu for a few days, then go back to Sal.

It's a very good method for me. Miothe is my gathering alt and Sal's supplier of herbs and leather. By switching to her for a day or two, I'm able to level Salanthe's professions as I go. I thought I would end up buying the materials once I got to level cap, so this is much cheaper! I'm also trying to combat leveling burn out, so all three characters are trying different areas, with the notable exception of Dragonblight because I love that zone SO much.

In two weeks, give or take a few days, Salanthe is level 77, Miothe is level 72, and Zgu is level 71. Miyasi, my tauren death knight, is level 60, and Alsa, my dwarf death knight, is level 58 and clear of the starting area. Overall, I've been online less than during Burning Crusade when I was raiding heavily, so this is very steady and good progress considering. I'm pleased!

Now, a word on shaman talent trees. From 70 to 75, I leveled Salanthe as enhancement. I adored it. I was able to solo every non-dungeon elite I came across, except Sarathstra, whom I didn't even attempt to solo. Salanthe killed things very quickly and with very minimal effort and almost no down-time. Instancing was simple, but I always forgot to check Recount at the end of a run, so I don't know how my dps measured up, unfortunately.

When Sal hit 75, I respecced her to elemental (level 77 build). I waited until 75 because I read that elemental dps is poor until the shaman learns Lava Burst at level 75. Based on my experience thus far, I would have to agree whole-heartedly. Lava Burst hits very hard and lightning is very lack-luster in comparison.

Thus far, I'm enjoying elemental. I'm using the Flame Shock - Lava Burst - Chain Lightning - Lightning Bolt - Lightning Bolt - repeat, rotation, which seems to be working quite well. My dps in instances seems to be competitive (averaging around 1200), though I haven't run enough yet to make an accurate judgment. There is more downtime because of mana efficiency problems, but I mitigated some of that by remembering to use Thunderstorm more frequently. I am also able to solo elites like Rattlebore of the Really Big Worm quest without too much trouble, although it seems to take longer than it did as enhancement.

As of right now, I don't want to declare a preference between the two specs. Both feel solid to me and I enjoy playing them. I'd like to try them both out at 80, definitely. Maybe then I will be able to make a more precise comparison. Either way, I would definitely level as enhancement until at least 75. Wait for Lava Burst because it makes all the difference in the world.

It's Here!

Hooray! My collector's edition finally arrived from Best Buy! Wal-mart, on the other hand, still has not shipped.

I am really pleased with what I got too. Definitely worth the wait. Originally, all I wanted was the pet, but the soundtrack, book, card game cards, and DVD were all awesome too.

I'm also excited to finally get Salanthe into Northrend and leveling again. Maybe my melancholy with my computer will fade now that my shaman is free to explore the new content.

It's Coming!

Or, The Saga of How Salanthe Is Still Level 70 One Week After WotLK Release.

I have two accounts, right? I call them Salanthe's account and Zgu's account. Two accounts means I need two copies of WotLK.

I decided to treat myself for this expansion and get the collector's edition for my main account. Salanthe needs an adorable little frost wyrm pet. So, I learn that Amazon.com is sold out (this is like a month ago, mind) and I go on a mad search across the internet to find a retailer that still has it in stock. My first choice was Target but they apparently don't carry it. So out of desperation, I check Wal-mart and they have it! I order it, select two-day delivery, and wait for the expansion to release.

The day of the release, I take myself down to the local Best Buy at midnight to pick up a regular copy of the expansion for my second account. I come home, install it, upgrade Zgu's account, and all is well. Then I check to see if Wal-mart has shipped my collector's edition yet. Nope.

I spend a week visiting their website daily. They must ship it today, surely! No avail, it still has not shipped. My friends are all speedily leveling past my beloved Salanthe and all I can do is level mining and skinning on my death knight. Finally, the other night, I decide that enough is enough. I will order a copy from Best Buy, chose 2 day delivery, and let the two retailers race. Whomever gets it to my door first gets my money and the other copy gets returned.

Tonight, I finally get the confirmation email from Best Buy that my collector's edition has shipped! I should be leveling Salanthe by Friday! I am so happy! And still no word from Wal-mart. They've had my order about a month now. Did I mention I paid extra for two-day delivery from them? Yeah...

Death Knight Love and Other News

I promised myself I wouldn't succumb. I swore I wouldn't roll a death knight until I had leveled all three of my 70s to a decent level. I vowed that I wouldn't be one of the masses when Wrath of the Lich King released.

I failed.

BUT SHE LOOKS SO GOOD!

Miyasi Ironhide, fallen shaman and Knight the Ebon Blade.

I am in love.

In other news, I haven't leveled Zgu at all. I ran into this problem where I couldn't bring myself to level another character before Salanthe. So instead I'm playing a death knight while waiting for my collector's edition to arrive from Wal-mart so I can unlock WotLK on Sal's account and start playing her. I'm very anxious to get that process underway. Hurray up Wal-mart!

As to the big news I alluded to in my last post, well, I said farewell to my guild of almost a year. It was very hard and I've been agonizing over it for a couple months now. I wanted to cut back on raiding and retire from 25-mans though, which meant leaving my guild.

I was with them almost one year and witnessed 10 guild first boss kills with them. I started as a back-up restoration shaman and rose to the highest officer rank and healing class lead by the time I left. I originally joined because they were willing to give me a chance to prove myself when no other guild would. I owe them so much and it was so very difficult to leave. But I haven't left the server and I only hope that they don't hate me for leaving and will still talk to me. I made good friends that I don't want to lose.

So in tribute, thank you, Ascension, from the bottom of my heart. It was an amazing experience and I owe you everything for taking a chance on a poor resto shaman that no one else wanted. I wish you all the best of luck in the expansion and may you see many server first boss kills. Much love.

Pre-WotLK Update

Just a few quick notes before the expansion is released.

Salanthe is in a holding pattern until I get my collector's edition. Her account will get it, so I won't be able to play either Sal or Miothe until it arrives in the mail. Go, go Wal-mart!

Zgu will get the standard copy of the expansion, so I will be leveling her first. Along with my little mage, Keiaz, and my shiny new death knight. I spent some time working out a background for her and deciding on a name. Miyasi Ironhide will be a former shaman (tauren, of course), turned into a death knight. I can't wait to mess around with her!

I also have some big news and a big change in the works, but I don't want to spill the beans until I follow through. Soon, though.

The End

And there it is, the end of the Burning Crusade.

I am so fortunate to have come so far. When I came to Moon Guard a year and a half ago, I never thought I would raid, let alone "beat the game." It's such an odd thing, thinking back on all that has happened. That the cranky old shaman and teacher of The Earthwalkers should find herself standing before the Sunwell after defeating Kil'jaeden... I'm sure Salanthe herself is as shocked as I am!

I joined Ascension because I had something to prove to myself and to others. And for one other very important reason - they promised to give me a chance. They certainly did. I owe them a lot.

Zgu Hits 70!

Just in time for the expansion, my little twink warrior finally made it to level 70. I'm so proud! She's the one character that I actually enjoy playing because I like the style. I love running up to something and beating on it without worrying about my health bar. Titan's Grip is lots of fun and I'm burning through things... Warrior is just a fun class.

Zgu is also exalted with the Mag'har and has their tabard and a tan talbuk. If I could give her brown skin, I'd role-play as a Mag'har orc. She also got the Arcanite Ripper last night in Karazhan so she can rock out occasionally!

Finding a Groove

Learning to be an efficient restoration shaman post-3.0 is not easy, at least not for me. I'm happy with the small changes I made to my gear and mostly happy with my spec. It's the spells that are giving me fits. Hence this post will be a more of a flow of consciousness entry while I write about some of my experiences and observations post-3.0. I don't have any answers yet; so don't look to this as the end-all, be-all of post-3.0 restoration shaman.

Now that the Armory seems to be partially functional, I can show you some of what I did with Salanthe, including changes to her gear and spec. Here's the link to her Armory page. First thing of note, I obviously don't heal with her Riding Crop equipped (at least not all the time; mistakes have been known to happen). I use the Redeemer's Alchemist Stone instead.

The most notable changes I made were to Salanthe's gems and I switched out a few pieces of gear to give her more spell crit. I re-socketed nearly all her blue sockets with Dazzling Seaspray Emeralds for the intellect and mp5. This was done experimentally and I'm not certain if it was beneficial or not. My reasoning was this: Pre-3.0, I stacked a lot of +healing so that I could down-rank more efficiently. With the removal of down-ranking in 3.0 and the important of spell crit for mana regeneration, I thought that I could accomplish two things at once by re-socketing. Intellect improves both healing (through talents like Nature's Blessing) and improves spell crit. By using those green gems, I also retain some much-needed mp5, particularly since some of the gear pieces I switched out traded mp5 for spell crit. As I said, I'm not convinced that this was a wise change, but it seems logical.

I also traded in a couple of my staple pieces of gear for some fancy new pieces. Pre-3.o, I was using the Band of the Eternal Restorer, Earth Living Bindings, and the Sun-Touched Chain Leggings. I replaced all those to gain more crit. I feel confident in replacing the bracers and legs, particularly since it gained me the elemental T6 2-piece set bonus, but I'm less confident in the ring. The proc was really quite nice and I'm not certain that losing the both the proc and the mp5 was worth the gain in crit.

Salanthe's spec feels quite solid to me, although I regret not having talents such as Ancestral Fortitude and Healing Way. I feel it was necessary to pick up those other talents, however.

The one thing that has been troubling the most about raid healing post-3.0 is healing itself. Pre-3.0, I was consistently at the top of the healing meters and out-healing the other shaman by a significant margin. Post-3.0, I am typically sitting below the top 5 healers, while the other shaman are still at the top.

You've heard me go on about how meters don't mean much as long as the raid is staying alive and I still hold to that, but the meters are worth paying attention to because they can point out problems and areas for improvement. The fact that I am performing so much worse than I did previously while the other shaman are maintaining their positions demonstrates that I am not performing to my full potential. I have a few ideas to explain the disparity, but nothing concrete.

One possible explanation is my obsession with over-healing. Pre-3.0, I compulsively down-ranked to conserve my mana and to control my over-healing. Post-3.0, I cannot down-rank at all, so it is possible that I'm not spamming heals in response to either one of those concerns. Examining the meters in more detail, the other resto shaman are still casting chain heal 90% of the time, while I have dropped to casting it about 75% of the time.

It is also possible that I am still struggling with finding an appropriate spell rotation, while the other shaman have found something that works for them. Asking them what they do would certainly illuminate that issue. I tend to try something new every raid and every fight in order to determine what seems to fit the new talents the best, which is quite possibly the wrong approach. One other difference between me and the other shaman is that I seem to be under-utilizing Riptide. I try to keep it up on the MT so I can bomb-heal them with chain heal if necessary, but I'm finding that difficult to time and I'm struggling with concerns of over-healing. It's just frustrating to me that I haven't found my niche yet in raid healing.

Five-man healing is much more interesting and fun with the new talents though, and I find myself preferring them to 25-man raids now, while it was the other way around pre-3.0. I find that shaman are much better equipped to handle 5-man damage than they were previously and it's much more fun to heal with the variety of spells and procs we have to manage. It is much more difficult to control those things in 25-man raids, at least for me. In 5-mans, I feel confident of the changes to shaman healing, while I am very uncertain of them when I'm healing 25-mans.

There is one small observation I would like to make. If you read this blog regularly, you will know that I also have a 70 restoration druid. She is significantly under-geared in comparison to my shaman, particularly for pve. (Her Armory is here, for reference.) I respecced her and have been healing quite frequently with her post 3.0, including some of the same content as Salanthe. In doing so, I've made an unsettling observation: my under-geared druid is much easier to heal with than my very well geared shaman. Mio feels much more in control of 5-man healing than Sal does and I find that very disconcerting. The instances I've run with both druid and shaman with the same group of people were heroic Magister's Terrace (which I'd never healed before on Mio) and AQ20.

I'm not sure what that observation means, but it concerns me a great deal, particularly when comparing their gear. I cannot say if this is a personal preference coming into play or if it really is easier and better as a druid or as a shaman. I can say that even in my gimped state, I am still out-healing druids in our 25-man raids, and our druids are very, very good. I'm not sure what to make of that observation, but I'm throwing it out there in case others have some comments or observations.

On a lighter note, I've been messing around on my warrior again. I pulled her out for some Headless Horseman summons the other night and renewed my bond with her. There is just something so refreshing about playing a dps warrior (fury, for the moment) after healing 99% of the time. And pvp is still fun on her, despite being stomped repeatedly by level 70s in Alterac Valley and Eye of the Storm (Zgu is level 67). Go, go little warrior!

Quick Update

There is a lot to write about, obviously. I haven't made a post since The Patch went live. It is very late (or early) however, and I'm not coherent enough to talk about all my impressions of shaman healing post-3.0. I am coherent enough to make a brief update!

Salanthe's guild ventured into Sunwell Plateau for the first time since 3.0 last night. It was an eventful night. We've attempted Kalecgos several times previously and always been stymied. Last night, it took us four attempts to down him. Yours truly got the Protector token and is now the happy owner of Skyshatter Bands. Yes, I got the elemental tier 6 bracers. Post-patch, I decided to use my T6 elemental legs (for more crit), so the bracers give me the elemental two-piece set bonus and the restoration four-set bonus. Overpowered restoration shaman, much?

We didn't stop at Kalecgos though. We had close to an hour and a half of raid left after downing the big blue dragon, so we headed on to Brutallus. Yes, I brought 24 of my friends back to meet him. And we one-shot him. Yes, you read that correctly. We one-shot Brutallus. After that stunning victory, we set up for Felmyst and attempted him twice before running out of raid time.

All in all, it was an amazingly successful night, although I feel like we cheated. It doesn't seem right to one-shot a boss we've never seen before. A testament to the shadow priest that set up our strategy for us and explained the fight! Well, and the nerf.

As far as my knee-jerk impressions of shaman healing post-3.0, let me just sketch them for you.

• 5-man healing is very fun. Lots of tools to use and it's very easy at Salanthe's gear level.

• Riptide is over-powered, but don't tell Blizzard game developers that, please.

• Mana efficiency, as I predicted, is utter crap. Shaman just cannot keep up with the other healers, priests in particular. I am willing to make such a broad statement because the other resto shaman in my guild are having just as much trouble with mana as I am.

I'll hopefully have more to say at a later date and time when I'm more coherent and have some hard data to back up my impressions. Or maybe change my mind about them, who knows!

More Totems!

I sat down tonight and worked out a chart to use for assigning totems when the patch comes out.

Couple things to note: Unessential or situational totems are in brackets, while essential totems are not. This does not take into account spatial arrangement, meaning I have not considered where shaman stand in relation to the rest of the raid or to each other.

Enhancement shaman: Strength of Earth Totem, Windfury Totem, Flametongue Totem, [Poison Cleansing Totem/Fire Resistance Totem]

Elemental shaman: [Tremor Totem/Stoneskin Totem], Wrath of Air Totem, Totem of Wrath, [Poison Cleansing Totem/Fire Resistance Totem]

Restoration shaman: [Tremor Totem/Stoneskin Totem], [Grounding Totem/Wrath of Air Totem], [Frost Resistance Totem], Mana Spring Totem/Healing Stream Totem/Mana Tide Totem


This chart makes a few assumptions as far as spec goes. For enhancement shaman, it assumes that the shaman will have full points in the following talents: Enhancing Totems and Improved Windfury Totem. For elemental shaman, it assumes the shaman will have Totem of Wrath. And for restoration shaman, it assumes the shaman will have full points in Restorative Totems and a point in Mana Tide Totem.

There is one small problem to consider. The talent that improves Stoneskin Totem, Guardian Totems, has traditionally been considered a pvp talent because it also reduces the cooldown of Grounding Totem. It is not a common talent in pve specs, particularly for elemental or restoration shaman.

I would like to see my raid provided with improved Stoneskin Totem, but I have yet to figure out how to manage it without specifically asking an elemental or restoration shaman to spec for it. The problem could be alleviated if an elemental shaman took the talent points for Enhancing Totems and the enhancement shaman would then be able to drop Stoneskin Totem instead of Strength of Earth. However, it would require the elemental shaman to stay in range of the melee.

I have yet to see the specs my shaman will choose for The Patch, so I may modify totem assignments slightly based on their specs. Speaking of, this is the spec I'm currently considering for The Patch.

TOTEMS!

Three days remain until The Patch. Three point zero point two. Armageddon.

Melodramatics aside, The Patch will have sweeping ramifications on raiding. As one of the few guilds left on my server that still raids and as the shaman class officer, I've been working hard at determining totem responsibilities for The Patch. I've found myself wishing for a shaman version of Pally Power. I am not skilled enough with computers to write a fancy add-on of my own, but perhaps someone will read this blog and see the need!

Why would such a tool be necessary for shaman, though? What changes are coming in The Patch that affect totem distribution?

There are two notable changes. Firstly, totems with a 2-minute timer will be increased to 5 minutes. Secondly, totems will no long affect just a shaman's party. They will be raid-wide. The first change will have shaman everywhere leaping for joy. The second major change, that of totems affecting the entire raid instead of just the shaman's party, will produce mixed reactions, and it is responsible for my sudden obsession with organizing totems.

Causing totems to affect the entire raid instead of just the shaman's party is a mixed blessing, depending on your point of view. One of the oft-stated goals of the upcoming expansion is to reduce a raid's reliance on certain classes. Developers want to give players the ability to compose raids with a wide variety of classes, instead of stacking certain classes within a raid (i.e. resto shaman for M'uru). This is great news, but for a shaman who is accustomed to always having a raid spot by nature of their specialized buffs and unique abilities (Totem of Wrath, Bloodlust/Heroism, Windfury Totem, Chain Heal), it is disconcerting.

For example, my raid usually contains four to five shaman. One enhancement shaman in the melee dps group for Windfury Totem, one elemental shaman in the caster dps group for Totem of Wrath, and two to three restoration shaman for their chain heals and to distribute totem buffs to other groups. In making totems raid-wide, there are more shaman than totems. Granted, it is a very minor concern and is certainly a positive for the vast majority of raiding guilds.

Concerns over my "guaranteed" raid spot aside, let me return to the topic of totem distribution within a raid. Each shaman can buff the raid with four totems at once. There are, I would argue, seven totems that are necessary to have out at all times: Totem of Wrath (elemental shaman only), Flametongue Totem, Stoneskin Totem, Strength of Earth Totem, Wrath of Air Totem, Windfury Totem, and Mana Spring Totem. Important situational totems are Tremor Totem, Poison/Disease Cleansing Totem, Frost/Fire/Nature Resistance Totems, Earthbind Totem, Mana Tide Totem (restoration shaman only), and Healing Stream Totem.

It takes two shaman to provide the raid with every necessary totem, with one water totem spot left over for Healing Stream Totem. And only one of those shaman must be an elemental shaman. The other shaman could, hypothetically, be any spec at all.

It's not that easy, however. Certain specs have talents that improve certain totems. For example, it is preferable to have an enhancement shaman provide Windfury Totem, Strength of Earth Totem, Stoneskin Totem, and Flametongue Totem. You must have an elemental shaman to use Totem of Wrath, and restoration shaman are best for providing Mana Spring Totem, Healing Stream Totem, and Mana Tide Totem.

Concerns such as those are why I wish shaman had an add-on like Pally Power. I could sit down right before each raid, plug in which shaman I wanted to take care of which set of totems, and that would be it! Such simplicity. Instead, I will be busy inspecting each of my shaman to see what talents points they have, taking into consideration their T6 set bonuses (elemental shaman in 2-pieces of T6 need to have four totems down at all times), trying to make sure each shaman has some responsibility for providing totems to the raid, and typing it all out in the shaman channel (and hoping they are paying attention!).

One additional challenge in managing these buffs is range. Totems have a limited range. They only affect raid or party members within 20-30 yards of the totem (depending on talents). This means that shaman will have to learn to become aware of their position within the raid and in relation to other shaman, particularly if they are dropping the same totems.

The best example of this important consideration is for providing totem buffs in a raid setting such as the Illidari Council, where the raid is spread across a vast area. The shaman stationed on the dias will need to provide different buffs for his/her melee than the shaman following the paladin around, or the shaman on the other side of the room near the mage. It complicates fights such as Kalecgos because raid members will never have access to all their necessary totem buffs at once. It makes me wish that add-ons like Big Brother had a totem monitor so I could keep track of totem buffs.

Many, many things to consider and juggle. I am still doing some testing and research, but I hope to have a post soon regarding totems and how I plan on dealing with some of these issues within my own raid. And if any readers have suggestions, please comment!