I would like to start off by saying overall I am quite happy with the design of the talent trees for restoration shaman. That being said, I do see some areas that could potentially benefit from some minor adjustments. Anything mentioned will be from the view of a restoration shaman in a raid, unless mentioned otherwise, and I will not be focusing much on tuning.
Class Tree
The class tree is designed quite nicely. There are several clear winners in terms of talents and enough leftover points after to select utility talents for a wide variety of situations. There are a few shortcomings of the tree that I’d like to address.
Astral Shift
My first issue with the tree is that Astral Shift had received a nerf, followed by a talent that provides us with the original power of the ability. To the credit of the tree creator, the choice node that enhances Astral Shift is well designed, however I have a suggestion that may be more positively received by the community.
Recommendation:
Astral Shift. 40% DR with a 1.5 min CD
Choice Node:
-20% DR with a 1 min CD
-60% DR with a 2 min CD
Purge
The positioning of Purge feels kind of bad. I could see there being situations where we are forced to take talents that are unwanted, just to reach Purge. Possibly it is set up this way with PVP in mind, but changing the positioning of this talent could be a positive change.
Fire and Ice
Possibly consider changing it to buff fire and nature damage. I feel that frost is too build dependent and also has no effect for resto shaman. I understand though if frost was chosen to keep the talent from being too strong.
Mana Spring Totem
I don’t see this talent ever being taken, unless the mana regen per tick is tuned high. The only solution I see aside from tuning is making it a permanent/long duration totem.
Stoneskin Totem
I don’t see this talent being taken ever in PVE. The power level + the upkeep required just doesn’t seem worth the talent. There is a small chance it gets used in M+, but in raid this totem has little to no value.
Recommendation:
-Give the totem a flat 10% DR and have it affect raid members. The CD would then need to be adjusted to account for the gain in power.
Call of the Elements
This talent is very situational at best, and I foresee this seeing almost no use throughout the expansion. There are a couple of ideas I have for this.
Recommendation:
My first idea would be to replace the talent with something new. One option is a choice node of Vesper Totem and Chain Harvest. The choice node could then be followed by a split of 2 talents, offering the legendary effect of each ability.
The other option would be to allow it to affect totems on the 3 min CD. The downside to this is that it really only benefits resto, leaving the 2 dps specs without anything useful.
Spec Tree
I’m very torn when it comes to the specialization tree. There is some variety provided, but there already appears to be a very clear BiS build for raid. Probably my biggest issue is the fact that we are returning to season 1 necrolord resto shaman and just getting some passive throughput gains to spells. This leaves a lot to be desired as not only are we not really getting anything new to look forward to, but it also seems as if resto shamans are reverting back to a former playstyle. I have some ideas to adjust the tree in an attempt to provide more flexibility in playstyle.
Water Shield
This is a dead talent, and feels even worse that it is required if someone wants to take Lava Surge. The passive mana regen is not enough to justify taking it and we should rarely be procing the effect in PVE.
Recommendation:
-Combine Water Shield with Resurgence. Water Shield needs to be active to proc the mana regen from Resurgence.
-Choice node with Resurgence. Could be done but likely won’t be taken over resurgence in any scenario.
Following this change a replacement would be required. A simple solution would be to move Lava Surge up, and add Igneous Potential below Lava Surge. There is a more complicated solution of rearranging talents that would put dps talents on the left and healing ones down the middle.
Overflowing Shores
I feel that if this talent remains a 2 point node, the 2nd point should provide more of a gain than an extra 1 yard radius. This could either be an increase in healing done or affecting an additional person.
Flow of the Tides
I highly doubt that this talent will be taken unless the consumption of an active riptide is removed.
Primordial Wave
I like that primordial wave is being brought into Dragonflight as it was the most interactive covenant ability. One issue that I have had with the ability however is that it provides nothing for damage as a resto shaman. I would love for the option to be able to Lava Burst cleave with it, in situations where healing is required. If no change is made to Primordial Wave, additional covenant abilities would be welcome.
I also feel that some rearrangement of the talents enhancing Primordial Wave should be done.
Recommendation:
Have Improved Primordial Wave and the choice node branch off separately from Primordial Wave. This would open up more flexibility of points in the tree.
Tumbling Waves
Currently on live this talent has over a 30% chance to not incur a CD. With it being reduced to 15% I feel there will be no competition for it with Continuous Waves, and it will never be taken.
Deeply Rooted Elements
I don’t see this talent ever being taken. It’s a low proc chance low duration talent. Out of curiosity I tried it in a key in early Shadowlands and it was not worth using. It may be okay in PVP, with the talents that it is behind I doubt that it will be taken.
I think it may be best to remove Deeply Rooted Elements and adjust the capstones. My suggestion would be something like this:
-Primordial Wave->Continuous/Tumbling choice->Primal Tide Core
->Improved Primordial Wave<-
-High Tide / Well Spring choice node
-Ascendance
-Vesper Totem / Chain Harvest choice node (with legendary effect)
)