Call of the Elements/Ancestors/Spirits places 4 totems simultaneously after a 3 second cast.
Alternatively, placing totems one at a time results in the following:
0.0 sec: totem 1 placed
1.0 sec: totem 2 placed
2.0 sec: totem 3 placed
3.0 sec: totem 4 placed
4.0 sec: GCD from totem 4 completes
Advantages of using Call of the Elements:
Save 1 second over manual placement ONLY IF 4 totems are actually needed and there is no spell pushback, though both methods will have 4 totems down at the same 3.0 second mark
Affected by haste (also a disadvantage when cast time is slowed)
Advantages of manual totem placement:
Strictly better when fewer than 4 totems are needed or when spell pushback or slowed cast time is a factor (e.g. for 3 totems, placement is 2.0 sec with a 1.0 sec GCD on the tail end, so same total time as CotE, but faster placement)
Totems start benefiting the group sooner at time 0.0 sec, instead of at time 3.0 sec
Allows movement while placing
Allows pivoting to other priorities (e.g. cast heal, interrupt) between totem placements without losing progress. If you are, e.g., 1.5 second into CotE and have to stop casting for other priority, you lose all progress on totem placement.
Allows off-GCD abilities/items between totem placement
Weapon swing continues while placing totems
No spell pushback while placing totems
Allows more flexibility over which totems are placed without having to pre-configure each time (e.g. can pivot to situational totems like tremor, grounding, cleansing, or omit a fire totem during careful pulls)
More control over the precise location of each individual totem
The advantages of manual totem placement far outweigh CotE to the point that the latter is essentially unusable. Please consider reducing the cast time of CotE significantly to either 1.5 sec or instant, or consider taking another approach entirely if you are set on improving totem quality of life. Otherwise, dare I say it, just remove CotE/A/S as it is not helping anything in its current state. Thank you.
it should be an insta cast with a cooldown or at least a much shorter cast that can be done well moving, as is its nearly pointless in pve and useless in pvp where you will get pushback, interrupted, and people will run totem stomp macros.
Imo, drop it to instant cast with a cooldown (15-20 seconds) and make it reduce the mana cost of the dropped totems by like 20-30%.
Also, totemic projection needs a much shorter cooldown. Its currently 1 minute, should be no longer than 30 seconds to keep up with group movement in dungeons And raids.
Agreed. Call of the Elements should be instant cast. If that is going to be an issue, increase the cost / cooldown, or adjust the spell that allows you to re-locate them to be more expensive, so you have to choose between moving them or waiting for the cooldown to Call again.
I don’t play shaman, but is there a reduced gcd on totem casts? Normally the gcd is 1.5 sec, not 1, which is why I am asking. I know druids get a talent to reduce the gcd of some of their spells.
As a resto main I will pretty much never be using all 4 totems so this ability is pretty much worthless. I also find it confusing that the ability to move your placed totems has a 1 minute cooldown. I’d use that all the time if it didn’t, but I guess I’m just manually dropping them like I always have instead.
I will most likely be playing shaman and I have no plans to use a 3 second cast totem placement ability. Even if it took 1 second longer to get 4 totems down, I would still manually place totems to avoid the long cast.
Maybe it should be based on the number of totems slotted for it? Overall taking half the time it normally would.
So if you only have 1 totem on the bar its instant, 2 totems would be a 1s cast time, 3 totems 1.5s, 4 totems 2 seconds.
Also, totemic projection absolutely needs to have a lower cooldown. 30 seconds max, make 15-20. The whole point is to keep up with the group and not waste mana by recasting several times a minute, especially now that totems last 5 minutes
Their entire design philosophy of it is they want manual placement to still be better but allow an easy 1 button option for players who don’t like that.
It should be 4 totems instant drop. Or you could make every other classes buffs fall off when entering combat so they have to buff themselves while we’re dropping totems. Never understood the devs hate for shaman and totems.
