Change Shocks Based on Spec; Then Scrap Totems

Classes Shaman
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I wanted to write a thread about scrapping totems. And I got a few paragraphs in and realized that the problem with Shaman isn’t the details - like totems and how they get buffs out - but maybe that the venn diagram overlaps too much and here’s what I mean.

Resto Shaman can use the shocks, and the do the same thing to varying degrees as the elemental or the Enhancement. Elemental and Enhancement heal as the Resto would but without the same punch. I think this is the real problem we have, and it’s hampering the overall class rework. So here’s what I’m suggesting, and again I’m going to say this first as a rework, but secondly as a totem scrapping.

What if the Restoration Shaman still healed with water, in the traditional way, but their “shocks” were changed to utility oriented de/buffs:

Frost Shock becomes 2 separate abilities:

  1. Frost Hex - Enemy speed is decreased by Y%
  2. Frost Salve - Dots and bleed tick time slowed by 10% (not sure how to phrase this but you know what I mean)

Earth Shock becomes 2 separate abilities:

  1. Earth Hex - Attack speed slowed by Z% for X seconds
  2. Earth Salve - Damage shield and small HoT for extended duration

This would expand the toolkit of the resto shaman, it fits in line with our lore (e.g. Purge is a debuff for enemies and we’re the only ones with it). It gives us much needed mobility, and I think it would give us additional novelty.

You could do something similar with Elemental (Not suggesting ideas - the above was just an example) which would achieve a few things: We’d gain some additional mobility, we’d keep and bolster out utility, and we could do something before waiting for our RNG/whack-a-mole playstyle to go off.

Overall, I think Elemental could use a bit more DoT’s in the kit to make up for our mobility issues. And yeah, I know we’re in a good spot meters wise but that’s also a tuning issue which can change tomorrow.

At the end of the day, I’m trying scrap totems without either ruining utility or without becoming a mage. I’d love your thoughts on this early stage, loose concept for how to break Shaman out of the basement in the minds of the developers.

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Don’t take away the few damaging abilities a healer has for more utility. Resto shaman are already the kings/queens of utility. They need those spells for other content. I used to quest as resto all the time. I didn’t want to gear and play a dps offspec.

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Can we please not suggest removing MORE totems? I mean they’ve already removed a bunch so, If anything, I’d like to see totems make a comeback. In addition, take them off the GCD because we are already rotation locked enough as is with normal abilities.

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This please, for the love of gawd please no more pruning. I like totems as a class function. It actually makes Shaman feel unique in a sea of similarity.

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This doesnt sound good at all… you’re just gutting a class that’s already had most of its iconic abilities gutted by blizzard in the first place.

No, we need to go the other direction, stop scrapping our iconic, class-defining abilities, and bring back more of them.

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I guess I’d ask what’s Iconic about totems? They’re a cleansable buff for all races, the Lore characters never seem to use them, and they are super inconsistent. For example:

  • Why are some placeable, and some drop next to me with no option to place them.
  • Why are some baseline and others aren’t
  • Why remove logical portions from them e.g. Tremor Drop while stunned

My problem ends up being it feels like they don’t know what they’re doing with these things, they don’t seem to help us achieve either the mobility or the defensive capabilities we need, and they almost necessitate that we’re turrets, which seems to be hindering the Dev team overall with Shaman.

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You could never drop totems when stunned.

Totems where once physical and you could drop them while silenced.

Tremor totem could be dropped while feared.

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That’s what I meant. Right. But you cna’t now.

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Totems were a very big deal at one point in this game. The trajectory of pruning and removing them has done nothing but trivialize and weaken not only shaman utility but also self sustain and survivability.

Who remembers Stone Bulwark totem? Cleansing Totem? Tremor being dropped while feared? Fire Nova Totem Stun? Windfury Totem? I mean I could go on and on, its a damn shame things have been cut back so much without really filling a void of what was once very situationally aware totem use and play.

I will say it once again, continuing to move in a direction away form totem use is completely against everything the Shaman has been for 15 years.

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Yes, but I’d also say Shaman have sucked for many of those years. Moving away is the best option.

My point here is they’re limiting real evolution for the class.

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No youre actually deconstructing the class. The real evolution of the class would be more utility totems like Stone Bulwark, Cleansing, 1 or 2 maintenance totem like Searing totem and a Buff totem depending on the spec. And in fact the Shaman did not suck for most of those years, Beast Cleave in BC, Ele in Wrath, Resto in Cata. All were great specs, very fun to play and had totems as such described above.

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There are many other classes to play if you don’t like totems.

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And just as many if you don’t like Shaman. And because I like shaman, I think we need to fix the class by eliminating it’s original flaw.

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But its not a flaw as people are trying to point out to you.

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The “flaw” is the fact that the class has been over-pruned to the point its negatively effected the original design concept. Saying totems were an “original flaw” doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me, especially since they were a key component of class play and design, without which the Shaman would have had no group utility or self sustain.

Basically, what you’re saying is that the Shaman has been flawed for 15 years because of totems? I think there are a lot of players who’d argue against that point.

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If you think totems are a flaw then I’d argue for removing pets from Hunters. Clear design flaw.

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I’ve been a Shaman since Vanilla and honestly reading “scrapping Totems” is actually really triggering. They are the point of playing a Shaman. We provide utility to the group, whether it be PVP or PVE. I’ll never forget playing in Vanilla and everyone wanting me in PVP for Windfury Totem (God I miss 2h Enh Shaman). In BC I would get a RUSH of adrenaline when I got a rogue out of stealth with Magma Totem in an Arena Match. The great Elemental days of WOTLK and using Tremor to break a Psychic scream by a priest or Intimidating shout by a Warrior and breaking everyone’s fear (while we were feared) so we didn’t die. Then pruning and more pruning happened. We became less what we were and what made us unique. Totem’s will always be apart of Shaman, I wish we had more. Maybe They’ll bring back some old and introduce some new.

Either way we are a Utility Hybrid Class.

Guess what we bring to the Fight.

Totems. Period.

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I agree and would like to add that most people who want to change the shaman class really just want to simplify the class to that of whatever spec they are coming from.

Lets remove all totems. So you dont have to micromanage them

Please change totem mastery to a 1hr aura. So you dont have to micormanage it.

Lets just make elementals perm pets instead of cd based. So you dont have to micromanage them.

Please make FT and FrB a 1hr weapon buff. So you dont have to micromanage them.

Please make HR heal more and last longer. Or make it attach to a target and follow it around. So you dont have to micromanage it.

There is a clear pattern here. Shamans are complex and have a fair amount of things to micromanage. Totems/elementals/shocks are all part of this complexity that seperates shamans from most other classes. And for one is what keeps me playing my shaman.

I am not saying shaman is difficult or hard to play. I am saying that is complex in its playstyle especially the top/most efficient specs. Please stop trying to homogenize my class.

If I wanted to roll my face across the keyboard and top charts there are countless other specs/classes for that.

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I can kind of see where the OP is coming from - if you were new to WoW or at least shamans in BFA, totems have been so horribly gutted that it might seem like bliz is trying to force a square peg into a round hole with them.

I agree with others though that the solution is to restore totems to what they use to be rather than continuing to gut them or removing them entirely.

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I agree with 50% of this. I can’t seem to get across that

  1. It’s clear Devs have no idea what to do with them (at least to me) and
  2. That I think it’s hindering our overall development.

I actually like some totems and would love to see others return, but if the same team we have now is going to be on the job, forget it.

But totems have inherent problems. I think I said it somewhere here, but if totems are external buffs, then why don’t they last beyond our death? Why are they still relatively easy to get rid of compared with other classes buffs. This is the sort of thing that is an obvious case of developer disengagement.

I’ve loved elemental since I first saw it in BC (when they were brought to the raids I was in) and switched as soon as WotLK came out. There’s a lot about the Shaman I’m personally dissatisfied with in terms of the class fantasy. And while I’m indifferent on totems in general, I’ve always loved the fire totems, the water totems have been good in previous iterations, and tbh air and earth seem dull to me, but I get that you can’t make changes on one persons opinion.

Having said that, my post was based on who is implementing the totems. Not what ideally they’d become. Sadly, you fight the Legion with the Dev team you have, not the one you want.

1 Like