[PvP] Shamans & Totems

[Deleted]

I play enhancement pvp.
Since blizzard "dropped" the group drop system for totems, I just can't find any purpose of totems' global cd. Many times when I pvp i find my self dropping more than 1 totem at the same time, and spending 2-3 global cds just to drop those totems can often define win or lose.
Searing (or Fire Elemental) + Bulwark is the most common combination. When I get zerged from melees, I need to drop Healing + Capacitor (and maybe Bulwark too if not on cd). Some other times while I chase a caster or something I need to drop Grounding for example to ground the other opponents' cc/spell casting on me, and maybe earthbind to slow them down. These lost gcds will cause a sight of an enha shaman running side by side his opponent, spending gcds until his opponent disappears.
I just can't understand why we need to spend half of our global cds on totem drops!

[Ascendant]

You shouldn't even be using bulwark in pvp imo, it's extremely lackluster (small absorb and the shields can't even stack, long cd shares school with other useful earth totems etc). Since most totems have a relatively long cd now I don't find myself getting gcd locked because of them, get projection if you don't want to refresh searing totem all the time when chasing casters. Sure it might be useful to be able to drop hst + some air and earth totem simultaneously, would be a slight qol improvement but due to the low gcd on totems I don't really see how it's that big of an issue.

[shell]

I don't play enhancement so feel free to take my opinion with a grain of salt but I agree with Ascendant on this one. SBT doesn't scale as well for enhance as it does for elemental, I don't about resto but I'd assume its the same scaling as ele. So instead of SBT, I would consider getting either of the other two.

[Deleted]

the reason i m using bulwark instead of astral is that bulwark can be a life saver at low hp situations. Especially if used along with the totem reset cd talent. Enhancement don't use earthbind as much as elemental or resto, but i have found my self using it few critical times, when my opponent is about to die and I don't really care about bulwark that much at these moments, but to finish the job. Maybe its my play style but i prefer 2xBulwark, 2xGrounding and 2x Capacitor more than astral and totemic projection.
Now on this topic. The best way to understand the totem gcd problem is when you get zerged. You get stunned,sapped or whatever and melees start bursting you, when you finally have a chance to do something, dropping 3 totems is extremely important but not an option cause of the global cds. You don't want to drop them earlier cause you ll lose important time of their duration, so I can't see why they have a global cd or even why bliz removed the group totem system..

[CHRONICGODX]

i played for a while with bulwark. it really does kinda suck. and i played totem prep for a while too but projection is so much better for sending your healer tremors or shooting a magma in deep against a stealth team. totem prep is great for duel heroing though. frost shock rooting and UE sprinting out with sham rage or astral shift if necessary would keep you alive much better than 2x bulwark. i see more convincing arguements for playing natures guardian instead of bulwark honestly.

[Ascendant]

the reason i m using bulwark instead of astral is that bulwark can be a life saver at low hp situations. Especially if used along with the totem reset cd talent.

I'd rather have a personal pain supression during the opener when I'm getting trained, reducing that 800k warrior damage to 480k instead of absorbing half a mortal strike once a minute. I really see no use for bwt in pvp at all, especially if you already feel like you're dropping too many totems. Now a change I would like to see is taking Astral Shift and Spiritwalkers Grace off the GCD, those just shouldn't be on it to begin with. Also put wep imbues on a separate GCD ala hunter aspects so you can actually use imbue swapping, now there's a clunky ass mechanic if I ever saw one.

[CHRONICGODX]

im pretty down with playing natures guardian now. swapxy was using it at the BWC this weekend too. my comp has something to do with it though, between ironbark, safeguard, and sham rage, 40% on 2 min cd started to sound really shitty.

[Deleted]

well, now that totems will be affected by silence, I am sure Bulwark goes deeper on the ground.. So, nature or astral then..
And the funny thing is, I started this thread cause I felt like totems need some change, mobility maybe, no global cds or so.. and then here comes the totem nerf :P
Tnx blizz.. once more

[Zuko]

To be completely honest, if you do not see the usefulness in dropping totems you are doing it wrong.
Totems are used to cc, prevent cc and for a little extra damage (and survivability if you chose bulwark)

Edit: I realized you were talking about the actual gcd.... ignore the above.

[Warcel]

The global cooldown triggered whe you drop a totem is shorter then the standard trigered by your spells.
1 sec totem, 1.5 the rest

[shell]

The global cooldown triggered whe you drop a totem is shorter then the standard trigered by your spells.
1 sec totem, 1.5 the rest

Yeah, but I'm waiting for the notes where they change that.