choice of totem.. hmm

[Willing]

so, Resto shammy here, i've been looking into changing my totem up a bit. I am currently using Calming tides, the 234 SP from CH. However, i've been looking into the 264 totems. and i say totems, because i am looking at both the Surging sea totem (85 sp x 3 from riptide) and the Bizuri's totem of shatered ice, this is actually the elemental totem.. however, it grants 220 haste from the damaging ticks from Flame shock... it's a 30 second up time, which means it's easy to keep up. I'm curious if anyone else is using Bizuri's for Resto.

[Rashataur]

I read about that on elitist jerks...and their theorycrafting experts clain that the elemental totem is not a good choice. I think the badge resto totem is great coupled with the T10 set bonus (20% spell haste) which is up quite often. I also have 1069 haste without counting the T10 procs or the Wrath of Air totem down. I find that I have quite enough haste.

[Boxcar]

For the record, 1069 haste isn't nearly enough. 1269 is the bare minimum. I go beyond that because in raid heal scenarios, it never hurts to have a faster chain heal cast.

I personally use the Riptide totem. Now that Flame Shock is affected by haste, you'd have to refresh it more often and you'd also need to factor in the wasted GCD and the potential to miss completely. The 3 stacks from the Riptide totem are easy to keep up because you should be using RT on cooldown in most cases... but either way, you have a 15 sec window to refresh your stacks, which should always be more than enough.

[tjanson]

Out of curiosity, why is 1269 the bare minimum?

[Boxcar]

Out of curiosity, why is 1269 the bare minimum?

That's the soft cap and the point where your GCD is going to hit 1 sec, which is as low as it's going to go.

[Rashataur]

Even tho nobody says it, there's still a problem with too much haste at the expense of mana pool or regen. The prob is that if you are not terribly efficient with heals you run the risk of running out of mana (since you are casting heals more often with more haste). I guess we might as well learn how to be more efficient now since we'll have to in Cata.

Btw, i certainly don't view 1269 as the "bare minimum". I've done quite well in ICC 10/25 reg and a few hard modes in 10. We've never not gotten a boss dead because my haste wasn't 1269.

[Jenerena]

Btw, i certainly don't view 1269 as the "bare minimum". I've done quite well in ICC 10/25 reg and a few hard modes in 10. We've never not gotten a boss dead because my haste wasn't 1269.

Strictly speaking you're not going to 'wipe a raid' necessarily if you are below the haste cap, but you have more chance of doing so, because your heals are not going to land as quickly as you want them. The GCD will always be a second, the quicker you land that heal the better, even if you have to wait .something of a second for the GCD. The actual time the heal lands is not affected by the gcd, it's the time between spells that is. With high haste levels you can catch that damage alot quicker. Having LHW at 1 second means the heal is fast, and no delay between GCDs. The delay is what provides haste with such high value. Beyond the cap, it just affects how quick heals land and for HW/CH. Below the cap, you are not only increasing the cast time but also the GCD will beat you, so you are not reaching your full potential.

If everyone said that, no healer would be that bothered about their gear. It's not always about just surviving the fight, but doing it in the most efficient way to make life easier for yourself, and lowering the chances of wiping considering the heals will be landed quicker. How many times has someone died because your heal didn't quite get there in time? It is your job as a healer. Every healer has a different 'style', some focusing more on getting big crits rather than fast heals, some focusing on mitigation, some on hots and maintaing constant mana regen to keep on rolling hots.

For the original question, the riptide one is better. It is impractical, imo to be using shocks in our rotations, though I can see the appeal of having the haste over spell power.

[Uggrukor]

In most encounters in ICC I find that I have a much higher uptime with the Chain Heal 234sp totem than I do with the Riptide one. Combined with the ramp up time and duration of the Riptide one, I prefer the Chain Heal one. Riptide is great but sometimes it's better to just use Chain Heal.

[Primaryjane]

1269 may be the soft cap, but no where near required to heal ICC. I'm only at 663 haste unbuffed (resto is my offspec) but I can still top the healing charts. Stats don't equal skill. I went with the 264 totem because I'm lazy and don't wanna throw an extra ability in.

[comablack]

not this thread again....

use the CH or riptide one to heal, NOT the flameshock haste one

[TheFaceless]

Don't worry jenerena, some people don't understand min-maxing and think that what they are doing is "fine". Your statement is true ^_^ Everyone get the riptide totem.

[xatoen]

1269 may be the soft cap, but no where near required to heal ICC. I'm only at 663 haste unbuffed (resto is my offspec) but I can still top the healing charts. Stats don't equal skill. I went with the 264 totem because I'm lazy and don't wanna throw an extra ability in.

I'm sorry but if you are topping meters with only 663 haste as a shaman your other healers are doing it wrong.

[Jenerena]

1269 may be the soft cap, but no where near required to heal ICC. I'm only at 663 haste unbuffed (resto is my offspec) but I can still top the healing charts. Stats don't equal skill. I went with the 264 totem because I'm lazy and don't wanna throw an extra ability in.

Healing charts don't necessarily equal skill either. So if you're not stacking haste, what are you stacking? I can understand it if you were in ilevel 232 gear, but if you're in ICC gear, even as an offspec and think 663 haste is 'enough', then you're misinformed, I feel. No other stat is really worth gemming other than haste, and unless you have serious mana issues, which you shouldn't, there is no reason to cover yourself in mp5/crit gear.

If you do have lower level gear, as your offspec, then you should be striving to increase that haste number any way you can. But most people in this thread have resto as their main spec.

[Primaryjane]

Healing charts don't necessarily equal skill either. So if you're not stacking haste, what are you stacking? I can understand it if you were in ilevel 232 gear, but if you're in ICC gear, even as an offspec and think 663 haste is 'enough', then you're misinformed, I feel. No other stat is really worth gemming other than haste, and unless you have serious mana issues, which you shouldn't, there is no reason to cover yourself in mp5/crit gear.

If you do have lower level gear, as your offspec, then you should be striving to increase that haste number any way you can. But most people in this thread have resto as their main spec.

Average Ilevel is 246. I'm gemmed for haste but use the /mp5 and /sp cuts to fill out socket bonuses. Could switch them all out and gain an extra 100 haste, but never felt the need to. One thing I learned from an awesome shaman healer was to anticipate the damage.

[TirielWoW]

I tried the Riptide one on our Heroic Lich King attempts Monday night, and I had trouble keeping the buff up at all times (mainly because of my assignment for that fight). I tried to program Power Auras to show me the stacks of the buff, but it appears that the buff we get from the totem is called "Energized," which is EXACTLY the same as the Solace buffs. This is making Power Auras not show it.