Totems in PvP

[LyskaWF]

Does anyone else feel like totems need some sort of buff? Anyone who arenas knows what I'm talking about. You've played those warlock teams that HoT>melee 5hp tremor totem>Fear>Death Coil> Fear you while fully dotting you up because there's an infinite damage buffer on fear(>.<)? Should removing a tool that important be that simple?
Paladins, priests, druids, can all put a good number of buffers up before they Hymn, Inneravte, Plea etc, so purging (and dispel) can be hit and miss.

In Cataclysm I'd like to see totems scale with our health or stamina. Instead of 5 hp, why not have 5% of our maximum health? All that would do is require a bit of effort to kill them. Sure, DPS classes will be able to one shot them most of the time, but I don't think requiring them to make a decision between removing a buff or dealing damage is a bad thing. Dispelling classes need to do the same thing. Do I purge or Lava Lash? You ge the idea. It's those casters and healers that can melee them at 0 cost that really bother me.

I'm just thinking out loud here. I play enhancement in arenas because I like it, not because I want gladiator (inb4lolbeastcleave!). I know it's not entirely viable, but that's not why I play. This applies to all specs of shaman.

[admielke]

Does anyone else feel like totems need some sort of buff? Anyone who arenas knows what I'm talking about. You've played those warlock teams that HoT>melee 5hp tremor totem>Fear>Death Coil> Fear you while fully dotting you up because there's an infinite damage buffer on fear(>.<)? Should removing a tool that important be that simple?
Paladins, priests, druids, can all put a good number of buffers up before they Hymn, Inneravte, Plea etc, so purging (and dispel) can be hit and miss.

In Cataclysm I'd like to see totems scale with our health or stamina. Instead of 5 hp, why not have 5% of our maximum health? All that would do is require a bit of effort to kill them. Sure, DPS classes will be able to one shot them most of the time, but I don't think requiring them to make a decision between removing a buff or dealing damage is a bad thing. Dispelling classes need to do the same thing. Do I purge or Lava Lash? You ge the idea. It's those casters and healers that can melee them at 0 cost that really bother me.

Totems aren't something that makes the class. It's the overall aspect but yes totems are a part of it. Totems' effect shouldn't be buffed but if they ought to be more survivable they could have their health buffed but only if they're able to be targeted by all effects but AoE. Would be cool to have one giant totem that combines the totems you choose and stacks them. The totem would have like 12k health.

[Bobzor]

Totem system is old and broken. Just have to live with it.

[LyskaWF]

Sorry if I was a bit unclear. I meant buffing health strictly. The effects are fine. I'm not sure where you're getting 12k from. 5% of 30,000 is 1500, so most shaman in decent PvP gear would have totems with 1300-1700ish hp.
Another option would be to just increase their base health to 750 and have them affected by the shaman's resilience. I'm not big on PvP theorycrafting, so the numbers might be off; but I believe the idea is a good one!

Totem system is old and broken. Just have to live with it.

I know, that's why I said Cataclysm (even though these changes are hot-fixable :P).

[Propainn]

Totems aren't something that makes the class. It's the overall aspect but yes totems are a part of it. Totems' effect shouldn't be buffed but if they ought to be more survivable they could have their health buffed but only if they're able to be targeted by all effects but AoE. Would be cool to have one giant totem that combines the totems you choose and stacks them. The totem would have like 12k health.

If you can drop 4 totems via a macro, I should have to put equal energy into killing them. Be glad stomping macros are gone,

[OnlineSamantha]

Sorry if I was a bit unclear. I meant buffing health strictly. The effects are fine. I'm not sure where you're getting 12k from. 5% of 30,000 is 1500, so most shaman in decent PvP gear would have totems with 1300-1700ish hp.
Another option would be to just increase their base health to 750 and have them affected by the shaman's resilience. I'm not big on PvP theorycrafting, so the numbers might be off; but I believe the idea is a good one!

In Cataclysm we will have three times more health, so our totems would also have three times as much. It ain't much health, but it's still more than Blizzard likes.

[Healbot411]

What people have been saying for a long time is let stoneclaw totem (Shielding part of the totem) be an ability. You can't protect Tremor or Earthbind which are 2 of the most valuable totems.

Simple fix imo.

[Omanley]

it´s not only about the low hp.

the totems themselves arent what they used to be:

improved fire nova totem: you had to talent an almost useless baseline ability to make it slightly useful in pvp.
=> removed through the fire nova totem => fire nova change

cleansing totem:the first tick, which will go off the moment you use it, gets removed
=>it will get removed as well.

grounding totem: gets destroyed by non damaging spells as well now.

earthbind totem: earthern power talent ( enhancement ) does not provide immunity against snare anymore.
tremor totem: the time between the ticks got increased

stoneclaw totem: you have to plyph a useless totem to make it slightly useful ( similar to the old imp fire nova totem )

tremor totem: the only totem that actually received a buff. time between ticks recued to 3 seconds from former 5 seconds.

all totem share ( aside from the mentioned 5hp ), immobility, unflexiblity in terms of elemental brackets ( earth pvp totems, not usable pve totems because of pvp ones ) as well as a very limited range ( aura´s have a 100 yard, totems a 30 yard range i believe )

the totem system is 6 years old, and the last i´ve heard of blizzard mentioning it was in a blue post more than half a year ago. i wouldn´t be surprised for them to have either forgotten their promise for a totem system overhaul ( new totem skins for troll/orcs are nice, yes, but still.. ) or them simply being lazy... ( why trying to fix a brocken mechanic when you can simply create completely new abilities? )

the only thing aside from unleash weapon that puts me a little at ease is that blizzard made our previe the first released ( that´s quite a thing if you have played since vanilla or now of what we got in terms of attention )

[LyskaWF]

What people have been saying for a long time is let stoneclaw totem (Shielding part of the totem) be an ability. You can't protect Tremor or Earthbind which are 2 of the most valuable totems.

Simple fix imo.

Another solution. This is probably a better one as well, it would require a bit of thought and planning on the shaman's part. I would go as far as to include Stoneclaw Totem's glyphed effect in the baseline ability. Get rid of the glyph all together (or switch the talent to a glyph). A 45 second cooldown for a 10(?)k shield talented on you and your totems. This could be a pooled effect. Un-talented it would not be overpowered in PvE.

[Skogtrollet]

it´s not only about the low hp.

the totems themselves arent what they used to be:

improved fire nova totem: you had to talent an almost useless baseline ability to make it slightly useful in pvp.
=> removed through the fire nova totem => fire nova change

cleansing totem:the first tick, which will go off the moment you use it, gets removed
=>it will get removed as well.

grounding totem: gets destroyed by non damaging spells as well now.

earthbind totem: earthern power talent ( enhancement ) does not provide immunity against snare anymore.
tremor totem: the time between the ticks got increased

stoneclaw totem: you have to plyph a useless totem to make it slightly useful ( similar to the old imp fire nova totem )

tremor totem: the only totem that actually received a buff. time between ticks recued to 3 seconds from former 5 seconds.

all totem share ( aside from the mentioned 5hp ), immobility, unflexiblity in terms of elemental brackets ( earth pvp totems, not usable pve totems because of pvp ones ) as well as a very limited range ( aura´s have a 100 yard, totems a 30 yard range i believe )

the totem system is 6 years old, and the last i´ve heard of blizzard mentioning it was in a blue post more than half a year ago. i wouldn´t be surprised for them to have either forgotten their promise for a totem system overhaul ( new totem skins for troll/orcs are nice, yes, but still.. ) or them simply being lazy... ( why trying to fix a brocken mechanic when you can simply create completely new abilities? )

the only thing aside from unleash weapon that puts me a little at ease is that blizzard made our previe the first released ( that´s quite a thing if you have played since vanilla or now of what we got in terms of attention )

I don't get why you play a shaman, in every single pvp thread I see you QQing and whining our abilities are so bad etc. Not to be rude, but why don't you just roll a rogue or hunter?

[Hole]

I don't get why you play a shaman, in every single pvp thread I see you QQing and whining our abilities are so bad etc. Not to be rude, but why don't you just roll a rogue or hunter?

Go away.

But yeah I'm tired of tremor totem rarely being of any use to me, it's great for getting teammates out if you're not feared. I'm happy with grounding (sometimes). Sometimes I get deep frozen and my grounding totem is still sitting there staring at me when I get it off at the last second. ToW <3. Cleansing is meh. Stupid DK buff.

IMO have all the totems stun if you smack them. It's stupid that healers can heal and smack without a care in the world. Burn in shit. 2 second stun please. Make them DECIDE if it's a good idea to smack that totem, it's far too easy now.

Edit: And this stun shouldn't have a DR or affect DR. Smack my 4 totems? Suck my balls you're stunned for 8 seconds total.