Simple and Clean Fix for Totems

[Gunwolf]

The Reincarnation of Totems
"A Simple and Clean Fix"


This is an idea to re-arrange totems to separate buffs from utility. Essentially, Earth + Fire will be utility/dps totems, and Wind + Water will be buff totems. This will give Totems the structure to continue to evolve in the new, faster pace of WoW today.


Problems:

PVE:
-Range: I have no problem dropping totems from one group to another, but multiple times within the same boss fight is annoying. Range is a big issue, especially when we have to micro manage them and other classes can just focus on the fight at hand. Solutions so far have been a little outdated, we need the removal of "buff of buffs" type totem talents to increase range. Make them 50yds baseline.
-Mobility: Searing totem needs it's range increased (and maybe a magma toss :P) so that we don't suffer as much dps loss on movement oriented fights.

PVP:
-*Lack of Buffs in PVP*: Benefitting from buffs while still being able to use utility. Currently we don't have any time or gcds to spare to twist in buff totems along with movement, enemy counters, utility totems, and other shaman spells. This means our entire group has to suffer for our totem mechanics.



Solutions:



General:

-Buff totems are 50yds baseline.
-Tremor totem has a 30sec duration.
-Stoneskin removed, given to another class (rogues or any tankish class)
-Grounding moved to Earth Element.
-Strength of Earth, Flametongue moved to Wind Element.

Totems:

Earth: Utility
( Grounding, Stoneclaw, Tremor, Earthbind, Earth Elem)

Fire: DPS
( Searing, Magma, Fire Elem)

Water: Defensive Buffs
( Healing Stream, Mana Spring, Elemental Resist, Mana Tide)

Wind: Offensive Buffs
( Windfury, Wrath of Air, Flametounge, Strenght of Earth)


Talents:

On the 5th tier of each Shaman spec, a 1pt talent that allows them to each get a special aura off their wind totem. Resto will also get a talent on teh 4th tier to buff water totems.

Elemental: Totem of Wrath (10%sp) on any wind totem
Enhance: Strength of Earth on any wind totem.
Resto: Flametounge on any wind totem, Mana spring off any Water totem.

This way say Enhance drops Windfury, they will get Str of Earth and Windfury. Or they could drop Flametounge (which is an air totem now) and it would give Str of Earth buff and Flametounge. But if Elemental dropped Windfury totem, they would get ToW aura and Windfury.

This will bring the average number of buffs we bring down to 3...... two "air totems" and one from water, like (Str of Earth, WF, mana spring). Resto gets an extra talent for mana spring on all water totems so they can drop healing or mana tide and not lose mana spring for the raid. That gives them 2 from Air, and 2 from Water...mana spring plus healing by default till the group needs mana return.

The beauty is that it adds nothing new, and actually reduces the overall number of buffs we bring. This way we will be able to buff ourselves in PVP, and it won't interfere with utility. And in PVE we can provide buffs, even just for backup, and have our utility/dps free for whatever the boss throws at us.


Example Talent Tree:

Here's a War tools to show how the talent tree would look, just check the 5th tier..."Totemic Wrath" "Earthen Power" and "Totem of Grace":

http://www.war-tools.com/t70191.html



The Future of Design:


If you tried to create one new totem in the current totem design, you wouldn't be able to. It's because the system is too congested, anything new would clog it up more since it would either replace an important buff, or some other utility.

By seperating the totems into these categories, you open up alot more room for invention. New utility totems can be designed, and interesting choices can be made between one utility or the other. Same for buffs, and interesting choices between the two....not between buffs and utility.

Take this example, where it mimics how Paladin mechanics were upgraded:
Earth: Utility : Hands
Fire: DPS
Water: Defensive buffs: Auras
Wind: Offensive buffs: Blessings

Imagine if you gave Paladin a one time spell reflect. Logically, it would be a Hand spell. If they made it an aura or blessing, it would not make sense since it replaces other buffs, and wastes gcds to use it and then replace buffs afterwards. This is all Shaman really want.




Other Topics:



Raid spots/number of buffs not important, Lack of buffs in PVP is:

To me this is a silly topic. The way the game will be in Cataclysm, every buff will be present in the raid for a 10 or 25man raid. All classes will get their spots for being good players, having experience, and having good gear. The only time a Shaman or Paladin will make a noticeable difference is in 5mans. And the only real important factor is the radius of the buffs.

The much bigger issue is that all the buffs you are accustomed to in PVE are absent in PVP. You have none of your buffs in PVP. No other class takes such a dramatic loss in buffs, as well as utility for the raid. Our flexibility in buffs means nothing in PVP if we can't even utilize it.

And as far as how many buffs we bring, if you take into account buffs and debuffs, along with "raid cds" like bloodlust, guardian spirit, and pain suppression......we are not much different then any other class. Developers need to realize this because it is holding us back from alot. We are giving up more of ourselves each time, but getting little in return. All Shaman are asking for is Buffs in PVP while still using vital utility totems to stay alive.

Every unique shaman buff has been handed out, including Bloodlust, we lost cleansing totem, and somehow factors still exist that hold us back from being able to have both buffs and utility. It just doesn't seem very fair for the class when their "unique class mechanic" is slowly being phased out, and they have to go into PvP with zero buffs on.



Will our damage and scaling be fixed so that we will be competitive at all gear levels?

This is the big issue with PVE not how many buffs we bring for raid spots. Our raid spots matter much more on this factor then what buffs we bring. We have scaled poorly this entire time, and have had bandaid fixes each content patch to try and bring us up to par. If they fix this, alot of Shaman will be happier for a very long time. The only issue with totems is their poor RANGE. Searing and magma totem ranges come into mind here as well. Fixing our scaling and dps while on the move will help alot. There are many more engaging and interesting things to do in a raid encounter, like interupt, dispel, move, dps/heal.......then have to play this mini game of micro management that is totem buffs.




Here's the thread on the official boards if you wanna help support it.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...sid=1&pageNo=1



Any comments or suggestions? I would be so happy to see this go through.

[Deleted]

I like the idea,
One question tho is the Elemental resistance a singular totem that encompasses all the current resistance totems into one fire and forget totem?
Would be nice but didn't blizz want to get away from things that take no effect ie like the cleansing totem.

[Gunwolf]

I like the idea,
One question tho is the Elemental resistance a singular totem that encompasses all the current resistance totems into one fire and forget totem?
Would be nice but didn't blizz want to get away from things that take no effect ie like the cleansing totem.

Yea, that's actually already in the game. In the Beta, there is a water totem called "Elemental Resistance Totem" that gives nature, frost, and fire resistance. Pally aura was changed too I think.


My suggestion doesn't really add any new totems. Just take away Stoneskin, put all the buffs in Air element and Grounding in Earth element.....then give each spec a way to benefit from 2 buffs at the same time from Air.

[Socialhealer]

Also.....DELETE STONESKIN to bring how many buffs we bring down. Stoneskin is leftover from when there were no Paladins in horde, and Shaman were the only ones who could bring that buff. It's for tanks not us.

its great you want to help shamans change but first please learn to play your class.

stoneskin and devotion aura stack so every fight i dont need tremor i always have stoneskin up since we have a enha shaman and DK's, i dont know any tanks who would pass up that 1150~ armor.

[Gunwolf]

its great you want to help shamans change but first please learn to play your class.

stoneskin and devotion aura stack so every fight i dont need tremor i always have stoneskin up since we have a enha shaman and DK's, i dont know any tanks who would pass up that 1150~ armor.

Please learn to read beta notes. They won't stack in Cataclysm. I already know currently the only unique totems worth dropping anymore are Stoneskin and Wrath of Air...

I think it's a worthy sacrifice to never have to trade utility for buffs again. 2 totems for buffing, 2 for utility, how can you go wrong?

[Deleted]

I like some of the thinking here but I think firstly an Elemental Resistance totem would be way too OP you can almost see the nerf posts starting now.

Secondly and probably more importantly by sticking Strength of Earth in the Air totems I doubt you'll ever see it cast. It will become an enhancement only buff so you either need to ditch it completely or come up with an alternative mechanic to deliver that particular buff.

The utility totems in earth is a great idea as is ditching Stoneskin entirely but personally I'd leave Strength of Earth in with the earth totems and have it almost as the default earth totem. If you don't then the situational nature of the earth totems will mean they are rarely needed apart from for specific encounters.

[Gunwolf]

I like some of the thinking here but I think firstly an Elemental Resistance totem would be way too OP you can almost see the nerf posts starting now.

Secondly and probably more importantly by sticking Strength of Earth in the Air totems I doubt you'll ever see it cast. It will become an enhancement only buff so you either need to ditch it completely or come up with an alternative mechanic to deliver that particular buff.

The utility totems in earth is a great idea as is ditching Stoneskin entirely but personally I'd leave Strength of Earth in with the earth totems and have it almost as the default earth totem. If you don't then the situational nature of the earth totems will mean they are rarely needed apart from for specific encounters.

Check out the section with the talents. Currently in the Beta Elemental is getting Totem of Wrath turned into an aura that goes off any fire totem. I simply grouped all the offensive buffs into Air, then gave each spec a way to gain one Aura no matter what Air totem is down.

Enhance gets Earthen Power which gives Str of Earth Aura on any Air totem....and the totem itself still exists. So if I drop Windfury Totem, it gives both WF and Str of Earth. If I drop Flametounge (which is an Air totem) it gives both Str of Earth and Flametounge.

Similar solutions are in place for each spec, so that they will always get 2 buffs from Air totems. It works out.


Also.....Elemental Resistance totem is REAL. It's IN THE GAME. The Beta currently has the totem, it's a water totem that gives resistance to all 3 nature, fire and frost. I didn't make any new totems up, just rearranged them and gave each spec a talent to let them gain 2 buffs from Air, and then whatever water totem they want.

---------- Post added 2010-08-04 at 05:00 PM ----------

Bump. Surprised more people aren't for the idea xD

[Deleted]

what about a talent named "After totem effect"...the buffs and buffs only are still 5-10 seconds in effect after using totemic recall and gives u 20% increased movement speed for 5-10 seconds....should be very usefull in pvp. only in effect for you alone.

[Deleted]

Yea, that's actually already in the game. In the Beta, there is a water totem called "Elemental Resistance Totem" that gives nature, frost, and fire resistance. Pally aura was changed too I think.

Your right - I never took any notice because the tool tip still says
"Elemental Resistance Totem
8% of base mana
Tools: Water Totem
Summons an Elemental Resistance Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 5 min that increases the fire resistance of party and raid members within 30 yards by 1170."
but on dropping the totem it does give 352 resistance to Nature, Fire and Frost, so its all good.

[Autonomy]

Just seems really unnecessary.

Yeah, it sucks that we have to sacrifice buffs for utility in PvP but so do other classes and that's what makes some people better at it that others.
When a mage has to iceblock, they lose any possible damage they could be doing at the time. So does a warrior when they have to put a shield on, and a druid when they have to shift, shadow priests can't heal in form, etc. What about paladin auras? They can't have more than one active at a time. A totem that increases resistance to all three elements at once would be completely OP. They're all situational, just like our totems.
We're lucky enough to be able to heal without switching forms like a shadow priest or druid or having a small mana pools like a ret pally.

Yeah, it's easy enough to say shaman are gimped in pvp but this doesn't seem like the correct solution. It's not even comparable to ToW coming off any active fire totem for an Ele shaman.. that change was long overdue (esp considering ToW is a talent!) and completely denied them the ability to use ANY dps fire totem when a Demo lock wasn't present. We don't have that problem and everyone has to make sacrifices.

We just need some kind of defensive cooldown that isn't Shamanistic Rage.

[Gunwolf]

Just seems really unnecessary. Yeah, it sucks that we have to sacrifice buffs for utility in PvP but so do other classes and that's what makes some people better at it that others. When a mage has to iceblock, they lose any possible dps they could be doing at the time. So does a warrior when they have to put a shield on, and a druid when they have to shift, shadow priests can't heal in form, etc. What about Paladin auras? They can't have more than one active at a time.
Yeah, it's easy enough to say shaman are gimped in arenas but this doesn't seem like the correct solution. It's not even comparable to ToW coming off any active fire totem for an Ele shaman.. that change was long overdue (esp considering ToW is a talent!) and completely denied them the ability to use ANY dps fire totem when a Demo lock wasn't present. We don't have that problem.

Those aren't really comparable. I'm talking about losing basic buffs for the class, buffs that every other class will have without sacrificing anything. A mage doesn't trade his Wisdom buff each time he wants to root, and have to reapply the buff afterwards. A Warrior doesn't lose battle shout whenever he charges. A DK doesn't lose Horn of Winter when he death grips. A Paladin doesn't lose his blessings when he uses hand of freedom.

Those are comparable examples, and you can see how we are making sacrifices no other class does. We have issues with scaling, and being dependent on buffs.....and for some reason we have to go into PvP without buffs ever. Enhance needs a way to get Str of Earth and Windfury in PvP....this is a great way to do it....same with the other specs too.

Now that all our buffs have been handed out, and other classes are able to have their buffs up almost all the time...I see no reason why we can't as well.

What exactly would be so wrong about splitting the two? I hardly think it would make us OP, just ensure that we have buffs up in PvP, and not having to replace a buff each and every time we use an earthbind or grounding totem.

[Autonomy]

Those aren't really comparable. I'm talking about losing basic buffs for the class, buffs that every other class will have without sacrificing anything. A mage doesn't trade his Wisdom buff each time he wants to root, and have to reapply the buff afterwards. A Warrior doesn't lose battle shout whenever he charges. A DK doesn't lose Horn of Winter when he death grips. A Paladin doesn't lose his blessings when he uses hand of freedom.

Those are comparable examples, and you can see how we are making sacrifices no other class does. We have issues with scaling, and being dependent on buffs.....and for some reason we have to go into PvP without buffs ever. Enhance needs a way to get Str of Earth and Windfury in PvP....this is a great way to do it....same with the other specs too.

Now that all our buffs have been handed out, and other classes are able to have their buffs up almost all the time...I see no reason why we can't as well.

What exactly would be so wrong about splitting the two? I hardly think it would make us OP, just ensure that we have buffs up in PvP, and not having to replace a buff each and every time we use an earthbind or grounding totem.

What it comes down to is variety.
No, a warrior doesn't lose battle shout when he charges but he does have to choose between different shouts that all have separate benefits. A paladin has several different blessings and auras to choose from, all of which are also situational. Why are you comparing buffs to abilities? Compare buffs to buffs. Like I said, they get to choose ONE blessing, shout, or aura at a time. We get to choose ONE totem per fire, air, water, and earth set. That in itself is a LOT more than a lot of classes get. We can have a pulsing cleanse at the same time we get 20% melee haste while having a pulsing fear break not to mention INSTANT heals that can be used on people other than yourself. PvP wise all we're lacking in is a defensive cooldown that gives us some kind of immunity. While totems are clunky, that just comes along with the class.

Why should we be able to get the Str of Earth bonus off Windfury totem while dropping cleansing, tremor, AND a dps fire totem?

[Gunwolf]

What it comes down to is variety.
No, a warrior doesn't lose battle shout when he charges but he does have to choose between different shouts that all have separate benefits. A paladin has several different blessings and auras to choose from, all of which are also situational. Why are you comparing buffs to abilities? Compare buffs to buffs. Like I said, they get to choose ONE blessing, shout, or aura at a time. We get to choose ONE totem per fire, air, water, and earth set. That in itself is a LOT more than a lot of classes get. We can have a pulsing cleanse at the same time we get 20% melee haste while having a pulsing fear break not to mention INSTANT heals that can be used on people other than yourself. PvP wise all we're lacking in is a defensive cooldown that gives us some kind of immunity. While totems are clunky, that just comes along with the class.

Why should we be able to get the Str of Earth bonus off Windfury totem while dropping cleansing, tremor, AND a dps fire totem?

I'm comparing buffs to abilities because all of ours are tied to abilities, while not so for other classes. Every time we use our earthbind for aoe slow we give up earth buff. For our entire group. Then, to buff everyone again we gotta replace it. It's alot of unnecessary gcds being wasted that no other class has to do.

We basically play this mini game of micro-managing our buffs in PvP. How can you possibly think it's OK for us to not have any buffs in PvP? You might be correct in that we have a wide variety and flexibility in our buffs, but that only works in PvE. In PvP you will never drop a buff totem in ANY category....do you agree with that? We go from 4 buffs in PvE, to ZERO in PVP. That's not out of choice, but necessity. You need to drop certain totems to survive, and the buffs you might drop will soon get replaced.

So an Enhance Shaman will have Str of Earth, Windfury, and Mana Spring available thru an Air and Water totem in my example. Then they have Earth totem free for grounding, earthbind, tremor or whatever....and fire totem free for dps. They will never lose those 3 buffs, and they can rely on them being up unless an enemy kills them, not cause they have to use grounding every 15sec.

Ret Paladin, our hybrid brothers in Cataclysm.....will be able to provide one blessing, replenishment, 20% melee/ranged haste, and 3% damage, plus any Aura of their choosing. ALL OF THAT. That's EQUAL to Shaman except the difference is they can keep all those buffs in PVP, but if we want to cast Hand of Freedom, or our version of Spell Reflect or whatever it will cost us a buff that we have to replace each time.

Do you not see how this is a necessary change? Why would you choose to have an inferior way of buffing compared to every other class, and purposely gimp yourself in pvp?

[Autonomy]

I'm comparing buffs to abilities because all of ours are tied to abilities, while not so for other classes. Every time we use our earthbind for aoe slow we give up earth buff. For our entire group. Then, to buff everyone again we gotta replace it. It's alot of unnecessary gcds being wasted that no other class has to do.

We basically play this mini game of micro-managing our buffs in PvP. How can you possibly think it's OK for us to not have any buffs in PvP? You might be correct in that we have a wide variety and flexibility in our buffs, but that only works in PvE. In PvP you will never drop a buff totem in ANY category....do you agree with that? We go from 4 buffs in PvE, to ZERO in PVP. That's not out of choice, but necessity. You need to drop certain totems to survive, and the buffs you might drop will soon get replaced.

So an Enhance Shaman will have Str of Earth, Windfury, and Mana Spring available thru an Air and Water totem in my example. Then they have Earth totem free for grounding, earthbind, tremor or whatever....and fire totem free for dps. They will never lose those 3 buffs, and they can rely on them being up unless an enemy kills them, not cause they have to use grounding every 15sec.

Ret Paladin, our hybrid brothers in Cataclysm.....will be able to provide one blessing, replenishment, 20% melee/ranged haste, and 3% damage, plus any Aura of their choosing. ALL OF THAT. That's EQUAL to Shaman except the difference is they can keep all those buffs in PVP, but if we want to cast Hand of Freedom, or our version of Spell Reflect or whatever it will cost us a buff that we have to replace each time.

Do you not see how this is a necessary change? Why would you choose to have an inferior way of buffing compared to every other class, and purposely gimp yourself in pvp?

Obviously our situation isn't the exact same as other classes I've mentioned, and I understand that we're worse off than them.
But like I've said, in most cases, other classes are also losing out on any number of other shouts they could use, any other aura, any other blessing, etc. There will always be a lot of unnecessary GCDs wasted when it comes to totems because they can be killed, you can go out of range, etc. Your post still doesn't fix that. We can even purge buffs off other players.

I don't think it's OK for us to not have any buffs in PvP, but that's not how it is. There are times when you need all of the totems, yes, but more often than not that is not the case. There are times when you only need Cleansing, and can drop Windfury/Str of Earth/DPS fire. There are times when you only need Tremor, so you can drop Windfury/Healing Stream/DPS fire. The solution is NOT to combine them because that would just make us completely OP in those situations where you DON'T need them all.

In my opinion, the only thing unfair about something like a ret paladin being able to bring and maintain the buffs that they do is that they also have a cooldown that gives them complete immunity against everything but a priest or warrior.

[Tempos]

This is by far the best solution I have seen after read countless pages of ideas in the Shaman Totem thread on the official forms. It doesn't introduce any sort of new gimmick, it doesn't try and add a ton of new buttons we would have to push, it simply rearranges which totems are where and allows us to provide all of utility and buffs without gutting our class mechanic. I don't mean to directly compare classes, but my alt is an 80 pally, so its all i can really compare.

Earth totems are like hands, good utility (remeber hands were once blessings but were given their own catagory as to not overwrite buffs.

Fire totems are like seals, semi passive sources of damage but still a very interesting fun mechanic, and will be better with some sort of searing and fire elemental targeting system.

Water Totems become like Auras, passive defensive oriented buffs (I think that stoneskin should come back as like frostskin, lame name, as devo aura is the only other armor buff in the game, unless a preferibal tanking spec/class gets the armor buff, then feel free to take it away.)

Air totems are like blessings, pure offensive buffs. Now I like the idea of having the SP buff in elemental staying, but being put on air totems, as they would be offensive buffs. I also like adding a talent in enhance to add the Strength of Earth buff to our air totems.

This allows enhance to be able to personally use all of their melee buffs and ele all of their sp buffs in this new system, which could make for some fun strategy using totems for that extra boost of damage in a PvP setting without losing out on slowing enemys or absorbing a spell or having a stick shoot freaking lazer beams. Mana spring is a whole other issue, as paladins already provide the buff combined with an ap bonus, and mana spring is still the highest priority in the water totem list, leading to not much of a choice as of which totem to use, but another issue for another day.

TLDR I really like this idea because it essentially turns each of our totem elements into a different class of spell, making it comparable to other class systems yet retaining the shaman totem aspect that the shaman class was with.

[dgg4324dvvv]

Hmm didnt read much here but just gonna throw an idea out, what if the drop all totems buttons was like a target location AoE and it drops all 4 at the location...

[Tempos]

What it comes down to is variety.
No, a warrior doesn't lose battle shout when he charges but he does have to choose between different shouts that all have separate benefits. A paladin has several different blessings and auras to choose from, all of which are also situational. Why are you comparing buffs to abilities? Compare buffs to buffs. Like I said, they get to choose ONE blessing, shout, or aura at a time. We get to choose ONE totem per fire, air, water, and earth set. That in itself is a LOT more than a lot of classes get. We can have a pulsing cleanse at the same time we get 20% melee haste while having a pulsing fear break not to mention INSTANT heals that can be used on people other than yourself. PvP wise all we're lacking in is a defensive cooldown that gives us some kind of immunity. While totems are clunky, that just comes along with the class.

Why should we be able to get the Str of Earth bonus off Windfury totem while dropping cleansing, tremor, AND a dps fire totem?

Yes, but a paladin doesnt have chose between the straight up dps buff from blessings and the pure utility brought from Hands, or the defensive buff provided by auras. The whole idea is that there are many spells inside each of those categories, but you never have to chose between utility, passive defense, or passive offense, other than the gcd of casting it, and having to replace something that has been dispelled, or attacked in the shaman totem case. Now a hunter doesnt have to choose between the dps of a sting and the utility of a venom. we see all of these systems being revamped to separate utility from straight up damage buffs, and shamans deserve the same treatment.

[Gunwolf]

This is by far the best solution I have seen after read countless pages of ideas in the Shaman Totem thread on the official forms. It doesn't introduce any sort of new gimmick, it doesn't try and add a ton of new buttons we would have to push, it simply rearranges which totems are where and allows us to provide all of utility and buffs without gutting our class mechanic. I don't mean to directly compare classes, but my alt is an 80 pally, so its all i can really compare.

Earth totems are like hands, good utility (remeber hands were once blessings but were given their own catagory as to not overwrite buffs.

Fire totems are like seals, semi passive sources of damage but still a very interesting fun mechanic, and will be better with some sort of searing and fire elemental targeting system.

Water Totems become like Auras, passive defensive oriented buffs (I think that stoneskin should come back as like frostskin, lame name, as devo aura is the only other armor buff in the game, unless a preferibal tanking spec/class gets the armor buff, then feel free to take it away.)

Air totems are like blessings, pure offensive buffs. Now I like the idea of having the SP buff in elemental staying, but being put on air totems, as they would be offensive buffs. I also like adding a talent in enhance to add the Strength of Earth buff to our air totems.

This allows enhance to be able to personally use all of their melee buffs and ele all of their sp buffs in this new system, which could make for some fun strategy using totems for that extra boost of damage in a PvP setting without losing out on slowing enemys or absorbing a spell or having a stick shoot freaking lazer beams. Mana spring is a whole other issue, as paladins already provide the buff combined with an ap bonus, and mana spring is still the highest priority in the water totem list, leading to not much of a choice as of which totem to use, but another issue for another day.

TLDR I really like this idea because it essentially turns each of our totem elements into a different class of spell, making it comparable to other class systems yet retaining the shaman totem aspect that the shaman class was with.

You said it perfectly man. That's a great comparison between Paladin and Shaman. It really doesn't change much at all, but gives Shaman alot more fun and flexibility with their "signature class ability". No other class really has to sacrifice so much when it comes to buffs. Each class is getting revisions, and by handing out all our unique buffs to other classes....in return we should atleast gain back some of the utility we have without giving up buffs.

As for your mana spring comment, did you check out the Resto talent for them on the 4th tier of the wartools? They get the same aura for mana spring on any water totem, so they can drop healing or mana tide without replacing mana spring. Enhance and Elem will still be forced to drop Mana Spring tho. This gives each class 2 major buffs, plus mana spring in PvP and PvE at all times unless killed, really not OP at all.

@Autonomy

I would say Shaman have buffs up less then 5% of the time in PvP. There is simply too much going on that buff totems are not even a priority. There are certain abilities you have to use as soon as the cd is up....like stoneclaw, grounding, earthbind, shocks....then consider movement and positioning, interrupting and purging, monitoring procs of you and enemies all that stuff. The pace of the game these days doesn't work with totems in it's current state. Even if you did have "a break" to drop a buff totem, it would eventually get replaced by an earth or wind totem every 15-20 sec because of defensive utility totems like stoneclaw and grounding. So you lose the buff, and then have to reapply it after you use a utility totem.

[Tempos]

You said it perfectly man. That's a great comparison between Paladin and Shaman. It really doesn't change much at all, but gives Shaman alot more fun and flexibility with their "signature class ability". No other class really has to sacrifice so much when it comes to buffs. Each class is getting revisions, and by handing out all our unique buffs to other classes....in return we should atleast gain back some of the utility we have without giving up buffs.

As for your mana spring comment, did you check out the Resto talent for them on the 4th tier of the wartools? They get the same aura for mana spring on any water totem, so they can drop healing or mana tide without replacing mana spring. Enhance and Elem will still be forced to drop Mana Spring tho. This gives each class 2 major buffs, plus mana spring in PvP and PvE at all times unless killed, really not OP at all.

@Autonomy

I would say Shaman have buffs up less then 5% of the time in PvP. There is simply too much going on that buff totems are not even a priority. There are certain abilities you have to use as soon as the cd is up....like stoneclaw, grounding, earthbind, shocks....then consider movement and positioning, interrupting and purging, monitoring procs of you and enemies all that stuff. The pace of the game these days doesn't work with totems in it's current state. Even if you did have "a break" to drop a buff totem, it would eventually get replaced by an earth or wind totem every 15-20 sec because of defensive utility totems like stoneclaw and grounding. So you lose the buff, and then have to reapply it after you use a utility totem.

Thanks haha, I really have been imagining how awesome a change like this would be. And I did see the mana spring talent idea, as in putting as a passive on any water totem, which is something i do like. It's more so how Blessing of Might has it slapped on. So ultimately with that change 1 and 1/3 classes have the very vital for healers buff. It would be nice to either give that particular mana restore buff to another class (possibly disc priests like how the spirit buff was there before) or just roll that extra mana regen into all mana classes and balance content around not having the buff.

What i meant by it was that it really isnt an issue for this specific topic about totems, and more of a basic mana regen topic.

[Barghest]

Very much love the idea.

What it comes down to is variety.
Like I said, they get to choose ONE blessing, shout, or aura at a time. We get to choose ONE totem per fire, air, water, and earth set. That in itself is a LOT more than a lot of classes get.

And then they have free and separate access to hamstring/freedom which is what our Earthbind is to us without losing their blessing/shout, when we get to choose a single earth totem buff OR a defensive ability.

There are times when you need all of the totems, yes, but more often than not that is not the case. There are times when you only need Cleansing, and can drop Windfury/Str of Earth/DPS fire. There are times when you only need Tremor, so you can drop Windfury/Healing Stream/DPS fire. The solution is NOT to combine them because that would just make us completely OP in those situations where you DON'T need them all.

There is not a single time where we would not want more than one totem. As it is we have 3 choices for predetermined totem sets, which as it is now already consumes 2 gcds at the beginning of every single fight for stoneclaw and then a choice Call and then needing to stay within distance of the totems to receive benefit. In the event that what we would like is different than what we have available it becomes an utter PitA to plant the single other totems we might want. Whereas, anyone else will run up to every fight with his blessing/shout on [only capable of being taken off by an offensive dispel rather than a melee swing or wand] and then have access to their freedoms, stuns, charges, hamstrings, beserker's rage, bubbles, spell reflects, without loosing their buff. And aura's, which cannot be dispelled, have bonus buffs tied to them. Would having 2 active buffs tied to a totem and actually getting to use our fun/situational abilities at the same time be mindbogglingly OP?

and the resistance totem was announced months ago, how many people need to claim what is decidedly not OP being so and not focus on the fact that totems handicap us terribly and choosing to use the right ones at the right time still means you get to drop your buffs not only for you but everyone around you.