I had just posted this on the wow forums, however I wanted to drop it here also to see what kind of feedback I got from the MMO champ forums.

Now this idea fixes multiples issues at the same time. Some shamans may not like some(or even all aspects) but give it a few minutes of thought before lashing out.

I have played a shaman since early BC, this is my second shaman, first one was in Sunwell Pre 3.0(but we weren't really progressing much til afterwords due to people dropping like flies waiting for the expac)

G.C. you constantly fall back on the "If your dps is too low, then *that* is the problem, not that you don't bring a powerful buff so awesome that you're virtually guaranteed a raid spot even if you go AFK half the time." quotes when talking about totems. I have never been brought for my buffs, I have always excelled, this is not a "i want my buffs back' this is a "fix an antiquated system that was always weak(the totems themselves not the buffs) and awkward(again totems and placement)"

Blues have also posted they are not happy with the current use of our ranged slot "aka totems" however they do not want to turn them into stat sticks. This idea solves both issues.

We would take all our totems, some will be converted into actual spells, some into a new totem that goes into the totem slot, some will be added benefits through talents and a few will stay as totems(the situational ones. I will run down every single one.

Water
Mana Spring - Should seriously just be converted into a castable buff. Yes it would then just mimic BoW, but isn't that what is pretty much going on with all buffs? Just make them do what they do(so that people who bring shamans aren't penalized when the shaman dies) and move on.

Mana tide - Would continue to be a dropped totem that is gained through resto talents.

Healing Stream - The equipable water totem. Only one totem can be equiped at a time, though depending onthe fight/situation this one would shine at times.

Cleansing - Is going the way of the dodo.

Earth
Strength of Earth - Equip-able - WOuld normally be the totem of choice for enhancement, unless a dk is around.

Tremor - Would stay the same, a situational drop totem.

Stoneskin - The only totem I have not found a workaround for, however I feel losing it isn't a huge loss. Could always work the buff into our class one way or another tank class(preferable)

Stoneclaw - Sorry pvp'rs but I see this one dieing off too, many glyphs will be changing and this one was only good for its glyph(and totem protection which you no longer need)

Earthbind - Reworked as a Frost ground attack(think of a mix between frost trap and desecration). Shaman would punch the earth below him summoning an area of frost. Ele would maintain their root talent and Enhance could still work with their snare cleanse in this spell

Air
Grounding - The Air totem that will be staying as is. A situational drop totem.

Wrath of Air - Equip-able. A very good ele/resto totem to equip

Windfury - An enhancement talent that would give off the windfury buff for x yards(should be same range as auras) as long as the shaman has a totem equipped(they would be pretty stupid not to)

Fire
Wrath - Ele talent that would work the same way as windfury above.

Magma - Spell, short cast(maybe 1.50) that would sprout a mini volcano on a targeted area which would give off the exact effect of a magma totem.

Flametongue - The fire equip-able. Would be useful for any that are haste capped(if that will ever be possible again) or maybe in pvp for the extra pop.

Searing - The 2nd totem I do not have a real work around again. It could be kept as a drop totem, however I really hate the design of dps totems being figured into our dps.

Fire Nova - Either could be reworked as a clone of its abilites, or scrapped for some new spell(FROST spell plz!!)

Resistance totem - Would also be kept as a situational totem to drop.

Elementals would act like a normal elemental pet(think mages) but have all the same properties they do now(cooldowns, time summoned, mana, damage, abilities)

Any damage that might be lost from damages just gets baked into our natural abilities(enhance I know rely on the fire totems for a portion of their damage, and ele's were to add fire dps totems more in Cataclysm)

This would make the ranged slot useful, would allow us to custom choose that totem for the group makeup. Allow us to delete our old useless totems taking up space in the bank and add lowbie quests to the trainers to obtain the new totems.

tldr
Buff totems become castable buffs/equipable buff or a buff added through talents for having one equiped.
Situational totems remain the same.
Dps totems get reworked into new spells

Post suggestions, constructive criticism, or support.
Nashyma