Are you happy with the current Totem system?

[Deleted]

I'm not. Untill MoP shammy was one of my fav classes. Now, with many talents resolved about them and the fact that totems aren't fun... I wouldn't play it.

I'd like to see totems more like ritualist's spirits from Guild Wars 1. I really think that skill teleporting all active totems to your current location is needed (well, just rework Totemic Projection a bit and make it class ability, not a talent). More interaction with them would make shammy totems a really nice class aspect.

[Drakiru]

I actually liked my "stat sticks" combined with the totem ui. I played in the first week of the 5.0 patch but I didn't like the changes to my troll. One of the reasons I quit.

[Nebria]

I like the new system. having totems only to get buffs wasn't fun. now they actually do something when I need it.
what is missing is some overhaul of searing totem. everything else is ok.

what is missing is that they remove the limit of one totem per element and instead add a lock between some totems they don't whant to see at the same time like slt and htt. benefit would be that we coul have tremor and the earth elemental for example
to be honest only earth is the problem as the elemental is lost when you need tremor for example

[Deleted]

I'm still waiting on some more integration on how the totems work. As an example, i would love to see the standard AOE circle of spirit link removed and made more dynamic where double tapping button (or user defined clicks) would make the standard circle, but if you manually placed the totem you would be able to use up to 3/4 totems and make your own custom AOE field instead of the predetermined circle. The choice of the default good choice and the other one where being more experienced rewards you with a significantly better cooldown at your disposal.

Another thing i'd love to see is totems working together, like Healing stream working together with Stormlash so that everytime you trigger a stormlash, you form an electrific surface upon yourself absorbing 50% of the stormlash hit, stacks up to 10% of your max HP.

[HatsHatsHats]

I don't really play my shaman anymore but I hate the current system, it took the unique features out of shaman and turned the totems into spells that can be killed through their totem
I miss the totembar, I loved that shit

[thumbwarriordx]

The main thing I hate about the totem system is how Spirit Link Totem, the (sometimes)tanksaving, raid protecting, AoE heal pumping piece of badass that it is, spawns BEHIND YOU TO YOUR LEFT.

The mere placement of it is terrible. It was hard for me to start using until I just started taking projection on my resto spec. Now I'm just more ready to use it when I need it.

If we could set up our elements in the corner we like best, that would be amazing. A little far fetched though.
It was fine when the back totems were just buffs, or their placement didn't matter like grounding totem. Moving the fire nova stun to capacitor totem changed its placement for the worse I feel.

At this point we aren't keeping all the totems down so much anymore, so I think dynamic placement would be better. Where any totem gets placed in the front until you put down a third totem. Then make the totemic encirclement glyph negate it.

[Skurkitty]

The totem system is okay but i think you need more interaction with those totems, they still don't really feel like a core mechanic.

Pretty much this. Mainly in regards to Fire Totems... I understand the purpose, I just kind of wish there was something extra.
Even doing something like putting Searing + Magma totem together and giving it a sorta half ass pet bar with toggle options, Single Target / AoE mode.

Water and Earth totems I'm fairly happy with as they're just simple raid utility.

Overall I wish there was something "more" with totems, but I really can't put my finger on what I want out of them overall.

[Lei]

From the "drop and forget"design we arrived to the "click like crazy" design, which I don't really like. From a resto shaman point of view, I have to babysit that damn Healing Stream Totem, and it is not fun (for me). Let's see: Drop HST every 30 sec, if you wanna be awesomeprowowomghowgoodyouare, then you also want to call it back at 14 sec. Then sew it together with mana tide AND healing tide. Also Stromlash, Elementals for empower (I even went for Unleashed Fury for some weeks because of this) with their own shared 1 min cd, Spirit Link, Stone Bulwark, Tremor (twins)/windwalk (IQ). I also have a lot of totems macroed with Totemic Projection, and that can cause a lot of funny/frustrating moments too.
With all our abilities being really non-rotation-friendly, - for example waiting for UL to cast a buffed Healing Rain - resto shamans nowadays feel - at least for me - like some kid with ADHD.
Sometimes I find myself doing nothing (ie no actual healing) but popping (and calling back) totems, and it is really frustrating that HST is JUST that good that it is a miss if you don't pop it, but not THAT good to worth the frustration with babysitting it.
Blizz tends to go from black to white with things, and I really hope they will rework a bit this totem system.

[Omanley]

1.) It's good that buff totems were turned into auras. The only way it would've been fine to have buff totems still would be to have superior buffs, which would never happen
2.) It's bad that totems are still kept in elemental brackets (fire/earth/water/wind totems and not having more than one out each). They are now cooldowns anyway, so having a dozen 5 minute totems out is not something to be feared anymore. It is however very limiting for long duration EET to cancel out other earth totems or vice versa. Or being unable to protect wwt with grounding for example
3.) It's bad that blizz still keeps the biggest part of totems exactly the same (immobile, 5hp/destroyable, now also unusable while silenced..). Why cant they design totems more individually? EBT for example should not be destroyable, like other aoe snares. Or imagine all fire totems being mobile, making searing totem like a wooden imp, sort of.
4.) There's synergy between totems missing. Why not bring stoneclaw totem back, and turn it into a proper totem guardian. Limit it to one or two totems, make it a higher cooldown, and the caster will be able to ensure a frail totem pulling through when it matters.
5.) Synergy between totems and other spells. There could be totems detonating when hit with dmg spells, or water-healing totems "overflowing" and spilling when hit with heal spells.
6.) Elemental pets should be unlinked from totems, really. I mean, what's the point? Mages have water elementals, warlocks have shadow elementals, why are we unable to summon without a totem?
7.) Totems with lots of drawbacks should be super crazy powerful, or it would not make sense design-wise. Enemies with skill should know which totems to be worth destroying and which not. They should fear the stronger ones. That's right, fear our totems, because that's what our core feature should amount to.
Like a mindcontrol totem (exists as a spell in sethekk halls). This could totally turn tides in arena, and would require quick reactions, deserving drawbacks
8.) Possibly not as pidgeon holed in terms of an elements' role. Fire is always damage, water always healing, earth always protection, make it more diverse.
9.) To lessen the amount of keybindings, there could be a totem unleash ability. This way, every totem could be attributed to different uses, whether you unleash it or not => instead of 10 totems/10 keybinds it'd be 6 (5 totems plus totem unleash). That said, would require lots of balancing to get it right (unleash could be like totemic restoration => when unleashing a totem, the cooldown of said totem is reduced in proportion yada yada...
10.) Throwing totems had been asked for for a long time. Yet when it's finally around, it benefits MT, elemental totems, and CPT, maybe EBT/EGT. That's not a lot really. Either make TP baseline or add more incentive to throw a totem (additional effect (aoe disorient effect after totem lands for 3 sec for example) or add more totems benefitting from it)

Totems atm bring the same or weaker versions of other spells. It's just like it was with buffs. For totems to be actually good, either their drawbacks need to be gone completely (and make them dispellable instead of stompable) which would though take away totem's identity in the process, OR provide unique flaws for unique drawbacks.

[Deleted]

I dislike it, i prefer the old one.

[shokter]

I like current system much better, though there could be some improvement (more interesting totems, ability to drop more than 1 earth totem at a time). Overall it is much better than dropping passive buffs for 5 minutes. Tremor is a great example of the new system done right. Cap totem on the other hand is too crippled if you don't use either the correct talent or glyph to make it more functional.

[derpkitteh]

i am not happy about it. i want my bar back, dammit. >

hate taking up action bar space for them when i could have my little bar.

[Tsuna]

Totems will never be as good as in TBC, you felt like a real Shaman back then, totems could change completely how you and your group plays.

BC shamanism. bloodlust chain heal chain heal chain heal chain heal chain heal chain heal MANA TIDE chain heal chain heal drums of battle chain heal chain heal chain heal chain heal chain heal chain heal.

I miss the totem bar, but i like the current totems. Would prefer to see a more dynamic offensive totem than the current fire ones. Healing Tide should be baseline for resto but not other specs. Probably could list more desirable tweaks but that would go in discussion separate from totems/.

[Drknife]

No. Searing totem. I hate thee.

[Barrun]

Huge improvement over how it was. Searing Totem being an exception, get rid of that garbage already.

[Deleted]

BC shamanism. bloodlust chain heal chain heal chain heal chain heal chain heal chain heal MANA TIDE chain heal chain heal drums of battle chain heal chain heal chain heal chain heal chain heal chain heal.

I miss the totem bar, but i like the current totems. Would prefer to see a more dynamic offensive totem than the current fire ones. Healing Tide should be baseline for resto but not other specs. Probably could list more desirable tweaks but that would go in discussion separate from totems/.

I think he was more referring to totem twisting with WF etc. Which tbh i'd rather not have back because it was a total pain in the ass.

[kosajk]

buff totem made into auras ok its alright but why the hell they removed totem bar and calls in the proces is beyond me

[kunah]

Don't like MOP totems. Much prefer the old way. But not gonna stop playing my shaman.

[Tiberria]

The biggest thing is that the elemental limitations need to be done away with. With all impactful totems restricted by cooldowns anyway, there really isn't a good reason why HST/MTT, Stone Bulwark/Earth Ele, etc need to be overwriting each other. No other class really has this type of limitation on stacking cooldowns together, and it feels like an archaic remnant of the pre-Cata design.

[Grummgug]

I always felt that, in theory, totems should be about establishing a zone of control. You set these totems down and the Shaman controls that area. A shaman is very strong in his zone, and to beat him, you need to lure him out of that zone or prevent him from setting up that zone. In my mind, I envisioned it as a terran tank push in Starcraft. I don't know what they did with shamans in the past year or so, but that's how I felt it should be designed.

You could even borrow ideas from the terrna tank push. Like have one totem act like a siege tank in siege mode with a turret on top that blasts AoE damage out towards anything that comes close. Maybe another totem could act like a bunker, that shoots rapid fire at anything in melee range, or another totem that acts like a bunker of firebats, that scorches down quickly anything in melee range. Have another totem that detects stealth.

The problem is, this has no raid context, and wow is mostly about raiding, so they would not do this with shamans.