Pre-patch 3.1 thoughts

Hey,

I'm Sermor and I'm a resto shaman. I've been playing my shaman for a long time now and i can see how Blizzards new concept Bring the player, not class is actually hurting us. Vanilla we always were the fifth player even tho our healing wasn't that good, our totems were awesome.

The portal to Outlands opened and we were still loved among other classes. Increased spell damage and healing, windfury as it used to be and more damage. Bloodlust was still the shit without the debuff, only groupwise tho, but still. Shamans was the must have in a raid.

Now; The Lich King is out. Windfury grants haste (instead of pure awesome), just as Improved Icy Talons do. Horn of Winter does what Strength of Earth Totem do (except improved). Well, that's two totems away. And oh, all buff totems are raid-wise. Bloodlust is 10 min CD with a 5 min debuff. And totems aren't used that much anyways so woho, only 2 shamans needed. Down from 5. Wait, 3.1 makes mana spring totem act as Blessing of Wisdom, and Bloodlust is now down to 5 min CD with a 10 min debuff. If there is more then one paladin in the raid only 1 shaman is needed. Cleansing totems are merged (poison + disease) . Wow, only Mana Tide Totem that is actually useful now, but it's only groupwise. That gives us the Water Totem: Cleansing Totem (Mana Tide when needed).

What about air totem? Well, Windfury is beaten by Improved Icy Talons since you have to improve Windfury Totem to make it as good as Icy Talons. Nature Resistence Totem? No, doesn't stack with Gift/Blessing of the Wild. Wrath of Air Totem grants spell haste. Soooo; Air Totem: Wrath of Air Totem.

Fire totem? Well, if no Elemental shaman is present then Flametongue Totem is a good choice. Else you have Frost Res Totem which doesn't stack with Gift/Blessing of the Wild nor Paladin aura. Searing Totem? Doesn't really cut it either. Fire Totem: Flametongue Totem (if no Elemental Shaman).

Earth. Stoneskin Totem does not stack with Paladin aura, and an improved Stoneskin Totem is far away from as good as an improved Paladin aura. Trashcan you go. Strength of Earth Totem is actually better then Horn of Winter, but only if improved thru talents. So, Earthbind Totem? Bosses will be immune to this. Put a few points in Enhancing Totems and voila: Earth Totem: Strength of Earth Totem.

Summary
Water Totem: Cleansing Totem (Mana Tide when needed)
Air Totem: Wrath of Air Totem
Fire Totem: Flametongue Totem (if no Elemental Shaman)
Earth Totem: Strength of Earth Totem

Since the Bloodlust changes there will only be use for one resto shaman (along with an Elemental) if you are looking at buffs. Earth Shield is a very strong buff, and with talents + glyphs it's pure awesomeness. Improved shield = 15% extra healing, Improved Earth Shield = +10% extra healing (and two charges) and Glyph of Earth Shield = +20% healing. That's alot. Glyph of Lesser Healing Wave also increases the healing done by LHW by 20% on a target with Earth Shield. This along with 3/3 Ancestral Healing (+25% armor on target when crit healed) makes me just wanna go MT heal instead of the constant Chain Heal-spam. Improved Water Shield 3/3 also consumes one orb from your Water Shield when you crit (60% LHW, 100% HW and Riptide).

Well fuck it, let's see how it turns out.