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Gormane · 06/16/08, 10:50 AM

First time poster, just a quick hello (and a thanks to everyone for a lot of useful information).

Regarding Elemental Focus:

NB: I'm not trying to argue shaman vs. priest here, just trying to get some numbers straight.

Based on the talent description given in the OP ("After landing a critical strike with a Fire, Frost, or Nature damage spell, Lesser Healing Wave or Healing wave, you enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the cost of your next 2 damage or healing spells by 40%"), I am assuming that EF will be triggered by LHW and HW, and will affect the mana cost of LHW, HW and CH.

Assuming that with the new spellpower mechanics, all caster gear will be useful for healers, then resto shamans should easily be able to achieve the same crit percentage as elemental shamans.

Simplifying, elemental shamans "aim" for a crit chance of 40% raid buffed, including talents; a higher crit chance is easily attainable, but not desired by elemental shamans.

Elemental shamans now receive 13% crit chance from talents+totem, while resto shamans will receive 14% from talents for LHW and HW in WotLK. Therefore, if geared for crit, resto shamans should be able to get the same 40% raid buffed crit chance, if not more. Therefore, with 40% crit chance, the average mana reduction effect of EF on LHW and HW spam is 25.6% (I borrowed this number from the elemental shaman thinktank pages).

Will it be desireable to push the crit chance to 40% or even beyond? Answering that question requires more information, especially regarding the new ranks of CH, and whether there will be any buffs to CH beyond what we already have now. But my "gut feeling" tells me that crit rating will become an important stat for shamans (also taking into account that CH is a rather crit friendly heal as well, because the overhealing due to critical heals is low on the second and third jump).

It may very well be that when WotLK goes live, priests will be the kings of MT healing and shamans will be nowhere near. What I find interesting and exciting, though, is that the new buffs to LHW and HW give us more options where CH is now inefficient: to assist on the MT, to heal a single OT, to raid heal with raid members being spread too far for CH.

And I also like the way of Ancestral Awakening sticking to the theme: Shaman heals are intelligent heals.

06/16/08, 10:50 AM	#92 (permalink)
Gormane Glass Joe Gormane Orc Shaman <Rising> Aggramar (EU)	First time poster, just a quick hello (and a thanks to everyone for a lot of useful information). Regarding Elemental Focus: NB: I'm not trying to argue shaman vs. priest here, just trying to get some numbers straight. Based on the talent description given in the OP ("After landing a critical strike with a Fire, Frost, or Nature damage spell, Lesser Healing Wave or Healing wave, you enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the cost of your next 2 damage or healing spells by 40%"), I am assuming that EF will be triggered by LHW and HW, and will affect the mana cost of LHW, HW and CH. Assuming that with the new spellpower mechanics, all caster gear will be useful for healers, then resto shamans should easily be able to achieve the same crit percentage as elemental shamans. Simplifying, elemental shamans "aim" for a crit chance of 40% raid buffed, including talents; a higher crit chance is easily attainable, but not desired by elemental shamans. Elemental shamans now receive 13% crit chance from talents+totem, while resto shamans will receive 14% from talents for LHW and HW in WotLK. Therefore, if geared for crit, resto shamans should be able to get the same 40% raid buffed crit chance, if not more. Therefore, with 40% crit chance, the average mana reduction effect of EF on LHW and HW spam is 25.6% (I borrowed this number from the elemental shaman thinktank pages). Will it be desireable to push the crit chance to 40% or even beyond? Answering that question requires more information, especially regarding the new ranks of CH, and whether there will be any buffs to CH beyond what we already have now. But my "gut feeling" tells me that crit rating will become an important stat for shamans (also taking into account that CH is a rather crit friendly heal as well, because the overhealing due to critical heals is low on the second and third jump). It may very well be that when WotLK goes live, priests will be the kings of MT healing and shamans will be nowhere near. What I find interesting and exciting, though, is that the new buffs to LHW and HW give us more options where CH is now inefficient: to assist on the MT, to heal a single OT, to raid heal with raid members being spread too far for CH. And I also like the way of Ancestral Awakening sticking to the theme: Shaman heals are intelligent heals.