Honestly, I wish there was a way to fit Tidal Focus in there. I'm not particularly high on Healing Focus. Speaking as a priest, I went without the equivalent talent (2 points for 70%, tier 1) and never really felt it I was missing out*. I'd say that given Nature's Swiftness, I'd be even more inclined to do without.

Also, I'm not as high on parry as some. What's the percentage to parry for Shaman assuming DM Blues (I assume strength modifies it).

*I've since pcked it up on a respec, but honestly would be hard pressed to spend 5 points in it.

Why did you go for 2/5 Anticipation instead of one of the tier two talents, or even 2/5 in blocking? Guardian totems and imp ghost wolf both look attractive to me as a non-shaman, so I'm curious as to why you chose 2% dodge over them.

Well I assume since he does some tanking he wants the dodge over the other 2. And he wanted to put the minimal in to get 5 in toughness. Seems his play style invites taking hits, so if so then build your talents around it. Not sure how useful ghost wolf really is for 60s anyway.

Guardian Totems is really really bad because the underlying skills are pretty bad. Stoneskin and Windwall never get used. Stoneskin is -30 damage before mitigation. This talent would make it -36. When your MT is getting hit for 1500 after 2/3 mitigation is applied, you can see how silly that is. Windwall has no real applications that I've seen. I drop it in the workshop in BRD for all those little ranged guys. That's about it. Grounding Totem is good, but usually when it absorbs what it's going to absorb, it dies in the process. Reducing the refresh time on it isn't helpful in that light. Also Grounding Totem is increasingly useless in raiding. Every time something gets absorbed by it, it gets changed to not be.

Imp Ghost Wolf is good for leveling and getting away from NPCs instead of dying to them when a fight doesn't go your way. I never really use Ghost Wolf unless I'm running a flag, and I don't spec for PvP. Imp Lightning Shield is where I'd put the two points if I had to, but again, from a raid perspective, an extra few dozen damage when something procs my lightning shield isn't a major concern.

That leaves 2% dodge, which complements toughness. With my spec and gear, and without Subtlety, if there is an untanked mob going after healers, it will ususally be going after me. And that's intended. I have 7k'ish armor buffed, and will have 8k when I'm done with Naxx. Every bit of physical mitigation keeps me alive in those situations and lets me serve a useful function, absorbing damage that would kill priests/druids until a tank can get the mob under control. I also use Earth Shock a lot to rein in loose mobs that need to be tanked, and when my routine activities include things like Earth Shocking Noth, I like every bit of mitigation I can get. :)

Because Shield Spec sucks -- shamans have a low block value and low block %, which make a poor base upon which to build.

Edit -- I don't die too often. Obviously I would if he weren't pulled off me and I got no other healing, but I can live for long enough to make it a worthwhile course of action at certain junctures. My current set is: http://ctprofiles.net/32681

how many hits can you take from Noth?

i am really NOT feelin that Healing Way either :\

wait a sec, how many shamans are in the guild? if they're not all mana tide, what are they doing? I was 30/0/21 but I respec'd full resto cause there's kind of no point raiding with 30 talent points you don't really use, so why?

I raid a lot nowadays, I don't have Healing Way, I don't have Mana Tide. Yet I don't feel useless in raids at all.

In raid groups we rarely had more than one shaman per group, and not all of them have Mana Tide either. Whether they have Mana Tide or not, Healing Way or not, it allowed us to have greater flexibility in raid.

I don't get how people are not "feeling" Healing Way. I love taking advantage of Healing Way from other shamans on a tank. It made a huge difference, even for myself who only has 22 points in Restoration.

As for Mana Tide, I tried it out on test and I thought "Well, I guess it's okay, if not better than before." but I didn't like having to go beyond 21 Restoration just to get it. Just a preference I guess.

I often get put into melee groups or hunter groups so they can take DPS boost from my Enhancing Totems and Improved Weapon Totems. I really like doing that. Since the totems are so goshdarn cheap to cast, I don't mind relocating those if we have to, but that usually happens during trash pulls. It's very rare to move totems around in boss encounters.

Current shaman's talents does not feel like "cookiecutter" anymore. It is great having more diversity in our talents.

Okay let me set up a CTProfile then.

http://ctprofiles.net/2040683

Edit: It's all what I have on me currently (I excluded resist gear and the like), and I am working on catching up and looting more stuff along the way. However, I performed well enough in Naxxramas that I don't feel useless at all. Just need better gear soon!

Editx2: Oh, that spellpower on Fang, I looted it before they changed Fang to have dam/healing on it. I guess I'm too lazy to run Scarlet Strath to grab some orbs for Healing enchant.

you use that gear while healing in naxx? is that recent?

If he is healing, a set like that will be fine. While not ideal, the upgrades between sets (Ef -> Ts -> Sc) is minimal, if any at all. I still use Ef shoulders and bp when healing, since their is no easy-to-get alternative (cant get wild growth! :().

I've actually been thinking about this talent more. Am I wrong in assuming that if you block an enemies attack it can't crit you? If so, I think that makes Shield Spec. nearly decent.