I'm sure it will be earth, these changes are doing 2 things I think. 1 - Fixing totem twisting and 2 - making it so that its easier for a shaman to figure out what totems a group needs. Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Feral, Shaman? Drop WF & GoA/SoE, same as you always do. If they changed Str/Agi to an air totem it would render Windfury useless.
Windwall and Stoneskin need to be completely reworked or removed, combining them into one totem isn't suddenly going to make them useful.
Agreed. If Str/Agi isn' going to be Earth, then what use is earth anymore? Something new or something changed to earth would be needed. But can you imagine a Wrath of Earth totem? That would ruin Elementals... Nah, Blizz likes to do the easy stuff, and it is plainly easier (and obviously better for us) to keep it as earth.
Good changes. And a a Hunter I might actually see totem effects more often now.
Unless it was typo it would mean unleashed rage will become raid buff and that would eliminate any need of another enhance shaman pretty much. Hmm, i wonder if we going to get moonkin aura's or druid ilotp from other groups for ourselves? :P
We may be reading this wrong. The windfury totem may simply add an AoE 'aura' that buffs all attacks with Windfury, which would mean our SoE/GoA totem stays in the earth category. Why else would the alpha talents still have weapon totem talent points? Frankly, I think they should make the SoE totem also buff sta, while making the current Windfury totem buff WF and GoA.
But think of some of the other implications: Raid-Wide Flametongue Totem? Raid Wide Wrath of Air and Totem of Wrath? How does Tranquil Air factor in? And most important of all to us enhancement shamans: dispellable windfury buffs? If they are making Windfury a buff then it damn well better be non-dispellable or its a MASSIVE pvp nerf.
On a side note, other interesting combinations of totems are:
And most important of all to us enhancement shamans: dispellable windfury buffs? If they are making Windfury a buff then it damn well better be non-dispellable or its a MASSIVE pvp nerf.
I doubt they will make it an actual magic buff. Rather, they will keep it a aura buff like the rest of the totems are.
As the saying goes, they can be dispelled by a wand or pet. But they cannot be dispelled via a traditional Dispel mechanic. They won't become dispellable either, a dispellable aura is simply an inconsistent mechanic.
I'm more concerned about the WWI quote where its stated that Windfury Weapon Buff will become a targetable weapon buff for other players, and is usable in feral forms and works with totems. A buff cast on OTHER players is probably dispellable, lets hope our current self only buff is not.
I'm more concerned about the WWI quote where its stated that Windfury Weapon Buff will become a targetable weapon buff for other players, and is usable in feral forms and works with totems. A buff cast on OTHER players is probably dispellable, lets hope our current self only buff is not.
That is not what was said. What was said was that Windfury Totem would be changed from a weapon enchant to a buff. Now that could mean what you just said, but what it most likely means is that Windfury Totem will work the same as every other totem: While active it gives an aura to people within 20 yards which gives them a chance to proc Windfury.
That also means it's just as dispellable as any other totem. Which is to say, you need to inflict 5 damage to a small wooden pole to rid people of it.
There will be some great synergy with elemental and enhance shammys in 2v2 arena with the guranteed crit from lava burst. I am not a theory crafter but its food for thought.
Windfury won't be a weapon enchant anymore and will be changed to a buff. You will be able to use it in bear form or with poison.
I noticed it didn't say Windfury TOTEM. If its still the totem, then there isn't any problem at all. I noticed the WoW forum shamans are up in arms saying this removes Enhance Shaman raid dps viability...I guess they figure 10% more AP and better windfury procs 'assuming there is still a totem' do not matter at all.
Why else would the alpha talents still have weapon totem talent points?
Just a hunch here, but its probably got something to do with the fact that the last patch notes that were leaked from the alpha said "Elemental talents are available for testing". Note the distinct lack of Resto and Enhance in that statement.
Your concern about Windfury Weapon vs Windfury totem is ridiculous and unfounded. That quote doesn't say "Totem" because it was 1) Transcribed by someone listening to the stream, and 2) It was asked in English, translated to french, answered in french, and translated back to english. Its pretty obvious that the Totem is what they meant.
Just a hunch here, but its probably got something to do with the fact that the last patch notes that were leaked from the alpha said "Elemental talents are available for testing". Note the distinct lack of Resto and Enhance in that statement.
Your concern about Windfury Weapon vs Windfury totem is ridiculous and unfounded. That quote doesn't say "Totem" because it was 1) Transcribed by someone listening to the stream, and 2) It was asked in English, translated to french, answered in french, and translated back to english. Its pretty obvious that the Totem is what they meant.
I'm not 100% sure but does the text on your weapon even say 'Windfury Totem'? I remember it only saying something like 'Windfury' or 'Windfury Weapon', but that could be the German version that I've used back then.
Anyway Blizzard probably won't change the concept of the Shaman class, giving them real castable buffs.
I also find the concept of making most party buffs raidwide pretty interesting as it would allow Blizzard to make Hybrid DPS compareable to non-hybrid DPS without making them overpowered so you need one in every group.
I was thinking about pvp and WF totem change effect to it. If it behaves like typical totem buff now then it will be removed immediately after it destroyed weakening us in arena. Concerning uniting strength and agility, dont suppose they could put it to water? Earth is great for tremor and earthbind, air for grounding and windfury, fire for damage totems and water for....well poison cleansing i suppose :P
So if totems are raid wide does that make Totemic Mastery mandatory now?
No. You give totems to melee.
Casters don't need str/agi or wf or gimped mana/healing stream. Thats leave only hunters to get odd spot.
I bet That Totemic Mastery will be reworked.
Totems will be raid wide, but they're (likely) still going to have the range limitation, so your melee doesn't necessarily all need to be in the same group. Ditto for casters. The Windfury totem becoming an aura, rather than a weapon buff, will buff all melee DPS now, and they can still use sharpening stones/poisons. It also completely nixes twisting, since WF totem will no longer have it's timer.
Of course, GoA and SoE being combined leads me to wonder when we can use what. Are the totems becoming like elixirs, where you've got Guardian and Battle type categories? Weapon, Battle, and Guardian are likely categories, with WF/FT and possibly ToW in the "Weapon" category, and GoA/SoE and WoA in Battle, with HS, MS/T, and the rest in Guardian.
And with these types of things going raid wide, I'm guessing paladin auras, TSA, and the like are going to do the same. Raidwide Vampiric Embrace/Touch starts getting a little bit OP though, so not everything is gonna be that way. They've still got balancing to do.
Note that FT is giving spellpower "to the Shaman". The totem version likely will still not.
Note that FT is giving spellpower "to the Shaman". The totem version likely will still not.
Then FT totem should just vanish: it doesn't stack with windfury and nobody wants it .
I was thinking about pvp and WF totem change effect to it. If it behaves like typical totem buff now then it will be removed immediately after it destroyed weakening us in arena. Concerning uniting strength and agility, dont suppose they could put it to water? Earth is great for tremor and earthbind, air for grounding and windfury, fire for damage totems and water for....well poison cleansing i suppose :P
That is, however, only the pvp aspect of the game. Combining an earth totem and an air totem and making them water will be the most unlogical thing ever to be done. And it will still leave a gap for the pve earth totems. While Tremor/ earthbind have utility in pvp, the only utility for tremor is in bossfights with aoe fear. Those fights are not exactly common.
As it has not been mentioned here earlier. They will also make Frostbrand "more reliably snare" according to the WWI dev panel. Hopefully they will also make it scale better with spell damage (such as SoR) so it is a viable alternative.
Of course, GoA and SoE being combined leads me to wonder when we can use what. Are the totems becoming like elixirs, where you've got Guardian and Battle type categories? Weapon, Battle, and Guardian are likely categories, with WF/FT and possibly ToW in the "Weapon" category, and GoA/SoE and WoA in Battle, with HS, MS/T, and the rest in Guardian.
What exactly do you mean by this? It sounds as if SoE / GoA will simply be an earth totem that provides both buffs. This guardian / battle idea seems overly complicated: we'll still be limited to a totem from each school and they can simply balance around that rather than creating some new round about system.
Are people just making shit up in here now? Seriously, we've seen some absolute crack pot posts go by in the last page that aren't founded on anything.
Of course, GoA and SoE being combined leads me to wonder when we can use what. Are the totems becoming like elixirs, where you've got Guardian and Battle type categories? Weapon, Battle, and Guardian are likely categories, with WF/FT and possibly ToW in the "Weapon" category, and GoA/SoE and WoA in Battle, with HS, MS/T, and the rest in Guardian.
Seriously, where did you come up with this? Has it been even hinted at anywhere?
My first reaction when I saw Improved Stormstrike was that it was going to play hell with our cycles. Trying to weave an 8 second stormstrike, a 10-second twisting cycle, and a 6(5?) second shock cooldown just doesn't work. Even if we can't stormstrike every 8 seconds though, we can use the shorter cooldown as wiggle room to hold stormstrikes until windfury is up without throwing off our twisting/shock cycles.
Totem twisting is confirmed to be dead in the expansion, as Strength of Earth and Grace of Air totems have been merged into one totem.
(to the post above, here is the official Blizard link: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...17312045&sid=1
* Shaman: Strength of Earth and Grace of Air to be merged! (no more totem twisting!)
- Totems: Will now affect the entire raid! Cannot be counterspelled!
- Rockbiter: Removed - replaced with Earthliving - a +heal weapon enchant
- Flametongue: will give spell damage
- Frostbrand: with have a more reliable snare now
- Hex: CROWD CONTROL: Used primarily for emergencies, shaman will be able to turn the target into a frog (some sources say the critter will be random, however); Will hexed, the player moves at 75% reduced speed, has control of their body, but cannot attack or cast spells; 8-10 second duration (CC!)
- Windfury: changed to a buff - will now be usable in bear form or with poisons (druids and rogues there, people :P) ).
I know TS didn't think a whole lot of the new early tier talents, but they appear to really be aimed at Elemental and Restoration Shaman players as teasers to get them to spec Hybrid (100% of intellect converted to attack power + 30% of attack power converted to spell power = 30% of intellect converted to spell power ... that's a pretty big teaser for some non-enhancement specs).
I know TS didn't think a whole lot of the new early tier talents, but they appear to really be aimed at Elemental and Restoration Shaman players as teasers to get them to spec Hybrid (100% of intellect converted to attack power + 30% of attack power converted to spell power = 30% of intellect converted to spell power ... that's a pretty big teaser for some non-enhancement specs).
Mental Quickness didn't change positions according to anything I've seen so far and with it being in the same position its way too deep in Enhance to just pick up to buff Resto or Elemental.
The Int to AP thing is to make the Mail gear more attractive to Enhancement Shaman so that way Mail items can be itemized with intellect for both Hunters and Enhancement Shaman and we'll stop drooling over the Rogue Leather gear.
Edited to add - 30% of Intellect as Spellpower doesn't scale very well but know what does scale pretty well, that supposed new elemental 40 point talent Lava Flows (the one listed on that Wiki site). 15% of spell power when you have Flametongue on your weapon (to say nothing of the increase to Lava Burst and Flame Shock). Why blow 28 points in Enhancement when you can go deeper into the Elemental Tree for so much more? The Int=Ap is for Enhancement not some bizarre retarded hybrid build.
06/28/08, 12:34 PM
