New Totem

Ever since the Tier 9 gear went live, I've eyed the new "Tier 9" totem -- Totem of Calming Tides. For a long time, I've poo-pooed it. I've never been a big fan of "chances". This one happens to have a 70% chance to proc (trigger), with aparently no internal cooldown.

Equip looks like this:
Each time you cast Chain Heal, you have a chance to gain 234 spell power for 15 sec.

Compare to the Steamcaller's Totem, dropped from Flame Leviathan or purchased with Emblems of Conquest:
Increases the base amount healed by your chain heal by 243.

Initially, the question is, why would I give up a sure thing in the Steamcaller's Totem for a 70% chance? That question is what disuaded me from picking it up when it first hit the vendors. But now, with the whole "try before you buy" thing (IE: can return for a refund), I decided to pick it up and take it for a spin around the block (or heroics, in my case).

What did I find? The totem is actually pretty darn sexy. The "dumb" math without digging into the real math says this --

Steamcaller's Totem -- +243 on first target, +97.2(40% of 1st) on 2nd, +38.88 on 3rd, +15.552 on 4th == +394.632 total per Chain Heal cast.

Totem of Calming Tides (triggerred) -- +439.92 (234 * 1.88 SP modifier) on first target, +175.968(40% of 1st) on 2nd, +70.3872 on 3rd, 28.15488 on 4th == +714.43008 total per Chain Heal cast or +439.92 per any other heal cast.

Again, this is just "dumb" math and not taking into consideration all the other cast time modifiers, base healing, or any other formula.

The reality is, the Steamcaller's Totem is only good for Chain Heals. If you are primarily using Chain Heal, then with the 70% chance, Totem of Calming Tides will be up almost always. And, you'll be able to get in your Lesser Healing Waves or Riptides and take advantage of the totem. If you're tank healing? An occasional Chain Heal to gain the totem effect and get your larger Healing Waves off. Turns out, it's a sweet totem, and well worth the cost of 26 emblems.