R.I.P. Shaman Blog

I've been pretty unsatisfied for quite some time with how the blog turned out. Wasn't exactly what I was aiming for. So I'm trying something else. The new all-you-ever-wanted-to-know site is http://pirimus.ootp-guild.com/ . See you all there!

Resto Shaman Macros

Everybody uses macros, right? I use them for nearly every spell cast. So, I thought I'd share.

You'll notice a few things in all of these.
1) Sound_EnableSFX -- turns off spell effect audio. This is useful when something is on cooldown, so you do not hear "I can't do that yet!" every time you cast a spell.

2) use 13 -- Place any "on use" trinket you'd like in the first trinket slot. Everytime you cast, it will try to use that trinket. It gaurantees you get full uptime on the trinket.

3) UIErrorsFrame:Clear() -- Again, clears any errors that might pop up. Usually related to cooldowns or trying to heal something you can't heal.


Lesser Healing Wave
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/use 13
/cast Tidal Force
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
/cast [target=mouseover] Lesser Healing Wave

Healing Wave
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/cast Nature's Swiftness
/use 13
/cast Tidal Force
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
/cast [target=mouseover] Healing Wave

Chain Heal
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/use 13
/cast Tidal Force
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
/cast [target=mouseover] Chain Heal

Riptide
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/use 13
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
/cast [target=mouseover] Riptide

Is Healing Rain Channeled?

Short, and sweet, from developer Q&A

Q: Is Healing Rain channeled?
A: No, it's not a channeled spell.

How to kill a potentially good heal: Require it be channeled.

Cataclysm Class Preview: Shaman

Yes, shamans finally get a little love. Shamans are the first class to get a Cataclysm preview. I'm picking out pieces for Restoration Shamans, the source with the whole kit and kaboodle is here.


New Spells

Healing Wave (level 4): While the shaman already has an ability called Healing Wave, we're adding another spell to the class's direct-healing arsenal and giving it a familiar name. The current Healing Wave will be renamed Greater Healing Wave, and the intent is for the 'new" Healing Wave to be the shaman's go-to heal. Lesser Healing Wave and Greater Healing Wave will be used on a more situational basis.

We'll have one more "middle ground" heal in our arsenal. Considering everything that's been said thus far, I'm assuming it's going to be a heal in the two-second range, cheaper than the new "Greater Healing Wave," but slower than Lesser Healing Wave. I'm somewhat indifferent.

Unleash Weapon (level 81): Unleashes the power of your weapon enchants for additional effects (see below). Instant cast. 30-yard range. 15-second cooldown. Undispellable.

[An example]

:: Earthliving Weapon – Heals the target slightly and buffs the shaman's next healing spell by 20%.

Looks like something new to add to the heal macros. Assuming the mana cost isn't outrageous, it's probably something you'll want blown on every cooldown. It has a bit of a trinketish feel to it.

Healing Rain (level 83): An area-effect heal-over-time (HoT) spell that calls down rain in a selected area, healing all players within it. There is no limit to the number of players who can potentially be affected; however, there are diminishing returns when healing a large number of targets, much like the diminishing returns associated with AoE damage spells. This should give Restoration shaman another healing tool that improves their group-healing and heal-over-time capabilities. 2-second cast time. 30-yard range. 10-second duration. 10-second cooldown.

Quite interesting indeed! They just need to make sure the visual effect lives up to the name and description. This will open up the question, to Chain Heal or not to Chain Heal. I don't see this as a spammable heal at all. I think it's going to be for rather specialized circumstances. Sounds amazing though.

Spiritwalker's Grace (level 85): When this self-targeted buff is active, your spells are no longer interrupted by movement and possibly even by your own attacks. This will give shaman of all three specs another way to heal or do damage when it’s necessary to move in both PvE and PvP. Instant cast. 10-second duration. 2-minute cooldown.

This is something shamans (including myself) often complain (you say whine, I say complain) about. For a shaman to heal effectively, our feet need to be planted. If we have to move, we're in trouble. We'll get a little more freedom with this new talent. Although, with a two-minute cooldown, it appears to be more of an "uh oh" button.


Changes to Abilities and Mechanics

:: Restoration shaman and other healing classes will need to pay attention to mana more than they've had to during Wrath of the Lich King. Spirit will be the Restoration shaman's primary mana-regeneration stat.

My feelings are hurt on this one. Ever since I was a wee little spacegoat, I've learned to run away screaming from spirit. If I have to eat this change (and it looks like I will), they'd better throw in a pony.

:: We're making changes to which classes and specs are able to dispel magic, diseases, curses, and poison, largely for PvP purposes. Shaman will have Cleanse Spirit as a baseline ability, but it will only remove curses. Restoration shaman will have a talent that will improve Cleanse Spirit so that it also removes magic. Shaman will no longer be able to remove poison.

Shamans will be able to dispell magic on friendly players. We will no longer be capable of removing poison or disease. :(

:: Cleansing Totem will be removed from the game, as we want dispels to be a decision for players, not something done mindlessly. To that end, all dispels will cost slightly more mana, and you will waste the spell if you cast it when there is nothing to remove. (Currently, the dispel is only cast when there is something to remove, which encourages spamming 'just in case.") We will balance PvE dispelling with this new model in mind.

All I can say about this is /cry

:: Totem of Wrath now will replace Flametongue Totem for all shaman, and dropping this totem will buff the group's spell power by 4%. Elemental shaman will have a talent that lets all Fire totems provide +10% spell power [...] The 4% and 10% buffs will be exclusive with each other and with the warlock's Demonic Pact, so you can't benefit from all of them at once.

Currently, if I had 4% buff now, I'd get about 125 spell power -- less than the 144 I would get from the current Flametongue Totem. If I had the 10% buff now, I'd get about 315 spell power -- more than the 280 I get from the current Totem of Wrath. Now, I'm going to make the wild assumption that by the time I hit 85, I'll have a generous amount more of spell power. So by then, 4% will be a greater boost.

Overall, this means two things: 1) A greater emphasis will be placed on gearing\gemming\etc for spell power than exists now and 2) Elemental shamans will get a little added value, as 10% extra spell power will be quite good for any raid.


New Talents and Talent Changes

:: Spirit Link will likely be worked back into deep Restoration in some form. The idea is that you will be able to link targets together so they share damage. When we had previously tried to implement Spirit Link, it was hard to balance and a little confusing. However, we really liked the concept -- and so did players -- so we are trying to bring it back.

Spirit Link was an old idea back at Lich King expansion pre-launch. As stated here, it was ultimately removed (replaced with Riptide) because it was a bit clunky and complex. I liked the idea, and I guess they did too. I just hope they can find a way to clean it up and make it fairly simple to use.

Imagine a tank who's taking massive hits from a boss, and just can't quite handle the damage. Now, what if you could link that tank with two other group\raid members and allow that damage to be shared. The hits won't be quite so hard. The tank would live. The boss would die. All thanks to Spirit Link.

:: Ancestral Knowledge will boost mana pool size, not Intellect.

Another one that leaves me scratching my head. Intellect provides a spell power boost (and will *be* spell power come the expansion), critical strike, and an increased mana pool. Losing all the intellect will be a little painful.

Strictly speaking mana pool, if that change were live now, I would have about 2635 additional mana. The current talent gives me 2025 mana. So I have 610, but not sure it's worth the loss of critical strike.

:: With the Mastery system, we're also considering removing a number of talents that grant passive bonuses, such as Tidal Mastery, Purification, Nature's Blessing, and others, to allow players more freedom to choose more interesting talents.

I guess we're not losing anything, really. The talent bonuses are just getting moved to the mastery bonus. I can't imagine these changes affecting healing much.


Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses

Restoration

:: Healing
:: Meditation
:: Deep Healing

Deep Healing: Your direct heals will do more healing when the target's health is lower. This will scale to damage (e.g. someone at 29% health would receive more healing than someone at 30%) rather than have arbitrary break points.

So, the deeper we go into the Restoration tree, we get an additional (passive) healing bonus, Meditation (for regen from spirit), and a new tool, Deep Healing.

Deep Healing looks interesting, indeed. This could result in less overheal, as the healing bonus would scale with health deficiency. It also means that the tanks needing big heals will get them, while the clothie DPS will get smaller "splash" heals when needed. All by spamming a single *new* Healing Wave.



Changes look good overall. I didn't see anything about Chain Heal, so I won't panic just yet. As the time until expansion gets shorter, I'll have to take a closer look at the new talent tree. Shamans look like they've finally recieved some attention from developers.

Dispelling a Cataclysm?

Shamans, as with all the classes, are getting a makeover for the Cataclysm expansion. So what's new?

At this point there's only one piece of information (the pony has been promised to arrive April 7). Each healing class is going to have only three of the five dispells available to them.

•Druids will be able to dispel defensive magic, curses, and poison.
•Paladins will be able to dispel defensive magic, diseases, and poison.
•Priests will be able to dispel defensive magic, offensive magic, and disease.
•Shaman (sic.) will be able to dispel defensive magic, offensive magic, and curses.

Currently, shamans can dispell offensive magic, curses, poisons, and diseases. We will lose the ability to remove poisons and diseases, in exchange for defensive magic. But even bigger than that is the news that no class will have any sort of "automatic" dispells. This means cleansing totem will be gone. R.I.P.

Too Sexy For My Tunic

I finally picked up Frost Witch's Tunic a couple weeks ago, giving me my 4-piece tier. And what do I think? I think it's pretty darn sexy.

The 2-piece bonus gives your next cast (after a Riptide) 20% additional haste. Combine that with a sub- 1.5 second Chain Heal + 25% of heal HoT, and you've got the recipe for some amazing heals.

The 2-piece bonus makes Totem of the Surging Sea look a little more interesting. Though I'm still not convinced that I'd have more uptime on it than Totem of Calming Tides. Essentially, you have to cast Riptide at least once every 15 seconds. In a 25-man raid, I don't know that I can do that. In a 10-man, Riptide is used more often, so might be more attractive for that. I'm undecided at the moment, though. Might pick it up and give it a try.

Frosty Pants

Next up for loot: Sanctified Frost Witch's Legguards. These dropped in VoA from Toravon the Ice Watcher. These happen to be the first piece of PvE resto shaman gear I have ever seen drop in VoA. Grats to me.

This means I am one piece away from my four-piece tier. At this moment, I am four Emblem of Frost away from getting my Frost Witch's Tunic. The chestpiece will be my final Tier-10 piece.

I have also picked up the Purified Lunar Dust trinket. The purpose was not really to replace any trinket full-time, but rather to augment mana regen along side the Solace of the Defeated for some encounters. On a pure mana regen basis, Solace of the Defeated is superior.

Last week, I was lucky enough to find the Bulwark of Smouldering Steel upon killing Lord Marrowgar. It was a long wait for that to drop.


What's in my sites now:

Marrowgar's Frigid Eye from Lord Marrowgar -- also Bind on Equip, so wouldn't mind finding it in the Auction House for a decent price.

Bloodsunder's Bracers dropped by Rotface.

Blood Queen's Crimson Choker (another BoE, so maybe could find it in the Auction House) from Blood-Queen Lana'thel or Holiday's Grace from Festergut.

Midnight Sun from the Gunship or Lockjaw from Rotface -- both 10-man.

New Spaulders

I was finally able to pick up some new Spaulders yesterday. The Frost Witch's Spaulders (and the other Shaman tier shoulders) probably have the best graphics of any of the other class' tier-10 shoulders.

This is a screenshot of the shoulders (no, that's not me in the picture):


As you can see, a pair of animated shoveltusk periodically appear. It doesn't have any combat effect, but it looks cool.

Resto Shaman How-To (Updated)

I've updated my Resto Shaman How-To. Enjoy!

The Shaman Split
Before the last talent change, resto shamans actually had two talent builds -- one for raid healers and one for tank healers. The trees were then merged. We end up now with a single "cookie cutter" spec. Gearing, however, may be slightly different.


Talent Selection
The basic tree looks something like this: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#hZ0xxhZx0euIeoxkrIRt

There's not a lot of wiggle room here.


Glyph Selection
There are a number of glyphs available for use.

The major glyphs I use:
Glyph of Water Mastery
Glyph of Water Tide Totem
Glyph of Chain Heal

The minor glyph I would recommend:
Glyph of Water Shield

Glyph of Earth Shield is still popular and widely used. I dropped it for the Glyph of Water Tide Totem only just recently.


Stats
In most cases, the K.I.S.S. rules have not changed much.

1) Work on Intellect until you don't go OOM
2) Work on Haste until soft cap -- 1269 haste rating
3) After Haste cap, dump everything into Spell Power

Spirit should be avoided like a smooch-happy barfly with festering herpes.

In almost all cases, you will want to stack haste until your nose bleeds. That means picking up haste gear and gemming pure haste (ignoring socket bonuses) all they way.


The Spells
Raid healing as a resto shaman will hit you in your RL pocketbook as you'll be hitting Chain Heal excessively until the buttons on your mouse no longer work. Mouse replacement cycle is rather short for us resto shamans.

For the single-target "OMG THEY'RE GONNA DIE!!!" heal, a macro with Nature's Swiftness + Tidal Force + Healing Wave is amazing. Otherwise, Riptide when off cooldown, and Lesser Healing Wave when needed.

If you are primarily tank healing, your best throughput will be with a (yes, I'm going to say it) rotation. Keep in mind, this is for tank heal spamming. Do not use it to heal entire raids! -- Riptide -> Healing Wave x2 -> Lesser Healing Wave until Riptide is available again. Of course, to pull it off, you need to be up to your eyeballs in Crit and MP5.


Tier-10
I completely skipped Tier-9... I thought it was a little underwhelming.

Tier-10, on the other hand, looks quite promising. So what pieces should you get? Start with helm and shoulders, those are the best stat allocation. Then pick up the chestpiece and gloves. As for pants, try the Lightning-Infused Leggings (though quite expensive).

If you're cheap like me, get the helm, shoulders, chestpiece, and pants. You'll then be able to get the frost emblem gloves and save yourself about 20k gold in mats from the pants.

A Month Gone By

Somewhere, I've lost a month. So what's been going on?

First, things in Dead Horse Society are moving along nicely. 25-man raids are running smoothly and I'm seeing fewer random nobodys being brought in to fill spots. The current brick wall is Festergut, but we'll have him dead before too long.

The Order of the Phoenix continues to grow and make progress. At last count, there were around 300 members on 200 unique accounts. That's rather impressive. And, unlike many other guilds, the membership is quite active. At any given time, it's not unusual to find 15 - 20 people running around. At peak times, we'll have anywhere from 25 to 40 people online. 10-man progression is in Icecrown Citadel. Festergut has been downed, but I wouldn't call it a "farm" just yet. An occasional 25-man raid can be found from time to time as well.



On the loot side, I've recieved several nice upgrades in the past week.

Belt of the Blood Nova
Great belt. I was on the verge of picking one up with Frost Emblems, but don't really need to now.

Ashen Band of Endless Wisdom
Exalted with Ashen Verdict!! Ashen Verdict is the Icecrown Citadel faction.

Althor's Abacus
Wonderful trinket. It's best-in-slot for many classes. I was just lucky to be the first one in my raid group to pick it up.

Sanctified Frost Witch's Headpiece
My first piece of Tier-10. I was able to grab the Protector's Mark of Sanctification from Deathbringer Saurfang just this week.

I need a weapon ( Midnight Sun from 10-man Gunship ), a shield ( Bulwark of Smouldering Steel from 25-man Marrowgar ), a ring ( Ring of Rapid Ascent from 25-man Gunship or Marrowgar's Frigid Eye from 25-man Marrowgar ), and a necklace ( Blood Queen's Crimson Choker from 25-man Blood-Queen Lana'thel ).

Most of it will be rather easy to get, it will just take time. I'll also have to share with others, so may not get it the first time. :( The rest of my gear will either be Tier, or is where I want it.

That's it!

WoW Armory

The Armory has now been updated. It's got some new cool features -- including animated characters.