WoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.comWoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gifWoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.comen-usCopyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/WoW Insider ShowEvery week, the WoW Insider Show brings you news and views from the World of Warcraft and the site that covers it all, WoW Insider. We introduce a panel of rotating guests, including bloggers from WoW Insider and other WoW blogs, and many popular personalities from around the WoW community. From the live listener chat and polls during the show, to the emails direct from listeners (reach us at theshow@wow.com), right on to the "meat" of the show -- in-depth discussion of the most popular news and posts on WoW Insider -- the WoW Insider Show is a terrific source of news and entertainment about what's going on with Blizzard and their World of Warcraft. Listen live every Saturday at 3:30 pm Eastern on our Ustream page (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wow-insider-show) or subscribe to the feed and let us know what you think by reviewing the show right here in iTunes.Totem Talk: A restoration shaman hands-on with Ascendancehttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/08/totem-talk-a-restoration-shaman-hands-on-with-ascendance/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/08/totem-talk-a-restoration-shaman-hands-on-with-ascendance/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/08/totem-talk-a-restoration-shaman-hands-on-with-ascendance/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and cohost of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how

This week, we're going to talk about our level 87 ability, Ascendance. That video above is not mine, but it is pretty darn cool, so I figured I would link brandonk99ing's video here since it did such a nice job. It shows our brand new ability for Mists, which we get to play with at level 87. Each flavor of shaman gets a different version of the ability. Elemental and enchancement get some nice damage increases, while resto gets to walk around like a giant water elemental, throwing out crazy healing numbers.

Basically, while in the Water Ascendant form, all of our healing done is duplicated and distributed evenly among nearby allies. I've commented that it looks just like the ability Essence of Dreams from the Ultraxion encounter -- and to be honest, that's exactly how it feels. I figured I would share with you my impressions of the ability, now that I've gotten my hands on it.

Continue reading Totem Talk: A restoration shaman hands-on with Ascendance

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: A restoration shaman hands-on with Ascendance originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 08 May 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>ascendancefeaturedguide-to-shamansmistsmists of pandariamists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betaMistsOfPandariarestorationrestoration-shamanrestoration-shaman-columnrestoration-shaman-totem-talkshamanshaman-guideshaman-healingshaman-infoshaman-restoration-columnshaman-talentswow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJoe PerezTue, 08 May 2012 15:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: Solving the problem of Maelstrom Weaponhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/05/totem-talk-solving-the-problem-of-maelstrom-weapon/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/05/totem-talk-solving-the-problem-of-maelstrom-weapon/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/05/totem-talk-solving-the-problem-of-maelstrom-weapon/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

The default Blizzard power aura for Maelstrom Weapon
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once a lonely tauren shaman in a bad Scarlet Crusade-themed transmog set, Josh Myers is now a female dwarf shaman with pigtails who raids using all three specs on a regular basis. He kept the same transmog set, though.

When I try to think of what enhancement's most iconic ability is, a few come to mind. Windfury Weapon is a definite contender, and three or four years ago it would have been my default response. Seriously, though, what is Windfury other than a glorified auto-attack with an attack power bonus and a lower chance to miss? Likewise, Stormstrike could be iconic, but it's essentially a melee attack with both weapons with an electric graphic and a debuff. It's enhancement's Mutilate or Obliterate.

To me, Maelstrom Weapon is the answer. If there's one ability that encapsulates what enhancement is -- a brutal melee class that weaves instant spellcasts between their weapon strikes to harm their opponent or heal themselves -- I believe it's Maelstrom Weapon. It's enhancement's Death Strike, Arcane Blast, Chakra, or Raging Blow -- abilities that, at a glance, offer an insight into what makes the spec different from other specs in their role.

There's a problem here, though. If Maelstrom Weapon is enhancement's iconic ability, why is it currently so awful?

Continue reading Totem Talk: Solving the problem of Maelstrom Weapon

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: Solving the problem of Maelstrom Weapon originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 05 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>elemental-blastenhancement-shaman-dpsenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguide-to-shamansideas-for-a-better-maelstrom-weaponmaelstrom-weaponshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstotem-talk-enhancementtotem-talk-enhancement-shamanwhy-maelstrom-weapon-needs-helpwow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJosh MyersSat, 05 May 2012 16:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: Mists talents for restoration shaman, tier by tierhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/24/totem-talk-mists-talents-for-restoration-shaman-tier-by-tier/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/24/totem-talk-mists-talents-for-restoration-shaman-tier-by-tier/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/24/totem-talk-mists-talents-for-restoration-shaman-tier-by-tier/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Shaman talents
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and cohost of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how

The talent systems for Mists of Pandaria is one that's received quite a bit of attention since it was first announced, and with good reason. It's a complete revamp of the current system, a reduction of the total number of talents by a considerable amount and an attempt to make the talents something more fun and less mandatory.

We've talked about them since they were announced at BlizzCon 2011, but talking and speculating about them is much different than actually sitting down and getting to test them out for yourself. Today, I'm going to talk about my own personal experience with these talents, and I'm going to offer up my own opinions, just like the last article. The talent system now doles out talents every 15 levels, presenting a clear tier structure to anyone looking at them, and that's exactly how we'll tackle them.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Mists talents for restoration shaman, tier by tier

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: Mists talents for restoration shaman, tier by tier originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>featuredguide-to-shamansrestoResto-Shamanrestorationrestoration-shamanrestoration-shaman-columnrestoration-shaman-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-healingshaman-infoshaman-restoration-columnshaman-talentswow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJoe PerezTue, 24 Apr 2012 12:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: The highs and lows of Ascendance for DPS shamanhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/21/totem-talk-the-highs-and-lows-of-ascendance-for-dps-shaman/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/21/totem-talk-the-highs-and-lows-of-ascendance-for-dps-shaman/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/21/totem-talk-the-highs-and-lows-of-ascendance-for-dps-shaman/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once a lonely tauren shaman in a bad Scarlet Crusade-themed transmog set, Josh Myers is now a female dwarf shaman with pigtails who raids using all three specs on a regular basis. He kept the same transmog set, though.

Elamism didn't hit level 87 on the beta this week. It wasn't for lack of trying, but something more akin to lack of time. Despite grabbing two heroic No'kaleds from our first heroic Madness kill two weeks ago, I still had guild raiding to do this week (I ended up picking up a heroic Rathrak for my elemental spec, so I can't complain too much), and I had to make preparations for my trip to Michigan next week. Coupled with the fact that I had to dedicate a night to testing my arcane mage as well, I wasn't able to dedicate enough alone time with my shaman to hit level 87.

Thankfully, other people have had the opportunity to play more than I did (special thanks to Ashunera, who graciously allowed me to use this Ascendance video here). It's thanks to Ashunera that we've gotten our first taste of Ascendance, the new class ability coming to shaman in Mists of Pandaria. Spoiler alert: It's totally and completely awesome.

Continue reading Totem Talk: The highs and lows of Ascendance for DPS shaman

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: The highs and lows of Ascendance for DPS shaman originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>ascendanceascendance-mopfeaturedguide-to-shamansmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betamopshaman-ascendanceshaman-ascendance-betashaman-ascendance-mopshaman-betashaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-mopshaman-talentstotem-talktotem-talk-elemental-shamantotem-talk-enhancement-shamantotem-talk-shaman-elementaltotem-talk-shaman-enhancementwow-mop-betawow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJosh MyersSat, 21 Apr 2012 20:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: First impressions of restoration shaman in Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/10/totem-talk-first-impressions-of-restoration-shaman-in-mists-of/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/10/totem-talk-first-impressions-of-restoration-shaman-in-mists-of/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/10/totem-talk-first-impressions-of-restoration-shaman-in-mists-of/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Temple Lodur
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and cohost of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how

Well, I finally got my hands on some beta access for Mists of Pandaria, and the first thing I did was make sure good old Lodur got copied over for some healing experimentation. I mean, after all, that's what I live for. Before doing any healing, though, it was time to poke around and see how things have changed.

And boy, have they! Even though I expected it, it was quite jarring to log in to Mists and see that Lodur had a measly 100,000 mana to work with. Any of you out there would probably notice that this is almost half of what we're sporting on our final run-through of Dragon Soul. While it is daunting, it's something that we have to keep in mind will be compensated with mana regen and increasing the mana pool as we level up to 90.

Continue reading Totem Talk: First impressions of restoration shaman in Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: First impressions of restoration shaman in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>featuredguide-to-shamansmistsMists-of-Pandaira-Talent-Calculatormists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betamists-of-pandaria-talent-changesmists-of-pandaria-talentsrestoResto-Shamanrestorationrestoration-shamanrestoration-shaman-columnrestoration-shaman-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-healingshaman-infoshaman-restoration-columnshaman-talentswow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJoe PerezTue, 10 Apr 2012 09:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: First impressions of elemental shaman in Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/06/totem-talk-first-impressions-of-elemental-shaman-in-mists-of-pa/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/06/totem-talk-first-impressions-of-elemental-shaman-in-mists-of-pa/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/06/totem-talk-first-impressions-of-elemental-shaman-in-mists-of-pa/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Outlandish's guild screencap of their victory over heroic madness
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once a lonely tauren shaman in a bad Scarlet Crusade-themed transmog set, Josh Myers is now a female dwarf shaman with pigtails who raids as all three specs on a regular basis. He kept the same transmog set, though.

"Elamism, Savior of Azeroth" has a nice ring to it. For the first time in my time raiding, I'm officially done with a tier of raiding before the next has been released, and I'm pretty psyched about that. (The fact that I picked up two heroic No'Kaleds for my enhancement spec has me grinning ear to ear.) With Dragon Soul behind me, I can start focusing on the future, which makes it very timely that my invite to the Mists of Pandaria beta came last night.

Before my raid tonight, I got to spend some time playing elemental on the beta, and I have some good news and some bad news to report. The bad news? Not much has changed from live for beta elemental shaman. The good news? Not much has changed from live for beta elemental shaman.

Part of this is a level cap issue. Pandaria is only open for leveling up to level 86 at the moment, which means that you don't yet have access to any of the real game-changers being introduced in Mists of Pandaria. Ascendence, our new DPS cooldown and all-around coolest spell in the game, will be our prize for hitting level 87, and the tier of talents that includes Elemental Blast, Unleashed Fury, and Primal Elementalist isn't available until level 90. Since those talents are all complex and will all drastically effect your DPS, there's a lot to look forward to.

Continue reading Totem Talk: First impressions of elemental shaman in Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: First impressions of elemental shaman in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>astral-shiftbeta-mists-of-pandariabeta-mopelemental-betaelemental-first-impressionselemental-mists-of-pandariaelemental-mopelemental-shamanelemental-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguide-to-shamanshealing-stream-totemhealing-tide-totemshaman-guideshaman-in-mopshaman-infoshaman-talentsshaman-totemsshaman-totems-redesignedstone-bulwark-totemwow-elemental-shamanwow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJosh MyersFri, 06 Apr 2012 16:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: The state of Telluric Currents and speculating for Mistshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/27/totem-talk-the-state-of-telluric-currents-and-speculating-for-m/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/27/totem-talk-the-state-of-telluric-currents-and-speculating-for-m/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/27/totem-talk-the-state-of-telluric-currents-and-speculating-for-m/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and cohost of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how

Time to revisit this topic again. You're probably asking yourself why we're talking about this again. Well, to be honest, it's because it's the end of an expansion cycle. While we're prepping for the next expansion that will shake up mechanics and stats, we find ourselves at a point of speculation -- and therefore, things like Telluric Currents find themselves back in the crosshairs, so to speak.

The talent itself is something you use, or you don't use. There are some hard facts about the talent. You do not need to stack hit to make it useful, only to make sure every bolt hits. It is not mana neutral, using the talent and casting Lightning Bolt will indeed fill up your mana bar. It can be used to supplement low spirit totals for beginning healers, and can be used in certain phases on raid bosses to maintain healing mana totals. Whether it is optional or mandatory depends on a lot of factors up to and including the team you're healing with and the content you're healing through.

Continue reading Totem Talk: The state of Telluric Currents and speculating for Mists

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: The state of Telluric Currents and speculating for Mists originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 27 Mar 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>featuredguide-to-shamansmistsmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-speculationmists-of-pandaria-talentsrestoResto-Shamanrestorationrestoration-shamanrestoration-shaman-columnrestoration-shaman-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-healingshaman-infoshaman-restoration-columnshaman-talentsshamanstelluric-currentswow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJoe PerezTue, 27 Mar 2012 17:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: Level 90 talents for enhancement shaman in MoPhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/totem-talk-level-90-talents-for-enhancement-shaman-in-mop/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/totem-talk-level-90-talents-for-enhancement-shaman-in-mop/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/totem-talk-level-90-talents-for-enhancement-shaman-in-mop/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Screenshot of MoP's new Ascendance ability
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once a lonely tauren shaman in a bad Scarlet Crusade-themed transmog set, Josh Myers is now a female dwarf shaman with pigtails who raids as all three specs on a regular basis. He kept the same transmog set, though.

It's here!

As I'm writing this, it's past midnight Thursday night on the east coast, which means I could be referring to two things. If you're a preteen or, like me, you have a very odd and indescribable man crush on Josh Hutcherson, I'm probably referring to the Hunger Games movie. More likely, though, I'm referring to the Mists of Pandaria beta, which was released in the middle of the night on Wednesday. Probably.

MoP beta brings with it a lot of things, and chief among them is our long-awaited level 90 tier of talents. If you remember correctly, the first incarnation of this tier was awful, and everyone hated them. Fortunately, Blizzard listened to feedback and scrapped those, but new talents weren't included in the updated talent calculator a month ago, and we've been living in a state of suspense since then.

These new talents are all game-changers. The cool thing about them is that every one of them is going to impact your rotation in a new and interesting way, and I can see uses for all three of them. Those are the sort of talent choices that have me jumping for joy, and I'm very excited to see how this all plays out.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Level 90 talents for enhancement shaman in MoP

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: Level 90 talents for enhancement shaman in MoP originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 24 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>elemental-blastenhancement-in-mopenhancement-mopEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-level-90enhancement-shaman-talentsenhancement-shaman-talents-mopenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguide-to-shamanslevel-90-shaman-talentsprimal-elementalistshaman-guideshaman-in-mopshaman-infoshaman-mopshaman-talentstalents-in-mopunleashed-furywow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJosh MyersSat, 24 Mar 2012 20:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: Getting resurrected restoration shaman back to speed, and level 90 talentshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/20/totem-talk-getting-resurrected-restoration-shaman-back-to-speed/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/20/totem-talk-getting-resurrected-restoration-shaman-back-to-speed/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/20/totem-talk-getting-resurrected-restoration-shaman-back-to-speed/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and cohost of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how

The Scroll of Resurrection revamp has been a topic of hot debate recently. Whether you love it or hate it, the feature's still an opportunity for our healing brethren to come back after a long break. To be honest, one of my friends has done just that.

But being away from the game for any period of time, whether it is an entire expansion or just a content patch, can be jarring. So when my friend reactivated, I asked him what his most pressing concerns were coming back to Cataclysm. What did he want to know the most to get back up to speed? I thought that were probably quite a few number of folks coming back to the game who might have the same questions, so I figured now would be the perfect time to talk about that, as well as some news regarding the new level 90 talents that we just received.

Oh, and the video has nothing to do with today's post ... I just had that song stuck in my head.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Getting resurrected restoration shaman back to speed, and level 90 talents

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: Getting resurrected restoration shaman back to speed, and level 90 talents originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>featuredguide-to-shamansmistsmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-talent-changesmists-of-pandaria-talentsrestoResto-Shamanrestorationrestoration-shamanrestoration-shaman-columnrestoration-shaman-totem-talkscroll-of-resurrectionshaman-guideshaman-healingshaman-infoshaman-restoration-columnshaman-talentswow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJoe PerezTue, 20 Mar 2012 13:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: Hit rating, expertise, and enhancement in Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/17/totem-talk-hit-rating-expertise-and-enhancement-in-mists-of-p/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/17/totem-talk-hit-rating-expertise-and-enhancement-in-mists-of-p/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/17/totem-talk-hit-rating-expertise-and-enhancement-in-mists-of-p/#commentsFiled under: ,

Raid group takes on the Madness of Deathwing encounter
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once a lonely tauren shaman in a bad Scarlet Crusade-themed transmog set, Josh Myers is now a female dwarf shaman with pigtails who raids as all three specs on a regular basis. He kept the same transmog set, though.

A long time ago, in a Mulgore far, far away, I was a young tauren shaman who was attempting to gear up as enhancement after hitting level 70 for the first time. Enhancement shaman who have only started playing within the last two years won't remember the confusing beast that was enhancement gearing of yesteryear, but it was an adventure.

First off, we gemmed strength exclusively. Yes, strength. Despite sharing gear with hunters, we got more (read: any) attack power from strength than we did from agility. More importantly, and this is where Mists of Pandaria changes will come into play, the enhancement shaman of The Burning Crusade didn't try for hit rating on their gear. In fact, we avoided it like a bear tank gemming agility avoids sunders on Warmaster Blackhorn. We did like expertise, which made the few items it existed on like Shard of Contempt best in slot, but it was almost never included on items, and there were no expertise gems. As a result, the majority of enhancement shaman ran with nearly zero hit rating and zero expertise.

If you're reading this today, your jaw might have hit the floor. Never, you'll say, while pulling up your character sheet and crying over the whopping 2,284 secondary stat points we need to put into hit rating and expertise. Yes, you read that correctly. We spend 2,284 stat points simply making sure we can actually hit the boss.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Hit rating, expertise, and enhancement in Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: Hit rating, expertise, and enhancement in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 17 Mar 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>enhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-dpsenhancement-shaman-mists-of-pandariaEnhancement-Shaman-mopenhancement-shaman-totem-talkexpertiseexpertise-in-mopexpertise-ratingfeaturedguide-to-shamansmelee-hitshaman-guideshaman-in-mopshaman-infoshaman-talentsspell-hitstats-in-mopwow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJosh MyersSat, 17 Mar 2012 18:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: Restoration shaman buffs and debuffs in Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/13/totem-talk-restoration-shaman-buffs-and-debuffs-in-mists-of-pan/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/13/totem-talk-restoration-shaman-buffs-and-debuffs-in-mists-of-pan/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/13/totem-talk-restoration-shaman-buffs-and-debuffs-in-mists-of-pan/#commentsFiled under: ,

Totem Love
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and cohost of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how

Every time there is a new update whenever we're waiting for an expansion, it's super hard not to be excited. We'll be getting a flood of information about the expansion soon -- I can feel that in my bones -- but in the meantime, we have had a steady trickle of information, ranging from the talent calculator updates to the recently discovered and discussed list of buffs and debuffs in Mists.

Thursday, though, Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street made a blog post about consolidating buffs and debuffs in Mists of Pandaria. The first thing any shaman will notice is that buff totems have gone the way of Sentry Totem. This shouldn't be that surprising, really, since at BlizzCon 2011, Blizzard stated that this was going to happen. However, it means that raid buffs will be mobile and travel with you at all times -- a great thing for PvP and for PvE utility, but a bad thing for anyone who cares about the flavor of totems.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Restoration shaman buffs and debuffs in Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: Restoration shaman buffs and debuffs in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 13 Mar 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>featuredguide-to-shamansmistsmists of pandaria restoration shamanmists-of-pandariaMistsOfPandariaRestorationShamanrestoResto-Shamanrestorationrestoration-shamanrestoration-shaman-columnrestoration-shaman-totem-talkshamanshaman-guideshaman-healingshaman-infoshaman-restoration-columnshaman-talentstotemtotemswow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJoe PerezTue, 13 Mar 2012 09:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: Enhancement buffs and debuffs in Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/10/totem-talk-enhancement-buffs-and-debuffs-in-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/10/totem-talk-enhancement-buffs-and-debuffs-in-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/10/totem-talk-enhancement-buffs-and-debuffs-in-mists-of-pandaria/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

A crab holding a sword with a wizard's hat and flavor text.
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once a lonely tauren shaman in a bad Scarlet Crusade-themed transmog set, Josh Myers
is now a female dwarf shaman with pigtails who raids as all three specs on a regular basis. He kept the same transmog set, though.

I'm doing my best not to be excited for Mists of Pandaria yet. This is partly because we've not even seen a hint of the beta starting yet and thus have a few more months of patch 4.3 to play before MoP comes out. This is also partly due to the fact that my new guild just started heroic Spine of Deathwing attempts, and I'm not sure I'm ever going to look forward to anything ever again. Ever.

Even though I'll never be excited for anything ever again, Blizzard has released some juicy new MoP information over the past two weeks, and a good chunk of it pertains to enhancement shaman. If you still have the ability to be excited for things, this something you want to read. If you're also progressing on heroic Spine of Deathwing, you probably still want to read this ... if only to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Enhancement buffs and debuffs in Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: Enhancement buffs and debuffs in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 10 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>buff-debuff-designbuffsdebuffsenhanceenhancementenhancement-in-mopEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-buff-debuff-designmists-of-pandaria-speculationmopshaman-dpsshaman-dps-mopunleashed-rageunleashed-rage-qqJosh MyersSat, 10 Mar 2012 20:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: Possible talents for restoration shamanhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/totem-talk-possible-talents-for-restoration-shaman/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/totem-talk-possible-talents-for-restoration-shaman/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/totem-talk-possible-talents-for-restoration-shaman/#commentsFiled under: ,

at the Shaman bar
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and cohost of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how

It's been a number of weeks since the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator was updated. It was pretty exciting, with everything that got shifted around. I mean, our level 90 talents basically got shifted around to a lower level, leaving a bit of a gaping hole with the ever classic "coming soon" from Blizzard.

I don't know about you, but since then I've been wondering what could possibly be good enough to be our level 90 talents but not be so good that there was no way to have us be balanced. I posed the question at the end of next week, inviting you to speculate with me as to what our level 90 talents could be, what we would like to see if it were up to us to pick our level 90 talents.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Possible talents for restoration shaman

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: Possible talents for restoration shaman originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 06 Mar 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>featuredguide-to-shamansmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-speculationmists-of-pandaria-talentsrestoResto-Shamanrestorationrestoration-shamanrestoration-shaman-columnrestoration-shaman-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-healingshaman-infoshaman-restoration-columnshaman-talentswow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJoe PerezTue, 06 Mar 2012 13:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: Loot to maximize your elemental shaman's masteryhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/03/totem-talk-loot-to-maximize-your-elemental-shamans-mastery/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/03/totem-talk-loot-to-maximize-your-elemental-shamans-mastery/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/03/totem-talk-loot-to-maximize-your-elemental-shamans-mastery/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Elam, the recently-dwarvenized shaman.
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once just the expert on enhancement shaman, Josh Myers has spent most of Dragon Soul as elemental, and he's not quite sure how he got there. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Mastery is my favorite stat in World of Warcraft because it's the only stat that actually changes function from class to class. Haste might speed up rune regeneration for death knights, or fire mages might view a huge critical strike chance more happily than an affliction warlock, but those stats do largely the same thing across classes. On the other hand, the mastery of an elemental shaman is incredibly different than a holy paladin, which is a big change from a protection warrior.

Lucky for me, this patch gave rise to mastery as elemental's key secondary stat after hitting the spell hit cap. It's been a good stat all expansion but sat solidly behind haste through all of Firelands and much of tier 11. With Dragon Soul out and most ele shaman who have been playing the past few months now wearing their tier 13 sets, it's mastery's turn to shine.

The reason for mastery's newfound glory is the Spiritwalker's Regalia four-piece bonus, which gives you 250 haste rating every time your Elemental Overload procs, stacking up to three times and lasting four seconds. At a full stack, this is effectively 750 free haste rating that you get just for gearing for mastery. However, this stack falls off quickly, and chances are you'll only get one or two spellcasts off before it drops. As a result, you want a lot of mastery, to give the two casts you do get a fair chance at keeping the buff up.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Loot to maximize your elemental shaman's mastery

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: Loot to maximize your elemental shaman's mastery originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 03 Mar 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>ele-shaman-masteryele-shaman-tier-13elemental-shamanelemental-shaman-gear-guideelemental-shaman-hasteelemental-shaman-totem-talkFair Warninghaste-vs-masteryJosh MyersJoystiqLightning Boltmastery-gear-for-elementalJosh MyersSat, 03 Mar 2012 14:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: While my Chain Heal gently weepshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/28/totem-talk-while-my-chain-heal-gently-weeps/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/28/totem-talk-while-my-chain-heal-gently-weeps/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/28/totem-talk-while-my-chain-heal-gently-weeps/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and cohost of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how

Last week was a massive update to the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator for shaman in general but especially for restoration shaman. There were quite a number of surprises, a fair amount of tweaks and the implementation of a brand new mystery in our yet-to-be-named level 90 talents.

Among all those changes was one that I didn't bring up. Instead, I wanted to wait until this week because I felt the topic required a bit of time all to itself. That is the change to Riptide in the new talent calculator. No longer will it be consumed by Chain Heal whenever we cast it on someone with Riptide as our primary target. This is certainly a cause for celebration, and as I imagined it in my head, Chain Heal gently wept with happiness at the news.

While we're at it, be sure to enjoy the ukulele stylings of Jake Shimabukuro, who is a genius on the uke.

Continue reading Totem Talk: While my Chain Heal gently weeps

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: While my Chain Heal gently weeps originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>guide-to-shamanshealingrestoResto-Shamanrestorationrestoration-shamanrestoration-shaman-columnrestoration-shaman-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-healingshaman-infoshaman-restoration-columnshaman-talentsshamanswow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJoe PerezTue, 28 Feb 2012 19:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: 3 reasons enhancement shaman should be excited for Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/totem-talk-3-reasons-enhance-shaman-should-be-excited-for-mists/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/totem-talk-3-reasons-enhance-shaman-should-be-excited-for-mists/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/totem-talk-3-reasons-enhance-shaman-should-be-excited-for-mists/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Pandaren kicking a fireball
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once just the expert on enhancement shaman, Josh Myers has spent most of Dragon Soul as elemental, and he's not quite sure how he got there. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

I'm going to be honest: I still love Cataclysm. I know that it has a lot of problems, but I think a lot of the issues people have with Cataclym are that it isn't Burning Crusade (or vanilla, for that matter), and I'm very much an enemy of nostalgia. Especially in comparison to its immediate predecessor, Cataclysm has a lot of things going for it. Class balance is in a better place across the board than it was in Wrath. Even though Firelands was a giant explosion of red and orange visual vomit, it still doesn't compare to Trial of the Crusader's single room. And, even though we've not been amazing at all during any of Cataclysm, enhancement shaman haven't actually sucked during any patch, much less the entire last year of the expansion.

That said, I'm terribly excited for Mists of Pandaria. Part of the excitement is that for once in my life I'll have a horde race to play that isn't tauren as I hate all the other choices, and The Amazing Panda Adventure was possibly my favorite movie from 1995. Another part of the excitement is that Mists of Pandaria is new and shiny and it's only human to love things that are new and shiny. I love some of the new ideas Blizzard has cooked up for level 90 players, from PVE scenarios to companion pet battles. Yes, I was young enough to play Pokemon when it was relevant, but I'm also old enough to not be ashamed of wanting to play it again.

Most importantly, though, I'm most excited for the potentials changes coming to enhancement in MoP. Enhancement has had some pretty glaring issues for a good part of this expansion, even if we regularly remained competitive. Thankfully, some of the changes that came in last week's updated talent calculator look like they'll be on the road to solving these issues when Mists drops.

Continue reading Totem Talk: 3 reasons enhancement shaman should be excited for Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: 3 reasons enhancement shaman should be excited for Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 25 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>ascendanceenhanceenhance-shamanenhancement-cooldownenhancement-shamanenhancement-shaman-dpsenhancement-shaman-mists-of-pandariaenhancement-shaman-mopenhancement-shaman-totem-talkguide-to-shamansMists-of-Pandaira-Talent-Calculatormists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-speculationshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentswow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJosh MyersSat, 25 Feb 2012 18:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: Mists of Pandaria resto talent calculator updatehttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/21/totem-talk-mists-of-pandaria-resto-talent-calculator-update/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/21/totem-talk-mists-of-pandaria-resto-talent-calculator-update/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/21/totem-talk-mists-of-pandaria-resto-talent-calculator-update/#commentsFiled under: ,

A shaman and his bird
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and cohost of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how

The last few updates to the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator has seen some updates for the other healer types in WoW, but restoration shaman were left untouched from what we saw at BlizzCon 2011. That fact alone was starting to concern many of us, as we eagerly wait to see what we'll get for new spells and what we'll see our talents morph into.

Well, this time around, the latest update to the talent calculator certainly has some things for the restoration-minded shaman to enjoy. Talents have been moved around -- some removed and others just reorganized -- and we get our first glimpse at a new spell.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Mists of Pandaria resto talent calculator update

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: Mists of Pandaria resto talent calculator update originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>class-helpfeaturedguideguide-to-shamansmistsmists of pandariamists of pandaria restoration shamanMists-of-Pandaira-Talent-Calculatormists-of-pandaria-speculationmists-of-pandaria-talent-changesmists-of-pandaria-talentsMistsOfPandariaMistsOfPandariaRestorationShamanrestoResto-Shamanrestorationrestoration-shamanrestoration-shaman-columnrestoration-shaman-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-healingshaman-infoshaman-restoration-columnshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guideJoe PerezTue, 21 Feb 2012 13:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: What MoP talent updates mean for DPS shamanhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/18/totem-talk-what-mop-talent-updates-mean-for-dps-shaman/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/18/totem-talk-what-mop-talent-updates-mean-for-dps-shaman/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/18/totem-talk-what-mop-talent-updates-mean-for-dps-shaman/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once just the expert on enhancement shaman, Josh Myers has spent most of Dragon Soul as elemental, and he's not quite sure how he got there. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

When the Mists of Pandaria talent trees first debuted, I wasn't the most pleased DPS shaman on the block. I wasn't exactly displeased, either; my emotional involvement was most summed up by the word "meh." Stone Bulwark Totem looked interesting; Healing Tide Totem had me super psyched; and Echo of the Elements looked insanely powerful, stacked with elemental's mastery. On the flipside, the entire third tier of talents looked super boring, and the top tier of level 90 talents was so underwhelming that I almost wrote off the new talent system as a lost cause.

Thankfully, we're not in even the closed friends-and-family beta yet, and so I knew changes would definitely be implemented in time. I've been looking forward to Wednesday's talent calculator update for nearly three months now, and I'm glad to see that I wasn't terribly let down. While there still are some definite issues with the tree as it stands, Blizzard's already said that we were one of the two classes that it's currently focusing on, which is why our level 90 tier of talents is still empty. As long as the original talents don't come back, I can only get happier. To top it all off, the new talent tree reveal also showed us our level 87 spell, which is looking to be one of the coolest in our arsenal.

Continue reading Totem Talk: What MoP talent updates mean for DPS shaman

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: What MoP talent updates mean for DPS shaman originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>air-ascendanceascendanceclass-helpelementalelemental-shamanelemental-shaman-totem-talkelemental-talents-mists-of-pandariaenhanceenhance-mists-of-pandariaenhance-talents-mists-of-pandariaenhancement-shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedflame-ascendanceguideguide-to-shamansmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-talent-changesmists-of-pandaria-talentsshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guideJosh MyersSat, 18 Feb 2012 14:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: 5 ways to look like a bad restoration shamanhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/14/totem-talk-5-ways-to-look-like-a-bad-restoration-shaman/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/14/totem-talk-5-ways-to-look-like-a-bad-restoration-shaman/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/14/totem-talk-5-ways-to-look-like-a-bad-restoration-shaman/#commentsFiled under: ,

styling shaman
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and cohost of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how.

Sometimes knowing how to do well at something relies on knowing what not to do. Over time, we can accumulate some pretty bad habits, and if we're not careful, they can make us look like a terrible healer or a complete and total noob. There's nothing worse than that feeling of being the cause of a wipe or looking like you don't know what you're doing.

That's sometimes the hardest thing a new restoration shaman faces when starting out healing groups in instances and the Raid Finder. It's OK, though -- just because you're a beginner doesn't mean you have to look like the world's worst healer. I've compiled a list of things you can and should avoid doing.

Continue reading Totem Talk: 5 ways to look like a bad restoration shaman

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: 5 ways to look like a bad restoration shaman originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>class-helpfeaturedguideguide-to-shamansrestorationrestoration-shamanrestoration-shaman-columnrestoration-shaman-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-healingshaman-infoshaman-restoration-columnshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guideJoe PerezTue, 14 Feb 2012 12:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: Maximize your fire elemental DPS on Ultraxionhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/04/totem-talk-maximize-your-fire-elemental-dps-on-ultraxion/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/04/totem-talk-maximize-your-fire-elemental-dps-on-ultraxion/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/04/totem-talk-maximize-your-fire-elemental-dps-on-ultraxion/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Ultraxion flying in Dragon Soul
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once just the expert on enhancement shaman, Josh Myers has spent most of Dragon Soul as elemental, and he's not quite sure how he got there. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Of all the fights in Dragon Soul, Ultraxion on heroic mode is the ultimate DPS check. Heroic Spine of Deathwing definitely tests your raid group's ability to do a large amount of damage in a miniscule amount of time, but Ultraxion forces your group to maximize its sustained DPS. As a result, it's very commonly the first real wall most heroic progression guilds hit, at least until they can get the gear to make it a cakewalk. If you're working on heroic-mode Ultraxion or are having trouble killing him on normal, there are a few things you can do to maximize your elemental shaman's DPS on this specific fight.

Gear, glyphs, and talents

First off, the easiest way to help your DPS on Ultraxion is to check your glyphs. Most elemental shaman nowadays run with Glyph of Unleashed Lightning as one of their prime glyphs. This makes sense for nearly every other fight in Dragon Soul, as they all require some amount of movement. Ultraxion, however, is a straight up stand-there-and-shoot-lightning-and-lava-until-your-fingers-fall-off-or-he-dies fight, and Glyph of Unleashed Lightning gives absolutely zero DPS if you're not moving. Switching this out for Glyph of Lightning Bolt will give you a slight boost in numbers. Your three glyph choices should be Lightning Bolt, Flame Shock, and Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem; more on the FET glyph choice in a second.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Maximize your fire elemental DPS on Ultraxion

WoW InsiderTotem Talk: Maximize your fire elemental DPS on Ultraxion originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>buffing-fire-elemental-totemclass-helpelementalelemental-shamanelemental-shaman-dpselemental-single-targetfeaturedfire-elemental-totemguideguide-to-shamansintellect-procs-elementalpower-auraspre-pottingshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsultraxionultraxion-elementalworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guideJosh MyersSat, 04 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST