Totemic Redesign

Classes Shaman
1

I’m not happy with the current Totemic Hero talents.

I’m copy-pasting a fan redesign I saw on US shaman forums :

Totemic in my opinion should be scrapped and redesigned - it has some good ideas, but as usual the execution fails to hit the mark.

I did a fan redesign, maybe Blizzard will see it and like something from it.

Tier 1 - Totems of Mastery
Instant 40 yd range 20 sec cooldown
Immediately summon four totems that grant you elemental buffs and augment your combat capabilities for 20 seconds.

  • Enhancement
    • Strength of Earth Totem
      Grants Strength of Earth for 20 seconds, increasing your physical damage by X%
    • Grace of Air Totem
      Grants Grace of Air for 20 seconds, increasing your haste by X%
    • Fury of Flame Totem
      Grants Fury of Flame for 20 seconds, dealing FIRE damage to all enemies within 30 yards every 5 seconds
    • Flow of Water Totem
      Grants Flow of Water, increasing the strength of your maelstrom weapon stacks by an additional X%
  • Restoration
    • Earthliving Totem
      Grants you Blessed Earth for 20 seconds, granting you the effects of Earthliving Weapon Imbue. If you already have earthliving weapon imbue, increase it’s proc chance by X%
    • Grace of Air Totem
      Grants Grace of Air for 20 seconds, increasing your haste by X%
    • Doused Flame Totem
      Grants you Doused Flame for 20 seconds, causing your initial flame shock damage to grant you X stacks of tidal waves
    • Resurgence Totem
      Grants you Resurgence for 20 seconds, granting you the effects of Resurgence. If you already have Resurgence, increase its effect by an additional X%
      • We’ve had something like this previously
      • We bypass how horrible surging totem is, because the buffs are applied to your character, so if the totems are destroyed you still get their effects

Tier 2
Totemic Echo

  • Enhancement - Stormstrike has a chance to cause your active totems to strike a nearby enemy for X nature damage.
  • Restoration - Chain heal has a chance to cause your active totems to heal a nearby ally for X.

Totemic Impact

  • Enhancement - Slam your Totems of Mastery into the ground with additional force dealing X physical damage to the nearest enemy.
  • Restoration - Slam your Totems of Mastery into the ground with additional force, coating up to 5 nearby allies in earth, reducing damage taken by 3% for X seconds.

Firewood

  • Enhancement - Lava Lash has a chance to ignite your active totems, coating a nearby enemy in burning embers dealing X fire damage for 8 seconds.
    • Get rid of fricking searing totem, now the dmg is an undispellable debuff on the enemy
    • The damage is now mobile, in case encounter is moving — searing totem does not follow and would require projection unless it has ridiculously high range

Lively Totems
Restoration - Your healing tide totem, healing stream totem, cloudburst totem, mana tide totem, and spirit link totem cast a free, instant Chain Heal when you summon them.

Tier 3

Swift Recall - Casting Totems of Mastery reduces the cooldown of your other totems by X seconds.

  • Interaction with the main hero talent

Oversized Totems - Casting Totems of Mastery increases the radius of your next totem cast by 100% and increases the health by X% of your total health.

  • Solves the issue of some totems only having 5 hp
  • Interacts with the main hero talent

Boom Sticks
Enhancement - Frost Shocks empowered by Hailstorm and Fire Nova cause one of your active totems to shoot a volley of fireballs at up to 5 enemies.

  • Get rid of searing totem
  • Making it any single active totem ensures its always available

Restoration - your healing spells cause your healing stream totems to heal a nearby ally immediately at 50% effectiveness. Cloudburst totem stores 25% additional healing.

Totemic Imbuement

  • Enhancement - Casting Totems of Mastery triggers Windfury Weapon, and increases its damage by X%

  • Restoration - Casting Totems of Mastery casts Earthliving Weapon, and increases its duration by 6 Seconds.

Master’s Flourish
Increase the effects of your Totems of Mastery by X%, but increase the cooldown by Y seconds.

Totemic Overcharge
Enhancement - Summoning a totem causes your lightning shield to overload, discharging a blast of X nature damage at your current target.

Tidecaller’s Guide
Restoration - Learn a new weapon imbue, Tidecaller’s Guard. Can only be applied to shields. Increases your healing done by 2% and increases the duration of your healing stream totem and cloudburst totem by 3 sec.

Feed the Flame (replaces Totemic Coordination)
Enhancement - Increases the critical strike chance of your burning embers by 15% and it’s critical strike damage by 30%

  • Again, removing all the downsides of searing totem while maintaining the same functionality

Totemic Coordination
Restoration - Chain heals from your totems are 30% more effective.

Tier 5
Whirling Elements
Pressing Totems of Mastery a second time, will consume the totems and their buffs, dealing enhanced effects:

  • Air
    • (Enhancement) - Your next Stormstrike or Windstrike deals X% increased damage and damages an additional enemy at 75% effectiveness
    • (Restoration) The cast time of your next healing spell is reduced by X%
  • Earth
    • (Enhancement) - Summon an earthen spike to deal X% physical damage instantly to all targets within 8 yards
    • Restoration - Your next Chain Heal applies Earthliving at 150% effectiveness to all targets hit
  • Fire
    • (enhancement) Increase the critical strike chance of your next Fire Nova or Lava Lash by 15% and its critical strike damage by 30%
    • (restoration) Extinguish your active flame shock effects, granting you X% haste for the remaining duration of your extinguished flame shock…
  • Water:
    • (Enhancement) - Gain X stacks of Maelstrom Weapons
    • (Restoration) - Instantly gain 1 charge of riptide and healing stream totem.
2

so passive buff totems ? not very exciting gameplay wise. Its also looknig a bit complicated. with the sheer amount of different effect each element grants

3

And what do you find exciting about Totemic’s current Surging Totem exactly ?
I don’t find it that complicated, as most effects are triggered via your basic damage/healing rotation…

4

To be honest, the best way to play as totemic is for totems to be placed automatically depending the skill you use based on your specialisation.

Flame shock places single target/buff fire totem

Storm strike places single target/buff air totem

Frost shock places water single target/buff totem

If you use chain lighting, lava lash to spread the flame shock +3 targets or frost shock with the AoE DMG buff, then place AoE DMG/buff totems.

Something like this would make the class simple.
Shaman already got a lot of skills and procs to press. With more skills it will make the class mechanics very confusing and will get a bad performance overall.

5

Sorry but this is a straight up downgrade from surging totem.

If the choice is between a 20 sec maintenance totem, and a 20 second totem that does heavy aoe damage, I prefer the second one in every situation, no matter the “buff” that we have to mentain.

So what is the implication here? that we want to turn the totems from a maintenance buff to a button you press twice to get some bad effects? (and I call them bad, because only the earth part of whirling elements excited me).

Generally while the totemic tree has some issues, those suggestions seem 100 times worse. We trade the main totem that deals heavy aoe damage in a big radius (one of our weak points), in order to get a maintenance buff that later on we also do not keep.

Looking at all the small nodes are just passive boring damage procs. Even searing totem, the first time they actually manage to not do it completely obnoxious to play with, you change it for even worse effects.

Generally I do not find any of these ideas interesting (speaking ONLY about the enh part, as I do not have the experience with resto to comment), and it seems more of a thing that could be implemented in classic wow.

6

Don’t apologize, you have the right to not like people’s suggestions. You want another AoE button, fine.

It could also work like TWW current capstone (with elemental motes orbiting)

Air & Fire are copy-pasta from TWW current capstone

  • Totemic rebound has this annoying totem rebound mechanic that if destroyed makes it useless.
  • Amplification core is a boring passive damage boost
  • Imbuement mastery is a boring passive damage boost
  • Supportive Imbuements is a boring passive damage boost (Flametongue also doesn’t deal any meaningful damage)
  • Oversized totem completely overlooks totems with low hp
  • Pulse Capacitor is a boring damage multiplier
  • Reactivity is gated by Lively Totems proc chance
  • Totemic Coordination is a boring passive damage multiplier

I see more issues on the current totemic tree.

Totemic current model also loses “maintenance buff” after use. You’re talking about Whirling Elements right ? Just to be clear.

I disagree. Let’s compare the two.
Here’s TWW Totemic curent version of Lively Totems :
Lava Lash has a chance to summon a Searing Totem to attack a nearby ennemy for 8 seconds

  • If target is moving and since Searing Totem range is unknown, you might have to use projection, or it might just not hit your target.
  • Can potentially be destroyed
  • Renders Reactivity useless if Searing Totems hasn’t procced.

Compared to fan redesign
Firewood
Enhancement - Lava Lash has a chance to ignite your active totems, coating a nearby enemy in burning embers dealing X fire damage for 8 seconds.

  • Damage is mobile
  • Doesn’t render Boom Sticks useless, since any active totem can shoot a voley of fireballs
    Boom Sticks
    Enhancement - Frost Shocks empowered by Hailstorm and Fire Nova cause one of your active totems to shoot a volley of fireballs at up to 5 enemies.

So, no. I don’t think we trade it for an “even worse effect”. I think this one is more flexible.
I also dislike Searing Totem, which is a relic of the past.
You were talking about things that could be implemented in classic wow, well, I think that’s part of it, and that we should move on.

You’re entitled to your opinion, I find these ideas interesting and WAY better than what is currently available on Alpha.

7

Yeah from my PoV, that node is actually not really good. I like earth because it interacts with your kit with cdr, but the 2 other nodes are buffs that you neither interact with, nor actually care about since they go away with 1 spell.

Yup, this is the reason I dislike them as stated above :stuck_out_tongue: .

Sure, although I do not pvp and cannot really comment. Also the node actually is interesting making ss “stacl” surging damage.

yup

eh, it has a small plus of making MSW gen better with more WF procs.

agree

depends, if it enables a build that make surging work with ss (that does some big numbers)

Yup

Also yes

I agree with you on the issues, all I said is that your suggestion were even more passive damage that did not even interact with our build (that would make our damage even more of a thousand cuts style).

No I was talking about the surging totem. Changing it form the current one, to a passive stat boost seemed like a straight downgrade to me. The part that we do not keep is the interaction with Whirling elements, that u dismiss the buff to get the damage.

Generally speaking, with 8 seconds duration and being tied to a melee ability, I do not see this scenario playing often.

Yes, although by saying “totemS” (plural) would make me think that the proc chance would be pretty high. But I see your point about that interaction now, and I also would not like to “wait” to use hailstorm for the I have a totem up.

8

I dont like it to be honest.

The original Surgin Totems gives you a free Healing Rain every 5s. Healing Rain lasts for 10s (in the Alpha). And you can still cast Healing Rain. I saw a video of some dude testing this and he had 4 healing rains active at once.

Currently, you can only have 1 healing rain active.

And I already forse problems with the DPS that might do in M+… to have 4 healing rains at once on a pack…

But even considering the obvious flaws, at worst : You go from having to press 1 button every 6s, with a 2s cast time. To… 1 button every 20. Instant cast.

I get that DPS wise it might be a net loss because it may randomly be cast on a caster… but even so. The fact that you free up 1/3 of the GCDs available is HUGE.

Just from the extra Chain Lightnings one casts in the time saved would be ~ 20-30k dps TODAY.

Also, I know blizz has the tech to give priority to those Healing Rains. It can prio melees, if not, tanks, if not, casters. And if you want Healing Rain in a superduper special location then just cast it yourself.

The suggestions you propose would turn it into some basic stat-stick thing. No thanks.

9

Sure !
And what about the rest of the tree ? Because theres 12 other capstones

10

Just a correction, you cannot cast healing rain, since the totem actually replaces healing rain as a spell.

As for casting healing rains on ranged, yeah sounds that this should be looked at.

11

I stand corrected.

But either way. Dosent matter.

The quality of life improvements of that totem, plus the insta cast chain heal. Its just too good. And it even helps with shaman DPS. Because our problem was precisely that : We had no free GCDs to DPS during healing moments.

So we either freed GCDs with quality of life improvements, OR, we got means to do damage while healing, and healing while damage. We got 1 or the options, which is neat.

All in all, these talents are a massive upgrade from Ancestral. Which, IMO, its gonna be completely forgotten unless they re-make it from the ground up.

But truth be told. RShaman needs a couple of talent re-distributions. Some minor adjustments like an extra defensive, and some sort of Raid buff…

So the value of these talents depends entirely on the talent tree rework. IF they ever manage to do it.

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