tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16391164818598477182024-03-14T01:42:20.991-05:00World of SazPenned from an upstairs room in the Salty Sailor Tavern.Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.comBlogger291125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-53656086178539309932016-10-23T04:58:00.001-05:002016-10-23T06:48:03.670-05:00Enhancement Resources for LegionWith the retirement of Totemspot and seeing a large swath of incorrect information flying around, I thought it was time for me to come out of my perpetual silence to share with you all a list of resources and FAQs to help you combat the Legion as an Enhancement shaman. <i><u>Please keep in mind that this is accurate as of patch 7.1. For the most up to date information, keep an eye on the Enhancement channel in Earthrine.</u></i><br />
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">General Resources</span></u></b></div>
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<a href="https://discord.me/earthshrine" target="_blank">Earthshrine</a> - The official Shaman Discord channel. Better than IRC or a forum! Check the pins in the appropriate channels for links to all sorts of resources. Check the #Welcome-Readfirst channel for a list of links to the other class Discord channels.<br />
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<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/guides/classes/shaman/enhancement/overview" target="_blank">Wordup's Enhancement Guide</a> - Found on Wowhead, this is your best starting point for Enhancement. Yes, he keeps it up to date. No, Icy-Veins is not 100% accurate at this time (sadly). No, Noxxic is not even remotely useful, stay clear. Keep to Wordup's guide.<br />
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<a href="https://youtu.be/Z3iGDFGT_1E" target="_blank">Wordup's Enhancement Weakauras</a> - I run a watered down/altered version of this set. Most of what you could want to track as Enhancement can be found within this pack.<br />
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<a href="https://mods.curse.com/addons/wow/hekili" target="_blank">Hekili's Priority Helper</a> - If you need help with your rotation, this is the best there is. Hekili keeps this well up to date and is constantly making tweaks to help you get the most bang for your button press. Also available for Retribution and Windwalker.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>FAQ</u></b></span></div>
<br />
Any Frequently Asked Question not found here can be found within Wordup's guide over on Wowhead. I may add on to this list at a later date.<br />
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Q: What are the benefits of playing Enhancement?<br />
A: Strong single target damage, strong consistent cleave, decent mobility, decent self healing. Some nice utility (AoE root/slow OR AoE stun OR AoE CC, strong single target CC, AoE movement speed) that can benefit a raid but especially shines in 5 man content. Plus, some pretty neat aesthetics. Outside of burst AoE scenarios, we're one of the stronger melee specs in game currently.<br />
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Q: What are our stat priorities?<br />
A: Mastery > Haste > Versatility >> Crit<br />
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Q: When I Sim myself, haste comes out higher. Why? <br />
A: Trinket types or current gear can skew Sim results. Incredibly low haste levels could be causing your Sim to favor more haste. In most scenarios it's still more beneficial to continue to stick to mastery gems and enchants. Chances are you'll gain and change out gear frequently as you continue to improve your ilvl, which will alter your stat balances.<br />
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Q: Icy-Veins says I need 17% haste, is this true?<br />
A: No. There is no haste soft cap for Enhancement. Hardcap is 100% and we'll likely not see that within this expansion, even with stat bloat.<br />
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Q: Is there a mastery hardcap?<br />
A: Nope. The more, the better.<br />
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Q: Where can I find a BiS gear list?<br />
A: There isn't one. Thanks to the Warforged/Titanforged system, it's a complete pain in the butt to Sim every gearing scenario. Take what you can get and when in doubt, Sim it.<br />
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Q: Is there a BiS list for trinkets?<br />
A: <a href="http://puu.sh/rLzwV/6dc1f0f600.png" target="_blank">This</a> is the closest thing you'll get. Up to date as of October 17, 2016 by Wordup. Keep in mind that you'll need to Sim yourself if you have trinkets of varying ilvl; secondary stat levels may change how well certain trinkets perform for you.<br />
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Q: Everyone keeps telling me to Sim myself! How do I do this?<br />
A: Check out <a href="https://youtu.be/V8XatwSqe7Q" target="_blank">this guide</a> to get you started.<br />
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Q: What's the best artifact path?<br />
A: You can find Wordup's quick and dirty recommendation chart <a href="http://puu.sh/qPdtm/b571db7994.png" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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Q: Best race for Enhancement?<br />
A: All races Sim very closely. If you're asking this question, you're likely not playing at a level where the race of your character will impact your performance. Choose whichever race you like best and which racials you think you'll personally benefit from the most.<br />
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Q: Best Shaman Class Hall followers?<br />
A: Here's a <a href="http://imgur.com/a/K4tWN" target="_blank">nifty chart</a>. If you'd like to keep Rehgar as a bodyguard, consider deactivating Avalanch.<br />
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Q: Best Shaman Class Hall traits?<br />
A: Personal preference.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Media Links</u></b></span> </div>
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The following are the fellow Enhancement Shaman folks that I personally recommend. My media production as of this post is on semi-hiatus. You'll see some videos from me crop up here and there, but nothing particularly useful.<br />
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If you're ever in need of Restoration or Elemental people to follow, please don't hesitate to give me a poke on <a href="https://twitter.com/SerenitySaz" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. I'll happily redirect you to some awesome folks. <br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/wordup834/videos" target="_blank">Wordup's Youtube</a> - Guides, previews, and Mythic content, oh my! <br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/von_wordup" target="_blank">Wordup's Twitter</a> - Enhancement talk and occasionally some sass.<br />
<a href="https://www.twitch.tv/wordup834" target="_blank">Wordup's Twitch</a> - Best hair EU. Streams sporadically, but worth catching when he does.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hekili808" target="_blank">Hekili's Twitter</a> - Best taco dog on the net. Addon stuff, terrible puns.<br />
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<a href="https://www.twitch.tv/maelfus" target="_blank">Maelfus' Twitch</a> - Streams more frequently than Wordup, but not by much. Dies a lot. I'm often in chat heckling him.<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/maelfus" target="_blank">Maelfus' Twitter </a>- Food, shaman stuff, general nerdery. Best beard in the shaman kingdom.Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-89625871080309799922015-08-03T17:21:00.001-05:002015-08-03T17:21:44.948-05:00Enhancement - Revisiting Playstyle and Talent Options<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Anyone who has played Enhancement this expansion is well aware of the weird state we've been in. Coming out of Mists of Pandaria where we were the kings and queens of burst damage with excellent healing utility, where stat stacking ruled all, and a simple opening macro could mean the difference between 1-2 million burst and being left in the dust of your raid mates, to now where we are the nearly forgotten children of a game that seems highly distracted by bigger and shinier things.<br />
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If you dare to wade into even the shallows of the official WoW forums, you'll hear the screams of how our bandaid buffs to bring us up to par of other dps specs are "uninspired." How our totems are easily countered in PvP and essentially useless in PvE. Naturally there will also always be a smattering of "bring back 2h enchantment shamans!!1!" and some variance of "Hey, I have this excellent idea of how we could either turn Enhancement into a tank spec or add in a 4th tanking spec!"<br />
<br />
It seems that the days of stat stacking and where Ascendance, one of our
"big" button cooldowns, meant half a hoot are long gone. Today we play like a paladin,
with all of the flavor but half the utility. We easily have three times
the number of buttons of other dps classes, a much steeper learning
curve, and yet we struggle to be recognized outside of the AoE gimmick
corner we've been thrust into.<br />
<br />
We are in a rather precarious place, my shaman friends.<br />
<br />
Those of you who have followed me for a length of time probably have a pretty decent idea of where I stand on any and possibly all of these topics. I also have a pretty decent idea of what I personally would love to see in the continued evolution of this crazy class we call shaman and this ridiculously addicting and frankly, masochistic, spec we call Enhancement.<br />
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Strap in folks, this is going to be one hell of a wall of text.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Button Bloat</u></span><br />
<br />
In a world where homogenization is the name of the game in terms of balance, it's no small feat to bring 11 unique classes and 24 dps specs onto an even playing field while retaining their particular flavor and identity. In the great button culling of <i>Warlords</i>, shaman were relatively over looked in this regard. Instead of button pruning, we mostly only received a few change outs. Frankly, I'm alright with that. If I wanted to play a class/spec that could fit its rotation and utility on two hotbars or less, I'd play those one of those classes/specs. I don't enjoy that particular level of simplicity. I enjoy having a rather large toolkit in which to draw from, a myriad of buttons to mash (provided that they, you know, do something meaningful), and I personally love the quirky and spiritual flavor that shaman has always offered, regardless of its state.<br />
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It's one of my deepest fears that we venture into the new expansion with our class' head on the chopping block, so to speak, and we get the treatment warlocks received in <i>Mists</i>. I'd rather not see our class, let alone this spec in particular, stripped down to a 3-4 button rotation. That's not <i>us</i>. It has never been us. I'd personally prefer to keep our high button identity while bringing it into a more manageable state. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Playstyle</u></span><br />
<br />
While our number of buttons didn't see much of a change in <i>Warlords</i>, our playstyle did. Though, this wouldn't be the first time we've had an interesting change in playstyle. In <i>Cataclysm</i>, we were the turtles that could win races, provided a fight lasted long enough. Slow and steady, we were the masters of consistent damage. We couldn't target swap, burst, or until later on in the expansion, AoE to save our lives, but sometimes slow and steady could win the damage race. Then came <i>Mists</i> where we rose to burst, healing utility, and to some extent, AoE fame. Aside from the obvious fact that we took stat stacking and scaling to an overpowered level and did need to be brought down a notch, this was probably one of the best states we have ever been in. Was it perfect? No. <i>Warlords </i>has brought a few quality of life changes that were sorely needed, namely in the Echo of the Elements redesign (the original design worked exactly how Multistrike does now and the original redesign in <i>Warlords</i> was a proc nightmare, never forget!), the Flurry redesign, and in the form of <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=110857/glyph-of-lava-spread">Lava Spread glyph</a>.<br />
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Here's what I like about the playstyle changes and what I think can go into the bin.<br />
- Paladin Playstyle (haste): The Flurry redesign, which mimics how we interact with haste much like how Retribution interacts with haste, has grown on me over this expansion. Initially I had worries that it would make an already button heavy, but dependable, predictable rotation far too chaotic. While that in part is true, it has added a certain zest to the pace of the spec. I'm still not 100% sold on having ridiculously fast button mashing moments during hero/lust or during trinket procs, as that takes a certain smoothness and consistency away from the rotation (two things that are major draws for me), but I will admit I enjoy the overall faster pacing better than I did the older, slower pace. Even if my hands occasionally miss the moments of downtime, especially during AoE encounters.<br />
<br />
- Paladin Playstyle (procs): My biggest beef with our paladin redesign (I'm sorry, I see too many parallels to call it anything else!) is the fact that the Lava Lash reset from our tier 13 set became baseline. While yes, at the time it helped us keep up in those situations where mobs didn't live long enough to get proper spreads of Flame Shock off, or to take the sting out of a bad Flame Shock set up in general, it was a thing that never felt <i>good</i> to me. To me Enhancement has always been that predictable, steady as she goes, fluid spec. Suddenly, there's a Lava Lash proc. It's awkward, knee jerking, and demands your attention like a screaming toddler. With lower GCDs, improved initial spread of Flame Shocks, Glyph of Lava Spread, Glyph of Fire Nova, and the redesign of Echo of the Elements, I'd be incredibly happy to see this proc be removed. It only adds chaos, undependable chaos at that, to an already crazy queue.<br />
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If I wanted to play with procs, I'd play Retribution. Unfortunately, this little Enhancement shaman never enjoyed her pally much!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Buttons, Revisited</u></span><br />
<br />
Alright, so now that we have what I do and do not like out in the open, let's start addressing things that I'd change, starting with our buttons.<br />
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- Chain Lightning, remove it! <br />
I'm speaking specifically for Enhancement in this point, it can stay in for Elemental and Restoration. <br />
<br />
For a while during the <i>Warlords</i> Beta, Chain Lightning was actually removed, and it was a strange feeling to me to have this button gone. It was reimplemented, but if this expansion has taught me anything, it's how useless this button is to us in a world where Fire Nova is our overlord. At best, it's a spell cleave. At worst, it's a spell that has an excruciatingly small jump range due to the weird hitbox sizings of most bosses. For example, Twin Ogron in Highmaul. Unless both bosses were 100% on top of each other, perfectly, Chain Lightning would not jump. Two massive creatures that I'm sure could conduct a good bit of electricity between them couldn't get Chain Lightning to, well, chain. Similar issues arise with smaller mobs that aren't stacked perfectly as well. More often than not we'll try to gauge whether or not mobs are close enough together, take a gamble, and a good chunk of the time we'll get a glorious Multistrike proc...on a single target. Please, just chuck this spell for Enhance. There are more interesting ideas out there to address!<br />
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- Lava Lash<br />
I believe it was <a href="https://twitter.com/von_wordup">Wordup</a> (if it actually was Purge, I'm sorry!) on the latest <a href="https://youtu.be/VPZtwhwFc8k">Enhancement Episode</a> of Finalboss who suggested adding a proper cleave onto Lava Lash. Personally? I absolutely love this idea. He was spot on in saying that we already have the visual, why not roll it onto the ability. It already semi acts like a cleave in regards to the spread of Flame Shock, and since we're removing our only "cleave" spell, aka Chain Lightning anyways, why not roll a proper frontal cleave into Lava Lash? It'd bolster us in an area we're struggling in greatly, shouldn't help nor hinder our single target, and best of all, it doesn't add another button to our rotation. This is assuming multi target tuning would be more aimed in Fire Nova's
direction than Lava Lash's, though we could have simply have reduced damage to
secondary targets based on number of targets present as well. Meaning, target A (primary) receives 100% damage always, but target B only receives 85%. If a target C is present, targets B and C receive 80% damage each. Something a bit easier to adjust while not making our already potent AoE more so, doesn't affect our single target, but does help to bolster us in cleave and low mob health AoE situations. Numbers are of course factitious, but you get the idea.<br />
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All of my love for this change! <i>All of it.</i><br />
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- Ascendance<br />
Hey, remember when it felt really cool to hit this button? I'd like to bring that back. Maybe not to the level of crazy that it was back in Siege of Orgrimmer, but I'd personally really love that level of oomph feeling to resurface.<br />
<br />
We can no longer stack stats like crazy since reforging is gone, sockets have been severely reduced, and enchants likewise reduced, so we in theory shouldn't skyrocket like crazy, unless of course the gear bloat continues to spiral out of hand. Therefor I think we're safe with bringing mastery scaling back to Ascendance, if only on a much more mild manner than we saw in the past. Yes, I know, this would be another number to jiggle around, but it'd hopefully help alleviate some of our scaling issues. You know, that thing that we currently need continual buffs to address? <br />
<br />
I'd love to see Ascendance also bumped down to a 2 minute cooldown. This was a wonderful quality of life thing to have back in Siege of Orgrimmar which came from having the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=105472/assurance-of-consequence">Assurance of Consequence Trinket</a> (cooldown reduction time approximately 2 minutes, fuzzy memory is fuzzy and it was slightly different for each version of the trinket you had). If we're to continue to have low damage lulls as a spec, bosses with small windows that need high burst (Gorefiend says hello!), and if we want cooldowns that actually matter, it'd be really beneficial to have a shorter cooldown on this ability. Not to mention, as other shaman who are much better with numbers than I have pointed out, other classes have shorter, more and yet much more potent cooldowns than us shaman. Elemental has seen the Ascendance cooldown reduction and us Enhancement folk would love to see this as well change. While we don't <i>need</i> to behave like other classes or our sibling spec, we do <i>need</i> our cooldowns to be meaningful. Addressing both the cooldown length and mastery scaling would address this issue.<br />
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Oh, and please give us our awesome graphic back. Yes, it was noisy, but it was absolutely epic. I'm tired of fanning my enemies to death. <br />
<br />
<i>Signed, a good chunk of the Enhancement community.</i><br />
<br />
- Feral Spirits<br />
This point is going to be a bit of a spitball. Personally, I like how Feral Spirits is both a dps and self healing button. The cooldown is in a decent place, better if you have/had the 2pc bonus from Blackrock Foundry and use Echo (especially for soloing!), and it's not overly powered. Okay, maybe opinions will differ on that last point, depending on which aspect of the game you're playing.<br />
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Our wolves/raptors present an interesting problem. The damage they give us is minimal at best. It's another thing to balance, another button to press, another damage source that is both not coming from the shaman directly (which many shaman players seem to have an issue with) nor is it 100% controllable by us via pet bars. On the healing side of things, they can potentially give us a lot of self healing when glyphed, making us extremely self sufficient in most scenarios for that period of time, but much like the issue with Shamanistic Rage being tied to a dps increase with our old t10 set bonus, we're unable to use this wonderful self heal when we <i>need</i> it. Instead we're stuck using Feral Spirits on cooldown for their dps component.<br />
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So, what do we do with this ability? It's been a staple in our spec for the longest time and it's not something I'd ever like to see go, but it does need addressing. Do we turn it into a talent, increasing their damage output and allowing us the ability to control our wolves once again via a pet bar? Do we remove the damage component, allowing them to be healing guardians of sorts? Or do we leave them as is?<br />
<br />
For the sake of brain storming, I'm going to roll all these ideas into one weird conglomeration that may or may not work in practice. Baseline, I'd like to see Feral Spirits become a personal (or maybe even raid wide!) healing cooldown. Yes, damage component 100% removed. They attack our enemies as they always have, no visual change needed, but they only grant us healing from it. Scales with our AP and secondary stats, naturally. Improved Feral Spirits can be a talent, perhaps replacing Unleashed Fury, which in itself can become baseline (more on this later). Being on the same tier as Primal Elementalist, there would be no interference of pet bars. Improved Feral Spirits would of course have a substantial dps aspect to it, as well as self healing for the shaman, the return of Twin Howl (taunt), and perhaps some minor passive splash healing for the group/raid.<br />
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- Shocks<br />
Separate cooldowns, damage component of Frost Shock removed, done. Universal for all shaman specs. Enhancement's rotation is busy enough to often not even need Frost Shock as a filler (especially during cleave/AoE scenarios and more so with higher amounts of haste on one's gear), therefor adding Earth Shock back in is pointless. Frost Shock can stay as a slow ability, can still use a GCD, can still interact with the Frozen Power talent for PvP, but otherwise for PvE it can be more or less another free button slot.<br />
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- Totemic Recall<br />
Relatively useless, but something I wouldn't want to remove. While totems may no longer draw aggro by simply existing, it still feels right to be able to withdraw you totems as well as summon them.<br />
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- Tremor Totem<br />
For the love of every puppy to have ever existed, please either 1) allow us to drop this while under Fear, Sleep, and Charm effects once again, even if this totem needs a longer cooldown as a result or 2) make all Fear, Sleep, Charm effects have a cast time (this is for both PvP AND PvE, looking at you UBRS and Highmaul) so proper counter measures can be made. Currently everyone with these abilities has their cake and are eating it merrily, while shaman everywhere are munching on rocks over in the corner with a confused look on their face. Makes me wonder why I still have this totem on my bars. I'd love to see it have a proper place there once more.<span style="font-size: large;"><u></u></span><br />
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<u><span style="font-size: large;">Talents, Reworked</span></u><br />
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This is a bit of a hot topic section, as balance between our respective specs and overall flavor of class resides within our talent choices. We have some good tiers, we have some bad tiers, and while we've also had some traditionally unbalanced tiers, those have at least been addressed or adjusted in one form or another. Let's dive into what I'd like to see for each talent tier.<br />
<u><br /></u>
<u>Level 15 - Defensive </u><br />
Overall, this tier is in a decent place. Could use some minor adjustments though.<br />
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- Nature's Guardian is fine as a reactive, oh crap I should have died there, fail safe.<br />
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- Stone Bulwark Totem I'd like to see scale a bit better, preferably with mastery as well as AP, or barring that, scale percentage wise with the shaman's health pool.<br />
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- Astral Shift isn't a particular favorite of mine, being only 10% stronger than Shamanistic Rage, on a 1.5 minute cooldown, and only lasting 6 seconds, versus the 15 seconds of SRage. As a talent, I think it's a bit weak, even though in PvE situations it is often numerically the superior talent in this tier. If SBT gets the scaling I think it deserves, I'd also like to see Astral Shift's duration and/or damage reduction increased.<br />
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<u>Level 30 - Crowd Control</u><br />
All three talents fine as is. Perhaps make the roots on Earthgrab Totem a little harder to break, but otherwise I see no need to adjust this tier.<br />
<u><br /></u>
<u>Level 45 - Totem Control</u><br />
Ah yes, the tier no one really cares about or utilizes. All three of these talents should be baseline. Yes, that would potentially add in 1-2 more buttons to our already bursting bars. This is how I see things playing out.<br />
<br />
- Call of the Elements, baseline. No change to the current workings of this ability, aside from perhaps making it on the GCD to prevent any sort of chain cc'ing abuse.<br />
<br />
- Totemic Persistence, baseline. No change, even for Fire Totems (I agree with Blizzard about not having two fire totems up at once, sorry!). It's fairly rare that we have two utility totems of the same school up at the same time, assuming we even have two or more utility totems of the same school (water for Elemental and Enhancement), so being able to double up on them without worry of overriding one should be minor at worst.<br />
<br />
- Totemic Projection, baseline. This is a quality of life change for all three specs. Instead of adding in a button, perhaps this talent can have some sort of double tap interface. Click once, totem is placed. Double click in quick succession, target indicator comes up. Move target indicator where desired, click again, totem is instantly placed. Ideally this would work in one smooth motion, interface willing. If the interface can't be made to function in this way this is another button for us, as it'd remain as it is now, just a given now instead of a talent.<br />
<br />
Alright, everything is baseline. What are we replacing these abilities with?<br />
<br />
Why, improved Crowd Control of course! "But Saaaz," you may say. "We already have a CC tier!" I can feel those who counter shaman in PvP grinding their teeth already, as well as the devs who have to balance these talents. Any PvP shaman knows the feeling of not having solid control during a skirmish and any PvE shaman not specced into Totemic Projection knows the frustration of having a tank move a bunch of mobs out of Capacitor Totem before it pops, or having someone use a knock back and again having mobs out of range of your already placed Cap Totem, or someone breaking your Hex. Some of these things have been cried for by players to make certain adjustments baseline, but personally I'd like to see a bit more choice. Yes, implementing these talents would remove a few glyphs, but I think ultimately that's okay.<br />
<br />
Fret not, I'll try to keep these talents relatively in focus.<br />
<br />
- Improved Capacitor Totem. Takes the existing glyph and makes it baseline. <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41526/glyph-of-capacitor-totem">Glyph of Capacitor Totem</a> is removed. Totem's base health is increased.<br />
<br />
- Improved Hex. Removes the cooldown of Hex. Reduces the cast time of Hex by 10 seconds. Enemies affected by Hex can no longer control their characters. <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=63291/glyph-of-hex">Glyph of Hex</a> is removed.<br />
<br />
- Lightning Whip (new). 15 yards. Instant cast. 45 second cooldown. Frontal cone attack that stuns enemies for 4 seconds and leaves behind a trail of forked lightning on the ground, lasting for 15 seconds. Area of effect slows enemies standing within it for 6 seconds.<br />
<br />
<u>Level 60 - DPS (Minor)</u><br />
I have only two main wishes for this particular tier.<br />
<br />
- Elemental Mastery remain on a 2 minute cooldown, no change <i>UNLESS</i> Ascendance remains on a 3 minute cooldown. In that event, I'd like to see EM reverted back to a 1.5 minute cooldown. Yes, it's boring that you can macro everything together. I don't care if a macro sets the good Enhancement shaman apart from the great. Save our sanity, please let us properly line up our cooldowns again.<br />
<br />
- Ancestral Swiftness. Please either make the instant cast ability once again scale with Maelstrom Weapon (at the end of the day the boost was incredibly minor at best because of the 1.5 minute CD), or remove it all together and instead give a minor bump to the haste given by this otherwise passive talent.<br />
<br />
- Echo of the Elements. I hated you at the start of this expansion, but you have evolved wonderfully. Don't change you glorious bastard.<br />
<u><br /></u>
<u>Level 75 - Healing</u><br />
Frankly, scrap the whole damn tier.<br />
<br />
- Rushing Streams, removed. Instead Healing Stream Totem's healing has been buffed for all specs, more so for Restoration.<br />
<br />
- Ancestral Guidance, removed. AG, I loved you so, but you and your lag have gotta go. I'm so sorry, but it's not me, it's definitely you. It was fun while it lasted.<br />
<br />
- Conductivity, removed. This was one of those abilities that was really cool on paper, but no good in practice. In a world where stand still patchwerk fights simply don't exist, this talent no longer has a place in our talent tree.<br />
<br />
I do like the idea of a purely offensive healing tier, so we're going to be sticking to that theme. <br />
<br />
- Water Elemental (new), instant. 5 minute cooldown. Summons a Water Totem at the feet of the caster, summoning a Greater Water Elemental to help aid the shaman and his/her allies, casting Rip Tide once every x seconds in on those in the most need. Lasts 60 seconds. (This would be a slightly more potent version of the shaman's Rip Tide)<i></i><br />
<br />
- Thunder Cloud (new), instant. 40 yard range. 2 minute cooldown. The skies break open in a torrent of rain and lightning, healing allies for the next 8 seconds. (visual: clouds somewhat like what Moonkins have for Hurricane, light on the lightning effects, rain in the AoE but not heavy enough to be visually impairing or lag inducing)<br />
<br />
- Ancestral Infusion (new), instant. 40 yard range. 3 minute cooldown. Call upon the ancestors, bolstering the resolve of the shaman and his/her allies. Damage reduction is increased by 30%, healing taken is increased by 10%. Will not stack with other Ancestral Infusions. Lasts 10 seconds. (visual: everyone becomes spectral, minus spells to avoid the visual blinding issues we ran into during <i>Mists</i> with the Darkmoon Fair card trinket)<br />
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<u>Level 90 - DPS Major (1)</u><br />
There are a few tweaks I'd like to see made for this tier. Keep in mind that some of these play back to other ideas I have mentioned earlier in this post!<br />
<br />
- Unleased Fury, removed (baseline). I like this talent. I'd like to see this talent be part of what defines a well practice shaman from a not as practiced shaman. I think UF as a baseline, under the hood mechanic will help to provide that high management, high reward aspect that so many of us Enhancement players would love to see. Not to mention, it'd open up space for its potential replacement.<br />
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- Improved Feral Spirits (new), instant. 1 minute cooldown. You summon a pair of empowered Feral Spirits to protect you, with additional abilities, and acting directly under your control. Lasts 30 seconds. (Would deal damage, unlike baseline Feral Spirits. Increased healing given to the shaman caster. Twin Howl (taunt, does not taunt off of people in tank spec) reintroduced via the pet bar. Call of the Wolf, increases the speed of all party/raid members by 50%, 25 yard radius)<br />
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- Primal Elementalist, no change. New addition, Primal Water Elemental. The Elemental's Rip Tide is increased by x%. In addition to casting Rip Tide on allies every x seconds, it will alternate casting Tidal Waves every x seconds in the direction of those in greatest need. (Tidal Waves can be intercepted as they travel. I see two scenarios for healing behavior. 1) potentially do a finite amount of
healing which can be divided among those it hits. Say one Tidal Wave
heals for 100k max. Person A jumps in and intercepts the wave, for top
off of 20k. Wave has 80k left to split between Persons B, C, and D that are in its path next. 2) Alternatively, remove the finite aspect and simply have Tidal Wave hit for x amount done to each target it hits)<br />
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- Elemental Blast. Now replaces Lightning Bolt. Cooldown removed.<br />
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<u>Level 100 - DPS Major (2)</u><br />
For now, I'd like to leave this line of talents relatively untouched.<br />
<br />
- Elemental Infusion. An interesting talent in theory, but is an absolute nightmare to track by default. If Frost Shock was to be removed as a dps spell though, this talent would potentially no longer have a place on our talent tree. Mixed, non-definitive feelings about this one!<br />
<br />
- Storm Elemental. I like this guy, despite his flaws. I'd like to see a bit more lightning action from both his forms, which I'd gladly sacrifice his wimpy healing component for. I'd also like to see him cast on the move. The movement speed this elemental grants either needs an increase in range or removed all together and maybe replaced with something else neat. Perhaps his special bonus thing (like Empower/Reinforce) can be a tornadic well of sorts, a bit like Ursol's Vortex mixed with Gorefiend's Grasp.<br />
<br />
- Liquid Magma. The only change I'd like to see with this ability is for it to mind its manners properly. No more breaking CC, no more aggroing mobs that aren't already in the fight. Yes, I know you can't control where lava will flow in real life, so from an immersion standpoint it's true to its self. From a usability and mechanical standpoint though, this guy is a butt. I'm a shaman, I should be able to bend magma away from things I don't want it to attack!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Closing</u></span><br />
<br />
*deep breath* Whew, almost done!<br />
<br />
Please realize that these talent changes were made mainly with
Enhancement in mind. I'm also well aware that there are hundreds of variations of this post on the official forums and that not all of my ideas are original or all that novel, and I'm pretty certain not all of them are that great! However, I do believe that it's important to keep these discussions kicking around in hopes that we land in a better place come the next expansion.<br /><br />Ideally we'd see a divide between specs and talent
choices, meaning if you spec differently you'll actually be presented
with slightly different talent choices, much like what priests and druids
have now. I'll leave the variations of the Elemental and Restoration specs up to the players who spend much more quality time with those roles than I ever do however.<br />
<br />
On top of all these changes, because there certainly wasn't enough, I'd like to shuffle some of the tiers around for the sake of getting certain goodies are certain times while leveling up. For the most part, everything remains where it was, save for the Healing Tier which I'd like to see moved from the level 75 slot down to the level 30 slot, the CC tier moved from the level 30 slot up to 45, and the new stun tier (formerly totem control) to be moved into the level 75 slot. Completely personal preference, of course! <br />
<br />
I really wanted to tackle glyphs in this post, both major and minor, but I think I'll save that project for a later date. There's also the can of worms to tackle about possibly tacking on yet another tier coming in the new expansion, assuming they go that route. Likewise, this speculation and wish-listing can be saved for another post. For now, enough words are enough.<br />
<br />
Until the next post, keep swingin'.<br />
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<br />Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-1847500208226828462015-07-28T08:19:00.000-05:002016-02-05T16:29:49.223-06:00Soloing Throne of Thunder as EnhancementThrone of Thunder is an instance that's been mostly soloable by Enhancement since 6.1, depending on the amount of gear one had and how nicely RNG on Jin'rokh wanted to play. 6.2 has brought some nice quality of life changes to the soloing scene, mainly with Jin'rokh himself, making this instance a little less of a hassle to solo.<br />
<br />
In this post I've included all of my ToT soloing videos, up through Ji-Kun. At this time Durumu does far too much damage to allow non-tanks such as ourselves to survive, but thankfully us mount hunters only really need up to Ji-kun anyways. So unless you're someone who's missing a raid drop pet from one of the later bosses or are looking to get your mits on some transmog that drops from a later boss, you're in luck.<br />
<br />
<u>What are the benefits of soloing ToT?</u><br />
- Transmog! As long as you're not after an item off of the Council of Elders (loot drops currently do not exist for some reason - bug), this place has some pretty nifty items that have a troll vibe to them.<br />
- Mounts! There are two rather neat looking mounts to gain from this instance.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=93666/spawn-of-horridon">Spawn of Horridon</a> - 1.7% chance and drops from Horridon. <br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=95059/clutch-of-ji-kun">Clutch of Ji-Kun</a> - 1.8% chance and drops from Ji-Kun.<br />
- Pets! There are several pets that can be collected in this instance.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=94125/living-sandling">Living Sandling</a> - 4% drop chance and comes from the trash between Horridon and Council of Elders.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=94835/ji-kun-hatchling">Ji-Kun Hatchling</a> - .94% drop chance and comes from Ji-Kun herself.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=94152/son-of-animus">Son of Animus</a> - 1.13% drop chance and comes from Dark Animus. While you're currently unable to solo your way through Durumu and Dark Animus, it's worth a mention since it will be possible someday. For now, bring a (tank and possibly healer) friend!<br />
- Toys! Okay, there's only one toy that drops from this instance, but it's a fun and incredibly rare one.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=98136/gastropod-shell">Gastropod Shell</a> - .69% chance to drop and comes off of the Gastropods (aka Gary!) between Megaera and Ji-Kun. His name is Jerry.<br />
- Achievements! There are numerous achievements in this instance, which when all completed award <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=8124/glory-of-the-thundering-raider">Glory of the Thundering Raider</a>. At the time of this post *most* of the achievements are not soloable, or at least not easily soloable. <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=8073/cage-match">Cage Match</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=8077/one-up">One-Up</a>, and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=8082/head-case">Head Case</a> are your best bets for now. Heroics modes are out, and several other achievements will require at least 1-2 other people. <i><br />2/1/2016 Edit: It's now possible to solo Heroic ToT up until Durumu, who seems to be still impossible for non-tank classes, even on norma</i>l.<br />
<u><br /></u>
<u>How do I do the thing?</u><br />
Take a gander at the following videos. I've put how to tips on the videos themselves (it's text, not VO, sorry!) that should lead you in the right direction. As always, I'm happy to answer any and all questions either on this post, on the videos themselves, or on Twitter.<br />
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<i>Jin'rokh</i></div>
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<i>Horridon</i></div>
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<i>Council of Elders</i></div>
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<i>Tortos</i></div>
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<i>Megaera</i></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T5Zkb-T862Y/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T5Zkb-T862Y?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br />
<i>Gary</i></div>
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<i>Ji-Kun</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Good luck, have fun, and may drop luck be on your side!</span><i> </i></span></div>
Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-37066295861627832522015-05-18T02:25:00.000-05:002016-10-23T08:14:36.623-05:00Shaman WeakAuras (2)<i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>As of Legion, this post is completely out of date. If you've stumbled upon this post looking for Enhancement Weakauras, allow me to redirect you to <a href="https://youtu.be/Z3iGDFGT_1E">Wordup's Weakaura setup</a>. I personally use a stripped and modified version of his string.</b></span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
Back in March I had put together <a href="http://serenitysaz.blogspot.com/2015/03/shaman-weakauras.html" target="_blank">a little post</a> of the WeakAuras I had been playing around with. Since then I've come across several incredibly useful auras that other players have put together, customizing them to my taste in certain cases, and I've even made a few shaman-specific auras myself.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vucOrMbb8WU/VVmFmEqTHXI/AAAAAAAABMg/pVDjQLSEnKA/s1600/6qwDtqr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vucOrMbb8WU/VVmFmEqTHXI/AAAAAAAABMg/pVDjQLSEnKA/s400/6qwDtqr.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The image above show all of the auras I'm currently using. Looks a little noisy, but keep in mind most of these will not be displayed at the same time. I've divided these auras into four sections: <a href="http://pastebin.com/t9YHt3Vp" target="_blank">Defensive and Healing</a>, <a href="http://pastebin.com/gqt21j8Y" target="_blank">DPS</a>, <a href="http://pastebin.com/s4K7J5G1" target="_blank">Procs</a>, and <a href="http://pastebin.com/8UQE1ms9" target="_blank">Interrupts</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qlazm0WFUdo/VVmFlLIt8WI/AAAAAAAABMM/rdkvNXjMP9o/s1600/defensives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qlazm0WFUdo/VVmFlLIt8WI/AAAAAAAABMM/rdkvNXjMP9o/s1600/defensives.jpg" /></a></div>
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These auras come in the <a href="http://pastebin.com/t9YHt3Vp" target="_blank">Defensive and Healing pack</a>.<br />
Upper Left - Glyph of Lightning Shield is activated, applying the 10% damage reduction.<br />
Upper Right - Shamanistic Rage is active, displays remaining duration.<br />
Bottom Row - Spec dependent. Shown is Nature's Guardian activation, duration, and cooldown. The "?" will display the shield value of Stone Bulwark Totem, SBT's duration will be an icon placed under where Shamanistic Rage is shown. Astral Shift will likewise appear underneath Shamanistic Rage's aura.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uYp15ZTC_us/VVmFmy8DnGI/AAAAAAAABMs/ccjaO-YFTeo/s1600/stuff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uYp15ZTC_us/VVmFmy8DnGI/AAAAAAAABMs/ccjaO-YFTeo/s400/stuff.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here we have miscellaneous auras split between the<a href="http://pastebin.com/t9YHt3Vp" target="_blank"> Defensive and Healing pack</a> and the <a href="http://pastebin.com/gqt21j8Y" target="_blank">DPS pack</a>.<br />
1 - Fire Totem tracker (DPS). Will display an image of either your Fire Elemental, Searing Totem, or Magma Totem (depending on which you're using at the time) when you have 10 seconds remaining on the totem's duration. Incredibly useful for when you're specced into Liquid Magma.<br />
2 - Elemental Mastery duration (DPS). Pretty self explanatory. Will only be displayed while the talent is actively being used.<br />
3 - Elemental Fusion tracker (DPS). Will display one icon for one stack of EF, two icons for two stacks of EF. Very necessary for getting the most out of that talent.<br />
4 - Ancestral Guidance tracker (D&H). Will display anytime any shaman in the raid activates AG. Also displays remaining duration of the current AG being used.<br />
5 - Unleashed Flame tracker (DPS). Displays if you have an unused Unleashed Flame buff.<br />
6 - Feral Spirits tracker (DPS). Only displays while wolves/raptors are active and displays remaining duration.<br />
7 - Liquid Magma tracker (DPS) - Displays when LM is activated and displays remaining duration.<br />
8 - Healing Rain duration (D&H) - Displays the remaining duration on your current Healing Rain. Timer is accurate when using the talent Conductivity, though the visual bar may be a little funny at times.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OEue7y4_EZo/VVmFmH5mTCI/AAAAAAAABMc/Hg_lTswDrUA/s1600/procs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OEue7y4_EZo/VVmFmH5mTCI/AAAAAAAABMc/Hg_lTswDrUA/s1600/procs.jpg" /></a></div>
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In this image we see a bunch of trinket, ring, and weapon procs, along with a duration timer for your potion. This series of auras (<a href="http://pastebin.com/s4K7J5G1" target="_blank">aka the Procs pack</a>) is from a much larger pack someone else put together, which you can find <a href="http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1741980-Weakauras-Procc-pot-and-trinket-tracker-for-BRF" target="_blank">here</a>. Since I'm still using it, I've also included an aura for <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=113612/scales-of-doom" target="_blank">Scales of Doom</a>. The larger pack includes ALL trinkets from Blackrock Foundry, as well as all weapon enchant procs. Ring procs may also be found within, though I've included both versions in the smaller pack as well.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-77ULf7v2xik/VVmFlKPylPI/AAAAAAAABMQ/L6hTFy06aKM/s1600/interrupts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="63" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-77ULf7v2xik/VVmFlKPylPI/AAAAAAAABMQ/L6hTFy06aKM/s320/interrupts.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Last up we have the <a href="http://pastebin.com/8UQE1ms9" target="_blank">interrupt aura</a>. Stumbled upon this little gem in one of the WoW subreddits and found it somewhat useful, especially if not all of your interrupters run with some sort of announcing addon. The word 'Interrupts' will be replaced by the name of anyone who successfully interrupts a spell, bosses included. I've brought down the opacity of this aura just because of personal preferences.<br />
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<br />
I'm still very much getting used to WeakAuras, both in utilizing them visually in a raid setting and on the creation side of things. If anything seems off/doesn't work quite right, please drop me a line so I can go about fixing it!<br />
<br />Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-65035566699503949012015-03-08T13:28:00.000-05:002015-03-08T13:28:04.455-05:00Shaman WeakAuras<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've been slowly getting more into using <a href="http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/weakauras-2" target="_blank">WeakAuras</a>, as you can display a lot of useful information with this addon that otherwise may be hidden or not easily referenced in the middle of an encounter. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jgIdPk4YVxI/VPyLHGt8uqI/AAAAAAAABLg/SNH6kNmiZ_A/s1600/wa%2Bclose%2Bup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jgIdPk4YVxI/VPyLHGt8uqI/AAAAAAAABLg/SNH6kNmiZ_A/s1600/wa%2Bclose%2Bup.jpg" height="204" width="320" /></a></div>
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Currently I'm only using four different strings of auras, with plans on expanding upon them once I return to the game. My focus has been on managing Liquid Magma optimally and tracking my defensive uptimes. These auras originate from pre-existing strings put together by other players, modified slightly to suit my specific needs and to fit the theme of my layout.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DVrfmTgzVhs/VPyLGa3MoZI/AAAAAAAABL0/ByJiU2iK_FU/s1600/sham%2Brage%2Bwa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DVrfmTgzVhs/VPyLGa3MoZI/AAAAAAAABL0/ByJiU2iK_FU/s1600/sham%2Brage%2Bwa.jpg" height="118" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://pastebin.com/SxQ2bW45" target="_blank">Shamanistic Rage Activation/Duration</a> <br />
<i>Icon shows up when Shamanistic Rage is activated, bar to the left counts down the remaining duration of the ability.</i><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--3msYF1O2tM/VPyLG9cOsJI/AAAAAAAABLk/JPfOg_JGHqk/s1600/t15%2Bdef%2Bwa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--3msYF1O2tM/VPyLG9cOsJI/AAAAAAAABLk/JPfOg_JGHqk/s1600/t15%2Bdef%2Bwa.jpg" height="121" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://pastebin.com/QmTQbTYt" target="_blank">Tier 15 Defensive Activation/Duration</a><br />
<i>Talent specific icon shows up when any of the abilities are active. Each variation shows the duration of the ability. To the left of the SBT icon, the current shield strength will be displayed. NG portion still needs tweaks, but should show activation and I believe the ICD.</i><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7dTC-CmxMgA/VPyLGWAC6bI/AAAAAAAABLo/J_McQuIY_4c/s1600/Fire%2BTotem%2BWA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7dTC-CmxMgA/VPyLGWAC6bI/AAAAAAAABLo/J_McQuIY_4c/s1600/Fire%2BTotem%2BWA.jpg" height="189" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://pastebin.com/JatYvYbB" target="_blank">Fire Totem Expiration Warning</a><br />
<i>Pops up when your current fire totem has 10 seconds left on its duration. Icon adjusts to match your current fire totem. A must have for anyone running the Liquid Magma talent.</i><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fl-SeIPTYkk/VPyLGZXeZSI/AAAAAAAABLc/vYX1hvqbLEk/s1600/LM%2BWA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fl-SeIPTYkk/VPyLGZXeZSI/AAAAAAAABLc/vYX1hvqbLEk/s1600/LM%2BWA.jpg" height="30" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://pastebin.com/PpTuW6T0" target="_blank">Liquid Magma Duration</a><br />
<i>Displays the duration of the Liquid Magma talent to help prevent premature clipping when refreshing fire totems.</i><br />
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<br />Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-23923721720419003072015-01-16T14:20:00.000-06:002015-01-16T14:20:27.774-06:00Them Dummies Did It Again!For those of you who don't follow me on Twitter/Facebook or have missed the announcement, those two guys who run The Training Dummies had me back once again as a guest on their podcast! Apparently I'm their first threepeat guest and theirs is certainly the first podcast that I've had the pleasure of being a repeat guest on. We spoke a little bit about the changes in Enhancement, how to up your game, transmog, and a whole pile of other things I've forgotten about, since they just let me ramble on for hours. Enjoy!<br />
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<a href="http://www.thetrainingdummies.com/2015/01/15/episode-79-shaman-mail-enhancement/" target="_blank">The Training Dummies Podcast</a></div>
Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-47177045349622119532014-10-02T00:51:00.001-05:002014-10-02T01:10:21.177-05:00Seven Commandments for the Everyday ShamanDost thou wish to ascend into the mighty ranks of shaman? Dost thou wish to be the sultan of swinging wind, a mighty wielder of lightning, and/or a commander of the tides? To acquire this wisdom, thou must first learn and abide the following commandments:<br />
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<b><i>If thou dost not know when to Lust, thy shalt never be a Hero.</i></b><br />
- Translation: If you're not sure when to hit your Bloodlust or Heroism button, ask. If you're someone who is prone to hitting said button at awkward times by accident, move the button elsewhere. Nothing is more sad, or aggravating when certain mechanics are involved, than to experience a raid-wide cooldown being used incorrectly.<br />
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This also goes for you mages with your wibbly wobbly timey wimey...stuff, you hunters and your hysterical dogs, and those of you who decide that playing your bongo drums on trash is a good idea, so you all best be paying attention.<br />
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<i><b>Thou shalt use Stormlash Totem as oft as possible, except for when thy shaman brother or sister hast used it first.</b></i><br />
- Translation: Stormlash Totem is a rather potent raid cooldown that is often ignored by unpracticed shaman, or is commonly overlapped, causing waste. (Don't worry, Stormlash will be a thing of the past come patch 6.0!) Watch your buffs!<br />
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<b><i>Thou shalt not override a thy brethren's Earth Shield.</i></b><br />
- Translation: This is one thing that drives me absolutely nuts in LFRs - some other restoration shaman comes toddling along, overriding the Earth Shield on whichever tank you have it on. Don't be that guy! If you see a tank with an Earth Shield on already, put it on the other tank. More than two resto shaman in the raid and Earth Shields are already covered? Toss it on that noob taking damage over there! (Thankfully, another thing of the past come patch 6.0)<br />
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<i><b>Thou shalt not use Thunderstorm inappropriately.</b></i><br />
- Translation: Dude, seriously. You probably know who you are, but really. Don't be that guy/gal who runs up into the middle of a pack of mobs that a tank is dealing with and Thunderstorm them all over Diablo's creation. Nothing will tick off your tank and melee dps faster. I get it, it's an AoE ability. If you want to use it as such, <i>glyph it.</i><br />
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It's completely acceptable to Thunderstorm people off of the side of cliffs in PvP though. Fair game, boomchickens! Or any druid really, now that Typhoon is accessible by all four specs.<br />
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<i><b>If it spinnith, thou shalt not winnith.</b></i><br />
- Translation: This mostly applies to my enhancement brothers and sisters, but can also apply to the unaware restoration/elemental shaman as well: If something, be it a weapon or mob, is spinning...run the hell away. Just, run.<br />
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<i><b>All circles on the ground are not created equal.</b></i> <br />
- Translation: If it's blue and wet (or green and leafy/gold and sparkly), stand in it! Almost anything else, apply the logic of the previous commandment.<br />
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<i><b>If thou uses thine healing abilities while thine raid is healthy, ye shall perish.</b></i><br />
- Translation: This applies to both the healing and damage dealing shaman of the world. One of the larger rookie moves I see made by many a shaman is a) to use Healing Tide Totem on cooldown, regardless of raid health b) macro Ancestral Guidance into Ascendance (there are rare times when this can be useful, but as a general rule it often ends up being a complete waste of AG) or c) completely forget that any of these abilities exist.<br />
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Repeat after me:<br />
+ Healing Tide Totem is not a rotational ability.<br />
+ Healing Tide Totem is for raid-wide healing. Drop it a second before raid-wide damage goes out if the raid isn't completely stabilized, or drop it immediately after raid wide damage goes out to stabilize/heal the raid.<br />
+ Ancestral Guidance is not a rotational ability.<br />
+ Ancestral Guidance is for raid-wide healing. Pop it a second before raid-wide damage goes out if the raid isn't
completely stabilized, or pop it immediately after raid wide damage
goes out to stabilize/heal the raid. Best when used when you're able to use AoE abilities or paired with Ascendance, if raid strategy allows (highest burst healing yield), however should not be used exclusively when those situations arise, as the raid may not need that healing at that moment.<br />
+ Healing Stream Totem is friend. He's just a little guy, but he likes to help heal people often. Call on him often, especially when there are people he can help heal. This goes especially for restoration shaman, but he should not be forgotten by enhancement or elemental shaman.<br />
+ Mana Tide Totem is healer friend. MTT should be used early and often, but not on the pull early. Unless your tank(s) was awful and pulled while the healer(s) had little to no mana. (Soon to be a thing of the past, come 6.0)<br />
+ When in doubt of knowing exactly <i>when</i> to pop your healing cooldowns, ask! Bug your raid leader or bug your healers. Go in with a plan, come out with loot!<br />
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Go forth and be awesome, so sayeth the Saz.<br />
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<i><b>Writer's Note:</b> While this article has been written as a comedy piece, there is a good bit of truthrage behind these words. As a veteran shaman, raider, as a well seasoned raid leader, all of the above are things that I notice on a regular basis. The commandments listed above are the things that truly drive me bonkers. I hope that I've not only provided you all with bit of a laugh, but also with some helpful insight on how to better improve your shamanistic skills. /salute</i><br />
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<i><b>Writer's Note 2:</b> I'm fully aware that I probably slaughtered the usage of Early Modern English. Linguist/literary folks, I apologize. Mostly. Kind of. I might only be marginally sorry. </i>Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-53707455354458802132014-06-25T08:32:00.000-05:002014-06-25T08:33:23.588-05:00WoD Alpha: Keybind InterfaceWhen it arrives, <i>Warlords of Draenor</i> will come packed with several quality of life changes. Some of these changes will go unnoticed by many (especially addon using) players, but some of them will certainly make things a bit easier for everyone else. What change am I talking about this time around? The keybind interface. Here are some previews.<br />
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<i>(Click images to enlarge)</i></div>
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As you can see, the layout is much more clearly defined than it is on the live servers. No more scrolling through a massive list trying to figure out where to configure that one bar. Everything is beautifully labeled and easily accessible. For those who prefer to use the standard UI bars, or those of us who are on a rare occasion forced to use the standard UI bars instead of our favorite mods, this is a most welcome change.<br />
<br />Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-5436754610334158462014-06-20T06:51:00.001-05:002014-07-10T07:29:42.222-05:00WoD Alpha: Toy Box and Mounts InterfaceHoarders, rejoice! For the time of the Toy Box is nearly upon us. For those of you who are interested in getting a sneak peak at what the interface will look like, have a screenshot of it!<br />
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As you can see, our Toy Box will have a pretty snazzy search and filtering system, one that's nearly identical to what we have currently for our non-combat pets. Finding your favorite item should be pretty easy once this system is in place. I know that I'm definitely looking forward to this feature, as my shaman has been crying about inventory space since <i>Wrath of the Lich King</i>.<br />
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One thing to note about the toybox: it currently doesn't automatically add the items into the toy spellbook. You'll have to click on the item (current new Beta interface will actually indicate this), and it'll be placed in your spellbook, thus being removed from your inventory.<br />
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It appears that our mount page will get a similar treatment as far as sorting is concerned (hooray!), though it doesn't seem like all of the sorting functions are
implemented at this time. My assumption/hope is that they'll break it down further into achievements, instance drops, crafted, and vendors as well.<br />
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Edit: Looks like they have a bit more filtering added in now!<br />
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I'm really looking forward to both of these quality of life implementations, small as they may seem. Personally I don't think they can get here soon enough!Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-90147451589760758342014-06-19T01:16:00.000-05:002014-06-19T01:16:21.886-05:00WoD Alpha: New Ghost Wolf and Feral Spirit ModelsThose of you who happen to follow me on Twitter and Facebook may already know that I'm one of the lucky ones who have managed to snag an invite onto the <i>Warlords of Draenor</i> alpha test servers. Over the next few weeks I hope to write about my thoughts on the changes to Enhancement and shamans in general. For now though, I shall answer one of our most pressing questions: With all of the new model revamps coming in WoD, will we get a new wolf form? <br />
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The answer is apparently: Yes!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AFEeuAtQoGM/U6J6zjFXCYI/AAAAAAAABFI/TuRXa4yQNZU/s1600/Wolves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AFEeuAtQoGM/U6J6zjFXCYI/AAAAAAAABFI/TuRXa4yQNZU/s1600/Wolves.jpg" height="131" width="400" /></a></div>
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Standard <a href="http://wod.wowhead.com/spell=2645" target="_blank">Ghost Wolf</a> and <a href="http://wod.wowhead.com/item=43386" target="_blank">Glyph of the Spectral Wolf</a></div>
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As you can see in the above images, we're most definitely getting an updated version for our ghost wolf forms. Both are rather transparent, much along the lines of our current unglyphed wolf form on live, and are nearly invisible when seen against light backgrounds, such as snow. Unlike the Glyph of the Spectral Wolf on live, the spectral version of our wolf is the same size as our unglyphed version.<br />
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But what about our Feral Spirits? Well, we're definitelly getting new versions of those too!<br />
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New Feral Spirits</div>
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As you can see, they're much larger than our ghost wolf forms. Currently on live servers, if we have Glyph of the Spectral Wolf activated, we're roughly the same size as our puppy pals. Since both glyphed and unglyphed versions of our ghost wolf are the same size, our new wolves will always seem large in comparison.<br />
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How about raptors? Well, at this moment in time our Spirit Raptors (if you use <a href="http://wod.wowhead.com/item=104126" target="_blank">Glyph of Spirit Raptors</a>) do not have new models. Perhaps we'll see those in future builds, but I have my doubts on those being terribly high on the priority list right now.Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-43252778446332834372014-03-28T17:28:00.002-05:002014-03-28T17:28:27.546-05:00Behind the Avatar PodcastLast weekend yet another brave soul allowed me to babble on about <i>Warcraft</i> related topics on their podcast. This time around it was the lovely <a href="https://twitter.com/Leetawow" target="_blank">Leeta</a> from <a href="http://behindtheavatar.com/" target="_blank">Behind the Avatar</a>. Leeta got personal with me, digging into the hows and whys of my WoW experience. Of course rambling and ridiculous stories were told, and as usual, I manage to lose my ability to words now and again.<br />
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Enjoy!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qSINbwcpt1o/UzX3DZ9d3mI/AAAAAAAABEw/aBI6AweuB0g/s1600/SazBTA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qSINbwcpt1o/UzX3DZ9d3mI/AAAAAAAABEw/aBI6AweuB0g/s1600/SazBTA.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://behindtheavatar.com/podcast/episode-39-serenity-saz/" target="_blank">Behind the Avatar - Episode 39</a></div>
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<br />Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-41295678450930208482014-03-03T03:54:00.000-06:002014-03-03T03:54:11.781-06:00Training Dummies PodcastThis past week I once again had the pleasure of joining Rob and Hend on The Training Dummies podcast. The <a href="http://serenitysaz.blogspot.com/2013/03/podcast-guesting-and-updates.html" target="_blank">last time</a> I was a part of their show, we spoke about soloing and all that fun jazz. This time around they had me ramble excessively about Enhancement Shaman and I ended up using very technical terms such as "thingies." If you missed the live show and would like to hear me yammer on for over two hours, have a link!<br />
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The Training Dummies ep 63</div>
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<a href="http://www.thetrainingdummies.com/2014/02/27/episode-63-enhancement-is-awesome/" target="_blank">Enhancement is Awesome!</a></div>
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Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-68704598879671734462014-01-02T05:30:00.000-06:002014-01-02T05:30:05.306-06:00Happy Winter Veil/New Year!<div style="text-align: center;">
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<3Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-74222205157009462042013-10-10T06:50:00.001-05:002013-10-13T14:27:15.440-05:00Updates - I Live, I PromiseHello everyone!<br />
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As some of you may have noticed, I haven't been posting a whole lot over the past few months. This has partially been due to a certain lack of get up and go on my part where writing about <i>World of Warcraft</i> is concerned, while on the other hand I have been ridiculously busy with raiding, pet battling, alting, and of course general real life things.<br />
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The intent of this post is to touch base with you guys.<br />
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<br />
<b><u>The Blog</u></b><br />
I'm slowly trying to update everything here on
<i>World of Saz</i> so that it's current with the 5.4 changes. Several
of the older guides have already been brought up to date, though the
"<a href="http://serenitysaz.blogspot.com/2012/10/mop-enhancement-shaman-need-to-know.html">Need to Know</a>" guide(s) have yet to be touched (correction: now updated!). I hope to have this
squared away within the next few days from when this post is written. I'm also working on reorganizing links/pages in attempts to clean this place up some.<br />
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<b><u>The Game </u></b><br />
- Raiding: I am raiding once again. I'm back up to three nights a week with the new team, however I'm only on an 8 hour raid schedule. Even with limited hours, we're doing work. Loving it so far.<br />
- <a href="http://www.twitterlandraiding.com/">Twitterland Raiding</a>: TLR is still going strong. I've been hosting a Flex run every Saturday, which has been going pretty well. We're also currently working our way through the t14 achievements. <br />
- Soloing: I'm still soloing from time to time, and videos of my antics can be found over on my Youtube page. Current challenges are Proving Grounds (ugh, FPS loss is killing me in this patch), tier 11, and Heroic Lich King 25. The latter two goals are slightly more gear dependent than what they were previously, thanks to some talent tweaks in 5.4. I still have hopes to tackle it all within the month though.<br />
- Stuff: I'm addicted to pet battling/leveling. My collection is getting a bit crazy. Not a super huge fan of the Timeless Isle, but quality time is coming since I need a ton of pets from there yet. Rare farming is my bane.<br />
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<b><u>Youtube</u></b><br />
As of late, I've been uploading a ton of videos over on my <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/SerenitySaz">Youtube page</a>. Unfortunately I've been heavy on the boss kill and solo videos, but super light on the guides. There's still a ton of Enhancement content going up though, with a side of Resto and Elemental mixed in. Assuming that I ever get around to recording myself again (re: gain the metaphorical balls), I'd very much like to get more guide material up. We'll see, though I make no promises.<br />
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As always, I'm highly active both in game and on Twitter. I'm also pretty easy to reached through either the comments on this blog or through the email I have listed here in the Contact tab. While I may not be the quickest at getting guides or general shaman content out these days, I'm still always up for answering any and all questions related to shaman. Please don't hesitate to pick my brain! Also, if people pester me enough I may just get around to posting more.<br />
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I hope you're all doing well and I hope to get more content out to you soon!<br />
~ SazSazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-76018399410510054282013-08-01T16:31:00.000-05:002014-03-28T17:44:56.197-05:00Reforging with ReforgeLite (Addon)One of the more common questions I see is focused on reforging. How do I reforge? What should I reforge into? Do I use the guess and test method until I meet my caps, or do I need to learn how to do napkin math? Fret not, as there are several resources out there that can help you figure out how to reforge. Beware though, some are definitely better than others.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>Reforging Resources </b></u></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.askmrrobot.com/" target="_blank">Ask Mr. Robot</a> - This site has grown in popularity over the years and has improved greatly since it first launched. It's an alright place to start if you're an absolute beginner, but I find that that the reforging presets are often limited and/or are straight up incorrect. Sure, you can adjust some of the presets, but I personally find it rather cumbersome to do so. The site by default also has a habit of landing you under your hit/expertise caps. While I understand their rational behind doing this, as a dual-wielding class that already sees far too many parries for my liking in both soloing and in raiding situations, the last thing I want to do is undershoot my caps.<br />
<a href="http://wowreforge.com/" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="http://wowreforge.com/" target="_blank">WoW Reforge</a> - This was my personal favorite reforging resource for the longest time. Far more accurate than AMR and even ReforgeLite, WoW Reforge was an excellent and rather easy to use site. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to support the item upgrade system, hence the use of past tense. If you're not using your Valor Points to upgrade gear, this site can still be of great use. As I said, it's a pretty easy site to use overall, allowing you to to easily adjust the stat weights to your liking and while it doesn't automatically account for hit/expertise racial bonuses, those numbers are very easily adjusted and adding in multiple caps it's a snap. With everything this site has to offer, I'm very bummed that it doesn't support the upgrade system, to say the least.<br />
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<a href="http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/reforgelite" target="_blank">ReforgeLite</a> - My current go-to source for reforging. Unlike the previous two links, this addon allows you to make reforging changes right in game and it's fairly accurate to boot. This addon automatically takes into consideration hit/expertise racials and even automatically determines the hit/expertise required for your level (super handy for those Herald of the Titans twinks!). The biggest downside to this addon would be the fact that it is limited to two caps only. So if you're say, a Windwalker Monk who wants to hit your hit/expertise caps first, then set a haste threshold and have everything else dumped into crit or mastery once you've hit that threshold. You unfortunately won't be able to that with ReforgeLite. You'll be restricted to just getting your hit/expertise caps and will need to manually adjust for how much haste/other stats you'd like. Outside of that downfall though, this addon provides a very quick and easy way to reforge any character. Presets are readily available, and while they may not always optimal for your current gearing scheme (they are usually incorrect for Enhancement), they are ridiculously easy to readjust for your needs.<br />
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<b><br /></b><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>ReforgeLite - The Quick and Dirty Guide</b></u></span></center>
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(Click on the images to enlarge)</div>
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When you have ReforgeLite installed, you'll see the an extra window pop up whenever you visit your local Reforging Agent (shown on the right). At first it may look scary and confusing, but fret not! It's actually rather easy to use.<br />
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The red circle indicates where the preset drop down menu button is located. Clicking on that button will pop down said menu and show you all of the available presets. Click on the one that most resembles what you're aiming for (in this case, Enhancement) and the addon will automatically give you presets for hit/expertise caps as well as a secondary statistic priority order.<br />
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If the secondary stat order isn't to your liking, as it often isn't for me, you may use the little up and down arrow buttons that are located to the left of the stats to adjust their priority. Click on these arrows to adjust as needed.<br />
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Here's how I view stat priority for Enhancement: Hit/Expertise cap (7.5% for each respectively), always first and foremost.<br />
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<u>Level 80 (Twink)</u>: Mastery > Haste > Crit<br />
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<u>Leveling 85-90</u>: Mastery > Haste = Crit<br />
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<u>Fresh 90/Heroic 5 Geared</u>: Crit <i>(until ~20%)</i> > Mastery = Haste<br />
<u>Tier 14 Geared</u>: Mastery = Haste > Crit <i>(Assuming ~20%)</i><br />
<u>Tier 15 Geared</u>: Haste > Mastery > Crit <i>Haste overtakes Mastery once you gain 2 RPPM trinkets + your legendary meta gem, actual change over threshold before these items may vary depending on gear; haste and mastery are pretty equal without RPPM items.</i><br />
<u>Tier 16 Geared</u>: Mastery > Haste > Crit <i>Due to the large amount of cleave/AoE encounters in Siege of Orgrimmar and Mastery's high burst potential, Mastery is often favored. Haste is king for single target situations when one has a certain gear set up (including the Assurance of Consequence trinket) and when specced into Primal Elementalist, however reforging on a per-fight basis often becomes too problematic and costly for such a small difference between the Mastery and Haste-heavy builds.</i><br />
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<u>Challenge Modes</u>: Mastery > Haste > Crit <i>(I have 20% crit after reforges when scaled down; depending on your gear, you may need to tweak some things)</i><br />
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<u>PvP</u>: Hit/Expertise to 3% | Mastery > Haste > Crit <i>(As suggested by <a href="http://www.arenajunkies.com/strategy/shaman/19-vanguards-enhance-shaman-guide-52/" target="_blank">Vanguards over on AJ</a>)</i><br />
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<u>Soloing Burst</u>: Mastery > Haste > Crit <i>Depending on situation. With certain set ups Haste may be greater than Mastery, though I personally prefer to stick to high mastery builds.</i><br />
<u>Soloing Survivability (Echo Healing)</u>: Mastery > Haste > Crit <br />
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Keep in mind that roughly 20% crit is needed for a decent Flurry uptime,
which is what makes haste worth its salt for us. Without proper Flurry
uptime, haste is pretty much poop. Once you hit that 20% threshold, mastery and haste over take crit, though crit is still a pretty decent stat!<i> </i><br />
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Once you've settled on your reforging priority, you'll want to hit the 'Calculate' button, as indicated in the red circle in the image above. Keep in mind that on certain machines this may cause your screen/game to freeze momentarily (it does on mine). Give it a few seconds while it crunches all of your numbers and everything should be fine relatively quickly.<br />
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When the addon is done calculating, you can scroll down a bit and see which stats will be traded for what. As you can see in the image above, I'll be taking on a slight loss in mastery with this reforge, but I'll gain crit, haste, and expertise in the process.<br />
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If you are satisfied with what you see, you'll want to hit 'Show' next, again indicated in the red circle in the image above. This will pop up another box, which is overlapped on my reforge box and my character sheet in this image (it can be scooted around to where ever for your liking). This Output box will show you which items will be reforged (indicated by the lack of a check mark) and how each piece will be reforged. If you do not want an item to be reforged, say if it's trading mastery for haste and you don't want it to, simply toss a check mark in the box and it will skip over making that change. This window will also give you an idea as to how much your reforge will cost, as indicated at the bottom of the box next to the Reforge button.<br />
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To get things moving, simply hit the 'Reforge' button! The addon will automatically start feeding the items that are to be reforged through the reforger. That's right, this part of the process is all automated!<br />
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After a few seconds, the addon is finished with its job. As you can see on my character sheet, my alt shaman is now at her proper hit and expertise caps while having excess stats filtered off into haste.<br />
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When I first started using ReforgeLite I was super skeptical of it, as I tend to be with most things. If you find this addon to be confusing at first glance, you're not alone. I too found it overwhelming the first couple of times I tried to use it. However, over the past year or so I've absolutely fallen in love with ReforgeLite. While it may not necessarily always give you the most absolutely perfect, bleeding edge, completely optimum reforge for your current gear set up (you'd need to run simulations for that sort of a thing), it'll definitely put you solidly in the ballpark of good enough.<br />
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Install, enjoy, and I hope this post has helped you out with your reforging endeavors!Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-18315090600996663402013-06-01T13:44:00.001-05:002013-10-10T05:21:54.184-05:00Pandaria Totem Post!Whether you love them or hate them, totems are an intricate part of the shaman toolkit. Once upon a time they were simple buff sticks, usually tossed onto the ground and promptly forgotten about. In <i>Mists of Pandaria</i> that mindset has been changed greatly. Our raid buffs have since been moved from our totems over to passive auras: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=116956" target="_blank">Grace of Air</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=77747" target="_blank">Burning Wrath</a> being granted by all shaman, while <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51470" target="_blank">Elemental Oath</a> is only granted by Elemental shaman and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=30809" target="_blank">Unleashed Rage</a> is granted only by Enhancement shaman.<br />
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All of the following questions and comments are commonly stated by those who are either just returning or really can't wrap
their minds around the new system. I'll admit, when the new system was first
introduced I thought it was clumsy and inefficient as well. I flailed around, took forever to memorize which totems did what; it was awful. However,
once I acquainted myself with how the system actually worked, I fell in
love. Let's go over some commonly asked questions.<br />
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<b>Can I drop all four totems at once? </b><br />
No. All totems, with the exception of Searing Totem, are now considered cooldowns. Each totem requires a GCD (global cooldown) to cast, making it impossible to drop more than one of a particular school at a time. You may have 4 different totems out at once (one of each school), but it will take you 4 GCDs to do so.<br />
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<b>What happened to my totem bar?!</b><br />
Due to how the new system works, the totem bar in the UI was no longer necessary. While it was a space saver, it's function simply no longer worked.<br />
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If you're looking for something with a similar feel, <a href="http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/totemtimers" target="_blank">TotemTimers</a> can provide that for you. I love this addon not for its potential space-saving capabilities though - I keep all necessary totems on my bars at all times - but for its tracking of both totem duration and remaining cooldown timers. <br />
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<b>Can I set up a macro that will allow me to drop more than one totem at a time? </b><br />
No. Again, every totem in our arsenal has its own GCD, which makes it impossible to drop more than one at a time. You could in theory use alt modifying macros to help save bar space, but you'll need an efficient way to track your totem cooldowns.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>So what are totems good for now? </b><br />
Plenty of things! Many of our totems have very niche uses now, but several can save your skin if used right. You just need to know how to apply what when.<br />
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<b>How do I use totems? </b><br />
Very carefully and one at a time. Sarcasm aside, we'll get into the individual uses of each totem momentarily. <br />
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<b>This new system is awful!</b><br />
Not a question, but let's tackle it anyways! The new system is certainly not a style that fits everyone. It's by no means perfect, but it's really not as awful as you may initially think. It's not as condensed as the old system, and to combat that you'll need to get a bit creative with your UI. A terrible inconvenience, I know.<br />
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<b>How am I supposed to deal with all of these totems? </b><br />
Personally I use <a href="http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/bartender4" target="_blank">Bartender</a>. Due to this addon I'm able to keep all of my totems on my bars where they're easily accessible. I arrange things with how they make sense to me, have Searing Totem keybound (you may easily set character-specific keybinds through Bartender), and then track things through TotemTimers so I don't always need to glance down at my buttons to gauge how much longer it'll be until a certain totem is off of cooldown. You'll simply need to play with your own UI until you've found space for everything, which can be a bit tricky if you prefer to run with the standard UI.<br />
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Alternatively, you can pull out the totem drop boxes from your spell book, though trying to access a specific totem in a pinch can be rather clumsy.<br />
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We could honestly go on all day with totem Q&A. Instead of doing that though, let's dig into the details on which totems we have and how to use them most effectively. <br />
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<u><b><span style="font-size: large;">Fire</span></b></u><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2894" target="_blank">Fire Elemental Totem</a><br />
<u>Duration</u>: 1 minute, reduced if <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41529" target="_blank">Glyph of Fire Elemental</a> is used, reduced with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=102292">Assurance of Consequence</a><br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 5 minutes, 3 minutes via <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41529" target="_blank">Glyph of Fire Elemental</a><br />
<u>Purpose</u>: For Elemental and Enhancement, this is a major DPS cooldown totem. Big Red will grant <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=77657" target="_blank">Searing Flames</a> for Enhancement, which makes this guy actually viable for us to use as a DPS cooldown.<br />
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If you choose the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=117013" target="_blank">Primal Elementalist</a> talent, your standard Fire Elemental will become a better, more potent version of itself. For Elemental and Enhancement shaman, this means that Big Red will hit harder and will gain a control bar. He will also gain an ability called <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=118350" target="_blank">Empower</a>. If the shaman chooses to use Empower, Big Red will focus on the shaman and increase the own shaman's damage by 5% and healing by 10%. Empower isn't something that should be used by Enhancement or Elemental shamans as it would be a DPS loss to do so, though the increase to healing is rather potent for Restoration shaman, especially when paired with Healing Tide Totem or Ascendance.<br />
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<u>Advanced Play</u>: Macros<br />
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#showtooltip <br />
/cast Fire Elemental Totem<br />
/cast Empower<br />
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This macro will take two clicks to properly use, as both casting FET and Empower takes an individual GCD. However, this makes it much easier for Restoration shaman to activate Empower without having to go to the pet's toolbar.<br />
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#showtooltip<br />
/cast (choose a spell to put here)<br />
/cast [pet:primal fire elemental] Fire Blast<br />
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When an Enhancement or Elemental shaman chooses the Primal Elementalist talent, their elementals gain additional, controllable abilities. Since using Super Rocky is considered to be a DPS increase, you'll want to turn off his taunt for all non-soloing situations so that he's not taunting off of the tanks (generally not supposed to happen with at-level bosses, but he will taunt all little adds and get himself killed). Super Rocky's taunt is called <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=36213" target="_blank">Angered Earth</a>, which is located in the same spot as Big Red's <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=57984" target="_blank">Fire Blast</a>. If you toggle Angered Earth off, you also toggle Fire Blast off.<br />
<br />
Since Fire Blast is a large part of Big Red's damage, you'll want to macro this ability into a few of your own abilities so that you're not clicking Fire Blast on your pet's bar. Fire Blast is available every 6 seconds. Elemental Shaman may just tie Fire Blast in with their Lightning Bolt and/or Lava Burst, while Enhancement may want to tie this spell into their shocks, Stormstrike, and Lava Lash just to ensure they're using Fire Blast as often as possible.<br />
<br />
<i>Patch 5.4 Edit: Neither version of the Earth Elemental should taunt off of someone who has a tank specialization activated. Micro-managing our Earth Elementals *should* be a thing of the past now and there should no longer be a need to macro your Fire Elemental's Fire Blast into your other abilities.</i> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8190" target="_blank">Magma Totem </a><br />
<u>Duration</u>: 1 minute<br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: None<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: Used in AoE situations where there's 5 or more mobs. Biggest downside about this totem for Enhancement is the fact that Magma Totem does not grant Searing Flames. Great for large trash packs or in large, well grouped add situations on boss fights where your Fire Elemental isn't available.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=3599" target="_blank">Searing Totem</a><br />
<u>Duration</u>: 1 minute<br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: None<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: Main, single target DPS totem. Used whenever Fire Elemental Totem isn't available for Enhancement and Elemental. May also be used by Restoration shaman who can spare the mana to drop it and would like to help deal some minor damage. Grants <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=77657" target="_blank">Searing Flames</a> for Enhancement, which is critical for their damage output.<br />
<br />
<u>Advanced Play</u>: Macros<br />
<br />
/cast [nopet:Primal Fire Elemental] Searing Totem <br />
<br />
If you use the above macro, you should in theory never again accidentally drop a Searing Totem while Big Red is out. Keep in mind, this macro will only work if you're specced into Primal Elementalist.<br />
<br />
<br />
<u><b><span style="font-size: large;">Earth</span></b></u><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2484" target="_blank">Earthbind Totem </a><br />
<u>Duration</u>: 20 seconds<br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 30 seconds<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: Slows enemies within 10 yards by 50%.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51485" target="_blank">Earthgrab Totem</a> (Talent, replaces Earthbind)<br />
<u>Duration</u>: 20 seconds<br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 30 seconds<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: Will first attempt to roost an enemy within 10 yards. If the root is successful, it'll hold the enemy for 5 seconds. Once the root is broken, it will slow the enemies by 50%.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2062" target="_blank">Earth Elemental Totem</a><br />
<u>Duration</u>: 1 minute<br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 5 minutes, reduced with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=102292">Assurance of Consequence</a><br />
<u>Purpose</u>: For soloing, Rocky can be used as an emergency tank in most situations. In at-level raiding situations, he may me used as a DPS cooldown. While no where near as powerful as the Fire Elemental Totem, Earth Elemental Totem is still an increase in damage to use. He will taunt bosses in 5 man dungeons, so beware of using him in those situations.<br />
<br />
If you choose the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=117013" target="_blank">Primal Elementalist</a>
talent, your standard Earth Elemental will become a better, more potent
version of itself. For Elemental and Enhancement shaman, this means that Rocky will hit harder and will gain a control bar. He will also gain
an ability called <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=118347" target="_blank">Reinforce</a>. If the shaman chooses to use Reinforce, Rocky will focus on the shaman and reduce
the shaman's damage taken by 20% and increasing their healing output by 10%. Reinforce isn't
something that should be used by Enhancement or Elemental shamans for the duration of the totem, as it
would be a DPS loss to do so. You could however temporarily use Reinforce to reduce damage taken; simply use a cancelaura macro (listed below) to allow Rocky to continue on swinging at things. The increase to healing though is rather
potent for Restoration shaman, especially when paired with Healing Tide
Totem or Ascendance. <br />
<br />
The Primal Earth Elemental has a taunt that you need to be aware of called <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=36213" target="_blank">Angered Earth</a>. This is an ability that you may toggle off so that Rocky won't taunt, making him viable to use as a damage cooldown in PvE situations. However, if you toggle off Angered Earth for Rocky, this will also toggle off Big Red's (Primal Fire Elemental) ability <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=57984" target="_blank">Fire Blast</a>. See the Fire Elemental Section for more on this.<br />
<br />
<i>Patch 5.4 Edit: Neither version of the Earth Elemental should taunt off of someone who has a tank specialization activated. Micro-managing our Earth Elementals *should* be a thing of the past now. Just be aware of any suspicious taunting behaviors in dungeons to be on the safe side.</i><br />
<br />
<u>Advanced Play</u>: Macros<br />
<br />
#showtooltip <br />
/cast Earth Elemental Totem<br />
/cast Reinforce<br />
<br />
This
macro will take two clicks to properly use, as both casting EET and Reinforce takes an indvidual GCD. However, this makes it much easier for Restoration
shaman to activate Reinforce without having to go to the
pet's toolbar.<br />
<br />
/cancelaura Reinforce<br />
<br />
For you DPS types who don't need Reinforce to be channeled on you constantly, this macro will be your friend. You cannot toggle Reinforce off through the pet bar, so without this macro you'd have to click off the buff. Clicking off a buff can often be risky business, especially with procs doing their proccing thing, so play it safe with a cancel aura macro!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108270" target="_blank">Stone Bulwark Totem</a> (Talent)<br />
<u>Duration</u>: 30 seconds<br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 1 minute<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: Places a nice shield on the casting shaman that will absorb a certain amount of damage. Will refresh itself every 5 seconds until the duration of the totem ends. Great for situations with lower, but consistent damage.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8143" target="_blank">Tremor Totem</a><br />
<u>Duration</u>: 6 seconds<br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 1 minute<br />
<u>Purpose</u>:
This totem will break fear, charm, or sleep effects from all party
members within 30 yards. May be used if dispels are not available, or in
lieu of in the rare event that mass cleanse of fear/charm/sleep is
needed.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>Air</b></u></span><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108269" target="_blank">Capacitor Totem</a><br />
<u>Duration</u>: 6 seconds<br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 45 seconds<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: Stuns all enemies (assuming they can be affected by stuns) within 8 yards of the totem for 5 seconds. 5 second detonation time, unless <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41526" target="_blank">Glyph of Capacitor Totem</a> is used, which brings the detonate time down to 3 seconds.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8177" target="_blank">Grounding Totem</a><br />
<u>Duration</u>: 15 seconds<br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 25 seconds<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: It will absorb 1 harmful spell that was meant for a nearby party member, and be destroyed in the process. If <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41538" target="_blank">Glyph of Grounding Totem</a> is used, it will instead reflect the spell back at the caster and will still be destroyed in the process. Using the glyph for this totem will extend its cooldown by 35 seconds.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=120668" target="_blank">Stormlash Totem</a><br />
<u>Duration</u>: 10 seconds<br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 5 minutes<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: Causes the offensive attacks and spells of the raid to deal additional nature damage; a rather large raid-wide damage cooldown. Multiple Stormlash Totems do NOT stack, so if you have more than one shaman within a raid you'll need to work out a drop rotation to prevent overlapping.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=98008" target="_blank">Spirit Link Totem</a> (Resto Only)<br />
<u>Duration</u>: 6 seconds<br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 3 minutes<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: Redistributes health of all party members with in the totem so that all players end up with the same health percentage. Also reduces damage taken by party members within the totem's radius by 10%.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108273" target="_blank">Windwalk Totem</a> (Talent)<br />
<u>Duration</u>: 6 seconds<br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 1 minute<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: Grants immunity to movement-impairing effects. Can remove all roots and snares. Has some niche uses in PvE.<br />
<br />
<br />
<u><b><span style="font-size: large;">Water</span></b></u><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=5394" target="_blank">Healing Stream Totem</a><br />
<u>Duration</u>: 15 seconds<br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 30 seconds<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: Creates passive, single target smart healing. Will always try to heal the player within range who has the lowest health. Should prefer player targets over pet targets. This totem should be used liberally when there's damage taken by all three specializations, though Restoration shaman especially should be using this totem as often as possible.<br />
<br />
If <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41533" target="_blank">Glyph of Health Stream Totem</a> is used, the person who receives a heal from that shaman's HST will receive a 10% reduction in Fire, Frost, and Nature damage for 6 seconds. Can be useful in some situations.<br />
<br />
<i>Patch 5.4 edit:</i> If you choose the talent <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=147074">Rushing Streams</a>, your Healing Stream Totem will heal two targets (instead of just one) per pulse and will do an increased 15% healing done per tick. This talent is great for more static healing, while many raiding/soloing DPS shaman may still prefer <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108281" target="_blank">Ancestral Guidance</a> for stronger burst healing.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108281" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=16190" target="_blank">Mana Tide Totem</a> (Resto Only)<br />
<u>Duration</u>: 16 seconds<br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 3 minutes<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: Returns mana to both the shaman and nearby party/raid members. The return is based on the casting shaman's own amount of spirit, multiplied by 200% (excluding short-duration spirit boosts, such as trinkets).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108280" target="_blank">Healing Tide Totem</a> <br />
<u>Duration</u>: 11 seconds<br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 3 minutes<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: A rather potent AoE healing cooldown, especially for Restoration shaman. This was a talent prior to patch 5.4, but is now baseline for all shaman. Rejoice! More raid healing utility for all specializations.<br />
<br />
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<br />
There are several things that can change up our totem's behaviors. We already touched upon how Reinforce and Empower can help increase the healing throughput of Healing Tide Totem (it'll increase ALL healing throughput, but since we're talking about totems here...), but it's important to remember that Empower/Reinforce will also increase the healing done by Healing Stream Totem.<br />
<br />
Of course several totems have glyphs that may change their behavior, which have already been noted. Likewise we have a tier of talents that slightly changes how we can interact with our talents.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents</u></b></span><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108285" target="_blank">Call of the Elements</a><br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 3 minutes<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: It resets all totems that have a base cooldown of 3 minutes or less. Meaning, even if you glyph Fire Elemental Totem to get the 3 minute duration version of that totem, FET's cooldown will NOT be affected by this talent. This talent is great for back to back use on any utility totem in tight situations though.<br />
<br />
Totems that fall under the 3 minute or less category are: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108269" target="_blank">Capacitor Totem</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2484" target="_blank">Earthbind Totem </a>/<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51485" target="_blank">Earthgrab Totem</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8177" target="_blank">Grounding Totem</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=5394" target="_blank">Healing Stream Totem</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108270" target="_blank">Stone Bulwark Totem</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8143" target="_blank">Tremor Totem</a>, and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108273" target="_blank">Windwalk Totem</a>.<br />
<br />
Overall this one is my preference for general use as Enhancement. I like having the option of being able to provide a little more healing or having some extra general utility right on hand if I've already used said totem (back to back Stone Bulwarks anyone?). Probably forgotten about more often than it should be, but it's still nice to have in a pinch.<br />
<br />
<u><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108284">Totemic Persistence</a></u><br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: None (Passive)<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: This talent will allow you to summon a second totem of the same type. For example, if you have your Earth Elemental out and suddenly need a Tremor Totem, you may use your Tremor Totem without causing your Earth Elemental to despawn. If you're Restoration and have Healing Tide Totem out, you may use Mana Tide Totem simultaneously without issue. Likewise with the Air Totems. This talent will not allow you to have more than one fire totem out at the same time, however.<br />
<br />
Totemic Persistence has become a personal favorite of mine, especially with soloing and in the rare event when I'm filling a healing role.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108287" target="_blank">Totemic Projection</a><br />
<u>Cooldown</u>: 10 seconds<br />
<u>Purpose</u>: Moves your totems from one place to another place. Click the spell once, you gain a little targeting circle. Click the spell again, your totems will magically move to the spot you chose.<br />
<br />
This one is often a must-have for a lot of Restoration shaman, especially on high movement fights where the tank/melee region may need a Spirit Link Totem, but you can't run into melee to drop it. Also very handy for Elemental shaman who wish to get a magma totem into melee range without having to run into melee themselves. Great for high movement fights in general, especially ones in rather large areas. Haven't found too many uses for it as Enhancement though, save for Capacitor Totem placements.<br />
<br />
As you can see, this tier of talents is heavily based on both situation and personal playstyle. These talents often end up being very niche and are often overlooked, but they do have their uses and seem to have better general usage in tier 15 than they did in tier 14. Have yet to find a fight to use this talent effectively for tier 16 as Enhancement; the other two talents seem to be preferable for now. Still can be rather useful on some fights as Restoration or possibly even Elemental though.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Addons</u></b></span><br />
There are many addons that may help aid you in the totem juggle. As previously suggested, something like <a href="http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/bartender4" target="_blank">Bartender</a> or <a href="http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/dominos" target="_blank">Dominos</a> may help aid you in the quest to find room for each and every totem.<br />
<br />
For communication, addons such as <a href="http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/tellmewhen" target="_blank">TellMeWhen</a> and <a href="http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/weakauras" target="_blank">WeakAuras</a> may be programmed to alert you as to when someone has placed a Stormlash Totem and when said totem ends, imperative information since you don't want to overlap Stormlash and waste it.<br />
<br />
Alternatively, <a href="http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/rsa" target="_blank">RSA</a>
will put an alert in raid chat (or elsewhere, if you tell it to)
stating that you have placed a Stormlash Totem and will again state when
said totem has faded. Also works for other raid wide cooldowns, such as
Spirit Link, Healing Tide, Mana Tide, etc. This text alert can be handy for many players, and may be redirected into alternative chat channels if a raid finds them to be too distracting.<br />
<br />
<br />
I hope that this post has helped to sort a few of you out. As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. Remember, if you miss the cozy glow of having all four totems down at once, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=43388" target="_blank">Glyph of Totemic Encirclement</a> is there for you! Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-71662718578179853962013-05-30T19:19:00.000-05:002013-05-30T19:19:35.548-05:00Enhancement Trinkets for Tier 15What's up ladies and gents? It seems like lately I've been tackling some rather broad subject matter, trying to cover all the general basis so that you all have some sort of a launching pad for getting into the awesome specialization that is enhancement. This time around though I'd like to dive into a more specific topic that seems to crop up often on my search terms list: 5.2 trinkets.<br />
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<br />
The Throne of Thunder raid patch presented us with a good number of new trinkets to play around with. Some of these trinkets have turned out to be pretty awesome, some of them have worked out to be flops. Let's take a look at what has become available to us and the individual pros and cons of each.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=94512" target="_blank">Renataki's Soul Charm</a></b> - Dropped by <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=69465" target="_blank">Jin'rokh the Breaker</a>, the first encounter in Throne of Thunder.<br />
<br />
<u>Pros</u>: One of the stronger <a href="http://www.wowpedia.org/Real_PPM" target="_blank">RPPM</a> trinkets available to us. Drops off of an easily accessible boss. <br />
<br />
<u>Cons</u>: Has a base stat of expertise. If you find yourself at an awkward gearing stage where you're way over the expertise cap, this situation could devalue Renataki's a bit.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=94523" target="_blank">Bad Juju</a></b> - Dropped by the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=69134" target="_blank">Council of Elders</a>, the third encounter in Throne of Thunder.<br />
<br />
<u>Pros</u>: Another very strong <a href="http://www.wowpedia.org/Real_PPM" target="_blank">RPPM</a> trinket. Council of Elders is a fairly accessible encounter to most on normal mode, though the LFR version of this trinket is pretty decent as well. It has a mastery base, which of course is pretty fantastic all around. It even procs adorable little gnomes that shoot lightning!<br />
<br />
<u>Cons</u>: The biggest problem with this trinket isn't general raid performance, but with the fact that it does proc little "guardians". If you're a soloist going through content where bosses have a chance to mind control, this trinket can pose an issue for you. This is the only real con I can think of, and it has no bearing on current tier content.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=94522" target="_blank"><b>Talisman of Bloodlust</b></a> - Dropped by <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=69017" target="_blank">Primordius</a>, the eighth encounter in Throne of Thunder.<br />
<br />
<u>Pros</u>: Has a base stat of Agility with a chance to proc haste. Said haste proc has a chance to stack up to 5 times; <a href="http://www.wowpedia.org/Real_PPM" target="_blank">RPPM</a> based trinket. A decent contender if you have an obscene excess of expertise that renders Renataki's Soul Charm less than ideal for you.<br />
<br />
<u>Cons</u>: Based on various user reports on this trinket, unless you have the heroic version the chances of you seeing ToB stack past 3 is rather slim. I personally haven't had the chance to play around with this trinket, as it hasn't dropped for me, to confirm that this is low-proc situation is also a trend for us enhancement types. <br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=94532" target="_blank"><b>Rune of Re-Origination</b></a> - Dropped by <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=68397" target="_blank">Lei Shen</a>, the final encounter (on normal mode at least) in Throne of Thunder.<br />
<br />
<u>Pros</u>: Yet another Agility based <a href="http://www.wowpedia.org/Real_PPM" target="_blank">RPPM</a> trinket. Unfortunately that's about where the pros end for us.<br />
<br />
<u>Cons</u>: Essentially, this trinket works thusly:<br />
<br />
<i>"- Increase your highest secondary stat by 200% of the sum of your two
lowest secondary stats. For example: you have 3500 mastery, 5000 crit,
7000 haste. Rune procs, and you get [-3500 mastery, -5000 crit, +17000
haste]. Same logic as before, just double the size of the buff to your
highest stat."</i><br />
<br />
The bonus proc of RoRO isn't the issue, the fact that it essentially zeroes two of our secondary stats is where the problem resides. Enhancement has a very strong synergy with how secondary stats work for us. Crit feeds into our Flurry procs, which enables haste to be beneficial to us. Mastery naturally boosts the damaging throughput of nearly all of our abilities. Haste makes us hit faster, burst harder, and works to increase the uptime of our RPPM trinkets. A healthy balance of these stats makes for the best damage output potential for our spec.<br />
<br />
Now, the best case scenario for this trinket would probably be to force a mastery proc, which you'd do by stacking mastery (which most enhancement shaman who have two RPPM trinkets are NOT doing; we're moving towards being a bit more haste heavy to encourage even more procs from our trinkets/weapon enchants). If you were to do this, you'd be reducing your Flurry uptime and diminishing the chance of your other RPPM trinket, should you have one, to proc. Both of these scenarios are less than ideal. If you were to try and force a crit or haste proc, you'd also see less than ideal circumstances, as both of these stats can and do eventually suffer from diminishing returns. Needless to say, most people have seen DPS losses when replacing even tier 14 trinkets with this item regardless of how their stats add up.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=94511" target="_blank"><b>Vicious Talisman of the Shado-Pan Assault</b></a> - Sold by <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=70346" target="_blank">Ao Pye</a> in Townlong Steppes and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=70535" target="_blank">Teng of the Flying Daggers</a> at the Isle of Thunder for 1750 Valor Points.<br />
<br />
<u>Pros</u>: Easily obtainable and still a somewhat decent item despite its cons. Like most trinkets, has a tendency to proc at the beginning of an encounter, thus could help lead to higher opening burst. Hit based, though this is really only a pro point for those shaman who are just starting out.<br />
<br />
<u>Cons</u>: Not an <a href="http://www.wowpedia.org/Real_PPM" target="_blank">RPPM</a> based trinket. Most enhancement shaman going into or are already raiding Throne of Thunder tend to be suffering from an excess of hit. This trinket also has a rather lengthy ICD (internal cooldown) of 105 seconds.<br />
<br />
<br />
Now that we've gone through the pros and cons of each trinket, let's look at how they stack up.<br />
<br />
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<br />
The graph found above has been put together by a fellow called Purge, who is by far much more clever than I when it comes to this theorycrafting/simulation running business. You may find the original post of his findings on his site <a href="http://dread-gaming.com/simc/enh_trinkets_t15h.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately the LFR versions of these trinkets are not found within this list, but by the data presented we can see that both Renataki's Soul Charm and Bad Juju are strong contenders for Best in Slot, so much so that even the normal mode versions are superior to the heroic versions of Talisman of Bloodlust and most certainly Runes of Re-Origination. If I were to wager a guess (and that is all this is folks, a ballpark guess), I'd say that the LFR versions of Renataki and Juju are probably at least on par with the heroic versions of <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=87057" target="_blank">Bottle of Infinite Stars</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=87167" target="_blank">Terror in the Mists</a>, two rather strong trinkets in their own right from tier 14.<br />
<br />
Also missing from the graph above are the Thunderforged and upgraded versions of each trinket. For those you'll have need to run your own simulations to see how one version of a trinket stacks up against another for you.<br />
<br />
Overall we have some interesting options available to us. While ultimately Renataki's and Juju may be clear winners for enhancement, the VP purchased trinket Vicious Talisman and the normal mode (or heroic, if you're one so lucky to be progressed that far) version of the Talisman of Bloodlust are viable standbys for the unlucky or for those who may have ridiculous amounts of expertise that they just can't shake.<br />
<br />
<br />
Hopefully this post has been a help to those of you who are baffled by our trinket choices. As always, if you have any questions please feel free to leave them in the comments. May the Voodoo Gnomes be with you!Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-78298985780547456512013-05-21T03:08:00.000-05:002013-05-21T03:09:12.702-05:00Patch 5.3 Primer for EnhancementPatch 5.3 is upon us! With this patch we will see several buffs to our damage and a couple of quality of life changes to boot. While these changes may not address things such as the long ramp up time for our AoE damage, they should bring our overall damage up enough to make us more competitive with other classes/specs in Throne of Thunder. <br />
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* <b><a href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=403" target="_blank">Lightning Bolt</a> can now be cast while moving.</b><br />
The effects of the <i><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=71155/glyph-of-unleashed-lightning" target="_blank">Glyph of Unleashed Lightning</a> </i>(a glyph that has been revamped; we'll get to that) has been baked into the shaman toolkit, minus the increase in Lightning Bolt's cast time. What does this mean to Enhance? Not a whole lot really. This will be handy in those situations where we're on the move and may not have a full Maelstrom stack available. For high movement encounters, this change may yield a minor DPS increase for us. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>* <a href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/item=71155" target="_blank">Glyph of Lightning Shield</a></b> (previously <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=71155/glyph-of-unleashed-lightning" target="_blank">Glyph of Unleashed Lightning</a>) <b>will reduce damage taken by 10% for 6 seconds after Lightning Shield is triggered.</b> <br />
At first glance it seems like this glyph could potentially become a "must have" item for both PvP and progression raiding alike. However as it stands now, it is not triggered by <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51527" target="_blank">Static Shock</a>, which means that in order to receive the damage reduction effects, we must receive some
sort of damage (spell, melee, or ranged attack, according to <a href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=324" target="_blank">Lightning Shield</a>'s tooltip) before we receive the 10% damage reduction. This pretty much means that Glyph of Lightning Shield is reactive, versus proactive. <br />
<br />
Bottom line, unless you're receiving some sort of semi-consistent direct damage, this glyph may not be worth a slot. Of course this glyph can have its uses, but it'll be very dependent upon the situations you find yourself in. Personally, I think I'll love this one for soloing.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>* <a href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=51533" target="_blank">Feral Spirit</a>: The summoned Spirit Wolves are now immune to movement impairing (root and snare) effects.</b><br />
This change seems to be more of a quality of life change for PvP, though there are some situations in PvE where roots/snares occur. Though we may get stuck to the floor, our pups will still be able to chase down whatever it is that we're attacking, keeping up the damage pressure and giving us some passive healing in the process.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>*<a href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=60103" target="_blank">Lava Lash</a> now deals 300% weapon damage, up from 250%.</b><br />
Single target damage buff? I'll take it!<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>*<a href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=17364" target="_blank">Stormstrike</a> now deals 450% weapon damage, up from 375%.</b><br />
Another nice buff to our single target damage. No complaints here.<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>*<a href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=30814" target="_blank">Mental Quickness</a> now coverts 65% of the shaman's attack power to spell power, up from 55%.</b><br />
This is a little buff that will effect a number of different aspects of both our damage and utility toolkits. Without going into heavy details, this change should slightly boost our AoE damage output, increase shock damage just a touch, and will also bring up healing throughput just a smidge.<br />
<br />
<br />
That about covers it, barring any hotfixes. Now get on out there, swing those weapons, and enjoy the buffs!Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-73593517114390814432013-04-19T06:41:00.000-05:002013-06-02T15:06:50.008-05:00Enhanced Macro Mania!Those of you who follow me on Twitter/Facebook may recall my geekery over discovering some new ways in which I could macro a few spells together. You may have also recalled that I had promised a post on it. While I meant to make good on that promise, life/laziness managed to get in the way, yada yada. Anyways, here's that said post! Finally /cheer!<br />
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I am by nature not a huge macro person. For the longest time my macro stash only consisted of Ventrilo information macros and weird /say macros. Once I discovered how well my Synapse Springs lined up with Feral Spirits, I made a cheap macro to put those two abilities together. For the longest time, that is to say until a month ago, that is all I had. That is, until last month when I had the noob revelation about exactly how many of enhancement's cooldown abilities are actually<i> off the global cooldown</i>. Ladies and gents, this somewhat opened up the flood gates on my tiny stream of macro knowledge.<br />
<br />
For my macros I have omitted the <a href="http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/4552400405" target="_blank">#showtooltip</a> line, since I have the habit of using an icon of my choosing anyways and rarely have tooltips themselves showing. Please feel free to add #showtooltip to the beginning of your macros if you're not an oddball such as myself.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>~Feral Spirit Macro~</b><br />
<u>Engineers</u><br />
<br />
/use 10 <br />
/use Blood Fury <br />
/cast Feral Spirit<br />
<br />
Things to be aware of:<br />
1) The '/use 10' portion activates your <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=126731" target="_blank">Synapse Springs</a> on your gloves, 1 min cd.<br />
2) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=33697" target="_blank">Blood Fury</a> is an Orc racial, omit if you are not an Orc. 2 min cd.<br />
3) Two of the three potential abilities in this particular macro are on a 2 min cd, minus Synapse
Springs. Not using your Springs as soon as they come off cooldown will
slightly desynchronize the tooltip cooldown timer, as it will only show
the cd time of your Springs, not your <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=121279" target="_blank">Lifeblood</a>/<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=33697" target="_blank">Blood Fury</a>/<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51533" target="_blank">Feral Spirits</a>.<br />
<br />
<i>OR</i><br />
<br />
<u>Herbalists</u><br />
<br />
/cast Lifeblood<br />
/use Blood Fury<br />
/cast Feral Spirit<br />
<br />
Things to be aware of:<br />
1) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=33697" target="_blank">Blood Fury</a> is an Orc racial, omit if you are not an Orc. 2 min cd.<br />
2) All three abilities are on a 2 min cd. Hooray for less tracking!<br />
<br />
<i>OR</i><br />
<br />
<u>Engineering Herbalists</u><br />
<br />
/use 10<br />
/cast Lifeblood<br />
/use Blood Fury<br />
/cast Feral Spirit<br />
<br />
Things to be aware of:<br />
1) The '/use 10' portion activates your <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=126731" target="_blank">Synapse Springs</a> on your gloves, 1 min cd.<br />
2) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=33697" target="_blank">Blood Fury</a> is an Orc racial, omit if you are not an Orc. 2 min cd.<br />
3) Everything in this particular macro is on a 2 min cd, minus <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=126731" target="_blank">Synapse Springs</a>. Not using your Springs as soon as they come off cooldown will slightly desynchronize the tooltip cooldown timer, as it will only show the cd time of your Springs, not your <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=121279" target="_blank">Lifeblood</a>/<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=33697" target="_blank">Blood Fury</a>/<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51533" target="_blank">Feral Spirits</a>.<br />
<br />
*Please keep in mind that it may be slightly more beneficial to hold off on Lifeblood and to use it when Ascendance is up for even more burst there.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>~Ascendance Macro~</b><br />
<br />
/cast Elemental Mastery<br />
/cast Berserking<br />
/cast Ascendance<br />
/cast Fire Elemental Totem<br />
<br />
Things to be aware of:<br />
1) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=16166" target="_blank">Elemental Mastery</a> is up every 1.5 minutes. Assuming that you're able to use it on cooldown, it should line up perfectly with everything else in the list (which have 3 minute cds) every other use of this macro.<br />
2) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=26297" target="_blank">Berserking</a> is a Troll racial, omit if you are not a Troll.<br />
3) Your <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2894" target="_blank">Fire Elemental Totem</a> will only line up with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=26297" target="_blank">Berserking</a>/<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=114049" target="_blank">Ascendance</a> the second time you go to use it if it's glyphed. Our Fire Elemental is generally a 5 minute cooldown, though with the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41529" target="_blank">Glyph of Fire Elemental</a> we can bring that cd down to 3 minutes. The glyph is only recommended for those specced into <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=117013" target="_blank">Primal Elementalist</a>.<br />
<br />
<u>Ascendance Alternative</u><br />
<br />
/cast Ascendance<br />
/cast Berserking <br />
/cast Elemental Mastery<br />
/cast Fire Elemental Totem<br />
<br />
Alternatively, if you'd like to use this macro for openers (as I tend to
do) but are not always specced into Elemental Mastery, you can list
Elemental Mastery after Ascendance so that the tooltip timer will still
show the cd of Ascendance. Just be sure you have some sort of tracking
that will alert you as to when Elemental Mastery comes off of cooldown
so that you may gain its benefit. <br />
<br />
Alternatively alternatively, you may use the original macro, but place this in the first line of the macro: #showtooltip whateverspellyouwanthere <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>~The 'I Win' Macro~</b><br />
<br />
/cast Bloodlust<br />
/cast Berserking<br />
/cast Blood Fury<br />
/cast Lifeblood<br />
/cast Elemental Mastery<br />
/cast Ascendance<br />
/cast Fire Elemental Totem<br />
<br />
Things to be aware of:<br />
1) If you're Alliance, the first line of this macro should say /cast Heroism<br />
2) If you're a Troll, omit /cast <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=33697" target="_blank">Blood Fury</a>. If you're an Orc, omit /cast <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=26297" target="_blank">Berserking</a>. If you're neither of those races, omit both of those lines!<br />
3) /cast <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=121279" target="_blank">Lifeblood</a> is for Herbalists only. If you're not an herbalizor, remove that line!<br />
<br />
The 'I Win' macro is my new BFF when it comes to soloing, especially since many soloing situations for enhancement tend to be a race to kill the thing before it kills you. This macro may also be used as an opener in those raiding situations where you're popping Hero/Lust right off the bat and you'd like to set yourself up for some mad burst (why wouldn't you?!).<br />
<br />
<br />
For my openers: I tend to prepot (using a potion before entering combat), use my Feral Spirits macro, then either use my Ascendance Macro (depending on raid opener situations) or my 'I Win' macro (depending on what I'm doing). <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=120668" target="_blank">Stormlash Totem</a> is dropped just as I hit the boss.<br />
<br />
In the event you have on-use trinkets, place them in the spots in these macros where Synapse Springs would be IF, and only IF, the on-use is stronger than the buff that Synapse Springs provide. Synapse Springs will trigger a short cd on your on-use trinkets and vise versa, hence the need to potential macro things a bit differently. If your Springs still provide the superior buff, use your trinkets as they become available and/or in conjunction with other CDs that line up with them, assuming that your Springs don't also line up with said abilities. Place '/use 13' into your macro for the top on-use trinket, '/use 14' is for the bottom trinket.<br />
<br />
<br />
Please keep in mind that the macros mentioned here are not perfect for all situations. You will need to use these macros intelligently and be somewhat flexible with them. These are meant to be aids in helping you to maximize your burst damage, however they may not always be applicable depending on the encounter you're facing.<br />
<br />
Also be aware that if you have quick, twitchy fingers as I do, you may sometimes find that only half of the spells in these macros actually go off. The easiest solution? Hold the button down momentarily. It doesn't need to be some 5 second long press of the button, but actually click/press/however you activate your macro button long enough for the program to register everything you're asking of it in your macro. Quick taps just don't cut it!<br />
<br />
There you have it, all of the nuggets of insight I gained a month ago! I swear, I feel like I should have thought of these things an expansion or two ago. Just goes to show, even an old ghost wolf can learn new tricks sometimes.Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-20132091494113979522013-03-15T04:09:00.001-05:002013-03-15T17:00:13.633-05:00Enhancement Shaman - Need To Know 5.2For those of you who are actively playing or paying attention to World of Warcraft, you're probably aware by now that patch 5.2 has thundered its way into Azeroth. With its arrival, a few new changes have come into play for nearly every class and specialization. Enhancement shaman is no exception.<br />
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<br />
Please note that if you've been using my old <a href="http://serenitysaz.blogspot.com/2012/10/mop-enhancement-shaman-need-to-know.html" target="_blank">Need To Know post</a>, the information found in there is still relevant for a fresh level 90. The purpose of this particular post is to expand upon the new talent tweaks and how they may interact with gear from Throne of Thunder.. If you're a fresh level 90 and/or just returning from the spirit realm (aka if you haven't played your shaman since Cataclysm) I highly suggest going back and reading my Need To Know post linked in this paragraph.<br />
<br />
<br />
<u><span style="font-size: large;">Talent Tweaks</span></u><br />
As has been noted in the <a href="http://serenitysaz.blogspot.com/2013/03/52-changs-for-shaman.html" target="_blank">5.2 Changes for Shaman</a> post, several talent tweaks have been made. With these adjustments in mind, the following is more or less how we should think about our talent choices.<br />
<br />
<u>Tier 4</u><br />
<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=16166"><span class="tinyicontxt">Elemental Mastery</span></a> - Best used in burst situations and becomes more valuable during fights where our damage uptime may be a bit low (numerous target switches that cause downtime; controlled dps situations such as Titan Gas phase on LFR/Reg Will of the Emperor, or the no add lull on H-Will of the Emperor)<br />
<br />
<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=16188"><span class="tinyicontxt">Ancestral Swiftness</span></a> - Best for static (Patchwerk) fights. The higher uptime on a boss, the more this talent shines. Used mostly with haste builds, which will become more widely used once one acquires the legendary meta gem, along with trinkets from Throne of Thunder.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108283" target="_blank">Echo of the Elements</a> - Still the best talent choice for those who are leveling, as it can proc extra healing. Also a very solid choice for soloing in my personal opinion, again due to the chance for extra "free" healing. For competitive raiding, this talent is best when paired with mastery stacking and will shine more during AoE/cleave encounters.<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Tier 6</u><br />
<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=117012"><span class="tinyicontxt">Unleashed Fury</span></a> - This talent received a slight nerf in this patch to help bring it more in line with our other two talent choices, but the nerf bat wasn't too harsh. For those of you who are still fresh level 90s/sporting t14 gear, this will still be your best overall talent choice. With this particular talent, it seems that mastery will still be your favored secondary stat.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=117013" target="_blank">Primal Elementalist</a> - PE received a pretty decent buff in this patch to help it compete with Unleashed Fury. Our elementals now provide some fairly substantial burst (they did a good bit before as well, but now it's really solid), enough to the point where they'll make up for the lack of damage during their down times. This talent is my personal favorite for soloing, but unfortunately may not be the best choice for general raiding purposes until you have acquired your <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=95346" target="_blank">Capacitive Primal Diamond</a>, plus have gotten your mits on <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=94522" target="_blank">Talisman of Bloodlust</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=94523" target="_blank">Bad Juju</a>. This talent *could* be useful on controlled burst fights even with current gear, however. This is of course assuming that phases of whichever encounter you're tackling line up properly with the CDs of your totems. <br />
<br />
<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=117014"><span class="tinyicontxt">Elemental Blast</span></a> - Like Primal Elementalist, Elemental Blast has received some love to help make it a more enticing talent to take as Enhancement. In addition to proccing extra secondary stats, EB will also proc Agility for us. Pretty neat, eh? As it stands right now though, EB is still a touch behind the other two talent choices. It's viable for use, don't get me wrong, but it is still slightly behind. Couple this minor negative with the fact that it still has a cast time (which can be negated if you have a Maelstrom Weapon stack of x5, but if you don't you'll be hardcasting), that you'll have yet another button in your already button-heavy arsenal, AND you'll have another minor CD to watch (12 seconds, so not all that different from our other rotational CDs like Lava Lash and Stormstrike), EB still remains to be a less than desirable talent for most shaman. Essentially it complicates an already somewhat hectic rotation for no actual DPS gain over the other two talents. However, if you're a diehard fan of this talent for whatever reason, you still may choose to spec into EB and not have the fear of severely gimping yourself on the meters.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Talent Choices, Secondary Stats, and You</u></span><br />
One of the more common questions I see coming from fellow Enhancement shaman is thus:<br />
<br />
<i>I'm ilvl 461. How should I gem/reforge? How do I spec?</i><br />
<br />
The common answer is often "Well, you're going to have to sim it." This answer is unfortunately both completely true, but can also be rather frustrating to someone who isn't familiar with either theorycrafting or the program Simulation Craft itself. The fact of the matter is, two Enhancement shaman may both have an ilvl of 461, but they could very well have a large variation in stats. One may be really heavy in Critical Strike, while the other could be Mastery heavy. A third shaman may very well have a balance of all three non-mandatory secondary stats, but is starving for things such as Hit and Expertise. Early on in the gearing process, Critical Strike can actually outweigh Mastery and Haste, because of how the synergy between the different stats works out. As you gain more gear though, Crit tends to depreciate in value, making way for the power houses that are Mastery and Haste.<br />
<br />
Bottom line, if you're looking to min/max your shaman to the greatest extent, you will need to learn how to run Simulation Craft, aka SimC. Luckily for you, <a href="https://twitter.com/slowpoker" target="_blank">Poneria</a> did up a <a href="http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/11/blood-pact-on-the-usefulness-of-simulationcraft/" target="_blank">post on WoW Insider about Simulation Craft</a>. Don't balk at the fact that it's actually a warlock post; there is a ton of excellent information and links in that post to help get you started with SimC. It's a definite must-read for those who wish to push themselves a bit further.<br />
<br />
For those of you wishing to merely get by without having to dip your toes into the wacky world of theorycrafting, there is are a few rules of thumb that you can follow to make yourself at least competitive in regards in how to gem, reforge, and spec your Enhancement shaman.<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Leveling</u><br />
Gems: You can stick with whatever gems you had in your level 85 gear. Most leveling gear is socketless, so you don't need to worry about this much.<br />
<br />
Reforging: Not necessarily something you need to worry about much. You want at least some hit and expertise to make life a bit easier for you; more mastery while leveling is quite handy.<br />
<br />
Speccing: As far as the DPS talents are concerned, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108283" target="_blank">Echo of the Elements</a> (for those wonderful double Healing Surge procs) and once you hit 90, <a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=117012"><span class="tinyicontxt">Unleashed Fury</span></a> will be your best bets. All other talents are more based on preference and situation.<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Fresh Level 90s </u><br />
Gems: Delicate (pure Agility gems) in red sockets, Adept (orange gems, Agility/Mastery gems) in yellow sockets, Deft (purple gems, Agility/Hit gems) for purple sockets.<br />
<br />
Reforging: You must first shoot for your Hit/Expertise caps, if possible. If you need to, you can help supplement this with Hit and Expertise enchants. For secondaries, it'll be, as I said, a bit of a toss up depending on what stats your particular gear setup actually has. I personally went Mastery > Crit > Haste on my second shaman while I was working on getting the rest of her heroic 5 man set.<br />
<br />
Speccing: For those of you heading into those 5 mans, Echo and UF will still be great choices, since you'll more than likely be putting priority on Mastery, plus the extra chance at AoE procs from Echo (Fire Nova can proc echos) will help out nicely for all of those trash packs. <br />
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<u>Tier 14 </u><br />
Gems: As with the fresh level 90s, you'll still be going for straight Agility gems, Agility/Mastery gems, and Agility/Hit gems.<br />
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Reforging: Once I started getting a decent base of crit and stopped starving for so much Hit/Expertise on my second shaman (meaning, I was starting to get purples) my priority changed over to Mastery>=Haste>Crit. You'll want to have a healthy balance of Mastery and Haste, as they're both excellent stats to have. I tend to go a bit heavier into Mastery for this particular tier though, especially with often still being specced into Echo+UF.<br />
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Speccing: With the new changes, speccing for raiding becomes rather situational. For your level 60 choice, see the Talent Tweaks section earlier on in this post. For the most part though, <a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=117012"><span class="tinyicontxt">Unleashed Fury</span></a> will be your level 90 talent of choice. <br />
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<u>Tier 15</u><br />
This is were things start to get nice and murky as far as secondary stats are concerned. Until you get your hands on the new RPPM* trinkets (Talisman of Bloodlust, Bad Juju, Renataki's Soul Charm, and Rune of Re-Origination are specifically being considered for BiS lists, see <a href="http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/8197589945" target="_blank">this thread</a> for more info), you'll be speccing and reforging just as you had for tier 14. However, the game changes some once you get said RPPM and your legendary meta. Suddenly, with these items, Haste becomes a pretty big thing.<br />
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Gems: For those in LFR/Normal mode t15 gear with RPPM trinkets, you'll be most likely going with pure Agility gems, Agility/HASTE gems, and Agility/Mastery gems. If you do not have the RPPM trinkets, the t14 scheme will still be more ideal.<br />
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<i>**Note: There is a slight possibility that we may even gemming straight Haste with the new trinkets + legendary meta gem + BiS Heroic Throne of Thunder gear. Theorycrafters are still working out the details on this, as the RPPM trinkets are still being tweaked, but the future possibility is there. **</i><br />
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Reforging: Again, once you get your RPPM trinkets, Haste will take a priority over Mastery. It'll more than likely be a reforge priority of Hit/Expertise | Haste > Mastery > Crit.<br />
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Speccing: This follows suit with t14 until you get, you guessed it, the RPPM trinkets. Once you do, your level 90 talent of choice will often be <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=117013" target="_blank">Primal Elementalist</a>. There may be certain situations where UF may still be better, but with all of the Haste procs and stacking going on, PE becomes a delicious source of damage. The level 60 talent choices will be very encounter-based still, so please refer to the Talent Tweaks section of this post for more information.<br />
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Please keep in mind that this is an extremely rough and broad guide. Your stat change over points may slightly differ depending on which trinkets you have, which set bonuses you manage to activate, and of course may depend a bit on whether or not you have acquired your legendary meta.<br />
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Also keep in mind that each of the three level 90 talents have a slightly different rotation priority. To find out more about that, I highly suggest you read up on the <a href="http://www.totemspot.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6844&p=82921&viewfull=1#post82921" target="_blank">Ability/Rotation</a> section of the Enhancement Guide over on <a href="http://www.totemspot.com/vb/" target="_blank">Totemspot</a>.<br />
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If you're looking for a Throne of Thunder shopping list, you'll want to keep your eyes on the <a href="http://www.totemspot.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6941" target="_blank">Enhancement Best in Slot List for Tier 15 thread</a>, which can also be found over on Totemspot. Keep in mind that the list is subject to change, as the TC guys are still working on simming out all of the possibilities, plus Blizzard is still tweaking trinket procs and the like.<br />
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The long and short of this post is thus: 5.2 has moved us away from what was nearly a cut-and-dry spec set up as far as our DPS talent choices were concerned, and dumped us into the realm of situational choice. Everything - your gemming scheme, spec choices, and reforges - is dependent upon your particular gear set up and raid encounter situation. From a min/maxer's stand point, this kind of makes things both chaotic and interesting. From the view point of someone more casual, this simply means you have a bit more leeway in choosing how to play.<br />
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The difference between talents is rather small now, so you very well could simply choose a combination of talents that you like the feel of and still be rather competitive. If you're not trying to eek out every last drop of damage from your character, you have plenty of room to experiment with. Personally I've been playing around with a high-burst build on my main shaman for soloing situations (it's pretty damn awesome, I'll tell you what!). Would I use my current build in a current raiding situation? Hell no, since I know I don't have an optimal gear set up to make my EM/PE + Haste stacking as competitive in damage as say, being a tad more Mastery heavy and rocking AS (or whatever talent depending on encounter)/UF. Since I'm not raiding for the moment though, it's very fun to toy around with. Sometimes experimenting to see how far your gear can take you in certain scenarios is a very fun thing to do, or perhaps I'm too much of an Enhancement/soloing nerd for my own good.<br />
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As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this topic or anything else shaman related, please don't be shy!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>*For those of you who are confused as to what RPPM means,
it stands for Real Procs Per Minute. This is essentially the internal
system that's in place that determines how certain trinkets and enchants
proc. If you want to read up on some of the nitty gritty details of
this system, you should check out <a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/240336-windsong-and-elemental-force-information/" target="_blank">this series of blue posts</a>.</i> </span>Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-36936870068600854032013-03-08T00:56:00.000-06:002013-03-10T23:37:09.113-05:005.2 Changes for ShamanHello everyone and welcome to a new patch! For those of you who were wondering, enhancement hasn't changed a whole lot with the implementation of 5.2. There have been several tweaks made to both our spec and the class overall though, so we're going to take a dive into those changes in this post. Now, if you're looking for a complete list of patch notes complete with spell links/tooltips, I suggest heading on over to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/news=210981/5-2-ptr-patch-notes-updated-february-25th" target="_blank">Wowhead</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>Spells</b></u></span><br />
<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=421"><span class="tinyicontxt">Chain Lightning</span></a> will now deal the same damage to subsequent targets as it does to the first.<br />
- Stronger AoE for elemental shamans and better cleaves for enhancement? I'll take it!<br />
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<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=114074" target="_blank">Lava Beam</a>'s damage now increases with jumps. Each jump increases the damage by 10%.<br />
- Lava Beam is Chain Lightning for elemental shaman in their Ascendance form. Stronger AoE for them? I approve. <br />
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<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=30823"><span class="tinyicontxt">Shamanistic Rage</span></a> is now available to Elemental <span class="tinyicontxt">Shaman</span>s as well as Enhancement <span class="tinyicontxt">Shaman</span>s.<br />
- Giving another survivability tool to our elemental brothers and sisters is a good thing. I know when I was specced elemental on my second shaman, I was always looking for this cooldown! Glad to see both DPS specs with this ability now. <br />
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<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=8050"><span class="tinyicontxt">Flame Shock</span></a>'s duration has been increased by 25%. <br />
- In 5.1 we needed to use Glyph of Flame Shock in order to extend FS's duration by 25% at the cost of some initial damage. With this glyph being reworked (see Glyphs below) Blizz has decided to make the extended duration a permanent thing. An excellent change, in my opinion.<br />
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<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=51505"><span class="tinyicontxt">Lava Burst</span></a> base damage has been reduced by 33% but now always deals a critical strike. When cast on targets affected by <a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=8050"><span class="tinyicontxt">Flame Shock</span></a>, it now deals 50% more damage.<br />
- Another tweak aimed at our elemental brothers and sisters. It's nice to see Lava Burst always crit now, and perhaps the increase in damage will help bring their over all damage up a bit. Not completely sure on the math on that one though, so be sure to check on the theorycrafting work done by Binkenstein and friends over on <a href="http://www.totemspot.com/" target="_blank">Totem Spot.</a> <br />
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When summoned, the <a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=108270"><span class="tinyicontxt">Stone Bulwark Totem</span></a> has health equal to 10% of the casting Shaman's health. <br />
- This was mainly a PvP buff to make it so that players couldn't simply 1-shot our shielding totem.<br />
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<u><b><span style="font-size: large;">Talents</span></b></u><br />
<span class="tinyicontxt"><span class="tinyicontxt">The talent <a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=30884"><span class="tinyicontxt">Nature's Guardian</span></a> now preserves the player's health percentage when its maximum health boosting effect expires.</span></span><br />
<span class="tinyicontxt"><span class="tinyicontxt">- This talent increases your health pool. Originally when this was implemented, if you were at say, 97% health when the buff expired, your health percentage would drop. Now when the buff from this talent expires, your health will remain at the example health of 97%.</span></span><br />
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<span class="tinyicontxt"><a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=108270"><span class="tinyicontxt">Stone Bulwark Totem</span></a> now absorbs 25% more damage.</span><br />
<span class="tinyicontxt">- More absorbs mean less damage taken! This is a decent little buff from both PvE and PvP perspectives. </span><br />
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<span class="tinyicontxt">The talent <a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=108284"><span class="tinyicontxt">Totemic Restoration</span></a>
now has an additional effect. Any totems that have been destroyed or
replaced behave as if the totem had been active for at least 1 second.</span><br />
<span class="tinyicontxt">- You got me. I'm assuming that this is an adjustment or fix for some sort of unintended behavior from replacing totems too quickly (fat fingering something and instantly replacing it with another totem of another school perhaps, not resetting the original totem as intended?), but as to what that is specifically, I'm unsure. </span><br />
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<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=16166"><span class="tinyicontxt">Elemental Mastery</span></a> now has a 90-second cooldown (was 2 minutes).<br />
- This change actually makes Elemental Mastery attractive to enhancement in certain situations. By lowering the cooldown to 90 seconds, we can line up every other EM usage with Ascendance, creating some delicious burst situations. <br />
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<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=16188"><span class="tinyicontxt">Ancestral Swiftness</span></a> now increases spell haste by 5% and melee haste by 10% (was 5%/5%).<br />
- This buff makes Ancestral Swiftness viable for use in more static situations. The theorycrafters are still working on the numbers, but this may be the talent of choice for this tier with certain t15 trinkets + the legendary meta gem. More on this later in the 5.2 enhancement Need To Know guide.<br />
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<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=108282"><span class="tinyicontxt">Conductivity</span></a> no longer requires that the target be within the area of effect of <a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=73920"><span class="tinyicontxt">Healing Rain</span></a>.<br />
- To my understanding this means that if you heal someone outside of the Healing Rain, those IN the Healing Rain gain the healing effect. Say for example, you're taking on Feng in Mogu'shan Vaults. Ranged are stacked up in the middle, you place Healing Rain on the ranged. You directly heal the tank, which is over on the side with the boss. Those within your rain get 30% of the direct heal you just landed on the tank. This adjustment was made to make this talent a bit more appealing and slightly less situation bound. <br />
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<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=108282"><span class="tinyicontxt">Conductivity</span></a> now shares 30% (was 20%) of the healing received from <a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=331"><span class="tinyicontxt">Healing Wave</span></a>, <a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=77472"><span class="tinyicontxt">Greater Healing Wave</span></a>, or <a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=8004"><span class="tinyicontxt">Healing Surge</span></a> <br />
- A buff to help make this particular talent choice a bit more appealing.<br />
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<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=108281"><span class="tinyicontxt">Ancestral Guidance</span></a> now copies 60% (was 40%) of the amount healed. <br />
- While this buff to the healing portion of AG can be applied towards elemental and enhancement shaman, this is mainly geared towards restoration to make this talent choice more appealing to them. For the most part, us elementals and enhancers don't tend to heal while we pop AG, unless we're soloing and near death.<br />
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<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=117012"><span class="tinyicontxt">Unleashed Fury</span></a> Flametongue now increases <a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=403"><span class="tinyicontxt">Lightning Bolt</span></a> damage by 20% (was 30%), and <a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=51505"><span class="tinyicontxt">Lava Burst</span></a> damage by 10%.<br />
- This tweak is a buff for elemental shaman to make this talent more appealing to them, and a minor nerf for us enhancement shaman, bringing it slightly more in line with the other two talent choices for this tier. <br />
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Primal Earth Elemental and Primal Fire Elemental now deal 20% more damage.<br />
- The buff for the primal versions of our elementals (via the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=117013" target="_blank">Primal Elementalist</a> talent) is meant to make this talent more attractive for us DPS-type shaman. <br />
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<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=117014"><span class="tinyicontxt">Elemental Blast</span></a> now has a chance to increase the caster's Agility for Enhancement <span class="tinyicontxt">Shaman</span>s. <br />
- This change is a buff is intended to be a buff/addition geared towards enhancement shaman. The verdict is still out as to whether or not this change is enough to make this particular talent appealing (so far it looks like the other two talents pull a good bit ahead of this one), but it's a step in the direction of talent balance.<br />
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<u><b><span style="font-size: large;">Glyphs</span></b></u><br />
<a class="q1 icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/item=41527"><span class="tinyicontxt">Glyph of Purge</span></a> now adds a 6 second cooldown to <a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=370"><span class="tinyicontxt">Purge</span></a>.<br />
- A change geared towards PvP balance. <br />
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<a class="q1 icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/item=41531"><span class="tinyicontxt">Glyph of Flame Shock</span></a> has been redesigned. This glyph now causes the <span class="tinyicontxt">Shaman</span> to heal for 50% of the damage dealt by <a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=8050"><span class="tinyicontxt">Flame Shock</span></a>.<br />
- Originally this glyph extended the duration of FS by 25% at the cost of Flame Shocks' initial damage. The made the 25% extended duration baseline, and reworked this glyph so that FS will heal us for 50% of the damage it deals. Over all this is a fairly piddly heal, as Flame Shock doesn't tend to do a whole lot of damage single target. However, if you find yourself in a situation where you don't have anything better to put in a glyph spot for a certain fight, an extra little bit of healing is never a bad thing! <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Elemental Specific</u></b></span><br />
<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=16164"><span class="tinyicontxt">Elemental Focus</span></a> now increases the Shaman's spell damage by 15% (was 10%).<br />
<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=62099"><span class="tinyicontxt">Shamanism</span></a> now increases the damage of <a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=403"><span class="tinyicontxt">Lightning Bolt</span></a> by 70% (was 50%). <br />
- Two buffs to help bring elemental's overall damage up a bit.<br />
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<u><b><span style="font-size: large;">Enhancement Specific</span></b></u><br />
<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=30814"><span class="tinyicontxt">Mental Quickness</span></a> now lowers the cost of shocks by 90% (still lowers the cost of other “beneficial, instant, damaging and totem spells” by 75%).<br />
- <strike>Not completely sure why this change happen, as we don't tend to have many mana issues at max level. There it is though, and I won't complain any. </strike><br />
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<i>Edit: According to the <a href="http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/8980103" target="_blank">5.2 Class Review done by Blizz</a>, this change was geared towards helping out enhancement shaman in PvP scenarios. Apparently with low melee uptime, enhancers were finding themselves OOM. I still won't complain any, as this change can likewise help in certain solo situations!</i><br />
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<a class="icontiny" href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/spell=58875"><span class="tinyicontxt">Spirit Walk</span></a> now has a 1-minute cooldown (was 2 minutes). <br />
- More mobility is never a bad thing, especially as a melee class. This change is super handy for those movement heavy fights.<br />
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As I said a bit ago, most of these changes are really more minor tweaks. A few are quality of life changes, some are simply balancing our talents so that we may choose talents based on either preference or situation, instead of simply choosing a particular talent because "it's always the best one." Naturally, changing certain talents in and out can change your playstyle to a certain degree, but more on that later. Go forth and enjoy the new content!Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-76458450957397195442013-03-06T19:37:00.001-06:002013-03-06T19:38:05.383-06:00Podcast Guesting and Updates!For those of you who may have missed my tweets or Facebook post, on March 1st I had the pleasure of being a guest on The Training Dummies podcast. On the show we spoke about soloing and they allowed me to geek a bit about alts and enhancement shaman as well! I highly recommend giving the show a listen, as these fellas put out some pretty good content.<br />
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The Training Dummies - Episode 33</div>
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<a href="http://www.thetrainingdummies.com/2013/03/01/episode-33-solo-all-the-things/" target="_blank">Solo All The Things!</a></div>
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If you've been waiting with bated breath (it's torturous I'm sure, as 5.2 launched only yesterday) for an updated enhancement guide, fear not! I am currently working on a post that covers the 5.2 changes for shamans in general, and I shall be following that up with a tweaked enhancement guide for this new patch.<br />
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Also in the plans is to get out a few more soloing video guides, as well as potentially a walk through on how to enhance your way through the new raid LFR style, once that becomes available. Videos are always on my maybe pile though, as those buggers tend to be time consuming as all get out.<br />
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So yes, good things coming soon. Until then, enjoy the podcast!Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-43750154468634086512013-02-09T13:57:00.000-06:002015-07-23T03:22:29.153-05:00Prepping for Herald of the TitansSo, you've seen this nifty title around town, Herald of the Titans. You've looked it up, sort of, and have found out that in order to acquire this this title you must have a level 80 character. Beyond this little tidbit of information, you're finding yourself in need of a little help. This article is here to lend you a hand. <br />
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<i>Edit: This achievement was temporarily bugged to where a group of 90s could gain this FoS/Title. DPSing down the boss before it could register the gear and levels of the group can be considered an EXPLOIT, as it is not intended for level 90s to be able to achieve this Feat of Strength. It should be known that using/attempting to use an exploit is a bannable offense according to the Terms of Service that Blizzard has in place, thus isn't something you should be attempting. This bug has also been hotfixed, so stop trying to find a way to circumvent the system that's in place.</i><br />
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The Herald of the Titans is a title acquired by a team of level 80 characters, all in gear of item level 226 or less, taking down this star guy called <a href="http://www.wowpedia.org/Algalon" target="_blank">Algalon</a>. Algalon is remembered as one of those bosses that straight up resonated with all players, both lore-wise and with his encounter. His is an epic fight to experience. Originally Algalon's encounter had a 1 hour time limit in which you could make attempts on taking him down attached to it, but this is no longer the case.<br />
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Herald of the Titans has been moved to a Feat of Strength. It <i>is</i> still obtainable however, and the title <i>is</i> account-wide. For a short while after the account-wide titles became a thing, it was thought that this was one title that would forever remain character bound. It turned out though that this was just a bug. Once you achieve the Herald of the Titans FoS, you unlock this nifty title for all of the characters on your account!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Locking Your Character at 80</u></span></div>
Freezing your character's XP gain is fairly simplistic. If you're Alliance, you'll want to visit <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=35365" target="_blank">Behsten</a>, who is located in the Stormwind Keep. For Horde, you'll want to speak to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=35364" target="_blank">Slahtz</a>, who is located in the Valley of Honor. Both of these fellas are stealthed level 19 rogues, though you shouldn't have much issue tracking them down if you click on the provided links.<br />
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If you wish to continue on leveling your character after you receive your title, you simply talk to these guys again to turn your XP gain back on. The cost to either toggle the XP gain on or off should only be about 10g.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Gear</u></span></div>
In order for the group to qualify for the achievement, everyone must be sporting gear of an item leveling of 226 or lower in all slots, with an exception for weapons, which may be item level 232. Crafted gear, BoEs, and Justice Point gear can all fill gaps quite nicely, and in some cases turn out to be best-in-slot items.<br />
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Best-in-slot gear is not required for the achievement, but the more 226 gear you can get on your character, the better. Shoot for making your character sport at least all epic items prior to attempting this encounter. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Gemming</u></span></div>
For this Feat of Strength it is preferred that all participating characters to be gemmed with the epic quality <i>Wrath of the Lich King</i> gems. For *most* classes, folks will want to gem their primary stat (Agility/Intellect/Strength) with the exception of possibly tanks and/or healers, who may prefer a mix of their primary and preferred secondary.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Enchanting</u></span></div>
Like gemming, it is preferred that all participants have their characters enchanted with the best enchants available to them. It is understandable if a character is on a server that a player may not have a dedicated enchanter to provide materials/enchants for the Herald character (assuming that the Herald toon isn't an enchanter his or herself), however all participants should at least have some sort of enchant on every piece of their gear. Keep in mind that these days many enchants can and will scale. Here is a very useful <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?pli=1&key=0AnBPvCvqWJ3udENtVlVmcjA4Q3ZQWmZKWHE3c201UXc&f=true&noheader=true&gid=17">spreadsheet detailing which enchants scale</a> and in what ways to help you determine what may be best for your level 80.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Professions</u></span></div>
Professions, while not 100% required, can be a huge help in both gearing and optimizing your Herald character. Like at max level, crafting professions (Tailoring, Enchanting, Jewel Crafting, Leatherworking, Black Smithing, Engineering, and possibly Inscription) are generally preferred over gathering professions (Herbalism, Skinning, Mining). Again, not something that is absolutely needed, though if you have the resources available to you to level up your Herald character's professions to the <i>Cataclysm</i> level, it can help out immensely.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Food</u></span></div>
<i>Cataclysm</i> foods are permitted for the Herald of the Titans achievement. It is advised that you stock up on some <i>Cataclysm</i> foods in your primary stat for personal use in the event that a feast is not able to be provided.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Flasks/Potions</u></span></div>
Again, for this achievement <i>Cataclysm</i> consumables (in this case, flasks) are permitted. Since group cauldrons are no longer a thing, it is advised that you come prepared with a few flasks in your primary stat.<br />
<br />
Likewise you may use <i>Cataclysm</i> potions for this event. While a full stack of a potion of your choice (for DPS this would be a potion that provides your primary stat, for healers this may be a mana return potion, and for tanks this may be either a healing potion, an armor increase potion, or an Agility/Strength potion for increased DPS) probably won't all be needed, it is advised that you have several of these potions on hand. For those of you familiar with double potting, that will not be necessary for this encounter, as the time from entering combat and the time that Algalon actually engages is nearly the full duration of the initial pre-pot. Save your potions for the burn phase!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strike><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Reforging</u></span></strike></div>
<strike>For a Herald character, reforging can be a bit tricky. If you are aware of the exact number you need for your hit and/or expertise caps, using a site such as <a href="http://wowreforge.com/" target="_blank">WoW Reforge</a> can come in pretty handy. In the event that you're not completely aware of what your caps are, an addon called <a href="http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/reforgelite" target="_blank">ReforgeLite</a> can help you out greatly. If you need any help with figuring out how this addon works, you can refer to my <a href="http://serenitysaz.blogspot.com/2013/08/reforging-with-reforgelite-addon.html" target="_blank">ReforgeLite post</a>.</strike><br />
<strike><br /></strike>
<strike>Before you begin reforging, it is advised that you research which secondary stats your class/spec prefers. For most level 80 classes, Mastery tends to be the most powerful stat available regardless of the level 90 preference of said class/spec. However, for DPS specs it is incredibly important that you must first reach your hit and/or expertise caps before you begin to stack Mastery or any other secondary stat. Tanks, it is likewise advisable to look into how important it is to reach your hit/expertise caps for both threat generation and resource regeneration</strike>. <i>Reforging no longer exists, but leaving this section in for now. You never know when Blizz may change their other mind!</i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Rotations </u></span></div>
Spell priorities and rotations for most classes can be gleaned from their level 100 counterparts, and guides on these spell priorities/rotation may be found on various blogs and/or sites such as <a href="http://www.icy-veins.com/" target="_blank">Icy-Veins</a>. Naturally, as a level 80 you will not have all of the nifty spells that a level 100 does, but you should have most of the meat and potato spells for your spec. Make minor adjustments as needed.<br />
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>The Gearing Process</u></span></div>
There are several ways to begin the gearing up process, many of which may need to be employed depending on how lucky you are with drops.<br />
<br />
1) <u>Crafting</u> - There are several pieces out there that may be crafted for a Herald character. However, these recipes are often subject to droprates, so if you personally or your guildmates do not have the recipe, it may be a bugger to find the right pattern. For 226 specific gear, there are belts and boots available for crafting. If you're in dire need of a chest and glove filler, 200 gear is likewise available for crafting, provided you have the recipes.<br />
<br />
2) <u>Wrath 5 Mans</u> - Queuing up for heroic <i>Wrath of the Lich King</i> 5 mans is not necessarily the most efficient way to go about things, unless you have a ready-made group of five. The option is there, however, to have a level 100 solo these instances for you. While most of the heroic-mode 5 mans either sport gear that is rather low in item level (200 or so) or too high (the ICC heroics sport 232 gear), they can provide some decent fillers. Here are some instances that you'll want to focus on to get your filler gear:<br />
<br />
<i>Heroic ICC 5 Mans</i>: While most of the gear in these heroics cannot be used for Herald of the Titans, what can be used are the weapon drops. Remember, weapons of ilvl 232 may be used! These heroics will provide that.<br />
<u><br /></u>
<i>Normal ICC 5 Mans</i>: The gear that drops in the normal version of these dungeons drop 219 gear, which is perfectly acceptable. Easily chain farmed if you have the time available to you.<br />
<br />
<i>Heroic ToC 5</i>: This instance will provide you with 219 gear on heroic. Heroic ToC should be soloable by most classes/specs at level 100.<br />
<u><br /></u>
<i>Regular ToC 5</i>: Soloable by level 100 characters, ToC regular provides ilvl 200 gear. While not the most optimal, this instance provides Heralds characters with an easily obtained/farmable trinket. Most of these trinkets were desirable up into even Icecrown Citadel if a raider at that time was unlucky.<br />
<br />
3) <u>Cataclysm Dungeons</u> <br />
Justice Points can be used to purchase a variety of gear from the vendors found in Dalaran. Some of these purchasable items are BoE, so they can be bought by another character who has excess JP laying around. However, many of the items are BoP and will require farming on your Herald toon.<br />
<br />
There are two <i>Cataclysm</i> dungeons that are available to level 80s: Throne of the Tides and Blackrock Caverns. Queuing up for these randomly, at least one per day for your daily boost in JP gain, is pretty much the best way to farm for your needed Justice Points.<br />
<br />
Given the fact that you'll be farming these two <i>Cataclysm</i> dungeons over and over again, chances are you'll end up with two different sets of gear; one for farming, one for Herald of the Titans. It is perfectly okay to wear items that are above the 226 requirement while you are farming for your Herald gear. As a matter of a fact it's encouraged to have a higher item level set, especially if you're having a friend solo instances for you, as it greatly increases your chance of survival in some situations. If you're running with a gear group through Ulduar, wearing higher gear generally yields higher damage output, which naturally speeds up the farming runs a bit.<br />
<br />
4) <u>Ulduar</u><br />
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, farming Ulduar for gear is another option. There are a few things to remember though:<br />
<br />
- Ulduar 10 provides 219 gear from normal modes; 226 gear from hardmodes and Algalon<br />
- Ulduar 25 provides 226 gear from normal modes; 239 gear from hardmodes and Algalon, which is not usable for Herald of the Titans<br />
- Be sure to not save yourself to Algalon the week you plan on attempting the achievement. Remember, the lockouts have changed. If you kill Algalon on 25 man difficulty, you will also be locked out of Algalon 10 for the week.<br />
- Be mindful of possible lockout issues if you were to participate in a partial run through Ulduar. While lockout issues should not occur if you were to say, kill 3 bosses and someone else cleared everything besides Algalon himself, it is possible that funky things could occur. Just play it safe during the week you plan on attempting the achievement.<br />
<br />
If you happen to have either a second account with a max level character on it, you could very well solo a good chunk of Ulduar for gear as well, with your Herald toon in tow. If this option isn't available to you, if you happen to have a friend who is generous with their time and is a capable soloist, they could potentially run you through the instance as you try to keep yourself alive. Again, a few things to remember before you attempt duoing this with a friend or yourself: <br />
<br />
- Ulduar 10 should be soloable by any type of level 100 character.<br />
<br />
- Ulduar 25 likewise should be soloable by any level 100 class/spec. Yogg can be problematic for some classes, but with some finagling just about any class can counter his tentacles.<br />
<br />
5) <u>Other Raids</u><br />
If you really need gear with a quickness, do not forget to run Naxxramas 10 (ilvl 200) or 25 (ilvl 213), Malygos 10 (ilvl 213) or 25 (ilvl 226), Obsidian Sanctum 10 (ilvl 200/213 with bonus drakes) or 25 (ilvl 213/226 with bonus drakes), and Onyxia 10 (ilvl 232 weapons).<br />
<br />
The tier 7 set bonuses are often decent and can/should be used if you're unable to get yourself a 2 and/or 4 set tier 8 bonus.<br />
<br />
<i>Naxx 10</i>: Should be fully soloable by any level 100 class/spec<br />
<i>Naxx 25</i>: Should be fully soloable by any level 100 class/spec<br />
<i>Malygos 10/25</i>: Both versions of this instance should be easily soloable by any level 100 class/spec<br />
<i>Obsidian Sanctum 10/25</i>: Both versions of this instance should be easily soloable by any level 100 class/spec<br />
Onyxia 10: Easily soloable by all classes/specs over level 90.<br />
<br />
6) <u>BoEs</u><br />
Remember to check the auction house if you've already tapped all of your raiding resources, because BoEs drop from Naxx, OS, EoE (Malygos), and even Ulduar itself. These BoEs can certainly fill in a space in a pinch, and generally only go for a few hundred gold at most these days.<br />
<br />
7) <u>Extra Sources of Justice Points</u><br />
<i>Edit: </i>With making this guide, I completely forgot about the conversion of Honor Points to Justice Point. If you had leveled via PvP, you may trade your extra HP for JP at the Honor vendor in your faction's main city. Below is a quote from one of our commenters, <a href="http://www.evlyxx.co.uk/" target="_blank">Evlyxx</a>, advising us on how to gain even more HP to trade over for JP:<br />
<br />
<i>However, 1 vital source of Justice Points is missing from the guide, the
PVP quests in Venture Bay, which give 200 honor per day that can be
converted into Justice Points every other day. Not a lot by level 90
standards but the return per minute is huge as the biggest unforseen
problem I and my friends encountered was getting Justice Points as the
Wrath dungeons didn't reward any. </i><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>The Fight</u></span></div>
Alright, so you've got the gear and it's all dazzled up, you've got your required raiding consumables, and you're ready to get down to business. As it is with current end-game raiding, it's wise to look at the fight ahead of time. Here's the original Tankspot guide on how to tackle this encounter.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fRfVDgTLMGA" width="560"></iframe></div>
<br />
Looks a bit complex, eh? Try not to fret too much, as the encounter is actually much easier, thanks to our little friend called Mastery. That's right, because of this one little (and rather potent) stat addition, overall DPS *should* be higher than it was when Algalon was current content, healing throughput *should* be a bit stronger, and tanking likewise *should* be a bit smoother. I strongly accentuate the word should simply because often Herald toons are not sitting in full BiS 226 gear, nor at Herald toons generally a class someone plays as a main. Despite everything, Mastery as a whole tends to help make up the differences of both skill and lack of BiS gear.<br />
<br />
While yes, the fight is much easier with a group of twinks and semi-twinks, do not allow yourself to be lulled into a false sense of "this is easy" however. For most groups, it will take several pulls before everyone is acclimated to how the encounter feels on their particular character. If everyone has prepared correctly though, the learning process and achievement gain should be fairly painless.<br />
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I hope that this post has helped a few of you out! As always, if you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to ask. I wish you all luck with your gearing. Now go have yourself some fun!Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-19662885188097134462013-02-03T18:30:00.000-06:002015-03-08T19:14:43.424-05:00Healing As Enhancement<span style="color: red;"><i>New visitors! Please be aware that much has changed since this post was written. WoD has changed off healing capabilities drastically. Expect an updated guide somewhere in the near future. </i></span><br />
<br />
If you're just now returning to the game, or if you're leveling an enhancement shaman for the first time, you may be wondering "How the heck do I heal?" Enhancement healing is relatively simple, yet can seem a bit complex at times to the untrained shaman. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sAZCOcm-7NI/UQ5ix5aL8FI/AAAAAAAAA7o/O10SWdkCoIc/s1600/Saz+Enhance+Healing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sAZCOcm-7NI/UQ5ix5aL8FI/AAAAAAAAA7o/O10SWdkCoIc/s400/Saz+Enhance+Healing.jpg" height="211" width="400" /></a></div>
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Some of you old-timers may be wondering about where the heck Healing Wave and Greater Healing Wave ran off to. Well, both of these spells have decided to get permanently hitched to our restoration brothers and sisters, effectively dumping us. That's right, our only actively cast healing spells are now Healing Surge, Chain Heal, and Healing Rain. I see you giving Healing Surge the stink eye; try not to judge it quite yet, it's more potent than it looks.<br />
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<i>Please note that I will only be covering the spell modifiers (mainly talents and glyphs, not necessarily procs/secondary stat scaling) that directly effect healing. There are several other glyphs/talents that boost resistances and help to dispel, but I will not be including those within this article. </i><br />
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<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8004" target="_blank"><u>Healing Surge</u></a></div>
Unless you're hard casting Healing Surge for some odd reason,
this spell is more than adequate for the pinch healing that you'll need
during leveling/soloing/raiding. Trust me, this spell has been saving my shaman butt for months now. Check out these modifiers that makes Healing Surge more potent for us.<br />
<br />
Modified by:<br />
1) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51530" target="_blank">Maelstrom Weapon</a> - For each stack of Maelstrom Weapon, Healing Surge will both cost less mana and heal for greater amounts.<br />
2) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=43344" target="_blank">Healing Storm</a> - This glyph will cause your healing done to be increased by 20% per Maelstrom Weapon stack.<br />
3) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108283" target="_blank">Echo of Elements</a> - This talent can cause your Healing Surge to "echo," effectively casting Healing Surge a second time without any extra effort from you or resource cost. Both the original spell an the echoed spell can crit independently.<br />
<br />
Might not be so bad, eh? Now let's break down some of our other healing abilities.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=1064" target="_blank"><u>Chain Heal</u></a></div>
Chain Heal is not a spell commonly cast by an enhancement shaman unless
said shaman is within proximity of several raid mates and their healers
are struggling. Remember, it is your job as a dps to do damage, not play
healing hero. In the event that your healers are oom, you may use Chain
Heal and Healing Rain as last ditch efforts to save your raid team long
enough to make a kill. If you need to save yourself in the event that
you accidentally stood in the bad though, use Healing Surge. Chain Heal doesn't heal for a ton single-target, and can unfortunately only bounce so far.<br />
<br />
Modified by:<br />
1) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51530" target="_blank">Maelstrom Weapon</a> - For each stack of Maelstrom Weapon, Healing Surge will both cost less mana and heal for greater amounts.<br />
2) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=43344" target="_blank">Healing Storm</a> - This glyph will cause your healing done to be increased by 20% per Maelstrom Weapon stack.<br />
3)
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108283" target="_blank">Echo of Elements</a> - This talent can cause your Chain Heal to "echo,"
effectively casting Chain Heal a second time without any extra effort
from you or resource cost. Crits will behave as if you had cast Chain Heal twice, meaning they'll do their own thing regardless of what the original spell did.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=73920" target="_blank"><u>Healing Rain</u></a></div>
Much like Chain Heal, Healing Rain is not a spell commonly cast by an
enhancement shaman unless
said shaman is within proximity of several raid mates and their healers
are struggling. Healing Rain can help to stabilize a group's health, though overall doesn't do a ton of healing. Remember, it is your job as a dps to do damage, not play
healing hero. In the event that your healers are oom, you may use Chain
Heal and Healing Rain as last ditch efforts to save your raid team long
enough to make a kill. If you need to save yourself in the event that
you accidentally stood in the bad though, use Healing Surge.<br />
<br />
Modified by:<br />
1) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51530" target="_blank">Maelstrom Weapon</a> - For each stack of Maelstrom Weapon, Healing Rain will both cost less mana and heal for greater amounts.<br />
2) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108282" target="_blank">Conductivity</a> - Causes the duration of Healing Rain to be extended when certain abilities are used; more on this later. <br />
<strike>3) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=43344" target="_blank">Healing Storm</a> - This glyph will cause your healing done to be increased by 20% per Maelstrom Weapon stack. </strike><br />
<br />
<i>Patch 5.4 Edit: Healing Rain is no longer affected by the glyph Healing
Storm. Due to this change, Healing Rain's effectiveness has been severely nerfed for
Enhancement. </i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=5394" target="_blank"><u><br /></u></a>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=5394" target="_blank"><u>Healing Stream Totem</u></a><br />
This totem has been a healing staple for us shaman for quite some time now. While it has had a bit of a makeover since <i>Cataclysm</i>, this totem can still put out a good little bit of healing. Currently this totem is a single target smart heal, and prefers to target those in the shaman's group who have the lowest health. The <i>Mists of Pandaria</i> version only lasts for 15 seconds at a time and has a cooldown, but said cooldown is relatively short (30 seconds). If you're in dire need of a second Healing Stream Totem, and fast, you may reset the cooldown if you're specced into Call of the Elements (3 minute cooldown on this talent).<br />
<br />
Modified by:<br />
1) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108285" target="_blank">Call of the Elements</a> - Resets the 30 second cooldown on this totem. Usable once every 3 minutes.<br />
2) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=147074">Rushing Streams</a> - Causes your Healing Stream to heal two targets (up from one) for an increased healing amount of 15% per tick.<br />
3) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108284">Totemic Persistence</a> - Allows you to have up to two totems per school activated at the same time (Healing Stream + Healing Tide = Whoa totem healing, Batman)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108280" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108280" target="_blank"><u>Healing Tide Totem</u></a><br />
It's a totem and it's a "major" healing cooldown! As of patch 5.4, Healing Tide Totem is now a baseline ability for all of the shaman specializations, as opposed to being a talent choice prior to this patch. More healing utility for us, huzzah! This bad boy is great for re-stabilizing the raid in a pinch, or even saving your own butt in a soloing situation.<br />
<br />
Modified by:<br />
1) Passive talents that only Restoration has which boosts all of their healing, including totems.<br />
2) Haste plateaus, which Enhancement doesn't shoot for.<br />
3) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108284">Totemic Persistence</a>
- Allows you to have up to two totems per school activated at the same
time. (Healing Stream + Healing Tide = Whoa totem healing, Batman) <br />
<br />
<u><br /></u>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=114911" target="_blank"><u>Ancestral Guidance</u></a><br />
This particular talent currently offers us dps shaman types the biggest bang for our talent point...assuming we can swat at things. Ancestral Guidance yields the highest output while we are in our Ascendance form, though please keep in mind that tying the two together may result in a complete waste of Ancestral Guidance, unless there's an increased damage taken and received phase, such as the gas phase on Will of the Emperor normal mode. For soloing purposes however, if you happen to pop AG while in Ascendance, you could very well see yourself go from nearly dead to full very quickly. Stormstrike/Stormblast, Lava Lash, Lightning Bolt, Chain Lighting, the initial impact of shocks (meaning NOT Flame Shock's tick, just the impact when you first cast it), and Fire Nova all essentially become means of healing through this talent for a short duration.<br />
<br />
Modified by:<br />
1) The use of dps cooldowns in conjunction with this ability.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108282" target="_blank"><u>Conductivity</u></a><br />
This talent has received a major overhaul with patch 5.4. Conductivity now extends the life of our Healing Rain by 4 seconds each time Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Earth Shock, or Stormstrike is cast. The Healing Rain has a maximum duration of 40 seconds. Between this change and the removal of Healing Rain from our <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=43344" target="_blank">Healing Storm</a> glyph, this talent has pretty much become useless for us Enhancement types.<br />
<u></u><br />
<u><br /></u>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51533" target="_blank"><u>Feral Spirits</u></a><br />
That's right, even our wolves heal us! Just us though, they really don't like anyone else. Every time they attack, 150% of the damage they deal heals both them and us. Pretty neat, eh? But that's not all! If you have Glyph of Feral Spirit in, they deal another 40% in healing, which is to say pretty darn potent. Yeah that's right, our wolves aren't just a little damage cooldown that looks all flashy, but they're also a fairly decent self healing cooldown as well. Pretty hard to take us down when we have our wolf pals out!<br />
<br />
Modified by:<br />
1) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=45771" target="_blank">Glyph of Feral Spirit</a><br />
2) Mastery - The Feral Spirits attack using a spell called <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=58859" target="_blank">Spirit Bite</a>, which deals nature damage. Due to our <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=77223/mastery-enhanced-elements" target="_blank">Enhancement Mastery</a>, the more mastery we have, the stronger our wolves will attack. The stronger their attacks, the more healing we receive.<br />
3) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/itemset=1169">Battlegear of the Witch Doctor</a> (4pc) - Tier 15 (Throne of Thunder) The cooldown of your Feral Spirits is reduced by 8 sec each time Windfury Weapon is triggered.<br />
4) <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=102292">Assurance of Consequence</a> - This is a trinket that comes from the Sha of Pride in Siege of Orgrimmar. Our wolves are one of the cooldowns affected by this trinket.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/item=41531" target="_blank"><u>Glyph of Flame Shock</u></a><br />
You will personally be healed by 30% of the damage your Flame Shock does. If you were to spread your Flame Shock via Lava Lash and had multiple Flame Shocks rolling at once, you'll receive healing from those Flame Shocks.<br />
<br />
For single target, this glyph isn't all that powerful. However, in situations where you're able to spread your Flame Shock around, it does a decent little bit of healing. I find myself running this glyph often enough (though generally one of the first I switch out if utility calls) because hey, extra passive healing is always nice.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
That's everything we have currently. So let's break it down into simple terms, going by what is typically specced for and glyphed:<br />
<br />
<u>Personal/Single Target Healing</u>: Healing Surge, Feral Spirits, Healing Stream Totem, Flame Shock (with glyph)<br />
<u>Party/Raid Healing</u>: Chain Heal, Healing Rain (not ideal), Healing Stream Totem, Ancestral Guidance (or Healing Tide Totem)<br />
<u>Healing Glyphs</u>: Feral Spirit, Healing Storm, Flame Shock<br />
<br />
Also, don't forget your professions and racials. If you're an herbalist, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=121279" target="_blank">Lifeblood</a> can help you out in a pinch (plus the extra haste is pretty neat) and if you just so happen to be a Draenei, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=59547" target="_blank">Gift of the Naaru</a> can restore 20% of your (or a friend's, or Tsulong's) health to you (or your friend, or Tsulong even) over the duration of 15 seconds. Can't beat free healing!<br />
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I hope this article has helped you out some, even if it is rather lengthy. Remember, enhancement shamans have a ton of healing utility within our bag of tricks, so there's no need to feel helpless if you're hurting! Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639116481859847718.post-48301019536363224522013-01-23T16:02:00.001-06:002013-01-25T15:13:35.178-06:00Is Enhancement Viable For Raiding?One question that seems to be commonly asked within class forums
pertains to whether or not X class is currently "viable" for the latest
raid content. Before we get much further into this post, let us first define what viable means.<br />
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Viable: <i>Adjective</i> Capable of working successfully; feasible<br />
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This essentially means that to be viable as a raiding spec, said spec would have to be able to be able to compete on whatever chart with its fellow peers within a certain percentage. Let's look at some charts to see how well Blizzard has been doing in regards to balancing the various DPS specializations in our current available raiding formats.<br />
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<i>Click on the images to enlarge!</i></div>
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The above images have been taken from the site <a href="http://raidbots.com/" target="_blank">RaidBots</a>.
This site shows us the top 100 parses averaged over the whatever time frame you set it up to show you. Now, please be aware
that this site is to be used as a <i>reference</i>, not a bible. Your
damage output may vary from what is shown on this site due to either
gearing differences, the difficulty you participate in, and not to
mention potential player error.<br />
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Now, what you're looking at here is the average output of each
respective DPS class and spec over the course of the last 60 days for
all encounters. Notice how the dark blue squiggly line representing
enhancement is smack dab in the middle of the pack of squiggly lines.
Let me assure you, this is a very good place to be! For the most part, enhance seems to be within the roughly 10k median range, most often right smack dab in the middle. If you so wish, you may venture over to the site and look how enhance preforms on various encounters. For the most part though, we do indeed preform in an average manner. In some cases we preform better than other DPS classes, some we struggle with, but such as it is with diverse encounters.<br />
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What this essentially means is that we're currently not over powered, thus not in the queue
for the nerfbat come the next patch, nor are we under preforming to the point
where a raid team wouldn't consider taking us to a raid. We will be receiving some minor tweaks come patch 5.2, but these changes shouldn't make or break us, they will simply allow us to swap between out tier 4 and 6 talents to more effectively take on encounters. It also means that we're more than capable of keeping up with the vast majority of our peers on most encounters. Except for those pesky affliction warlocks and arcane mages. We won't really consider them for the moment though.<br />
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With all that said, I'd now like to touch on a related subject: how much does viability matter?<br />
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This is a rat's nest of a topic, but it is my personal opinion that viability as it were is a rather fluid thing. What I mean by this is that a given class is only as viable as the player behind it and the gear on the character itself. Yes, each class has a maximum potential ceiling that most of us try to strive for. However, unless someone is a robot on a perfect internet connection with all of the available buffs and have the RNG proc luck of the gods, most of us will never see that very top most performance ceiling. It's not that we don't try, it's that we all have our hindrances, be it latency, lack of best in slot gear, or even *gasp* human error.<br />
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This is where averages are good to consider. While yes, the above graphs were taken from the top 100 parses, thus represent some pretty fantastic players, they only give us a very broad idea on how each class preforms <i>on average</i>. Some specializations represented are capable of more but are skewed by funky raid comps or lack of representation. Again, this should be viewed as a reference, not a bible. I cannot stress this point enough. The above information needs to be taken with a grain of salt.<br />
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The fact of the matter is that unless you're a member of a top 100 guild, the so-called viability of most classes may not matter a whole lot to you since your guild's focus probably isn't aimed at acquiring world firsts, thus you have no real need to know how to stack which classes paired with what to put out the absolute maximum DPS numbers. For the typical WoW player, number crunching down to the last possible percentage isn't necessary. Chances are pretty good that most of you who will read this are in a middle of the road guild, perhaps either fairly casual and just doing your thing or dedicated to the point where you're pushing heroic modes. Chances are also pretty good that the talent within your raid team may vary to a certain degree. That's completely okay. All that means is that the above information shouldn't sway how you play to the degree that it would for the incredibly hardcore players in this game. Should it still be taken into consideration? Perhaps to a small degree, but I think the average player/guild will ultimately find more success in worrying about the people they bring into their raid environment versus worrying about what the top hot classes are for the current patch.<br />
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I'll let you in on a little secret: Any well-played class/spec can beat out any so-called overpowered class poorly played. I know this fact first hand.<br />
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The TL;DR version of this post is this: Bring the player, not the class/spec. While yes, you should always consider raid composition and loot distribution when you're trying to plan out raids, it ultimately won't matter much if you have a perfect raid comp when half of the players may not be capable preforming up to the group's standards. A decently geared enhancement shaman can very well beat out a similarly geared warlock or mage; it just depends on the capability of the players.<br />
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Enhancement is indeed viable. We are represented in higher end guilds. There are enhancers out there who have taken down Heroic Sha of Fear in Terrace of Endless Spring and we are more than capable with keeping up on the damage meters, regardless of the type of PvE content we find ourselves in. We also bring some pretty stellar hybrid healing utility, not to mention personal survivability, to the table. Plus, we're sexy beasts. Why wouldn't you want to play/have a sexy beast on your team?Sazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01044231839209209782noreply@blogger.com2