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Totem Talk: Restoration shaman pre-raid gems, enchants and stats
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the Raid Warning podcast), shows you how. So last week, we discussed some of the gearing options available for restoration shaman as you are getting raid-ready. With the exceptions of a few pieces of gear -- bracers, for example -- there are a lot of choices to help get you ready for your first raid nights. Last week we also talked about your first few goals for stats, namely spirit and haste, as well as your stat priority. Today we're going to talk a little bit more in depth about stats as well as enchanting and gemming your gear.
Totem Talk: Restoration shaman pre-raid gear options and stats
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the Raid Warning podcast), shows you how. Last week we covered many different questions in our semi-regular restoration Q&A. For those of you who emailed me, I will be responding soon, have no fear; my dwarf-like stature means I tend to get buried under the mail and have to dig my way out! That's only mostly a joke -- you can ask Matthew McCurley and Fox Van Allen about it. This week, I thought we could talk about getting ready for raids: gearing up, getting your stats set, and preparing to enter into the endgame. With the recent buffs, incoming abilities and further tweaks in patch 4.1, heroics are becoming less of a concern for the amazing healing corps that are restoration shaman. Those people just starting heroics, though, don't despair -- if you have any questions about any of the encounters, email me and we'll make sure that you are taken care of.
Totem Talk: Shaman healing Q&A
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the Raid Warning podcast), shows you how. Last week, we talked a little bit about our incoming cooldown, Spirit Link Totem. The spell has been something we have been looking for since the days of early Wrath of the Lich King. The new cooldown offers us some very nice flexibility and a new ability to deal with certain mechanics we either couldn't deal with or had a rather difficult time dealing with before. In the last couple of weeks, I've received quite a few questions regarding shaman healing in heroics, PvP, and even overall class design. I thought today I would take a few moments and answer some reader email before the big patch, 4.1, is released and reaches live servers.
Totem Talk: Restoration mastery and cooldowns in patch 4.1
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the Raid Warning podcast), shows you how. Last week, we talked about two seemingly misfit restoration shaman talents, Telluric Currents and Focused Insight. It was great to hear your opinions on these two tallents and to see how you've been using them since they were given to us. Some have been using both for a maximum healing buff or to keep the mana flowing, while others have either avoided or pushed aside these talents. This week, we got a bit of quite exciting news. With patch 4.1 around the corner and being tested on the PTR, we are starting to get a glimpse of what the developers at Blizzard have in mind for further restoration shaman tweaks. Namely, we got an update of the patch notes that contain not only a healing buff for restoration shaman, but also the very first look at our brand spanking new restoration cooldown.
Totem Talk: Restoration, Telluric Currents and Focused Insight
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the Raid Warning podcast), shows you how. So last week, we talked about restoration getting buffed by a significant amount. There has been a lot of excitement about it, and it has even been referred to as the light at the end of the tunnel for healing shaman. As the result of a hotfix, restoration shaman have been making a steady climb back up the ladder of healing hierarchy. This week, though, I thought we could take a look at two talents I've been getting a lot of questions and emails about lately, Telluric Currents and Focused Insight. They've been sitting on the back burner for most folks, and their viability in dungeons, raids and PvP has been debated and analyzed. While patch 4.1 on the PTR is the hot topic for most folks right now, we haven't really had any earth-shattering changes posted yet, and there has been no mention of a new cooldown, either. Let's explore these two talents today while we eagerly await any new changes.
Totem Talk: Restoration gets buffed edition
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the Raid Warning podcast), shows you how. Last week, we talked about healing post patch 4.0.6. I shared with you my experiences healing after our initial tweaks, and you were kind enough to share your experiences as well. It was interesting to see how everyone is handling the changes and how their healing has changed, if at all. This week, I was going to go back into our normally scheduled posts, but as seems par for the course lately, Blizzard has seen fit to throw at us another set of changes. We're a healing class in flux right now, there is no denying it, and we're going to be going through a lot of changes in the weeks to come. Now, while Matt Low already discussed some of our changes and I've talked about it a bit elsewhere, I thought this week we could take some time and talk about it a little further and get your opinions on it from the one place it really counts: the shaman!
Totem Talk: Restoration shaman healing post-patch 4.0.6
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the Raid Warning podcast), shows you how. Last week, we talked about preparing for patch 4.0.6 and all the changes that were going live. People didn't quite know what to make of the patch; they were either terrified about it or eagerly awaiting it. Since then, I've been looking at the various opinions on the changes in regards to our healing. Some people have been loving the changes, while others still aren't quite sure what to make of it. It has officially been seven days since the patch has come and gone, and I thought today we would talk about how things look a week later. While today celebrates the one-week anniversary of the patch, today is also probably one of the greatest days of the year for me. I put another notch on the totems today, and that means I'm going to get to collect some epic swag!
Totem Talk: 4.0.6 restoration shaman study guide
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the Raid Warning podcast), shows you how. Last week, we talked about healing my favorite 5-man instance, The Vortex Pinnacle. Before continuing on with our series on healing Cataclysm dungeons and heroics, I thought we would take this week to talk about the incoming set of changes heading our way when patch 4.0.6 goes live, since it has grown and changed quite a bit since it was first announced. The patch has been highly anticipated since it was first mentioned. These changes will have an impact on our spell choices, our ability to keep up with other healers in raids, and in truth should help begin balancing everything out. It will have an impact on our healing spell choices in many fights, our healing styles, and to a lesser degree, our trinkets and enchants. Let's take a look, shall we?
Totem Talk: Restoration shaman in The Vortex Pinnacle
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the Raid Warning podcast), shows you how. Heroic content is still being tackled by everyone out there. Whether you are a new level 85 character getting in for the first time, an alt getting ready to gear up, or just farming your daily valor points, you will at some point wind up in these instances. Last week, we talked about healing through The Stonecore; this week, I thought we could talk about healing through The Vortex Pinnacle. The Vortex Pinnacle is honestly one of my favorite dungeons in Cataclysm. I just love the look of it and that feeling you get the very first time you step foot in it. Everything from the mobs to the architecture to the view when you pan your camera to look into the sky and around is just quite awesome. To me, it is probably the most visually appealing instances Blizzard has created to date ... It isn't your normal dungeon crawl here. It's also a blast to heal and has some pretty nice gear for a restoration shaman in need of upgrades.
Totem Talk: Healing The Stonecore for restoration shaman
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the Raid Warning podcast), shows you how. For the last couple weeks, we've covered some of the concerns of shaman in our Q&A, discussed our new healing spell casting animations and even had a lengthy discussion of the future changes to our healing ability in the upcoming patch. The last one caused quite a lengthy discussion on how those changes will really affect us. I'm hoping we get to have more of those discussions, because it was awesome to hear all of your opinions on the topics. For anyone who emailed me over the last few weeks, rest assured that I will reply to you. There's just been quite a bit to answer. With all the talks of the future and the changes right around the corner for patch 4.0.6, our attention has sort of drifted a little bit away from the here and now. There is still content to devour now, and you aren't exactly going to wait for the patch to do it now, are you? There are still heroics to conquer and raids to prepare for, so today we're going to start right back in where we left off and talk about healing through The Stonecore.
Totem Talk: It's all about the Mana Tide
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the Raid Warning podcast), shows you how. So last week, we had ourselves a little bit of a Q&A for restoration shaman. The post went live on the same day that the patch 4.0.6 shaman changes were announced. A lot of what we talked about changed as a result of those notes, causing a lot more in the way of questions and concerns from just about everyone in the restoration shaman community. While some of the changes are being hailed as pretty bad or downright nerfs, there are quite a few tweaks and buffs. This includes the new restoration shaman casting animations that are being put into the game. While we have done some analysis of the changes, I felt it would be good to really take a look at these changes a little more in depth. I've spent the last few days really poking around on the PTR trying to see exactly what effect these changes have on us, and I'd like to share that with you.
Patch 4.0.6 PTR: New restoration shaman spell animations
With all the changes up on the latest build of the PTR, something that wasn't documented is happening, and it is pretty awesome. Restoration shaman spells are now getting a different animation. Until now, our casting animation was very similar to that of druids. Green energy would glow around our hands and small leaves would form within that power. While it was nature-related, it wasn't very shaman-esque. A healing shaman's element has always been water, and now our spells are accompanied by that very element. Gone are the leaves and green; instead, our hands our now encapsulated in glowing blue orbs of water as we bargain with the element to heal our allies wounds. When Greater Healing Wave lands on a target, it has a water splash animation very similar to Riptide, and for now, Healing Surge and Healing Wave have had their leaves replaced with sprite-like things that fly up in a circle around the target. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if Healing Surge and Healing Wave get similar animations on target to Greater Healing Wave. I don't think anyone quite expected an update like this, but it certainly a welcome one. It gives us just a little bit more of a unique flair and really fits our style of healing. It also shows that even now, Blizzard is looking at all of those little things that make the game so awesome, like cool casting animations. What do you think? World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
Totem Talk: Restoration shaman Q&A
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus), shows you how. The last few weeks, we've gone over healing a couple of the dungeons in both normal and heroic, as well as the various gear that you can look forward to from the various encounters. We also went back and looked at the entirety of the year of 2010 for restoration shaman. This week, I thought we would take a break from that and instead address some concerns that have been brought up about restoration shaman. For the last few weeks, I've been rolling through the official shaman and healing forums, Plus Heal and TotemSpot as well as various emails and comments from you the readers. There has recently been concern over our healing numbers in comparison to other classes', difficulty in healing certain fights, mana management problems, concerns over haste and questions about our raid viability as well as spell choices. Today I'd like to address some of those questions and concerns.
Totem Talk: Resto shaman healing in Throne of the Tides
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration will show you how, brought to you by Joe Perez, otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and host of the BDTU: Lore edition podcast Well, the climb to 85 sure was a fun one, wasn't it? No matter what path you took to get there, if you're reading this, then you're ready to heal some folks and venture into the dungeons of Azeroth in pursuit of gear, fame and maybe a little rep. Today, I'd like to start by talking about healing Throne of the Tides in Vashj'ir. This is one of the first instances you get a chance to enter in Cataclysm, and honestly, it's one you should definitely visit at max level on both regular and heroic modes. It's a wonderful instance visually, and it holds some very nice restoration shaman loot. It lets you, well, get your feet wet, so to speak, in the new world of healing. After all, Under the Sea, darling, it's better down where it's wetter, take it from me.
Totem Talk: Restoration shaman guide to Cataclysm reputation gear
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration will show you how, brought to you by Joe Perez, otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and host of the BDTU: Lore edition podcast Last week, we consolidated the expansion's changes for restoration shaman in a Cataclysm 101 post -- just the basics there, nothing too fancy quite yet. This week, I fully intended to begin writing restoration guides for the various 5-man dungeons and heroics, but instead, I'd like to take some time and talk about gearing up before you even set foot in dungeons at level 85. Over the last week, I've received a massive influx of email asking about what gear is available through questing and through the various factions. While it is very true that you can receive quite a bit of gear from questing, the reputation rewards are quite stellar. You will gain a sizeable chunk of reputation simply from leveling to 85, so let's see what gear you can pick up along the way. For today, we'll keep Mail Specialization in mind and stick with the mail gear, rings and trinkets available from the various factions.
Totem Talk: A Cataclysm 101 guide to restoration shaman
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration will show you how, brought to you by Joe Perez, otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and host of the BDTU: Lore edition podcast To quote The Smashing Pumpkins, "Today is the greatest day I've ever known." Tuesday, Dec. 7 marks the release of the third World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm. Over the last several months, we've been talking about all the changes leading up to this expansion. We've covered new spells, changes to old spells, and everything in between. If you remember, not too long ago, we did our series of everything you needed to know about each class. Restoration 101 was my first post here for Totem Talk. Today, we're going to round up all of the changes to restoration shaman that Cataclysm brings. The changes have already been implemented before Cataclysm was released, we have already had an opportunity to become familiar with them. We're also going to talk about what it is to be a restoration shaman and what you have to look forward to as you explore the world of Azeroth. Note that this is not a guide for the endgame content and is meant for beginners new to the game or just starting as restoration.
Totem Talk: A restoration shaman's Cataclysm checklist
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration will show you how, brought to you by Joe Perez, otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and host of the BDTU: Lore edition podcast By the time you read this, Cataclysm will be exactly one week away from release. Are you excited? I know I am! The number of people who return to the game after long breaks, especially at expansion time, can be staggering. Last week, we talked about what restoration shaman who are returning to the game for Cataclysm should expect when they load in, and we talked about ways for them to ease their transition back into the game. This week, I would like to talk about getting ready for that big day when our level caps are raised to 85, new zones open up for us to explore, new profession recipes become available, and new dungeons and encounters are available for us to experience. So are you ready for the expansion? Are you truly prepared?
Totem Talk: Bringing your restoration shaman back for Cataclysm
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration will show you how, brought to you by Joe Perez, otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and host of the BDTU: Lore edition podcast Last week, we talked about the alchemical concoctions we can expect to see in Cataclysm both while leveling and at level 85. There were quite a few options, and I shared some of my own experiences with them in the hopes that it will help you as you go for max level. With Cataclysm release in two weeks, a lot of people have been switching focus to the new content. More people still are returning to the game and being assaulted by all the changes. This week, I thought we could take a few moments and talk about what restoration shaman returning for Cataclysm will need to know. I've received many emails about this topic over the last few weeks and felt it was something that required some attention. Let's talk about how returning restoration shaman can ease their transition into this brave new world.
Totem Talk: Restoration's Cataclysm alchemical consumables
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration will show you how, brought to you by Joe Perez, otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and host of the BDTU: Lore edition podcast. With Cataclysm fast approaching and a ton of questions to be answered, last week we held a bit of a question and answer. Reader questions came in about anything and everything, and for those I couldn't answer in the post, I tried to make sure they received an email. One question I kept receiving through email since last week is in regards to our professions -- specifically, what alchemical consumables we will be using at level 85. I thought this week we could talk a little bit about the potions and elixirs from alchemy that I've been finding useful in Cataclysm. There are always a ton of choices whenever a profession gets an upgrade, so what concoctions do we get to toss down the hatch while the world splinters apart?
Totem Talk: Restoration PvP in patch 4.0.1
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration will show you how, brought to you by Joe Perez, otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and host of the BDTU: Lore edition podcast. I think we can all agree that this has been a very busy few weeks, first with patch 4.0.1 going live and then the epic event that is BlizzCon 2010. I want to take a second and thank everyone who stopped by our WoW insider reader meetup. I got the opportunity to meet with quite a few of you, and it was a great experience. I'm hoping that next year even more of the shaman community can make it out to the convention -- who knows, maybe we can take over an area for all our shamanistic shenanigans! Last week I went though and detailed the changes that the restoration shaman faces in the recent patch. We talked about glyphs, spell changes and the healing mechanic changes we will encounter. This week, I thought we could talk about something that I've been finding a lot of enjoyment in since patch 4.0.1: restoration shaman in PvP.
