WoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.comWoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gifWoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.comen-usCopyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/WoW Insider ShowEvery week, the WoW Insider Show brings you news and views from the World of Warcraft and the site that covers it all, WoW Insider. We introduce a panel of rotating guests, including bloggers from WoW Insider and other WoW blogs, and many popular personalities from around the WoW community. From the live listener chat and polls during the show, to the emails direct from listeners (reach us at theshow@wow.com), right on to the "meat" of the show -- in-depth discussion of the most popular news and posts on WoW Insider -- the WoW Insider Show is a terrific source of news and entertainment about what's going on with Blizzard and their World of Warcraft. Listen live every Saturday at 3:30 pm Eastern on our Ustream page (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wow-insider-show) or subscribe to the feed and let us know what you think by reviewing the show right here in iTunes.Skill Mastery: Ascendance takes shaman to new heightshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/14/skill-mastery-ascendance-takes-shaman-to-new-heights/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/14/skill-mastery-ascendance-takes-shaman-to-new-heights/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/14/skill-mastery-ascendance-takes-shaman-to-new-heights/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Image
Ascendance is a new ability coming to level 87 shaman of all specs in Mists of Pandaria. For 15 seconds every 3 minutes, you'll transform yourself into an Ascended elemental form that looks very much like the trash mobs in Grim Batol or Bastion of Twilight. The actual Ascendant's appearance and the function of the form vary based on your current specialization.

For enhancement, you take on the form of an air Ascendant, making your melee auto-attacks and Stormstrike become ranged attacks that are able to be used at up to 30 yards away. They also deal pure nature damage, which means they're benefited by Enhanced Elements and ignore armor. From a PvP standpoint, melee attacks from a 30-yard range that ignore armor will be frustrating for escaping clothies and plate-wearers that you're trying to keep your distance from.

Elemental morphs into a fire Ascendant. In this form, your Chain Lightning morphs into Lava Beam. Lava Beam is similar to Chain Lightning but hits a total of five targets and doesn't reduce its damage when it jumps, which is potent AoE. For single targets, your fire Ascendancy makes your Lava Burst have no cooldown during its duration, which means back to back critical hits for 15 seconds.

The last Ascendant form is restoration's water form, which functions very similarly to the Essence of Dreams in Ultraxion. For 15 seconds, every heal you cast duplicates its healing done and splits that secondary healing amount among all nearby targets. If you cast a 100k Greater Healing Wave on your tank, she'll be healed for 100,000 and another 100,000 healing will be split among allies near her. It's very potent.

If you want more in depth views of Ascendance and the benefits and cons, Joe Perez and I recently wrote Totem Talks covering Ascendance for DPS and resto shaman.
It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

WoW InsiderSkill Mastery: Ascendance takes shaman to new heights originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>ascendancefeaturedguide-to-shamansmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-abilitiesmists-of-pandaria-betamop-shamannot-diabloshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentsskill-masteryskill-mastery-mopwow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJosh MyersMon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 ESTSkill Mastery: Totemic Projectionhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/11/skill-mastery-totemic-projection/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/11/skill-mastery-totemic-projection/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/11/skill-mastery-totemic-projection/#commentsFiled under: ,

Totemic Projection, obtainable at level 45, gives you the ability to launch your currently placed totems to any location around you within 40 yards. Fairly straightforward, really easy to use. Those of you who like setting up macros may want to start planning a little about creative uses with your totems and Totemic Projection.
  • Capacitor Totem Drop this totem and count to three, then Totemically Project it toward your target. Voilà! Instant stun!
  • Earthbind Totem Perhaps best used in PvP, you can setup Earthbind to root and slow down players as they're busy running away from you, allowing you to close the gap and Chain Lightning their faces.
Those are just some of the ideas I had off the top of my head. The other talents add extra functionality to your totems. Call of the Elements lets you finish off any totem cooldowns that are active, allowing you to use them again. The catch is that the cooldown of the totem needs to be shorter than 5 minutes. Sadly, this means you cannot use your Fire Elemental Totem, Earth Elemental Totem, or Stormlash Totem back-to-back. Totem Restoration is a passive ability that lets totems respawn if they keep getting destroyed. I'd say that's useful in PvP, more than anything else.
It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

WoW InsiderSkill Mastery: Totemic Projection originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 11 May 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>betacall-of-the-elementscapacitor-totemearth-elemental-totemearthbind-totemfire-elemental-totemmists-of-pandariashamantotem-restorationtotemictotemic-projectiontotemsMatt LowFri, 11 May 2012 17:00:00 ESTSkill Mastery: Astral Shifthttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/11/skill-mastery-astral-shift/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/11/skill-mastery-astral-shift/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/11/skill-mastery-astral-shift/#commentsFiled under: ,

One of the early shaman survival cooldowns that you can get at level 15 is called Astral Shift. It isn't flashy or super awesome or anything. But an emergency damage reducer on a 2-minute cooldown could be just what you need to stay alive and continue DPSing (or healing).

It doesn't reduce only magic damage.

Nor does it reduce only physical damage.

It reduces any damage!

In case you feel two minutes is too long, you have some alternatives. Nature's Guardian is an effect that can kick in once every 30 seconds, which might potentially save you (although the next hit you take could be lethal). Stone Bulwark totem is another alternative that places a shield on you which refreshes and adds additional absorb amounts every five seconds after.

The theme of the level 15 shaman talents revolves around survival and damage mitigation. Raiders may lean more toward Astral Shift, but I'm using the Stone Bulwark totem for the purposes of questing and leveling.
It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

WoW InsiderSkill Mastery: Astral Shift originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 11 May 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>absorbastral-shiftdamagemitigationnatures-guardianpreventionraidshamanstone-bulwark-totemtalentMatt LowFri, 11 May 2012 12:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: A restoration shaman hands-on with Ascendancehttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/08/totem-talk-a-restoration-shaman-hands-on-with-ascendance/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/08/totem-talk-a-restoration-shaman-hands-on-with-ascendance/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/08/totem-talk-a-restoration-shaman-hands-on-with-ascendance/#commentsFiled under: , ,

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

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

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

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

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

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>ascendancefeaturedguide-to-shamansmistsmists of pandariamists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betaMistsOfPandariarestorationrestoration-shamanrestoration-shaman-columnrestoration-shaman-totem-talkshamanshaman-guideshaman-healingshaman-infoshaman-restoration-columnshaman-talentswow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJoe PerezTue, 08 May 2012 15:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Shamanism heading into Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/06/raid-rx-shamanism-heading-into-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/06/raid-rx-shamanism-heading-into-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/06/raid-rx-shamanism-heading-into-mists-of-pandaria/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Image
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast.

After covering monks, priests, paladins, and druids, there is one class left to review: shaman. How are they going to fare entering Mists of Pandaria?

Totems ... gone!

Just kidding!

They're not really gone. They've switched to more of a utility focus now. Looking at the entire list of totems available, not a single one provides any type of stat increase. Totems that provided passive buffs like Flametongue Totem, Mana Spring Totem, and Stoneskin Totem have been removed. Healing Stream took a nerf cannon to the face, now only affecting a player now instead of whole groups.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Shamanism heading into Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Shamanism heading into Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 06 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>ascendancefeaturedguidehealinghealing-guidehow-to-healraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guiderestoresto-shamanshamantalenttalent-guidetalent-treewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowSun, 06 May 2012 16:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: Solving the problem of Maelstrom Weaponhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/05/totem-talk-solving-the-problem-of-maelstrom-weapon/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/05/totem-talk-solving-the-problem-of-maelstrom-weapon/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/05/totem-talk-solving-the-problem-of-maelstrom-weapon/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

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

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

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

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

Continue reading Totem Talk: Solving the problem of Maelstrom Weapon

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

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>elemental-blastenhancement-shaman-dpsenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguide-to-shamansideas-for-a-better-maelstrom-weaponmaelstrom-weaponshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstotem-talk-enhancementtotem-talk-enhancement-shamanwhy-maelstrom-weapon-needs-helpwow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJosh MyersSat, 05 May 2012 16:00:00 ESTGuildOx player analysis highlights the warlock declinehttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/guildox-player-analysis-highlights-the-warlock-decline/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/guildox-player-analysis-highlights-the-warlock-decline/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/guildox-player-analysis-highlights-the-warlock-decline/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Image
The folks at GuildOx have gone through their database and done some simple filtering that reveals some fascinating things about who is raiding heroic Dragon Soul. GuildOx started with level 85 characters, filtered for characters with ilevel 400 gear, and then filtered out anyone with PvP gear. What you see in the chart above is the result of that work -- a representative sample of who out of the over 13 million level 85 characters in the GuildOx database is raiding heroic Dragon Soul.

If you remember the post about the complexity of systems and player retention that I made a couple of weeks back, you'll remember that I mentioned Cynwise's excellent posts about the warlock decline. Well, here it is again reflected in GuildOx's data. Warlocks are the least played class in heroic raiding.

Warriors aren't doing much better, really. Most other classes seem fairly healthy, with classes that have healing specs doing fairly well and rogues absolutely ruling heroic raiding despite being one of the least-played classes in the game overall. It gets even more interesting once we get to look at the GuildOx spec-by-spec breakdown.

Continue reading GuildOx player analysis highlights the warlock decline

WoW InsiderGuildOx player analysis highlights the warlock decline originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>ClassClass-RepresentationClassesDeath-KnightDragon-SoulDruidGuildoxHeroic-Dragon-SoulHunterMagePaladinPriestRaidingRogueShamanWarlockWarriorMatthew RossiFri, 27 Apr 2012 12:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: Mists talents for restoration shaman, tier by tierhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/24/totem-talk-mists-talents-for-restoration-shaman-tier-by-tier/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/24/totem-talk-mists-talents-for-restoration-shaman-tier-by-tier/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/24/totem-talk-mists-talents-for-restoration-shaman-tier-by-tier/#commentsFiled under: , ,

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

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

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

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

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

Permalink | Email this | Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>ascendanceascendance-mopfeaturedguide-to-shamansmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betamopshaman-ascendanceshaman-ascendance-betashaman-ascendance-mopshaman-betashaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-mopshaman-talentstotem-talktotem-talk-elemental-shamantotem-talk-enhancement-shamantotem-talk-shaman-elementaltotem-talk-shaman-enhancementwow-mop-betawow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJosh MyersSat, 21 Apr 2012 20:00:00 ESTThe alt deficiencyhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/the-alt-deficiency/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/the-alt-deficiency/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/the-alt-deficiency/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Image
Do alts even count as alts when half of them are the same class as your main and the other half are rarely played?

I have a troubling relationship with the concept of playing an alt. First off, I don't really get alts. I know people who have four or six or even eight level 85 characters, geared and kitted out for raiding or Arena/RBG play. One woman I know has completely filled up two servers with level 85 characters (full character window, a server she plays Horde on and a server she plays Alliance on) that can at least run a random Hour of Twilight heroic. I accept that this exists, but I can't imagine doing it.

See, I'm middling at best about my achievements in game, but there are things I've done that you can't do anymore. I mean, every time I ran the 5-man Zul'Gurub, I kept thinking about how I'm a hero of the Zandalar tribe. Shouldn't they at least try and talk me out of killing them? Shouldn't I at least have the option to say, "Hey, guys, it's me, can we chill out on this?" and then we could express our sorrow at having to come to blows?

I can't do that on an alt. Well, OK, I can do it on the other two warriors who are also heroes of the Zandalar tribe, but you get my point. An alt's not going to have all those titles I barely realized I was earning, or my Mimiron's Head, or a Sulfuras in the bank laughing at me every time I got to the trasmogrification ethereal and get a hit of sweet, sweet gear changery.

Continue reading The alt deficiency

WoW InsiderThe alt deficiency originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>achievementsAltschangeslevelingmainTransmogMatthew RossiWed, 18 Apr 2012 20:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: First impressions of restoration shaman in Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/10/totem-talk-first-impressions-of-restoration-shaman-in-mists-of/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/10/totem-talk-first-impressions-of-restoration-shaman-in-mists-of/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/10/totem-talk-first-impressions-of-restoration-shaman-in-mists-of/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

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

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

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

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

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

Permalink | Email this | Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>astral-shiftbeta-mists-of-pandariabeta-mopelemental-betaelemental-first-impressionselemental-mists-of-pandariaelemental-mopelemental-shamanelemental-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguide-to-shamanshealing-stream-totemhealing-tide-totemshaman-guideshaman-in-mopshaman-infoshaman-talentsshaman-totemsshaman-totems-redesignedstone-bulwark-totemwow-elemental-shamanwow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJosh MyersFri, 06 Apr 2012 16:00:00 ESTPandaren shaman totems revealedhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/29/pandaren-shaman-totems-revealed/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/29/pandaren-shaman-totems-revealed/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/29/pandaren-shaman-totems-revealed/#commentsFiled under: ,

Those of you who were waiting with bated breath to finally find out whether the pandaren shaman totems would be kegs, well, wait no longer. MMO Champion has datamined the totem models for pandaren shaman in the latest Mists of Pandaria beta patch, and they are definitely kegs. Hey, at least one shaman race got the beer totems they deserved, Blizzard.

Check out the earth and water totems after the break!

Continue reading Pandaren shaman totems revealed

WoW InsiderPandaren shaman totems revealed originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>kegkegspanda-shaman-totemspanda-totemspandaren-shaman-totemspandaren-totempandaren-totemsshamanshamanstotemtotemsMichael SaccoThu, 29 Mar 2012 00:45:00 ESTTotem Talk: The state of Telluric Currents and speculating for Mistshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/27/totem-talk-the-state-of-telluric-currents-and-speculating-for-m/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/27/totem-talk-the-state-of-telluric-currents-and-speculating-for-m/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/27/totem-talk-the-state-of-telluric-currents-and-speculating-for-m/#commentsFiled under: ,

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

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

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

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

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

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>featuredguide-to-shamansmistsmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-speculationmists-of-pandaria-talentsrestoResto-Shamanrestorationrestoration-shamanrestoration-shaman-columnrestoration-shaman-totem-talkshaman-guideshaman-healingshaman-infoshaman-restoration-columnshaman-talentsshamanstelluric-currentswow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJoe PerezTue, 27 Mar 2012 17:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing changeshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-changes/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-changes/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-changes/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast.

You'll notice that there are a ton of new glyphs that have been added for all the classes. That list is by no means exhaustive. I also noticed some slight changes in the way certain spells work. I can assure you it won't be anything too drastic, but these changes are enough to keep you interested and wondering. This week, I'll be rounding up what we know healers will be getting, as well as any other notable modifications.

New for druids

Cenarion Ward appears to be a Prayer of Mending-like spell without the subsequent charges. Good spell to open with before an engagement. Won't have to pre-HoT as much. Just remember to pre-Ward.

Wild Mushroom: Bloom! Hope you love 'shrooms, since you'll be gaining the use of these in addition to your Balance friends. Anticipate a moment where big AoE healing is needed, and plant 'shrooms. Detonate after raid group takes a hit, and relish in the healing spores that explode.

Regrowth can be glyphed to remove the HoT component. Benefit? 40% increased chance of a critical heal. I guess you can configure a HoT-based class to switch to a non-HoT direction.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing changes

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing changes originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>disciplinedruidfeaturedglyphsguidehealinghealing-guideholyhow-to-heallightwellmists-of-pandariamonkpaladinpriestraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guiderestshamanwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowMon, 26 Mar 2012 13:00:00 ESTTotem Talk: Level 90 talents for enhancement shaman in MoPhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/totem-talk-level-90-talents-for-enhancement-shaman-in-mop/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/totem-talk-level-90-talents-for-enhancement-shaman-in-mop/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/totem-talk-level-90-talents-for-enhancement-shaman-in-mop/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

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

It's here!

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

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

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

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

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

Permalink | Email this | Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>featuredguide-to-shamansmistsmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-talent-changesmists-of-pandaria-talentsrestoResto-Shamanrestorationrestoration-shamanrestoration-shaman-columnrestoration-shaman-totem-talkscroll-of-resurrectionshaman-guideshaman-healingshaman-infoshaman-restoration-columnshaman-talentswow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJoe PerezTue, 20 Mar 2012 13:00:00 ESTMists of Pandaria: Cool class stuff we foundhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/19/mists-of-pandaria-cool-class-stuff-we-found/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/19/mists-of-pandaria-cool-class-stuff-we-found/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/19/mists-of-pandaria-cool-class-stuff-we-found/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

We've been watching the systems team design the new talent system for a few months now, with intermittent updates to the talent calculator and ability distribution. BlizzCon 2011 showed us what was in store for certain classes, like the new resource systems for warlocks, no melee weapons for hunters, poison changes for rogues, and more.

At the press event last week, I got to play around with a few classes during my time on the demo computer -- not all of them, certainly, but enough that I have a few fun or interesting things to report that wouldn't really fit elsewhere. Let's take a look!

Continue reading Mists of Pandaria: Cool class stuff we found

WoW InsiderMists of Pandaria: Cool class stuff we found originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 19 Mar 2012 03:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>Michael SaccoMon, 19 Mar 2012 03:02:00 ESTTotem Talk: Hit rating, expertise, and enhancement in Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/17/totem-talk-hit-rating-expertise-and-enhancement-in-mists-of-p/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/17/totem-talk-hit-rating-expertise-and-enhancement-in-mists-of-p/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/17/totem-talk-hit-rating-expertise-and-enhancement-in-mists-of-p/#commentsFiled under: ,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Permalink | Email this | Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>featuredguide-to-shamansmistsmists of pandaria restoration shamanmists-of-pandariaMistsOfPandariaRestorationShamanrestoResto-Shamanrestorationrestoration-shamanrestoration-shaman-columnrestoration-shaman-totem-talkshamanshaman-guideshaman-healingshaman-infoshaman-restoration-columnshaman-talentstotemtotemswow-shamanwow-shaman-infoJoe PerezTue, 13 Mar 2012 09:00:00 EST