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WoW Shaman Patch 3.2: Talent
and Spell Changes

Patch 3.2 arrived with a big boom on Tuesday,
August 4th. 
Here are the Shaman changes and Russell's infinite opinionated wisdom
on these changes.

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">A
customizable totem bar will now be available for shamans allowing the
storing of 4 different totems. These totems can be placed on the ground
at once in one global cooldown for the combined mana cost of all 4
totems.

* This change has positives for both PvE and PvP for all Shamans
whether you are Enhancement, Elemental, or Restoration. style="margin: 25px; float: right;"
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Make
sure you go to the Shaman Class Trainer and learn Call of the
Ancestors, Call of the Elements, and Call of the Spirits. With these
you will be able to set three different types of totems that you will
be able to instantly drop at the same time.  With Blizzard
putting an end to totem-stomping macros in PvP it should make life in
arenas and battleground much more comfortable.  The totem bar
also lets you organize and drop your totems much more easier. If you
need to drop one totem because it was destroyed, you can drop one
totem. In PvP for example, If you had to move clear across the
Battleground and need to drop 2 buff totems again you can drop 2 at
once. It's a bigger change to PvP than some are realizing.  If
you were having trouble moving the new totem bar and about to punch
your monitor like I was you can make a quick macro:

/script MultiCastActionBarFrame:Hide(); - This will "hide" the new
Totem Bar
/script MultiCastActionBarFrame:Show() - This will "show" the new Totem
Bar

Also I have found a couple of Addons that will aid you with moving the
new totem bar. First one is Bartender 4 and the
second is Dominoes, these Addons will let you easily move and customize
the new totem bar instead of relying on the WoW basic interface.

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">All
Shocks now have a default range of 25 yards, up from 20 yards.

* This change also has many positives for both PvE and PvP
Shamans. style="margin: 15px; float: left;"
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For PvE, the Elemental Shamans should enjoy the
extra five yards because you can still keep a comfortable distance from
the mobs or boss and be able to utilize your shocks along with
lightning bolt and lavaburst, especially since stacking flame shock
will increase the lava burst damage.  For PvP, the Enhancement
Shamans will also enjoy the extra five yards. Let's face
it!! When you are running towards a caster to get up close
and personal with them, you will be able to get off that Frost Shock
(to slow them down) or Wind Sheer (to interrupt their cast) and than
bash their face in. In turn, when kiting a melee class, that
five yards will be a life savor in order to get off that Frost Shock
than drop a Earthbind Totem than it is kite city!

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Base
health increased by approximately 7% to correct for shamans having
lower health than other classes.

* In my opinion I think it's safe to say that the Enhancement Shaman is
in fairly good shape in 3.2 with increased health to help them deal
with the only real issue afflicting enhancement in high end raiding,
that is, that they die a lot. Before the 3.2 patch,  Shamans
had the lowest health percentage out of any class, including those
cloth squeeshy classes!  This should also help in PvP because
one of the biggest gripes of all Shamans in Battlegrounds and Arena is
that a Shaman is too easy to kill, the increase in hit points "should"
help that cause.

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Chain
Heal: Jump distance increased by 25% to 12.5 yards. In addition,
the amount of healing now decreases by 40% as it jumps to each new
target, instead of 50%.

*In theory CH, HW, and LHW should all be doing bigger numbers when you
consider all the talent changes. I find myself not totally convinced if
this is actually a buff or nerf but I do think that the extra 25%
increase to the jump distance of the Chain Heal is going to be really
nice in instances like Ulduar where many boss fights require you and
the raid to spread out.  I guess you have to ask yourself if
the extra distance increase of your chain heal outweigh the 10%
decrease of the healing as it jumps to each target.

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Earth
Shock: Redesigned. This spell no longer interrupts spell casting,
but rather reduces melee attack speed by 10% for 8 seconds (exclusive
with similar effects such as Thunder Clap).

* Here is my opinion on the matter, Earth Shock gives a form
of Thunder Clap is really weird; doesn't every tank have a similar
debuff in patch 3.2?   Thunder Clap, Icy Touch,
Infected Wounds and the new paladin ability?  So it seems
funny from a PvE standpoint to give it to a non tanking
class.  Maybe with Blizzard's infinite wisdom this is suppose
to be a PvP buff? If it is, I am not totally impressed with
it yet.  If your choice is between Earth Shock or Frost Shock
against melee types, a Shaman will probably try to snare them instead
of debuff their attack speed.  For Elemental Shamans, not
having to use Earth Shock as an interrupt will be positive, since they
do not have to use that cooldown and will be able to keep that handy
for Flame Shock which should significantly increase their over all DPS
plus not impacting the DPS of the Enhancement Shaman at all. Overall,
in Russell's opinion, I am leaning toward this change as a positive one.

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" />
style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Ghost
Wolf: Can now be learned at level 16. While in this form, snaring
effects may not bring the shaman below base normal run speed.
style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" />

* I see this as mostly a PvP benefit change.  A
Shaman who is specced into Improved Ghost Wolf can instantly transform
and run like hell. With this addition from Patch 3.2, you have a chance
to NOT be snared, rooted, iced, poisoned, hamstrung, etc etc so I see
this as a MAJOR buff to the PvP Shaman especially in Arenas.

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Wind
Shock: Has been renamed Wind Shear and no longer shares a cooldown
with Flame, Frost or Earth Shock

* Wind Shock is now called Wind Shear. This spell is no
longer on the shock cooldown and isn't on the global cooldown. Wind
Shear interrupts casting and reduces threat, now instead of saving the
"shock" CD to interrupt you can go hog wild and use Earth Shock or
Frost Shock everytime the CD is up and still relish the thought that
you have Wind Shear ready and willing to interrupt any cast about to be
thrown your way. Earth Shock still has the nature damage it
had before which means a Enhancement Shaman use it for the bonus damage
given by Stormstrike. But instead of interrupting spellcasting it
increases melee attack speed by 10%. This is also a good thing so other
melee classes take a couple extra seconds to punch us in the mouth.

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/72498" />In
my opinion this is a GOOD CHANGE!
This macro will allow interrupt AND cause damage and -10% melee haste:
/cast Wind Shear
/cast Earth Shock

This works the same way a Nature Swiftness and Healing Wave macro:
/cast Nature's Swiftness
/cast Healing Wave

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Talents
- Enhancement - Maelstorm Weapon: Now also has a chance to
reduce the cast time of Hex

* Ok, this one makes me chuckle a bit inside.  But I
am game to test it out in the arenas and could give Enhancement Shaman
a bit of a niche and reliability in the arenas, time will tell. It is
diffidently not a nerf and possibly can be a buff.  Time will
tell on this one.  

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Talents
- Enhancement - Shamanistic Rage: Cooldown is now 1 minute,
down from 2 minutes.  Successful melee attacks now have a
chance to generate mana equal to 15% of the shaman's attack power, down
from 30%

* With Blizzard's infinite wisdom, they basically cut the CD in half
but lower the mana gained in half also. Hmmmm.  I can see this
one being equally a nerf or buff though the damage reduction buff that
Shamanistic Rage gives you is nice and handy while questing, dailies,
or even PvP, so being able to pop that spell every minute can be a buff
to the Enhancement Shaman.

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Talents
- Restoration - Ancestral Healing: The buff from this ability
now reduces the physical damage taken by the target by 3/7/10% instead
of increasing the target's armor.

* I see this being a major buff and gives Ancestral Healing a
more viable talent for the restoration class.  If a Shaman
puts all three talents into Ancestral Healing, it will give the ability
of 10% reduction to physical damage instead of, before the patch,
increase armor buff which has a "chance" to decrease physical damage.
This is fantastic for tanks! Remember Earth Shield, when
triggered, also has a chance to give the Ancestral Healing buff along
with chain heal, lesser and healing wave.

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Talents
- Restoration - Cure Poison and Cure Disease: Combined into a
single spell, Cure Toxins.

* This one is ok. It could be viable for a
Restoration Shaman who does not put talent points toward Cleanse
Spirit.  In my opinion it is a buff not a nerf but a
Restoration Shaman should spec for Cleanse Spirit IMO.

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Talents
- Restoration - Earth Shield: Dispel effects will now remove
charges of Earth Shield rather than the entire aura.

* A major PvP buff for Restoration Shamans in my
opinion.  Now Earth Shield is not so easy dispelled and a
Restoration Shaman doesn't waste talent points into Improved Earth
Shield.

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Talents
- Restoration - Healing Way: Redesigned. Rather than providing
a chance of increasing Healing Wave spells on a friendly target, this
talent now innately increases the effectiveness of the shaman's Healing
Wave by 8/16/25%.
style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" />

* This is really Blizzard's answer for Restoration Shamans to
use Healing Wave.  Basically buffing the Healing Way talent to
"always" increasing Healing Wave instead of the "chance" pre-patch
3.2.  This is a buff to the Restoration Shaman if you want to
put talents into Healing Way. I myself, am not convinced yet.

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Talents
- Restoration - Mana Tide Totem:  Totem health now
equal to 10% of the shaman's health

*  Not much to say here, could be a PvP buff somewhat where a
player may have a tougher time destroying the totem......./shrug

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Talents
- Restoration - Nature's Guardian:  Redesigned. Now
has a fixed 100% proc rate, has a 30-second internal cooldown and
increases the shaman's maximum health by 3/6/9/12/15% for 10 seconds.
style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" />

*  I really enjoyed this talent during pre Wrath of the Lich
King in Sunwell as it really did its job well by providing a emergency
heal to my shaman in fights where there were so much damage taken
(Felmyst and Twins). With the new talents and level 80
introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, Nature's Guardian in my opinion
was not a viable talent to continue taking. With this buff to
the talent Nature's Guardian it may once again be something that a
Restoration Shaman may want to take both in PvP and PvE but time will
tell on that one.

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Talents
- Restoration - Nature's Swiftness:  Cooldown is now 2
minutes, down from 3 minutes

*  What more is there to say about this one? Being
able to use a instant Healing Wave in emergency situations every 2
minutes.LOVE IT!!

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Talents
- Restoration - Tidal Waves: No longer reduces the cast time of
Lesser Healing Wave by 30%. It instead now provides +25% critical
strike chance to Lesser Healing Wave, along with the previous 30% cast
time benefit to Healing Wave

* Before the patch Tidal Waves gave LHW and HW 30% haste. That is no
longer the case as HW still gets the 30% but instead of haste, LHW gets
25% crit. I think it is too early to call it a nerf or not since 25%
crit is INSANE for free.

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/72499" /> style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Talents
- Restoration - Improved Water Shield:  This talent
now has a 10/20/30% chance to be triggered by Chain Heal, and the
charges of Water Shield are no longer consumed by this talent.
style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" />

*
This is a HUGE buff in my opinion.  Now this
talent will be triggered with Chain Heal which is our most used and
powerful healing spell AND the Water Shield charges will no longer be
consumed, this is also huge because you do not have to use a Global
Cooldown to constantly refresh your Water Shield.

I will have to say that overall the changes to all 3 specs of the
Shaman class will be a positive one.  The long awaited Patch
3.2 has made it's impact and there are a lot of changes to every class
so check out and read all the changes in Machail's article href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/72255" target="_blank">here