Many of you already know that, although I started as a Magician, I have ended up as a Shaman. It's definitely one of my favorite classes in the game as it offers so much versatility. I have not wanted to miss the opportunity to analyze how the class I play is going to change when Cataclysm lands. Although there is still a long way to go with the changes, it is now quite clear the intention of the developers with this class.
I may have an article a bit long, but I would like to lead by example, analyzing the Shaman in his Restoration Branch as I know her.
I would like to warn the shamans of the world first that I have mainly played with Restoration and Elemental, with the Upgrade branch being the one I have played the least although I started doing some DPS tests at the end of Wrath of the Lich King.
I recommend reading this article with the one about the changes to the shaman close by so that it is easier to understand. I will start from the beginning on each branch and go all the way to make it easier to understand each branch.
The first thing that is pointed out of the Restoration branch is a "new" spell called Healing Wave that we receive at level 4. The first thing you think is… well, wasn't that I had a spell called that? Well yes, but right away we realize that the other two Healing Wave spells are restructuring us. The lower one remains as it is and the one we now have will be called the upper Healing Wave. And I say, wasn't it easier to say that they added superior healing wave to us?
The point is that the intention is that Wave of Healing is our constant cure, while the Lower and Upper are totally situational. In my opinion, the Lower Healing Wave will be forgotten and we will rarely use the Upper Healing Wave as it will spend a lot of mana.
Another thing you can think of is that if mana is really going to matter that much, we will have to learn to play with the 3 but it seems to me quite unlikely that it will happen.
A very interesting thing that they have added to us is the ability to Download weapon that we will obtain when we climb our first level in Cataclysm. Some have already commented on it in the comments but they remind me a lot of the Paladin seals. Be careful, I'm not complaining! We will have to see the mana cost of the ability but it either becomes an ability that we have to use every time it is available or, in emergency situations.
For restoration we have this effect. It's not as cool as the Improvement Shaman but hey… they still polish it up a bit.
Earth Life Weapon: Heals the target slightly and grants a 20% benefit to the shaman's next healing spell.
Now we have to talk about something «Legendary«. The Rain of Healing. We will receive this wonderful spell at level 83. It is a cure in time in area. At first glance it is very reminiscent of the spell of our friends the poplars: Tranquility. However, it has some things that differentiate it. The first is that there is no limit to the targets affected (although a diminishing returns applies, which means that the more people that receive the rain, the less it will heal each one). This gives us a good area heal spell (finally) that is a great improvement for the Shaman's group healing and a more functional heal over time (I hope). 2 seconds of launch time, 30 meters away and only 10 seconds of cooldown? Where is the catch? I think it sounds too good to be true.
Am I the only one who doesn't see much use for the Spiritwalker's new Grace ability? First of all, let's look at the skill.
When this buff (which the shaman uses on himself) is active, your spells will no longer be interrupted by moving and possibly not even by your own attacks. This will give the shaman of any of the three specializations another way to heal or deal damage and can thus adapt to the situation, either in PvE or PvP. Instant launch. Duration of 10 seconds. 2 minute cooldown.
In general, all healers heal while standing, not jumping or moving from one place to another, although it is true that there may be some combats in which it is necessary to move like Sindragosa or Mimiron for example. The fact is, we have been able to do those fights without this fantastic spell, with combinations of Rising Tides + Lower Healing Wave. I find it kind of funny but I don't know ... I don't see it as a necessary change.
The changes to the dissipation mechanics for all the healers, to tell the truth, left me a bit shaken. A Shaman is a clear icon of connection with Nature. Do you see where I want to go? Nature… Poisons… Diseases… Well no! Blizzard takes the candy from us and with it, they take the Cleaning Totem. The idea of removing the Totem seems quite correct to me. Battles like the Faction Champions are greatly simplified just by putting this totem on since you don't have to do anything and you forget about poisons and diseases.
On the other hand, I fully support the idea of Mana being a precious commodity to care for, and I love the changes to the dissipation mechanics. Following this trend, we find that Ancient Knowledge will increase mana but not intellect, which reduces our mechanics to restore mana.
Something that seems to be coming back is the Spirit Link. How? What does not sound like to you? It is normal.
Spirit Link: You link the friendly target to two nearby targets causing 50% of the damage taken by the player to be distributed to the linked targets. After 2,200 points of damage the link will disappear.
This ability was only active early in the Wrath of the Lich King Beta and I personally couldn't test it. It was finally removed (as explained in the article) for being difficult to balance and a bit difficult to understand. It's a talent / ability that you can do some cool things with and that, it seems we'll see again. Before giving a deeper opinion, let's wait and see how it works.
Master's degree
It may sound like Chinese to you so I explain quickly and concisely how mastery works.
The more points you spend on a specific branch, the more bonuses you will earn for Mastery. The first improvement will serve you for your Role while the other two will be more focused on your class.
- Healing
- Meditation
- Deep healing
The first is the one that will surely get each healing class and is a simple passive healing boost for our class. Nothing exciting.
Meditation will mainly affect our mana regeneration. It sounds a lot to me like the talent of a priest discipline of Meditation. We will have to see it in operation and have more data to comment.
Deep healing looks amazing. Basically, the lower a target's health is, the better our heals will work. Undoubtedly the perfect complement that makes us great tank healers and further enhances the heals of groups when they are low on health. Can you imagine him in Stinky with a Chain of healing? Once again, you have to see it with more data but it looks very good.
Conclusion
Blizzard seems to be living up to one of its new Cataclysm mantras and that is to make healing more fun and exciting. If you look at it, we have new tools that give us other angles to face different situations and strengthen us in group healing.
Without a doubt, our arsenal increases considerably since sometimes the number of spells that we had available to heal seemed short. Thank goodness we didn't go to the extreme of other classes.
Without a doubt, healing now will be much more interactive for the Shamans and we will have to think more about who and how to heal to make the most of the mana, which is going to be so scarce.
I hope I haven't bored you!