19 Shaman, Mist of Pandora. (Healer comparison)

Evening everyone,



Congratulations shamans. I know you've had a rough time in cataclysm, but it would appear that it only lasted one expansion before you again at level 19 became BiS healer.



Outline of different healers and quick analyses on why 19 resto shamans now are BiS:



19 Paladin:

Paladins have ever since cataclysm been very strong. However, as a personal experience I've felt that the removal of bubble left me feeling like a part of my original class was missing - despite gaining incredible hulk survival powers.



From what we know so far, paladins gain:
  • Divine Shield
  • Gab increaser (Speed of Light, Long Arm of the Law, Pursuit of Justice)

    Speed of Light - Increases movement speed by 60% for 6 seconds and reduces damage taken by 20% for 12 seconds. 1 minutes cooldown.

    Long Arm of the Law - Judgement increases your moment speed by 45% for 2 seconds.

    Pursuit of Justice - You gain 10% movement speed for every charge of current Holy Power. (Maximum of 30%).

From what we know so far, paladins lose:
  • Holy Light
  • Blessing of Protection
  • Protector of the Innocent (Talent)

So they're losing the defensive physical ability - in exchange for a CC / emergency button, and they're losing their mana "neutral" healing ability - which is often used while not under pressure.



19 Priest:

Priests have ever since the beginning of cataclysm felt that they were deprived of their special thing; the dispel. Well unfortunately, you're going to feel an even bigger loss in cataclysm.



From what we know so far, priests gain:
  • Crowd Control abilities (Void Tendrils, Psyfiend, Psychic Scream)

    Void tendrils - Summons a tendril that roots all targets within 10 yards for 20 seconds. Killing the tendril with cancel the effect. 30 seconds cooldown.

    Psyfiend - Summons a Psyfiend that stands in the same spot and casts psychic scream on nearby enemies within 40 yard every 2 second, lasting for 10 seconds. 1 minute cooldown.

    Psychic Scream
    - Fears 5 enemies within 8 yards for 8 seconds. 30 seconds cooldown.

From what we know so far, priests lose:
  • Renew
  • Fortitude buff
  • Psychic Scream (unless picked as talent)

So as you can see priests are put in a generally worse position ability wise than they currently are in cataclysm.



19 Druid:

Druids have for a long time (since the end of BC) been a lackluster class for healing. Sure, some people have made it work, or claim to have, but it's still been the class that has been lacking behind quite a bit. Especially with cataclysms release where their renew HoT was nerfed and some of the extra utility such as hibernate and bash (bear stun) were removed, something has been missing. When in cataclysm they had their beloved Healing Touch replaced with a higher level ability that was utter crap at level 19. Fear not, a small fee is paid back to you - nothing major though.



From what we know so far, druids gain:
  • Bash
  • Healing Touch
  • Survival Talents (Displacer Beast, Tireless Pursuit)

    Displacer Beast - Teleports the druid in a random direction, 20 yards, removing all DoTs and stealthing the target in cat form for 10 seconds. 3 minutes cooldown.

    Tireless Pursuit - Removes all roots and snares, and increases movement speed by 70% while in cat form for 15 seconds, puts the target in cat form. 3 minutes cooldown.

From what we know so far, druids lose:
  • Nourish

So over all a general improvement of our beloved druids, and hopefully they will flourish(see what I did there?) once again!



19 Shaman:

Now, to main point of this entire thread. The whole reason you clicked on their thread. The shaman. We all know that since their overpowered status in WotLK, shamans have suffered a severe blow in cataclysm, being one of the only healing classes that no one rolled. Well, if these talents and spec keep up - and the abilities are fixed to match talents, we're about to see a major rise in resto shamans! Why is this?



From what we know so far, shamans gain:
  • Gap increaser (Frozen Power(*uncertain), Earthgrab totem(*uncertain), Repulsion Totem)

    Frozen Power - Frost shock now roots the target for 5 seconds. (Can't obtain frost shock at 19, but you

    Earthgrab totem - Replaces the Earthbind totem with an Earthgrab totem. Roots all targets within 8 yards for 5 seconds. Recently rooted targets will have their movement speed reduced by 50%.

    Repulsion Totem - Summons a totem at the feet of the caster that repels enemies. (Pushes them away).

    *uncertain - these talents are uncertain because frost shock and earthbind totem both are higher level abilities, but their talents are obtainable at level 15. So we'll see if Blizzard changes/fixes that.
  • Riptide
  • Healing Surge
  • Cleanse Spirit (IMPROVED) Dispels one curse and one MAGIC effect from a friendly target.

From what we know so far, shamans lose:
  • Earth Shield
  • Purge (It appears to have been completely removed from the game).
  • Healing Wave
  • 6 second wind shear (15 seconds now).

SO shamans will now be the only class at level 19 WITH A DEFENSIVE DISPEL. With the new powers that frost mages are getting in form of extra crowd control and insane abilities (compared to the rest) having a resto shaman could just be the counter you're looking for!



Best of luck, hope this gave a bit of googleview over the situation for everyone. If there's any flaws please feel free to PM me and I'll change them.



Use this thread for creative and constructive discussions regarding the new talents and specs.



Best regards,

Twinkinfo staff.
 
I love the new pally changes so far, mop looks great.
 
a shame, making such a ridiculously detailed and formatted post when mop changes r still in early development



u must b bored
 
It's lookin' good for Shamans next expan! I can't wait. I definitely look forward to playing Resto when it comes out.
 
If shamans r going to be getting a dispel.for curses then watch out 19 warlocks unstable affliction shall crush all the mindless dispellers
 
Yay, my druid will be usable again. Incidently the situation for FCs looks really interesting. I wonder if they mean to put a cooldown on metamorphosis or if its intended to be a permanent form. Exciting stuff.



Edit: It's worth mentioning that druids have another hidden buff. Regrowth should be usable and much closer to their counterparts in terms of power. The resto tree is being abolished so the 8+ points we need during cata to make Regrowth decent is no longer needed, it's base line. SWEET!!
 
Anyone else excited about warlocks in next x-pac



VERY!!



Edit: I've been taking a look at the numbers and I think that shaman will struggle to produce the numbers that the other healers will be able to. Even taking into account the passive that shaman will get, Druids will be able to get 2.5 times the HoT amount that Shaman will be able to get up on 3 targets whereas shaman will only be able to get it on 2 players. Druids will also have a pretty similar Flash Heal to Shaman. On top of this the druids defensive CDs and spells are superior to shaman. Paladins and Priests will be able to produce far greater direct numbers and priests especially will flourish with their soon to be undispellable very strong bubbles.



I'm not saying shaman will be bad, but I think they've been unintentionally nerfed for their dispel. I think that Paladins will be worst off as straight healers next xpac since they do not keep PTI (something you missed) and they are relatively weaker compared to the other classes strengthwise. They also don't have the utility.
 
VERY!!



Edit: I've been taking a look at the numbers and I think that shaman will struggle to produce the numbers that the other healers will be able to. Even taking into account the passive that shaman will get, Druids will be able to get 2.5 times the HoT amount that Shaman will be able to get up on 3 targets whereas shaman will only be able to get it on 2 players. Druids will also have a pretty similar Flash Heal to Shaman. On top of this the druids defensive CDs and spells are superior to shaman. Paladins and Priests will be able to produce far greater direct numbers and priests especially will flourish with their soon to be undispellable very strong bubbles.



I'm not saying shaman will be bad, but I think they've been unintentionally nerfed for their dispel. I think that Paladins will be worst off as straight healers next xpac since they do not keep PTI (something you missed) and they are relatively weaker compared to the other classes strengthwise. They also don't have the utility.

you're missing a few key points here.

first off, ghost wolf, when number crunching, you will notice that Guardian bears will probably be the FC of choice for next xpac, due to their travel form, increased stam + armor from next patch, and FD, which is quite a bloody delightful cooldown to press. still taking this into account, druids will be kiting alot, and ghost wolf + mass bind, or alternatively repel totem for another "ohh fuck" button (bcus u can't return the flag if you r 2 far away 2 click it ololol). so, as you see here, Earthgrab totem + ghost wolf will provide kiting abilities the likes of which has not been seen in this bracket in a long time. Repelling totem will be the ultimate "loldebuffishighandimarogue" counter, and the dispels.. ohh boy, need i talk about the many, MANY new stuns added? how about that lockjaw on your fc.. NOPE. so i see you've been HoJ'd? save that trinket my dear flag carrier, dispel to the rescue. i am confident, that the shaman will pretty much be the most core healer in the bloody bracket. i expect to see a TON of locks, both destro for redic. dmg, and affli for lockign down afforementioned shamans, and a load of shamans to counter the paladins constantly moving at 30% speed and lolbashing everything with a huge bloody axe.

in short, i'm gearing a druid as we speak. see you with 60% dmg reduction<3
 
Remember that GW will have a 2sec cast (Imp GW is a level 45 talent IIRC) and they won't be able to get earthgrab totem. As it stands, only Repulsion totem is available for use for a 19 shaman, so their kiting ability will be substantially lower than a Rdruids. Don't get me wrong, a Rsham will be awesome post MoP, but I reckon most premades will take a Rdruid or priest.



As for FCs, this remains to be seen. Guardians do look snazzy, but take a look at demo locks. Unless there is a tooltip error (which is likely) they are set to be FC gods.
 
From looking at these talents, depending on how well healing scales compared to damage output - it does indeed look interesting for the balance between healers in MoP.



Remember that GW will have a 2sec cast (Imp GW is a level 45 talent IIRC) and they won't be able to get earthgrab totem. As it stands, only Repulsion totem is available for use for a 19 shaman, so their kiting ability will be substantially lower than a Rdruids. Don't get me wrong, a Rsham will be awesome post MoP, but I reckon most premades will take a Rdruid or priest.



As for FCs, this remains to be seen. Guardians do look snazzy, but take a look at demo locks. Unless there is a tooltip error (which is likely) they are set to be FC gods.



Without looking further into it, shamans seem to be the only class getting talents for abilities they don't have in their 15 tree. This could possibly be an unnoticed bug that will be fixed with either new talents or new level requirements on abilities. Dumb to have the ability to choose between 3, and 2 of them require that you jusssttt level 7 and 12 more levels!
<
 
Yeah, I really am hoping that they will change several of the levels of various abilities. For a start, rogues and warriors look to be gimped in mobility and utility (not so much rogues) despite everything and mages look far too powerful. Still it's a start. I'm beginning to consider reactivating my account so I can get back on the B.net forums to actively provide feedback.
 
Yeah, I really am hoping that they will change several of the levels of various abilities. For a start, rogues and warriors look to be gimped in mobility and utility (not so much rogues) despite everything and mages look far too powerful. Still it's a start. I'm beginning to consider reactivating my account so I can get back on the B.net forums to actively provide feedback.

Give it time old friend, it's still a year+ away - and who knows, you might've joined me in GW2 by then, completely forgetting 19 twinking in wow even exists! (or not, who knows). So I think you should at least wait till it's possible to get on some sort of PTR/Beta
<
 
Yeah, I'll definitely be giving GW2 a whirl, dw. I'm theorycrafting it now (besides the fact that I love doing it) though because with cata we all said "Nah leave it, they know what they're doing, they won't leave it so unbalanced" and look where that got us. Better to start early that late
<
 
They moved up 2 key abilities to PvE tanking - Thunder Clap and Swipe.



Warlocks - Lose Felguard (there goes my setup for epic demon pet), so Imp will remain the standard pet. Bright side, They now get Demon Form (with abilities too? and for how long?). Destro locks lose aftermath... and conflagarate makes no sense now (description)...



Warriors are getting what they wanted - incombat charge. On the other hand, they lost their only source of snare left unless specced into Warbringer. Shield Slam no longer dispels. Mortal Strike, Bloodthirst and Shield Slam now generate rage? Something's up with this now.



Hunters still keep their concussive shot, scatter shot, explosive shot... beast masters lose intimidation and seem to have no lv10 ability mentioned yet. Kill Command was originally the thought for lv10, but all 3 specs can still use it.
 
Warriors are getting what they wanted - incombat charge. On the other hand, they lost their only source of snare left unless specced into Warbringer. Shield Slam no longer dispels. Mortal Strike, Bloodthirst and Shield Slam now generate rage? Something's up with this now.



they said something about removing auto attack... So i think abilities that generate rage would in essence replace auto attack.
 

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