Changes to Abilities and Mechanics For Shaman in World of Warcraft Cataclysm

In addition to adding new spells, Blizzard Entertainment is planning to make changes to some of the other abilities and mechanics Shamans are currently familiar with. So far, only some details have become available to the community, but I'm sure there is a lot more to come in the next few months before World of Warcraft: Cataclysm hits the market. Here is what we know so far about the changes to Shaman's abilities and game mechanics.

Restoration Shamans (like all other healing classes) will have to pay attention to their mana management as the changes taking place will make healing a bit more complicated. Casters will actually have to be mindful of their mana bar and which spells they are using. Spirit will be the Resto Shammies mana regeneration statistic - this is valid for all healers in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Now, Shamans benefit most from mp5 and have little to no use of Spirit. This upcoming change will make the Resto Shaman gear, enchants and gems look a bit different than they do now. Restoration Shamans are also getting Remove Magic ability, but they will no longer be able to remove poisons. They will still be able to remove curses.

Interesting fact is that Cleansing Totem will be removed from the game. This will be done because developers would like to have cleansing to be something done when players decide to do so, and not simply drop a totem and not bother to think when it's a good thing to cleanse /remove magic and when this is not a good idea. At the moment, there are some encounters in the game where dropping a cleansing totem by mistake might cause a raid wipe. I assume there will be similar encounters in the future as well and removing Cleansing Totem will make it more challenging for the shamans but also more safe.

Totem of Wrath now replaces Flametongue Totem for all shaman in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Dropping Totem of Wrath will buff the group's spell power by 4%. Some additional talents are being introduced to the Elemental Shamans which will allow all Fire totems to provide additional +10% spell power and allow the shamans to keep their spell damage buffs. Notice however, that the 4% and 10% buffs will be exclusive with each other and with the warlock's Demonic Pact, so you can't benefit from all of them at once.

With the Mastery system, new bonuses are being introduced to all 3 talent trees Shamans can choose from. They announced at this point Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses might get some changes or adjustments, but in general they will look like this (1st, 2nd and 3rd level Mastery as follows):

Elemental: Spell damage, Spell Crit and Elemental Overload, where Elemental Overload: Your direct-damage spells have a chance to proc a less powerful 'bonus" version of the spell.

Enhancement: Melee damage, Melee Haste and Nature Damage, where Nature Damage: Provides a passive bonus to the Nature damage dealt by the Enhancement shaman.

Restoration: Healing, Meditation and Deep Healing, where Deep Healing: Your direct heals will do more healing when the target's health is lower. This will scale to damage rather than have arbitrary break points.

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