Patch 2.2 has been released, and my UI remains curiously unbroken - I had to update Clique but that was about it. The patch itself wasn’t too interesting, the biggest change for shaman being the improved “Focused Mind” talent. Good news if you’re into PvP I suppose, but it’s still nothing ground-breaking for PvE.
But hey, at least us non-druids can loop in mid-air again.
I’m very curious about the upcoming patch however. Druids, priests and mages will have their respective talents improved that allow for extra mana regeneration while casting, from 15% to 30%. With this, the new mana regeneration rates while casting become 0.18 MP/5 per point of spirit for priests and mages, 0.16 MP/5 for druids in caster form and 0.15 MP/5 for druids in non-caster form.
Shaman have no such talent. We do however have a mana spring totem, which fittingly also receives an upgrade. The rank 5 version of this totem now restores 12 mana every 2 seconds, equivalent to 30 MP/5. After the upgrade it will restore 20 mana every 2 seconds, which means 50 MP/5. An upgrade of 67%!
However, even the improved mana spring totem doesn’t hold a candle to the mana regeneration talents of the other classes. Simply put, priests and mages need at least 265 points in spirit to top our little totem (that’s 50/0.18 - 12.5, which is the standard spirit bonus), caster form druids 297 points (50/0.16 - 15), and non-caster form druids 318 points (50/0.15 - 15). These numbers are easy to achieve, especially for cloth-wearers.
So does this mean shaman will get the short end of the stick? (Yes, yes, pun not intended.) Not really. For starters, the mana tide totem is something every shaman has, regardless of specialisation, and as such we don’t have to shove any talent points towards it. But the biggest benefit comes from the nature of our totems; they’re good when we’re on our own but it’s in groups where they really shine. Planting a mana tide totem will mean an extra 50 MP/5 for every mana-using class in your party. Yes, now we’re talking.
Blizzard has already announced they want to make spirit a more attractive attribute, and with the upcoming patch this seems to ring true, at least where priests, mages and druids are concerned. Spirit has always been a useless attribute for mail-wearing classes however, and I’m happy to see this remains unchanged. Hunters have already had their aspect of the viper changed (a large improvement from what I understood), and with the mana totem upgrade I’m as happy a shammy as can be. At least I know I can happily continue to stuff my gear full of Royal Nightseyes.
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