Eyonix has been spending a lot of time hanging out in the Shaman Discussion Forums lately. I got introduced to the concept of Totem Twisting when he declared that it was not an exploit, but that Blizzard plans to "address" it at some point.So I asked my in-house Shaman expert about Totem Twisting (there is also a good explanation in the forums). For those of you who don't know (like I didn't), Totem Twisting is when you drop 2 totems of the same element in such a way that you have both of them active concurrently. Usually, the Shaman will drop Windfury to get the 10 second buff and then immediately drop Grace of Air until just before the Windfury buff is up. With creative use of hotkeys and a good rhythm, you can keep both totems active simultaneously. This technique is very mana intensive and severely limits the other things you can do at the same time.
Well, that sounds very familiar to me, having played a Bard in EQ. Any group-worthy Bard in the original EQ could twist at least 3 songs at the same time. It was obviously not an intentional game mechanic when the Bard was created, however, it was also not considered an exploit.
So are Shamans the Bards of WoW?
As far as backstories go, they couldn't be more different. Shamans are spiritual leaders and Bards entertain people in bars. Shamans use totems that harness the elements. Bards use instruments to make music. But if you look at what their skills actually accomplish and the utility they bring to groups, they are very similar:
Group buffs: The totems and the songs buff the entire group within a certain area.
Buff variety: Like the EQ Bard songs, the totems come in a wide variety of variable usefulness. Also, there can be some arguing among group members as to who gets the totems or songs that benefit their class the most.
Very limited single target buffs: Both the Bard and the Shaman are missing the "drive by" buffs that classes like Priests and Druids have.
Melee: Both Bards and Shamans have the ability to do decent melee damage and even dual wield -- but are rarely allowed to melee in groups.
Good but not great at many things: People in EQ often called the Bard a "jack of all trades". Here is the official description from the WoW Shaman Page:
The old phrase "jack of all trades, master of none" is an excellent way to describe the Shaman; they are the only real "hybrid" class in World of Warcraft.
Sparkles: Shamans are usually surrounded by fun sparkly shields while Bards have a sparkly glow when playing a song.I always considered the Bard class in EQ as very incomplete. It seemed to me that the developers never got everything to work right with them. While they had some really useful skills, they always felt a little gimped and were not always welcome in groups, no matter how many songs you could twist.
Shamans, on the other hand, used to be the OP class that everyone (Alliance) complained about. Though they have been knocked a few times with the nerf bat, they are still a lot of fun to play and are considered extremely useful in groups and raids. Shamans also don't have a problem with their totems aggroing an entire dungeon and wiping everyone in it, which was always a danger with Bard songs.
Personally, I can't get past the extreme difference in the backstories. Though I see the similarities, I think there is room for a Bard or Minstrel class in WoW that uses songs instead of spells for their magic.
Do you think Shamans are the Bards of WoW? Would you like to see the Bard class introduced to Azeroth? Do you think Totem Twisting is useful and will you miss it when it is "addressed"?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-19-2007 @ 11:05AM
Matthew Rossi said...
As long as I don't have to name my toon Zamphir, I'm happy with my shaman. :)
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10-19-2007 @ 11:06AM
Dyermaker said...
What I recall most about Bards from EQ, every time a single thing changed in the game their entire combat systems would become completely broken for days.
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10-19-2007 @ 11:10AM
eric said...
Remember when people thought shamans needed to get nerfed?
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10-19-2007 @ 11:34AM
Bunkai said...
How could I play a shaman to 70, and be part of the core raiding group pre-TBC and not know about Totem Twisting?
I suppose the fact that I've been an Enhancement shaman that entire time might have something to do with it... I have very little mana to be so frivolous with in such a manner, but it seems that I should have learned that skill at some point along the way... for that, I label my self a n00b (even though I've been playing WoW since early '05) that could use a lesson in L2P. :-(
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10-19-2007 @ 11:42AM
jorelius said...
I kindof thought that the deathknight rune system would be similar to songweaving.
The real question is is that Lambent armor or somthing else dyed blue for extra classic bard points.
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10-19-2007 @ 11:56AM
Ryan said...
@4 Enhancement shaman are the only ones for whom totem twisting is reasonable, since most of your time is spent autoattacking and twisting keeps you in the GCD pretty much constantly. The standard macro is somthing along the lines of /castsequence [reset=10] Storm Strike, Windfury Totem, Grace of Air Totem;
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10-19-2007 @ 12:08PM
Smurk said...
There was a post here, probably months ago, asking about ideas for new professions. As an idea for a prof. that creates musical instruments took shape in my head, I realized that it was too in-depth for anything less than a new character class, which in fantasy terms would be a "bard" type.
I've never played EQ or any other MMO's so I dunno how much overlap there would be in what I came up with (though I have played Bard's Tale!)
But anyway, I think the ability to craft your instruments as well as use different types of songs (ballads = healing, etc. - I'm sure this has all been done before. Hell, Mog's dances in FF3/6 were the same kinda deal).
Bards don't seem to have a place in the WOW continuum, I must admit.
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10-19-2007 @ 12:14PM
Robin Torres said...
Jorelius,
Eponyne is definitely wearing Lambent. I'm pretty sure that screenshot was taken before you could dye armor. I did have the helmet, but I often didn't wear it because of vanity.
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10-19-2007 @ 12:49PM
Fizzle said...
Interesting until I saw...
"Melee: Both Bards and Shamans have the ability to do decent melee damage and even dual wield -- but are rarely allowed to melee in groups."
Then I stopped reading.
Totem twisting is not widely known because it's not widely useful. It only works for totems that have a residual effect (Windfury, flametongue) that you can let run while another totem is out (GoA, ToW). It's also generally only desirable for the melee groups (with the WF/GoA twist), of which you're probably an enh shaman and going to blow your manapool quite quick. However, with a liberal use of Shamanistic Rage and Super Mana/Fel Mana pots, you'll be your rogues/DPS warriors best friends. ;)
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10-19-2007 @ 1:06PM
gozerthagozerian said...
Totem twisting is not viable in raids. At all.
You will severely nerf your own DPS by trying to twist totems, your mana pool will always be empty, and most importantly you'll have problems keeping Unleashed Rage up during fights because you'll be spending too much time dropping totems and not attacking.
Is it worth sacrificing a scaling 10% increase to your melee group's attack power as well as your own DPS? No. Enhancement Shaman who know how to play can out-dps Mages and Rogues in 10-mans, and totem twisting can mean a huge overall loss in the raid's DPS for a dubious gain.
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10-19-2007 @ 1:43PM
Izbay said...
Our 25 mans are extremely melee heavy. 4 rogues, 2 feral druids, and a dps warrior. We always fight over who gets our Enhancement Shaman. I will miss it :(
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10-19-2007 @ 2:16PM
John said...
@10
....are you serious? Dropping totems doesnt reset your swing timer. You dont stop attacking to drop them. Its a very small nerf to your personal dps becuase you cant shock more, but you get goa, which you would NEVER get in a melee group otherwise. ITs a buff for eveyrone, and helps make the /autoattack /afk raid class a bit more fun.
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10-19-2007 @ 4:21PM
Dajay said...
I've tested to a certain extent totem twisting when I was properly itemized, you can read some of my conclusions there : http://nerfmyshaman.blogspot.com/2007/09/two-raids-no-analysis-but-some-news.html.
I would add that you just cannot be Oom with the Totem Twisting technique if you are an properly itemized/templated enhancement shaman. Just use Shamananistic Rage as often as possible (please don't wait to have your mana bar empty) and use rank 1 of the Windfury totem.
Sebudai from Juggernaut was lately talking about his use of totem twisting with WF and both GoA/Tranquillity. Look at his stats on Teron fight :
http://www.juggernautguild.com/wws/2.1/wws-20070921-2016/index.html
Now tell me, does it look gimped dps at all ?
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10-20-2007 @ 2:49AM
RadNuru said...
Go Go Good Team!
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10-20-2007 @ 6:34AM
Suzaku said...
You know, when people bring up bards as a playable class/hero class in WoW, I always think of how they worked in EQ, and how much WoW's shaman are like them. They really are.
I also think about the fact that there are absolutely no bards in any of the WarCraft games, and how Blizzard would be much better off implementing a class that actually has ties to the series.
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10-20-2007 @ 8:48AM
Raedien said...
I've played both EQ and WoW and IMO they are too functionally similar to insert a "bard" class in WoW without stepping on Shammy toes.
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