Totem Bar Will Allow Shamans to Manage Totems

Nethaera has posted some detailed information on the Totem Bar, an upcoming shaman-specific interface addition that will be implemented with patch 3.2. The bar, which will be located above the standard toolbar where you find warrior stances and druid forms, will allow shamans to "manage their fire, earth, water, and air totems in a more accessible and convenient way."

You'll be able to assign four totems, one of each element, to the bar for easy access. But that's not all! There will be a button for Totemic Call, which has been renamed Call of Earth, and a new ability named Call of Fire that will drop all four totems at once. The function, which becomes available at level 30, can also be set to drop less than four totems. As you level, you'll get access to Call of Air and Call of Water, which are functions that allow you to set different sets of totems to drop at the same time.

You can read Nethaera's full post after the jump and discuss the topic in our shaman class forum in this thread.

There comes a time in all shaman’s lives when they must learn to harness the power of nature and wield powerful totems. As they grow in power, so do the opportunities to use these instruments of healing, protection, and destruction. In the upcoming content patch, Call of the Crusade, the shaman will be able to quickly place totems of each element, aiding them in managing these powerful focuses of nature.

We wanted to provide some insight regarding the upcoming shaman-specific interface addition, the Totem Bar. Shaman will be able to utilize this new bar to manage their fire, earth, water, and air totems in a more accessible and convenient way. This bar will appear on the left-hand side above the standard toolbar, similar to warrior stances or druid forms. The bar contains space for four totems of the player’s choice, one of each element. Clicking the respective button will drop that totem. To the right of the four totems is a button for Totemic Call, which we have renamed Call of Earth. To the left of the four totems is a new ability named Call of Fire which will drop all four totems on the bar at once. The mana cost is the same as if the shaman dropped all four of the totems one at a time. However, it takes but a single global cooldown.

Questing shaman will be able to quickly move their totems of choice forward, while a shaman in an instance, Arena, or Battleground will be able to replace their totems if they have to move or if the totems are destroyed.

Shamans will also be able to customize their bar to set Call of Fire to drop less than four totems if they choose. Access to this functionality is made available at the same level as Call of Earth (currently level 30.) At higher levels, Shaman will gain two additional spells, Call of Air and Call of Water. These function exactly the same as Call of Fire, essentially giving the shaman three different sets of totems that can be placed at once. New key bindings will also be made available for all of these slots.

As with all new content under testing, we want to caution players that, as a new part of the interface, there may be additional changes during the period of the PTR until the release of the Call of the Crusade content patch. We look forward to constructive feedback once it is available for testing.

Comments

Post Comment
I like it
# Jun 18 2009 at 12:30 AM Rating: Decent
If I understand this right, you will gain 3 gcds with this change? No addon can do that right now, still need to drop them one at a time. This sounds good to me,
Addons
# Jun 17 2009 at 7:58 PM Rating: Decent
**
267 posts
There already are addons that do this. It will probably be like the wardrobe addon which I don't use because I already have an addon I like better. Not that I've ever felt the need to get an addon to manage totems. I just arrange my action bars so totems of each type are together. They're all visible and I can easily make sure I put down one of each type. Not real hard.
remedial shaman 101
# Jun 17 2009 at 4:03 PM Rating: Default
As if clicking or deciding what totem to drop was too much effort ???
Like any self respecting Shaman isn't carrying a 4 in 1 totem already ?
sigh I really wish Blizzard would address real issues, such as the totally irregular way in which the various totems draw agro, or fix the mouse over tags for FrostBrand weapon, or resolve the fact that my weapon buffs negate any attempt to enchant a weapon, or allow some sort of buff to be given out by a totem shaman, I really hate not having ANY freebie to hand out like the droods, and pally's and mages...
Post Comment

Free account required to post

You must log in or create an account to post messages.