Shaman Totems vs Paladin Blessings

[MongoJerry]

Melee; no clue. Does windfury effect ranged attacks? GoA > Kings for hunters.

Windfury does not affect ranged attacks. The current Windfury + SoE is slightly better than BoK + BoM for melee dps, but also keep in mind that you can't use poisons or other temporary weapon enchants and Windfury at the same time. If it's a fight where Alliance players choose to use sharpening or weight stones, then the advantage is negated. With the new nerfed windfury, Windfury+SoE will be worse than Bok + BoM for melee dps. And that's even assuming that you're in a group with a shaman and that the encounter does not require moving around. Plus, BoK gives more life. Also, paladins can give their auras to their parties on top of their blessings.

Regarding hunters, GoA <<<<<<<<< BoK + BoW + JoW. Way way way worse. Horde hunters put up far less dps than Alliance hunters, because Horde hunters have to spend much more time drinking in the middle of combat. The hunter is the class that benefits the most from paladin blessings vs shaman buffs.

True- BUT, if it were a raid group effect you could drop more totems while the previous ones were on cooldown. The mana regeneration of a manatide totem = nearly the same as a full duration five minute BoW (At least, that's how it worked out last time I looked at the numbers) in only a few seconds.

Mana tide is it's own item. First of all, for all that Alliance players like to point it out, most shaman don't get it. Of the eight shaman in my guild, only one has it. Second, it's not really a buff totem with it's short duration. I'd have no problem keeping it as a party-only item, while letting the true buff totems become raid-wide.

Holy Nova. Given how many AE effects the game tosses around at any time, it seems very trivial.

Holy Nova heals raid-wide? That's news to me.

THAT is my big issue with the idea. And a lone paladin in a small group can still only give one blessing. Shamans can dump totems until they turn blue, the paladin still has to pick a single buff. A raid group with only a shortage of paladins loses out on alot, too.

Shamans would still have to drop totems mid-fight, taking away their precious mana and combat time while doing so. This is particularly important for those many fights that require moving around. Also, totems have a limited range, so to ensure coverage, raids will need to bring many shaman. Finally, as noted above, many of the most useful totems are in the same Air tree, so you still would need multiple shaman for that.