07-17-2006, 03:35 PM
Quote: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 a shortage of paladins loses out on alot, too.
Paladins also get auras and judgements, you can't just leave them out. Plus, even in 5 man groups, you can tailor your blessings to suit the person you are casting it on. Do you really think that the Priest/Mage in the group is benefitting from the Windfury/Strength of Earth totems that Shaman gave to Warrior/Rogue? Fire totems don't even give any really useful buffs in a 5-man situation, so you are down to 3 totems maximum already, and any particular person in the group will benefit from a maximum of 2 totems... Which is incidently similar to what Paladins can provide (not counting judgements) - up to 2 buffs in a 5 man situation. And you cannot discount how much more mana efficient and easier to maintain Paladin blessings/auras are - that advantage does not just dissapear when you look at 5 man groups.
What needs to be done to totems? Taking into consideration the Windfury totem nerf, the following would balance out most fights in one way or another. Make raid version of a few totems - 100 yard range, 5 minute duration, destroyable (and of course, non-stackable):
- Grace of Air
- Windfury totem
- Strength of Earth
- Stoneskin Totem
- Mana Spring
- Healing Spring
- Mana Tide (yes, Mana Tide - I will explain)
And no Tranquil Air, yeap (it is nearly impossible to make it a raid version - but with other totems applicable to the whole raid, Horde can tailor their groups to provide Tranquil Air as needed!). Does that seem overpowered? It's not. Compared to an Alliance raid, Horde will now have some advantages and disadvantages:
- Alliance will still have have higher life/mana/spirit
- Alliance will still have tanks with higher mitigation (1k more armor is far, far superior to Stoneskin totem)
- Alliance will still have better aggro control
- Paladins will still be the most efficient healers
- Horde will have better mana regeneration (this is why you need raid-wide Mana Tida totem - without it, Horde's Mana Regeneration would be about equal, without having higher efficiency of Alliance - and we did say we want Horde to have at least some advantage).
- DPS... I think it will be close enough to call this point moot (Horde melee will lose some DPS because of Windfury totem nerf, but will gain some because they will also get Grace of Air now).
I know this might not be the best solution, but I had to put it out there for one reason - to show that even if Horde raid members can get every single useful totem buff (pretty much the ones listed above), it will not be overpowered compared to what Alliance currently get. And this will have no real effect on 5-man groups, where Paladins are at their weakest.