How would I fix us?

When Blizzard asked for class feedback, they asked posters to highlight class issues they felt need improvement, but did not want suggestions on how to fix these percieved deficiencies. I can certainly understand why they wouldn't want to clutter the thread with suggestions (especially as many forum posters have a rather short-sighted view of the game — "ZOMG, give us a 'Kill Warlock' instant spell! K Thx Bai!"), but that doesn't keep each of us from wondering "Just what would I do to 'fix' our class?"

I came up with my own list of shaman issues and have had ideas for improvements percolating through my brain since then. The biggest problem when coming up with solutions is to ensure that they're balanced, remain true to the class concept (much as some would argue Blizzard doesn't have one for shaman), and aren't simply going to generate more issues. Not an easy task and one that I've had a lot of fun mulling over the last few days.

Totems
Totems are clearly the biggest issue for shaman, but are also our most defining characteristic. I've seen all sorts of suggestions ranging from providing zone-wide buffs, to having their effect centered on the shaman, to having a chance to stun players and mobs when attacked. For the most part, I've found these suggestions to either be overpowered (can you imagine the forest of totems deep in the AV starting caves if they were zone-wide?) or completely abandoning the current system altogether. Although no solution is perfect, I have a couple thoughts for improvements that would help make the system less cumbersome while still maintaining balance for both PvE and PvP.

• Totem UI: Some sort of basic UI tool is needed to avoid cluttering up our action bars. I think user-created mods will still be used for their additional features, but some sort of bar like the Druid's forms buttons would be very helpful for newer players.
• Longer duration: One of the major complaints for PvE raiding is the frequency with which we have to recast totems, with the global cooldown forcing us to stop healing/DPSing for up to six seconds every two minutes to drop them. One easy solution is to increase the duration of the raid-buffing totems (Windfury, Wrath of Air, etc.) to 10 minutes. Although you'd still need to recast them for each new fight, they would last for the majority of boss fights and remove the amount of required downtime to keep these buffs up. I wouldn't change the duration of some of the more PvP or DPS-oriented totems (Earthbind, elementals, Magma/Searing totems, etc.), however, to prevent them from becoming overpowered in PvP.
• Increased range: With the increased focus on mobility for PvE (and the obvious need for it in PvP), the 20 yard base range is no longer sufficient and Totemic Mastery has basically become a "must have" talent for all specs. The effect range needs to small enough to allow opponents to eliminate them in PvP, but something on the order of 40 yards wouldn't be unreasonable and would greatly improve their use in raids. I'd also eliminate the Totemic Mastery talent at the same time.
• Increased health: "A level 1 can remove our buffs" is usually thrown around when discussing totems. A reasonable change would be to have totems' health scale with the shaman's. 5% of total health would seem to be just about right to me (giving them about 500 health for a PvP-geared player — easily taken down by a level 70 DPS class, while perhaps taking two hits from a healer or pet). In addition, the various totem-buffing talents (Call of Flame, Enhancing Totems, Imp. Weapon Totems, Restorative Totems) could have an added effect of increasing the health of their respective totems by some additional percentage.
• Faster pulses: The five second pulses of Poison/Disease Cleansing and Tremor Totems feel like an eternity and sometimes even make them useless (although the increased range would help somewhat). Dropping the pulse frequency down to every two seconds would make them much more viable and their increased utility could be compensated by a corresponding reduction in the length of time before they're destroyed.
• Reduced global cooldown: I don't think eliminating the global cooldown for totems would be balanced since the totems are fairly powerful (especially with the other buffs I'm proposing), but reducing the GCD for casting totems to 1 second would make dropping them a little less painful without giving us a bunch of instant-cast buffs.
• Consider totems as 'physical': The majority of totems are considered Nature spells and therefore are particularly vulnerable to spell locks and silences. Having totems be considered physical actions (much like a hunter's Arcane Shot) would allow us to still have some utility when silenced, even if we're not able to cast the majority of our other healing/DPS spells.
• A few other totem-specific changes that I would make are:
  
  
  • Earthbind Totem: Rather than pulsing, this totem should have effects similar to the Hunter's Frost Trap. I'd also add a talent in the Enhancement tree to add in an Entrapment-like effect as well. I'd keep the radius at 10 yards, but improve the Earth's Grasp talent to increase the radius by 25% per talent point.
  • Sentry Totem: Dump this totem's effects. Instead, have it increase the Stealth detection of party members in a 40 yard range.
  • Stoneskin Totem: Non-scaling effects are quickly marginalized, and this is one of the most glaring examples. A more reasonable effect would be to reduce melee damage by 5% to return the totem's viability for raiding.
  • Windwall Totem: Like Stoneskin, this totem should scale as a percentage to increase its viability.

Spells

• Crowd Control/Anti-Crowd Control: A lot of shaman feel that some form of CC is necessary to make the class more viable for 5-man and PvP, but I find the lack of CC somewhat refreshing (and the insistence on crowd control a bit overblown in general). Instead, I would suggest a few enhancement-specific talents below as ways of reducing their susceptibility to CC (it's much less of an issue for restoration or elemental), which I'll mention in the next section. In addition, I would allow the Ghost Wolf spell to remove all movement-impairing effects, much like the druids' shifting abilities. Ghost Wolf would still be dispellable, however, so it wouldn't be quite as good as druids' forms. I would also reduce the casting time to 2 seconds (with talents making it instant).
• Windfury: (talking about the shaman's weapon buff here, not the totem) Right now, the mechanics of WF make the speed of your off-hand when dual-wielding much more important than the actual DPS of that weapon, which doesn't make intuitive sense. There are three potential fixes that I can see:
  
  
  • Unlink the WF procs for each hand. In order to maintain the same level of benefit, increase the proc cooldown to 4.5 seconds.
  • Keep the WF cooldowns linked, but have WF do two attacks for each weapon. Again, the cooldown would have to be increased to compensate for the increased damage. This would probably create too large a burst capacity, however, so is probably the weakest option.
  • Make the WF proc for off-hands equal to its full damage rather than using the ½ off-hand penalty. This would once again make the OH's damage important rather than just the speed.
• Elementals: I'm rather mixed on whether the cooldown for elementals should be reduced to allow their use in arenas. On the one hand, both mages and druids can use theirs and, at least with the mage's, they're pretty effective. On the other hand, reducing the cooldown would also require reducing their effectiveness to keep them balanced. That's not a big issue with the fire elemental, but the earth elemental's ability to be used as an emergency tank would be greatly reduced without as many health points. I think I'd generally be in favor of it, however, for consistency if nothing else. It'd be nice to have some control over the elementals via a pet bar, but I suspect that's some of the tradeoff for their increased power.

Talents
In general, I think the shaman talents are pretty good, but there's definitely a few issues with them, much like many other classes. Several talents are "must haves" while others are nearly worthless. In addition, the enhancement and elemental trees have very few talents desired by anyone not going deep into them, reducing the synergy that you ideally want in hybrid classes.

Elemental

• Earth's Grasp: I would move this talent to the Enhancement tree, increase the radius bonus to Earth Bind by 25% per talent point, and add in a 5% chance of Entrapment per talent point (keeping it as a 2-point talent).
• Elemental Devastation: Although this talent is vaguely useful to enhancement shaman, it's so deep into the tree with so few other talents before it that are useful for enhancement that it's a waste here. I'd drop this down to Tier 2 in place of Earth's Grasp to improve the synergy.
• Unrelenting Storm: I would drop this talent down a Tier to make it available to restoration-primary shaman, once again improving synergy.

Enhancement

• Tier 1: Both talents are wastes. Approximately 500 mana for 5 talent points is a joke and most shaman either dual-wield or are casters (who can't block while casting). Ditch them both and instead take a page from the paladin's Holy tree: A 2% increase in Strength and a 2% increase in Intellect. Suddenly you have useful talents, and at least one that elemental and restoration shaman want.
• Guardian Totems: I already suggested making these two totems reduce damage by a percentage rather than a fixed number. This talent could then improve that percentage.
• Ghost Wolf: The full talent should make the spell instant cast.
• Toughness: Shaman aren't built to tank, so this talent is rarely worthwhile (especially considering Anticipation is more effective). I would instead create a talent to increase run speed by 3% and increase the chance to resist movement-impairing effects by 5%.
• Dual-wield: I'd eliminate the talent and make it trainable at level 40. Yes, it means healers and casters can put enchants on both weapons (much like hunters have done), but because most healing and casting weapons are two-handed or main-hand only, it wouldn't outweigh the benefit of using a shield. Instead, I would include an Intercept-like ability that allows enhancement shaman to close quickly.
• Shamanistic rage: This effect should be undispellable. Alternately, I would add in the ability to use this spell to immediately remove all debuffs that cause loss of control of your character (and to be able to be cast while feared, etc.).

Restoration

• Totemic Mastery: Drop it and increase the base range of totems across the board. In its place, I would add in a new spell: either a heal over time or an instant spell (or an instant HoT), which would significantly improve shaman's ability to heal in PvP and manage burst damage without using a 3m cooldown ability.
• Earth Shield: Its vulnerability to purges, especially considering how expensive it is, makes this talent much less effective then it should be. An inate dispell resistance would help, but Blizzard seems leery of such things since it could then be used to 'protect' other buffs. Simply reducing the mana cost is probably the easiest answer so that even though it's still as vulnerable, it's not painful to reapply aside from using a global cooldown.

Continue reading "How would I fix us?"

Blizzard: Class Feedback Requested

Blizzard has posted on all of the class-specific forums asking where each class is most in need of improvement - both in general and for specific spells, abilities and talents. They've asked responders to limit themselves to three general comments (of one to two sentences) and five specific abilities, and also specifically asked for responders to not provide suggestions. If you're interested, please take a moment to respond on either the American or European forum. Of course a good portion of the posts I've read have completely ignored these requests, but reading comprehension was never a strong suit on the official forums anyhow.

From my perspective, the major issues with the shaman class are:

• Totems: The totem system is a mess right now - it requires too much micro-management and too much time reapplying, especially in light of how much mobility is required in the game at present. Although the basic premise is great, they need a little more sustainability (both in terms of health for PvP and length of benefit for PvE) and better general utility.
• Talents: With the exception of Enhancement and Elemental shaman taking points in Restoration and arena players taking skills in the second tiers of Enh/Elem, there's very little synergy between the talent trees. In addition, there are many underwhelming talents at the low end, with a preponderence of strong middle-tier and then weaker top-tier talents.
• Inability to dictate the flow of battle in PvP: Without a reliable form of crowd control (something I personally don't feel we need) or way to escape CC (and close quickly, in the case of enhancement shaman), the pace of a PvP battle is largely controlled by the opponent. It certainly doesn't help that the majority of our abilities are reactive (Purge, Earth Shock) or are dependent on lengthy pulses (Poison Cleansing Totem, Tremor Totem).

As for specific abilities that need reevaluation, I think my choices would be:

• Windfury: The mechanics of this ability strongly need to be reconsidered for dual-wielders — uncommon-quality weapons shouldn't out-DPS epics simply because of the difference in swing speed.
• Totemic Mastery: The increased movement required in post-BC fights and PvP makes this an almost "must have" for all specs and should be reconsidered as a base totem range.
• Totem of Wrath/Shamanistic Rage/Earth Shield: Although fairly strong abilities, all three are too easily invalidated in PvP (through 5 points of damage of dispelling). 41 pt talents shouldn't be that vulnerable.

Continue reading "Blizzard: Class Feedback Requested"

Gear Calculator Updated (*blush*)

I discovered an error in the macros that save and load profiles that crept in when I added a column. I've since uploaded a new version to FileFront with the corrected macros.

Continue reading "Gear Calculator Updated (*blush*)"

Gear Calculator

I'm always creating spreadsheets of gear available to my characters so that I know which items are worthwhile upgrades. They're generally pretty minimalistic and require a lot of manual modification, but after creating the spreadsheet for my Healing Gear Rankings, I realized that I had a great framework to create a more generic tool for restoration shaman gear. It took me a while to create a format I liked and to add all the features that I wanted, but I think it's finally ready for release!

File available via FileFront
Edit 12/5: Somewhere along the line, I added a column which messed up the profile saving and loading macros. I've uploaded a new version (dated 120507) with corrected macros.

Among the features of this spreadsheet are:

• A (hopefully) complete listing of end-game healing gear available to a restoration shaman.
• Calculates the "Healing Equivalent Points" (HEP) values based on your character's current gear, talents, buffs/consumables, and your playstyle.
• Generates a customized, printable list of top upgrades available to your character based on your raid group's current progression.
• Allows you to save and load two separate profiles for different characters or for different combat situations (e.g. PvE vs. PvP).

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly are "Healing Equivalent Points?"
HEP is defined as the improvement in overall healing output after raising the bonus healing stat by one. The theory behind the HEP calculations is explained in my Comparing Healing Gear series.

What are the "weights" used with the HEP values?
These values represent the relative importance of each stat. For example, I typically assign a weight of 20% to spell haste as I feel that a 5% increase in casting speed is roughly equivalent to a 1% increase in overall healing output. Likewise, I feel that improving my survivability by 10% is roughly as important as a 1% increase in healing output, so assign a weight of 10% (I further reduce Armor by half since it only reduces physical damage). These values are not hard-coded to allow you to assign your own preferences.

What is saved to a profile?
All user-defined variables (everything in blue text on a white background) are saved to the profile: gear, stat weightings, talents, gem selections, etc. The gear lists are not automatically sorted by HEP, however, so be certain to re-sort after loading a different profile.

What do you mean by "up" time and "use of on-use" items?
These refer to how much of the fight you're receiving the benefits of Water Shield and Mana Spring. A value of 100% means you're casting them as soon as they expire. If you're using Earth Shield on yourself for half the fight and then Water Shield for the second half, you would use a value of 50%.

The use of "on use" items gives an estimation of how consistently you use these items. For example, an item on a two minute cooldown could theoretically be used five times during a 10-minute fight. However, if you find yourself only using it two to three times a fight, your "use" would be closer to 50%. Unfortunately, this value applies to all on-use items at this time.

Are set bonuses included in the HEP values of items?
By default, they are not, but there is an option on the HEP tab to include it. The HEP value then has the effects of the set bonus added to each item, divided by the number of items required for the bonus. I chose not to include the bonuses by default as the value depends greatly on the situation (a third piece has a higher value only if you intend to get a fourth, for example).

What exactly does the "Upgrade" value mean?
The Upgrade value represents the raw improvement over your currently equipped item. This value includes all HEP values, including survivability stats, and is modified by the weightings assigned on the HEP tab. This means that if you assigned a 10% weight to Stamina and the item is a 1% upgrade to healing output and a 5% upgrade to your health, it would have a +1.5% Upgrade value (1% + 5%*10%).

What do the "Use?" columns mean?
This column indicates whether you receive a larger benefit by gemming for the socket bonus. A "Yes" indicates that you're better off going for the socket bonus. A "No" indicates that placing the highest-HEP gems will give you a better value. The difference in HEP value is displayed for all "No" answers to let you know just how close the difference is. In some cases, you may want to ignore the "best" combination, especially when trying to meet meta gem requirements.

I found an error! Something's not working! I have a suggestion!
I'm hoping this tool will be useful to as many players as possible, so if you find an error or have a suggestion, please let me know! You can either post a comment, or send me email (Draezele at gmail dot com).

Continue reading "Gear Calculator"

Updated Healing Gear Rankings

Now that all of the Season 3 gear is available, I've updated my gear ranking posts and have uploaded a revised version of my spreadsheet to FileFront.

Files and individual pages were updated again on 12/18/07 with additional corrections.

The notable changes are:

• Corrections/additions to gear (many leather healing items on the PTR had their mana/5 changed to Spirit before going "live," plus the Vindicator's Kodohide items are class-restricted)
• Minor formula corrections
• Reduction of importance of haste rating from 1:2 to 1:4. This is largely a personal preference, but most discussions regarding haste seem to value a 4-5% reduction in casting time as roughly equal to a 1% improvement in longevity or raw healing output.

The updated postings can be accessed through the link on the sidebar, or through the following links:

Back	Hands	Off-Hand	Waist
Chest	Head	Shoulder	Wrist
Feet	Legs	Totem	Weapon (1H)
Finger	Neck	Trinket	Weapon (2H)

Continue reading "Updated Healing Gear Rankings"

Updated item links

For the past several months, I've been using code created by Okoloth to generate pop-up item links from Allakhazam's database. Although the code works fine, it wasn't nearly as "pretty" as other item links nor as complete as I'd have liked due to Allakhazam's lack of data from the PTR. Fortunately, Wowhead has released a script to allow linking directly to their database, so I switched all the links in my blogs over to this new code. (For those that are interested in using this code for their own blogs or websites, the details can be found here.)

Continue reading "Updated item links"

Mana Efficiency

One of the biggest challenges for healers is maintaining our healing output without running out of mana. Obviously, using appropriate gear and consumables is one way to help ensure we don't zero out that precious blue bar, but that can only take us so far. Choosing the appropriate spell - both in terms of which spell to cast and which rank to use - is an equally important part of the equation.

In general, the choice of spell is fairly straightforward. If you're healing a single target exclusively, Healing Wave is your best bet. When charged with group/raid healing, Chain Heal really shines, especially with the Improved Chain Heal talent giving an extra 20% healing output. In terms of pure healing output per mana spent, Chain Heal is our most efficient spell (assuming an average of two players healed per cast), which is why shaman are at our best in a raid-healing role.

The other way to conserve your mana is by casting a lower-ranked version of your spells. Although there is a penalty to your +heal coefficient for using these spells, the lower mana cost outweighs the loss in raw healing for any reasonable +healing values. From a strict ratio of healing done per mana spent, the lowest ranked spells are almost always the most efficient (excluding Healing Wave 1-4 and Lesser Healing Wave 1, all of which have additional penalties to their spell coefficients). However, these lower ranked spells won't have the throughput to keep your teammates alive, so there's a delicate balance to be maintained.

• When healing a main tank, there are generally multiple healers assigned. To avoid overhealing and wasting mana (whether yours or other healers'), you should almost always down-rank your spellsIn these cases, your goal isn't to heal the tank to full health by yourself, but with the combined spells of all of the other healers. Depending on how many healers have been assigned to the tank and how much damage he or she is taking, I generally aim to heal about 2,000 health per non-crit casting (Rank 6 or 7 depending on your +healing stat). This greatly reduces my risk of overhealing (or causing others to overheal) while allowing me to conserve my mana. Of course, it's better to overheal than underheal, so if the tank spends too much time at anything other than full health, you should consider using a higher rank.
• Raid healing is a different animal altogether, but the basic principal is the same: Select the rank that provides enough healing to keep your teammates alive. Unlike healing a tank, you're not necessarily worried about keeping everyone at full health, but you're also less likely to have backup. There are significant improvements in Chain Heal's mana efficiency between Ranks 5 and 4, and Ranks 3 and 2 so I will typically choose from Ranks 2, 4 and 5 depending on the healing output requirement. When in doubt, start with Rank 4 and either move up to 5 if the healing is insufficient, or drop down to Rank 2 if you have too much overhealing.
• As a sidenote, don't be afraid to use Lesser Healing Wave if needed to keep someone in your care alive. The mana efficiency is poor, but that's not your goal in an emergency situation. I would recommend against down-ranking, however, as the lower ranks have only minimal gains in efficiency and if things are desperate enough to need LHW, you want maximum healing throughput.

Choosing which spells to use is part of the "art" of playing a healer. After a while, you'll be able to feel the flow of the battle well enough to instinctively up-rank or down-rank your spells, which will greatly improve your efficiency and effectiveness as a healer. If you're not yet to that stage, I've uploaded an Excel spreadsheet to File Front to help you along your way.

Good luck!

Continue reading "Mana Efficiency"

Updating Arena Healing Gear

The third Arena season is nearly upon us and those of us who enjoy PvP have been eagerly looking forward to all the new gear that will arrive with the start of Season Three. Unlike PvE, the upgrade path is pretty straightforward, but there's always the question of which item to pick up first.

In order to answer that question for myself, I modified my healing calculations to fit the parameters and playstyle of PvP (specifics are at the end of the article). Using the same "Healing Equivalent Points" system as before, I came up with the following values for Restoration shaman healing gear:

	[Gladiator]	[Merciless Gladiator]	[Vengeful Gladiator]
Armor	609.6	672.1	738.8
Gauntlets	375.5	429.5	470.4
Helm	620.0	686.5	746.7
Leggings	583.2	655.6	721.1
Spaulders	468.3	510.8	560.6
Shield	N/A	1068.2	1151.1
Weapon	568.0	642.0	700.1
DPS Gauntlets	348.5	394.1

DPS gloves included due to so many shaman using them for the +5 yard range to Shock spells. This bonus will be included in the Season 3 healing gloves, fortunately.
Although the raw numbers are interesting, it's more interesting to see how much of an upgrade each piece is over the earlier season's items. Interestingly, going from Season 1 to Season 2 was often a bigger upgrade than going from Season 2 to Season 3 will be.

	Season 1→2	Season 2→3	Season 1→3
Armor	+62.5	+66.7	+129.3
Gauntlets	+54.0	+40.9	+94.9
Helm	+66.5	+60.2	+126.7
Leggings	+72.4	+65.5	+137.9
Spaulders	+42.5	+49.8	+92.3
Shield	N/A	+82.9	N/A
Weapon	+74.0	+58.1	+132.1
DPS Gauntlets*		+76.3	+121.9

^* Upgrading from DPS gloves to healing gloves.
In order to determine which upgrade provides the greatest "bang for the buck," we can then normalize the raw upgrade value by the cost in arena points. The highest values indicate the upgrades you should go for first (I skipped going from Season 1 to Season 2 as it's always better to upgrade straight to Season 3).

Value per 100 arena points

	Season 2→3	Season 1→3
Armor	3.56	6.92
Gauntlets	3.64	8.43
Helm	3.55	6.76
Leggings	3.49	7.35
Spaulders	3.32	6.15
Shield	4.42	N/A
Weapon	1.84	4.19
DPS Gauntlets*	6.82	10.84

^* Upgrading from DPS gloves to healing gloves.
As you can see, upgrading from DPS gauntlets should usually be your first priority, followed by upgrading any of your Season 1 gear. In each case, upgrading your weapon is actually the worst value for your arena points due to the higher cost.

We can perform a similar analysis of PvP honor gear as well, using honor point cost as a normalizer.

	Veteran's	Vindicator's	Upgrade value per 1,000 honor
Bracers	315.7	359.5	2.45
Girdle	430.2	470.4	2.25
Sabatons	446.9	488.2	2.31
Pendant	284.1	325.4	2.70
Ring	288.3	329.6	*

^* Both versions can be worn at once.
Unless you're sporting Tier 6-level rings, grabbing [Vindicator's Band of Salvation] is your most effective upgrade. Following that, the [Vindicator's Pendant of Salvation] appears to be your next best choice.

---

The HEP values used for this analysis were: Healing = 1.00; Intellect = 3.68; Crit = 0.68; Mana/5 = 8.49; Resilience = 1.27; Stamina = 3.71; Armor = 0.08. These numbers were arrived at by assuming a 5 minute fight in full Season 1/PvP gear, no use of Mana Spring/Mana Tide (due to their frequent destruction), and use of Water Shield at all times. Survival stats were weighted 1:1 with healing stats (mana/5 was reduced by 75% due to the reduced dependence on mana regeneration in PvP and to account for the occasional use of Mana Spring/Tide).

Continue reading "Updating Arena Healing Gear"

Patch 2.3 Update

The 2.3 patch is scheduled to go live tomorrow and it brings a whole host of new changes. Compilations of all the 2.3 changes have been posted by MMO Champion and World of Raids, along mirrors of the 2.3 PTR Patch Notes. They're both worth a look-over if you haven't been following the changes closely.

I put together a list of the shaman-related changes previously, so I'd encourage you to take a look if you haven't already. There's one additional change worth mentioning: The coefficient for Lightning Bolt and Chain Heal will be increased 5-6%. This is in response to drop in DPS that occurred with the changes in casting time and should hopefully keep Elemental shaman from dropping on the damage meters. The exact mechanism for increasing the coefficient isn't known yet, but some preliminary testing has shown an improvement in DPS by as much as 7.5%.

Continue reading "Patch 2.3 Update"

Thanks, WowInsider!

Chris Jahosky of WowInsider was kind enough to feature my Healing Gear series, which increased the amount of traffic I usually receive over a weekend well over ten-fold! Thanks for the mention and the kind words, Chris! I hope my work has been helpful to someone.

As a note, I plan to review all the new items once the 2.3 patch goes to live to ensure that I used the correct stat values. I've already noticed a couple of changes since I did my analysis (primarily to leather healing gear, which has had mana/5 replaced with Spirit), which will change the overall rankings. I'm hoping to post updates this afternoon and will revise it after the patch as necessary.

Continue reading "Thanks, WowInsider!"

Healing Gear: Table of Contents

The following links will take you to ratings of all relevant gear available for shaman healers. All ratings are listed in terms of "Healing Equivalent Points" (HEP), which represents the relative improvement in total healing output that's obtained by increasing your Healing rating by one.

For an explanation of the math behind these calculations, please read my Comparing Healing Gear series. The specific assumptions used in calculating these ratings are described in Healing Gear: General.

Back	Hands	Off-Hand	Waist
Chest	Head	Shoulder	Wrist
Feet	Legs	Totem	Weapon (1H)
Finger	Neck	Trinket	Weapon (2H)

An updated copy (as of Nov. 28) of the spreadsheet I used to calculate ratings is available through FileFront.

For a more general discussion of shaman gear, including enchants and gems, please see Building a Healer: Gear. In addition, changes occurring in 2.3 can be seen in New Gear in 2.3 and New Healing Gear in 2.3.

Continue reading "Healing Gear: Table of Contents"

Healing Gear: Weapon, Shield, Totem

The following are ratings of gear for the weapon, shield and totem slots. Values are calculated using the weights listed in Healing Gear: General and the methods described in Comparing Healing Gear.

Weapon (1-handed)

Rank	HEP	Item	Source
1.	550.0	[Crystal Spire of Karabor]	BT: Illidan
2.	523.9	[Lightfathom Scepter]	SSC: Vashj
3.	517.5	[Vengeful Gladiator's Salvation]	3,150
4.	505.1	[Hammer of Atonement]	MH: Kaz'rogal
5.	478.7	[Dark Blessing]	ZA: Zul'jin
6.	472.1	[Merciless Gladiator's Salvation]	2,283
7.	428.9	[Light's Justice]	Kara: Prince
8.	420.6	[Shard of the Virtuous]	Kara: Maiden
9.	417.6	[Gladiator's Salvation]	25,200, 20
10.	387.1	[Hand of Eternity]	Crafted (BoE)
11.	366.2	[Shockwave Truncheon]	Heroic Shadow Lab: Murmur
12.	365.5	[Ancient Scepter of Sue-Min]	World drop (BoE)
13.	364.5	[Gavel of Pure Light]	Sha'tar: Exalted
14.	290.7	[Lightsworn Hammer]	Shattered Halls: Bladefist
15.	288.4	[Hammer of the Penitent]	Mechanar: Capacitus
16.	282.8	[The Essence Focuser]	World drop (BoE)
17.	260.3	[Dathrohan's Ceremonial Hammer]	Heroic Hillsbrad: Skarloc
18.	237.4	[Runed Dagger of Solace]	Botanica: Thorngrim
19.	235.6	[Will of the Fallen Exarch]	Heroic Mana Crypts: Avatar

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Weapon (2-handed)
Note: Be certain to account for the loss of the off-hand slot when comparing these items to one-handed weapons.

Rank	HEP	Item	Source
1.	726.1	[Apostle of Argus]	MH: Archimonde
2.	636.2	[Staff of Dark Mending]	ZA: Timed loot
3.	579.6	[Staff of Immaculate Recovery]	BT: Gurtogg
4.	579.6	[Exodar Life-Staff]	Kazzak
5.	567.2	[Crystalheart Pulse-Staff]	Magtheridon
6.	484.5	[Ethereum Life-Staff]	TK: Solarian
7.	432.1	[Nightstaff of the Everliving]	Kara: Nightbane

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Off-Hand/Shield

Rank	HEP	Item	Source
1.	192.4	[Enamelled Disc of Mojo]	ZA: Jan'alai
2.	190.5	[Bastion of Light]	MH: Anetheron
3.	186.3	[Aegis of the Vindicator]	Magtheridon
4.	174.0	[Felstone Bulwark]	BT: Supremus
5.	169.5	[Touch of Inspiration]	BT: Essence of Anger
6.	165.2	[Triptych Shield of the Ancients]	Kara: Chess
7.	163.5	[Vengeful Gladiator's Redoubt]	1,875
8.	151.5	[Merciless Gladiator's Redoubt]	1,630
9.	140.2	[Talisman of the Sun King]	TK: Al'ar
10.	139.4	[Dragonheart Flameshield]	Kara: Nightbane
11.	136.7	[Light-Bearer's Faith Shield]	33
12.	135.9	[Crystal Pulse Shield]	World drop (BoE)
13.	129.6	[Aran's Soothing Sapphire]	Kara: Aran
14.	118.5	[Stormshield of Renewal]	Heroic Underbog: Black Stalker
15.	112.6	[Silvermoon Crest Shield]	Shadow Lab: Murmur

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Totem
Note: Totems should not be considered a one size fits all, but used with the appropriate healing spell. I would recommend adding an "/equip Totem of <X>" macro for each spell.

Rank	HEP	Item	Source
1.	121.8	[Totem of Healing Rains]	Kara: Maiden
2.	106.5	[Totem of the Maelstrom]	SSC trash
3.	101.4	[Totem of Living Water]	20
4.	88.0	[Totem of Spontaneous Regrowth]	Heroic Slave Pens: Mennu
5.	76.1	[Totem of the Plains]	Quest
6.	34.2	[Totem of the Thunderhead]	Underbog: Hungarfen

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Source Key
BT = Black Temple
MH = Mount Hyjal
SSC = Serpentshrine Cavern
TK = Tempest Keep: Eye
= Arena points
= Honor points

Continue reading "Healing Gear: Weapon, Shield, Totem"

Healing Gear: Finger, Neck, Trinket

The following are ratings of gear for the finger, neck and trinket slots. Values are calculated using the weights listed in Healing Gear: General and the methods described in Comparing Healing Gear.

Finger

Rank	HEP	Item	Source
1.	196.6	[Band of the Eternal Restorer]	MH: Exalted
2.	167.6	[Band of the Eternity]	MH: Revered
3.	159.8	[Blessed Band of Karabor]	BT trash
4.	153.0	[Band of the Eternity]	MH: Honored
5.	147.2	[Phoenix-Ring of Rebirth]	TK: Al'ar
6.	146.9	[Signet of the Quiet Forest]	ZA: Timed chest
7.	146.0	[Naaru Lightwarden's Band]	Magtheridon
8.	141.9	[Band of the Eternity]	MH: Friendly
9.	134.4	[Signet of Ancient Magics]	ZA: Akil'zon
10.	132.7	[Ring of Calming Waves]	BT: Naj'entus
11.	129.9	[Vindicator's Band of Salvation]	15,300, 10
12.	123.8	[Jade Ring of the Everliving]	Kara: Prince
13.	120.3	[Band of Halos]	25
13.	120.3	[Witches Band]	Headless Horseman
15.	119.2	[Band of the Crystalline Void]	Heroic Mana Tomb: Yor
16.	113.3	[Coral Band of the Revived]	SSC: Vashj
17.	111.3	[Veteran's Band of Salvation]	11,934, 10
18.	107.4	[Violet Signet of the Grand Restorer]	Kara: Exalted
19.	103.2	[Ring of Convalescence]	Honor Hold: Revered
19.	103.2	[Ancestral Band]	Thrallmar: Revered
20.	101.6	[Violet Signet]	Kara: Revered
21.	115.0	[Celestial Jewel Ring]	Quest
22.	93.4	[Violet Signet]	Kara: Honored
23.	92.5	[Cosmic Lifeband]	Mechanar: Sepethrea
24.	91.3	[Mender's Heart Ring]	Kara: Illhoof
25.	90.1	[Ring of Flowing Light]	Kazzak
26.	85.4	[Signet of Unshakable Faith]	Kara: Moroes
27.	82.4	[Violet Signet]	Kara: Friendly
28.	82.1	[Keeper's Ring of Piety]	Quest
29.	73.3	[Band of the Vigilant]	SSC: Morogrim

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Neck

Rank	HEP	Item	Source
1.	161.8	[Nadina's Pendant of Purity]	BT: Shahraz
2.	156.0	[Lord Sanguinar's Claim]	TK: Kael'thas
3.	138.9	[Vindicator's Pendant of Salvation]	15,300, 10
4.	137.7	[Brooch of Nature's Mercy]	ZA: Akil'zon
5.	127.7	[Teeth of Gruul]	Gruul
6.	121.8	[Emberspur Talisman]	Kara: Nightbane
7.	120.3	[Veteran's Pendant of Salvation]	11,934, 10
8.	114.8	[Archaic Charm of Presence]	Doomwalker
9.	112.2	[Necklace of Eternal Hope]	25
10.	108.4	[Sethekk Oracle's Focus]	Quest
11.	102.7	[Natasha's Guardian Cord]	Quest
12.	99.6	[Living Ruby Pendant]	Crafted (BoE)
13.	98.6	[Necklace of Resplendent Hope]	Heroic Hillsbrad: Epoch Hunter
14.	93.3	[Shining Chain of the Afterworld]	Kara: Netherspite
15.	85.1	[Medallion of the Lightbearer]	Aldor: Exalted

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Trinket
Note: Proc-based and "on use" items can be difficult to quantify. Assumptions for purposes of this analysis were based upon reported performance.

Rank	HEP	Item	Source
1.	237.8	[Alchemist's Stone]	Crafted (BoP)
2.	219.4	[Memento of Tyrande]	BT: Illidan
3.	157.3	[Tome of Diabolic Remedy]	ZA: Malacrass
4.	147.1	[Figurine - Talasite Owl]	Crafted (BoP)
5.	145.4	[Eye of Gruul]	Gruul
6.	133.5	[Essence of the Martyr]	41
7.	130.0	[Pendant of the Violet Eye]	Kara: Aran
8.	126.8	[Fathom-Brooch of the Tidewalker]	SSC: Karathress
9.	118.6	[Fel Reaver's Piston]	TK: Void Reaver
10.	112.9	[Warp-Scarab Brooch]	Heroic Mana Tombs: Shaffar
11.	111.6	[Rejuvenating Gem]	BWL: Drakes
12.	108.1	[Scarab of the Infinite Cycle]	Black Morass: Aeonus
13.	101.7	[Lower City Prayerbook]	Lower City: Revered
14.	90.4	[Heavenly Inspiration]	Quest
15.	89.3	[Auslese's Light Channeler]	Blood Furnace: Broggok
16.	88.5	[Oshu'gun Relic]	Quest
17.	88.0	[Battlemaster's Perseverance]	75
17.	88.0	[Battlemaster's Perseverance]	30,000, 40
18.	85.5	[Ribbon of Sacrifice]	Kara: Opera
19.	81.1	[Shard of the Scale]	Onyxia
20.	61.2	[Figurine - Living Ruby Serpent]	Crafted (BoP)

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Source Key
BT = Black Temple
BWL = Blackwing Lair
MH = Mount Hyjal
SSC = Serpentshrine Cavern
TK = Tempest Keep: Eye
= Arena points
= Honor points

Continue reading "Healing Gear: Finger, Neck, Trinket"

Healing Gear: Waist, Wrist, Back

The following are ratings of gear for the waist, wrist and back slots. Values are calculated using the weights listed in Healing Gear: General and the methods described in Comparing Healing Gear

Waist

Rank	HEP	Item	Source
1.	212.4	[Cord of Braided Troll Hair]	ZA: Timed loot
2.	208.9	[Girdle of Fallen Stars]	TK trash
3.	204.7	[Life-step Belt]	ZA: Timed loot
4.	187.4	[Primal Mooncloth Belt]	Crafted (BoP)
5.	178.9	[Belt of Divine Guidance]	BT: Zerevor
6.	191.2	[Man'kin'do's Belt]	60
7.	173.5	[Girdle of Zaetar]	TK: Void Reaver
8.	173.5	[Veteran's Kodohide Belt]	(No longer available)
9.	171.0	[Belt of Gale Force]	Kara: Moroes
10.	166.2	[Belt of Primal Majesty]	BT: Gurtogg
11.	165.3	[Angelista's Sash]	MH: Azgalor
12.	161.1	[Belt of the Long Road]	Crafted (BoE)
13.	160.2	[Cord of Nature's Sustainance]	Kara: Illhoof
14.	158.9	[Vindicator's Ringmail Girdle]	17,850, 40
15.	148.4	[Cord of Sanctification]	Heroic Hillsbrad: Epoch Hunter
16.	148.2	[Naturalist's Preserving Cinch]	BT: Supremus
17.	147.6	[Stillwater Girdle]	Heroic Mana Tombs: Shaffar
18.	144.6	[Tarren Mill Defender's Cinch]	Quest
19.	143.1	[Veteran's Ringmail Girdle]	(No longer available)
20.	132.7	[Cord of Belief]	Heroic Slave Pens: Mennu
21.	122.9	[Cincture of Will]	Kara: Illhoof
22.	107.3	[The Sleeper's Cord]	Arcatraz: Soccothrates

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Wrist

Rank	HEP	Item	Source
1.	176.5	[Howling Wind Bracers]	MH: Winterchill
2.	149.6	[Gleaming Earthen Bracers]	35
3.	136.3	[Blackfathom Warbands]	SSC: Hydross
4.	134.8	[Bracers of Martyrdom]	MH: Winterchill
5.	131.2	[Gargon's Bracers Peaceful Slumber]	35
6.	128.2	[Vindicator's Ringmail Bracers]	17,850, 40
7.	125.4	[Whirlwind Bracers]	Kara: Attumen
8.	125.2	[Living Earth Bracers]	Crafted (BoE)
9.	125.0	[Swiftheal Wraps]	Crafted (BoE)
10.	124.0	[Veteran's Kodohide Bracers]	(No longer available)
11.	123.0	[Bracers of Renewed Life]	Crafted (BoE)
12.	114.5	[Wristbands of Divine Influence]	BT: Shade of Akama
13.	109.7	[Veteran's Ringmail Bracers]	(No longer available)
14.	106.2	[Grove-Bands of Remulos]	SSC: Lurker
15.	106.0	[Primal Surge Bracers]	Black Morass: Aeonus
16.	92.0	[Bands of the Benevolent]	Heroic Sethekk: Ikiss
17.	90.4	[Bands of Indwelling]	Kara: Maiden

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Back

Rank	HEP	Item	Source
1.	167.0	[Shroud of the Final Stand]	MH trash
2.	132.9	[Shroud of the Highborne]	BT: Illidan
3.	136.7	[Stainless Cloak of the Pure Hearted]	Kara: Prince
4.	130.7	[Sunshower Light Cloak]	TK: Kael'thas
5.	127.8	[Red Riding Hood's Cloak]	Kara: Opera
6.	127.2	[Shroud of Forgiveness]	BT: Gurtogg
7.	122.2	[Bishop's Cloak]	25
8.	122.0	[Kharmaa's Shroud of Hope]	60
9.	114.9	[Avian Cloak of Feathers]	Sethekk: Ikiss
10.	112.5	[Lifegiving Cloak]	World drop (BoE)
11.	107.2	[Mantle of Vivification]	Quest (Alliance)
11.	107.2	[Vicar's Cloak]	Quest (Horde)
12.	106.4	[Cloak of Ancient Rituals]	ZA: Malacrass
13.	99.6	[Light-Touched Stole of Altruism]	Heroic Crypts: Maladaar
14.	99.3	[Cloak of the Everliving]	Heroic Ramparts: Gargolmar
15.	95.1	[White Remedy Cape]	Crafted (BoE)
16.	93.7	[Cloak of Whispering Shells]	Steam Vaults: Thespia
17.	88.7	[Apexis Cloak]	Ogri'la: Revered
18.	88.3	[Shadowvine Cloak of Infusion]	Kara: Illhoof
19.	81.2	[Cloak of the Ancient Spirits]	Kurenai: Exalted
19.	81.2	[Ceremonial Cover]	Mag'har: Exalted
20.	79.0	[Cloak of Scintillating Auras]	Arcatraz: Zereketh

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Source Key
BT = Black Temple
MH = Mount Hyjal
SSC = Serpentshrine Cavern
TK = Tempest Keep: Eye
= Arena points
= Honor points

Continue reading "Healing Gear: Waist, Wrist, Back"