Resto Shaman Changes on the Way?

According to GC, bundle of changes to resto shaman in 3.2 are headed to the live servers.

I have no idea what this means, and I know the original thread apparently turned venomous against the developers, but I am curious about the incoming changes.

The only thing I hate about shaman healing (and keep in mind my shaman is ele/resto and only level 75 right now) is the mana regen. That may change in end game, but after having a dedicated resto druid, I go absolutely crazy at managing my mana on the shaman.

I don’t think I mastered the art of chain heal yet, but it is one hell of a spell, and fun to use. I love earth shield, and as a druid healer riptide is an awesome spell. I have never really been a fan of the totem mechanic of drop, recall, move, rinse, and repeat, but it’s a class mechanic that brings some kick ass buffs so it something that manageable. VH has to be my favorite place to heal with the shaman if only because I can drop the totems and refresh them every 5 minutes.

Earthshield and riptide give shaman healing a druid feel, and the tree is absolutely amazing! Ancestral awakening has to be the best healing talent in any tree. I love when it procs because it can change entire healing priorities. Nothing, in my opinion, alters a healers life like an ancestral proc because it can mean the difference between losing someone because you don’t have enough GCD’s to save them and buying you all the time you need to take a drink of seagrams and wipe the sweat from your brow.

Improved water shield feels a lot like illumination, but with more management (illumination doesn’t eat the paladins mana regen ability that eventually will have to be recast) and a lesser payoff (illumination works on every flash heal where IWS only procs on 60% of lesser healing wave crits).

I am sure that the developers have balanced IWS with illumination and the shamans “oh shit, I’m outta mana” ability Mana Tide Totem, with things like Innervate and Divine Plea but when healing it just doesn’t seem to compare to a druid.

Overall, the tree is fun to play, but I am curios to the incoming changes and hope they make managing mana just a little easier.

-Rhab