Now that patch 3.2 has been out for a little while I started thinking about how this last patch has effected things. There were a lot of changes introduced this patch that should keep most of us busy right up until 3.3 like Emblem System changes, Extended raid lockouts, a new raid instance, a new battle ground, Mount changes, Class buffs and nerfs. For Shamans we have a new totem interface, seen Resto improvements and an interrupt off the GCD.
I have to admit the new Emblem System changes had me a little peeved before the patch as I felt like a lot of the hard work I put in to get my gear was being trivialized by heroic farming. After the patch had hit and I have had some time to digest a lot of the changes I feel the emblem changes were a good decision for the game as not only did it bring me back to Heroic instances of which some are really fun, I have taken advantage of bringing a few alts up to speed. Also being able to add some nice gear to my Resto set through this system has made me more apt to switch to Resto when called upon by our Raid Leader. I do like the fact that anyone can get Tier 9 base gear with emblems and that progression raiders get access to Tier 9.5+ gear by clearing the 25 man ToC and Heroic mode bosses. I feel this give balance to the game for casuals vs. hard core players.
I really like the changes to the way you chose between normal 10/25 man and heroic 10/25 raids. For progression raiding having to clear the normal version before taking on heroic versions feel like the natural way to progress through a raid. The new raid instance Trial of the Crusader is a very fun raid with some easy and some challenging fights. At this time my guild is working on Heroic Northrend Beast in 10 and 25 man mode. The heroic versions of these raids feel like the right level of difficulty they should for our guild. We are still working on finishing Hard Modes in Ulduar and ToC provides a nice break from raiding Ulduar 4 nights a week. The lock out feature is nice when you need a little extra time to finish off that hard mode kill. As for elemental shamans in 3.2 with some upgrades from ToC and emblems I feel fairly competitive with my dps and look forward to getting my 4 piece bonus on my Tier set.
I haven't tried out the new battleground to give my opinion on it yet but I can tell you the new VoA boss is a piece of cake and still continues the best way to get welfare epics if you are lucky enough to /roll high enough to win.
Patch 3.2 also bought a new totem interface that all shamans have been begging to get forever and that alone makes patch 3.2 winner in my opinion. Looking forward to 3.3 bringing some epic fight as we push forward to facing the Lich King.
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