WOTLK Thoughts: Shaman POV

Switching perspectives from a Moonkin to a Shaman, lets take a look at the upcoming changes for our second favorite hybrid class in WOTLK. Current issues with the Shaman class, in my opinion, are (of course) threat, AoE, crowd control and having too many useless Totems and weapon enhancements. Has Blizzard fixed this yet?

Totems

Show someone that has never played a Shaman before your totem selection. Pretty overwhelming, no? The sad thing is that some of these totems will never be used or have very limited use in a majority of the games scenarios. I've been 70 with Mutoh forever now and couldn't tell you the last time I've used Windwall Totem, Flametongue Totem, Stoneskin Totem or Sentry Totem (I do not PVP on my Shaman). It looks like we have some pretty good changes coming our way!

-Windwall Totem has been removed from the game.
-Flametongue Totem will now be a +spell damage totem instead.
-Stoneskin Totem will now increase armor instead of reduce physical damage.
-Grace of Air Totem has been removed from the game.
-Strength of Earth Totem now increases Agility as well.
-Windfury Totem now increases melee haste by 20% instead.

Weapon Enhancements

Rockbiter Weapon will be replaced by Windfury Weapon at level 30.
-Frostbrand Weapon's snare effect chance increased from 25% to 50%.
-Earthliving Weapon (New) - Imbue the Shaman's weapon with earthen life. Increases healing done by X amount and each heal has a 20% chance to proc Earthliving on the target, healing an additional X over 12 sec. Lasts 30 minutes.
Trainable at level 30.

Spells

Ghost Wolf now costs 13% of your base mana to cast and will no longer cancel the Water Walking effect.
Cleanse Spirit - Cleanse the spirit of a friendly target, removing 1 poison effect, 1 disease effect, and 1 curse effect. Restoration Talent.
Unleashed Rage now effects the entire raid.
Lava Burst - You hurl molten lava at the target, dealing 888 to 1132 Fire damage. If Flame Shock is on the target, Lava Burst will consume the Flame Shock, causing Lava Burst to critically hit. (655 Mana, 2 sec Cast, 8 sec Cooldown, 30 yd Range, trainable at level 75.)
Hex - Transforms a Beast or Humanoid into a random critter for 8 seconds, reducing the target’s movement speed by 75%. While moving, the hexed target cannot attack or cast spells. Only one target can be hexed at a time. Damage done to the hexxed target will not break the effect. This is a "magic" effect and can be dispelled. (0.5 sec Cast, 20 yd range, 1 minute Cooldown, trainable at level 80.)
Feral Spirit - Summons 2 Spirit Wolves under the command of the Shaman, lasting 30 sec. (1 Rank, Instant, 2 min Cooldown, Enhancement talent.)
Thunderstorm - You call down a bolt of lighting, energizing you and damaging nearby enemies within 10 yards. Restores 5% mana to you and deals 595 to 679 nature damage to all nearby enemies, knocking them back 20 yards.
(1 Rank, Instant, 45 sec Cooldown, Elemental talent.)
Spirit Link - You link the friendly target with up to two nearby friendly targets, causing 50% of any damage taken to be distributed to the linked targets. If any target takes a blow greater than 30% of their health, or shared damage would reduce a target's health below 20%, the link is broken. You can only have one link active at a time. (1 Rank, Instant cast, 12% of base mana, 40 yd range, Restoration talent.)

Talents