Heroism was nerfed (back to back popping) because Sunwell raids required it.

By your own post - nobody used ToW that raided. Nobody. The only people in WoW that really used the damn thing is us multiboxers. The only people that stacked it was us multiboxers.

Grouding still stacks
Healing Stream still stacks
Mana spring NOW stacks in parties (hello OP?)

By your reasoning of "nobody used it" there was no need to make it not stack - because nobody used it (but us). Anyway, just throwing in my side.

Yes, I like the new version better. Yes, overall it wasn't really a nerf, and the fact that my team can go almost forever without mana issues is awesome.

But a fresh 70 team that was NOT gear really benefited from the ToW stacking. Its when you start getting geared where its really not needed (or in PvP where NS was a better choice)
I never said ToW was nerfed BECAUSE raids used it -- I said STACKING was nerfed because raids overused, if not REQUIRED it.

I'll repeat -- ToW stacking was nerfed because ALL raidwide stacking buffs were nerfed. You see? Cause and effect.

ToW as it was (stacking crit) made for a cruddy 41-pointer. ToW NOW is worth having. Now imagine ToW NOW stacking. Completely OP.

They couldn't leave it as a 5-man stacking buff because that would mean (for the spelldamage PERCENTAGE increase) you'd have to have 1 ele shaman in every caster group, which is exactly what they're trying to avoid. NOW, ToW is worth it. THEN, ToW wasn't useful and we only had a 41-point ele shammy in our raids when our resto shaman was already specced ele over the weekend and didn't feel like respeccing for trash.


ToW stacking in its old form USED to only really affect a FEW shaman multiboxers.
ToW in its CURRENT state is buffed, therefore stacking it raid-wide would be OP.
ToW in its CURRENT state is buffed, therefore having it stacking in a party would mean you'd need 1 ele shammy per caster group. This is counterproductive to the "Bring skill, not specific classes" that wrath is going for.


Make sense?

Grounding totem "Stacks" because even if it DIDN'T stack, it would stack. Confusing, I know, but even if you only had 1 grounding totem buff up at a time, you kill that grounding, the next buff goes up. There was no need to nerf it because pre and post-nerf it would have identical behavior.

Healing stream always stacked, but in the party. It was also largely never used compared to mana spring.

Mana spring stacking is along the lines of the replenishment buffs they've given other classes. If 3 classes can provide replenishment, stacking mana spring doesn't seem so OP.
Furthermore -- imagine if Mana Spring stacked raid-wide. Imagine if Mana Spring STACKED raid-wide.

I consider Mana Spring buffed to offset the terribad downranking nerf. Shamans WERE mana efficient when spamming chain heal (rank 4). Spamming max rank means they, well, can't spam. At least those 5 points in Restorative Totems is coming in handy.
Healing stream ticks for a miniscule amount for ele shammies, and a lesser miniscule amount for resto shammies. Given the downranking nerfs I mentioned above, I still don't think anyone's going to be laying it.

Mana Spring buff offsets downranking nerf. So does Replenishment on 3 classes.
Even with Mana Spring / Healing Stream stacking, I wouldn't tailor my raid around stacking shaman.
If Mana Spring stacked RAID-wide, I'd consider stacking ele shaman.
If ToW stacked (in its current form), I would stack ele shaman.

That is the key difference. -- the buff of Mana spring is not enough to rationalize overstacking shammies. The buff to the current ToW, if it stacked, would. ToW is a SCALING dps buff. Mana spring is a flat mana/5, and unless the fight is some sort of endurance thing, that's not going to make/break your raid.


People lol'ed at a full ele shammy dps raid. 1 moonkin, 4 ele shams per dps group. Did you see it being required for raiding sunwell? Nah, crit was fun and all but not necessary. In fact, boomkins and shammies had their own issues pulling sub-par DPS compared to rogues, hunters, locks. So the buff of ToW was fine, given that pure DPS classes could still out-dps them without ToW in the party.
If ToW stacked, this entire forum would be alive with theorycraft on Prepared and Sam multiboxing raids with massive pewpew. Normal raids would demand multiple elemental shaman and throw in the spare boomkin (for nature debuff) and lock (for CoE). ToW cannot stack, because, in its current state, it would unbalance the "neutrality" of raid compositions that wrath is trying to achieve.