Still here

I'm still here, just a combination of being very busy at work and technical issues ( Mozex + Firefox 3.6.2) have left me struggling to update. Here's a quick update on how things are going with Onaara.

Up to level 46! Onaara made it to level 40 a week or two ago. It was a pretty big mile-stone. I would describe it as "When the game really opened up." I bought dual-spec, so now I'm Enhancement/Restoration, which in principal I already was before the dual-spec. Except this time I'll have the talent points to back up the gear change.

Dual-Spec
As I mentioned before, I bought dual-spec, to go Enhancement/Restoration. I have already been healing dungeons with a gear change up to this point. But I figured it was time to actually spec into it, hoping that some of my mana issues would be straightened out.

Enhancement
Dual-Wield I've finally got dual-wield. This was probably the main reason I started the shaman in the first place. I wanted a character that could dual-wield and just go nuts on an enemy. The shaman doesn't disappoint. With Windfury on my main-hand and the melee haste totem, she goes pretty nuts. Mana was an issue in dungeons though, because things didn't last long enough that I had to constantly pick up and drop totems ( which cost quite a bit of mana). Even with Water Shield and Mana Spring totem out.

Improved Stormstrike Correction, Mana WAS an issue, until I put 2 talent points into this gem. Every time I hit with Stormstrike ( which I do off every cooldown) I get back 20% of my mana. This plus Water Shield and Mana Spring totem, I rarely have to drink now. I haven't had a chance to take it into a dungeon yet, but I think it will go well. I'm considering going into the resto tree and picking up 5/5 Totemic Focus, which would reduce my mana cost for totems by 25%. I have it on my resto tree and it really helps.

Restoration
Chain-Heal I received chain heal at level 40 also. My first true, honest to goodness, AOE heal. Or at least thats what I thought. In its most basic form it heals 3 people,the first person being healed the most and each person after that the effectiveness goes down 40%. Unfortunately the spell has a long cast time, doesn't heal for very much, and doesn't feel very mana-efficient. In the amount of time it would take me to cast a chain-heal, I could cast almost 2 lesser healing waves. Those two would probably heal for more, and I could control who gets them. Currently I only chain-heal in conjunction with Nature's Swiftness, to make it instant cast. Maybe in higher levels of gear, chain-heal will be more useful ( I always hear about people advocating not chain-heal spamming, so I'm guessing it becomes much more attractive later on), but as of now it's my least used spell.