Since the beginning of World of Warcraft totems have been the Shaman's signature ability. These stationary buffs however caused several discussions and were responsible for group composition, as they were very powerful but limited to the group. This made for some interesting change with Wrath of the Lich King: almost every totem is now able to affect the whole raid. The exception to this are "stacking" totems like Healing Stream, Mana Tide, Tremor and Grounding. A few totems were combined or changed. While there had always been the controversy which totem to set up in a melee group, Windfury or Agility, as both are air totems, this discussion is now a thing of the past. The agility totem has been combined with the strength totem. Poison and Disease Cleansing Totem received the same treatment.
Flametongue Totem has completely been revamped and now provides a bonus to spellpower. This change finally made the neglected fire totem slot interesting, as healers never used a fire totem before. The Wrath of Air Totem that used to provide a spellpower bonus has been changed to spell haste.
For similar reasons the Stoneskin Totem was changed and now provides a bonus to armor, identical to the Paladin's Devotion Aura. The damage dealing fire totems received some improvements as well. Their threat has been reduced and their damage was increased.