Totem Idea

Apparently elemental sucks. That's too bad. So, I'm digging up an old totem idea that I had.
...
I can't find the post. I'll try to remember.

Totem would be like pets. You could have them follow you, stay, or go after other players. Ideally there would also be a command to follow a friendly player.
/petfollow [player].

Totem would have no normal attacks, but would instead have various abilities designed to mimic current functions. The 'auras' would become channeled, for reasons that make sense when I explain their spells.

Fire:
Frost Resistance: The totem will channel a spell which gives frost resistance to nearby players.
Flametongue: The totem will channel a spell to add fire damage to friendly players' melee attacks.
Searing: The totem will attack the selected enemy with bolts of fire, similar to an imp. This makes them unable to cast their other spells, so you have to pick betweem searing and frost resist, as an example.
Magma: The totem channels a short-range fire AoE. It cannot move while it is casting. Think of it as a bit like hellfire, but without the suicide.
Wrath: Buffs crit and hit.
Nova: The totem detonates, killing it and doing fire damage to nearby enemies. After x seconds the totem will be reborn from its ashes.

The other totems would work similarly.

Since they're a bit more powerful, being mobile and therefore easier to deploy usefully, there would be a short summoning time, maybe 1.5 seconds.

[edit]
I think I failed at really explaining it. Part of my idea was having sacrificial abilities. They'd be powerful, but carry a significant cost, such as killing your totem for a while. Fire would explode and there goes your buff for 30-60 seconds. Water would give a burst of mana, but would then take a while to reform after the wave spreads. Earth would stomp the ground, snaring people and stunning, but would get stuck and take a while to get loose again. Air would catch spells, but get scattered by the damage and take a while to come back together.

The animations could be really awesome. Think of a tidal wave rushing towards the shaman, then stopping, bowing, and reforming into a watery stick.