The Spirit Realm

#1, buy Call of the Wild.

Then, max out the lines of Spell Casting Mastery and Virulent Paralysis. Buy Natural Durability 3.

Once those are done, what you're looking at is the long grind section of Shaman AA. Pretty much a steady growth of power as you accumulate healing & defensive & offensive aa. I personally feel a pressing compulsion to finish lines of aa once I start on them, so when I did healing, I did every healing aa available before moving on; from a power per point spent perspective, though, you get the most from buying things in expansion order. All the Luclin stuff, then all the PoP stuff, etc. It's entirely up to you which order you pick, the long road goes many ways, but it all ends up in the same place.

You'll get differing opinions on what order to buy your abilities depending on who you talk to. I'll agree with Brohg as far as the first four he listed, but after that I think it comes down to your playstyle and gear. I don't believe in "one size fits all" when it comes to AA.

What's your gear like? If you're under the AC softcap, mitigation AA probably won't do you much good. I have the Luclin mitigation, but I probably won't get any more until my AC is substantially higher.

I like the healing AA, but that's because I main heal a LOT. It might take a lower priority for someone who groups with a cleric regularly. The same could be said for VP if you've got a solid chanter and you don't solo much.(although its fun to watch mobs sneeze )

If you like to dps, then you might want to pick up the crit affliction AA's a little earlier. Personally, I don't. I'm at 430 AA and I've never even looked at them.

Casting subtlety is a good one if you want to avoid getting hit. However, there are those who get a kick out of add-tanking and won't touch it. (If I end up tanking anywhere higher than WoS, we're pretty much screwed anyway)

I could go on and on with my view on each and every one, but I think you get the general idea. Get what will be most useful for YOU in the short term. You can worry about long-term later (that's why they call it long term )

There are two very distinctly different models for buying AA's.

The first model applies to the General, Archetype and Class AA's. The second model applies to all others since then.

Model 1: (Genral, Archetype, Class)
Each AA point gives the same benefit, just as you buy 1, 2 and 3 levels you have to buy things in larger chunks.
As an example take the Buff Extesion AA's
2 AA = +5%
4 AA = +10% (15% total)
6 AA = +15% (30% total)
Each point you spend gets you +2.5%
Not all of the AA's follow this pattern exactly, but they are generally pretty close to it on the whole.
Luclin AA - the reward is lenear on a per point basis

Model 2 : All other AA's
Each level of a skill you buy gets you the same benefit, but the levels cost more.
Take the healing AA's in PoP.
Level 1 = 3 AA = +3%
Level 2 = 6 AA = +3% (total +6%)
Level 1 = 9 AA = +3% (total +9%)

Thus when buying AA's, the spend is different between the Luclin ones and all others.
For the Luclin AA's it's worth getting everything.
For all other AA's the most "bang for the buck" is given by buying 1 level of the AA's
Non-Luclin AA - the reward is lenear on a per level basis

Ultimatly you want everything of a line (in all expansions) but the most power increases (overall) comes from spreading your points across as many level 1's of skills as you can.

Now some specific extra advice, adding new things to your repetoir makes a massive difference, so getting those really helps
Spell Casting Mastery 3 = 10% mana savings - one of the best AA's you can get and only 12 pts total
Call of the Wild = summons - this is awesome, lets XO groups continue on for 2.5 hours in the case of a death (with no cleric). One of the best AA's we have.
Spiritual Channelling = cast from HP, not mana. Use a HoT on yourself, this is infinite mana for 5 mins every 24 mins. Freekign Awesome
Gift Of Mana - this happens often enought that it means you get to keep Champion up for free on most groups. Great AA.
Spell Casting Subtlty - great AA's

Expensive, but fun, if Rabid Bear, Hastened Rabidity, Greater Rabid Bear. 5 mins every 24 mins, you get 350hp/tick regen + great melee stats. Combining Greater Rabid Bear and Spiritual Channelling is awesome.

In no particular order:

- Finish VP.
- Get LR5 and ID5.
- Max out healing AAs (I especially love the Healing Gift line, which gives you a chance to crit heal ).
- Max out Gift of Mana.
- Call of the Wild

And then eventually:
- Planar Power/Innate Enlightenment
- Innate Metabolism.

After that, you just start filling out your AA window... can pretty much choose yer own path.

Don't forget Mnemonic retention - the extra spell slot for 3 AAs is a major bargain!! Or maybe it's just assumed that everyone has it

Kaalen
69 cleric on D Ro
66 shaman on D Ro