Nostalrius Begins - Quality wow vanilla realm (1.12)

Not infrequently, when casting a totem spell the totem is summoned but (with combat text on or looking in the combat log) you can see that the totem resists the application of the aura/passive that allows it to buff or do whatever its function is. As a result the totem does absolutely nothing and must be re-summoned in the hope it doesn't resist itself again, and this can be fatal if you don't realize that the totem is secretly doing nothing.

I've seen this most frequently with Mana Stream totems, although I think I've also seen it happen with Grounding totems and Tremor totems. Certain totems like Searing totem are not affected by this bug.