Suggestion : Casting Totems without charges should be possible with a damage penalty that would be removed if you use charge.

I think GGG should really ask themself : What are totem player looking for ?

If you play totem, it's so you can place your minion in a strategic position and let him do the work for you,, if you have to play yourself so that you can generate charge, it completely defeat the core idea that make playing totem fun for totems players.

I honestly think totem player would be ok with being able to cast their totem with a damage a 60% less dmg penalty and each charge consumed to summon it would remove 20% of that penalty.

That way you can still play pure totem while mapping and then when you encounter a beefy rare or unique you gotta generate the charge yourself aka combo gameplay.