PTR Lifebloom, Part 4: Beginnings

This is part four of a multi-part discussion of the suggested changes to Lifebloom on the PTR. Please note that as this change is not live, the information within the post is subject to change, and the series could end abruptly if the changes are rejected. This is not, and will never be, a rant upon the changes, but rather a frank look at the different facets and uses, as well as a preparation for their possible implementation.

These next installments are largely based upon speculation.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

PTR Lifebloom, Part 4: For the Beginner and Newbie
What does this Lifebloom change mean for those who are just now starting to level a Resto Druid, are contemplating it, or are just about to reach 80?

Well, to start, if you haven't had a Druid before now, you won't have to go through the messy process of relearning the class and how to play. Congratulations! You get to come to this change with no real practical knowledge of how it was beforehand (at least none put into practice) and therefore will have a much easier time adjusting. There actually will be no adjustment; simply learning. Most Druids now probably envy you.

That's great and all, but I'll give you a little more information to go on, yes?

Talent Specialization
A good spec for levelling while still being majorly focused on healing is what is often called "Dreamstate." This spec involves going deep enough into the Balance tree to gain Dreamstate, a mana regeneration talent, and then putting the rest of the talents into Restoration for more healing efficiency. This also allows for the Druid to do more damage, levelling faster than a non-Dreamstate Druid (in theory). A Dreamstate spec can look like this:



Though it is by no means the only way to spec Dreamstate, it gives a general idea of how this spec would be planned out.

The focus of a Dreamstate spec is an intense amount of mana regen, some damage dealing capabilities, and competent healing. It is generally considered sub par for anything beyond five man instances. It does not have the ability to reach Wild Growth or other bottom tier Restoration talent. However, it should allow for a player to gain the confidence in rolling Lifeblooms (if that is the desired style) with less penalty on the mana pool. It will also aide those with less than impressive stats to maintain a ratio, and provides a boost in spellpower through intellect to cover for some that is lost without three points in Improved Tree of Life.

It should also allow for some more utility in the form of Healing Touch (especially glyphed) being a shorter cast time, though in the end it is best used with Nature's Swiftness if it is not glyphed.

Glyphs
For levelling, especially with a Dreamstate spec, Glyph of Healing Touch is actually a very viable option. At 80 it is frowned upon (especially with the advent of the Nourish Glyph being upon us), but with a levelling Dreamstate spec it is certainly usable. This is especially true if you choose to put the talents into improving Healing Touch.

Until you reach Swiftmend, the Glyph, though amazing, is useless and should come later. If you find you are still having mana issues, it may be prudent to invest in Glyph of Innervate. Rejuvenation could be an option, but I have found it plays only a small part in healing, and how many glyphs you can have pre-level 70 is too limited for it. Extending the time of Lifebloom's ticks is not really necessary until you are raiding, and you do not receive the spell until level 74 64 (thanks Jeremiah). However, if you find you need the extra second, try glyphing it. Nourish is not available until 80, so that Glyph(PTR only) is also pretty pointless.

Actual Healing
So, you've got your Dreamstate spec and your Glyph of Healing Touch. What now?

As you level, you'll get used to using Rejuvenation and Regrowth, with some Healing Touch "flash heals." When you gain Lifebloom, however, it may be difficult to start introducing it into your rotation. However, this is the best time to begin experimenting with what works and what you can handle before being put into higher pressure and more gear-dependent (and spec dependent) situations. Because Lifebloom is such an expensive spell, slowly working it into a rotation is your best bet. Druids have always been about finding your personal rhythm for each separate encounter, just like the other healer classes. There is no tried and true rotation, though you will find some things work better than others.

Keeping a Dreamstate spec while you experiment with Lifebloom will allow you a little more freedom where mana is concerned while you build up your gear set and gauge what you can handle. Can you keep Lifebloom rolling on multiple people? Is just one stack killing your mana? If it blooms, do you fall too far behind on healing? Can you make the split-second judgments required to micro-manage blooming or rolling? Do you find it more effective to ignore Lifebloom for the most part? Many styles can be dictated not only by gear, but by preference. However, be aware that just because you like doing it one way, it may turn out to be less effective than it should be, and you will need to adjust.

Of course, do not get discouraged if it does not work out. Continue trying; it takes a long time to develop a stride while still remaining flexible. I'll be honest; I still don't have mine down!

The next part of this series will focus on being newly 80 and how to adjust to switching to a more raid-oriented talent spec, and how the different casting styles fit in.

PTR Lifebloom, Part 3: Glyphs and Talents

This is part three of a multi-part discussion of the suggested changes to Lifebloom on the PTR. Please note that as this change is not live, the information within the post is subject to change, and the series could end abruptly if the changes are rejected. This is not, and will never be, a rant upon the changes, but rather a frank look at the different facets and uses, as well as a preparation for their possible implementation.
Part One
Part Two
Part Four

PTR Lifebloom, Part 3: Glyphs and Talents

Though much of this is common knowledge for the experienced Druid, I hope the following information on how glyphs and talents will factor into the new Lifebloom can help newer Druids plan, and make the transition a little less daunting. It does not cover all synergies, such as reduction in cost of other skills and (therefore conserving mana for your Lifebloom), but rather talents and glyphs which concern Lifebloom or mana specifically.

Mana Regeneration
Intensity - "Allows (10/20/30)% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting and causes your Enrage ability to instantly generate 4 rage." This is a talent every Resto Druid should already have, and with the expense of Lifebloom, it's going to become even more invaluable. It's easy to get, at only the third tier of Restoration talents, and only takes three points to max out. On the PTR, Intensity is being retooled to be 17%/33%/50% mana regeneration while casting, making it even better able to compensate for the regen change (thanks Anonymous).

Living Spirit - "Increases your total Spirit by (5/10/15)%." Once again, this talent is one that every Resto Druid should have. Though Spirit is being tweaked in the PTR, at the very least Innervate still functions off of Spirit, and thus will improve your mana gain from the skill. Though the talent is further down the tree, it still comes before Tree of Life, and should not be difficult to fill. As it only requires three points, again, to complete, it is also not very costly.

Dreamstate - "Regenerate mana equal to (4/7/10)% of your Intellect every 5 sec, even while casting." Dreamstate is an oft unutilized talent by Restoration Druids due to how deep one must go into the Balance tree to reach it. However, it is much more viable in Wrath, as one can still reach the Tree of Life talent with Dreamstate, though not much farther than that. For someone who wishes to continue rolling Lifeblooms, combining Dreamstate, Intensity, Living Spirit, Omen of Clarity and Tree of Life, an intense amount of mana regeneration and conservation is possible.

Glyph of Innervate - This glyph will give you 100% mana regeneration when cast on another person, or 600% increase in spirit-based regen and full mana regeneration while casting. With the expense of Lifebloom (without letting it bloom), needing innervate becomes a real possibility, where Druids could simply give it away before. With this glyph, even if you do end up having to give your Innervate away to someone else, you can still receive a benefit, albeit a small one.

Mana Conservation
Omen of Clarity - Omen of Clarity is a talent basically every Druid gets; gaining free spells for doing what you always do is a nice perk. Besides, this talent is very near the top of the Restoration tree and only takes one point. Micro-managing the clearcasting proc could actually not only conserve, but gain you mana if you use it to toss out a Lifebloom, thus costing you no mana in the cast and gaining you half back when it blooms (if that is your goal), or can defray the cost of Lifebloom further.

Tree of Life - This is the ultimate form of a Restoration Druid; in reference to Lifebloom, it will defray the cost by 20% of each cast (though the mana returned from casting will remain unchanged), and increase all healing in the HoT and bloom portions. The cost of shifting into form is also being decreased on the PTR (from 28% base mana to 13% base mana) so, though having little effect on PvE druids, will be a great help in conservation for PvP druids. Though Tree of Life can also be improved, be aware that improving the talent only increases armor and spell power, not the reduction of casting cost.

Lifebloom Extension
Nature's Splendor - This will increase the duration of all your HoTs, and Lifebloom specifically by 2 seconds. Though originally this was used in order to squeeze out another Lifebloom in your rotation, it can instead be used to space Lifebloom stacking out, refreshing at the very last second in order to spend the least amount of mana possible while not letting stacks drop off (unless the bloom is efficient and desired at that point). This talent is only one point, and only ten points into the Balance tree, making it not difficult at all to reach, even for non-Dreamstate druids.

Glyph of Lifebloom - This also extends Lifebloom past its original length, doing much the same as the above, giving you more time between refreshes. And if you keep Lifebloom to only one, or perhaps two, targets, it becomes even easier to manage the cooldown. Something to consider, however, is that if you are on raid healing, your main goal may be to let Lifebloom bloom, and extending the time it takes to reach the bloom may not be effective.

Global Cooldown Modification/Haste
Gift of the Earthmother - "Reduces the base global cooldown of your Rejuvenation, Lifebloom and Wild Growth spells by (4/8/12/16/20)%." Though the reduction in global cooldown's original purpose was to allow rolling of Lifebloom on more targets while also freeing up time for other moves, now it will allow for closer timing to the end of Lifebloom's duration to maximize the time spent not using mana on Lifebloom. It's very far down in the Restoration tree, even past Tree of Life, and costs five points to fill out. It's before Wild Growth, however, so it is likely that you'll have points for it if you're heading for that spell.

Celestial Focus - "Gives your Starfire spell a (5/10/15)% chance to stun the target for 3 sec and increases your total spell haste by (1/2/3)%." This talent will give you a flat 3% haste increase, not give you a 3% increase on the amount of haste you have. It is equivalent to about 100 haste rating at level 80. Spell haste affects both GCD and cast speed; however this reduction in GCD will be less noticeable if you do not have much haste on your gear. This will be more beneficial to those who will not be using Lifebloom as much, or planning on letting it bloom, and will want spells such as Nourish and Regrowth to cast faster. Though it only takes 3 talent points, it is about a third of the way down the Balance tree, and some Resto druids may not wish to sacrifice the points if they are not going for a Dreamstate spec.

(PTR)Nature's Grace - "All spell criticals have a (33/66/100)% chance to grace you with a blessing of nature, increasing your spell casting speed by 20% for 3 sec." This talent used to reduce your next cast time by 0.5 seconds; however it has been changed to reduce your next cast-time spell by 1/5th of its time. For those allowing Lifebloom to bloom, especially in five-mans, it can make the next Regrowth, Nourish or Healing Touch come faster to cover for the HoT portion. This is not as far down the Balance tree as Celestial Focus, but it is only questionably good for druids who do not stack crit or who are not Dreamstate.

Compliments
(PTR)Glyph of Nourish - Though it does not directly relate to Lifebloom or mana, I thought it would be helpful to mention that this glyph will benefit from Lifebloom, thus making Nourish more powerful with at least one application of Lifebloom. This gives incentive for at least one Lifebloom to be active on your main target much of the time.

In the next part, I'll look a little more in-depth at the playstyles, specs and glyphs in combination, as well as imagining rotations, situations and the effects of gear level.

PTR Lifebloom, Part 2: Playstyles

This is part two of a multi-part discussion of the suggested changes to Lifebloom on the PTR. Please note that as this change is not live, the information within the post is subject to change, and the series could end abruptly if the changes are rejected. This is not, and will never be, a rant upon the changes, but rather a frank look at the different facets and uses, as well as a preparation for their possible implementation.
Part One
Part Three
Part Four

PTR Lifebloom, Part 2: So, how should I play?

The changes upcoming in Lifebloom, according to the PTR, can be somewhat intimidating. However, there are several different ways to cope with the change and adapt your playstyle. The following examples are some adaptations, and the pros and cons of each.

Lifebloom Boycotters
This playstyle advocates a vast reduction in Lifebloom use. Lifebloom would be used sparingly, and when used most likely only in one stack (to give Nourish a bonus). This lack of Lifebloom will be compensated for with other heals. When it is cast, to conserve mana, it will most likely always be allowed to bloom. This playstyle would possibly be employed by Dreamstate druids, whose strength isn't mostly in HoT heals, players who do not like the change, those who, at 80, still use Glyph of Healing Touch, or people whose gear cannot support rolling/stacking Lifebloom for too long without going OOM. This could vastly reduce HPS, but greatly increase longevity.

Rollers
This playstyle advocates a continuation of simply rolling Lifebloom, only allowing it to bloom when forced to (i.e. stunned, out of range, silenced, etc.). In order to not go OOM, however, the stacks of Lifebloom would be restricted to fewer targets than before (rather than three or four targets, two at most would be rolled on). This playstyle could cause mana problems for the druid; however, some have reported that, fully raid buffed and even with the mana changes on the PTR, they are still not having trouble with their mana. This may indicate that this style is only possible, however, for long periods of time with the "best" gear. They may extend the time of Lifebloom with all available talents and glyphs in order to create the greatest amount of time between applications as well.

Bloomers
This playstyle advocates stacking Lifebloom, mostly on one target, and allowing it to bloom. For the most efficiency and least mana issues, it's possible they would only stack Lifebloom to two applications instead of three. This would supply a large bloom without taking as much mana as rapidly as stacking and restacking three applications, would provide a larger HoT while Lifebloom is active than simply one Lifebloom stack, and still give Nourish a decent increase to its output. However, many of the blooms could still be overheal. Mana may be more manageable; each time Lifebloom blooms at two stacks, your next Lifebloom is basically "free." And monitoring OoC could increase efficiency.

Micro-Managing Multi-Taskers
This playstyle advocates exactly what the title implies: a player using this style will both roll and bloom. Their targets will be limited, again (where Lifebloom is concerned), in order to monitor health bars and Lifebloom timers. Lifebloom rolls will be continuous, refreshed at the very last second possible, or they will be allowed to bloom based upon the tank's current health or the druid's mana pool. Omen of Clarity procs will have to be micro-managed as well, using them to refresh Lifebloom where possible. A quick GCD will be necessary due to timing of last-second bloom refreshes, and a good grasp on the player's latency will help determine where that last second truly is. This style could be, at times, a combination of all of the above styles, depending upon gear, raid make-up, and encounter. This style will be especially difficult during highly-mobile fights, where many different boss mechanics may make it difficult to split attention, or even to do what the player 'plans.'

The above styles are only four of what could be many varied, unique styles. Tomorrow, I will take a tentative look at glyphs and talents in part three.

PTR Lifebloom, Part 1: What's Going On?

This is part one of a multi-part discussion of the suggested changes to Lifebloom on the PTR. Please note that as this change is not live, the information within the post is subject to change, and the series could end abruptly if the changes are rejected. This is not, and will never be, a rant upon the changes, but rather a frank look at the different facets and uses, as well as a preparation for their possible implementation.
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

PTR Lifebloom, Part 1: What in the World is Going On?

If you've been away for a while, or are just catching up, then you may not know what's going on where Lifebloom is concerned. If you have been all over the blogosphere and already know the lowdown, you can feel free to skip today's post and come back tomorrow for the next part.

Blizzard is attempting to fundamentally change the way Lifebloom works. On the Live realms, it works like this:

For a more in-depth understanding of the current mechanics of Lifebloom, read Lifebloom 101.

However, on the PTR Blizzard has modified Lifebloom so it now works like this:

If you aren't entirely sure what that means, let's take a look.

Original Lifebloom cost 14% of base mana, while PTR Lifebloom costs 28% of base mana. "Base mana" is what your mana pool is without any modifiers. By default, a level 80 druid's base mana is 3496. Below is a full comparison of the Lifebloom (Live and PTR) mana costs (click to enlarge):



On the Live version of Lifebloom, the "bloom" portion of Lifebloom (the straight heal that occurs when Lifebloom's HoT portion expires) remains unchanged no matter how many Lifebloom (1, 2, or 3) you have stacked upon a target. However, in the PTR version, the bloom portion is increased by each stack, and you will also receive half of the mana spent on casting Lifebloom (ignoring the reduction of cost provided by T7).

That is what is happening with Lifebloom on both Live and the PTR (as of 3/8/2009). Tomorrow, in Part 2, I'll discuss the possible playstyles that could arise should this change go live.