Guest Post: Aura and You

Today's post is brought to you by Zeffy of Six Branch Tree!

Hello my name is Zeffy from the Misha server!

I like most you other trees have been drooling over the new talents that are coming with WotLK later this year. I have been reading what everyone has been getting excited about, and it has surprised me that this has not come up much. I am speaking about the aura we have while in ToL.

In Burning Crusade we gain these benefits while in ToL



25% of spirit bonus healing to all party members, speed and mana cost down by 20%

In WotLK this form will take on a bit of a change.



The line that I would like to talk about is in the third yellow one. Notice how it says party and RAID members? This is HUGE and does not seem to be causing much of a buzz.

I am just starting to experience end game BC so most of this is coming from speculation. I noticed just this past Saturday as I was finishing up the Kara run with the guild that my aura was not affecting members in the other group. To me this seemed like a waste. We speced this way to maximize our healing, and if the Aura was only acting like a buff to the four others in our group. That means during a raid anywhere between 5-20 people are not gaining the buff of increased healing received. From a purely physical stand point this does not make seem to follow any sort of logic. How can an Aura just go, Him? no screw him, he is not in my group so I will not benefit him, but will travel halfway across the map to get that guy!

I was placed in the same group as another Resto Druid and I noticed something interesting as well, our Aura's stacked! this means that the other three people in our group were getting two + healing buffs! I have never seen my Lifebloom so powerful, I don't think I even casted one Rejuvenation on a fellow party member.

Now imagine endgame of WotLK and your guild is on a 25 man, wouldn't you want at least four trees with you, allowing for four stacks of the aura to build up on the raid? The amount of + healing received would be HUGE! Stick a Shadow Priest in with the other four druids and you will have an insanely mana efficient healing brigade. And now that trees can cast all healing spells in this form, you can divvy up the healing assignments, lets say three trees dedicated to HoT's and the other in charge of any long cast time healing such as Healing Touch or Regrowth. This group would be nicknamed of course HoT Domination (patent pending).

Ohh I can not wait for WotLK to come out, but until then i will be reading up as much as I can, and performing /drool at just about every single opportunity

-Zeffy


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Bellwether is on vacation from the twenty-fourth to the fourth, and appreciates your patience in answering all your comments and e-mails. Please enjoy these pre-scheduled posts and guest bloggers in the meantime!

Restoration Raiding Consumables

Yes, it’s another of those posts. Inspired by Bear’s consumables post for Feral tanks, I want to take an in-depth look at all consumables available to a Restoration Druid. There’s a variety of these things to choose from, so let’s get cracking, shall we?

Elixirs and Flasks
For at least every boss fight, and perhaps some of the trash, you’re going to want either both a Battle Elixir and Guardian Elixir or a two-hour Flask. Generally, Flasking is cheaper, especially on new content, while Elixir combinations are more powerful, but fade when you die. It’s often a good idea that, if you expect to die a lot with little or no progress, Flask. Let’s take a quick look at all your options available to you.

Elixirs
Battle Elixirs
Elixir of Healing Power – This is hands-down the best Battle Elixir you can chug. It’s a straight-up +50 healing to you, and everyone loves the higher healing. However, when WotLK rolls around, it seems like…
Adept’s Elixir - …this sort of elixir may be a better all-around choice. Phaelia revealed that critting with heals will give a great bonus to a Tree’s spells. Though I am sure WotLK will bring all new alchemy recipes, including probably a better version of this. Still something to consider bringing along if you run out of mats for Healing Power; it does have a bonus of +24 healing.

Guardian Elixirs
Draenic Wisdom – Thanks to the changes in mana regen from patch 2.4, this has become the premiere raiding Battle Elixir. Increasing both your Intellect and Spirit by 30 helps your mana regen, increases your mana pool, and adds about 7 +healing to your tree aura. A triple threat!
Elixir of Major Mageblood – This elixir is a straight 16 mp5. If you’re going to be out of tree form for a while, this is arguably a better Elixir for the job than Draenic.
Elixir of Major Fortitude – Sometimes, you just need a boost to your health. Many upper level encounters have large AoE burst damage you just cannot mitigate, such as Naj’entus in BT, who deals an unavoidable 8k+ of pain when you burst his bubble. If you don’t have enough stam, consider bringing this along for 250 extra health and 10 hp5.

Flasks
Flask of Distilled Wisdom – There is some debate over this Flask. After 2.4, an increase in Intellect is an increase in the mp5 benefit of Spirit. This also has the added benefit of giving you a larger mana pool, which is almost as good as mp5. And for fights like Kaz’rogal, where your mana is drained and a lack of mana to drain results in someone exploding for over 10k damage, starting with a bigger mana pool can never hurt.
Flask of Mighty Restoration – This is a straight-up, no math required addition of 25 mp5 to your mana pool. This is a huge amount of straight mp5, so if you’re down on this vital stat this isn’t a bad flask to pick up.
Shattrath Flask of Mighty Restoration – This flask is exactly the same as the above mentioned buff, but it can be purchased using a Mark of the Illidari from those snooty guys in your Scryer or Aldor bank. However, you must be exalted with either the Scryer or the Aldor, the Sha’tar, and the Cenarion Expedition.
Flask of Chromatic Wonder - This flask was recommended by ryfo in my comments. He lists many great reasons to use this flask: it's cheap, it stacks with Blessing of Kings, it gives resistances, and is an all-around well-balanced flask. Consider this alternative, especially if you're going to be hitting Mother Shahraz or other resistance-sensitive fights.

Food
Food buffs are delicious, but perhaps only if you’re into seafood. Though you’re generally not supposed to exercise on a full stomach, being well-fed should ensure you’re never running out of steam.

Golden Fishsticks – This is the best food buff for both healing Priests and Druids. +44 to your healing and 20 spirit. The spirit adds to your mp5, as well as gives your aura another +5 to healing. Beneficial and well-rounded, this is almost always the food of choice.
Blackened Sporefish – This is a more situational bit of fish, as the straight 8 mp5 is not as beneficial as the spirit to a Tree druid, but that extra 20 stam can be a boon if you’re lacking health.
Spicy Crawdad/Fisherman's Feast - Providing a +30 stam buff and a +20 spirit buff, this is also a great option for when you need more stam than regen, and +20 just isn't enough. These were also suggested in the comments by kaaylia.
Feltail Delight – Though there are many food buffs that supply the same +20 stam/spirit combination (Mok’Nathal Shortribs, Talbuk Steak to name a few), I like this one because I can get it at the same time I fish for the other food buffs. It’s great for farm content/trash, and is generally much less expensive than the other two.

Weapon Oils
Brilliant Mana Oil – This is the best oil for the job. Well-rounded, with 12 mp5 and +25 to healing, the only problem with it is the cost. It’s an old-world recipe (Zandalar Rep), and rather rare, so expect its price to be gouged in the AH when you can find it, and the mats to be a bit more difficult to come by.
Superior Mana Oil – Acceptable and a nice mp5 boost, this is the most commonly used mana oil. 14 mp5 is nothing to scoff at, and every enchanter worth their salt will have the recipe.
Superior Wizard Oil - thanks to my amazing readers, this oil has been pointed out to have an unstated +42 buff to healing. Which is great if your mp5 has been soaring up but your base healing has been lagging behind. Thanks guys!

Scrolls
Though these don’t stack with player buffs, it’s nice to have something to spot-buff yourself with in-between chain pulls should you be unfortunate enough to die or after a Rebirth. This is particularly helpful with streams of pulls like in Mount Hyjal, where all pulls are timed and there are no/very few breaks for rebuffs. Included in this are Scroll of Spirit V, Scroll of Intellect V, and Scroll of Stamina V. Not necessary by any means, but, should you pick some up, they’re worth hanging onto.

Potions
Super Mana Potion – This is the mainstay of all mana-users. It’s a straight return to your mana, and therefore keeps you going when you’d otherwise be basically useless.
Auchenai Mana Potion - Just as good as a Super, this potion is purchaseable with two Spirit Shards. A nice, money-saving alternative.
Mana Potion Injector – This is a primo item. It saves bag space (something druids are always in desperate need of). There are a few mats needed besides just 20 Super Mana Pots, but I believe the space saved is well worth it. You need the room for all those epic loots.
Super Healing Potion – It’s always a good idea to carry a couple of these around. Sometimes, your mana pool is just fine, but you desperately need a boost to your health.
Auchenai Healin Potion - Just as good as a super, and purchaseable with two Spirit Shards.
Healing Potion Injector – Since you shouldn’t use so many Health Pots, this isn’t really necessary, but once again nice for the bag space.
Super Rejuvenation Potion – These suckers are great when you need health and mana! Just suck it down, enjoy the lovely grape flavor, and get back to healing without having to heal yourself. As much, anyway. Their mats are a little more extensive than a Health or Mana pot, however, so if you have the choice it might be better to go with…
Mad Alchemist Potion – Only for alchemists, these are like Super Rejuvs only with way less expensive mats and an interesting side-effect: a random elixir buff. The random buff won’t replace your current buffs, so feel free to use the whenever.
Fel Mana Potion – Though this potion supplies a debuff to your healing, its Mp5 value is arguably greater than a slight momentary drop in heal value. Obviously, this depends on the fight and your own gear, so it’s a judgment call. Phaelia did an article on the advantages of the Fel Mana Potion, but it may be out of date with the changes to mana regen in 2.4.

Remember, when available, to use raid-specific potions such as Cenarion Healing Salve and Cenarion Mana Salve for SSC (purchaseable with Coilfang Armaments right outside the instance, if you are Exalted with CE), and Bottled Nethergon Vapor and Bottled Nethergon Energy for TK.

Other
**Be aware: all of the following share a cooldown with your Healthstones**
Fel Blossoms – These mini-shields are handy for times when your healing isn’t going to do anything; such as the first phase of Reliquary of Souls, where all healing is effectively reduced to zero, including that of pots and stones. They can help keep you alive for just a bit longer. They are also only available to Herbalists.
Charged Crystal Focus – If you’re out of healthstones and there’s been no time to lay down a new soulwell, these work nicely in a pinch. You should find one or two every day you do your dailies in Blade’s Edge, and they only take a few Apexis Shards to charge up.
Demonic Rune – These are good for “oh no my mana pot is down but I really need some mana NOW” situations. They hurt you, and the return is small, but with how inexpensive Lifebloom is, it’s basically worth it to squeeze out another few if you’re in danger of going OOM. They're easily farmed from satyrs in Felwood.
Luminous Bluetail – A very small amount of mana, it may not be worth the healthstone cooldown. However, this one doesn’t hurt you like the Darkrune does. They're fishable on the Isle of Quel'danas, so you can snag some while you're doing your dailies, if you don't have to worry about being stabbed in the back.

Now that I'm done critting your face with my wall of text, I hope that's helped you decide what you need for raiding!

EDIT: i r dum when it comes to Mana Injectors. They are splittable. Thanks, Jon!

A Fresh Look at Healing Meters

Once upon a time I wrote a very near-sighted post on healing meters. While some parts of it are fundamentally true, I've come to find that, like most things, situation is key. The instances and fights which a resto druid comes out on top widely varies due to group make-up, healing assignment, and encounter. Resto druids, though always maintaining least overheal (hopefully), will move up and down the healing charts based on those items. If you're wondering if you're at the proper place on the healing charts for an encounter, ask yourself a few questions:

1) Which part of the WWS am I looking at?
Are you looking at overall? A certain boss? Trash mobs? Did you have the same assignment for overall? If you look at the entire WWS report, it may not reflect your actual healing prowess, especially if your healing assignment changes throughout the raid. A change in healing assignment almost always changes effective healing.

2) Which instance were you in?
Some raids just work better at letting resto druids shine than others. Mount Hyjal, for example, will always have at least three tanks taking damage during trash pulls, and the pulls are much longer fights than the bosses. With multiple Lifebloom stacks rolling, it's easier to get seen on the healing meters, especially as other healers won't be able to focus-fire the main tank an overwrite your HoT ticks as much. Unlike in fights that have only one tank and minimal/predictable raid damage; your HoTs will more often be overwritten than not.

3) How big was the raid group?
In a ten-man, it is easier to shine than in a 25. Besides the amount of people you have to compare to, the tasks in a ten-man are much more focused and reliant on people doing their specific jobs. That priest may not have time to raid heal; that shaman may be too busy with chains to snag the tank except through bounces. Also, in a ten-man, the damage is such that it is easier for a full stack of HoTs on the MT to make the other healers' jobs much easier.

4) What was your assignment?
Druids are good at raid-healing in tens, but not very efficient in 25's. With five/six/seven other healers besides yourself AoE healing and assigned to certain groups, your HoTs get overwritten. And sometimes, there's only one tank to stack HoTs on. Other times, you'll have duties such as decursing, removing poisons, or you'll have to stop your HoT rotation to hunt down a dead body and breathe new life into them. Take into account what you were assigned to do and how well that assignment meshes with what your class was designed to do.

5) What were the other healers' assignments?
Just like how AoE dps shoots off the charts, AoE healing is going to have you beat. CoH and Chain Heal are, in some encounters where everyone is tightly clustered and taking continuous damage, going to kick everyone else off of the charts. With only one MT and little raid damage, Paladins should "beat" everyone else.

6) What other healers did you bring with you?
Do you have a deluge of druids? A plethora of paladins? A surfeit of shamans? A profusion of priests? This may not seem to matter at the moment, but as each healing type has different strengths and weaknesses, bringing different healers to different settings will change the outcome of any healing meter. Combine this with the different styles needed for different fights, and your place on the WWS will fluctuate.

7) How does your gear match up?
Most of this has been assumed with equal or close-to gear. However, gear will make a difference if the gulf is wide enough, so keep that in mind if you feel like you are "not where you should be" on the meters but are doing everything right.

Please, however, do not take this as a guide to how to get to the top of the meters all the time. Trying to "win" at healing meters is almost as bad as doing everything you can to top the DPS meters. A healthy sense of competition is fine, but make sure you examine your reasons for trying to get to the top. There's nothing wrong with being proud when you get there, but stay humble; next week you may not be so lucky. Just work with, and trust, your other healers. And remember: all these charts mean little to nothing if you don't have fun, your raid members and friends don't have fun, and the boss doesn't go down.

Karazhan Healing Cheat-Sheet

I realize now that I have not talked very much about Karazhan, which is quite surprising. Prior to my inception to Sunder, I had spent many, many months farming Kara over and over, almost exclusively. In doing so, I learned quite a lot about the different bosses and how to navigate them on a Restoration spec’d druid. This was requested by Kakalaki.

Attumen the Huntsman
Attumen is a very straightforward fight. A well-geared Restoration druid (or any healer, really) can solo heal him, but it’s not recommended if you’re uncomfortable with the fight. The basic idea is to keep HoTs ticking on the tank(s) (depending on your guild’s strategy). As soon as Attumen and Midnight combine, hug the horse’s butt. If you are too removed from Attumen, he will charge you, and sometimes one-shot you. To make things easier, it’s recommended to mark someone with a raid symbol and require everyone to stand on them.

Moroes
As a Restoration druid, this fight for you is very, very straightforward. Keep HoTs on the tanks, throw some heals on anyone else who needs it. If your group runs out of ways to eliminate the garrote, stack Lifeblooms on those affected. You don’t have to watch them too carefully; usually one Lifebloom is fine, and you can even let it bloom. It’s more important to keep your tanks up and those in charge of CCing the adds. Abolish Blinds when they come up (a mod like Decursive makes it very easy to see when this happens).

Maiden
Maiden is also very straightforward. You cannot dispel the Holy Fires, so you are purely healing. Watch your melee and keep them alive through the consecration, but more importantly keep your tank up. Watch for the Repentance and make sure your HoTs are fresh before it goes off. Staying in the consecrate will give you a silence debuff; however, if you can time it well, it’s helpful to jump into it right before a Repentance so the consecrate ticks knock you out of a stun. Be careful of doing it too early, or an ill-timed Holy Fire can kill you. Another option is having your tank aware of where you are standing and having him draw Maiden over to you for a consecrate tick.

Opera
Romulo and Julianne
This fight can be summed up simply as: heal the tanks. Throw a HoT on those hit by Julianne. Keep Abolish up on the Romulo tank.

Big Bad Wolf
Make sure you are prepared to Swiftmend or NS+HT the little Red Riding Hood. If you become Little Red Riding Hood, be aware of your surroundings and where to run. Pop Barkskin and pray for healing or a BoP. Otherwise, heal the tank.

Wizard of Oz
Like the Moroes fight, you cannot do much but heal and stay out of the way. If you have a Paladin, have him Judge Wisdom on the tin man once all the others are dead, and chase after him, giving him a little whack with your tree fists. Avoid the cyclones with the crone, and you’re home free.

Curator
Heal the tank on Curator, and throw some HoTs on the dps snagging the flares. Keep an eye out for who takes hurtfuls, and give them some Resto love. At 20% he will Enrage; watch his health and prepare to put all your HoTs on the main tank. During his Evocations, no one should be taking damage. If no one is in desperate need of healing, take advantage of a Dreamless Sleep Potion or simply your 5SR to regen some mana.

Illhoof
Your guild should give out raiding assignments. If you have three healers, the assignments generally go Tank, Raid or Warlock. Keep your assignment up with as many different HoTs as you need. If you can spare it, throw some HoTs up on those not your assignment, as they are always a help. Heal the person in Demon Chains, and if you start to be sacrificed, pop your Barkskin and pray your DPS is on the ball.

Shade of Aran
Resto Druids are very, very sneaky for this boss fight. Every other healer cannot stand close to Shade because of his counterspell ability he likes to spam. However, due to the instant-cast nature of Druid healing, you can stand basically on top of him, spam heals and never worry a bit about Blizzard. If you need to do anything with a cast time, simply back up, get it off, and go back in. When he pulls everyone to the middle, shifting forms will dispel the debuff. If you have the mana for it, while you’re at the wall, throw a Moonfire onto him.

Netherspite
Netherspite and I have a love-hate relationship. The Green Beam is excellent for healers, as it increases your healing output by a very large amount. However, as time goes by, it reduces your mana pool and, if your pool reaches zero, the beam continues to heal Netherspite. Most guilds assign a non-mana using dps for the Green Beam. If you have a Beam assignment, watch for the black circles opening up beneath you. Only move forward or backward. If you do not have a beam, still stick close to Netherspite, and remind your whole guild to do so as well. Everyone takes AoE damage, and if they are out of range of their healers, they die. When you run to the wall as Netherspite banishes, encourage everyone to bandage so you can conserve your mana.

Chess
Pick a piece. Use its abilities. Kill the enemy’s King. Win! (Our Chargers seem to always be the pieces which kill the King, go figure.)

Nightbane
Keep yourself at max range from the tank; this will help you avoid any and all AoE fears. Barkskin during rain of bones and try to keep HoTs ticking on as many people as you can. Move out of the Scorched Earth, and keep on your toes. Nightbane loves to decimate unwitting raids.

Prince
Prince can be a jerk in more ways than one. To eliminate most of your infernal problems, keep most of your ranged at the doorway and put the tank at max distance along the left wall. During Phase 1, feel free to throw HoTs on the melee and anyone else taking damage. Watch for Phase 2 at 60% and get every HoT on the main tank. Tell your melee to bandage if necessary, but your tank must be fully HoTted at all times. When Phase 3 arrives, you can relax a bit on your main tank. Barkskin when axes come for you, and make sure everyone who takes damage from them calls it out so you can throw them a heal or two.

Well, there you have it! A quick overview of all the bosses in Karazhan, except the animal bosses. But, ah, not many people do those, and I personally never have.

Good luck, and happy raiding!

I am NOT a Potted Plant

I’m calling shenanigans. Tree Form has to be a colossal joke upon the entire druid class. I’m not kidding.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Tree of Life Form. It’s spectacular with its aura and the reduction in mana-cost to healing. The tree dance is great (let’s do the twist, kids), and the animations we have are hilarious. I love to “sleep” by sticking my little root feets into the ground and hang my head.

But the fun stops there. And, oddly enough, it is stopped by what is perhaps the weirdest and most arbitrary mechanic built into the Tree of Life form:

The 20% speed reduction.

Now, I know there are issues with how Remove Curse isn’t available in Tree Form, but even that doesn’t get my goat as much as this ridiculous mechanic. It actually forces druids to not use the form best suited for their job in upper raid boss encounters. When mobility is an issue, you leave your wooden hide behind and muck it up in caster form.

Well, you say, this is easy enough to do and not that detrimental. Why do we care?

I’ll tell you why.

Look at your Shadow Priest. See that nice, pretty Shadowform? Would you ask the priest to leave Shadowform to DPS? No? What about a Moonkin? Bear tanks? No? So they never, even when mobility is involved, have to leave the forms which maximize their abilities? But, say, if we resto druids have to move a lot on, perhaps, Archimonde, it’s best the Tree is, well, not a tree.

Well, we ask them to switch out if we need an emergency off-healer, you say. And I would reply, of course you do. Because that was not the role that form was designed for. If I’m in a fight where I cannot heal, I am out of tree form and putting up Insect Swarm and Moonfire. But if I’m in a fight where I expect to heal, I expect to be in the form best suited for my intended role.

Being able to “get away” is highly important in many later raid fights. Being in tree form, rather than being an asset to your raid through auras and mana longevity, makes you a detriment to your raid. If you can’t run out of Doomfires, if you take a second longer in the Volcanoes, you are a problem. Most likely, you are also dead.

I am often placed in the main tank group so that my aura can affect as many tanks as possible, increasing the healing output of all healers assigned to them. On half of the fights TK and up, however, I’m a fixture without utility in that group, waiting for trash so my aura can go back up. I cannot keep up with the pain train through gauntlets like the one in ZA or the one before Reliquary of Souls in my Tree Form, and those are perhaps where mana efficiency and a steady stream of good healing on the tanks is needed the most. Half of the Kael encounter I am out of form, I am out of form for Archimonde, Supremus, Void Reaver, even Netherspite, for crying out loud, all because of some silly, weird, completely arbitrary 20% speed decrease.

Perhaps someone can enlighten me as to how this ridiculous mechanic is necessary. I cannot think of a single reason to keep this mechanic in the tree. Perhaps it is to keep Restoration druids from increasing their healing output in arenas. However, Tree of Life aura is increased by a quarter of your Spirit. Arena gear has no spirit, so healing will be increased only marginally. There is also still the danger of being banished while in form and being out of a fight for much too long. Add in the base mana cost of tree form and it is highly ineffective in arenas.

So, I’ll ask again:

How is the speed reduction anything other than arbitrary?

The Death of the Selfish Innervate

The changes to how mana regeneration works since 2.4 have been amazing. Fully raid-buffed, I rarely have a half-empty mana bar. My mana pots ferment past their expiration date, and I find I’m just carting around Blackened Sporefish in case I need some stam or I run out of Golden Fish Sticks. It also has me crying for a +healing flask that works outside of Gruul’s for progression nights, instead of this Flask of Mighty Restoration.

But what does this mean? Lately it’s meant I have only once, maybe twice, used my innervate on myself. I have instead found it more useful to throw on recently Rebirthed priests. The plain and simple fact has been…I don’t seem to need it anymore. Unless we’re flying through Kara to farm badges and sitting down to drink would make us lose the race (Sunder groups try to get the shortest time possible), I don’t seem to need it. Even on tough streams like Hyjal, I always have 15-30 seconds to drink up that fourth or half of a mana bar I’m missing. And I was only down half a bar because I was missed with the Blessing of Wisdom spot buff.

I used to staunchly stand by the idea that “This is my innervate. There are many like it, but this one is mine.” A druid without his or her innervate was a dangerous combination, and we could only part with it under extreme circumstances or if we completely out-geared the instance/raid. Now with my mana pots past their expiration date, I’m finding myself questioning this logic.

Last night, we did 4/5 Hyjal and Naj’entus and Supremus in BT. I used my innervate three times.

• Priest died and was battle rezed. I innervated her.
  
• Priest needed mana to quick rebuff Shadow Resist between pulls. Innervate!
  
• Kaz’rogal fight. This is the one occasion last night where it was vital to use my own innervate on myself. I never blew up the raid, though people were detonating around me.

Other raids I have never used innervate on myself. Now that innervate shoots my mana bar to full, it seems wasteful to use when I’m only down to half. Barring mana-draining bosses, I’ve never had an issue with my mana since 2.4 in a full-buffed raid group. Innervate, far from being completely necessary to a druid, has now, it seems, become an integral part of their utility for the raid as a whole, or at least it’s mana-users who are unlucky enough, or squishy enough, to bite the dust.

Anzu and Utilizing the Spirits; a Healing Guide

So, you've got yourself the epic flight form quest, and you're off to Heroic Sethekk. Or, in my case, a fellow druid has, and you have offered to heal. This is excellent; a druid is the most efficient healer for the Raven Lord fight due to certain peculiarities.

It is not a difficult fight by any means, and can easily be done in your first try as long as everyone is on top of their game.

Anzu has two phases.

In Phase One, he is, mostly, a tank-and-spank. I would suggest being out of tree form unless you have a mage or moonkin who is capable and willing to multi-task; there is a dangerous ability Anzu has called "Spell Bomb." Spell Bomb is a curse which causes the target it affects to be mana burned for a high amount of mana and health whenever the person who is affected by it casts a spell. The only safe spell to use while affected is Decursing spells. Since this ability is not available in tree form, it is better to conserve mana by staying out of tree rather than switching in and out.

Besides Spell Bomb, Anzu has several other abilities. One is called "Cyclone of Feathers," which should be interrupted whenever it is cast. It is much the same as a druid cyclone, and it affects random members of the group (besides the tank). This can be extremely detrimental.

Another spell is Paralyzing Screech. While this has a cast time of five seconds, it is not able to be interrupted. This will stun the entire group for six seconds, so it is imperative that you keep HoTs stacked on the tank before this happens. Your Lifebloom will, more likely than not, expire in this time, so be aware it will have to be restacked.

At 66% and 33% life, Anzu will Banish himself and summon a group of non-elite crows. It is imperative at this time that you keep any AoE dps up, though the whole group will likely be taking damage. Anzu will still cast Spell Bomb at this stage, so this is another thing to watch out for. An addon like Decursive is very helpful in quickly identifying and eliminating the debuffs.

But wait, that sounds like a normal boss fight, not much more intricate than others. You said there was something peculiar about it that made druid casters great healers for this boss. And that I did!

When Anzu is summoned, three friendly NPC's are summoned with him. They are three bird spirits: Hawk Spirit, Eagle Spirit, and Falcon Spirit. These Spirits are arranged in a triangle around Anzu, and it's imperative you're within range of all of them. Standing in the middle of the room becomes a Good Idea.

Why is it important, though? Well, the spirits at the time of summoning are "stone" and require druid HoTs to wake them. As long as a HoT is ticking on them they will be awake and provide certain buffs to the party, or debuffs to the enemy. These are as follows:

Hawk - Players receive 500 less damage from attacks
Eagle - All enemies in the room receive 300 periodic damage (300 damage per second)
Falcon - 25% increase to movement speed, melee haste and casting haste

The most important Spirit to keep up at all times is the arguably the Hawk. This will make your healing job easier, as you will have to split your focus between keeping HoTs on your Spirits, your party, and decursing.

The Eagle is most important in Phase 2, but Anzu has a smaller health pool than many heroic bosses, so it is still worth the druid HoT otherwise.

Falcon is useful in all cases, and, with the change of spell haste lowering the GCD, may be more beneficial for druids in the long run.

There are several accepted macros for making this much easier. They are:

/target Eagle Spirit
/cast Rejuvenation(Rank 1)
/targetlasttarget

/target Hawk Spirit
/cast Rejuvenation(Rank 1)
/targetlasttarget

/target Falcon Spirit
/cast Rejuvenation(Rank 1)
/targetlasttarget

OR

/target [button:1] Hawk Spirit
/target [button:3] Eagle Spirit
/target [button:2] Falcon Spirit
/cast Rejuvenation(Rank 1)
/targetlasttarget

The first allows for a set of three buttons you can click depending on which Spirit you wish to target, and then it will return to your last target so you have no downtime in healing your party. The second allows for one macro which changes targets based upon which mouse button is used to click it. Left mouse is 1, right mouse is 2, middle is 3.

Unfortunately, past the end of your epic mount quest, there is not much to look forward to in drops from Anzu for a resto druid. There is a socketable leather dps belt, and there is the rare and coveted mount, but otherwise it is merely for the sake of another badge and some drops for your party members. Which isn't a bad thing, no?

What I Am NOT Spending My Badges On

Unless someone can give me a good reason to, of course. But everyone's talking about what they will buy, and it seems like no one is talking about what they won't.

What I am talking about is this: [Gavel of Naaru Blessings]

Now, it seems like a really nice mace. The 464 healing really pops out at you and makes you go "Wow! That'll put me up to (insert large number here) healing!" Sometimes it's easy to be blinded by raw +healing numbers. They're often the first thing people ask for when they ask for a healer: what is your +healing?

However, the second thing people ask for is what your mp5 while casting is.

This mace has intellect on it, the only arguable contribution to your mp5 while casting. It has only 7 more intellect than [Light's Justice], and contains none of the +20 spirit of the weapon. It has 8 more intellect than [Shard of the Virtuous] and none of the mp5.

What the Gavel does have, however, is stamina. It has loads of stamina. Therefore, the question becomes this: what do you need more, mp5 or health?

At this point in my WoW career, I focus more on longevity than raw healing power. My HoTs get overwritten sometimes, and I do well enough as a buffer to spike damage. I am not trying to get off the big heals, just keep my HoTs ticking. Therefore, I need a constant supply of mana. I will never be outside the five-second rule, and I cannot get mana back from crits or heals on myself. I do not want to depend on group makeup to make myself viable for a long boss fight.

Right now, I am using a [Rod of the Blazing Light]. I see no reason to spend 150 badges on an item that will decrease my mp5 simply so I may boost my +healing and stamina. I'd prefer to save up for something else, thank you.

Priest Envy

Cloth cloth cloth cloth cloth.

Why?

/cry

Okay, after that nonsensical opening, let me just say this: I think priests have the easiest time getting gear pre-25 man. As the quintessential "healing class" it seems there is more healing cloth under the Outland sky than plate, mail and leather combined. And they sure seem to get geared up faster than us dr00ds, shams and pallies. Take, for instance, a little priest we'll call D.

D is a great healer, and a discipline priest (last I checked, anyway). She has been 70 for maybe 3 months? Four? She is 200 +healing ahead of me. I don't begrudge her this, no matter what people may think, and I believe it's awesome she can gear up so fast. It causes me to make growly noises, though, as I look through my gear and hers. Warcrafter puts my "e-peen" score higher than hers, yet, my gear doesn't seem to reflect that. Self-buffed, she is at 1700 healing exactly, with more mp5 than I.

I'm not QQing about her being better than me. I'm self-confident(ish) as a healer that I can do a relatively good job with my own healing. What I'm wondering is if I should drop my herbalism so I can dump all my dwindling epic flight fund into a mooncloth robe set just to catch up to the cloth curve. This would be kind of...drastic, and I don't want to do it. The long-term rewards promise to even out, but my impatience and my uncertainty of my guild getting anywhere "longterm" in the near future make me itch to improve myself now.

Of course, there is the difference in healing styles. Priests cover for the spikes and chunks, we soften the blows. Maybe this means we need less +healing in the beginning (this makes little sense to me, but I'll roll with it). I won't pretend to know what paladins need other than crit, and I won't even begin to fathom what shamans are into (other than totems). I see so many healers toting cloth. Pallies and shamans are laughed at for it, and druids kind of duck under the radar. I personally have no personal problems with wearing cloth gear. However, I do have problems with taking cloth gear from our priests, who can only wear cloth, while I can deck myself out in leathers.

Odd conundrum, but it's there.

At least leather is sexy.

*pout*

Lifebloom 101: A Guide for the Saplings, the Unseasoned, and the Stupids

It's come to my attention that not everyone knows how Lifebloom works! /gasp

This is of course me being in my own little druidy world assuming everyone's got the lowdown on the HoTtest heal ever. However! I think I can write well enough about it that I can lay it out, give it a good going over, and hopefully my faithful readers (I'm assured I have more than one!) can point out any errors I make, as I can be prone to them.

Let's begin, shall we?

To start off, it's called Lifebloom! Aw, how cute. It's your life, and it's blooming up, up and up! Just the way we all like it. I'm not sure many people like when their bar starts dropping, unless they're a mana starved tankadin. Even then, they want it to go back up. Mmm, delicious heals.

Right, moving on.

Next, let's look at the mana cost. There's only one rank of Lifebloom (at the moment...WotLK may change that) and it has a fixed mana cost of 220 mana. If you factor in Tree Form's 20% reduced mana cost, it becomes 176. That's really inexpensive, which is really helpful, but we'll go into that more later when we start talking about how it's used.

40 yard range, that's pretty standard. Instant cast, too, is fitting in with the druid's unique playstyle. And now we're on to the meat of the skill.

"Heals the target for 273 over 7 sec. When Lifebloom completes its duration or is dispelled, the target instantly heals themself for 600. This effect can stack up to 3 times on the same target."

What does it all mean, Bellwether?!

I'm glad you asked! See, Lifebloom is a HoT. What's a HoT?

Heal
over
Time

Still with me? Okay. So, Lifebloom is a HoT which is applied to a target for the sole purpose of healing them. It can stack up to three times, and heals for more each second with each stack. Like this:



Now, that's not the most optimal casting order when you have one target. That would look more like this:



Or:



And so on with many variations and Swiftmends thrown in at opportune moments.

But it all really depends on what your tank needs at the time! We won't get too picky about that now. Especially since it's dragging in other skills and I'm focusing on just Lifebloom.

Now, Lifebloom lasts 7 seconds. And if you let it expire within those seven seconds, it "blooms." The HoT buff disappears and the target heals themself for a set amount. This bloom amount does not change with varying stacks. A stack of one will bloom as much as a stack of two as a stack of three.

Now, let's take apart what I just said.

First part: the disappearing of the buff after seven seconds. You want to keep the Lifebloom rolling at 3 stacks constantly. This is the most efficient (PvE) use of Lifebloom. With multiple tanks, this is up to 4 tanks with three rolling lifebloom stacks (depending on your latency) due to global cooldown and ignoring any need to use another skill within that rotation (Innervate, emergency Nature's Swiftness plus Healing Touch, Rebirth, etc.) This makes the mana efficiency of Lifebloom all-important due to a Resto druid never being outside of the 5-second rule. Never.

Next part: The bloom. The bloom counts as the healing of the target it blooms on. Basically, this heal will not show up on your healing meters, and will give the person it blooms on threat. This sounds good in theory, but in PvE cases Lifebloom should not be allowed to bloom as much as it is in your power to keep it rolling. It is highly mana inefficient to allow the spell to bloom, but that part will also be explained a bit later in the post.

Final part: Since one Lifebloom will bloom as much as a stack of two or three, it is important to realize you should not stack it if your plan is to allow it to bloom (such as giving the tank one lifebloom before he pulls, giving him bloom threat).

That's all well and good Bellwether, but why do we care?

I'll tell you why!

Once you get into 25-mans, Lifebloom will become 80-100% of your healing. Multiple Lifebloom stacks rolling on multiple tanks. Druid healers fill their own special little niche called "damage mitigation." Our job is to give the tank a steady supply of regenerating health while the other healers (priests, paladins and shamans) take care of burst/spike damage. Basically, we're a living Major Troll's Blood Potion on crack and caffeine with ADHD.

Now, let's address the bloom. That little bugger has its place, sure enough as I type this now. This place is snuggled securely in the (un)welcoming arms of PvP. You see, when Lifebloom is purged or spell-stolen, it blooms automatically on its target, granting them that last spurt of life as a sort of consolation prize. However, this will only work on the last Lifebloom in the stack. You can have two out of three purged from you and get nothing in return, so don't get too cocky. They're also handy when you're being forced to turtle in bear form and can't get to your buddy to give him or her a good heal boost.

So, let's summarize!

Lifebloom is mana efficient and low cost as long as you keep your stacks rolling. You don't want it bloom unless you have no other choice or are giving your tank initial aggro on a pull, and then it's best if it blooms on a stack of one. If you do it at any other time, congratulations! You just casted the longest delayed-time heal in the game for minimal results.

Any questions?

EDIT: It turns out there were questions! What follows is a conversation I had with my fellow bloggers to clear up some of the misconceptions about Lifebloom!

Matticus: since it expires afte 7 seconds
Matticus: dont subsequent lifeblooms like trigger the bloom when it overrides previous blooms?
Matticus: like, bloom, bloom, bloom, bloom OH SHIT HE BLOOMED and start over?
Bellwether: you just keep refreshing the three stack
Bellwether: the timer starts over when you add a new lifebloom
Matticus: one timer for ALL three stacks?
Matticus: not one time for EACH stack?
Bellwether: you can stack lifebloom three times on one person. so it's one stack of three individuals.
Matticus: and adding a 4th does ntohing
Bellwether: just refreshes the timer to keep it from blooming.
Matticus: *scratches head*
Twalkins: Are you familiar with sunder armor, Matticus? Maybe lacerate?
Matticus: *blink*
Matticus: healed my whole career
Twalkins: Ah...guess not.
Twalkins: Hm.
Twalkins: Lifebloom stacks on a single target up to three times.
Matticus: that part i get
Twalkins: So if you hit someone three times with LB, they will have three stacks for seven seconds.
Twalkins: If you hit them again with LB, it won't add a fourth stack. It will simply refresh the duration of the third stack, bringing it back to 7 seconds.
Matticus: like a judgement..
Leafshine: So each cast of Lifebloom resets the timer.
Twalkins: Like a judgement.
Matticus: otherwise i have to recast the seal and judge it again..
Twalkins: Right.
Twalkins: Instead of having to rejudge, a druid has to re-LB three times to get the three stacks.
Leafshine: Yes.
Twalkins: Once LB blooms, all three stacks go away. You'd have to start over.
Leafshine: Yes.
Twalkins: And no matter how many stacks you have, it will always bloom for the same amount.
Matticus: and when it booms, the amount healed makes no differennce be it one boom or three booms
Twalkins: right.
Matticus: and i dont understand this 5sr stuff and how it relates to druids. depending on the encounter, i stay inactive for a while to try and spirit regen my mana
Twalkins: it'd be pretty cool if you could choose when to bloom lifebloom.
Bellwether: We can't be inactive.
Bellwether: It's not how we work
Twalkins: 5 second rule means that you won't regain any spirit-based mana until after five seconds pass of no casting.
Bellwether: We're keeping the tank with a steady regen going.
Matticus: right, that part i get
Bellwether: If we "take a break" the tank loses that steady regen
Siha: Priests are the only ones who _can_ be inactive, really.
Twalkins: So you don't have time to stay out of teh 5sr when LB is only 7 seconds.
Phaelia: druids are pretty much always in 5SR but we have tools that make up for it
Bellwether: especially with multiple stacks
Phaelia: such as lower mana cost spells, Innervate
Phaelia: and general awesomeness
Matticus: you cant just like... sit there for 10 seconds and rely on other healers to do stuff?
Leafshine: And we stat heavily for Spirit if we're seep enough Resto to be trees.
Bellwether: That's not what we're there for
Phaelia: we are healing stream totems
Bellwether: We're there to keep the tank steadily regenning life while other healers care for the spikes.
Leafshine: We are the steady buffers.
Leafshine: We keep Prot Pallies happy with constant mana regen…
Phaelia: when I heal on tough encounters with multiple stacks rolling, my face is about two inches from my monitor and i rock back and forth to keep my rhythm ... you would think me autistic to see me heal ^_^
Leafshine: *nods*
Matticus: okay, so hypothetical scenario.
Leafshine: My attention rarely wavers from the top left hand few inches of the screen...
Bellwether: and if it ever blooms you're like "Dammit! My whole rhythm is out of whack!!!"
Matticus: 3 tanks on a boss. all three tanks are steadily taking damage.
Matticus: do you go from tank 1, to tank 2, to tank 3? or do you stack up 1, then move onto the next?
Matticus: or just not care about 2 of them?
Bellwether: you stack on all of them
Twalkins: You can easily keep three stacks up.
Phaelia: i do 1, 2, 3 ... i rarely worry with spamming 3x
Twalkins: four depending on latency.
Bellwether: and you stack 1,2,3
Phaelia: especially at the beginning where other healers are likely to be on top of things
Matticus: lets assuming you're on lan
Matticus: and latency means nothing
Bellwether: 1,2,3
Twalkins: You'll have no problem 1,2,3,1,2,3,1,2,3 lifebloom stacking.
Phaelia: besides doing 3x on 1 then 2 then 3 would be so expensive ^_^
Bellwether: And you would interrupt stacking three on one of them to refresh on the others and it would be a mess.
Phaelia: i have trouble with 3 tanks + rejuv cycles
Matticus: i see

And then another conversation, only a bit later, with a former guildy:

Harl: so spellsteal counts as a "dispell" effect in terms of whether lifebloom blooms or not?
Bellwether: yep.
Bellwether: had Alt help me test it out
Harl: interesting... does that mean the mage doesn't actually steal anything?
Bellwether: i don't know
Harl: or does the target and the mage benifit?
Harl: er, benefit even
Harl: does it still the whole stack?
Harl: er, steal
Bellwether: just one
Harl: the target gets credit for the heal when it blooms, right?
Bellwether: yes
Harl: so you could drop a single cast on the tank and let it bloom at the start of a fight as a minor agro gain?
Harl: or is that even significant?
Bellwether: yes
Bellwether: as long as you drop it before the tank actually pulls
Bellwether: otherwise it just negates your aggro
Harl: I'm fuzzy on how much threat healing generates
Bellwether: one sec, I'll find you the article
Bellwether: http://www.resto4life.com/2008/01/21/mailbag-bestowable-threat/
Harl: oh, you even mentioned that part in here. I just hadn't read that far, yet

The mage part is an interesting question. I'm going to assume when a mage spell-steals a lifebloom, they get it and the person losing it gets the bloom. Anyone know otherwise?

EDIT2: Helpful commenter celimos replied:
"when a mage steals it it blooms on the original owner, the mage get the buff, and it will bloom again on the mage afterwards."

Encouraging Bad Habits with Good Healing

I have an obsessive need to see everyone's hp bars at full. It's true. I was running Steamvaults with a mix of PuG and guildies when one of our members had to go (it was kind of late). So, we asked our Hunter CO, Harl, to fill in for us. He was nice and gracious and logged off his little priest so we could use his amazing BM dps. Now, I knew he wasn't in the group prior, I knew he wasn't in the instance and he wasn't even in the same zone, but, since we were in battle, immediately as he joined I noticed there was a small chunk of his life missing and I tried to toss him a lifebloom. I was upset when it said "Out of Range." I told my guildmates and they laughed, and Harl thanked me for trying to save him.

You might be thinking, "That's all well and good, but what does it have to do with the title of the blog post?" Well, I'm getting to it.

Due to my excessive need to make sure everyone is alive and well and performing optimally, I cover for others' mistakes. I do overgear for 5-mans. I'm at 1299 +healing with enough mana to ride through most bosses with no innervate or trinketing. Now, some mistakes are honest and unavoidable. The pet got feared into another group. That's what I'm here for, the honest mistakes. I'm geared up as much as I am so that I can keep you alive. It's what I live for, honest. I tried to BG on my hunter and was frustrated with my inability to fill the flag carrier's health bar while he was being attacked.

What I'm really addressing is the attitude that occasionally carries over with a healer who is well-geared and over-geared for an instance. People start to get sloppy. "I can handle the threat because of my gear." No, handling the threat implies you are making sure you are not generating more than the tank, especially when it's a tank who needs practice and wants practice. Making things hard on him is not going to instill confidence.

Unfortunately, due to my obsession with not letting people die and my fear of being yelled at, I cover for others' purposeful mistakes as well as innocent ones, as I'm sure many do. It's difficult sometimes to just let your teammate die because they are playing the "who has more threat" game, because healers tend to feel responsible, and they are often held accountable when the group dies. Unfortunately, when people see that they can pull these stunts and get away with it, it just reinforces the idea that they can do it again, and that it's acceptable. Meanwhile, the healer is chain-chugging pots and innervating and working their butt off to make sure everyone in the party stays in tip-top shape in case another pat is pulled. At the same time, the feral druid shifted from kitty to bear to play taunt tug-of-war with the warrior and the hunter is meleeing with his pet unrezzed for half the instance, while the mage wands the CC.

Maybe these are your guildmates, and they're just trying to have some fun and relax. Explain, calmly and clearly with no accusatory language, that you are not having fun, you are not able to relax, and you are using valuable consumables to try and keep them alive while they have their fun. If there is a guildie who is being "trained," as it were, explain that this is setting a bad example and is not helping them to improve their skills. Help them understand that it is not a good idea to screw around in level 70 instances, even if they're geared from SSC and beyond, especially when there are lesser-geared members along. If they continue along the same path, let them die. When they become upset, tell them you explained it and you cannot use your time in such a way. If you're feeling charitable, give them one more chance to fix it. But remember, your repair bill, especially as you start getting to the point where you over-gear for instances, is oftentimes more expensive than what you will get from the instance. Remind them of this.

If it is a PuG, you owe them nothing, and you do not owe them an increase in your repair bill. Explain that you cannot finish it with the group, and leave. Do not be derrogatory or accusatory, simply state that you cannot finish, and leave. If you feel like maybe they will listen, then explain the situation. If it does not improve, you can leave with a clear conscience.

Heal Meters

Many people tend to be competitive about things. DPS meters are a good example of this, though they can cause some problems. But what about healing meters?

I have a love-hate relationship with healing meters. In Kara, I'm generally third out of three healers on it for amount healed. I run with two pallys or a pally and a priest generally. Most people would say "that makes sense."

No, no it doesn't.

I'm talking about healing meters where over-heal is factored in. We have very good healers in my guild, and they do their job. But I am a mitigation healer. They are reactive healers. My HoTs stop ticking when their target is health-capped. Reactive healing such as Flash of Light and Greater Heal will hit a target for their amount regardless of where the person's health is, and any extra is lost as "over heal."

Druids can overheal in four ways:

1. The initial burst of Regrowth
2. Swiftmend
3. Healing Touch
4. Lifebloom's bloom (self-only)

Of those four ways, the third is used least of all heals on a druid (save for perhaps Dreamstate spec). Regrowth is the least used HoT of the three, and Swiftmend is situational. And you shouldn't let Lifebloom bloom if you can help it, though Lifebloom's bloom only counts as your own personal heal when it blooms on yourself. A druid's heavy reliance on continuous stacks of Lifebloom and Rejuvenation means, more often than not, we don't overheal, or at least it isn't counted as overheal.

Instead, when using a heal meter, check to make sure the option that counts overheal is removed. Or do a heal per second chart. This should give a more accurate idea of what your healing actually is and how well you are doing. Don't forget to also post pure over-heal, as that should help you see if you need to be more careful when applying your skills with that potential.

As druids are generally employed as "off-healers" who keep HoTs on the tank(s) while spot-healing the raid, you should actually be healing for more, depending on your gear and your other healers.

Just be careful you don't get too competitive! Remember, first priorities are to work with your fellow healers to keep the raid alive. Competition comes second.

Restoration Level 70 Loot List (part 2)

Please note: previously listed instances drop their same loot in heroics with a few exceptions. To see what they drop, please check part one. I will mark them with an * so it is easy to tell which ones these are.

Heroics
Ramparts
Watchkeeper Gargolmar
Cloak of the Everliving
Omor the Unscarred
Faol's Signet of Cleansing
Reinforced Fel Iron Chest
Raiments of Nature's Breath
Jewels
Iridescent Fire Opal

Blood Furnace
Broggok
Signet of Repose
Kel'idan the Breaker
Robe of Effervescent Light

Shattered Halls*
Jewels
Luminous Fire Opal

Slave Pens
Quagmirran
Earthsoul Britches
Swamplight Lantern
Jewels
Royal Tanzanite

Underbog
Swamplord Musel'ek
Crown of the Forest Lord
Swampstone Necklace
The Black Stalker
Ring of Fabled Hope

Steam Vaults*
Warlord Kalithresh
Pontifex Kilt

Mana Tombs
Yor
Band of the Crystalline Void
Nexus-Prince Shaffar
Lucid Dream Bracers
Warp Scarab Brooch

Auchenai Crypts
Shirrak the Dead Watcher
Scintillating Headdress of Second Sight
Exarch Maladaar
Light-Touched Stole of Altruism

Sethekk Halls*
Talong King Ikiss
Bands of the Benevolent
Jewels
Blessed Tanzanite

Shadow Labs*
Murmur
Shockwave Truncheon

Mechanar*
Panthaleon the Calculator
Boots of the Pious

Botanica*
Jewels
Imperial Tanzanite

Arcatraz*
Jewels
Durable Fire Opal

Durnholde Keep
Lieutenant Drake
Lordaeron Medical Guide
Captain Skarloc
Dathrohan's Ceremonial Hammer
Pontiff's Pantaloons of Prophecy
Epoch Hunter
Cord of Sanctification
Necklace of Resplendent Hope

Dark Portal/Black Morass*
Nothing new (aka: not worth doing on heroic just for your own gear)

For the Heal Chest

To get the Lifewarden's Breastplate, there is a series of quests you need to complete, ending in an elite who you will need a small group to complete.

The chain:
The Archmage's Staff is a quest in Netherstorm which you receive from Ravandwyr in Area 52. You will have to complete this quest, the next step (Rebuilding the Staff) and then the third step (Curse of the Violet Tower) to gain access to the actual chain which ends in the breastplate.

This quest is called Malevolent Remnants, is from the npc Custodian Dieworth, and is six steps long. The last quest is called Destroy Naberius and, after you kill him, you are rewarded with your leather healing chestpiece. Congratulations!

Restoration Level 70 Loot List (part 1)

This is just the beginning of a list; soon I will compare and contrast them all and see which is the absolute best. More to follow; I'm just tired.

Rep Rewards
Aldor
Honored: Inscription of Faith
Exalted: Greater Inscription of Faith
Scryer
Honored: Inscription of the Oracle
Revered: Seer's Cane
Exalted: Greater Inscription of the Oracle
Cenarion Expedition
Revered: Watcher's Cowl
Exalted: Windcaller's Orb
Honor Hold
Revered: Glyph of Renewal
Keepers of Time
Exalted: Bindings of the Timewalker
Lower City
Revered: Lower City Prayerbook
Sha'tar
Exalted: Gavel of Pure Light

Instances (non-heroic)
Sethekk Halls
Darkweaver Syth
Light-Woven Slippers
Talon King Ikiss
Avian Cloak of Feathers
Hallowed Trousers

Shadow Labs
Ambassador Hellmaw
Idol of the Emerald Queen
Black Heart the Inciter
Moonglade Handwraps
Grandmaster Vorpil
Hallowed Pauldrons
Murmur
Hallowed Garments

Steamvaults
Hydromancer Thespia
Cloak of Whispering Shells
Warlord Kalithresh
Moonglade Shoulders

Shattered Halls
Warbringer O'mrogg
Jeweled Boots of Sanctification
Warchief Kargath Bladefist
Lightsworn Hammer
Hallowed Handwraps

Mech
Cache of the Legion
Vestia's Pauldrons of Inner Grace
Boots of the Glade Keeper
Mechano-Lord Capacitus
Hammer of the Penitent
Nethermancer Sepethrea
Cosmic Lifeband
Panthaleon the Calculator
Moonglade Robe

Botanica
Commander Sarannis
Prismatic Mittens of Mending
Thorngrin the Tender
Runed Dagger of Solace
Laj
Mantle of Autumn
Warp Splinter
Bangle of Endless Blessings
Moonglade Cowl

Arcatraz
Zereketh the Unbound
Cloak of Scintillating Auras
Wrath-Scryer Soccothrates
The Sleeper's Cord
Dalliah the Doomsayer
Lamp of Peaceful Repose
Harbinger Sykriss
Choker of Fluid Thought
Hallowed Crown

The Dark Portal/Black Morass
Chrono Lord Deja
Ring of Spiritual Precision
Temporus
Epoch Mender
Aeonus
Moonglade Pants
Scarab of the Infinite Cycle

Healing Belts

In my opinion, the hardest piece of armor to find for a healing class, any healing class, is the belt. I've been running Arc over and over for The Sleeper's Cord and it hasn't dropped yet. And here I'm still wearing a green Boneshredder Belt of Healing that I bought off the Auction House at around level 68. I'm convinced Cord of Nature's Sustenance will drop before the Arc belt. So why is there such a problem with healing belts?

It often seems like waists and bracers are the most over-looked of items. It could be they're not as showwy as a chest or shoulders (shoulders are so telling of your armor that you can always tell who is a pvper and who is not thanks to them), or just that when you think of armor you don't often think of a think strip of leather around your waist. It might also be because they're less fun to design. Whatever the reason, there is a lack of good healing belts.

I perused wowhead to find some nice level 70, pre-kara belts. It includes cloth, as it is an option to us druids (though we don't always like to use it). This will hopefully help people struggling to find their options in this area. I did not include PvP as that would have made the list rediculously long.
This link will take you to all the level 70 druid pvp belts.

Leather
The Sleeper's Cord
Drop - Normal and Heroic Arcatraz - Wrath Scryer Soccothrates
Windhawk Belt
Crafted - 6xHeavy Knothide Leather, 16xWind Scales, 12x Primal Air, 2xPrimal Might, 1xPrimal Nether - You must be a tribal leatherworker to wear this item and you must craft it yourself
Please note: the Life-Step Belt has been removed as a heroic badge (60xBadge of Justice) reward and put into the ZA loot table.

Cloth
Lifeblood Belt
Craftable - 5xBolt of Netherweave, 4x Knothide Leather, 3xPrimal Water, 3xPrimal Life, 2xNetherweb Spider Silk (Edit: This item was removed from the game. Blizzard sucks. That is all.)
Cord of Belief
Drop - Heroic Slave Pens - Mennu the Betrayer
Primal Mooncloth Belt
Craftable - 4xPrimal Mooncloth, 2xNetherweb Spider Silk, 8xPrimal Life - You must be a Primal Mooncloth Tailor to wear this and you must make it yourself
Cord of Sanctification
Drop - Heroic Old Hillsbrad Foothills - Epoch Hunter