A Second-Chance Evaluation

On Tuesday, our talent points were refunded again. This meant I had two characters with dual specs to point up. Bellbell was easy; I'm still trying out healing on her, so she went Retribution and Holy. Bellwether, I talented her first spec PvE resto and then...

Left the second slot blank.

When 3.1 came out, I was all excited to try out feral tanking on Bellwether. I had a full, though somewhat shoddy, feral tanking set. However, having not played feral but three short times in two years, I wasn't feeling keen on pugging a group as a tank. I didn't feel confident, and, as odds would have it, the majority of my friends are tanks and dps. They never need me to be anything but a healer. And everyone else is always in Ulduar.

As well, I am now focusing a lot on Bellbell and trying to get her decent gear so she can pump out some decent DPS. She's hit capped, a somewhat easy feat for Draenei with a hit racial, but her crit, ap and expertise leave something to be desired. Getting groups as a DPS is very painful, and often times the experience is so awful I'm beginning to suspect that my successes pugging on Bellwether were largely due to my own knowledge of my class.

So now I have an empty talent slot and few ideas what to do with it. A possibility is Boomkin, as it is always fun to typhoon people off of things and have a tree mafia. However...I am always irked by weak heals when I am on my Druid. Completely bothered by it. So, if I do dual-spec Resto, there are a few options...

• Use my second spec as a different healing spec. One will be a raid focus, one will be a tank focus. Odds are there will be only variable output, but have slightly different styles and focuses. However, as I am not in a serious raiding guild, the likelihood that I need something so micro-managing is minimum to none.
• Dreamstate! Decent damage dealing, decent healing, impressive mana regeneration, and I'm still a healer! It would be nice to finally try out the (in)famous Dreamstate spec and see what it has to offer.
• Spec for PvP Restoration. Though I don't have an active arena team and PvP is a rather scary place of burst damage right now, I've been wanting to get back in. I've been considering an experimental double healer team ("considering" meaning it was proposed to me last night and sounds hilarious) and so PvP may be the way to go.

Now, I'm not giving up on the other aspects of Druiding. I still have the oft-neglected Feralicious who will continue being Feral forever. I have spec'd Moonkin for an achievement (Less-Rabi) and I do enjoy other aspects of being a Druid. But Resto is definitely my choice, always.

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.

AMG HALP ME BELL-WAN-KENOBI

Recently I was sent an e-mail a fellow blogger named Doodle, the author of HoTs & DoTs. The following e-mail conversation could be helpful to those who are a little overwhelmed, spec-wise, and with some comments on gear.

So I just got recruited into a Sunwell raiding guild... and since you're the only resto drood I kinda know, I am gonna bombard you with questions. LOL

Is 5/0/56 the preferred Resto build right now? Is Elitist Jerks still the best theory-crafting place to look at? What would be the first thing you'd change, looking at my armory:

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Kael%27thas&n=Doodlebug

Thanks in advance for your help! ^_^

Since 3.0.2 there are a lot of options open for resto druids. I have to run to class, but after I'm done I'll be sure to send you links to a bunch of talent trees I've made up; there's a lot of options.

Pre-3.0.2 boss health nerf, I would have said you were woefully undergeared for Sunwell. However, that's no longer the case. If you have the badges, pick up the chest and/or pants that the SSO blacksmith offers. If you don't mind PvP, I'd pick up a Guardian or Vindicator's belt; I've used mine since Kara and way into BT (I still have it). A lot of bosses are health-oriented; I would get stam or stam/movement increase on your boots unless you think you're going to replace them very soon (in which case, don't bother). You've honestly done very well gemming and enchanting yourself; the little bit of stam is negligible, but can help.

Have to get to Philosophy and then Research and Design Analysis II, but afterwards I will most certainly have some specs for you.

Good luck with Sunwell!

♥Bellwether

Yay! Specs would be awesome. I'm thinking basically a 5/0/56 --- Genesis looks nice.

Not sure yet what the overall plan is, but I'm excited to be in a progression-guild!

For badge stuff: do you mean these? —

• Shroud of Nature's Harmony
• Grovewalker's Leggings

I'm scared of doing 40 ABs, but that belt is sex-ay.

Thanks for your help! ^_^

Here's some specs...if you have a moment, can you link me what your 5/0/56 spec is, exactly?

10/0/51
This spec is good overall. Boosts up just about everything, and gets you Wild Growth. It ignores some of the nice Balance talents, however, and doesn't really go into the Healing Touch talents.

14/0/47
This spec is really neat, in my opinion. It's about getting the talent to increase the duration of your HoTs so you have more time to throw out other heals before refreshing them, and increasing the crit chance of those heals to add Seeds of Life. Also, those crits will increase your cast time of your spells, so you can add even more into the mix. When I go back to resto, this is probably what I'll be. Downside is: no Wild Growth.

28/0/33
This is a dreamstate build. Its focus is on mana regen, period, and it isn't that great right now unless you're having a real problem with keeping your mana pool up. When you can invest 10 more points in at level 80, it'll be a mana machine, but right now it's missing a lot of important things like ToL form, Emp Rejuv, and full points in Living Spirit. However, it's really versatile if you find yourself in situations where you're not always healing, or need to fill multiple roles.

Yes to the chest and legs. They're pretty awesome; on par with Hyjal and BT gear. The legs actually beat the leather equivalent that drops off of Shade of Akama. And yes, PvP belts are sweet, unless you can manage the one from the ZA timed chest, which is better.

ARRRGH! I lost a roll on the belt last week! QQ

Here's the spec I was thinking of:

5/0/56

What do you think?

Ha, I've never even seen the belt drop. The ferals in my old guild all had it, though. ><

It's a nice spec, but I've heard Gift of the Earthmother is kind of a filler, and Replenishment doesn't proc enough to be worth the points. May consider putting them somewhere else. However, it'll work, and I see nothing wrong with it :)

(All links and information were posted with Doodle’s full permission, and the title is the subject of his e-mail. All references to Jedi from long ago in a galaxy far, far away are his fault. I claim no Jedi powers whatsoever, even if I can move things without touching them, through Typhoon.)

(Quick Edit: Doodle, Wyrmhide or Kodohide for the Guardian's belt will work.)

Indecision, Patch 3.0.2

So, I have a lot to talk about and little time. The patch came during Midterms week, and I'm still recovering. Honestly, I am a very, very tired druid that could use some time in the Emerald Dream. Perhaps a week, at the least. Unfortunately, that's not an option and I shall continue to run around like a chicken with her head cut off until Thanksgiving break.

Now, 3.0 hit and I became lost, confused and overwhelmed rather quickly. I was never in beta and my PTR kept erroring upon download, so I couldn't even muck around there. When the patch hit, I had to hit the ground running.

Pre-patch, I had used WoWHead's druid calculator to create ten or more different Resto specs. I had Dreamstate specs, levelling specs, raid healing, crit healing, mana conservation, five-man, ten-man, and all sorts of specs, both ingenious and ridiculous. And the night before the patch I sat there, going through the links, looking them over, picking through them and pretending there wasn't an exam I needed to study for (I think I aced it, though).

Then the patch came and I specced Moonkin.

The original idea was to spec Doomkin and test it out in arena with a warlock partner. However, midterms and my partner's work schedule (as well as my work schedule) cut our available time down. Then Hallow's End hit, and I'm much more concerned with getting a Squashling and Hallowed Helm than I am with playing in Arena (I lost the pet and broom twice in one run! and the helm in another! injustice!).

Spell power is just as confusing as it I thought it would be. I am in possession of over fifty different pieces of spell power gear, and no Outfitter to organize them for me. I haven't had time to download and fiddle with Closet Gnome, and I find myself hunting through my bags and manually clicking on various different pieces of gear depending on what I'm doing and what I hope to accomplish. That and the introduction of spell power has completely nerfed off-spec healing, but I suppose that's just a minor quibble.

At the moment, levelling a ret paladin (Divine Storm is gorgeous), a warlock, and a priest, combined with trying to sort Bellwether out, is just completely overwhelming. Besides that...I really miss being a healer. I imagine I'll be trading in my antlers for branches quite soon.

Though, Typhoon + Tree Mafia? Hella good times.

New Talent Trees: I am SO Excited

So, Wowhead put up the new talent trees (as I'm sure everyone is aware of by now), and I've been playing with them. I've had very little internet time as of late, which is why I feel a bit tardy to the party, but I have to say:

Wow.

A lot of this stuff is crazy. I can see Moonkins becoming actual vital parts of raids instead of the liability lots of raiding guilds see them as. Still no talented threat dump, but perhaps a trainable one will appear. Otherwise, I can see it still being difficult to get them into raids without gimping their dps at times to keep from pulling aggro. There's also a sort of odd jump for them in the Restoration tree if they want "Master Shapeshifter" - They'll need to take a few points in either a distinctly feral or distinctly resto talent to get there, which isn't optimal at all. I can plainly see a few "PvP" talents, such as "Owlkin Frenzy" which works off the player taking damage.

Ferals are getting scary. Looking at what they can do, I can't imagine there will be too much Arena QQ. The ability to remove all loss of control effects on your character and be immune to them for the duration of "Berserk"? Adding an infected wound, being able to hit up to three targets with Maul and Mangle, being refunded energy for a miss on a finishing move...just intense, imo.

The Restoration tree does not disappoint either. Especially with one certain thing I noticed...


There is no longer any movement impairment effect in the Tree of Life tooltip.

HUZZAH!

There's a little blip in the talent progression: If you take Imp MotW and Nature's Focus, then Subtlety and Natural Shapehifter, followed by Intensity and Master Shapeshifter, and then take Improved Rejuvenation, you are left needing one talent point in something to progress further down the talent tree. Since ToL still doesn't have Healing Touch available to it, there's a question as to where you put this free-floating point.

The first thing I thought of when I saw the talent "Replenish" was the Reliquary of Souls fight, with the Essence of Anger. The tank in that fight has to dump their mana/rage as fast as possible, as Anger does an attack which burns it from them and gives them a high amount of damage. If there are any fights where this occurs, having the "Replenish" talent could actually be a detriment. Though, of course, I'm sure these situations would probably be few in number.

Overall, I'm excited to try each and every one of these trees when WotLK comes out, and I can't wait until I'm healing with a Flourish.

/drool