Reports are coming in from players of the current build on the Public Test Realm that the technique of using one or more on-use +Healing trinkets at the start of a Lifebloom stack and then keeping that stack “rolling” past the duration of the on-use effect has been nerfed. Players are saying that the first application of Lifebloom after the effect expires is resetting the +Healing value of their Lifebloom. While this may in fact represent a correction to the creative but unintended use of game mechanics, it is also a “nerf” to a healing technique widely employed by many Druids.
For those who were holding out hope that this change was accidental, it has since been confirmed as intentional by Community Manager Salthem (EU):
Lifebloom: When this ability is refreshed it will take on the strength of the incoming Lifebloom effect, rather than maintain the existing strength.
Edit #1: There seems to be a common misconception that this change will adversely affect all HoTs which can be refreshed before being allowed to expire (ex. Renew, Rejuvenation, and Regrowth). This is not the case, however, as Lifebloom is the only HoT which “stacks up” and thus was the only HoT that was affected by +Healing trinkets in this way. So while this is a reduction of Druid healing output, it affects only a portion of our healing (albeit, what is often the largest portion).
Edit #2: There have some been some excellent (if heated) comments regarding this change made here, of which I am very appreciative. Sheshonk of Duskwood (US) has also posted what seems to be an insightful post on why he is strongly opposed to this change, mechanic correction or not. I think that it’s worth a read, even if you disagree.
I’m probably behind the times on this one, but I recently discovered a quick and easy change that I can make to the interface options that has has greatly improved my soloing ability — and one that will likely be a big help when I start PvPing again. This is the Auto Self Cast toggle on the Basic interface options tab. This causes any helpful spell you cast to be cast on you by default should no other target be selected (be it a standard target, a mouseover, a focus target, etc.).
I started doing Daily Quests just last week. My interest was piqued after doing a couple of the Cooking Dailies and seeing my total gold jump up for so little effort. I now /kick /kick /kick myself for not having started doing them sooner as I’ve made a little over 700 gold in just a week or two. I’m sure the novelty will wear off sooner or later, but for now I’ve been working on a technique to do Blade’s Edge Mountains Daily Quests while I dry my hair in the morning since I sometimes don’t have time to do them before raids.
This is a pretty common dilemma faced by healing Druids when we first begin running Heroics. On the one hand, our Restoration tree (pun intended) encourages a more passive HoT-based style of healing. This style works great in raids where you can provide a nice buffer against spike damage on one or more targets while still retaining your ability to throw Lifeblooms to raidmates who take only occassional damage. But in Heroics, you will often find yourself hard-pressed to keep up with the high damage output of many of the trash mobs leading up to bosses (in my experience, most of the bosses are only marginally more difficult than their non-Heroic counterparts). For many of these mobs, the +Healing total you’re likely to have when first starting makes it near impossible to keep up through Lifebloom, Rejuvenation, and Swiftmend alone. Access to Healing Touch is a near essential.
