WotLK to Redress Druid Shortcomings
May 21, 2008Categories: Spells and Talents, Wrath of the Lich King
In December of last year, Community Manager Eyonix requested feedback about potential changes to the Druid class for the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion. I took the opportunity to share my own thoughts, reprinted below for reference:
Primary Talents: Restoration
Content Pursued: Raiding, Heroic PvE, Arena PvP
Areas Needing Improvement:
- Raid stacking: Presently Restoration Druids bring very little that is unique to the table that cannot better be contributed by a Feral or Balance Druid. It is sometimes more desirable to have Feral or Balance because of their superior auras and, in the case of Ferals, willingness and ability to give their Innervate to someone else. Paladins and Shamans are almost always a better addition to a raid given what they can bring to the table (Blessings and Totems).
- Viability as a group healer. Druids need a standard resurrection spell available to them to be viable 5-man healers. Being forced to look for a Shaman, Paladin, or Priest to bring along to instances is an unfair restriction imposed on no other healer.
- Itemization: If WotLK continues to emphasize Spell Haste as an item stat, Druids will continue to have points wasted on a stat which affords us little benefit. Either make HoTs benefit from spell haste in some way, provide alternative drops which do not include this stat, or do not itemize in this way.
- Aesthetic Customization: Unlike players of other classes, Druids do not progress aesthetically as their gear improves due to our frequent use of forms. This problem is especially pronounced for Feral and Balance Druids but does effect Druids who make frequent use of ToL. It would be more enjoyable if the appearance of our forms changed as certain stats considered “core” to those forms increased.
Spells and Abilities Needing Change:
- Tree of Life Aura: This aura is often discarded in favor of another aura benefitting the tank more. It is nowhere on par with the benefits afforded by a Feral or Balance Druid to her respective groups. Change the aura back to the way it was at inception (benefitting all healers within a group) and prevent it from stacking. As it is, Tree of Life is a very limiting form providing only its mana reduction benefit when it can actually be used.
- Mark of the Wild is widely regarded as a worthless buff that provides very little to a raid as a whole. A rework of this buff (and it’s corresponding Tier 1 5/5 talent, Improved Mark of the Wild) would help make Restoration more desired by raids. At the very least, the resistances provided by this buff should be made to stack with the other, more powerful auras.
- Innervate: A core ability of our class and essential in longer Arena matches, it is extremely vulnerable to dispel by other classes (Priest, Shaman, Warlock, Hunter) and almost invariably worth the mana it costs to take it from a Druid. This ability should be made more difficult or not possible to dispel.
- Lifebloom: As it is, there is no penalty for dispelling the first or second stack of Lifebloom if a Druid has 3 stacks running. Any stack that is dispelled should be changed to bloom in the same way as the last, ensuring that this HoT performs the function that seems to be intended (dispel protection for a class whose usefulness as a healer is tied to its ability to keep one or more HoTs running on groupmates).
Interestingly, Blizzard has already made improvements in several of the areas described above. Spell Haste was made to be a more viable stat for Restoration Druids with the change that made it capable of reducing the Global Cooldown, giving us greater flexibility in terms of spell rotations. The mana cost changes to Regrowth combined with the increased value of Spell Haste helped increase our ability to respond to splash damage via direct heals rather than HoTs that are more likely to get overwritten. Large improvements to our Spirit- and Intellect-based mana regeneration made giving away our Innervate more plausible, increasing our stacking value. Any PvP-changes to Lifebloom being dispelled proved to be … unnecessary.
A wealth of information from the Family and Friends Alpha was leaked and released today, including full alpha-stage talent trees for the Druid class (also here)! While I am incredibly excited for all the titillating information I’ve come across, I am too timid to reprint it here, for fear of NDA violation. Be sure to note everything you might want to know from the reconstructed talent tree because there’s a good chance Blizzard will ask that it be removed. Without reprinting word-for-word tooltips, here are a few of the best parts:
- Bloat Reduction
The first few tiers of the Restoration tree are being reworked to reduce bloat and give more viable options when making selections. Improved Mark of the Wild has been changed to require only two points instead of five, and the actual improvement has been increased from 35% to 40%. Nature’s Focus has been changed from a 5-point to a 3-point talent and moved into Tier 1 of the Restoration tree, allowing newly minted Restos to see an immediate improvement to their healing effectiveness. Similarly, Subtlety has been reduced from five points to three and is now available from Tier 2 of the Restoration tree, making it much more accessible to Balance-specced Druids. All of these changes taken together makes Natural Shapeshifter a more feasible choice which is good because it is now required to unlock a new, 2-point talent that increases healing done while in Tree of Life by 4%. - Improvements to the Tree of Life Aura
Several major changes to the Tree of Life are mentioned including the talented 4% boost to healing mentioned above, a talented 360% armor increase, and a new effect called Bark’s Blessing. Bark’s Blessing is a blessing conferred on any target you’ve healed within the last eight seconds while in ToL that increases the +Healing from healing spells applied to them by 25% of your total Spirit (30% when talented). This means that Druids will no longer be relegated to the typically caster unfriendly tank group! Interestingly, the armor increase may make the form more viable in PvP but at the expense of all mobility. - Additional Improvements to Existing Talents
In addition to the bloat-reduction, Resto Druids can look forward to a 5-minute cooldown on Tranquility thanks to the new Improved Tranquility talent which retains its threat-reducing component and also reduces its cooldown by 50%. - Increased Emphasis on Spell Crit
We may find ourselves with a new focus on gear with spell crit rating as several new synergistic talents and abilities have been mentioned including Living Seed, a new 5-point, Tier 10 talent that reads: “When you gain a critical effect from your Swiftmend, Regrowth, Nourish or Healing Touch spell you have a 100% chance to plant a Living Seed on the target for ?% of the amount healed. The Living Seed will bloom when the target is next attacked. Lasts 15 sec.Spark of Nature, a new Tier 8, 3-point talent increases the crit chance of Swiftmend and Nourish by 15%.(removed) In combination with the additional 50% spell crit from 5/5 Improved Regrowth, Druids can expect to see (and enjoy) many more spell crits. - Nourish a “True” Flash Heal
The description for the new, untalented Druid Healing spell Flourish reads “Heals a friendly target for 1550 to 1800. Heals for an additional 387.5 to 450 if Rejuvenation is on the target.” The size of this heal brings it in line with the Paladin’s Flash Heal without the HoT component of Regrowth and with added “punch” when cast upon a tank (who is more likely to have a Rejuvenation effect on him at any given time). Thanks to reader Sheshonk for the heads up! - Druids to Regenerate Mana, Rage, Energy
Falling in line with the idea of Druids as the regenerative healers, Restoration Druids can now elect to pick up the 3-point talent, Replenish which gives each tick of Rejuvenation a chance to to restore 10 Energy, 4 Rage, 10 Runic Power, 2% mana. Now we get to turn people down for Innervate and Rejuvenation! - Flourish as a Counter to Overhealed HoTs
Our penultimate, Tier 11 talent Flourish “Heals friendly party or raid members within 10 yards of the target for 665 over 7 sec. The healing is applied quickly at first, and slows down as the Flourish reaches its full duration.” It’s essentially a HoT-based version of the Priest Circle of Healing that is essentially front-loaded so that the majority of its healing will be effective and less likely to be overwritten by spells like Prayer of Mending and Chain Heal.
Please remember that the above changes should not be considered as anywhere close to what we’re likely to see with the release of the expansion. However, they go leaps and bounds toward correcting many of the issues mentioned by players on the class/spec feedback thread in December (lackluster ToL aura, talent tree bloat, lack of a unique raiding niche). If we see even half of the changes outlined above, I will certainly be foregoing earlier, insiduous plans to spec for Lunar Guidance, Moonglow, and Swiftmend simultaneously. I’ll take Goddess-mode, Elune-form instead, thanks!
For Runycat’s take on the leaked alpha notes, see her article WotLK Talent Speculation. Graylo shares a Balance-d perspective (heehee) over at his blog, Gray Matter. And also be sure to check out everyone’s favorite big-bottomed ursine’s commentary on the new Feral talents.
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@Graylo: Oh, my mistake!! I’ve adjusted the description to be more clear.
May 21st, 2008 at 3:37 am
That may be all well and good, but mages get to be the bomb in WotLK in a good way.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:15 am
That mage talents will be interesting to see in PVP
Thanks for this article
It explains the relevance of all the new talents very nicely 
May 21st, 2008 at 4:47 am
I was wondering how long it would take for you to put up opinions on the leaked trees.
These changes seem really interesting; we’re getting new kinds of healing spells that are still in line with the idea of druids as walking healing stream totems. Frankly, the thought of being able to regenerate mana/energy/rage/runic power with rejuvenate makes me tempted to pull my druid out of storage.
” Resto Druids: we make your tanks ANGRY! ”
First Regrowth gets buffed, and now this. Just think; by the time WotLK comes around, you might have to start using spells other than Lifebloom! /shock /horror /grin
Also, the addition of the armour bonus to ToL form has piqued my interest. Perhaps Blizzard is trying to make ToL more effective in battlegrounds by giving us the shiny new AoE HoTs and better survivability.
Now, you need to get Currant to post what he thinks of the leaked feral trees! It has been far too long since we’ve seen him’s happy bear mug! Personally, I’m lamenting the loss of my “Rawrbomb-capable Healtree” spec. :’(
Incidentally, you can’t violate an NDA you didn’t sign. The person who leaked it *did* violate it, but (I presume) you have no agreement with Blizzard that precludes you from linking or reposting it.
Disclaimer: I Am Not A Lawyer.
May 21st, 2008 at 8:09 am
[...] (Though, nothing as dramatic as what we saw in TBC, yet.) Druid Healing Meanwhile, Resto4Life comments on the restoration side of the talent trees, and the mood is a lot more upbeat. It seems that [...]
May 21st, 2008 at 8:39 am
Almost everyone is missing a key component of the Flourish description - it heals “friendly parties OR RAID MEMBERS…” - finally, droods are getting an AOE heal that ignores party boundaries much like chain heal. Super cool.
May 21st, 2008 at 8:41 am
I’m still disappointed. After the CM snub concerning out of combat rezzing, I am left feeling hollow (not pun intended) as a tree druid.
I’m disappointed that we need a full expansion to ‘fix’ bloat in our talent trees. These changes should be made in incremental patches before the expansion.
While I like the new healing abilities so far, especially a seemingly useful AOE heal for raids (as one would expect ‘new’ things from an expansion), the lack of an out of combat rez doesn’t help our utility outside of raids.
May 21st, 2008 at 8:56 am
loving the new feral talents, but have to be lvl 83 to get all the talents i need ::cry:: but that 50 points feral talent and the infected wounds are delicious an primal agresion <3
I am very happy that i discovered this blog
Thanks for posting this!
May 21st, 2008 at 9:25 am
Malthrin posted what the new wotf spell Nourish does on the EJ Boards.
http://elitistjerks.com/752065-post1033.html
“Nourish- Heals a friendly target for 1550 to 1800. Heals for an additional 387.5 to 450 if Rejuvenation is on the target.”
Not only do we get a legitimate raid heal via flourish, but a flash heal as well. An OOC rez is useful, but doesn’t add to raid viability, I’m so happy they didn’t mess up our 51 point talent by making it an OOC rez.
May 21st, 2008 at 11:59 am
Couple of things, assuming this “leaked” info is correct.
1. Moonkin won’t pick up Subtlety anymore because affects Resto spells only. It does change Natures Reach so that reduces threat also how ever.
2. I am not a lawyer either but my wife is. You are not subject to a NDA unless you have personally entered into one. So unless you are playing in the Alpha you are not subject to it. I have not reviewed the ETOS recently but I doubt there is a NDA in their. The reason most sites are not disclosing the info is because they don’t want to make blizzard unhappy. If blizzard is unhappy then said sites don’t get interviews, Press access at Blizzcon, and other nice things. So unless you plan on expanding this website significantly you probably don’t have to worry about the NDA.
3. I will be posting a review of these talents on my blog but I must admit I am underwhelmed by most of the changes in balance. I think a lot of them aren’t that great or are so goddly that they wont survive.
Graylo
PS I posted an analysis of Spell Damage vs Spell Hit on my blog if you want to check it out.
May 21st, 2008 at 12:39 pm
thebigbearbutt.com has a review of the feral talents. Should still be the first post.
Everything is looking oh so tempting right now! Do I stay feral for WotLK or do I go back to my healing “roots”?
Decisions, decisions.
May 21st, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Have you actually built a new talent spec?
I did. Unless tranq and HT get super buffed and will be used often. I think I had over 15 points wasted.
I know that when I was moving up the tiers. I had 1 point to spend to get to the next tier. But nothing useful to move it to.
The talents and abilities sound amazing. I’m looking forward to them. But Unlike every other class resto droods again get F’d in the talent tree department. (yes this is alpha and yes it will change. My opinions are on what they are right now.)
I tried to build my pvp spec including all the new talents that sound amazing. I had no access to feral charge.
When I built my tree I avoided all HT and Tranq. Assuming they will be as useless then as they are now.
—————————–
As for your e-mail of problems. I have alot of issues with what you state.
Every guild i’ve been in won’t let boomkins raid. They can’t control threat and go oom fairly fast. Their crit is amazing and everyone loves it. But they dont break enough. Ferals are needed in most raids. I can’t remember the last time I raided without a feral drood somewhere. The feral droods i roll with do ALOT of damage. and save the raid alot usually. Yes shamans and pallys are better for what they bring buff wise. But resto droods do what they can’t. Keep hot’s on tanks and party members.
I agree we need a rez. But I haven’t had issues too much in that area when I was doing 5 mans. (we generally had a shadow priest or a paladin or something.)
In all the guilds i’ve been in we put druids with TOL into groups that will need the bonus healing. It might not ALWAYS be the tanks group but generally we have one in there. What tank needs spell crit? Yes LoP is good for tanks. But healing is more important.
I didn’t know the mark doesn’t stack with auras. That sounds like a bug. But mark is a very valuble buff. Provides armor, ap, int, stam, dodge, parry, etc. etc. etc. For a hybrid class thats ALOT of useful stat increases. If +6 to stats on chest is worth the money. A free 35 to stats is amazing right?
I disagree with your thoughts on innervate. A mage can evocate and that is MUCH easier to stop then an innervate. There should be a fix so we can last as long as pallys and priests though. (for pvp that is).
As I can’t see from the point of view of how you see things. I’m just pointing out my observations on what you stated. Everyones experience will differ right
Its a good article that made me think
Always enjoy that.
May 21st, 2008 at 2:13 pm
@ Sephran
“Every guild i’ve been in won’t let boomkins raid. They can’t control threat and go oom fairly fast. Their crit is amazing and everyone loves it. But they dont break enough.”
Is this a pre-BC comment that just now got posted?
Obviously no raid needs a moonkin, but to say they can’t control threat and go oom fairly fast, shows that you guys haven’t paid any attention to the changes that have been made in the past year and a half. Many top guilds include moonkin in thier raid groups including DnT before they broke up recently.
I tend to be in the top 5 or six on the DPS charts aslong as there is no AoE in the fight. I will admit that I am better geared than some of the people I am beating, but there are several examples of Moonkin toping DPS charts for guilds that have been clearing BT for months.
May 21st, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Goodness, I have a lot of homework to do! So much is changing with the Tree. It will be interesting to see how we work all these new talents into our now-general Lifebloom rotations!
Good work, Phae
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:55 am
Earlier today, thottbot posted up spell data from the alpha build, though it was quickly taken down. It was up long enough to see some of the new spell scalings.
Mark of the wild - rank9
750 armor, 37 all attributes, 54 all resistances (untalented)
talented would be 1050 armor, 52 all attributes, 75 all resistances
These values can (and likely will) change somewhat, but MoW seems to be a very respectable buff in the latest patch version.
Also, keep in mind that as of now the new flash heal ‘Nourish’ won’t be usable in tree form as the description of tree form only casting hots and the few other spells hasn’t changed.
Also, lifebloom goes all the way up to rank 3 at lvl 80, unfortunately the mana cost rises significantly, to 430, quite a jump from 220 (rank 1), while the base healing increases to 441/970 from 273/600 (rank 1).
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:12 am
Chain Heal - After the initial target is healed, the healing effect will jump to the most damaged target (by absolute health) within range. In addition, if a raid member is the initial target it will look for valid raid targets to jump to rather than non-raid targets as a priority, making it consistent with group targeted Chain Heals.
patch notes are fun but they don’t make them like they used to.
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:17 am
I am now doubting…. atleast 51 points in resto to get “Flourish” or 48 points (3/5 “living seed”, 0/3 ToF buff, (how need 360% armor in tree)) and “lunar guidance” (+24% int bonus and healing and dam.)
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:21 am
[...] maybe-if-you’re-lucky changes for Druids and I wish I hadn’t, cause now I WANT THOSE! Phaelia has a nice listing of the considered Resto changes so far if you’re interested but [...]
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
@Crythia: Ba-dum-bum-ching! Mr. Phae has been disappointed with what’s been revealed for Arcane Mages so far, given how good the stuff has been for Resto Druids. However, Frost is looking pretty … COOL.
@Luke: I’m glad you think so, and you’re welcome. =)
@Itsnoteasy: Well, you wouldn’t believe the lengths I went to in order to get access to a computer and a connection. I was still out of town when this information came up on my Blackberry. The things I do for you! =)
And yeah, I think the Replenish talent is really neat if a little frightening. I personally don’t want to be someone’s Rage/Energy/Runic Power/Mana bitch. It will be really nice for tanks, though (who will ordinarily have Rejuvenation up). The changes to ToL armor are great; we’ll be able to opt for high armor and the ability to heal (ala Paladins) or mobility. Interestingly, Warlocks will be a counter to Tree of Life PvP, Paladins will be a counter to Warlock pets, and Paladins are a counter to Druid mobility-based PvP. Druids really ARE expected to be better at the myriad facets of their class than everyone else!
I’ve asked Currant to comment on the talents, too, but I think he’s pretty busy lately. T_T
@Astroglide: YUMMY raid healing! I can’t believe we might get that, too. Green blob of slime, anyone?
@Darkfalstaff: To be honest, if we even get MOST of what’s outlined here, my cries for an out of combat resurrection are going to be pretty muted (though I certainly won’t object). I found out today that Roots may be available INDOORS, allowing Resto Druids to heal and provide a form of crowd control. That DEFINITELY frees up a spot for a hybrid rezzer like a Shadow Priest or a Retribution Paladin.
@Sheshonk: Thanks for that - I’ve edited the original post to include that information, too.
@Graylo: Interesting! I wonder what made them decide to move it further down the tree if it’s only going to affect healing spells. I look forward to reading your review of the talents (and I enjoyed your Spell Damage vs. Spell Hit article).
@Donjo: Thanks for pointing that out. I’ve edited the post to include a link to his impressions. It’s odd you are looking at Restoration as a Feral. I’m actually looking (likely fleetingly) at Balance; some of that stuff looks REALLY fun, especially if they get the ability to Root Indoors!
@Sephran: 15 points wasted? As in “15 points that I HAD to put into Restoration that I’d rather not”? I did not experience that personally; I pretty much was shocked to find I wouldn’t have to waste ANY points (but then again, I’m really excited about 5-minute Tranquility since we’ll be doing SO MANY 5-mans in WotLK). I personally think this proposed Alpha talent tree is AMAZING (no bloat, old talents reduced to fewer points required, no need to pick up HT talents). It IS going to gimp the mixed Resto/Feral PvP builds (or at least prevent those Druids from getting the nice stuff at the end of the Restoration tree), but I don’t think that’s a terrible tradeoff to require. Assuming respec costs don’t go up, changing for PvP and PvE will be trivial in WotLK.
As for my original post regarding the issues with the Resto class, keep in mind that it was written from my viewpoint at the end of last year. I think many of those issues have either been dealt with, are being dealt with, or are less pronounced today. I agree that Mage Evocate is more of a problem than Druid Innervate in PvP, but that doesn’t mean that Druid Innervate isn’t a problem, too. =) The “stacking” issue for Restos *IS* definitely currently a problem, but I think that it will pretty much become nonexistent if many of the above changes go live in WotLK.
@Bellwether: <3 Yeah, I’m wondering how I’m going to fit all these new spells onto my Nostromo!
@Sayari: That’s defnitely breaking news - thank you for the headsup! I’ll have to make a post specifically to share that information (for those who don’t follow all the comments here). And it’s lame that Tree of Life can’t use Flourish. T_T
@Yakub: I’m afraid I don’t follow what you mean…?
@Thalosar: What are you doubting? I’m not interested in picking up Lunar Guidance and Moonglow now, not with the amazing stuff at the end of our Restoration tree. I used to be anti-61 points in Resto, but I’m going to be hard-pressed to find the points I’d like to have in Balance for Insect Swarm and Brambles anymore (options are a very good thing).
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
It looks like the page is no longer visible…
But from what I saw earlier, there will be a couple of styles available to the druid from just one spec.
The Tree of Life HoT Style- basically what it has been in bc: stack lifeblooms, ad a rejuv and regrowth and/or swiftmend when needed.
Flourish raid healing- flourish the raid when needed and you could probably still keep a lifebloom stack and/or rejuv on the tank.
Non treeform healing- keeping a rejuv or a lifebloom stack on the tank while using Healing Touch and Nourish to spot heal. (I have actually done this with HT when I was under-geared and it worked pretty well. I would probably use this more in five mans just to change up my style, but I see it possibly being used in raids or pvp too, depending on the situation.
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Phaelia, the new spells are names far too similar; already causing confusion and they aren’t even official yet.
Trees can use Flourish (instant cast AoE hot), they cannot use nourish (1.5 sec cast, single target heal).
Spell 48438
Name: Flourish
Description: Heals friendly party or raid members within $a1 yards of the target for $o1 over $d. The amount healed is applied quickly at first, and slows down as the Flourish reaches its full duration.
Description2: Heals $s1 damage every $t1 second.
Spell 50464
Name: Nourish
Description: Heals a friendly target for 1550. Heals for an additional $/4;s1 if Rejuvenation is on the target.
Description2:
I was also surprised at the very large boost to thorns.
Spell 46766
Name: Thorns
Description: Thorns sprout from the friendly target causing 140 Nature damage to attackers when hit. Lasts $d.
Description2: Causes $s1 Nature damage to attackers.
Talented (with brambles) it would be 245 damage per hit (and have a 15% chance to daze the attacker), that is a huge boost to the utility of thorns.
Also, according to the mined data files replenish doesn’t work with flourish, just rejuvenation. The user-made talent tree had that mistake in there and now it’s everywhere.
Spell 48545
Name: Replenish
Description: Your Rejuvenation spell has a 10% chance to restore $48540s1 Energy, $/10;48541s1 Rage, 2% Mana or $/10;48543s1 Runic Power per tick.
Description2:
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
@Georgelikeman: Yikes - scary. I keep checking my mail, afraid I’ll get contacted asking me to take this information down (or worse). So far, though, they seem to not be talking to bloggers. /nervous
@Sayari: WOW at the revised Brambles. Can you tell if it’s possible to get both Flourish and Brambles?
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Yes. I see the rumors going that roots is now castable indoors as is nature’s grasp. That’s awesome. If that change sticks into the final product, that would definitely help druids get some positive attention for small groups assuming we’ll never see an OOC rez come our way (or at least not before Blizzard jumps the shark).
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:58 pm
To Phaelia:
Started reading your blog about two months ago, and I love it! Thanks for all of the information tips and tricks you’ve posted. I’m a much better Tree because of it. =) This is my first comment! ^^*
To Phaelia & Sayari:
Who knows how all this may change…but as far as I can tell Nourish -will- work in ToL form. This is taken off a link Phaelia provided in this entry (http://urlshort.com/wotlk/site/viewspell.php?spellid=33891). It’s also repeated at http://wotlk.wikidot.com/.
Spell 33891
Name: Tree of Life
Description: Shapeshift into the Tree of Life. While in this form your movement speed is reduced by $5420s2% and you can only cast Swiftmend, Innervate, Nature’s Swiftness, Rebirth, Barkskin, ***Nourish,*** poison removing and healing over time spells, but the mana cost of these spells is reduced by $5420s3%. Your heals also grant friendly targets your Bark’s Blessing, increasing healing done to them by $5420s1% of your total Spirit. Bark’s Blessing lasts 8 sec. The act of shapeshifting frees the caster of Polymorph and Movement Impairing effects.
Description2: Immune to Polymorph effects.
I added the “***” for emphasis, but it clearly states there Nourish, along with HoTs (which would include Flourish) are available.
I must agree, though, that the new stuff has to many “-ish”es (nourISH, flourISH, replenISH). It all sounds like the same thing.
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Leiyan
You are right, I made the same mistake I pointed out earlier, I was reading from a user-made talent tree instead of from the spell files directly. It does indeed appear that trees can cast the nourish ‘flash heal’.
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Also, no one seems to have pointed it out yet, but dreamstate was moved up the balance tree. It’s now posible to get dreamstate (along with lunar guidance and moonglow) and tree form together. While you miss out most of the newer resto goodies (better crits and aoe hot) you will have more +healing power and regen/efficiency (and you can even get a few points of replenish as well).
There are some interesting 28/0/43 and similar builds you can make with this.
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:38 am
@Darkfalstaff: I think they kind of had to let us use indoor Roots as Death Knights are getting an ice ability that roots. They’d never impose such a stupid restriction on their new baby.
@Leiyan: I’m very, very happy that Flourish will be usable in Tree of Life. I was wondering why they’d introduce yet another Healing spell that couldn’t be used in our healing form. And thank you for reading and commenting! I hope to see more of you.
@Sayari: Wow … that would be pretty tempting, especially with the buffs that Balance is getting and while levelling up. Still, I think the healing spells and the new stuff related to Tree of Life sounds like too much fun to pass up.
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Preparing to be flamed. Being a shaman, I just just hope that my one spell I do have that’s any good doesn’t get overwhelmed with tree druids. I mean, hots are your niche, I respect a Resto druid for that. However, being a shaman, yes we have AOE healing but giving every other class AOE healing and not giving us some of our abilities to compensate would suck royally. Other then buffs, my class would be useless if they can have every other healing class do something just as effectively as I can. The other two healing spells I currently have are about as lovely and mana efficient as your Healing Touch. Please, just don’t overwrite my niche!
June 9th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
@ALoneWolf: Well keep in mind that all of these changes are in Alpha. I’m sure that Blizzard will give Shamans some shiny new toys if only to try to break them out of the mold of constantly Chain Healing (which I can only imagine to be more mind numbing that maintaining multiple Lifebloom stacks).
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:34 am
They haven’t given us indoor roots yet; don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.