I have not seen the ‘reduction beyond 2′ data anywhere except in Sylv’s commen, so if we could beg/plead/tickle Sylv into providing a link or a demo movie that might help us understand a bit better I think.

I’ll quote wowwiki here on a few of the finer points:

Apparently if mobs resist, the other mobs get more damage for that tick up to the cap. Also, crits seem to be able to exceed the cap for the mobs which are critted. (or maybe there is a crit cap also which just hasn’t been reached)

Example:

Let’s make a fictional AoE spell with a stated damage of 200 and an (unstated) cap of 2000.
1 mob = 200
2 mobs = 400
10 mobs = 2000
11 mobs = 2000
181.8 each.

Now add +1000 damage gear at 40% effect to damage (+400).
1 mob = 600
2 mobs = 1200
3 mobs = 1800
4 mobs = 2000
500 each.
11 mobs = 2000
181.8 each just like before

@ Sylvanra- Totally agreed. Balance Druids already make a fantastic aoe “tank” for when a Prot Pally isn’t in the group. Hurricane’s cooldown removal, and the addition of an instant cast unchanneled aoe, will only improve this particular underused utility. I’m curious though, about how it is that Starfall lowers in overall DPS, as the number of mobs increases. Could you please explain for those of us who are less knowledgeable? If I remember right (I’m at work so I can’t check), each star has a splash damage effect, so I’d think that numbers would really begin to pile up on an aoe pull with it, if the mobs are packed tightly together (and they should be) This would not, of course, be the first time I was wrong, not even the first time today.

@Zaira- I agree completely that Shamans have a totally different healing approach and style, and god bless ‘em, they’re fantastic. I was just thinking that a large part of their unique flavor could be totally subsumed by ours, and, at the previous healing value, we could conceivably have done their role and our own simultaneously, to a degree. The last thing I want to see is a buff on our part that hurts other healing classes. Not that they become inviable, but less desirable to the point that they are always second choice. I’ve spent too long feeling as though I were at the bottom of the healing totem pole (pun intended) to wish that on another class. I feel that right now, overall, the healing classes are fairly balanced, and I’d like that to continue, if not improve. We healers gotta stick together!

@Runycat: Ah, thanks for explaining!

@Frogs: You could always try it out while leveling. I know several Resto brethren (not to be confused with Resto-kin) are planning on doing the same!

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a beta invite so that I can really test this nonsense out.

Runycats last blog post..So, what are you wearing? Creating alternate gear sets.

Sylvanras last blog post..Ask Moon Chicken: Leveling as Balance

@Kaera: I think 15-yards will be perfect in 5-mans (with the exception of fights like Kael’thas in MgT). My concern is mostly with regard to 25-man raid content where raidmates are frequently assigned to “clock” positions to avoid too many people standing on top of one another. In these type of encounters, your best bet may be to use it on the MT so that it hits him, any OTs, and some melee since it’s also going to bolster Nourish on those targets, too.

@Zackoria: Haha, yeah. Rocket kitty looks so tempting. I might just have to go 0/21/50 for PvP in the expansion!

@Werebeef: Not a bad idea. There’s a lot of speculation on MMO Champion that they simply made mistakes when updating their talent calculators (seriously, how hard can it be? Learn to log-in-to-beta-server-and-write-down-talent-descriptions). For instance, the current preview actually includes the old value of amount healed for Flourish again!! In addition to changing the first tier back to having Nature’s Focus/IMotW. Seems like some of this WAS a mistake! I will happily print a “retraction.”

@Yggdrasil: Shhhh … don’t use the “over”powerful word on a Druid site. It looks like ALL healers are getting some form of AoE healing in the expansion, even the Paladins with their “Bacon” of Light. It makes me worry about how much raid-wide damage we’re going to be expected to handle since Druids have traditionally been focused on tank healing as our primary role.

@Khrule: The pictures of shadows I’ve seen have been very, very nice. Unfortunately, my system probably can’t handle them. =/

@Sylvanra: Interesting contrast between Shaman Thunder (oh god, I can hear the cheesy emotes now) and Typhoon. And Starfall DOES seem weak when compared to spells like Blizzard, but perhaps it’s intent is to fill a different niche than our now cooldown-less hurricane. We can only hope. =/

@Zaira: Interesting theory about the Mangle cooldown change. Mage Slow only affects ranged and casting attacks. Thunderclap has been in the game since forever. It’s possible that it’s been changed because of some new idol that’s going to be introduced, but I hate it when they nerf something so that they can give it back to you in the form of a new ability or equipment. They used to do that a lot in EverQuest 1, and it was very frustrating.

@Thalosar: Thanks for asking that question; it helped me think about how I would probably end up using that spell which will probably affect where I map it, as well (right now I’m thinking of mapping as an alternate of my Lifebloom key since they both have the same cooldown).

@Andurial: Indeed, it looks like they’ve been “tweaked” back to where they were. ^_^ Um … huzzah!