Incredible, shocking, awe-inspiring changes to the Balance Tree. The changes summarized below were derived from a comparison of the recently updated official talent calculator to the not-yet-updated WoWHead calculator for WotLK.

• Tier 1
  • Nature’s Grasp is being made a base ability for all Druids. « Source »
  • Nature’s Grasp been replaced with Genesis:
    Genesis (5-point talent)
    Increases the damage and healing done by your periodic spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Tier 2
  • Control of Nature is being rolled into Nature’s Focus. « Source » 
  • Control of Nature has been replaced with Moonglow.
  • Focused Starlight has been removed from the game and has been replaced with Nature’s Mastery:
    Nature’s Mastery (2-point talent)
    Increases the critical strike chance of your Wrath, Starfire, Starfall, Nourish, and Healing Touch spells by 2/4%.
  • Nature’s Mastery, is now the pre-requisite for Nature’s Grace and Nature’s Splendor.
• Tier 3
  • Nature’s Grace and Insect Swarm have swapped Tiers. Nature’s Grace is now in Tier 3; Insect Swarm is now in Tier 5.
  • Nature’s Spendor has been added to Tier 3:
    Nature’s Splendor (3-point talent)
    Increases the duration of your Moonfire, Insect Swarm, Rejuvenation, Regrowth, Lifebloom, and Flourish spells by 10/20/30%.
• Tier 4: Celestial Focus no longer reduces casting time lost while when damaged but instead grants 3% spell haste.
• Tier 5
  • Insect Swarm and Nature’s Grace have swapped Tiers. Insect Swarm is now in Tier 5; Nature’s Grace is now in Tier 3.
  • Moonglow has been replaced with Improved Insect Swarm:
    Improved Insect Swarm (3-point talent)
    Increases your damage done by your Wrath spell to targets afflicted by your Insect Swarm by 1/2/3%, and increases the critical strike chance of your Starfire spell by 1/2/3% on targets afflicted with your Moonfire spell
• Tier 6: No discernible changes
• Tier 7: No discernible changes; change so that Improved Faerie Fire only affects spells not yet made to talent calculator
• Tier 8: No discernible changes
• Tier 9: Typhoon base damage increased from 400 to 516-517.
• Tier 10: No discernible changes; change so that Earth and Moon grants 13% additional damage for all schools of magic not yet made to talent calculator
• Tier 11: No discernible changes

I’ll leave the primarily Balance-focused changes to authors like Graylo to explore in depth. It’s shockingly apparent to me, however, that I’m actually going to have to make some tough decisions about how I will spec for Restoration. Insect Swarm has been moved entirely out of my reach, and Nature’s Grasp has been made a base class skill at 100%. I can’t possibly pass up the benefits from Genesis, Moonglow, Nature’s Mastery, or Nature’s Splendor. Nature’s Grace, formerly a talent that required a complete paradigm shift in your healing style, is now a perfectly attainable talent, requiring a mere 11-point talent investment. All told, Phaelia’s Balance investment will likely total 14 points:

• 5/5 Genesis
  Increases the damage and healing done by your periodic spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• 2/2 Nature’s Mastery
  Increases the critical strike chance of your Wrath, Starfire, Starfall, Nourish, and Healing Touch spells by 2/4%.
• 3/3 Moonglow
  Reduces the mana cost of your Moonfire, Starfire, Starfall, Wrath, Healing Touch, Regrowth, and Rejuvenation spells by 9%.
• 1/1 Nature’s Grace
  All spell criticals grace you with a blessing of nature, reducing the casting time of your next spell by 0.5 seconds.
• 3/3 Nature’s Splendor
  Increases the duration of your Moonfire, Insect Swarm, Rejuvenation, Regrowth, Lifebloom, and Flourish spells by 10/20/30%.

This forgoes the 3% spell haste from the revised version of Celestial Focus which is something I’m not sure I want to do. All in all, a very interesting dilemma!

Related Posts

• Leveraging Insect Swarm as a Healer
• Talent Spec: Leveling Restoration/Balance
• Moonfire Spamming Your Way to 80 in Wrath

I haven’t been documenting the recent commentary and Blue posts related to powershifting, so to catch you up to speed, here is a quick summary:

1. Powershifting was an unintentional game mechanic whereby a Feral Druid at 0 Energy would shift out of Cat Form and back in to gain the 40 Energy from Furor. The ability to do this was limited by the Feral Druid’s mana pool, of course, but it was a common tactic in both PvE and, to a limited extent, PvP. « Source »
2. The change to Energy so that it refills “smoothly” rather than in ticks eliminated the ability to gain an occasional extra “free” tick of Energy depending upon when you triggered a skill.
3. A change was made to allow Energy to continue regenerating while outside of Cat Form. The original intention was for the amount of Energy to cap out at 40 with 5/5 Furor, but as a result of a bug, it capped out at 100. This explains Runycat’s comments last night about being able to shift into Cat Form with full Energy. « Source »
4. Furor has subsequently been changed to have the following effect:

Gives you 100% chance to gain 10 Rage when you shapeshift into Bear and Dire Bear Form, and you keep up to 100 of your Energy when you shapeshift into Cat Form, and increases your total Intellect while in Moonkin form by 10%.

This means that with 5/5 Furor you will no longer lose Energy from leaving Cat Form and will continue to regenerate Energy as if you had remained in form. « Source » I asked well-known artist and Feral Druid Andrige for his thoughts on this change:

With this change Ferals will no longer have to count on the fairly unreliable and unintended mechanic of the design of Furor. Instead, Ferals suddenly got a boost when it comes to versatility between forms at the loss of the “powershifting” mechanic. This change comes at the cost of PvE where this mechanic was a lifesaver (all Ferals who play seriously should know that), but I believe tweaking the proc rate of Omen of Clarity and the cooldown of Tiger’s Fury could make up for it.

Some Druids have clamored that this change will be a substantial nerf to their PvE viability, including Beta Tester Odz who writes:

Furor was always a PvP talent that a PvE Feral could make use of through powershifting. Moonkins complained that there was nothing for them in the first tier of Resto to get as they worked their way toward Omen of Clarity so now you’ve changed Furor to help them but left PvE ferals out in the cold because there is NOTHING in the first tier I would take. Devs just seem to band-aid everything and create more problems as they go along instead of fixing the main issue which Feral and Balance Druids having to invest ANY points at all into the Resto tree to be viable.

Let’s see what this talent has now become shall we:

1. It’s now mainly a Moonkin talent as they get the most benefit from it.
2. This slightly fixes the fact that Devs broke the talent and what [Ferals] end up with now is a consolation prize which will greatly reduce PvP burst potential as Energy is no longer on-demand below 40 Energy.
3. A PvE feral druid who wants OoC and Master Shapeshifter will have nothing in T1 of Restoration to take –only Naturalist in T2 – but will be forced to take Natural Shapeshifter, a talent which could have been justified if powershifting were still in the game but is now dead weight just to get to Master Shapshifter.

I don’t see this getting any better as long as you don’t address the core problems inherent with having to invest any points in Resto to begin with.

I’d love to hear from Feral readers (and anyone else, of course) about how you feel this change will affect you, both in PvE and PvP.

Balance Druids are celebrating this change as it provides a much more attractive way to spend five points in Tier 1 of Restoration. Of course, this means that buffing Gift of the Wild will more than likely fall solely upon the shoulders (boughs?) of Restoration Druids, but let’s try to look on the bright side. Apparently, it’s possible to pick up Omen of Clarity without spending five points in T2 of Restoration, so Balance Druids can continue to help us buff. My mistake!

For another Dyed-in-the-Fur Feral’s opinion of the removal of powershifting, I encourage you to read Alas Poor Powershifting, I Knew Thee Well by Tigerfeet of Secret Agent Cat.

Related Posts

• Omen of Clarity
• Balance Tree … Uprooted and Transplanted
• Guest Post: Moonkin Mana Regeneration

Note: As the Tree of Life aura was subsequently increased to a 6% bonus, this post is no longer relevant.

As briefly mentioned and discussed in my previous post, Blue: Changes to Buffs and Debuffs, a significant change is being made to the way that Tree of Life aura will function in Wrath of the Lich King. It will no longer afford benefit based on the Druid’s total Spirit but instead will function in the same was as a Paladin’s Improved Devotion Aura, providing a flat 3% increased healing to the raid. Although it was stated that the values listed were considered maximally-talented, it remains unclear whether 3/3 Improved Tree of Life will be required to meet the 3% bonus or whether it will afford an additional .45% bonus. Either way, this change will affect all spells based on their +Healing coefficient (or their corresponding spell power coefficients).

The TBC Tree of Life aura was a flat +Healing bonus that scaled with Spirit. It’s value decreased as +Healing increased, assuming Spirit stayed constant. Assuming they increased at the same rate, the value stayed the same. The WotLK aura is a multiplicative bonus that will instead scale with +Healing.

To help better explain the significance of this change, let’s consider two spells called DirectHealage and Hawtness. At your current +healing, DirectHealage derives 25% of its total amount healed from +Healing while Hawtness derives 75%. If you were to boost your +Healing by 8%, DirectHealage would get a 25%*8% = 2% total boost. Hawtness, on the other hand, would get a 75%*8%=6% total boost. With the new aura, both spells would simply get 3%.

This means that spells with high coefficients (Lifebloom, Chain Heal) will be nerfed by this change while spells with lower coefficients (Nourish, Regrowth) will be buffed. We can use the following formula to determine how much Spirit would be required under the current Tree of Life aura  (25% of Spirit converted to +Healing) to match the new aura’s bonus:

Spirit = 4 *(((+Healing * +Healing coefficient) + base healed) * aura bonus) / +Healing coefficient

By applying this formula to the 3% and possibly 3.45% auras and using numbers previously determined in Direct Heals in Wrath, we can graph these values of Spirit at increasing values of +Healing.

Assuming you have somewhere in the neighborhood of 600 Spirit and 2000 +Healing at the conclusion of TBC, this change represents a nerf to triple-stacked Lifebloom and Chain Heal – two spells with the highest +Healing coefficients – and a buff to both Nourish and Regrowth. Although the base amount healed is also a determining factor, you can generally expect heals with higher coefficients to have been reduced in effectiveness by this change while those with lower coefficients to have been increased.

Related Posts

• Direct Healing in Wrath
• MP5 vs. Healing
• Nordrassil Raiment and Regrowth

Edit 11:34 MST: I had to make several significant updates to this post as I missed some important changes in my hurry to meet my instance group. Please reread the following, and sorry for the confusion!

For Graylo’s Balance perspective on these changes, I encourage you to check out his recent post Raid Stacking in WotLK.

A significant change to the way buffs and debuffs will stack is being made, ostensibly to make raid composition more fluid and less subject to optimizing every slot. Developer Jimmythenumbers explains:

As Ghostcrawler has been posting recently, we’ve decided to make a change in the way we allow buffs and debuffs to stack exclusively in a raid. For the most part, what this change means is that many buffs and debuffs which were previously allowed to stack together no longer can, and that many buffs and debuffs which only a single talent specialization could bring can now be brought by multiple different specializations. The philosophy behind this change shows up in many of the changes we have made in Wrath of The Lich King, such as when we made almost all buffs raid-wide. We want players to be able to form raids and parties based on who they want to play with, rather than who has the correct talents and abilities to min-max their raid performance. Raid composition will still matter to some extent, but without this change, it would have overwhelmed every other aspect of raid planning (as we added new capabilities to each of 30 different talent trees). You no longer need to rigidly control the melee/spellcaster balance of your raid, or make sure every group has all the critical buffing classes, etc. This change has many class balance implications. Before we are done, we will thoroughly test the performance of every class. Do not assume that the classes’ current performance relative to others in the beta is final. Some classes (and specializations) will need to be reduced in power and some increased. Many will complain the change has more impact on class X than class Y. We will address all those concerns via our internal testing and community feedback.

He goes on to detail that 30+ new buff/debuff categories are being created, within which only the most powerful of the effects will be affect raid members. Here’s a breakdown of the categories affecting Druids:

• Armor Debuff (Minor): Faerie Fire (1260), Sting (Hunter pet) (1260), Curse of Recklessness (800)
• Melee Critical Strike Chance Buff: Leader of the Pack, Rampage (5%)
• Bleed Damage Increase Debuff: Mangle, Trauma (30%)
• Spell Critical Strike Chance Buff: Elemental Oath, Moonkin Aura (5%)
• Increased Spell Damage Taken Debuff: Ebon Plaguebringer (13%), Earth and Moon (13%), Curse of the Elements (10%)
• Increased Spell Hit Chance Taken Debuff: Improved Faerie Fire, Misery (3%)
• Percentage Haste Increase (All Types): Improved Moonkin Aura, Swift Retribution (3%)
• Melee Attack Speed Slow Debuff: Infected Wounds (4% x 5 = 20%), Judgements of the Just (20%), Thunderclap, Icy Touch (15%)
• Melee Hit Chance Reduction Debuff: Scorpid Sting (5%), Insect Swarm (2%)
• Healing Debuff: Wound Poison (10% x 5 = 50%), Aimed Shot (50%), Mortal Strike (50%), Furious Attacks (25% x 2 = 50%)
• Attack Power Debuff: Curse of Weakness (416), Demoralizing Shout (410), Demoralizing Roar (406)
• Stat Add Buff: Mark of the Wild
• Percentage Increase Healing Received Buff: Tree of Life (25% x Spirit), Improved Devotion Aura (3%)

In the above list, I’ve bolded the buffs or debuffs with the highest positive or negative effects and reordered them in terms of greatest benefit to least benefit. In the case that two entries are listed in bold, their effects are equal but only one will be active at any given time.

Other significant changes being made to talents and abilities include:

I will also list the changes to abilities which exhibit new behavior regardless of the exclusive categories. The changes usually mean the old behavior was removed and replaced by the new behavior. Numbers listed are for maximally-talented versions. Here is that changelist:

• Improved Moonkin Aura: Grants 3% haste of all types.
• Earth and Moon: Increases spell damage taken from all schools by 13% on the target.
• Improved Faerie Fire: No longer benefits melee and ranged hit chance, only spell hit.
• Tree of Life: No longer grants healing based on spirit, grants 3% increased healing received to raid.

Tree of Life aura will no longer stack with Improved Devotion Aura. This is especially significant with the simultaneously-announced change whereby Tree of Life grants 3% healing in the same way that Improved Devotion Aura does. If it’s true that the above changes are for maximally-talented versions of each ability, there will be no raid-wide benefit to having a Tree of Life if a Paladin with 18 or more points in Protection is present.

If, on the other hand, the 3% is solely for Tree of Life and does not include the 15% bonus from Improved Tree of Life, a Druid with 44 or more points in Restoration can have an aura at 3.45% strength. This is a very important distinction, and one that I hope is clarified soon. And while I would certainly prefer that our spec-defining form trump the 18-point Paladin talent, it’s kind of sad to think that taking a point in IToL will invalidate a Paladin’s 3-point investment in IDA, making the talent almost superfluous (although it will still afford an additional 600 armor).

It looks like Shaman’s Elemental Oath is being reduced from 6% to 5%, making it equal to the +crit benefits of Moonkin Aura (at its previous value of 6% it would have trumped Moonkin aura). The change to Earth and Moon is great, an increase from 6% stacked to 13%, presumably with a single application. Unfortunately, Insect Swarm’s chance to hit debuff will no longer be useful in raids where at least one Hunter is present; Scorpid Sting will overwrite it. Obviously, though, its DPM makes it more than worth having for any raiding Balance-specced Druid.

A further implication of this change is that only one aura from any given class will be active at a given time. In other words, the Restoration Druid with the highest Spirit will be the only one whose aura is effective when not trumped by Improved Devotion Aura. Whether or not this would end up being the case, was previously the subject of much debate that can now be put to rest.

While I feel the goal of this change is an admirable one (making all classes more equally desirable), I believe that it will actually have the opposite effect. If several classes can provide the same buff (or debuff), raid leaders won’t have to worry as much about raid composition. But worrying about raid composition to optimize the stacking of buffs and debuffs has previously created opportunities for many classes and specs that might have otherwise been passed over. If everyone has roughly the same utility, then you will only want the classes/specs that excel at their primary role (DPS, healing, tanking). If Balance and Feral can’t match the DPS of their parent classes, Mages and Rogues, and yet no longer provide any unique utility, what will be the point in bringing them along?

Related Posts

• Salthem: Mark Buff "Relatively Small"
• “Fake” Patch Notes Not So Fake after All
• Forum Watch: Class Feedback for WotLK Solicited

I don’t know about you, but whenever I set out to create another alternate character – even the occasional Sunday morning dalliance on the Horde side – I like to be as prepared as possible. I think because I don’t yet understand the class or how it plays, I try to give myself every possible advantage to reduce the amount of time spent running back to my body (maybe that’s why I gravitate toward Night Elves). I’ll sew up backpacks, purchase THE perfect non-combat pet to complete my character’s ensemble, and send a care package with 100 gold to get her started off on the right foot – or hoof, as the case may be.

This paradigm of preparedness can similarly be applied to your first journeys into Northrend. Here are a few steps that you can take now to help make the transition as smooth and fun as possible:

1. Clean out your bank and inventory.
   Bag space is always helpful while questing, so get rid of anything that you no longer need. (Eee! Not my Armani Boots of the Bandit! *clutches*) A few things you can safely toss include:
   • Specialized mana/health potions. You aren’t going to need the Coilfang or Tempest Keep variants of healing or mana potions. Assuming you don’t need them for guild raids, you can safely dispose of them. The same is true of zone-specific flasks.
   • Quest items. Get rid of these, either by completing their associated quests or abandoning them.
   • Reputation items for factions with whom you are exalted. Sell these if you can since they will have little value once Wrath goes live.
   • Certain off-spec items. If you’re a Restoration Druid, you can safely toss out any off-spec Balance gear that’s of a lesser tier than your primary Restoration set. You might want to save any items that have an abundance of spell crit or spell hit for evaluation after the change to spell power.
2. Stock up.
   On the other side of the fence, there are a number of items you should consider collecting before the expansion:
   • Tradeskills. If you have any production tradeskills, stockpile the essential materials for the recipes that can still provide skillups past 375 before the prices go through the roof at release. Everyone can benefit from storing some Netherweave to make bandages, for instance, and using your surplus will allow you to save your Frostweave cloth for skillups (or selling for obscene profits) later on.

   

   • Consumables. Consider stockpiling a few stacks of your favorite elixirs. These stack to 20, so 2-3 stacks is probably sufficient. Don’t forget to consider what type of fish you’ll want to bring with you to instances. Along these same lines, collect a few stacks of fish that will be useful to your primary leveling spec. If you’re planning to go Balance, good choices are [Golden Fish Sticks] or [Poached Bluefish] (both grant spell power).
   • Item enchants. Collect a few of the cheaper item enchants (like armor kits) to use on items that would be upgrades over your existing gear if enchanted.
   • Fish hooks. During my brief forays into the starting zones, I’ve discovered that – while not incapable of fishing without a lure – I don’t appear to be able to catch anything. Fishing also seems to be taking considerably more successful catches to improve your skill on beta than in live, so try to account for this and collect more lures than you might otherwise.
   • A riding crop. Riding crops work as item-based enchants in the expansion. Right now, you must apply them to your mount before you memorize it or you won’t be able to apply it later. Since you won’t initially be able to use Flight Form in Northrend, you’ll want to save a Riding Crop to apply to your Frost Saber or Kodo.
3. Purge your quest log.
   Get rid of the dozen or so quests you have left from Blade’s Edge Mountains, Netherstorm, or Shadowmoon Valley. Even if these quests could potentially yield experience once the expansion goes live, it’s unlikely that you’ll want to spend any more time in Outland once Northrend is available.



4. Buy a sturdy pair of boots and a warm coat.
   It’s cold in Northrend. Consider a pair of [Ear Muffs of the Hierophant].
5. Spend your Arena points.
   These won’t carry over once you’ve reached level 71, so start planning how to spend them optimally and plan how many weeks you’ll need to play to acquire any items you still want.
6. Create a checklist of addons.
   Go through your addons directory and make a list of those addons you want to make sure to have up and running in Northrend. Separate them into "MUST HAVE OR I CANNOT PLAY" and "This make my life easier" categories. For those in the former category, scope out some alternatives in case your favorite isn’t up-to-date and available on day 1. Set aside a bookmark folder with links to the places you can download the latest versions.
7. Research and complete achievements.
   If you plan to participate in the Achievements system, there are many that you can complete before the system is made live. A good example of these are the exploration achievements which should be fairly simple to complete with Swift Flight Form. Obviously, this is a fairly "fluffy" step to prepare, so do the more constructive things listed above first.



8. Plan your spec(s).
   Although the upcoming 3.0 content patch will come with a free talent reset, you may want to use a different talent spec for leveling. You may also want to plan another talent spec for instancing (ex. if you plan to level Balance but suspect you’ll be healing in instances). Having both of these fleshed out will make accepting an instance invite but a Teleport: Moonglade and Summoning Stone summons away! You can plan your specs via WoWHead’s WotLK talent calculator.
9. Winterize your mount.
   Frost Sabers should be fine, but Kodos are indigenous to the plains and may have trouble.
10. Reserve your Death Knight name.
    If you’re planning to make a Death Knight, nab the name you want before the trillion other players create their Death Knights. Try to avoid choosing names like "Fluffykins" or "Squigglebottom" to avoid being smote by Arthas.
11. Get Maps.
    Install a map addon that allows you to toggle the fog of war (ex. Cartographer or Mappins). If you’re the type of player who likes to have something in your hand, you can print maps for the WotLK zones through Curse.com.
12. Bind abilities.
    Abilities like the once-again insta-cast Soothe Animal, while previously not useful in a raiding environment, will serve you well in Northrend. Consider how you’ll make it – and other abilities like it – accessible. Don’t forget to save a spot for Revive!

Related Posts

• Mailbag: Leatherworking vs. Tailoring in WotLK
• WotLK Restoration FAQ
• Spell Power, +Healing, and Coefficients