@Drun: That’s great to hear. I’m looking forward to five mans.

@Phaelia Well being able to cast it (healing touch) in tree form, and havening it’s casting time at 1 second before haste both really make it usefull. Wild growths buffing is going to bring that spell up into good usage also, On the PTR, it starts at about 400 on the first tick, and ends around 200 per tick, to give you an idea Lifebloom on live is 279 per tick. Wild growth is truly a good heal, and it costs in the 400 mana range too (in tree form)

@Jezzabell: Ah, thank you for the clarification on the circumstances of your test. I have always enjoyed the Bear fight as a tree!

@Lovemace: Yeah, sheesh! You guys are super talkative lately! I try very hard to respond to each and every commenter at least once per thread. I’m happy that you noticed. Thank you for the compliments!

Wow you really do put some insane effort into this site, just look at that massive page of replies!

Much respect.

In the druid community, I’d say you possess great mana. In the Maori culture of New Zealand mana is a quality that someone has due to a combination of great wisdom, courage, dignity, integrity and cultural knowledge: similar yet more complex than the concept of “honour” in western tradition, and tied into ideas of spirituality.

Kinda fitting with the blue bar and the whole idea of the druid class, eh?

Definately the Queen of Druids.

If you want to see the 2 heals that were under swiftmend (only 1800 total for healing) http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo19/Drun_of_fusion/WoWScrnShot_100208_180548.jpg The last one listed LifeBlood is not a druid spell, it is our new herbalism spell heals for 1200 over 5 seconds self heal only, and it does look like our spell power does affect it.

@Yggdrasil: Well, I don’t think that Blizzard intended for Tree of Life to be as situational as it has come to be regarded. I believe they didn’t realize what a handicap that speed increase would be and thought it merely “flavor” since the Tree looks kinda grumpy.

@Karthis: I am surprised that you consider Berserk to be so situational. It might look like it’s only going to be useful on trash pulls or the rare multi-mob boss encounter, but it also removes the GCD on Mangle for 15 seconds. That’s potentially some crazy threat, especially if you’re getting smashed (and dodging getting smashed) and generating rage like you’d expect to for a boss fight. *Enrage* *Berserk* *MANGLE MANGLE MANGLE* *RAWR* *???* *Profit*

Also, you would probably be surprised at how “chill” the above post was given how I was feeling yesterday morning.

@Nilianil: I was in agreement with you about GC not listening … until this morning. I’m so happy that it feels like they DID listen to some of the … more sane forum posts. And it’s nice to see Nourish tweaked so that it can better stand on its own two feet without having to nerf everything else in comparison.

@Wynn: Druid Queen? I’m not sure if that’s a real title. What about “Gnarly Old Oak”? Haha … I’m gnarly. Oh god, that’s got to be a new blog byline …

@Drun: That new thread luckily garnered a very positive response. Thank you for posting it.

@R4L: Don’t underestimate Living Seed and Omen of Clarity. I’ve actually found both mechanics to be pretty fun (plus OOC just sounds awesome). I just wish there were some talent that made Nourish proc LS as often as I can rely on Regrowth.

@Amradorn: NOoooooooooOOOoooooOOOOOOoooooooo… Interestingly, the changes to our Improved Auras so that Spirit grants Spell Power means that a Boomkin gets extra spell power … but only when they lose access to heals, and a Tree gets extra spell power … but only when they lose access to nukes. I actually think that’s a really clever mechanic that further sets the two apart (and has the added benefit of allowing them to share Spirit/Spell Power leather). P.S. Thanks for sharing that post from the Shaman forums; I hadn’t seen it, and it was very interesting.

@Lheaf: You aren’t the only one considering a Dreamstate build. To do that now, you would sink the 28 points into Balance, leaving you with 43 to spend in Restoration. That’s still enough to pick up ToL and either 2 points in IToL or Living Seed (which of the two you chose would probably be based on whether you used Regrowth as your primary direct heal). That’s actually not too shabby, but it depends on how useful WG ends up being after its recent improvements. Don’t reroll!

@Zaira: I found the beta forums initially to be very pleasant. As the number of voices grew, however, they became more and more calamitous, making it harder and harder to find something constructive. It looks like they managed to find a few pearls of wisdom in the pigsty, though. (That or they recrunched their numbers.)

@Flynx: I agree. More and more, Lifebloom became a supplement to the other heals we cast. They still show up as a large portion of our effective healing, but only because it was easy (if boring) to roll them for the fight’s entire duration. I fear it may be too expensive to do this on more than 1 or 2 people with the increased mana cost, though.

@Paedolos: Blizzard has done an incredible job designing WoW. However, they’ve also had the benefit for the player community providing feedback and crying out when a change seemed to go overboard. Who’s to say the game would be as well balanced if there weren’t a way for players to provide feedback?

@Balderun: “Donkey Balls” totally needs to be a new Feral ability.

@Copey: What is this nonsense about “other options than Healing”? That’s crazy talk and won’t be tolerated here, mister! Seriously though, switching specs or rerolling a new main character are not options for me. I’d probabaly quit the game first! On the other hand, I am trying to PL a baby Feral in my spare time (which is pretty much nonexistent atm)…

@Kellwin: I agree. They set super awesome high expectations to begin with then hacked away at us until there was hardly anything fun left. Hopefully they’ll throw us a few more bones before release.

@Sydera: I have been checking WoM over and over waiting for your article!

@Kelerain: Thanks for the heads up!!

@Emee: Pewpewlazers on your mage? At least go pewpew Boomkin. Psh!

@Lovemace: Yeah, I LOVE seeing DPSers complaining that healing is too powerful/it’s too hard to keep healers from healing in Arenas. Do they just expect healers not to play (I guess they work hard at keeping us from doing so)?

@Natarumah: I’m actually curious whether they’ll switch off the beta servers altogether once patch 3.0.2 hits. It seems like maintaining two separate environments would be a real headache.

@Cisko: Thanks for the info and the link. I myself would rather not see Lifebloom become “optional” because I worry that it will still be expected even if it sucks … well … “donkey balls” as Balderun puts it. A Tree who refuses to roll LB will probably be ostracized from her raid group, even if doing so does kill her mana and serve little purpose. Either an increase to its HPS or an increase in HPM would go a long way toward alleviating that worry.

@Eggo: Omg … I think that would probably be the first Blue-targeted protest in the history of WoW.

@~the1jeffy: As others have pointed out, the fact that Druids CAN fill other roles does not and can not mean that we should operate at X% efficiency within those roles. In a game with 51-point talent points, hybrid specs that would ostensibly allow you to fulfill multiple roles are simply not as viable as they were in vanilla WoW. Unless you intend for Druids to be completely undesirable in endgame raids, they must be competitive with their role counterparts. And besides, ALL healers are hybrids with at least one DPS spec. Druids aren’t somehow more deserving of a handicap because they have the potential to choose from a greater number.

@Wynn: I’m hopeful that the new Omen of Clarity and the Replenishment ability from Survival Hunters/Ret Paladins/Shadow Priests can replace what we would have otherwise gleaned from chain potting. I’m not entirely opposed to the removal of that mechanic, as it was a) expected and b) expensive!

@Kelerain: Hey, don’t let me stop you doing/sharing any theorycraft! I’m simply too busy IRL right now to do much more than post new, my impressions, and general silliness. Hopefully things will calm down for me soon.

@Jezzabell: Thanks for running those tests and sharing your results. That’s about what I would expect though I admit that I was surprised to hear that a Priest fared better than a Druid on the Bear boss in ZA. I guess Priests don’t typically chain Flash Heal, though. Interesting, nonetheless. Please, don’t get me started on Brain Heal… even when Druids WERE relying primarily on multiple stacks of LB for effective healing, it was still a LOT harder than using Chain Heal.

@Yggdrasil: Rationale is overrated. And banana shortpants.

@Spectrum: Thank you for the feedback on other 51-point talents. I admit only passing familiarity with those abilities, but what I’ve been reading has lead me to believe that many of these new skills are a lot of fun and quite useful. (For instance, Fury’s 51-point talent Titan’s Grip is visually stunning if a bit too handicapped right now.) Even WITH The rebuff to Wild Growth, I think I’d still rather something more interesting and spec-defining. Although I admit that Flourish made healing in 5-mans a LOT more fun!

@Nilianil: What do you mean it’s a myth that we don’t roll our faces across Lifebloom macros? I personally had “QWERTY” tattooed on my left cheek so I’d know where to start my faceroll maneuver…

@Drun: You give some nice tips for Heroic MgT. Thank you for sharing. I’ve edited your post so that it doesn’t come across so confrontational, though. I’d rather not see people throwing around monikers unless they’re meant playfully.

Point by point.

Meters matter for two things. One, this is the only way non-healers can grade you. And Raid Leaders will grade you on that and it will be justified. Because two, if you are not able to provide a reasonable amount of HPS, fast and correctly, (because that is what meters show – whose heals did the most good) you are not needed. You might be a great healer but if everybody else overwrites you, you are not needed, you are a waste of a raid spot and better bring another DPS/healer/tank that will ease the fight. I don’t mind being low on the meters in TBC because that means I was too busy providing that life-saving buffer. But if my buffer ain’t enough to make a difference (*ahem* 1k HPS at 35k HP tanks?) then it is not needed. Ergo, I am switching to tank/spot healing. Which is not that bad if not for the typical “druids have to be subpar to pure classes” Blizz statement. Also, a buff to WG and Nourish doesn’t mean a buff to out HoTs. LB is still useless and Rejuvenation will always fail as a buffer HoT due to 3 sec ticks. Last on this point – I am not complaining about mana efficiency. I am actually happy about those “problems” if they allow healers to be selected more on mana conservation skill than “how fast can you push YOUR 90% heals spell macro”.

Point two. “And yes the fact that our class can meet/beat the pure classes at each and every role is a huge testament to our overall OPness”. I just told you that we can’t meet, even less beat the pure classes if player skill is equal. I am not usually a forum junkie so I can’t provide a link, but GC himself said that the target DPS of the boomkin is 10-20% below that of “pure” caster classes. Which, personally, I find unjust because of previously stated reasons (not to mention that druid specs have really complex mechanics due to our forms).

Third. They test on the beta, not on live realms. Feedback from 3.0.2 will be even more whiny due to less stimulated for constructive feedback population. And imagine all the “noise” on forums with literally a million people whining.

Actually, due to druids having the strongest HoTs (come on, give that to Priests now too?), KT should be really easy on you. Beginning is all about DPS downing the Phoenix right. The levitate phase might be problematic but a Rejuv/LB combo on each of the party members should keep them alive till landing (and you can do that while swimming, mobility ftw! Can a CoH priest do it? Nope.) If someone gets in trouble, just Swiftmend them. After that you can choose either to Regrowth everybody to full health or be lazy and pop Tranquility. Rinse and repeat till DPS finish him off. See? A fight where we use all our healing spells (NSHT too, if you get in trouble).