MMO-Champion.com and World of Raids have posted images of the new Violet Eye recipes that will be available in patch 2.2. Among the additions is a new Flask recipe:

Compare this with the Druid class buff, Gift of the Wild:

Apparently Blizzard missed the article about how underpowered our class buff is relative to those of other buff-casters and decided to create a Flask that’s essentially a Druid-in-a-bottle, almost perfectly mimicking the stat bonuses afforded by our Gift of the Wild (10 more of each resistance, 4 fewer to each stat, and no armor). Something tells me, however, that the Flask’s resistances will stack with Paladin, Hunter, and Priest resist buffs. Then again, maybe they’re planning to change Mark but wanted to ensure that the buff (as horrible as it is) is still available to players in some form.

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Hydrar of Uldaman has created an amazing spreadsheet that automatically calculates many healing stats including HP, MP, +Healing, MP5, and tick values for Druid Heals over Time. Possible inputs include “race, gear, set bonuses, gems, meta gems, socket bonuses, talents, buffs, and enchants.” It promises to be an amazing resource with future plans to include calculations for Healing Touch.

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Preliminary patch notes for Patch 2.2 have been released, with no mention of the promised Voice Chat and Guild Bank features so one can assume that the patch either isn’t completed or that these two features will be coming prior to the release of 2.2. Like most major patches, extensive revisions are being made to most classes. Here are the changes included which effect the Druid class:

• Cat Form (Night Elf) melee attack range was too short compared to Tauren Cat Form and other attack ranges. It has been increased.
• Cyclone: It is no longer possible to Cyclone two targets at the same time in the outdoor world.
• Cyclone: Paladin Auras, Trueshot Aura, and Aspect of the Pack will now be automatically reactivated when Cyclone wears off of a victim who had one of the abilities active.
• Enrage: If this buff is clicked off early, the armor penalty it causes will now be removed as well.
• Enrage and Furor should no longer initiate combat, though it will prevent rage decay for the duration.
• Entangling Roots: It is no longer possible to have Entangling Roots on two targets at the same time in the outdoor world.
• Entangling Roots: It is no longer possible to have more than one rank of this spell active on a player.
• Force of Nature: Using this spell in a neutral town will no longer cause its victim to be attacked by town guards. It also will no longer cause nearby party members to lose stealth.
• Hibernate and Entangling Roots duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.
• Hurricane: This spell is now affected by area damage caps. Its bonus damage coefficients have also been increased.
• Hurricane: A tooltip error in rank 3 has been corrected.
• Lacerate: The damage from this ability will now stack properly when two different characters are applying Lacerate to a target.
• Mangle: The duration remaining graphic will now display properly for Mangle after it has been refreshed on a target. It will also no longer sometimes apply the Mangle debuff to nearby targets when the Mangle victim is killed by Mangle.
• Nature’s Grasp: This ability can now trigger while the Druid is sitting.
• Tree of Life: The party aura from this shapeshift now extends the full 40-yard radius as stated in the tooltip.

Additional changes which will affect Druids listed separately from Druid-specific changes are:

• Mass Dispel will no longer remove Catform Stealth.
• Shiny Red Apple: Druids in animal forms can no longer eat this food item.
• Spyglass of the Hidden Fleet: This item is now useable by shapeshifted Druids.
• Anzu can no longer be kited far from his spawn point and will properly leash.
• Merciless Gladiator’s Legguards: This item now appears as a kilt. (Yes!)
• Blessing of Freedom cooldown increased to 25 seconds. (Listed because it serves as a counter for and gives subsequent, temporary immunity to Entangling Roots.)
• Formula: Enchant Cloak – Subtlety: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Thrallmar Quartermaster and Honor Hold Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.
• Formula: Enchant Cloak – Dodge: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Lower City Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.
• Formula: Enchant Cloak – Stealth: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Cenarion Expedition Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.

It’s odd that the range on Night Elf cats is being increased but not that of Taurens when it’s all cats who complain of their range being bugged. Does anyone know what the previous maximum duration of Entangling Roots was in PvP?

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The release of patch 2.1.3 included several minor bugs related to the druid class:

• The Healing Aura from Tree of Life is not being applied party members at full range.
• Druid talent Mangle’s duration icon isn’t being refreshed properly on reapplication.
• The Druid talent Force of Nature causes stealthed party members to lose their stealth.
• Druids are able to learn Dire Bear Form before learning Bear Form.

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Garrthos of Gul’dan recently posted a guide to Arena competition as a Restoration-specced Druid. Unlike more comprehensive guides which touch on a little of everything, Garrthos’ giude details strategies for dealing with individual classes and specs, including the dreaded Warrior/Paladin 2v2 combo, resulting in a guide full of recommendations that should be easy to apply.

Here’s a snippet of his summary on fighting Rogues:

Rogue is all about timing against a druid. The only thing a rogue is thinking when he fights a resto druid is “shift out of bear, shift out of bear”. So remember that. the only time you should be out of bear form is if you’re ready to get a massive amount of dps laid into you, or you have the rogue effectively CC’d. When I’m in the arena with my warrior partner, I start out stealthed, so, I’ll usually see the rogue before he does me (because he has to stunlock my warrior off his healer).

Chariet of Sisters of Elune has created a guide to Restoration Arena play with more general suggestions (i.e., not tailored for specific classes) to help best leverage forms, even when specced for healing. Here’s a sample of what she’s written:

They will not know what to expect from you until you shift into your Tauren/Night Elf form, and they can glance at your armor. (Sometimes armor gives away the spec. Feral gear looks scary, resto gear looks pretty, etc). If you have a scary-looking feral mask, wear it! Make them think you’re feral so they will underestimate your lovely heals. (Example: I have a mask from a recent raid that is a dark hood and it makes my eyes glow red. Looks very feral!)

An additional reference for PvPing as a Druid against specific classesis available through WoWWiki.com: How to kill a… (Druid).

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