Jon623 shares a video of a 5-Man Moonkin Arena Team from the Public Test Realms. While the music accompanying the fights is well suited, the opposing team voice chat would have been even better: “Guys, I think I’m bugged. All I see are 5 dancing Moonkin…”
Nethaera: Tree of Life Spells under Consideration
Blue, Spells and Talents 
Comments Off Good news to the forest of druids lamenting over their inability to decurse and buff while in Treeform. Nethaera posted today that the spells available to this form are still under review and, while she does not promise a quick response, it’s nice to know that the topic is under consideration:
We realize that people want Tree of Life form to have more of those types of spells available. In fact, I’ve mentioned it before on a thread awhile back. However, there is a lot of debate going on about which ones would be valid additions without being overbalancing or skewing something else. We will let you know what is decided as we move forward, but please don’t expect anything immediate. I can’t promise you that. All I can do is tell you that we know these are requests people have and are pondering the fate of the trees.
Vaneras: Standard Rez Unlikely
Blue, Spells and Talents
2 Comments European CM Vaneras responded to complaints about the druid class’s lack of a standard resurrection spell without cooldown today:
- The Druid have a resurrection ability, which can even be used while in combat. Albeit it has a long cooldown, but it is a resurrection ability nonetheless.
- If Druids had the same abilities as other healing classes, then why choose to play with those classes at all?
My point is that all classes are different from one another, and it is supposed to be that way.
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Interesting suggestion indeed, which I will note down for sure, however I personally do not think that we will ever get to see a “normal” resurrection ability being given to Druids.
To Vaneras, I would pose the question, “If other healing classes all have the same much-desired, time-saving ability but the druid does not, why choose to play with the druid at all?” In fact, this question was later posed to Vaneras in the same thread, to which he responds:
Because of the many other abilities that Druids have, which the other healing classes don’t have… Do you see what I am trying to say with this?
If one healing class has the same abilities as other healing classes plus a little more, then there would be no reason to play with those other healing classes at all. Each healing class are good and strong at their own particular thing, as is intended, and that is why we have different healing classes. One group of players might prefer one type of healer that is strong in one field, whereas another group prefer another type of healer that is strong in a different field. If all healing classes could do exactly the same, then there really wouldn’t be a reason to have different healing classes… It all comes down to choice really, because you cannot have it all.
Fruitcake of Aggramar responds to this assertion with a statement about endgame progression through Heroic instances:
Not having an out of combat Resurrection with [no cooldown] is too much of a drawback. In Heroics people die all the time, like I said in an earlier post.
In a game where you can get 1-shotted due to a polymorph resist or a dodgy crit, a Resto Druid isn’t going to get very far only ressurecting once every 30 minutes.
Vaneras admits that having an out of combat Resurrection spell is “very important” but asserts that we — unlike all other healers — should have to bring along another healer to perform the role of rezzing:
This is true… Out of combat resurrection is very important in Heroics, but that does not mean that Druids are not useful as healers in Heroics just because they don’t have that ability. There are 3 other classes that can resurrect out of combat(plus jumper cables if you have a lucky engineer in your group), so if you have one of those classes with you in your group, then you are covered fairly well… Nobody says that the main healer has to be the same person that is also has to do all the resurrecting.
As I said before, out of combat resurrection is indeed important in Heroics especially if the Tank is poorly geared. And it is also clear that having no out of combat resurrection is a drawback for the resto Druid who plays in Heroics… But limiting yourself with specific class combinations in groups and pigeon-holing those classes with specific class roles can be an equally large drawback… Especially when it comes to Heroics. If you are having trouble with forming a group and are unable to find a specific class and role combination for your Heroics group that you would like, then you have to compromise and look for other ways to form a group. A Druid can function very well as a main healer in a group, and if the group for an example has a Shadow Priest or a Shaman with them for DPS, then the lack of no out of combat resurrection issue is covered right there.
Taking a so called “offspecced” healing class with you to fill the second spot is not necessarily a bad thing. Healing classes are often very good at other things than just healing or resurrecting, which is why you see so many “offspecced” healing classes that are not super interested in just being healers all the time. I think that the example I mentioned above with a Resto Druid and a Shadow Priest or a Shaman will be a good choice to bring with you in a Heroics group, even though they do not serve the traditional class roles. With two spots taken with for an example a Shadow Priest or Shaman and a Resto Druid, then you both DPS, Healing and out of combat resurrection. That leaves you 3 slots for Tanks, additional DPS, off-tanks or even secondary healers.
All in all, this is the lengthiest response from someone in blue type on the subject and — while offputting and upsetting — at least it shows recognition of the issue. One would only hope that “very important” would mean, “We recognize that Restoration-druids are unfairly handicapped with respect to other healers with whom they compete for group spots.” but unfortunately, it seems that the trend of giving druids fewer tools than are necessary to fulfill their chosen role will continue.
What many fail to recognize is that giving druids an out of combat resurrection spell would have no effect on game balance; the spell inherently has no effect on combat. Vaneras admits that the sole purpose for this arbitrary limitation is to make druids less attractive as main healers for instances relative to our competition. It’s notable that none of the traditional arguments against druids getting Resurrection (stealth, for example) are even mentioned. Druids are being penalized purely for the sake of making us less viable without any regard to game balance (or fairness to the spec). When will the developers figure out that this is not a good form of “game balancing”?
Season 2 Gloves Lackluster
Items and Equipment, PvP
Comments Off The start of Season 2 Arena brought with it new sets of Merciless Gladiator armor, modelled after Tier 5 armor graphics in presumably more intimidating color schemes. As with Season 1, the Merciless Gladiator Gloves each have a special effect that — at least for many classes — make them a “must have” for PvP. This is not the case for druids, however.
As a frame of reference, here are some of the effects available to the various classes:
Going down the list, hunters get a 4% damage boost to one of their primary PvP abilities (Multi-Shot), mages get a 25% range increase to an insta-cast nuke (albeit, the benefit is less to Arcane and Frost mages), paladins get a nice crit boost to their primary heal (crit > all for paladin healers), priests get a 12.5% duration increase to their CC ability, rogues get an amazing anti-caster addition to Deadly Throw, shamans get a 25% range increase to all shocks, warriors get a 30% cost reduction to their anti-caster Hamstring, and warlocks get either 50% chance to avoid damage interruption to Fear or Searing Pain.
What do druids get?
That’s a 6.67% casting time decrease on the recently nerfed spell, Cyclone. And this lackluster, practically insulting set bonus is the same for all three sets, including ferals who can’t cast Cyclone in the form they rely upon to PvP.
To address this problem, each of the three druid spec-specific sets should have a clearly delineated gloves bonus that is more in line with the potency of that available to other classes. It should be obvious from the gloves bonus alone which spec the item is intended to best serve. Here are some possibilities:
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The above suggestions are in line with those bonuses available to other classes and would improve the arena performance of druids from all specs. On the other hand, if our set bonus remains as it is, it will only reiterate the idea that Blizzard expects all druids (feral included) to be little more than Cyclone-spam bots in Arena.
Getting More out of Innervate
Items and Equipment, Macros, Obsolete, Spells and Talents
8 Comments This article became obsolete as of Patch 2.4. For Innervate optimization techniques relevant as of 2.4, please see 2.4 Mana Regen: Getting the Most out of Innervate.
Most long time players of the druid class can remember a time when raiding druids were required to spec 31-points into Restoration, if only to pick up that most priest-coveted of talents, Innervate:
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This requirement was much to the chagrin of our feral brethren and was one of the factors that contributed to the feral spec’s lack of endgame viability or acceptance. It was therefore a much-celebrated blessing when Blizzard made the decision to make this formerly talented-skill trainable by all druids.
Today, most Balance and Feral druids freely bestow their Innervate on the most needful members of their raid, healers whose mana level often determines the success of an encounter. But for a Restoration druid, Innervate is generally reserved for oneself. And with much of the endgame itemization lacking in spirit (upon which Innervate’s mana return is based), many Restoration druids are finding that their ability doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. There are, however, some nice tricks that can help.
Weapon Swap
There are very few druid usable weapons having 15 or more Spirit, and these weapons aren’t always ideal to be used at all times. Luckily, weapons and offhands are the two slots that can be changed even while in combat, and adding a weapon-swap to your Innervate macro can be one of the easiest ways to increase its efficiency. Here are a few weapons that I recommend for this purpose:
Whether you choose a 1-hander or 2-hander, have it enchanted with Mighty Spirit, a +20 Spirit bonus acquired from Honored with Thorium Brotherhood. You can then use an addon such as Evocation2 to automatically change to your highest Spirit weapon or weapon + offhand for the duration of your Innervate.
Alternatively — if you prefer to run with as few UI addons as possible — you could set up a macro to perform your weapon swap:
/cast [target=player] Innervate /equip Nightstaff of the Everliving
Note that the above macro will prevent you from accidentally innervating someone else. To make this macro allow you to Innervate your target when you hold down CTRL, simply change the macro as follows:
/cast [modifier:ctrl] Innervate; [target=player] Innervate /equip [nomodifier] Nightstaff of the Everliving
If you opt for the macro’d weapon swap, you should also create a second button that swaps you back to your original weapon(s).
To determine how much additional mana you will gain from the addition of a weapon or a weapon and offhand item, use the following formula (which assumes you have the 3-point Living Spirit talent):
((SPI * 1.15) / 4.5) * 50
Applying this formula to the weapons listed above:
Bangle of Endless Blessings
The [Bangle of Endless Blessings] drops from Warp Splinter, the final boss in Botanica. It can drop in both normal and Heroic modes, but obviously is easier to farm in normal. Botanica is unique in that you can skip any bosses that you aren’t interested in drops from, making this item particularly easy to farm.
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In addition to the amazing proc on this item (approximately once per minute), applying the formula outlined above works out to approximately 1660 additional mana, assuming the druid has all three ranks of the Living Spirit talent. Because trinkets cannot be swapped in during combat, you must plan ahead to have this item equipped if you don’t intend to use it at all times. Then add its use to your Innervate macro as shown below:
/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide() /use Bangle of Endless Blessings /script UIErrorsFrame:Clear(); UIErrorsFrame:Show() /cast [target=player] Innervate
The “/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide()” and “/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear(); UIErrorsFrame:Show()” lines above are optional but are useful for hiding the “item cannot be used” errors that automatically occur when you don’t have your Bangle equipped.
With only the Bangle and the [Staff of Divine Infusion], you can get an additional 3555 mana back from your Innervate. That’s 500 more mana than a maximized [Super Mana Potion] on every boss encounter (2 if the fight goes much longer than 6 minutes). And all it takes is a few runs through Botanica and a 50 gold Auction House expenditure … plus however much it costs you to get your new weapon enchanted with 20 Spirit.As a reader-suggested addendum, I’m also including discussion of the Masquerade Gown:
Masquerade Gown
The [Masquerade Gown] is a drop from Julianne of Karazhan’s Opera event:
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Although the proc rate is unconfirmed, the 145 Spirit works out to about 1297 mana (the 15 second effect would only be effective for at most 7 of 10 Innervate ticks). At first glance, this seems like a substantial bonus. However, while this robe can proc an additional 150 spirit, it has no inherent Spirit of its own. Compare this to the the [Primal Mooncloth Robe] which has 20 Spirit of its own (256 mana returned during Innervate) in addition to the +5% mana regeneration while casting set bonus. (Admittedly, this item is only available to druids who have maxxed tailoring and chosen the Mooncloth specialty.)
Another downside to the Masquerade Gown is that you have to wait for a proc to use Innervate. When you most need it to proc, you’ll be nearly out of mana, and the robe only procs from spellcasting. Finally, unlike a weapon which can be swapped in after Innervate has elapsed or a trinket that can contribute as much over time as the Bangle can, the Masquerade Gown must be worn the entire duration of the fight and the +150 Spirit would really only be useful if it procs around the time you need to Innervate (at other times, it grants 15 seconds of +43 healing assuming Tree of Life + Living Spirit). Still, for all its limitations, this is a great Healing chest if you don’t happen to be a Mooncloth-specialized tailor (it certainly doesn’t hurt that it looks amazing).
