Devoted readers of BigBearButt who have despaired at his recent silence may still be subscribed to a defective version of his RSS feed. You can subscribe to a working version of his feed at http://thebigbearbutt.com/feed/.

Resource Highlight: The Daily Druid

Dan O’Halaran of WoWInsider renown has created a fabulous new resource that may just obsolete the Community Spotlight feature here at Resto4Life (though I enjoy these posts too much to admit as much)! The Daily Druid reviews the most topical Druid-related posts from all around the blogosphere. Best of all, these posts are categorized by spec, making it a snap to get the information that’s most relevant to you and your playstyle. Check him and subscribe out here!

Posts I Loved

Here are a few of my favorite reads since the last Community Spotlight post:

• 3.09 and You from Orbital Bombardment
  Wondering how the upcoming change to Ferocious Bite will affect you? Raine explores this (mostly) PvP-related nerf to burst DPS.
• Best in Slot for Resto Druid from Sydera of World of Matticus
  Sydera shares her thoughts on the best items by slot from all currently available raid content. Warning: may become outdated with the upcoming nerf to Spirit.
• The Best Raid Heal from Passport to Shandris
  Dave Ciskowski breaks down the total amount healed over time of all available raid heals. Includes some very cool step-graphs!
• A Comparison of Two-Handers from Unbearably HoT
  Runy takes a look at the best DPS-oriented 2-handers available to Cats. Let it be known that I take no responsibility for the ridiculousness of her double entendres.
• Doing It Kitty Style: The Basics from Of Teeth and Claws
  Everyone knows that CATIS4FITE. Karthis shows you how in this great DPS primer for cool cats and wanna-be dps-kittens.
• Eclipse: Parts I, II, III, and IV from Gray Matter
  In a series larger than a boomkin’s bottom, you’ll learn more than you ever wanted to know about the Balance talent, Eclipse.
• Flavors of Tanking – A Healer’s Guide from World of Snarkcraft
  A guest post from Joveta’s significant other and detailing the different “flavors” tanks come in: threat and mitigation. Personally, I prefer Karamel Sutra.
• Healing without the Tree of Life Form from Casual WoW
  Byaghro rebuts my earlier post Mailbag: A Deforested Restoration Build with his recommendations on a build and playstyle for healing without Tree of Life. Due to its limitations, he strongly emphasizes this spec as unsuitable for raiding.
• Heroic Cheat Sheet: Utgarde Keep from 4 Haelz
  Bellwether walks (waddles?) Resto Druids through healing this Heroic instance.
• How to Level a Moonkin from Gray Matter
  A straightforward approach to maturing from plucky chick to a level 80 laser turkey of death.
• Hybrid Envy from Of Teeth and Claws
  A great rebuttal to the assertion that Druids (and other classes capable of speccing for more than one role) should perform at less than 100% than their “pure” counterparts.
• Macros for a Leveling Druid from Druid Main
  As a devoted user of the Nostromo Gamepad, I’m a big fan of space-saving macros. Here are a few fun and useful ones to add to your arsenal.
• More on Wild Growth from Nerf This Druid
  Averna reviews the basic mechanics of Wild Growth, a spell that seems to confuse many Druids.
• Representation of Mice from Out of Mana
  A fantastic explanation of the cascading effect class imbalance can have on class distribution in competitive Arena play.
• Waxing Philosophical: Healer Squabbles from Tree Bark Jacket
  Keeva takes a look at the underlying reasons for the seemingly disproportionate animosity among healers on the official role forums.

Eggo on Wild Growth and Nourish

This week reader and avid Druid illustrator Eggo shares a comic related to the recent change to Nourish whereby it benefits from the HoT applied by Wild Growth. Here’s the first panel, but be sure to click to view the whole comic!

Personally, I’m excited about the prospect of “Zomg Boob Tree.” Hopefully Blizzard takes notice and gives my Tree boobies and a grass skirt in their upcoming graphical revamp. (I’m kidding, of course. Mostly.)

Blue: I <3 Graylo

A recent blue post in the official Druid class forum caught my eye a few moments ago. Eyonix writes:

<3 Graylo’s blogs

A big congratulations to Graylo! It is really exciting – for all of us – to think Blizzard might read some of the many fantastic class/spec-based blogs out there. This makes me feel a little guilty about all my crab-related posts. Well, sorta.

Paininabox’s WotLK Restoration Spreadsheet v1.31L

Paininabox has updated his WotLK Restoration Spreadsheet with a number of significant changes and bug fixes, among them:

• Added gems
• Added Innervate
• New stat scale options
• Added Tauren support (cows are HEAVY)
• Beaming Earthsiege and Ember Skyflare Meta gem support

You can always find the most current link to download this spreadsheet in the Resources section.

Blogroll Additions

New Druid blogs! New Druid blogs!

• Druid Main – And alternates!
• Foofy’s Cupcake Factory – Who wouldn’t want to visit a cupcake factory? OM NOM NOM!
• Gnome Druid – Blasphemy!
• Nerf This Druid – Well, not THIS Druid. That’s just the name of a blog. Please don’t nerf me.
• Passport to Shandris – Just make sure you store all fluids in containers of 3.4 ounces or less.
• Sauteed Sunfish – Best enjoyed with a glass of Chardonnay.

Save 14% on Tree Shirts until February 11

U.S. and Canadian residents can save 14% on Tree Shirts orders of $25 or more today and tomorrow. Simply enter codes FEB19 (U.S.) or CADFEB19 (Canada) upon checkout.

P.S. I love words that I can type with just one hand because then you can use the mouse at the same time. Did you know that "warcraft" is one such word?

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Community Spotlight

New Tree Shirts: Stormcrow Wings and Adult Critter Form

There’s a new vinyl, vector design in the Tree Shirts shop featuring the wings of the Night Elf Stormcrow, depicted in purple and brown and embellished in metallic gold. These wings are positioned on the back of the shirts on which they’re shown.

By request, I’ve also added some adult options for the Critter Form shirts, including a maternity shirt. Note that most (though not all) of these are in pre-set colors because of design limitations.

Posts of Interest from Around the Blogosphere

• The Death Knight Survival Guide from Healer Envy
  Learn the tricks of this new Druid-obliterating hero class.
• Druid Tanking: Overview (WotLK) from Of Teeth and Claws
  Karthis takes a moment to summarize the changes to tanking in Wrath.
• Healing Sartharian (25-Man) with Drakes from Tree Bark Jacket
• Leatherworking Goodies from the PTR (3.08)
  Learn about important changes to this typically Druid profession.
• Mixology 101: Kitty Cat Consumables from Unbearably HoT
  Optimize the FITE in your Cat Form with these potent potions.
• Prepping for Patch 3.08 from Think Tank
  A great overview of changes Feral Druids can expect to see with today’s long-awaited release of Patch 3.08.

Druid Pole Dancers Video

Are Feral Druids the new Arena Pole Dancers this season?

Credit to Aurdon of I Sheep Things for submitting this giggle-inspiring video.

New Druid Blogs

Antileah the Druid by Pippa

I’m re-evaluating the way I handle my blogroll. I’m no longer going to provide descriptions for blogs since they often end up sounding very generic – yet writing them takes a huge amount of time – and they don’t typically remain relevant. Druid blogs will still be categorized by spec, and I will continue to remove those who haven’t updated in a month or more, but I need to look at areas where I can save time and this is definitely one of them.

• Achievement: Name a Blog
• Casual Cow
• Druid Heal
• Druids Do It on All Fours (French)
• Moonglade Exalted
• Orbital Bombardment
• The Tree House 
• A Tree’s Tale

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Community Spotlight

The Feast of Winter Veil is coming up which would be a great time to hint-drop about wanting a Tree Shirt or two from a certain blog. *Nudge nudge* In preparation for the holiday season, I’ve added three great new designs:

1	2	3

1. Tree of Life Emblem
   The first is the orange symbol that features prominently on the chest of our Tree of Life form. Although I’ve featured it on brown shirts (mostly), you can switch the color of the shirt to whatever suits you best. The nice thing about this design is that it’s vector-based and should print as a crisp, understated option for the discerning tree.
2. Restoration Wreath (Autumn) by Diego SS. Dicaro
   The second design is a autumnal variation on Eggo’s earlier Shift Happens Restoration Wreath design. This design was requested by several readers, and Eggo actually sent it in a number of weeks ago. Sorry that it’s taken me so long to get it added!
3. “Shift Happens” Grid from Valenna
   Finally, Valenna created a design for the “Shift Happens” contest earlier this year. Since he’s pretty much my best friend, there was no question as to whether I would add it, but I really love it! It features 8 rounded squares with each of the Night Elf forms (including the still-awaited critter form). The design includes black, purple, orange, brown, and light blue and should work well on many different shirt colors.

Also note that many designs have long sleeved options. Colors for men are unfortunately typically limited to black or white, but women have several to choose from. To view all long-sleeved shirts:

1. Visit the Spreadshirt storefront.
2. Under the dropdown All Products, select Men or Women.
3. Under the dropdown All Articles, select Long sleeve shirts.

Looking for more information about delivery times? See Spreadshirt’s Shipping Page.

[Intravenous Healing Potion] Macro from Vreenash

Some of you may not be familiar with the [Intravenous Healing Potion]. This item was newly added with Wrath and is sold by Angelique Butler in the Dalaran First Aid shop at a starting price of 2g 70s. Essentially, it’s an infinite-use health and mana restore for 3 minutes (usable only outside of combat). This macro deploys the IV and gives instructions to those nearby on how to use it:

#showtooltip
/s =/\= Intravenous Drip has been deployed =/\=
/s –Stand still while clicking to regen Health/Mana–
/use Intravenous Healing Potion

According to Vreenash, he’s seen overwhelmingly positive response in battlegrounds, particularly Arathi Basin. Perhaps best of all, this item can be deployed and used by a Feral or Balance Druid while still in form, allowing you to help out with healing during downtime.

Note: These items do not stack. Always use a fresh needle.

Favorite Posts of Late

There have been an incredible number of useful and informative posts in the wake of Wrath. Here are a few of my favorite:

• The Bear T7 List: Part I | Part II from ThinkTank
  Kalon releases some great bear-oriented gear lists along with ratings.
• Feral Factions from Of Teeth and Claws
  Karthis submits an overview of the best Feral-oriented rewards from various factions to help you plan your reputation grinds.
• Pre-Naxx Feral Worksheet from Of Teeth and Claws
  A spreadsheet of Feral gear to help kitties and bears prepare for raiding Naxxramas.
• Pre-Naxx Moonkin Gear: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 from Gray Matter
  Gearing up for a little Pew Pew in Naxxramas? Graylo has you covered with this extensive guide of available and recommended upgrades.
• Resto Pre-Raid Gear from Elitist Jerks Forums
  Tuftears of Stormrage (US) summarizes pre-Naxxramas gear by slot and type in an easy to read format.
• WotLK Cooking 375-450 from Kaliope’s WoW Crafting Blog
  Kaliope walks you through reaching 450 cooking in Wrath. It’s more difficult than you might think!
• WotLK Wallpapers from Banana Shoulders
  Missing Northrend while away at work? Siha has created several gorgeous Wrath of the Lich King wallpapers at 1680 x 1050 size.
• Wrath: Overview of Daily Quests (Level 70-75) from Yashima Plays
  Yashima lists the available daily quests and from level 70 to 75, their location, associated faction, and reputation awarded.

Ghostcrawler says L2Play (with Druids) and “Dude”

There are plenty of druids topping healing meters.

I think where the problem comes from sometimes is that you need healers who are good at working with hots. When someone has a hot on them, you have to be able to guess if that hot will heal the dude and if it can do it fast enough. Inexperienced healers sometimes stomp on hots, wasting the druid (or priest) mana and making sure that the hot-healer appears to have not contributed much.

This has been a long-standing problem for Druid healers. Given the competitive nature of healing, training one’s guildmates to not overwrite your HoTs is pretty difficult. Does anyone have any tips?

Other Blogs to Visit

As I suspected, the release of Wrath has contributed to a whole new crop of great blogs to visit and subscribe to!

Warcraft Dryad by Marina Siu-Chong

• Cenarion Musings
  Restoration Druid Pixiedark ponders Cenarius.
• Chrille
  PvP, Feral, Taurens, and machinima. Could there possibly be a more interesting combination for a blog?
• A Druid in Time
  From reader Shopshopshop of Uldum (US) comes this great new blog on playing a casual Restoration Druid!
• Druid Heal
  Raaff the Tree shares his thoughts on Druid healing, starting with Talents!
• Eighty Percent Fur
  With a name that sounds strangely reminiscent of a Fergie song, Lushious blogs about all things Feral Druid.
• Moonfire
  Real life couple Gwyn and Cablin of Bronze Dragonflight (EU) play Restoration and Balance Druids respectively. One has to wonder about the “discussions” that occur when spell power gear drops!
• One Rogue’s Journey
  According to Zaltu of Scarlet Crusade (US), “Rogues do it anywhere in between ninety and two-hundred and seventy degrees.” Kind of makes you shift uncomfortably in your chair, doesn’t it?
• Rawrbitchrawr
  Stompalina of Staghelm (US) shares personal character stories alongside theory development on her Restoration-oriented blog.
• Shields Up
  Drugfreeyth of Teldrassil (EU) delivers an eclectic mix of “Restoration Shamans, black holes, backstabbing, and ponies.”
• Stealth Runs
  Furble writes an interesting blog that focuses on completing stealth runs through instances.
• Threat Monster
  From Zaydok of Stormscale (US) comes this great new blog about “threat build” warriors who tank with an aggressive style.

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Community Spotlight

Andrige brings us yet another beautiful wallpaper this week, this one featuring Druids of all both Horde and Alliance and of all specs. This is a piece that required weeks and weeks of painstaking effort, and I’d say the end result was well worth the time and dedication. There are presently two versions of the wallpaper: one with an orange background (for ebil Hordies, no doubt) and one with a blue background.

On a related note, I’ve added a Resources page, specifically to archive things like Andrige’s gorgeous wallpapers and to prevent great utilities like Paininabox’s Wrath spreadsheet and Rawr from being lost among the many other posts here.

BRAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIINS!!!

And for those of you who just couldn’t get enough zombie fun this week, Andrige has also released a great video featuring his own undead escapades:

Bear-o-Lantern (now with Boomkin-o-Lantern)

Reader Tone also sends in this screenshot of his bear dressed up as a jack-o-lantern. Who says Ferals can’t wear costumes?

Bears aren’t the only ones dressing as pumpkins; reader Athryn sent in this screenshot of her Boomkin boyfriend Loupana of Moonrunner (US):

The Feral Prince of Dire Bear

Some people have WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too many free macro slots.

Thanks to Gidget of Bloodhoof (US) for sending this in!

Stormcrow in Flight

Reader Mike sent in the above picture after having recently completed the Swift Flight Form quest line. This quest series was my favorite in all of WoW, and I’m quite sad to hear that many new Druids will miss out on it since SFF will soon become trainable at level 71. I encourage everyone to do it anyway, because it really is a joy.

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Media Frenzied Regeneration

Paininabox of Runetotem (US) has released an updated, beta version of Hydraar’s original Restoration spreadsheet that includes our new talent trees and items from Wrath of the Lich King. This is something several readers have asked me about, but keep in mind that the sheet is still considered beta. Eventual features Pain would like to add include buffs, consumables, and Glyphs. If you’d like to contact Paininabox to provide suggestions, comments, or corrections, your can e-mail him at .

Download Paininabox’s
Restoration Spreadsheet

Posts I Loved

• How to get 50 Mounts before WotLK from Tree Bark Jacket
  Keeva shows you how to get your own Albino Drake by collecting 50 or more mounts, no easy feat for a Tauren! Crit Immunity – Redux from Of Teeth and Claws
  Karthis discusses the changes Feral Druids need to make since the release of 3.0.2 made much of their defense rating redundant.
• Advanced Druid Healing from Part Time Druid
  Pummra discusses the things that makes a Druid different from other healers and shares tips on increasing your effective healing throughput, including the liberal use of Swiftmend and Nature’s Swiftness.
• L2PvP: Fakecasting from Yet Another Warlock Nerf
  Horns teaches you how to cast a less desirable spell in the hopes of causing an opponent to waste a crucial interrupt ability. Once their interrupt is on cooldown, you’re free to cast what you will. This will be a valuable skill with PvP-implications of the Lifebloom nerf.
• Feral Druid Profession Choices from ThinkTank
  Kalon takes a look at the benefits to a Feral Druid from each of the available tradeskills.
• Arena Spec Prep for 3.0 (Part I) from Out of Mana
  Megan (whose name is just one letter away from “mean”) examines several possible Arena specs for Druids post-3.0. Part II is available here.

“Mark of the Ancients” Wallpaper from Andrige

Beloved Druid artist Andrige has released a new Druid wallpaper, this one featuring the “Mark of the Ancients” depicted on the Tree of Life’s adorable wooden chest:

Modifying Your Rebirth Macro

With the introduction of Revive, Druids no longer need to downrank Rebirth out of combat to save money. Reader Alathi today submitted this modification to our old downranking macro:

/cast [nocombat] Revive; Rebirth

Thanks, Alathi! However you forgot the “/say This resurrection brought to you by Resto4Life.com” that comes standard with ALL of my resurrections!

Bloggy Bloggers and the Bloggers who Blog Them

It’s harvest time here in the U.S., and accordingly I have a crop of new blogs to share with you:

• Feral at Heart
  The author of FaH plays two Druids, one Feral and the other Restoration. Contains lots of commentary on talent specs.
• Flash of Moonfire
  Dedicated to her two main characters, the first a Balance-specced Druid (a Moonfire caster) and the other a Holy-specced Paladin (a Flash of Light caster), Flash of Moonfire celebrates the versatility of two of the most “hybrid” of classes.
• Ride the Pain Train
  Groloth plays a predominantly PvP-oriented Druid with experience in Balance and Restoration. Definitely seems to take a page from Megan’s l33t coloring book of post images.
• Tree Bark Jacket
  Keeva of Caelestrasz (US) brings us a fantastic new blog about her play as a Restoration Druid. Amazing pictures, humorous writing, and a diverse set of topics make this blog a must-see/must-subscribe!
• Trigger Wicked
  Mooyagi of Mug’thol (US) blogs about WoW “rumors, news, and adventures with friends” from the perspective of a Feral Druid.

Talent Chic: 31 Flavors … of the Month

Resting Resto Tauren Druid by Melissa O’Brien

Curious what everyone else is doing so you can be rebellious and spec for Dire Aquatic Form? Check out Talent Chic, a site that aggregates the most popular talent specs by class by mining Armory data. Uses a great system whereby the most popular builds are given a numerical identifier and variations on that build are expressed as a +/- change to that build! Some interesting facts about Druids:

• The 11 most popular builds for Druids are primarily Restoration, all of which include 53 or more points in the tree and Wild Growth. Apparently, the AoE healers have made quite an impression on us!
• The 10 most popular builds for Druids include 3/3 Living Spirit. This may have something to do with the increased mana cost for many of our spells, including Lifebloom.
• The top 2 builds comprise by and large comprise the most popular choices for Druids and include a 5/0/56 build and an 8/0/53 build. The primary difference? The latter swaps Replenish for Moonglow.

Summarized builds by individual spec are also available: Balance | Feral | Restoration

Thanks to reader David Peterson for the heads up on this fun tool!

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Community Spotlight or “Stuff to do while Waiting for Server Up”

Recommended Reading

Warsong Gulch Druids by Tigon

Before you can head out to celebrate Friday and libation liberation from 9 to 5 weekdays, make sure you do your homework!

• 5 Improvements to Tailoring and Why We Need Them from Destructive Reach 
  Tailoring is a common profession choice for Druids. After all, we need the bag space. Saresa details five great proposals for making the profession more entertaining and useful.
• A Better Stance Bar from Of Teeth and Claws
  You’re not still using the default shapeshifting bar, ARE YOU?
• Brewfest – Drunken Cavortin’ Fer All from Slash Hug
  With just two days left to enjoy the festivities, you can take best advantage of everything that Brewfest has to offer with Aurik’s in-depth guide.
• The Great Armor Nerf from Of Teeth and Claws
  Karthis shares his thoughts about the removal and reduction of much of the additional armor on many TBC items formerly considered to be staples of a Feral Druid’s potential armory.
• Expertise and the Swing Timer from Big Bear Butt Blogger
  BBB takes a look at expertise and why it’s so valuable to (but often overlooked by) Feral Druids.
• Inscription Guide from Banana Shoulders 
  Siha contributes another fantastic guide, this one aimed at helping the budding Inscription practitioner. Includes a wonderfully helpful PDF version for reference while playing!
• Is Lifebloom Obsolete? Another Look at Resto Druids in 3.0 from World of Matticus
  World of Matticus’ Druid author Sydera weighs in on recent changes to the Restoration spec.
• So what am I (not) Wearing (yet)? A particularly Heroic shopping list. from Unbearably HoT 
  Runy shares a list of potential Wrath drops and rewards from Wrath.
• WotLK: What Spell Do I Use? – Spell Rotations from Gray Matter 
  Wondering whether Wrath or Starfire will be king in Wrath? Graylo explains in easy-to-understand terms the recommended nuking rotations for Moonkin and Restos “moonlighting” (C WUT I DID THAR?) as Balance for the purpose of easing their leveling experience.

Forgotten Shift Happens Submission

I’m abashed to admit that I forgot to include one of the earliest submissions to Shift Happens contest. It was sent in by Nic of Nic Get Life and, while I loved the concept and execution, I unfortunately had to decline since it uses in-game models. It’s featured at left.

Thanks, Nic! Sorry for the absent-mindedness!

I hope to announce the results of the Shift Happens competition early next week (though honestly, you could probably just watch the poll results).

Blogs to Check Out

• Feral at Heart
  Feral at Heart contains thoughts and commentary on playing a Feral Druid.
• The Gnogue
  A green-haired gnome has never looked so dangerous. Or would if you could see her.
• Hearthstone
  Aleathea and her husband co-GM a guild on the Draka (US) server. Hearthstone serves as a chronicle of her WoW life and a place to share character-based stories.
• Lorecrafted
  Lorecrafted is a fantastic resource for roleplayers. Warning: may just turn you into a lore aficionado.
• Muffin Factory
  Blueberry, lemon poppy seed, and strawberry. All pale in comparison to the awesomeness that is Revast’s Mage-themed blog.
• The Sacred and the Profane
  A Shadow and Holy Priest unite to bring you a blog from the perspective of two raiding Priests.
• Spam Moonfare
  The author of Spam Moonfare is a fearsome amalgam of feathery Boomkin and leafy Tree goodness.
• Udder Madness
  Beathooven of Aman’Thul (US) is very punny Tauren Druid. /moo

A Message from Runycat

For all U.S. readers, be you Democrat or Republican, it’s your civic duty to vote! Be like Voter Cat! (And that’s seriously Runycat’s cat at right.)

Unconvinced? Check this out.

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Community Spotlight

Just a reminder that the deadline for Shift Happens design submissions is in one week, September 24th. I’ve received one lovely submission so far, so if you still have an idea rattling around in your head, you have seven days to send it in! Once I have them all, I’ll put up a poll for readers to select their favorite (unless of course we only end up with the one submission). You can read more about the contest here!

Great Posts I Recommend You Read

Spell of the Druid by Batoruco

Things have been quiet around here lately, partly due to RL changes (Mr. Phae just finished his dissertation!) and partly because beta has been nigh-unplayable lately. I am working on an extensive new article about using the Nostromo in Wrath which I hope to have live by the end of the week. In the meantime, why not check out some of these other fantastic offerings:

• Beta: The Awesome from ThinkTank
  Kalon shares his optimism amidst all the bemoaning going on about the state of Ferals in Wrath.
• Choosing Professions in Wrath from Yet Another Warlock Nerf
  Horns gives a great summary of some of the new features included with the tradeskills in Wrath.
• PvE to PvP Server Transfers and Overdue Policy Change from Lume the Mad
  Lume gives a highly detailed explanation of the reasons why PvE => PvP server transfers should be — and should have always been — allowed.
• Role Switching: Part 1 from Bringin’ the Wood
  Jive writes about what it takes to switch from playing a pew-pew (or mew-mew) DPSer to a healer.
• Tanked! Revaluing Feral Combat Talents in Beta Build 8926 from Unbearably HoT
  Runycat takes a look at the current must-have tanking talents in Wrath.

Wordle, Wordle!

Thanks to reader Breen of Steamwheedle Cartel (EU) for sending in the following artistically-rendered Resto Cloud:

Blogroll Additions

Several new blog authors appear to have been inspired by my earlier article, So You Think You Can Blog – You’re Right! (and some of whom were already off on the right track before I published):

• Beware Splinters
  Sophilia of Turalyon (US) is a Restoration Druid seeking Salvation and Intellect!
• Draenic Wisdom
  A beautiful blog from a player with an entire corps of Draenei alts!
• Electronic Escape
  Eletronic Escape is a collaborative blog from Maeleigh and Loveth of Blackwater Raiders. Topic selection is pretty diverse but there are several great ones on Magery.
• Less QQ, More PewPew
  Drotara of Illidan (US) publishes one of the most stylish and entertaining Hunter blogs out there. One can only assume that he’s assisted by his feline companion as, last I heard, Orcs can’t write.
• Master Shapeshifter
  Rather than focusing on a single niche, Master Shapeshifter attempts to address all of the roles that a Druid can perform. Includes a plethora of helpful macros for all specs.
• Moonkin Musings
  Neren of Fenris (US) plays a “big furry\feathery Hooter who dances like Chris Farley.”
• A Rogue’s Eye View
  This great new Rogue blog recently snuck on the scene. Breaking with the class stereotype, it doesn’t even have a black background!
• Sheep This!
  Alluding the the polymorph immunity afforded Druids when shapeshifted, Sheep This is a new blog written by Gelaende of Mannoroth (US). Focuses on play as a Restoration Druid as well as Gelaende’s corps of alts.
• Talented
  Rawfle of Onyxia (US) has chosen the interesting blog focus of writing about individual talents, particularly for the three classes he happens to play: Druids, Mages, and Shamans.
• Tish Tosh Tesh
  Rambling, rumbling, and rumination from someone who happens to love WoW … and apparently also adores alliteration!

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Community Spotlight

To shamelessly steal borrow ideas from a certain ursine friend of considerable girth, I’d like to hold a contest for a new Tree-Shirt design to be added to the Resto4Life Tree Shirts store.

The skinny:

• Inspired by the name of our guild in beta, the theme of the contest is SHIFT HAPPENS. The shirt design should include this phrase. The graphic can be one of your choosing. Ideally, it should be something partially Resto-related.
• To reduce the possibility of problems with copyright infringement, designs should not make use of the model viewer.
• Designs with fewer colors (simpler, less gradiated designs) appear to print better than those with greater color depth.
• Readers will have the chance to select their favorite of the submitted designs (hopefully, there will be more than one).
• The winner will receive a complimentary copy of the shirt they’ve designed in exchange for giving me permission to resell the design (and I recognize that you’re doing me a tremendous favor by doing so).
• The deadline for shirt submissions is September 24 which, not coincidentally, is also my birthday. ^_^

Additional (technical) requirements:

• Design should be 3000 x 3000 pixels at 400 DPI.
• Design should be submitted in transparent PNG format. You can e-mail your submission to me at . If file size is an issue, I can give you temporary access to an FTP server.
• Due to restrictions of the printing process, I will have to smooth out any rough edges and fill in any small gaps by placing a second layer of color behind the design. Just something to keep in mind!

Featured Posts

Night Elf by Erica Batton

Another round of best of the best blog posts that I’ve found

• The 3.0 Patch – Cat Build Edition from Kalon of ThinkTank
  Kalon plays with a possible build for kitty cats in Wrath with an eye toward the elimination of powershifting as a DPS tool.
• Addressing Druid Tanking in WotLK from Runycat of Unbearably HoT
  Runy rants about the troubles faced by Ferals in Wrath of the Lich King, analyzing at length the comments made by Ghostcrawler regarding changes to Bear itemization and mitigation.
• Character’s Theme Song from Tigerfeet Secret Agent Cat
  It shouldn’t take a leap (or Feral Charge) of intuition to guess what theme song Tigerfeet chose for herself.
• Debuffs Made Easy: Blizzard’s Way Out from Natarumah of Twisted Faith
  Natarumah comments on the change to buff and debuff stacking and changes to mana regeneration affecting Shadow Priests.
• Epic Flight Form Questline: A Guide from Aurik of /hug
  A highly detailed, beautifully illustrated guide to completing what is, in my opinion, one of the best questlines in the game. Hats off to Aurik for doing it justice!
• Ferals and the Restoration Tree from Tigerfeet of Secret Agent Cat
  Tigerfeet discusses the Feral-oriented talents within the Restoration tree, including Furor, Naturalist, Natural Shapeshifter, and Master Shapeshifter.
• Keybinding Guide from Horns of YAOWN
  Don’t be a clicker. Please.
• Tree of Life History Lesson from Keredria of Tree of Life
  Get schooled by Keredria on the myths surrounding the "Tree of Life" in various world cultures.

World Tree Additions

Just one new Druidy place to read and subscribe to this week:

• Glyph of Thorns
  Arianthorn of Moonglade (EU) plays a Balance Druid with a bad case of altitis. Plenty of Beta commentary … not that I’m into that sort of thing …

Wordle Cloud

Wordle is a free, Java-based service that creates keyword-density clouds of a blog’s most recent posts. You can see my Wordle cloud below:

The words "change" and "Northrend" make prominent appearances, probably because of the recent Wrath of the Lich King posts. Spirit, +Healing, Aura, Tree, and Life are also unsurprising. I was a little abashed to see the word "want" featured so prominently, though! And I’m not sure how the word "melee" snuck in there. ^_^

I shared this service with Runycat last week. Here were her immediate thoughts:

[13:50] Phaelia: try this out
[13:50] Phaelia: http://wordle.net/create
[13:50] Phaelia: it’s fun!!
[13:51] Runycat: what is it?
[13:51] Phaelia: it makes a word cloud from your most recent posts
[13:51] Runycat: I hope mine says BONER BONER BONER
[13:51] Phaelia: LOL

Thanks to Anna of Too Many Annas for originally sharing this fun site!

New Tree-Shirt: Restoration Cloud

Using the Wordle service, I created a set of Tree-Shirts featuring words commonly associated with Restoration Druids. These are only available in black but come in a variety of styles for both men and women. Prices range from $15.90 to $23.90. 

 » View All Restoration Cloud Shirts

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

"Shift Happens" Contest and Community Spotlight

Recommended Reading

Another fantastic set of posts to educate, entertain, and edify you!

Staff of the Golden Salamander by Orsolya Berecz

• Best Looking Druid Set from Horns of YAOWN
  Horns gives further evidence of his secret love affair with Druids with his poll of what the best-looking set of Druid armor is. I won’t spoil the surprise of who the winner is, but I must express disappointment that Nordrassil didn’t fare better than it did.
• Nature’s Swiftness (for Shamans) from Anna of Too Many Annas
  Ever notice how all the races who can play Shamans have funny feet? Hmm. Anyway, in this article Anna explores and encourages the use of Nature’s Swiftness for Shamans.
• So What are You Wearing? from Runycat of Unbearably HoT
  This week Runy writes about the advantages and best methods of optimizing multiple gear sets with an eye toward maximizing DPS and threat for Ferals. And with that post title, she’s sure to double your entendre!
• The End Heal of Lifebloom Generates No Threat from Lume the Mad
  A must read for Restoration Druids, this article details controlled tests he performed to determine that the end heal of Lifebloom generates no threat whatsoever, either for its caster or its recipient. This article is preceded by Lume’s also useful Threat Mechanics post.
• Druids Dance with So Little Provocation from a Scary Bear
  So true. I know the first thing I did when speccing into Restokin last night was to /dance /dance /dance the night away. And then I Moonfire-spammed a squirrel.
• No More Salvation? What to Do! from Rollin’ Horde
  Learn about the new threat mechanic that will replace the Paladin’s Blessing of Salvation in Wrath of the Lich King!

Arena Pole Dancer Shirt

To celebrate her blog’s 100,000th visitor, Megan from Out of Mana decided to give away an autographed PvP-themed T-Shirt to the lucky winner. She had some great ideas and, in thanks for letting her sell the design myself, I offered to execute my favorite: Arena Pole Dancer. Here’s a preview of the shirt, both front and back (not to scale):

Arena Pole Dancer Shirt Front	Arena Pole Dancer Shirt Back

This shirt is now available within the Resto4Life Tree-Shirts store, albeit without the “Out of Mana” design on the back because printing two designs on a shirt increases the shirt price significantly. I prefer this design on red, yellow, brown, white, or even black shirts, but free color selection is enabled for all of them. You can read more about the T-Shirt winners (all four of them) at Megan’s post #100,000 Winnars, Shapeshifted Indeed.

New Blogs the World Over

And here are some new or newly-discovered additions to the blogosphere!

Emerald Dream by Orsolya Berecz

• Grumble ‘N’ Autumn
  Written by a husband and wife who play Hunters on the Shandris server, Grumble ‘n’ Autumn details their in-game explorations.
• Hoofed Hybrid
  Formerly the author of the blog entitled Lifebloom, Boudi of Feathermoon (US) now writes about both her Druid and her baby Shaman on Hoofed Hybrid!
• An Old Druid’s New Druid
  The Alliance welcomes a Tauren-become-Night Elf Druid who enjoys raiding casually and apparently enjoys Druids enough to roll a second.
• Secret Agent Cat
  Tigerfeet writes an entertaining and cleverly-themed Feral blog. They’ve give her a Mangle and taken away her Mane.
• ThinkTank
  This blog explores the role of tanking from the perspective of multiple tanking classes. There seems to be a plethora of great Feral-related articles, though!
• Unpack Your Adjectives
  You did pack your adjectives, right? After all, you never know when you’re going to need words like: Feral, Wry, and PvP-oriented. In fact, those words would come in handy if asked to describe this blog!

Featured Artwork

This week’s Featured Artwork comes from Orsolya Berecz.  Be sure to check out all of her great work at her DeviantART gallery under username ShakSaag. (Wow, can you tell I listened to NPR on the way into work this morning?)

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Community Spotlight

Notable Contributions from the World Tree

• Gearing up for Feral DPS by Jacemora
• Spell Damage vs. Spell Haste (for Moonkin) by Graylo
• Spell Damage vs. Spell Hit by Graylo

New Blog Author Based Healer Community: Plus Heal

Plus Heal, a new all-healer forum community, has been created by a group of blog authors including Druid author of Lume the Mad. Each healing class has its own forum in addition to forums dedicated to general theorycraft discussions, UI addons, macros, and instances of all flavors (5-, 10-, and 25-man). From their official announcement:

This community is intended to serve as a place where healers can come together to exchange tips, mods, macros, math, questions and ideas. We hope to create an environment where healers with multiple levels of experience can benefit from our shared knowledge and experience.

Why not stop by, sign up, and join in one or more of the discussions?

New Blogs

Horde Lion by Altana

• Awlbiste’s Thicket
  From her About Page, it sounds like Awlbiste has leveled and played four Druids, both Horde and Alliance side. Something tells me she knows where I can find Fallen Sky Lake in Ashenvale.
• Feh – The Naked Druid
  Feh is attempting to demonstrate that it’s possible to level a Druid without armor or weapons. Just how much exp can dancing atop a mailbox be worth, anyway?
• LF3M – A Couple’s WoW Blog
  Edgeworth and Kiyomi are a couple living in rural Japan with plenty of time to spend in Azeroth … and to blog about it!
• Tank Like a Girl
  She’s big, she’s mean, and she’s green. She’s a female Orc Warrior and was somehow able to resist naming her character for a She-Hulk reference.

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Community Spotlight