In response to a question regarding Mark of the Wild posed on a thread about Power Word: Fortitude, Community Manager Eyonix indicated that it’s possible that the Druid class buff may be re-evaluated in the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion:

We recognize the concerns expressed in regards to Mark of the Wild and it may very well see improvement for Wrath of the Lich King. I do strongly disagree that it’s anywhere as useless as you claim, however.

Also keep in mind, because it affects all stats, some class/specs benefit from it more than others.

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Community Manager Eyonix (US) recently started a thread in the official Druid forums requesting feedback about potential changes to the Druid class with an eye toward the release of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Rather than a request for new ideas, Blizzard seems primarily interested in feedback for changes to be made to existing mechanics and perceived class shortcomings:

We’re currently gathering class feedback from players for Wrath of the Lich King concerning thoughts on the areas of each class that is perceived to be most in need of improvement. This thread is not intended for discussion purposes and we ask that you please review the below format before presenting your feedback. It’s very important for us to be able to review all provided feedback and as a result, not following the required format will very likely result in your post being removed.

• List your primary talent tree(s), i.e. Holy/Disc.
• List the content you’re primarily pursuing or most enjoy, i.e. Raiding, PvP, Solo, etc…
• Provide a brief description of the areas you feel are most in need of improvement (you may list a maximum of three issues and each issue should be described in one or two sentences).
• List up to five specific spells/abilities/talents you feel most need change, redesign or improvement in the order you feel each is most in need of attention. (MOST to LESS)

I took this very welcome opportunity to share what I perceive to be some of our most grievous class/spec shortcomings. Obviously, my post was written with an eye toward the Restoration spec, and none of these items are likely to surprise most readers:

Primary Talents: Restoration

Content Pursued: Raiding, Heroic PvE, Arena PvP

Areas Needing Improvement:

• Raid stacking: Presently Restoration Druids bring very little that is unique to the table that cannot better be contributed by a Feral or Balance Druid. It is sometimes more desirable to have Feral or Balance because of their superior auras and, in the case of Ferals, willingness and ability to give their Innervate to someone else. Paladins and Shamans are almost always a better addition to a raid given what they can bring to the table (Blessings and Totems).
• Viability as a group healer. Druids need a standard resurrection spell available to them to be viable 5-man healers. Being forced to look for a Shaman, Paladin, or Priest to bring along to instances is an unfair restriction imposed on no other healer.
• Itemization: If WotLK continues to emphasize Spell Haste as an item stat, Druids will continue to have points wasted on a stat which affords us little benefit. Either make HoTs benefit from spell haste in some way, provide alternative drops which do not include this stat, or do not itemize in this way.
• Aesthetic Customization: Unlike players of other classes, Druids do not progress aesthetically as their gear improves due to our frequent use of forms. This problem is especially pronounced for Feral and Balance Druids but does effect Druids who make frequent use of ToL. It would be more enjoyable if the appearance of our forms changed as certain stats considered “core” to those forms increased.

Spells and Abilities Needing Change:

• Tree of Life Aura: This aura is often discarded in favor of another aura benefitting the tank more. It is nowhere on par with the benefits afforded by a Feral or Balance Druid to her respective groups. Change the aura back to the way it was at inception (benefitting all healers within a group) and prevent it from stacking. As it is, Tree of Life is a very limiting form providing only its mana reduction benefit when it can actually be used.
• Mark of the Wild is widely regarded as a worthless buff that provides very little to a raid as a whole. A rework of this buff (and it’s corresponding Tier 1 5/5 talent, Improved Mark of the Wild) would help make Restoration more desired by raids. At the very least, the resistances provided by this buff should be made to stack with the other, more powerful auras.
• Innervate: A core ability of our class and essential in longer Arena matches, it is extremely vulnerable to dispel by other classes (Priest, Shaman, Warlock, Hunter) and almost invariably worth the mana it costs to take it from a Druid. This ability should be made more difficult or not possible to dispel.
• Lifebloom: As it is, there is no penalty for dispelling the first or second stack of Lifebloom if a Druid has 3 stacks running. Any stack that is dispelled should be changed to bloom in the same way as the last, ensuring that this HoT performs the function that seems to be intended (dispel protection for a class whose usefulness as a healer is tied to its ability to keep one or more HoTs running on groupmates).

U.S. players can submit their own responses here. European readers can respond to an identical thread from Community Manager Vaneras (EU) here. And for a Balance Druid’s perspective and response, check out the response from Graylo of Gray Matter!

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Good news for Restoration spec in Arenas. Community Manager Eyonix has announced that our lackluster PvP talent, Natural Perfection, will be seeing an additional effect with the next PTR update:

The Restoration talent, Natural Perfection, will now also (upon the next data push to the Public Test Realms), grant the Natural Perfection effect after being critically hit, reducing all damage taken by 1/2/3% for 6 seconds. This will stacks up to 5 times.

While this is obviously a buff, its overall value is questionable. 3% damage reduction from being crit the first time, 6% the second, 9% the third, 12% the fourth … and if it isn’t a Rogue hitting me, I’m dead already. This likely won’t be a significant survivability increase.

Edit: Wow! Within a single day’s worth of feedback, Eyonix has responded to concerns that the damage reduction would accrue too slowly to be helpful. They’re buffing the damage reduction to 1%/3%/5% per rank, stacking up to 3 times. That’s 15% benefit with a little over half the number of crits to max it out!

We’ve read through a great deal of feedback and are making another adjustment to the Natural Perfection talent which you’ll see in the next PTR data push.

“Now also grants the Natural Perfection effect after being critically hit, reducing all damage taken by 1/3/5% for 6 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.”

While I’m very excited for this change, I still really like my idea of the following addition:

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One of the limitations about which Moonkins clamor squawk most loudly is their lack of viable indoor crowd control. Many claim that it causes them to be excluded from Heroic instances where CC is often more important than damage (and when you can get both in a complete package, they say, why consider a Moonkin?). Wisperella of Lllane recently broached this topic on the official Druid Forums:

I used to be feral and specced for Moonkin. While i do love the spec, i feel we could be way more popular if we have a sort of Indoors reliable CC.

Of course no one wants more CC spells/skills in game, so why not remove the old indoor restriction for roots? If not the core skill, maybe changing the Brambles talent (the no one picks anyway) to allow the indoor use.

Surprisingly enough, Community Manager Eyonix — long ago thought to have given up on his Moonkin due to inactivity in the Druid forums — responded to her inquiry, stating that this indeed is a possibility under consideration for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion:

It’s something that is possible for Wrath of the Lich King, but it’s difficult to say for certain at this point.

While it’s not guaranteed to happen or certain whether it would be a talented ability (most likely in the Balance tree), this is great news.

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For those who aren’t aware, the Season 3 armor sets for melee classes and specs will include Armor Penetration rating. Armor Penetration is a stat that allows the attacker to ignore that amount of their target’s armor. This stat is ostensibly being added to Season 3 armor to prevent PvE Tier 6 armor (which includes Armor Penetration) from being superior to PvP Season 3 armor. At this news, cloth-wearing casters were outraged, declaiming this addition to give an unfair advantage to melee players. Kalgan responded:

The Priest and Warlock season 2 armor sets already have +910 bonus armor on them. As of season 3, the Mage set will also have the +910 armor (all the armor pen on season 3 melee gear adds up to less than 910).

So basically, as long as Warriors, Rogues, Priests, Mages, and Warlocks all have their ducks in a row and are wearing suitable Season 3 armor, there should be little net difference. But what does this mean for Druids who are not included in those classes listed as receiving additional item budgeting toward armor?

If a Priest has her cloth armor buffed up to the level of Leather, she essentially becomes a Priest in Druid’s armor with the additional survivability tools (Blessed Resilience, Inner Fire, Power Word: Shield, Psychic Scream) intended to compensate for having to wear the “squishiest” armor type. The Priest is then better able to stand toe-to-toe against melee attackers for longer than the Druid. All other things being equal — which they are not based upon the bracket in which you compete — why would someone then choose a Restoration Druid over a Holy Priest?

Here is a breakdown of the Season 2 cloth sets vs. the sets for Rogues and Restoration Druids:

• Restoration Druid = 1964
• Rogue = 1740 (???)
• Priest = 1847
• Mage = 1837
• Warlock = 1837

In full PvP gear, Resto Druids have slightly higher armor than Warlocks and Priests, before any buffs are considered. Once Season 3 comes out, cloth sets will have close to the armor of the Resto Druid set and more armor than the Rogue set. Now add another 2k armor to Priests (Inner Fire), 645 armor to Mages (Frost Armor), and +26% healing to Warlocks (Fel Armor). Rogues and Druids (the only 2 leather wearers) will have the lowest armor in the game by a significant margin. What are they making these robes out of, Kevlar?

What is the point of distinctions among armor types if the armor values are the same? Leather is supposed to have more armor than cloth. Assuming Druids do not receive a similar stat allocation for additional armor (unlikely due to the nature of Bear Form), this change will only further emphasize the Druid’s need to kite and retreat to the safety (and inability to heal) of Bear Form. If the purpose of this change is to ensure that PvP armor is a better choice than PvE armor for melee players, then the armor bonuses must be applied to leather armor, as well. Otherwise the end result will be nothing more than a buff to melee against leather wearers.

While this change also hurts mail and plate wearers, the DPS boost will be much greater against lower armor targets due to the mechanics of damage mitigation. To be fair, however, +910 armor should probably be added to their gear, as well.

Druids aren’t the only ones with reason to be upset. Rogues have it even worse than we do. Read what Valenna has to say about it.

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