• Part I: Head, Shoulder, Chest, Hands, Legs, Feet
• Part II: Back, Waist, Wrist, Neck, and Fingers
• Part III: Two-Handed Weapons, One-Handed Weapons, and Offhands (coming soon)

Quick Links

• Back
• Waist
• Wrist
• Neck
• Fingers

Back

1. [Reanimator’s Cloak] – Drak’tharon Keep (Heroic) Zone Drop
   Despite being a blue item, this is a great cloak and one of the few that includes Spirit. The additional red gem slot with a +4 Intellect socket bonus is pretty great, too.
2. [Wispcloak] – Tailoring (BoE)
   While it does waste some itemization points on MP5 (a relatively pricey stat compared to the equivalent amounts of Intellect/Spirit), this is the only Epic back slot we have access to pre-Naxx. The graphic is pretty awesome, to boot.
3. [Shroud of Moorabi] – Moorabi in Gundrak (Heroic)
   Great Intellect and high spell power but lacking the customization of the [Reanimator’s Cloak]. Still a viable option on par with the Wispcloak.
4. [Subterranean Waterfall Shroud] – Jedoga Shadowseeker in Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom (Heroic)
   The highest available Spirit value of any of the ILevel 200 cloaks but lacking in Intellect.

Compare these items

Waist

1. [Sash of Jordan] – World Drop (BoE)
   Tons of Spirit and a red gem slot make this the best-in-slot item for a pre-Naxx Resto Druid, although you can expect to pay a hefty sum for the pleasure of wearing it.
2. [Vine Belt of the Woodland Dryad] – 40 x Emblem of Heroism
   Similar to the [Elegant Temple Gardens’ Girdle] in potency, the fact that this belt is made of leather makes it the slight favorite.
3. [Elegant Temple Gardens’ Girdle] – 40 x Emblem of Heroism
   One of the few items to include both Spirit (YAY) and MP5 (boo). Also includes a yellow gem slot with +4 Spirit socket bonus.
4. [Girdle of Bane] – King Ymiron in Utgarde Pinnacle (Heroic)
   Because of the hit rating on this item, be courteous and defer first to the DPS casters in your group.

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Wrist

1. [Putrescent Bands] – Grobbulus or Gluth in Naxxramas (BoE)
   A great balance of stats, leather, and featuring haste over crit, these are my best-in-slot choice and can be picked up from the auction house for around 1,000 gold.
2. [Cuffs of Winged Levitation] – Cache of Eregos in the Oculus (Heroic)
   These bracers and the [Plague-Infected Bracers] are pretty evenly matched with the nod going toward the Cuffs because I prefer spell haste to spell crit.
3. [Plague-Infected Bracers] – Dark Runed Chest in the Culling of Stratholme (Heroic)
   Also a great choice if you can get your hands around them – or get them around your hands – these bracers are also leather.
4. [Ancestral Sinew Wristguards] – Wyrmrest Accord (Revered)
   One of the few available reputation-based items to include Spirit (if somewhat lacking). Includes a blue slot just begging to be slotted with Spirit or Spirit/spell power with a +4 Intellect socket bonus.
5. [Wound-Binder’s Wristguards] – Knights of the Ebon Blade (Revered)
   Preferring Intellect to Spirit, these are an easily obtainable faction-based reward. P.S. They’re leather.
6. [Handler’s Arm Strap] – King Dred in Drak’tharon Keep (Heroic)
   Similarly statted to the [Cuffs of the Trussed Hall], these have the advantage of being made of leather.
7.  [Cuffs of the Trussed Hall] – Svala Sorrowgrave in Utgarde Pinnacle (Heroic)
   You’ll be all trussed up with nowhere to go in these high-Spirit ILevel 200 bracers.

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Neck

1. [Encircling Burnished Gold Chains] – 25 x Emblem of Heroism
   The one epic option for necklaces, what this chain lacks in Spirit it makes up for in spell power and Intellect. Unfortunately, wastes itemization points on spell hit so you’re better off saving your badges for the T7 equivalent gloves and chest first.
2. [Necromancer’s Amulet] – Salramm the Fleshcrafter in the Culling of Stratholme (Heroic)
   The highest Intellect of the ILevel 200 blues make this the top contender among the three.
3. [Dragon Prow Amulet] – Utgarde Keep (Heroic) Zone Drop
   Purchaseable from the Auction House, this item comes with a lot of Spirit.
4. [Zuramat’s Necklace] – Zuramat the Obliterator in the Violet Hold (Heroic)
   At 64 Stamina, this is the beefy choice among necklaces, though obviously Intellect and Spirit remain preferred.

Compare these items

Fingers

This was a particularly difficult slot to fill with most rings including wasted stat points on spell crit, spell haste, or spell hit.

1. [Loop of the Kirin Tor] – 6400g at Exalted with Kirin Tor
   A great option for the Restoration Druid whose primary benefit is perhaps its ability to teleport you to Dalaran once an hour. This ring would be a tremendous boon for completing daily quests, allowing you to set your hearthstone to a more convenient reputation-proximate locale. Still, 6400g is hardly a sum to sneeze at so I only recommend this if you intend to make use of its teleportation aspect.
2. [Signet of Hopeful Light] – Argent Crusade Exalted
   Amazing Intellect and haste over spell crit make this my second choice for rings, though honestly what Druid worth their sawdust will waste time raising their faction with those Paladin goodie-two-shoes?
3. [Spectral Seal of the Prophet] – The Prophet Tharon’ja in Drak’Tharon Keep (Heroic)
   A blue ILevel 200 ring and the only option aside from the [Loop of the Kirin Tor] that includes Spirit.
4. [Titanium Spell-Shock Ring] – Jewelcrafting (BoE)
   Wasted itemization points on spell crit but also includes a red gem slot with +5 spell power for customizability. Purchaseable via the auction house.
5. [Band of Guile] – Dark Runed Chest in the Culling of Stratholme (Heroic)
   Pretty evenly matched with the [Titanium Spell-Shock Ring] but with the advantage of spell haste instead of spell crit.

Compare these items

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Pre-Raid Gear: Back, Waist, Wrist, Neck, and Fingers

 Quick Links

• Head
• Shoulder
• Chest
• Hands
• Legs
• Feet

Head

1. [Helm of Anomalus] – Anomalus in the Nexus (Heroic)
   Leather, both a meta socket and a yellow socket, and among the highest Spell Power for an ILevel 200 helm make this my first choice of hats pre-raiding.
2. [Crown of Unbridled Magic] – Cache of Eregos in the Oculus (Heroic)
   I consider this to be pretty closely tied with the similarly itemized [Forgotten Shadow Hood] (they essentially trade Intellect and Spirit). I prefer the socket bonus on this one (12 Stamina vs. 8 Haste Rating). Contains meta and yellow sockets.
3. [Forgotten Shadow Hood] – Salramm the Fleshcrafter in The Culling of Stratholme (Heroic)
   Slightly less attractive than the [Crown of Unbridled Magic], this is the higher Spirit and lower Intellect of the two. Contains meta and blue sockets.
4. [Elder Headpiece] – Elder Nadox in Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom (Heroic)
   No socket on this item but a very respectable 91 Spell Power and astounding 77 Intellect make this a good choice.
5. [Cowl of the Dire Troll] – Trollgore in Drak’Tharon Keep (Heroic)
   No socket on this helm either, but an excellent 78 Spirit.

Compare these items

Shoulder

1. [Silent Spectator Shoulderpads] – Svala Sorrowgrave in Utgarde Pinnacle (Heroic)
   These shoulders are the only ILevel 200 option in leather, have the highest Spirit of all three, and include a blue socket.
2. [Runecaster’s Mantle] – Utgarde Keep (Heroic) Zone Drop 
   A yellow socket (worth approximately 16 Intellect for a blue-quality gem) makes this slightly more attractive than the [Mantle of Deceit] .
3. [Mantle of Deceit] – Dark Runed Chest in the Culling of Stratholme (Heroic)
   Although this shoulder piece lacks sockets, it has seven more Intellect and fourteen more Stamina than the [Runecaster’s Mantle], at the cost of 2 Spirit.

Compare these items

Chest

1. [Heroes’ Dreamwalker Robe] – 80 x Emblem of Heroism
   Leather, sockets, and half of the way there to the 2-piece set bonus! If you can get this, do so!
2. [Moonshroud Robe] – Tailoring (BoE)
   A perfect balance of stats with no itemization points wasted on spell crit or spell haste. All wrapped up in a pretty blue, belly-bearing package! The downside is definitely the cost. If you have the patience, it’s better to save your Heroic badges for the [Heroes’ Dreamwalker Robe].
3. [Ymirjar Physician’s Robe] – Utgarde Pinnacle (Heroic) Zone Drop
   This item is essentially a watered-down, leather version of the Moonshroud Robe with 12 less Intellect, 12 less Spirit, and 14 less Spell Power. Still, you can likely pick this piece up for around 200 gold which is substantially less than you can expect to pay for [Moonshroud Robe].
4. [Bauble Woven Gown] – Quest Reward from Junk in My Trunk
   If you prefer to gear up through questing and instancing, this is a good option. Has 13 less Intellect, 24 less Stamina, 21 fewer Spirit, and 24 less Spell Power than the [Moonshroud Robe].
5. [Raiments of the Titans] – Loken in Halls of Lightning (Normal)
   Similar to the [Bauble Woven Gown], this item trades 3 Intellect and 9 Spirit for 8 Stamina and a yellow gem slot.
6. [Wildscale Breastplate] – Leatherworking (BoE)
   The Wildscale Breastplate is sadly lacking on Stamina and has itemization points wasted on critical strike. Included here because so many Druids also happen to be leatherworkers.

Compare these items

Hands

1. [Heroes’ Dreamwalker Handguards] – 60 x Emblems of Heroism
   Between this and the [Heroes’ Dreamwalker Robe] (purchaseable with 80 Emblems of Heroism), you can start raiding with the 2-piece T7 set bonus and halfway to the 4-piece bonus to Nourish. The stats are great, too!
2. [Gloves of Token Respect] – Grand Widow Faerlina or Gluth in Naxxramas (Heroic)
   These are actually statistically superior the [Heroes’ Dreamwalker Handguards] but the set bonuses from the Dreamwalker set make them my first choice.
3. [Overlook Handguards] – The Prophet Tharon’ja in Drak’Tharon Keep (Heroic)
   Nearly identical to the [Moonshroud Gloves] (but much cheaper to acquire).
4. [Moonshroud Gloves] – Tailoring (BoE)
   Have lots of money and no time or interest in running instances to gear up? These gloves are nearly identical to the [Overlook Handguards] .
5. [Gloves of Glistening Runes] – Keristrasza in the Nexus (Heroic)
   While these gloves do have a bit of wasted critical strike rating, they also include a red gem slot which is clearly OM NOM NOM.
6. [Grotto Mist Gloves] – Hadronox in Azjol’Nerub (Heroic)
   The only leather option, the [Grotto Mist Gloves] include a red socket with a +4 Spirit socket bonus.
7. [Sterile Flesh-Handling Gloves] – Ebon Blade Revered
   These have the highest Intellect and Stamina values of any of the ILevel 200 gloves and share the highest Spell Power value with [Gloves of the Crystal Gardener].
8. [Gloves of Distorted Time] – Chrono-Lord Epoch in the Culling of Stratholme (Heroic) Includes a yellow socket, ideal for an Intellect or Intellect/Spell Power gem. Unfortunately, the socket bonus is +4 Stamina.
9. [Gloves of the Crystal Gardener] – Ormorok the Tree-Shaper in Nexus (Heroic)
   High Spirit and great spell power from an easily farmable boss make these a good choice.

Compare these items

Legs

1. [Earthgiving Legguards] – Leatherworking (BoE)
   Easily the best choice for a Restoration Druid just beginning Naxxramas, you can generally find these on the Auction House for around 1,000 gold.
2. [Kilt of the Forgotten One] – Herald Volazj in Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom (Heroic)
   Your only leather option of the ILevel 200 legs, the [Kilt of the Forgotten One] has a good amount of Stamina and Spell Power as well as the highest Spirit value.
3. [Breeches of the Caller] – Ingvar the Plunderer in Utgarde Keep (Heroic)
   While these pants have the lowest Spell Power of any of the ILevel 200 legs, they have the highest Intellect, making them a good choice to bolster mana regeneration. As a bonus, they also include red and blue gem slots.
4. [Cyanigosa’s Leggings] – Cyanigosa in the Violet Hold (Heroic)
   These legs have nice, well-rounded stats. They are probably slightly easier to acquire than the [Opposed Stasis Leggings] (whose stats are identical) because of the easy access to and lower completion time of the Violet Hold instance.
5. [Opposed Stasis Leggings] – Commander Kolurg or Commander Stoutbeard in the Nexus (Heroic)
   Identical to [Cyanigosa’s Leggings].

Compare these items

Feet

1. [Arcanic Tramplers] – Alexstrasza’s Gift in The Eye of Eternity (25-Man)
   Despite dropping in a raid instance, these boots are BoE and can be picked up off the auction house. More Intellect, Stamina, and Spell Power than the [Earthgiving Boots] (though 6 less Spirit), and the smidge of haste won’t kill you (just don’t tell the Tree League).
2. [Boots of Septic Wounds] – Patchwerk or Gluth in Naxxramas (25-Man)
   With a +16 Spirit gem in the blue socket, these would be slightly better than the [Earthgiving Boots], though the difference is such that you might base your decision on which you could buy cheaper.
3. [Earthgiving Boots] – Leatherworking (BoE)
   Epic leather. ‘Nuff said.
4. [Boots of Transformation] – Gal’darah of Gundrak (Heroic)
   These are pretty close to the [Footwraps of Teleportation], having a red slot instead of a yellow and preferring Spirit over Intellect. These, however, are leather and so are ranked higher in desirability.
5. [Footwraps of Teleportation] – Xevozz in The Violet Hold (Heroic)
   Has a yellow slot and plenty of Intellect. May be more difficult to acquire than the [Boots of Transformation] given the random assortment of bosses that can appear in Violet Hold.
6. [Aurora Slippers] – Tailoring (BoE)
   While these only have an iLevel of 187, I’m including them because they’re probably going to be pretty cheap to acquire.

Compare these items

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Pre-Raid Gear: Head, Shoulder, Chest, Hands, Legs, Feet

Come WotLK, would Leatherworking or Tailoring be the better profession for healing, in your opinion? I’m currently a tailor because the Primal Mooncloth set was pretty nice for healing before getting some good raiding gear, but I’m considering changing to Leatherworking if it will be more useful in the expansion.

He actually sent me this question at the beginning of November. At the time, I wasn’t sure how to respond because I was under the belief that all of the items for Leatherworking/Tailoring hadn’t been released. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Blizzard has opted to change their policy on armor crafting so that these skills no longer produce skill-defining Bind-on-Pickup epic items like the Primal Mooncloth and Frozen Shadoweave sets of the Burning Crusade. Practically all of the armor that can be crafted with these skills is now Bind on Equip and can be bought and sold. What does this mean and, if there aren’t self-crafted sets any longer, what benefits do each tradeskill now provide to the healing Druid?

Crafted Armor

Assuming you’re choosing the skill for the reduced cost of items it produces, let’s compare the items each can create. Because you’re likely to graduate out of them fairly quickly, I’m going to ignore green items.

Leatherworking

Leatherworking can currently craft a total of 23 items with spell power.

The Iceborne Blues:  [Dark Iceborne Leggings] [Dark Iceborne Chestguard] 
These two items are itemized perfectly for the raiding Druid with plenty of Spirit and not points wasted on superfluous stats. Note that wearing these two pieces plus one other green from the [Iceborne Embrace] set will net you an additional 26 spell power. With the number of slots available (waist, feet, hands, shoulders, wrist, or helm), it will give you a lot of flexibility when it comes to upgrading your gear.

The Overcast Set: [Overcast Spaulders] [Overcast Leggings] [Overcast Headguard] [Overcast Handwraps] [Overcast Chestguard] [Overcast Bracers] [Overcast Boots] [Overcast Belt]
This all-blue set of items has a great balance of stats for the healing Druid with lots of Spirit and no wasted points spell crit, spell haste, or spell hit. The excess of Resilience, however, makes this clearly intended for use in PvP. Tailoring can produce a similar set called Frostsavage, but a conscientious  Druid knows to shy away from cloth in PvP.

SQUISH! [Bugsquashers]
These boots are easily on par with the two blue items from the Iceborne set mentioned above but are likely separated from them to avoid having three easily acquired blues that provide the set bonus (you have to sacrifice one slot to a green item).

The Earthgiving Set: [Earthgiving Legguards] [Earthgiving Boots]
These two items are currently the only two crafted leather epic items with spell power, appear to be itemized with the Tree in mind, and are certain to give you a leg up in heroics or Naxxramas. The recipes for both of these items must be purchased for 2 [Artic Fur] from Braeg Stoutbeard in Dalaran and each requires a [Frozen Orb] to make (the WotLK equivalent of a [Primal Nether]).

Non-Ideal Items: [Wildscale Breastplate] [Purehorn Spaulders] 
These two items aren’t itemized perfectly for the raiding Druid with itemization points on the breastplate wasted on spell crit and on haste rating on the shoulders. I’d guess these two items are intended more for our Balance brethren.

Tailoring

Tailoring can currently craft a total of 46 items with spell power. Note, however, that a number of these are geared more toward DPS casters and Holy Priests with spell crit, spell hit, and spell haste.

The Mystic Frostwoven Set: [Mystic Frostwoven Wristwraps] [Mystic Frostwoven Shoulders] [Mystic Frostwoven Robe]
This set is similar to the Leatherworking Iceborne set with three blue items instead of two (but both a 2-piece and 4-piece set bonus, the latter of which can be achieved by wearing one of the green items from the [Frostwoven Power] set). This set is heavy on the Spirit but has no Intellect. It also includes a lot of crit rating, which is not an especially useful stat to the Restoration Druid. Overall, this set seems poorly itemized and is likely to be avoided.

The Frostsavage Set
This is the Tailored equivalent to the Overcast Set from Leatherworking. It has no Spirit, a lot of critical strike rating and Resilience, and – as it’s made out of cloth – is best avoided by the PvPing Druid. PTUI!

Spiritual Blues: [Light Blessed Mittens] [Aurora Slippers] [Cloak of the Moon] [Frostmoon Pants]
These are easily craftable blues that have a nice balance of stats, including Intellect, Stamina, spell power and Spirit (or, in the case of the cloak, MP5). I’ve crafted a couple of these for myself so far, consuming Moonshroud cloth that I would otherwise be saving. I’ve already replaced one of the items with an item from a Heroic dungeon, though, so you might instead consider saving your cloth for the Moonshroud set further on.

The Moonshroud Set: [Moonshroud Robe] [Moonshroud Gloves]
These are the big cahuna items of Tailoring for healers, the equivalent of the [Primal Mooncloth] set in TBC. Like the Earthgiving pieces from Leatherworking, they are perfectly itemized for us. You will note, however, that there are only two pieces to the set and there is no set bonus like that of PMC. This will make these items less painful to replace.

The [Wispcloak]
While not perfectly itemized for a Restoration Druid (having MP5 instead of the more desirable Spirit), it is an epic item with good spell power and Intellect.

Non-Ideal items: [Silky Iceshard Boots] [Hat of Wintry Doom] [Deep Frozen Cord] [Cloak of Frozen Spirits] [Black Duskweave Wristwraps] [Black Duskweave Leggings] [Black Duskweave Robe] [Spellweave Robe] [Spellweave Gloves] [Ebonweave Robe] [Ebonweave Gloves] [Deathchill Cloak]
Given the allotment of stats on these items, they’re better for other casters than the Restoration Druid.

Monetary Benefits

By choosing a crafting skill, you’ve chosen to give up one of the potentially lucrative gathering skills. However, there are still a number of items that can be produced for profit (in addition to the BoE armor listed above).

Leatherworking

Leatherworking can craft a number of useful BoE armor kits, including the [Frosthide Leg Armor], [Icescale Leg Armor], and [Jormungar Leg Armor]. The [Heavy Borean Armor Kit] isn’t spectacular, but it’s nice for alts while they’re leveling.

Tailoring

As with TBC, Tailors can create spellthreads to enchant players’ legs, including [Azure Spellthread] and [Shining Spellthread]. In addition, Tailors can train the Northern Cloth Scavenging ability that gives them an additional chance to find extra cloth on humanoids (and Undead humanoids). This ability means Tailors will continue to acquire more cloth than non-Tailors, making it easier to level first aid or sell the unneeded excess.

Tailors can also make bags, though the introductory level [Frostweave Bag] is a popular choice for skillups and is therefore harder to sell at a profit (or break even point). The 24-slot [Glacial Bag] requires 4 pieces of Ebonweave and 4 pieces of Moonshroud, making it a valuable (but time-consuming) item to produce.

Additional Self-Only Benefits

Leatherworking and Tailoring both provide nice self-only enchants as well as items that can be used to “enchant” the equipment of other players. Let’s look at the healing-oriented options for each.

Leatherworking

Leatherworkers can apply several fur linings to their bracers (these are self-only enchants). Restoration Druids will prefer the [Fur Lining – Spell Power]. There are also versions for every resist type. It’s assumed that Blizzard will also be adding Drums like in TBC, but the recipes  haven’t been released, yet.

Tailoring

Tailors can embroider their cloaks with one of three caster-oriented embroideries. Restoration Druids will likely prefer the [Darkglow Embroidery]. They can also craft a self-only [Sanctified Spellthread] to apply to their pants, a significantly more potent version of the [Shining Spellthread] and cheaper self-only alternative to the BoE [Brilliant Spellthread].

Perhaps the most iconic self-only benefit of being a Master Seamstress is the [Magnificent Flying Carpet]. It can be crafted at 425 tailoring, and the materials are surprisingly affordable. There are more prestigious, specialization-specific versions of this mount including one sewn from Moonshroud.

Summary and Comparison

• Both Leatherworking and Tailoring have a good number of similar options for a healing Druid.
• Tailoring is a self-sufficient gathering tradeskill. Northern Cloth Scavenging will help you acquire the cloth you need to level your skill, especially if you run a lot of instances with humanoids. A leatherworker has to pick up Skinning on her main character or an alt or be willing to place herself at the mercy of the auction house. /cower
• Tailoring currently has slightly more self-only Druid-friendly benefits (one of the self-only benefits for Leatherworkers only benefits melee characters), though the addition of Drums should even the score.
• Leatherworking includes the Overcast PvP set, and the Improved Tree of Life talents make all leather armor more valuable than it would have been otherwise.
• Tailored items are typically more attractive (and more visible since Leatherworking doesn’t include an epic chestpiece), but this doesn’t matter to everyone and is only relevant outside of Tree of Life. Tailoring also comes with a sweet-looking magic carpet (beautiful Persian princess not included).

Honestly, the differences between the two professions aren’t that pronounced. I’d be inclined to recommend Leatherworking to a Restoration Druid that intends to PvP and Tailoring to a Restoration Druid who intends to have Balance as her off spec (sadly, there appear to be fewer few Balance-friendly rewards from Leatherworking). Of course, you could be a masochist like me and level both! /wildtreecackling

A Note on Leveling Your Tradeskill

To raise your skill to the level required to make a desired item, you’ll have to invest a considerable sum of money to craft items that aren’t necessarily useful to you (or an alt). In the realm of Tailoring and Leatherworking, the sooner you can raise your skill and place your excess merchandise up for sale, the better off you will be. As time passes, more players enter the market, flooding the auction house with the most easily crafted items, often selling them at a loss in order to sell them at all (I’ve found this to be the case of Imbued Frostweave Bags). At the same time, players are graduating out of this “tier” of items as they find replacements through Heroic drops, badge gear, and demand eventually trails off. This temporary increase in supply and ever decreasing demand can lead to a glut in the crafting market that will leave you “holding the bag” on raising your skill. In short, raise your skill as quickly as you can and try to craft items that are not only economical to produce but seem like they would sell. (Don’t produce 10 pairs of cloth bracers if there are already 8 of them on the auction house.)

Production vs. Gathering

In the comments below, reader Faradhim inquires:

Given that there are no longer large number of BoP items for either profession do you think there is a good reason to even pick up one of this crafting professions? Like you have observed leveling up tailoring/leather crafting is very expensive and seems like you will be able to buy just about every items you need on AH from other tailors/leather workers save spell threads and Fur lining. And there will be stiff competition from other crafters which means items is likely to sell at a deep discount.

This is such a good question that I wanted to append my response here. Since discovering that Blizzard wouldn’t be providing tradeskill-defining BoP epics, I’ve wrestled with this question myself. Am I not doing myself a disservice by choosing a production tradeskill over a gathering tradeskill? While it’s true that each gathering tradeskill provides some form of self-buff or self-benefit in addition to their obvious monetary potential, how do these benefits stack up against the ones provided by production tradeskills?

• Herbalism
  Lifeblood (Rank 6): This ability does not scale with spell power and for a class that uses HoTs, its effect is pretty negligible.
  [Fire Seed]: Makes you vulnerable to magic, but increases your spell power by 200 for 10 sec. Assuming you could chain the use of these, the benefit works out to be 33.3 spell power.
• Leatherworking
  [Fur Lining – Spell Power] replaces [Enchant Bracers - Superior Spellpower] (or the much more affordable [Enchant Bracers - Greater Spellpower]) and [Enchant Bracers - Major Spirit]. It’s 44 more spell power than the greater enchant and 37 more spell power than the superior one, not to mention considerably more affordable.
  Assuming that drums recipes are eventually added for Wrath, we can likely expect the WotLK equivalent of [Drums of Restoration] to be 30 MP5 or greater.
• Mining
  Toughness: All your hard work spent mining has made you exceptionally tough, increasing your maximum health by 500. Obviously, more health is always welcome even if it’s generally more useful for Feral tanks.
• Skinning
  Master of Anatomy (Rank 6): Skinning all those dead animals has broadened your anatomical knowledge, increasing your critical strike rating by 25. As a Resto Druid, I /spit on 25 crit rating. PTUI!
• Tailoring
  [Darkglow Embroidery] replaces [Enchant Cloak - Wisdom]. With a 35% proc rate and 75 second internal cooldown, the embroidery works out to be 0.79 PPM or 20 MP5. Honestly, the enchant seems better to me, not to mention substantially easier to acquire. I think adjustment to the embroidery is needed to clearly make it superior to what could be acquired otherwise.
  While significantly cheaper, the [Sanctified Spellthread] is equivalent to the [Brilliant Spellthread] available to non-Tailors.

To me, none of the gathering profession benefits seem to match up with the strength of the production tradeskill benefits (which, in my mind, is as it should be). Therefore, the most ideal situation is to keep two production tradeskills on your main character and keep an alt for gathering to supplement them. For instance, my Warlock is a Skinner and Herbalist helping Phaelia raise her Leatherworking skill and keep her stocked with potions. This has the additional benefit of doubling your return from any reputation gains that afford you new recipes.

Kaliope actually recently addressed this issue on her post To Keep or Not to Keep, THAT is the question. She seems to present the opposite point of view, so it’s definitely worth a read.

Thank you to Kehnomar for the wonderful question and for all of the information he later sent to me that assisted with writing this article!

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).

Mailbag: Leatherworking vs. Tailoring in WotLK

Has anyone compiled a list of green and blue level 80 gear for Resto Druids to start raiding 10s and 25s?

Paininabox of Runetotem (US) has released a spreadsheet that includes many items from Wrath, though it doesn’t include source or stat-based filtering. As such, here are some healing-oriented gear lists with descriptors. And I shall henceforth be known as "Phaelia I-Filter-WoWHead-So-You-Don’t-Have-To" or simply "Phaelia IFWSYDHT":

Items with Spell Power

• Quested: Blues | Purples 
• Reputation: Blues | Purples 
• Crafted: Blues | Purples
• 5-Man Instances (non-Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet | Azjol-Nerub
• Caverns of Time: Stratholme
• Drak’Tharon Keep | Gundrak
• The Nexus: The Nexus | The Oculus
• The Violet Hold
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning | Halls of Stone
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep | Utgarde Pinnacle
• 5-Man Instances (Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet | Azjol-Nerub
• Caverns of Time: Stratholme
• Drak’Tharon Keep | Gundrak
• The Nexus: The Nexus | The Oculus
• The Violet Hold
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning | Halls of Stone
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep | Utgarde Pinnacle
• PvE Tokens: Emblem of Heroism | Emblem of Valor
• Raids:
• Naxxramas: 10 | 25
• The Obsidian Sanctum 10 | 25
• The Eye of Eternity (size indeterminate)

Leather Armor with Spell Power

• Quested: Blues
• Reputation: Blues | Purples
• Crafted: Blues | Purples
• 5-Man Instances (non-Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet | Azjol-Nerub
• Caverns of Time: Stratholme
• Drak’Tharon Keep
• The Nexus: The Nexus | The Oculus
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning | Halls of Stone
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep | Utgarde Pinnacle
• 5-Man Instances (Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet | Azjol-Nerub
• Caverns of Time: Stratholme
• Drak’Tharon Keep | Gundrak
• The Nexus: The Nexus | The Oculus
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning | Halls of Stone
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep | Utgarde Pinnacle
• PvE Tokens: Emblem of Heroism | Emblem of Valor
• Raids:
• Naxxramas: 10 | 25
• The Obsidian Sanctum: 10 | 25

Spell Power and Spirit

• Quested: Blues
• Reputation: Blues
• Crafted: Purples | Blues
• 5-Man Instances (non-Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet | Azjol-Nerub
• Caverns of Time: Stratholme
• Drak’Tharon Keep | Gundrak
• The Nexus: The Nexus | The Oculus
• The Violet Hold
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning | Halls of Stone
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep | Utgarde Pinnacle
• 5-Man Instances (Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet | Azjol-Nerub
• Caverns of Time: Stratholme
• Drak’Tharon Keep | Gundrak
• The Nexus: The Nexus | The Oculus
• The Violet Hold
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning | Halls of Stone
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep | Utgarde Pinnacle
• PvE Tokens: Emblem of Heroism | Emblem of Valor
• Raids:
• Naxxramas: 10 | 25 
• The Obsidian Sanctum: 10 | 25
• The Eye of Eternity (size indeterminate)

Spell Power and Spell Haste

• Quested:  Greens | Blues | Purples
• Reputation: Blues | Purples
• Crafted: Blues | Purples
• 5-Man Instances (non-Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet
• Drak’Tharon Keep | Gundrak
• The Nexus: The Oculus
• The Violet Hold
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Pinnacle
• 5-Man Instances (Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet | Azjol-Nerub
• Caverns of Time: Stratholme
• Drak’Tharon Keep
• The Nexus: The Nexus | The Oculus
• The Violet Hold
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning | Halls of Stone
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep | Utgarde Pinnacle
• PvE Tokens: Emblem of Heroism | Emblem of Valor
• Raids:
• Naxxramas: 10 | 25
• The Obsidian Sanctum: 25

PvP: Spell Power and Resilience

• Battlegrounds: Blues | Purples
• Arenas: Leather Armor | Weapons
• Crafted: Leather Armor

While there is considerable overlap between the most desirable stats for a Restoration Druid and a Balance Druid, I invite you to read Graylo’s guest post: Balance vs. Restoration Gear.

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Mailbag: WotLK Item List

The night after patch 3.0.2 dropped my guild was running Black Temple and the [Naaru-Blessed Life Rod] dropped off of the Reliquary of Souls, and my GM, who plays a Warlock, said “looks like a Warlock item to me.”

Before you start writing angry comments about how my GM is an idiot, rest assured that he was joking. Though his comment does highlight one of the issues we are going to have after Wrath of the Lich King is released. With the merger of Healing and Spell Damage into a single stat, Moonkin and Trees are going to be seeking some of the same gear. However, this does not mean that every piece of leather gear with Spell Power is ideally suited for a Tree or a Moonkin. While any item with Spell Power maybe good for both builds, it is my opinion that most items with Spell Power will lend themselves more to one spec than the other.

In this article, I will take a look at each of the relevant stats to see how they lean. Then I will look at a couple of examples to answer the question: Is it Resto gear or Moonkin gear?

Spell Power

I only mention it to get it out of the way. This is the primary stat for both builds and provides no insight into who benefits from this item most. Plus, when considering items of a similar level the amount of Spell Power will be fairly close on both items.

Hit Rating

Unless something has changed in WotLK, a heal is not going to be miss or be resisted by its target. Therefore Resto Druids have no use for Hit Rating. This is the most obvious indicator of how an item leans. If it has Hit then it’s Moonkin gear.

Note from Phae: If it’s “hit” then it’s sh— … er … that is to say, it’s not something you want to GET.

Crit Rating

Crit is a little more ambiguous. It is not the most important stat for either build, but definitely has its purpose in both builds. In TBC, Crit Rating was good for Moonkin, but horrible for Trees since few Druid heals could crit. That has changed somewhat in WotLK. Regrowth will play a much bigger role in Druid healing, Healing Touch can now be cast in Tree of Life, and the new spell Nourish can crit. All of this points to a bigger role for Crit Rating in a Resto Druid’s life.

However, it is my opinion that Crit Rating favors Moonkin more. Over 80% Moonkin DPS comes from spells that can crit. Critical hits not only increases Moonkin damage but also increases our average casting speed for Starfire and returns mana. A majority of druid healing will still come from HoTs, and critical heals have an increased risk of wasted heals due to overhealing.

Note from Phae: Yes, spell crit is better for Restoration Druids than it once was, but try not to go overboard. HoTs still can't crit, and the 50% additional crit from Improved Regrowth actually makes spell crit less desirable to Restoration Druids, not more. To understand why, imagine you have 0 crit chance and pick up gear that gives you 10% crit chance. Your net improvement would be 1.1/1.0 or 10%. Now imagine you have 50% crit chance and pick up gear that gives you an additional 10% crit chance. Your net improvement is 1.6/1.5 or 6%, a substantially lower improvement. For the sake of clarity, this assumes you get exactly double the benefit from a crit, which is actually close due to Living Seed but not exact.

Haste Rating

Haste rating has the biggest question mark. When I talked to Phae about this stat she said she was slightly inclined to defer to Moonkin on this stat, but I think it is much more even.

Haste can be a significant DPS increase for Moonkin but it comes at a cost. It doesn’t increase mana efficiency at all so if you don’t have the mana pool for it, it won’t help your DPS much. From a Restoration perspective, haste does not decrease the duration of your HoTs, but it does have several benefits that can make a Resto Druid more effective. A shorter global cooldown means you can roll Lifebloom on more targets, or allow you to get more direct heals off in between refreshes. It also will help you to get off an emergency heal if both Nature’s Swiftness and Swiftmend are down.

In my opinion Haste doesn’t lend itself to one spec over the other. So, there is no help here.

Note from Phae: The value of haste depends almost entirely upon your style of healing. A healing style that relies primarily upon insta-cast HoTs – Lifebloom, Rejuvenation, and Wild Growth – will little benefit from haste; its global cooldown reduction is overpriced. On the other hand, an unglyphed Healing Touch or heavy Regrowth build would benefit from stacking spell haste. Still, it’s rare for a Restoration Druid to so vigorously eschew her HoTs to focus instead on direct heals.

Spirit

In the Burning Crusade, Spirit clearly lent itself to Restoration build,s and it is still a good stat for Trees in WotLK due to talents like Intensity, Living Spirit, and Improved Tree of Life. Moonkin on the other hand had very little use for Spirit. It was good for mana regeneration because most Moonkin picked up Intensity, but it did little for our DPS. That is changing with the addition of Improved Moonkin Form, which increases Spell Damage by 15% of your total Spirit.
Despite this change, I still believe that Spirit lends itself more to Restoration then Balance. The Resto Tree has more talents that benefit from Spirit, and I think healers in general benefit more from mana regen then DPSers do. Restos can easily blow through their mana really quickly trying to keep someone up and prevent a wipe. A Moonkin’s mana usage is much more consistent and can be managed in other ways. Plus, the extra DPS a Moonkin will get from Spirit is fairly small.

Note from Phae: I’m the one with Spirit; I don’t wanna hear it! Living Spirit means a Restoration Druid gets 1.15 Spirit for every 1 Spirit that a Moonkin would get. If said Moonkin doesn’t even have Intensity, I’d punch it in the beak for trying to take an item with a ton of Spirit.

Intellect

Obviously both builds need some amount of Intellect, but an item with an extraordinary large amount of Intellect probably lends itself more to a Moonkin. The Balance tree has two talents, Lunar Guidance and Dreamstate, that buff the druid based upon his level of Intellect. Restos can’t get these buffs without putting over 20 points in the Balance Tree.

Note from Phae: I believe that the new mana regeneration effect, Replenishment, makes Intellect desirable for all casters since the amount of mana restored is based on your total mana. As a result, I would be less inclined to consider this a stat that favors solely Moonkin, though I agree that Lunar Guidance and Dreamstate does seem to give the slight advantage to Balance Druids.

MP5

To be honest this isn’t a great stat for either build. It is a very expensive relative to the other stats listed above. Plus, it has only a situational impact on performance. If you don’t have mana issues currently, then more MP5 isn’t going change anything.

That being said, I believe that MP5 lends itself more to Restoration builds. As I said before I believe that mana regen is a little more important for healers then it is for DPS.

Note from Phae: Ewwwww … MP5! This stat continues to be overpriced for those casters with an Intensity-esque ability (ex. Meditation, Arcane Meditation). I’d look the other way on an item who sinks a large portion of its item budget into MP5.

Examples

To illustrate these points lets look at two pairs of boots that drop in Naxx25:

I think both boots would be good for either a Restoration or Balance Druid, but I think I know which one Restos would prefer. Despite having 38 Crit rating, I believe the [Boots of Septic Wounds] are more of a Resto item. They have a large amount of Spirit and the gem socket allow for more potent heals and greater longevity. On the other hand, the [Boots of the Escaped Captive] favor a Moonkin build in my opinion. The sheer quantity of Haste means that they will provide more DPS at the expense of less valuable base stats.

For another example look at these two chest pieces, also drops from Naxx25:

In my opinion, the [Vest of Vitality] is clearly a Moonkin item. The large quantity of Crit and complete lack of Spirit say this item is for all out DPS. The [Tunic of Prejudice] is a much more balanced item that has lots of Spirit that I think Restos will find more attractive.

Leather vs Cloth

I want to make a quick comment on the Leather vs. Cloth debate. Moonkin are used to having to fight with Mages, Warlocks, and Priests for cloth gear because there was very little leather caster DPS gear in the Burning Crusade. My guess is that in Wrath of the Lich King we are going to see clothies push back and say they should get priority over Druids.

I still believe that armor type doesn't matter for the most part. The stats on the gear are what cause you to do more DPS or be a more effective healer. Therefore, I say rolling on cloth items that are clearly better then the other options available should be okay. That being said, be mindful of the clothies' needs. Don't roll on a cloth item when there is a leather item that is equally accessible. For example, a Moonkin should probably pass on [Slippers of the Seacaller] if a clothie wants it, because the [Naturewarden's Treads] are available just a few bosses later.

Final Note

None of this means that Restos shouldn’t roll on the [Vest of Vitality], or that Moonkin shouldn’t use the Boots [Boots of Septic Wounds]. All of these items could be upgrades for either spec. These are just guidelines to help you navigate your gear choices.

My suggestion is that you talk to the other caster druids in your guild and see what gear they are looking for and how big of an upgrade it is. This type of planning with your shape shifting brethren can prevent arguments and feelings of animosity. It can also save you DKP and help you get the item that best suits your needs when it drops.

I want to say thanks to Phae for giving me this opportunity and supporting my blog. The Druid community would be at a loss without you. Note from Phae: <3 Thanks, Gray!

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).

Guest Post: Balance vs. Restoration Gear

The changes made to things like armor were done mostly to solve itemization problems. We didn’t make them to nerf Ferals (or anyone). We did them because we started to consider bosses who needed to drop 30 different pieces of armor (or tokens to trade for them or whatever) because classes and even specs were heading off into distinct niches. You’ll get something to make up for it. No, you aren’t there yet.

Hopeful. Very hopeful. One one hand, I’m not keen to look like a Rogue with a staff, but we all know how much that affects our Robert Smith costume, while on the other, I do enjoy that this could reduce frustration at farming a given piece quite a bit. The vague promise of more to come is tantalizing, but the cynic in me thinks that the implication is juicier than the reality.

We’re not entirely happy with the way the Feral ended up in BC. The idea was that you could be a decent tank and a decent melee DPS class, so Ferals were something you wanted to bring if you weren’t the kind of guild that swapped different people out for every boss. But I don’t think "convenience factor" is ultimately a great value to bring to a raid. The problem was we were kind of stuck because if we made Ferals end-game tanks and amazing melee, then the rogues were screwed, because they couldn’t go respec to tank or heal.

Interesting. Not entirely happy. It’s nice to see that they’ve noticed the vaunted versatility of the hybrid classes was never a reality in BC. Given the general difficulty of instanced encounters, specialization was and is highly encouraged, such that I still don’t consider Druids to be Hybrids in the commonly accepted sense of the term. Spec-dependent specialist, perhaps. What is disheartening, though, is to see the tired refrain that Rogues can’t do this or that so we shouldn’t compete. Warriors, for instance, are frequently seen to perform as well as Rogues on the meters, yet they can respec to be phenomenal tanks. Is it our extra role, the healing? No, it’s that we can do much of our tanking and DPS with the same spec. Still, the comparison is weak. I don’t intend to get into ground I’ve covered before but we’re talking about a difference of scope and function, and the two classes just aren’t comparable, regardless of surface similarities.

But now we have a chance to add some new talents, and we’d like for some of them to be the kind that let a druid declare that she is more of a cat or more of a bear. It doesn’t have to be shoehorning two whole talent trees into one, but even offering a few choices would go a long way.

Druids are unique in that they “ought” to have 4 talent trees if the intent is to separate tanking and DPS talents, but as that’s not likely an option I do think we’ll continue to have a mixed tanking/DPS feral build with the real separation of spec coming in PvE and PvP flavors when it all shakes out. I am inclined to say that because they keep talking about improved DPS for both Protection specs, among others, which minimizes complaints about Druids being simultaneously tanks and DPS.

I didn’t mean to sound condescending. The pot example was to offer that we haven’t forgotten about bears. My point was NOT: hey, you lost armor but gee you got health stones, so why all the QQing? It was cool to see those big armor numbers on bears, and we have some plans for how to replace them (and not just with pots).

Okay. Interesting. So our armor won’t be great big, but with the rumors that Crushing Blows are going away, the actual need for the huge armor is lessened. Sure it’s not nearly as much fun and given all the other tools they have it’ll be disheartening to see a Warrior or Paladin potentially sporting more of it, but I don’t think this is the end of bears. The thing is, healthstones are nice, but they’re something we should have had all along. We never should have had to write a macro cheat to use them. So…whatever else you have on tap better be good.

The DK gets a lot of attention because it has a lot of catching up to do. There were no DKs in UBRS or MC or TK or even Arathi Basin. Nobody knows how their abilities and power system are going to work so we feel like we have to cover a lot of the ground that was explored literally years ago for some of these other classes.

There is some speculation that it is the complaints of Death Knights that is in part, causing us grief. I don’t read the beta boards nearly enough to say whether this is true. What I do know is that the implementation of a new class is likely very time-consuming from a balance standpoint. I’m willing to bet the biggest post WotLK nerfs won’t be for us, y’know? That said, I’m GLAD they’re trying to avoid that.

We will be really disappointed if there aren’t bears main tanking Naxx and later raids, and cats that if not consistently as high as rouges are at least a lot closer than they are now.

Well, it’s nice to see that even Blizzard likes their ruddy powder. Oh wait, that’s not what they were talking about, was it? So, we’re already great tanks, often limited in the player base’s minds merely by the fact that Crushing Blows aren’t something we can realistically avoid (so we mitigate with incredibly high armor). It’s obvious we’re getting help in the Cat arena but I’m a bit apprehensive about the actual role Bears will play in the tanking sphere. The above assertions are nice, but platitudes are just that, and in an election season we are all too aware of how hollow that can be. I don’t think Druids will realistically be able to move away from an essentially combined Cat/Bear spec, nor do I think they should. Moves to make other classes share a tank spec with some damage output are better spent. Improvements to the class are always welcome, though, and I’m excited to see where we end up. As with all things, changes are unnerving and not always easy to deal with. So for DPS, I’m fairly optimistic and excited; for tanking, I think I’m still hanging outside the polling booth trying to figure out who to vote for.

For more on this topic, I invite you to read one or more of the following:

• Think Tank: What a Feral Wants from WotLK
• Leader of the Pack: Feral in the Future

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Berries and Cream: Tasty Tidbits

We’re also going to be doing away with spell-damage only type gear. We’ll be moving to a system that, as part of your talents, will let players convert healing into spell-damage and vice-versa as part of their talents. That way they can use the exact same gear, but their talents just adapt what it does.”

There is a rumor, however, that the +Healing on gear has been removed and replaced with the equivalent +Spell Damage on the Alpha servers. In either case, players are guessing that talents will be added that either convert +Healing to +Spell Damage or +Spell Damage to +Healing. It’s also possible that talents will be used to augment healing or damaging spells, setting healers apart from DPSers. If this is true, I can see several potential effects, some positive and some negative.

• Increased Gear Competition
  As it stands now, Mages, Shadow Priests, and Warlocks generally pursue the same gear sets (with the exception of the Arcane Mage who might turn an eye toward the rare Spirit and +spell damage item) while Holy Priests and Restoration Druids look at +Healing cloth. After this change, Holy Priests, Shadow Priests, Mages, and Warlocks would all vie for the same gear. (The Improved Tree of Life talent that augments armor by 360% while in ToL form will probably discourage us from picking up cloth.) This would make the more-or-less ideal gear breakdown look something like this:
  • Cloth +Spell Damage with Spirit: Holy Priest, Shadow Priest (with rumored talent changes), Arcane Mage, some Restoration Druids (perhaps those who don’t spec deeply enough into Restoration to pick up Improved ToL)
  • Cloth +Spell Damage with Crit: Mages, Destruction and Demonology Warlocks
  • Cloth +Spell Damage, no Crit, no Spirit: Affliction Warlocks
  • Leather +Spell Damage (with or without Crit, Spirit): Restoration and Balance Druids
  • +Spell Hit: Non-healers only
• Less Unique Appearance
  Damage casters and healers will look very similar, making it harder to distinguish between the two in battlegrounds and Arenas. (Of course, the giant feathered butt of Moonkin might continue to give Balance Druids away.) I personally enjoy the often effeminate aesthetics of healing gear, so this is a negative in my book. Although looking forward, if Druids really do end up focusing solely on leather items, these items aren’t typically as attractive as their cloth counterparts anyway.
• Ease of Role Switching
  This is a wonderful change for healers who will need only respec to drop the talents which either convert a portion of +spell damage into +healing or augment the amount of +Healing applied to their healing spells and should then be competitive with other spellcasters (some spec changes might still emphasize different stats however, and healers won’t have geared for +spell hit). Assuming that the cost of respeccing remains 50 gold and that income increases similar to the increase we saw in TBC, I think you’ll see a lot of players frequently role switching, improving the flexibility of your raids. This will be a very positive change for guilds who plan to pursue 10-man raid progression since flexibility will be invaluable in these smaller guilds.
• Increased Viability for Hybrid Builds
  Along the same lines as easier role switching, builds that incorporate a mixture of talents from a Healing tree and a Spell Damage tree may become much more viable. Dreamstate particularly may make a more impressive showing in the expansion with strong Wrath, Moonfire, and AOE (albeit not as strong as that of a true Laser Chicken) along with a Lifebloom rotation on the main tank. Imagine if instead of a 2 tank, 3 healer, 5 DPS ZA run you could viably make a 2 tank, 2.5 healer, 5.5 DPS run. This sort of flexibility will again be especially helpful to guilds who focus on 10-man raids. This will also make hybrid PvP builds all the more deadly, especially considering the recent popularity and success of Restokin builds in Arena.
• More Quest Rewards … for Everyone!
  Leveling up will be twice as fun as practically every quest is guaranteed to have a cloth (or leather +spell damage reward that will be useful to Restoration and Balance Druids). If TBC’s trend continues, however, we’re likely to see more cloth rewards than leather. Hopefully raiding itemization will present us with more leather options.

Improved Tree of Life to Affect Enchants and Buffs

On a related note, it is also rumored that the Improved Tree of Life talent affects not only the armor contribution from items but also the armor contribution from buffs, enchants (including armor kits), and gems. You might think this a bug, but the description for the talent actually reads differently from the description for Moonkin Form:

Moonkin Form: While in this form the armor contribution from items is increased by 400%.
Improved Tree of Life: Increases your armor while in Tree of Life form by 360%.

This would make armor-based enchants like that available to cloaks and armor kits more attractive to Tree of Life Druids. I’m personally looking forward to laughing in the face of Heroic mobs who hit me for only a little more than what they’d hit the tank for (although more often since my dodge is likely to be abysmal). It’s a nice, non-green-blob alternative to the Priest’s temporary aggro reduction, Fade.

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+Spell Damage or +Healing to be Removed in Wrath?

Prior to Patch 2.4, Druids were best served by switching to a high Spirit weapon during Innervate, the idea being to boost Spirit-based mana regeneration as much as possible during that 20 second period (the [Bangle of Endless Blessings] was recommended for the same reason). Now that Intellect and Spirit both affect mana regeneration, however, Innervate frequently returns more mana than we have. In this case, use of the Bangle becomes overkill, and a high-Intellect weapon is preferable since it temporarily increases the size of our mana pool. Of course, which group you fall into depends on your current balance of stats, and you can use the Mana Regeneration Calculator to easily determine which option you should pursue: Bangle + High Spirit Weapon or No Bangle + High Intellect Weapon. For the sake of completeness, let’s look at both options.

Spirit-Based Swap

Under this strategy, you’re trying to temporarily boost your Spirit during Innervate so that your regeneration rate increases, bringing the amount of mana returned closer to your total mana pool. If you’re just starting out in your healing kit, you’ll probably end up in this group. The [Bangle of Endless Blessings] is among the best mana regeneration trinkets available to you due to it’s use granting an additional 130 Spirit for 20 seconds. Here are a few of the high Spirit weapons available at your likely level of progression:

• [Staff of the Ashtongue Deathsworn]: quest reward from Akama’s Promise in Shadowmoon Valley
• [Ameer's Judgement]: Quest reward from Nexus-King Salhadaar in Netherstorm
• [Ironstaff of Regeneration]: drops from Exarch Maladaar of Auchenai Crypts
• [Serpentcrest Life-Staff]: drops from Mekgineer Steamrigger of Steamvault.
• [Staff of Divine Infusion]: world drop, easily purchasable for around 50g on the Auction House
• [Nightstaff of the Everliving]: drops from Nightbane in Karazhan
• [Rod of the Blazing Light]: drops from Vexallus in Heroic Magister’s Terrace; 3 gem slots
• [Ethereum Life-Staff]: drops from High Astromancer Solarian in Tempest Keep; more than likely overkill at this level of gear
• [Dathrohand's Ceremonial Hammer]: Drops from Captain Skarloc in Heroic Old Hillsbrad. While the spirit on this item is lower than on the staves listed above, it frees your offhand for a [Draenei Crystal Rod of Spirit], a level 70 green item that has 32 additional Spirit.

Whether you choose a 1-hander or 2-hander, have it enchanted with [Mighty Spirit] and fill any available gem slots with [Sparkling Star of Elune]. Assuming you have the [Bangle of Endless Blessings], equip it before any fight where you think you might be pressed for mana. Including a weapon swap, your Innervate macro should look something like this:

/use Bangle of Endless Blessings
/cast [target=player] Innervate
/equip [High Spirit Weapon]
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear();

Note: A more convenient option for Spirit-based weapon swaps is the use of the now out-of-date Evocation2 addon. It will swap to your highest Spirit-based weapon or mainhand/offhand combination while you’re under the effects of Innervate then swap back once the effect expires. Users of the Outfitter addon can use the walkthrough provided by Walkere of Rolling Horde to set up a custom outfit that activates automatically during Innervate.

To give yourself the option to share your Innervate with another player without using the Bangle or swapping your weapon, you can add a required modifier. Your macro would then look something like this:

/use [nomodifier] Bangle of Endless Blessings
/cast [modifier:ctrl] Innervate; [target=player] Innervate
/equip [nomodifier] <High Spirit Weapon>
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear();

Assuming you don’t use an addon like Evocation2, you’ll also want to map your regular weapon or weapon and offhand to a separate key so that you can swap back once Innervate elapses. To determine how much additional mana you’ll gain from the above swap, check the Mana Return from Innervate field on the Mana Regen Calculator at your current values then again at the value of Spirit you’ll have once you’ve made the swap (be sure to include the effects of Living Spirit, if applicable).

Intellect-Based Swap

Under this strategy, you’re trying to temporarily boost the size of your mana pool to eke out as much mana as possible from your Innervate (note, however, that Intellect will also boost your rate of regeneration). It works differently than the Spirit-based swap since it isn’t necessary to have the Intellect weapon equipped during the effects of Innervate but between the time where your mana begins to approach full until you’ve spent all the additional mana gained. You can opt to tie a weapon swap to your Innervate macro or — to maximize efficiency — you can micro-manage the weapon swap yourself by performing the swap near the point where Innervate is about to completely fill your mana bar and keeping an eye on when it will be "safe" to switch back. The addon CasterWeaponSwapper can assist with this as it has a setting for "high mana" swapping.

There are a ton of high Intellect weapons available post-Karazhan (where you’re more likely to be needing an Intellect-based swap) so I won’t list them here. Instead, I’ve created a set of filters through WoWHead to generate a list of weapons to consider:

• High Intellect weapons

Whether you choose a 1-hander or 2-hander, have it enchanted with [Major Intellect] and fill any available gem slots with [Brilliant Dawnstone] or [Brilliant Lionseye]. If you opt to swap your weapon on the use of Innervate, your macro might look something like this:

/cast [target=player] Innervate
/equip <High Intellect Weapon>

To determine how much additional mana you should expect to get from performing an Intellect-based weapon swap, find the amount you expect your Intellect to increase by when you change weapons and multiply it by 15. So, for instance, if I were to swap from the [Ethereum Life-Staff] with 44 Intellect to a full-gemmed and enchanted [Staff of Dark Mending], I could expect an additional 57 Intellect or 855 Mana.

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2.4 Mana Regen: Getting the Most out of Innervate

Leighbra of Sentinels (US) wrote in with this question:

At the moment, I have 494 Spirit unbuffed. I’m at about 675 fully raid buffed. I don’t have any idea how I ended up with so much Spirit and have been looking at what I can do with my enchants to play with that number, but I’m cheap and don’t like to re-enchant things… I have the [Idol of the Emerald Queen] equipped, and of course Lifebloom is my most commonly cast spell. So, from my Tree of Life aura, in raids, that means about 135ish additional +Healing for the people in my group.

I’m trying to figure out if it would be more beneficial to the guild/raid (not just my healing numbers) for me to be in a group with our tanks and to equip that often discarded [Idol of the Raven Goddess], especially after it gets buffed, than me having the [Idol of the Emerald Queen] equipped. Especially on Gruul, when after 8 growths we tell our DPS to heal themselves, and have all 8/9 healers focus on our two tanks.

Most people consider the [Idol of the Emerald Queen] to be one of the best healing idols available. This misperception is likely based on a misunderstanding of how its tooltip reads:

Idol of the Emerald Queen Binds when picked up Unique Relic Idol Requires Level 68 Equip: Increases the periodic healing of your Lifebloom by up to 88.

While the above tooltip seems to imply that we will get 88 +Healing from this idol, we can employ the technique outlined in Method: Coefficient Testing to determine its actual +Healing value. To start with, I parsed the values for the total +Healing to the HoT portion of Lifebloom under varying conditions:

• No Idol, Tree of Life: 1624
• Emerald Queen, Tree of Life: 1670
• Raven Goddess, Tree of Life: 1654
• Naked (0 +Healing): 316

To find the amount of +Healing actually afforded by each, we can use the following formula:

From the above formula, we can determine that the [Idol of the Emerald Queen] affords 67 +Healing and the [Idol of the Raven Goddess] affords 44 +Healing. Taken at face value, you might think the Emerald Queen superior, but remember that the Raven Goddess affects not only all your spells (Regrowth, Rejuvenation, Swiftmend) but all the spells of healers healing members within your group. With the exception of fights where you will roll Lifebloom stacks on 3-4 tanks you’re not grouped with, the [Idol of the Raven Goddess] is the superior choice. Outside of such a unique circumstance, you’re choosing between 24 +Healing to your Lifebloom vs. 44 +Healing to all of your other spells and the spells of other healers in your raid. Of course, if given the option and assuming you make frequent use of the spell Regrowth, the [Idol of the Crescent Goddess] is the one I would recommend as it affords nearly a 10% mana cost reduction to Regrowth.

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Idol Chatter

Druid tanks are particularly hard-hit by this.  While you can argue that most sets don’t need Stamina as they shouldn’t be getting hit as it is, most encounters include damage you cannot avoid (we used to call this stupidity “wandering damage” in the old tabletop days — a sure sign of lazy design) and sometimes, situations being what they are, people draw aggro, make mistakes… you know the drill.  Gear needs Stamina on it.  After all, Blizzard made it clear how important Stamina is when they reduced its item budget cost to enable more of it to go on all gear for all classes.  Survivability is paramount.

But let’s run with the idea that if you’re healing or doing damage, you can get by with less, which is generally true in spite of certain mechanics designed to ensure we all place at least some value on Stamina.

In this case, a lack of Stamina on DPS and healing gear isn’t game-breaking and, by many measures, for some pieces this is desirable in order to make more room in the budget for healing and damaging statistics.

For tanks, though, Stamina is more important than for any other class in the game.  Granted, we use avoidance and mitigation statistics such as armor and dodge (and block and parry for Warrior and Paladin tanks), but Stamina and the resulting health pool is a critical factor that gives a healer the cushion they need to keep us alive.

So why is it that Druid tanks are the only ones with a Tier set that neglects Stamina?

Some have claimed it’s the multipurpose nature of our Feral Tier sets.  While I can see why they might say this, it is obvious that they have not considered the ramifications of their own observation: if it is multipurpose, one of those purposes is tanking and as tanking gear it needs Stamina.  Item budgets already deny Druid tanks Defense on PvE leather gear beyond the Heavy Clefthoof set, presumably on the basis of a single talent.  This means that Druids have to itemize their trinkets, weapons and rings to make up the difference while missing the default uncrittability on ten other equipment slots (head, shoulder, chest, wrist, hand, waist, legs, feet, offhand, and ranged slot).

We tend to fill that itemization gap with PvP gear.  Ideal?  I’ll let you decide for yourself.

When I stand right by Warrior tanks geared about the same level I am, they have approximately equal health, sometimes more.  Looking over the gear at Tier 6, this trend seems to continue unabated.  The [Thunderheart Chestguard], in point of fact, sports 18 less Stamina than the [Onslaught Chestguard].

There are a lot of reasons for this: multipurpose usage and hence stat-spread, our shifting bonus (though is it truly valid to arbitrarily reduce the budget spent on a stat a class is inherently designed to exploit?), and perhaps some things I haven’t considered.  The net result, however, is that equally geared tanks at all levels have roughly equivalent health pools in spite of common wisdom.  The much vaunted gigantic health pool bonus Druids supposedly enjoy is as much fairy tale as reality; the truth lies in the gearing levels.

This leaves us with Armor to make up the difference.  I enjoy sporting 30k armor.  I’m not the best-geared Druid tank out there, and I never will be, but I enjoy that Crushing Blows aren’t a big deal to me, and that I can get by without a shield or the ability to Parry.  I may not have much more actual survivability than any other tank, but the predictable damage trend when I tank is a feature I enjoy.  No gigantic spikes equal no surprise deaths.

So along comes Tier 6.  Both the Warrior and Paladin tanking rigs include Stamina (the Paladin set a bit less than the Warrior set, though).  The set used by Druid tanks and yes, by Druid Cats, has none.  This is an inherent 177 less Stamina available to a Druid tank using Tier gear than is available to a Warrior, not counting the general Stamina discrepancy.

So if you’re a Druid tank looking forward to the new Tier 6 itemization, maybe you’d be better off buying these pieces for DPS or your healing set.  You’ll probably find yourself headed back to the Battlegrounds to fill these item slots for the Stamina if not the Resilience (some of us manage with just jewelry and weapons, perhaps a few select PvP items), or trading your heroic badges for them since the Tier 6 equivalents are apparently not intended for those of us who tank.

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Achilles What?