• Home
  • Guides
  • Resources
  • Blogroll
  • Contact
  • Authors
  • Tree Shirts
  • Entries | Comments
  • Subscribe via E-Mail
  • Tree Shirts
  • Recent Comments
  • Mana Regen Calc.
  • The World Tree

Favorites

  • /hug
  • 4 Haelz
  • Banana Shoulders
  • Big Bear Butt
  • BigRedKitty
  • Gray Matter
  • Leafshine: Lust for Flower
  • Lume the Mad
  • Of Teeth and Claws
  • Out of Mana
  • Parry! Dodge! Spin!
  • Think Tank
  • Tree Bark Jacket
  • Unbearably HoT
  • Yet Another Warlock Nerf
  • View Full Blogroll

Recent Achievements

Blogroll Highlights

  • Master Shapeshifter
  • A Moonkin and His Blog
  • 4 Haelz
  • Mama Druid
  • Casual WoW

Categories

Archives

I blog Azeroth. Do you?

Creative Commons License

Phaelia Living Seed, Replenish, and Gift of the Earthmother

Published on January 5, 2009 by Phaelia
Analysis, Lunar Guidance, Spells and Talents
15 Comments

resto_end_talents Wrath of the Lich King included many changes to the Druid class, including some very positive changes to the Restoration and Balance trees. Talents such as Nature’s Focus and Improved Mark of the Wild were reduced from a cost of 5-points to 3 and 2 points respectively, and fun abilities such as Omen of Clarity, Nature’s Grace, and Nature’s Grasp were made a lot more accessible. In particular, I consider the 14 points in Balance for Genesis, Moonglow, Nature’s Majesty, Nature’s Grace, and Nature’s Splendor to be staples of the healing Druid’s specialization.

In addition to the obvious care and attention that was given to “pruning” our early talent trees, we were given 4 new abilities at the bottom of the Restoration tree to give us something to spend points on leading up to our 51-point talent, Wild Growth. Today, I’d like to take a look at three of these abilities: Living Seed, Replenish, and Gift of the Earthmother.

Quick Links

  • Living Seed
  • Replenish
  • Gift of the Earthmother
  • Summary

Living Seed

Living Seed Rank 3
When you critically heal your target with Swiftmend, Regrowth, Nourish or Healing Touch spell you have a 100% chance to plant a Living Seed on the target for 30% of the amount healed. The Living Seed will bloom when the target is next attacked. Lasts 15 sec.
 
   

Living Seed gives critical heals a chance (100% at 3-points) to temporarily store 30% of the critical heal’s effective healing. This means that if your critical heal heals for 6000 hit points, the effect of the Living Seed would be 1800 HP. However, if of that 6000 HP, only 1000 was “effective” (non-overheal), the value of the Living Seed would only be 300 HP.

In practical terms, healers often choose their heals based on what will bring their target to full life. A tank whose health is maintained at 90-100% is much less susceptible to death-by-RNG than one allowed to fluctuate between 50 and 70%. This is especially true with the elimination of downranking, a practice whereby healers would often use lower ranked spells to conserve their own mana, deal more precisely with incoming damage, and guard against too many healers applying large heals to a target simultaneously. As a result, the direct heals that are typically applied now are heavy-hitters.

A Druid who focuses on Regrowth as her direct heal of choice will also employ the [Glyph of Regrowth], a glyph that increases the strength of the spell’s initial heal by 20% when used on a target who already has Regrowth. At an approximately 60% spell crit, Regrowth hits hard and crits often, proccing Living Seed more times than not. Even if used on a tank who suddenly finds himself low on health (likely giving the maximum value for the seed), this situation often leads to the tank being bombarded with large heals from other healers frantically trying to prevent a raid wipe. These healers cannot (and should not) depend on a Living Seed to keep the tank alive. However, it is worth considering that when is effective, it has the potential to be a life-saver.

From what I have read and experienced, it is not unreasonable to see the contribution of Living Seed at 1-3% of your total healing, with Regrowth users more likely to see the 3% value. A general rule of thumb is that 1 talent point yielding a 1% increase in effectiveness is a talent point well spent. At 3 points, this talent is worth taking for Regrowth casters, assuming it contributes 3% or more of effective healing. It is not recommended for those who focus on Nourish or glyphed Healing Touch who are considerably less likely to see such a contribution.

Replenish

Replenish Rank 3
Your Rejuvenation spell has a 15% chance to restore 8 Energy, 4 Rage, 1% Mana or 16 Runic Power per tick.
 
   

Not to be confused with the mana regenerative effect provided by Survival Hunters, Shadow Priests, and Retribution Paladins, Replenish is a 3-point Restoration talent that has a chance (15% at 3 points) to restore Mana, Rage, Energy, or Runic Power with each tick of Rejuvenation. This includes ticks when the target is at full health. Untalented, Rejuvenation ticks 5 times, giving Replenish an average of 0.75 procs per cast. With 1 point in the Balance talent Nature’s Splendor, Rejuvenation increases to 6 ticks, giving Replenish an average of 0.9 procs per cast. Let’s look at the expected yield for Replenish and Nature’s Splendor for each target:

Mana cost per Rejuvenation Cast = 446
Rejuvenation Casts per Target per Minute = 60 / 18 = 3.33
Avg. PPM per Target = 3.33 * 0.9 = 3
Mana Cost per Target per Minute = 446 * 3.33  = 1486.67

Death Knights

Avg. Return per Minute DK = 3 * 16 = 48 Runic Power/Minute

One way to gauge the value of this return is to compare it to the 2-point Blood Talent, Butchery which reads “Whenever you kill an enemy that grants experience or honor, you generate up to 20 runic power. In addition, you generate 2 runic power per 5 sec while in combat.” The runic power regeneration portion is equivalent to 24 Runic Power per minute. By chaining Rejuvenation on a DK tank, you’re tripling the automatic Runic Power regeneration he would normally see with this talent (though perhaps more value is attributed to the RP from kills mechanic).

Warriors and Bears

Avg. Return per Minute Warrior = 3 * 4 = 12 Rage/Minute

Similar to what we looked at for DKs, we can compare this return to the Arms talent, Anger Management which “Generates 1 rage per 3 seconds.” This works out to 20 Rage per minute which is nearly double the return from Replenish. Warriors and Bears also aren’t generally rage-starved on encounters, making the contribution from Replenish both negligible and superfluous.

Paladins and other Mana Users

The calculation for Paladins (and other mana users, including ourselves) is a little more complicated since it’s based upon total mana pool. Using the formula above, we can create a graph of average MP5 return by cost based on recipient’s total mana.

Avg. Return per Minute Paladin = 3 * 0.01 * MANA POOL

replenish_mp5_return

It is worth noting that Protection Paladin-appropriate gear does not typically include Intellect, so the average Prot-Paladin will have a very small mana pool, somewhere between 5 and 6k from my observation. This means that a constant stream of Rejuvenation with Replenish is worth between 12 and 12.5 MP5. To contrast, the Paladin trained ability Blessing of Wisdom is worth 91 MP5. At 446 mana to cast, it would cost a Druid It currently costs a Druid 124 MP5 to maintain Rejuvenation in this fashion. Your target would need a mana pool of nearly 50k to make this a positive transfer of mana (the talent is obviously not intended to be used this way).

However, there is another, better way to look at the practical application of this talent for mana users. With its mana return, it can be seen to be reducing the mana cost of Rejuvenation, albeit retroactively. If 90% of the time, Replenish procs from Rejuvenation and the target has a mana pool of 15,000, it will restore 150 mana or 135 mana on average. You only get the benefit when casting the spell on yourself, otherwise you’re passing the savings onto the spell’s recipient. This mana refund can be seen as modifying the HPM of the spell. Assuming full talents, a 15k mana pool, and 15k spell power:

Rejuvenation @ 1500 Spell Power

Coefficient per Tick = 0.647
Untalented Number of Ticks = 15 / 3 = 5
Number of Ticks = Number of Ticks + 1 = 6

Untalented Base Healed = 1690 HP
Base Healed = Untalented Base Healed * (Gift of Nature + Genesis) * Tree of Life * Master Shapeshifter = 1690 * (1.05 + 1.10) * 1.06 * 1.04 = 2463.89 HP
Base Healed per Tick = Base Healed / # Ticks = 2463.89 / 5 = 492.78 HP/tick
HP/tick from Spell Power = Spell Power * Coefficient per Tick = 1500 * 0.647 = 970.5  HP/tick
Total Healing per Tick = Base Healed per Tick + HP/Tick from Spell Power = 492.78 + 970.5 = 1463.28 HP/tick

HPS = Total Healed per Tick / # seconds in one tick = 1463.28 / 3 = 487.76
HPM = Total Healing per Tick * Total Ticks / Mana Cost = 1463.28 * 6 / 446 = 19.69
HPM with Replenish = Total Healed per Tick * Total Ticks / (Mana Cost – Proc Chance Replenish * 0.01 * 15000) = 26.52
% Increase in HPM = (26.33 – 19.69) / 19.69 = 34.7%

This works out to a 34.7% increase in the HPM of Rejuvenation when cast at 1500 spell power and on someone with a mana pool of 15k. Replenish makes Rejuvenation insanely efficient when you think of it as passing on your mana savings to the recipient and makes it a wonderful self heal. In fact, my next analytical article will evaluate the use of Rejuvenation as an alternative to other methods of raid healing.

Rogues and Feral Druids

While tanks are the most likely beneficiaries of Rejuvenation – and therefore Replenish – the restorative effect also includes Energy. This means that Rogues and Feral Druids in Cat Form can also benefit. We’ll calculate the potential value of this effect for a single Rejuvenation effect since they aren’t likely to be chained on DPS:

Avg. Return per Cast Rogue = (0.9 * 8) = 7.2 Energy per Cast

Rogues and Cats naturally regenerate Energy at a rate of 10/second or 600/minute. The 7.2 Energy every 18 seconds from Replenish works out to 24 Energy per minute. This is a 4% increase over the natural regeneration that a Rogue normally experiences. Increasing Energy regeneration should approximately represent the same % increase in damage from yellow attacks. Druids tend to have a larger percent of total damage from yellow attacks than do Rogues, so this is slightly more beneficial to them. And all Trees know that every time you heal a Rogue, a kitten dies so heal Feral Druids first!

Gift of the Earthmother

Gift of the Earthmother Rank 5
Reduces the base global cooldown of your Rejuvenation, Lifebloom and Wild Growth spells by 20%.
 
   

Gift of the Earthmother is a five-point talent that reduces the global cooldown of Rejuvenation, Lifebloom, and Wild Growth by a certain percentage. It can be difficult to place a value on this talent since its contribution directly depends on the number of times you typically cast the relevant spells each minute. If, for instance, you cast nothing but Rejuvenation and Lifebloom and assuming 0 spell haste, it would represent a 20% increase in throughput (though not necessarily effective healing since this much healing could be unnecessary). Obviously, this is an unrealistic and unsustainable situation. A more accurate estimate would be to assume that the Druid will maintain two Lifebloom stacks, two instances of Rejuvenation, and will cast Wild Growth every so many seconds. In this case, I’m going to assume a Wild Growth cast every 10 seconds:

Total Lifebloom Casts = 2 * (60 / 9) = 13.33
Total Rejuvenation Casts = 2 * (60 / 18) = 6.67
Total Wild Growth Casts = 60 / 10 = 6
Total GotEM Applications = 13.33 + 6.67 + 6 = 26
Healing Throughput Increase = (26 * 0.3)/60 = 13%

Obviously, this is a very rough estimate based on some pretty arbitrary assumptions. If you use Rejuvenation more often as a raid heal (or cast Wild Growth more often), you will place a higher value on this talent.

Haste and Gift of the Earthmother

Because Gift of the Earthmother provides a percentage bonus and not a pre-determined amount, this talent loses value as your gear improves to include more spell haste. However, it is worth noting that, unlike other talents that affect casting speed, the reductions from spell haste and GotEM are additive; both values are calculated off a 1.5 second global cooldown and are not applied in any particular order. This means it actually scales better than it would otherwise. Nonetheless, plan to drop one or more points out of this talent as your haste increases.

The formula for determining the amount of spell haste required to reach a desired cast time can be expressed as follows:

Haste Rating Required = ((Base Cast Time / Desired Cast Time) - 1) * 32.79 * 100

In the case of an insta-cast spell like Lifebloom or Rejuvenation, the formula looks like this:

Haste Rating Required = ((1.5 / 1.0) - 1) * 32.79 * 100

Modifying this formula to take into account the effects of Gift of the Earthmother:

Haste Rating Required = {1.5 / [1.3 - (5 - Pts. in GotEM) * 0.06] – 1} * 32.79 * 100

At level 80, 32.79 haste rating is equivalent to 1% haste. With 5/5 Gift of the Earthmother, you’ll need 15.38% haste or 505 haste rating to obtain a 1 second global cooldown. Should you advance beyond that amount of haste, here are the corresponding amounts of haste rating and number of points in GotEM you will need to keep a 1 second global cooldown:

Points in GotEM Haste Rating for 1.0 GCD % Haste
5 505 15.4%
4 688 21.0%
3 890 27.1%
2 1113 33.9%
1 1362 41.5%
0 1640 50%

For more information about the interaction of Gift of the Earthmother and additional haste effects such as Wrath of Air Totem and Swift Retribution Aura, see this post by Ridley of Grim Batol (EU) on Elitist Jerks.

Summary

I hope that the above looks into these three somewhat ephemeral talents has helped you evaluate the potential value they present to your playstyle. Unlike many of our simpler talents, so much of their value depends on how you heal. Nonetheless, here are a few summarized bits of advice:

Living Seed should really only be taken in conjunction with Improved Regrowth in a build that emphasizes Regrowth as the direct heal of choice. All other direct heals do not have the potential to “proc” this ability due to their considerably lower crit rates. In a Regrowth build, you should expect to see approximately 3% of your effective healing to come from this ability. If you do not, consider moving those points elsewhere.

Replenish is bad for Paladin, Warrior, and Bear Tanks and good for mana users with sizeable mana pools. I don’t know enough about Runic Power regeneration to speak to its usefulness to Death Knights. Its benefits would be decent for Rogues and Cats, but damage isn’t often such that Rejuvenation would need to be chain cast on either of them. Should you take this talent, it should always be in conjunction with the [Glyph of Swiftmend] since a Swiftmended Rejuvenation cannot proc Replenish. This talent is most useful in 5-man and 10-man instances where you can more often afford to group heal using Rejuvenation with less risk of your HoT being overwritten by a direct heal from another healer. A Druid with this talent should heal herself using Rejuvenation whenever it is safe to do so since it is an incredibly efficient (high HPM) spell once you factor in the potential mana return.

Because Gift of the Earthmother affects the global cooldown of Lifebloom, Rejuvenation, and Wild Growth, you will derive greater benefit from it the more you use any of these spells. Some have asserted that GotEM is losing 1/3 of its effectiveness with the impending addition of a 6-second cooldown to Wild Growth. Assuming, however, that Blizzard allows Nourish to gain it’s 20% throughput bonus from Wild Growth’s HoT and makes the spell more competitive with Regrowth, GotEM’s reduction of the Wild Growth GCD will continue to be valuable. Once you have around 580 haste rating, plan to drop a point in Gift of the Earthmother. Note, however, that GotEM actually scales better with haste than other similar talents do.

Related Posts

  • Talent Updates from Alpha
  • Direct Healing in Wrath
  • Nordrassil Raiment and Regrowth
15 Comments
Categories: Analysis, Lunar Guidance, Spells and Talents

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

Published on January 2, 2009 by Phaelia
Items and Equipment, Lunar Guidance
25 Comments

By repeated request, here is a listing of pre-raiding gear to help you prepare for Naxxramas, organized by item slot and roughly ordered by my preference/recommendation. Because this is so lengthy, I’m breaking this article into two parts. Part II will include wrist, back, fingers, neck, and waist.

 Capes will be covered in Part IIQuick 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

Related Posts

  • False Idols
  • Mailbag: Zul’Aman Healing Chests
  • Wearing PvP Gear for PvE Content
25 Comments
Categories: Items and Equipment, Lunar Guidance

Phaelia Direct Healing in Wrath

Published on December 15, 2008 by Phaelia
Analysis, Lunar Guidance
75 Comments

If the post title seems familiar, it’s because I already wrote this post once during the WotLK beta, using the then-applicable values for +Healing, coefficients, talents, and Glyphs. A lot has changed since then (for the worse, unfortunately) so we’re due for a second look at the various direct heals in Wrath, their relative efficiency, and relative effectiveness. Today we’re going to look at the following spells:

  • healing_calculation Regrowth without the [Glyph of Regrowth] used as a raid heal and cast on a target without Regrowth
  • Regrowth with the [Glyph of Regrowth] used as a tank heal and cast on a target with Regrowth already
  • Nourish used as a raid heal and cast on a target without Rejuvenation, Regrowth, or Lifebloom
  • Nourish used as a tank heal and cast on a target with Rejuvenation, Regrowth, or Lifebloom
  • Nourish used as a tank heal and cast on a target with Rejuvenation, Regrowth, AND Lifebloom with the 4-piece T7 set bonus
  • Healing Touch
  • Healing Touch with the [Glyph of Healing Touch]

Since our goal is to compare the maximized version of each of these spells, we’re going to assume the following talents have been taken:

  • Regrowth: Improved Regrowth, Empowered Rejuvenation, Moonglow 
  • Nourish: Tranquil Spirit
  • Healing Touch: Naturalist, Empowered Touch, Tranquil Spirit, Moonglow 

All spells will be assumed to have been cast in Tree of Life form, and all benefit from Gift of Nature and Master Shapeshifter.

Continue reading ‘Direct Healing in Wrath’…

Related Posts

  • Method: Coefficient Testing
  • 2.4 Mana Regen: Valuing +Healing
  • ToL Aura Change Buffs Some Spells, Nerfs Others
75 Comments
Categories: Analysis, Lunar Guidance

Phaelia Mailbag: Leatherworking vs. Tailoring in WotLK

Published on December 9, 2008 by Phaelia
Featured, Items and Equipment, Lunar Guidance, Mailbag
25 Comments

Kehnomar of Nordrassil (EU) wrote in with this great question:

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?

Continue reading ‘Mailbag: Leatherworking vs. Tailoring in WotLK’…

Related Posts

  • Pre-Raid Gear: Head, Shoulder, Chest, Hands, Legs, Feet
  • Mailbag: WotLK Item List
  • Druids to be Hip Cats with Drums!
25 Comments
Categories: Featured, Items and Equipment, Lunar Guidance, Mailbag

Phaelia Mailbag: WotLK Item List

Published on November 24, 2008 by Phaelia
Featured, Items and Equipment, Lunar Guidance, Mailbag
23 Comments

In a recent Tree-mail, Treehuggur of Suramar (US) asks:

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

Okay, well there ARE capes in some of these lists. But I take no responsibility if you choose to wear them! 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.

Related Posts

  • Pre-Raid Gear: Head, Shoulder, Chest, Hands, Legs, Feet
  • Mailbag: Leatherworking vs. Tailoring in WotLK
  • Arrrghhh!!! Trinkets!!!
23 Comments
Categories: Featured, Items and Equipment, Lunar Guidance, Mailbag
1 of 712345»...Last »
 

Recent Comments

Living Seed, Replenish, and Gift of the Earthmother (15)

Phaelia
@Perrin: Thank you for the clarification. Your description of the interaction between the two is very succinct and easy to understand so I’ve adopted your wording above. I hope that’s okay. :-) @Kiryn: Have you considered the fact that Rejuvenation + Swiftmend is a 1.5 second cast while Regrowth is only 2? I know that you aren’t having trouble with mana, but a Regrowth will hit harder and provide more potential benefits (crit = Nature’s Grace and possibly Living...

Kloro
Even though Replenish gives utility to Rejuvenation, my job is healing and I won’t put talent points in something that doesn’t explicitly contribute to healing. The only time I use Rejuvenation in a raid setting is when I need to Swiftmend someone who doesn’t already have a HoT on them. It simply is too slow and weak to be of use before another healer tops up the player.

Werebeef
I don’t think viewing living seed as a % of total healing is really the best way to look at it. It’s great for helping a player that is at very low health get back up to very high health and do so quickly. You don’t look at nature’s swiftness as a percentage of overall healing. I don’t think it makes that much sense here either. It’s also a talent that is better when the content is hard, when you have less overhealing. There’s also something...

Kalfurion
Hi Phae, long time no talk. I want to point out that I’m 0/0/71 and I love it. I don’t really find the talents in the balance tree to be that useful for my needs. I’m in a raiding guild as I’m sure you know and the three talents you spoke about suit my needs so well. My rogues, DK’s and our feral druid love me when I keep a rejuv on them for replenish. I’ve joined pugs and people look at my spec and make silly jokes and I don’t know why,...

Kiryn
I really like Replenish, personally. I find myself with far more mana regen than I need in most boss fights, so mana conservation isn’t much of an issue for me. I don’t even know why I carry mana potions if I never use them, and I’m far more likely to be innervating the priests than myself. I often treat rejuv-swiftmend as a near-instant 8k heal on a 15 second cooldown. It isn’t cheap, but it can bring someone back from the brink of death in a little over a second...
Guest Post: Leveraging Shadowmeld (23)

Penguinator
Our guild tried instructor Razuvious in H naxx and we had to try many different strategies, wiping a bunch or times because we had only 1 priest. Most of the time, i was assigned to raid healing and could heal in a corner above the arena. Whenever our tank died and he started one-shotting our raid (90k on a clothie, 30k on a tank) i shadowmelded and could start rezzing people. This was very useful, especially when the pallies ran out of reagents to DI.

Riverwish
As far as i’m aware they changed it so that when you meld in a raid instance you don’t leave combat so you can’t drink/eat or reset pot cooldowns in a raid bossfight, this is why you have to be quite lucky at escaping combat in a raid situation. I did manage to escape for Patchwerk numerous times but other bosses are trickier, I think it depends really on who your fighting and what room you’re in :) All these things can be done in 5 mans though. Riverwishs...

Vreenash
Thanks for posting this up Phae :) Keep the ideas flowing guys. It’s good to hear the different ideas and situations you’ve all been using shadowmeld in. Here’s another one for you: While leveling my way to 78 (still with the ground mount in northrend), there were quests that required killing a normal mob boss. They were usually in the centre of a town, camp or cave. Instead of killing all the mobs on the way to boss, just mount up and run directly to him....

Bearess
One note about SM that should be brought up. Yes it will bring you out of the fight in a lot of cases, but some bosses can still find you. AOE attacks will bring you out of a SM. So watch that. I learned that the hard way when Instructor Razuvious broke loose, and I skittered off a corner and SM. His next “victim” was too close to me when he let out his “Distrupting Shout” and I became next on his list. Figured I’d drop a line since it is a weakness to SM...

Arcaedus
Great info! I’ve often used SM to get out of combat when soloing but have put it to limited use in the instance/raid environment. @Riverwish: I’m not sure that you have to be the last player alive/targetable. I’ve had both successful and unsuccessful attempts with SM hiding on a wipe. My main example is on Patchwork. When multiple tanks go down and its a sure wipe, you are able to run behind one of the pillars and meld. As long as no one drags Patchy to you he should...
© 2008 Resto4Life. Some Rights Reserved. Original theme by Dezinerfolio. Respecced by Phaelia.