After some discussion with a guild-mate this morning regarding which Glyphs to use, I decided to check with the tree maven for advice.  Which glyphs do you recommend for a raiding level 80 tree?  Have you done any theory-crafting around which gives the most healing benefit?

This is actually a question I get asked a lot, and I haven’t responded to it publicly because several other blog authors have done such a great job tackling this subject (see also: Keeva of Tree Bark Jacket and Bellwether of 4 Haelz). I’d say that Resto Druids are mostly in agreement about prioritizing your Glyphs, but here’s a handy dandy flowchart to help you make the decision for yourself:

The [Glyph of Swiftmend] is non-optional. The [Glyph of Regrowth] is also considered pretty standard, though there’s a chance that a Nourish-oriented Glyph may surface that eclipses it in the future. How you fill your third Glyph slot depends on whether you have issues with mana; the [Glyph of Innervate] is a tremendous boost in this regard, but an additional second on Lifebloom from the [Glyph of Lifebloom] (representing more than a 10% increase to its HPM) is also pretty nice.

P.S. I apologize for my messy flowchart. It’s really hard to fit that many decisions into so narrow a horizontal space!

If you played a Balance Druid in vanilla WoW, you are very familiar with the term “Oomkin.” Our mana issues were so pervasive that this term survived through most of the Burning Crusade, even after most of our mana issues were fixed. In Wrath of the Lich King, our “Oomkin” days are far behind us, and anyone that uses the term is either uninformed or joking.

However, I still regularly receive question asking: How much mana regen do I need? Which talents are best? Can I give up Talent X to get more DPS talents? With that in mind I wanted to provide this little guide for Moonkin mana regen.

Talents

How much regen do I need?

This depend a lot on your group make up, but as a general rule you will need more regen as your group gets smaller and the fights get longer.

In 25-mans, I have absolutely no mana issues, and I have seen some high-end raiding Moonkin drop all of their mana regen talents without issue. In 10-mans, I have issues on the longer fights like Sarth-2D because my group doesn’t have a Mage, Shadow Priest or Ret Pally. In 5-mans I don’t have any issues because the fights are too short, but my experience may not be relevant to you. My gear level makes up for my low mana regen.

If your playstyle focuses on 5-mans and you don’t have a lot of gear, then you’re probably going to want as much regen as you can get. If you raid 10-man’s regularly, it’s going to depend on your group composition. If you regularly raid 25-mans, you probably have most of the buffs covered and can sacrifice some mana regen for some DPS talents. However, the best way to tell if you need more regen is if you’re consistently running out of mana on boss fights.

Ok, I need some regen, but which talents do I choose?

If you’ve looked around the various moonkin forums then you have probably seen this equation.

Omen of Clarity > Intensity > Dreamstate > Moonglow

This equation was written with well-geared raiders in mind, but it is a pretty good guideline and fairly vague. Let’s see if I can put some numbers to it to explain it better.

The Numbers

Omen of Clarity

Numerically, this is a hard ability to nail down. It’s very random, you may get it but not use it, and it’s hard to determine which spell consumes it. To calculate its value I looked at several old WWS reports. Look at a couple of high-casting fights like Patchwerk and Razuvious, the proc rate does indeed seem to be about 2 times per minute but highly variable.

Next I tried to figure out what is the average mana cost of the spells I cast during a boss fight. Looking at the WWS report from the raid where I got the Undying achievement, I summed my total spell casts for a Naxx clear. (I know this is a 10-man instead of a 25-man. However, I don’t think my casting habits change much if at all from 10-mans to 25-mans.) I won’t give you the boring details but I cast a total of 1,326 during boss fights at an average mana cost of 458 per spell with one point in Moonglow.

Now, even though Omen of Clarity procs twice per minute on average, not all of those procs will be used and it is highly variable. So, to try and get a minimum value let’s assume that you only use Omen of Clarity one and a half times per minute.

We can get an MP5 equivalent by dividing the mana saved per minute by 12. Therefore the equivalent MP5 is equal to:

(458 * 1.5) / 12 = 57.40 MP5 equivalent (assuming one point in Moonglow)

This may not seem like much, but since it costs only one talent point, it is far ahead of what you would get by investing that point in Dreamstate or Intensity. Just for reference, if you invest a full 3 points into Moonglow, Omen of Clarity would be worth 54.10 MP5 equivalent under these conditions.

Moonglow

This talent was much easier to quantify, but it is very easy to present misleading information. If you look around the web, you may find a person or two that will indicate one point in Moonglow is equivalent to 45 – 50 MP5. Their numbers may be theoretically accurate, but here not practical because they are evaluating the talent under ideal circumstances. For Moonglow to reach those levels of mana savings, you have to be constantly casting with no breaks and no latency. In real life that isn’t going to happen.

So to accurately quantify the value of Moonglow, I will have to look at WWS reports again.

Looking at just the boss fights in my latest Naxx run I cast Starfire 488 times, Wrath 525 times, Moonfire 113 times, and Starfall ~10 times. All 15 boss fights took a total of 46 minutes and 6 seconds (2766 total seconds). For each spell cast I saved the following amount of mana:

Starfire: (3496 * 0.16) * 0.03 = 16.78
Wrath: (3496 * 0.11) * 0.03 = 11.54
Moonfire: (3496 * 0.24) * 0.03 = 25.17
Starfall: (3496 * 0.35) * 0.03 = 36.71

So, to get MP5 equivalent for the raid, you take the total mana saved and divide it by the time spent in combat times five.

MP5 Equivalent = (((488 * 16.78) + (525 * 11.54) + (113 + 25.17) + (10 * 36.71)) / 2766) * 5
MP5 Equivalent = ((8,189.03 + 6056.82 + 2844.35 + 367.08) / 2766) * 5
MP5 Equivalent = (17457.28 / 2766) * 5
MP5 Equivalent = 6.31 * 5 = 31.56 MP5

These numbers will vary from person to person and night to night, but I doubt it will vary much. In fact, I think my estimation of Moonglow’s value is a little high because I used Wrath a little too much.

Dreamstate

This one is really easy to quantify. All you need is your total Intellect fully raid-buffed. To calculate it, look at your armory and get your unbuffed Int. Then add 60 for Arcane Intellect and 51 for Improved Mark of the Wild. Then multiply that value by 1.1 for Blessing of Kings, and by 1.1 again for Furor. For me the equation works out like this:

Total Intellect = (889 + 60 + 51) * 1.1 * 1.1 = 1210 Intellect

When you have your fully raid-buffed Intellect, you multiply that value by 0.04 to find the value of the first point, and 0.03 to find the value of the second and third point. So, for me Dreamstate is worth:

Dreamstate _{Point 1} = 1210 * 0.04 = 48.4 MP5
Dreamstate_{Point 2 & 3} = 1210 * 0.03 = 36.3 MP5

Intensity

This one is a little more complicated to calculate. First, we need to find our out of combat mana regen. To do that we use this formula at level 80:

MP5 = 5 * (0.001 + sqrt(Int) * Spirit * 0.005575 )

I’ve already showed you how to find your raid-buffed total Intellect. Finding your raid buffed Spirit is very similar. Look at your armory and get your unbuffed Spirit. Then add 80 for Divine Spirit and 51 for Improved Mark of the Wild. Then multiply that value by 1.1 for Blessing of Kings. For me the equation works out like this:

Total Spirit = (371 + 80 + 51) * 1.1 = 552 Spirit

So my out of combat mana regen is:

MP5 = 5 * (0.001 + sqrt(1210) * 552 * 0.005575)
MP5 = 5 * (0.001 + 34.79 * 552 * 0.005575)
MP5 = 5 * (0.001 + 34.79 * 552 * 0.005575) = 535 MP5

Therefore, to get the value of each talent point, we just multiply this by 10%. So for me, each point I put in Intensity is worth:

Intensity(1pt) = 535 * 0.10 = 53.5 MP5

The TL:DR Version

As a general rule you can currently use this priority when evaluating mana regen talents:

Omen of Clarity > Intensity > Dreamstate > Moonglow

Please remember though that Omen of Clarity and Moonglow are very static since they are based primarily upon the spell’s mana cost. This means that they favor relatively low levels of gear, but will be outpaced by Intensity and Dreamstate as your gear improves.

That said, Omen of Clarity is still the best mana regen talent currently because it only costs one talent point. I do not expect this to persist until the end of Wrath of the Lich King because Intensity and Dreamstate will improve significantly in Tier 8 and Tier 9.

• 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.

Compare these items

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.

Compare these items

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

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, Revitalize, and Gift of the Earthmother.

Quick Links

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

Living Seed

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.

Revitalize

Formerly known as Replenish, Revitalize 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 Revitalize an average of 0.75 procs per cast. With 1 point in the Balance talent Nature’s Splendor, Rejuvenation increases to 6 ticks, giving Revitalize an average of 0.9 procs per cast. Let’s look at the expected yield for Revitalize 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).

According to Krythia of Scarlet Crusade (US):

Revitalize does very little for a Death Knight. Ones that are tank spec usually take the talents and use a rotation that gives them enough RP to do what they need. Beyond that, I still find myself generating plenty of RP to do what I need. In the next patch, I will need even less RP as an Unholy specced Death Knight as Unholy Blight, an ability I only use once every 20 seconds, is getting its RP cost reduced by 20.

For a Frost specced Death Knight, it is much more valuable. Frost strike is a great aggro ability for them and it costs 40 RP. The attack cannot be dodged, parried, or blocked. I noticed that when I played as Frost spec that I would become RP starved from time to time.

It is useless on a Blood spec DK as they have no abilites that are necessary for them to succeed that use RP. That, and they have a chance at casting Death Coil (40 RP cost) for free anyway.

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 Revitalize. Warriors and Bears also aren’t generally rage-starved on encounters, making the contribution from Revitalize 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

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 Revitalize 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, Revitalize 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 1500 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 Revitalize = Total Healed per Tick * Total Ticks / (Mana Cost – Proc Chance _Revitalize * 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. Revitalize 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 Revitalize – 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 * = 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 Revitalize 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 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

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 and, contrary to popular belief, does not scale inversely with haste. Nonetheless, plan to drop one or more points out of this talent as your haste increases.

Updated with Patch 3.08: The global cooldown reduction of Gift of the Earthmother is now percentage-based. This represents a significant nerf to its effectiveness. We can adapt the formula provided by Zoltair of Korialstrasz (US) via Elitist Jerks to solve for the amount of haste needed to reach a 1.0 sec GCD at different points in GotEM:

Haste from Gear = (1.5 * (1 – GotEM%) / ((1 + WoAT%) * (1 + Aura%) * (1 + CF%))) – 1

You can use the following JavaScript-driven calculator to determine the necessary haste rating to reach a 1.0 second GCD based on the number of points you have invested in Gift of the Earthmother (and how useful your raidmates are):

At level 80, 32.79 haste rating is equivalent to 1% haste. With 5/5 Gift of the Earthmother, you’ll need 20% haste or 655 haste rating to obtain a 1 second global cooldown.

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.

Revitalize is bad for Paladin, Warrior, and Bear Tanks and good for mana users with sizeable mana pools. Its value is questionable to Death Knights with the possible exception of those who are Frost-specced. 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 Revitalize. 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 750 haste rating, plan to drop a point in Gift of the Earthmother.

 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

• 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, Moonglow 
• 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.

Quick Links

Because I think most readers are most interested in the results, I’m going to include them at the top of the article. Feel free to check out the bottom of the article for the methods used.

• HPS Comparison
• HPM Comparison
• Significant Observations
• Method: HPS
• Method: HPM
• Method: Spell Power Coefficients
• Method: Average Amount Healed
• Final Notes

HPS Comparison

HPS is a measure of throughput. A spell with a high throughput is preferred in a situation where a target takes sudden, unexpected bursts of damage. These spells are typically more expensive and require a focus on mana regeneration to sustain. At values of spell power ranging from 1000 to 3000 and with a base spell crit chance of 10%, we can create the following HPS comparisons:

HPM Comparison

HPM is a measure of efficiency. A spell with a high efficiency is preferred in a situation where one or more targets take steady, predictable damage for long periods of time. These spells are typically less expensive and often benefit from increased HPS from adding spell power. At values of spell power ranging from 1000 to 3000 and with a base spell crit chance of 10%, we can create the following HP1%M comparisons:

Significant Observations

1. Unglyphed Healing Touch is graphed in gray because I consider it too slow by default to leverage effectively. There is a possible build which would stack tremendous amounts of haste and use unglyphed Healing Touch exclusively. At 819.75 spell haste rating and Naturalist, the casting time of Healing Touch would reach 2.0 seconds, the same as an unhasted Regrowth. If you could achieve this much spell haste, the stat point equivalent is around 975 spell power, a considerable sacrifice that would cripple our other spells. But at 1500 spell power and 820 spell haste, unglyphed Healing Touch is substantially more efficient and effective than Regrowth as a raid heal while matching its HPS as a tank heal and only slightly underperforming its HPM as a tank heal. Unfortunately, the loss of a remotely effective HoT stack likely makes this strategy unviable. Is this the strategy we can expect to pursue at T10/11? I hope not. If I wanted to play a Paladin, I would wear more pink. Still, it would be interesting to see if this type of build becomes more viable as we travel along the gear curve.
2. Nourish is an efficient (high HPM) heal when cast on a target who current has one or more our HoTs. It is however, considerably less effective (low HPS) than Regrowth and requires an investment in 5/5 Tranquil Spirit to reach the aforementioned level of efficiency, a seldom-taken talent that benefits only Nourish and Healing Touch.It is tremendously boosted by the acquisition of the 4-piece T7 set bonus where it suddenly becomes the most efficient choice for a tank heal (highest HPM), assuming you keep at least 3 HoTs on the target. Unfortunately, this set bonus may make graduating from T7 more difficult than it should be.

   With the release of Patch 3.08, Nourish now benefits from the presence of Wild Growth, making it a viable tactic to supplement the healing from Wild Growth with strategic casts of Nourish.

3. Glyphed Healing Touch has the highest throughput of any of these spells when used as a raid heal (and is correspondingly inefficient). It’s a great choice for dealing with a surprise spike of damage on a non-tank since it doesn’t require any HoTs to preset up. However, this tool comes at the expense of a 3-minute Nature’s Swiftness + Healing Touch. Any Druid who glyphs Healing Touch will want to create a macro that ties Nature’s Swiftness to Regrowth and Swiftmend. Such a macro would look like this:
   

   #showtooltip
   
   /cast Nature’s Swiftness

   /castsequence reset=target Regrowth, Swiftmend

4. To modify this to account for mouseover healing:

   #showtooltip
   
   /cast Nature’s Swiftness

   /castsequence reset=27 [target=mouseover,exists,help][target=target,help][target=player]Regrowth, [target=mouseover,exists,help][target=target,help][target=player]Swiftmend

5. Regrowth seems to be the Renaissance Man of direct heals with good HPS and competitive HPM. This is in addition to its 21-27 second heal over time that allows for a Swiftmend. This will likely continue to be my “go to” direct heal of choice, a selection that will encourage me to eschew spell crit and not completely thumb my tree nose at spell haste.
6. In terms of tank heals, Regrowth has the highest throughput and is the best choice to “catch up” when things go awry. It’s HPM is also fantastic, only trumped by that of a Nourish with 4-piece T7.
7. The burst healing of a glyphed Healing Touch with less than a 1-second cast time will likely go a long way to overcome the difficulties that Death Knights present Restoration Druids in Arena. We’ve been spoiled by heals without casting times in the past, but we may have to put down roots at some point.
8. There was a point in TBC where we had more mana than we could spend – you might remember me encouraging the increased use of Regrowth. Should that point be reachable in Wrath, glyphed Healing Touch spam will have all Paladins speccing Ret (and likely two-shotting us in revenge).

The strong performance by Regrowth is unsurprising given the number of talents with which it has synergy. At the same time, Nourish is quite underwhelming because it benefits from so few of our talents. I suspect it was intended as a tool for Balance and Feral Druids since the difference between a Resto Druid’s Nourish and a non-Resto Druid’s Nourish is minimal.

Method: Spell Power Coefficients

HPM/HPS analyses performed at increasing levels of spell power rely upon the spell power coefficient for each spell and condition. Credit for several of these calculations goes to Ridley of Grim Batol (EU) on his Restoration Itemization post at Elitist Jerks:

Coefficient _Regrowth = Base Coefficient * Gift of Nature * Empowered Rejuvenation * Tree of Life Aura * Master Shapeshifter

= 0.537 * 1.1 * 1.2 * 1.06 * 1.04 = 0.781

Coefficient _{Regrowth w/Glyph} = Base Coefficient * Gift of Nature * Empowered Rejuvenation * Tree of Life Aura * Master Shapeshifter * Glyph of Regrowth

= 0.537 * 1.1 * 1.2 * 1.06 * 1.04 * 1.2 = 0.938

Coefficient _Nourish = Base Coefficient * Gift of Nature * Tree of Life Aura * Master Shapeshifter

= 0.671 * 1.1 * 1.06 * 1.04 = 0.814

Coefficient _{Nourish w/HoT} = Base Coefficient * Gift of Nature * Tree of Life Aura * Master Shapeshifter * 20% HoT Bonus

= 0.671 * 1.1 * 1.06 * 1.04 * 1.2 = 0.976

Coefficient _{Healing Touch} = (Base Coefficient + Empowered Touch) * Gift of Nature  * Tree of Life Aura * Master Shapeshifter

= (1.611 + 0.4) * 1.1 * 1.06 * 1.4 * 1.04 = 2.439

Coefficient _{Healing Touch w/Glyph} = ((Base Coefficient + Empowered Touch) * Glyph Multiplier) * Gift of Nature  * Tree of Life Aura * Master Shapeshifter

= ((1.611 + 0.4) * 0.563) * 1.1 * 1.06 * 1.4 * 1.04 = 1.374

In addition to the spell power coefficients for each of these spells, we need to know the base amount healed. With the exception of Healing Touch and Glyphed Healing Touch, these numbers are calculated as follows. The values for Healing Touch and Glyphed Healing Touch are based upon testing:

Base Healed _Regrowth = (2494 + 2234) / 2 * 1.1 * 1.06 * 1.04 = 2866.68

Base Healed _{Regrowth w/Glyph} = (2494 + 2234) / 2 * 1.1 * 1.06 * 1.04 * 1.2 = 3440.02

Base Healed _Nourish = (2187 + 1883) / 2 * 1.1 * 1.06 * 1.04 = 2467.72

Base Healed _{Nourish w/HoT} = (2187 + 1883) / 2 * 1.1 * 1.06 * 1.04 * 1.2 = 2961.27

Base Healed _HT = 5021

Base Healed _{HT w/Glyph} = 2676.74

To summarize these results:

Method: Average Amount Healed

We can use the Base Amount Healed to determine the average amount healed at different levels of spell power and spell crit.

Avg Healed = (Coefficient * Spell Power + Base Healed) * (1 + Crit Chance * 0.5)

For our Regrowth build, we’ll want to factor in the value of Improved Regrowth which adds another 50% to your chance to crit. Therefore, our average healed formula for Regrowth will look like this:

Avg Healed _Regrowth = (Coefficient * Spell Power + Base Healed) * (1 + (0.5 + Crit Chance) * 0.5)

Nourish and Healing Touch aren’t affected by Improved Regrowth. Their formula for average healed will look like this:

Avg Healed _{Nourish, HT} = (Coefficient * Spell Power + Base Healed) * (1 + Crit Chance * 0.5)

Avg Healed _{Nourish w/4-piece T7} = (Coefficient * Spell Power + Base Healed) * (1 + Crit Chance * 0.5) * 1.15

Living Seed is a difficult talent to factor into this analysis due to its high variance (30% of effective healing done by a spell crit that may possibly have gone to overhealing). WoWHead poster Foobear stated that a predominantly Regrowth-based fight yielded approximately 3% of effective healing done by Living Seed. If Living Seed were to hit for the full value every time, it would increase your extra healing on a spell crit from 0.5 to 0.95 (1.5 * 1.3). At a 60% crit rate, the average healing from factoring in crit would be 157% of the amount healed without crit (versus 130% without Living Seed). If Living Seed were getting its full value, it would account for 17% of effective healing. However, since it’s only doing 3%, we can estimate that Living Seed is only getting about 1/6 of its stated value. So instead of Living Seed giving a 0.45 bonus to crit, we’ll treat it as if it were giving a bonus of 0.08. This modifies our formulas as follows:

Avg Healed _Regrowth = (Coefficient * Spell Power + Base Healed) * (1 + (0.5 + Crit Chance) * (0.5 + 0.08) * 1.1)

Avg Healed _{Healing Touch, Nourish} = (Coefficient * Spell Power + Base Healed) * (1 + Crit Chance * (0.5 + 0.08) * 1.1)

Avg Healed _{Nourish w/4-piece T7} = (Coefficient * Spell Power + Base Healed) * (1 + Crit Chance * (0.5 + 0.08) * 1.1) * 1.15

Method: HPS

The formula for finding the HPS of a spell is simply:

HPS = Amount Healed / Cast Time

The “Amount Healed” value can be found using the formulas for Average Amount Healed and will change based on our spell power and spell crit values. At 0 spell haste, the cast time for Nourish is 1.5. The cast time for Healing Touch is 3.0 with Naturalist. The cast time for Healing Touch with the [Glyph of Healing Touch] and Naturalist is 1.0. However, the time to heal for all spells becomes more complicated with the introduction of Nature’s Grace:

Time to Cast = % NG Proc * (Cast Time – 0.5) + (1 – %NG Proc) * Cast Time

The % NG Proc above is based off your spell crit and, for our initial analysis, will be assumed to be 60% for Regrowth and 10% for other spells.

Method: HPM

The formula for finding the HPM of a spell is simply:

HPM = Amount Healed / Cost

With the change where all spell ranks will cost the same percentage of base mana, the cost to heal can be expressed as amount healed per 1% base mana or HP1%M. The base mana costs for the spell we’re looking at can be determined as follows:

Base Cost _Regrowth = Base Mana Cost * Moonglow * ToL

= 0.29 * (1 – 0.09) * (1 – 0.2) = 0.211

Base Cost _Nourish = Base Mana Cost * Tranquil Spirit * Moonglow

= 0.18 * (1 – 0.1) * (1 – 0.09) = 0.147

Base Cost _HT = Base Mana Cost * Tranquil Spirit * Moonglow

= 0.33 * (1 – 0.1) * (1 – 0.09) = 0.270

Base Cost _{HT w/Glyph} = Base Mana Cost * Tranquil Spirit * Moonglow * Glyph

= 0.33 * (1 – 0.1) * (1 – 0.09) * (1 – 0.25) = 0.203

Final Notes

A future addendum to this article will be to determine how each of these spells benefit from spell haste and spell crit.

Thanks to Ridley of Grim Batol (EU) for determining and sharing his findings on spell power coefficients and to Mr. Phae for all his mathematical and analytical assistance.

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!

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.

Contents

• History of Changes
• Mechanics Changes
• Spells, Talents, and Abilities
• Tradeskills
• Player vs. Player
• Miscellaneous

History of Changes

• 11/15/2008: Added “What is the best way to raise my faction with D.E.H.T.A. (Druids for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)?” under Miscellaneous.
• 11/15/2008: Added “Which of the two starter zones has the better healing-oriented quest rewards?” under Miscellaneous. Question from Flawlless.
• 11/15/2008: Added note about Cat Form + Drink + Prowl under PvP. Credit to Willowbear.

General Mechanics Changes

• WAAAAAAAHHHH!! What happened to my beautiful 2000 +Healing?!
  Blizzard combined +Healing and +Spell Damage and Healing into one stat called Spell Power. +Spell Damage and Healing converted over at a 1:1 ratio, but your +Healing was multiplied by 0.532 or roughly cut in half. The coefficients of healing spells were increased accordingly so that there should be no net loss in throughput.
  Spell Power, +Healing, and Coefficients
• If spell power affects both damage spells and healing spells, how do DPSers know to pass on my gear?
  While I can't make others pass on "your" gear, there are certain stats that are more appropriate for you, the most clear-cut of which is Spirit. Avoid anything with hit rating since there are no rolls "to hit" with healing spells. Spell crit, while still somewhat beneficial, is really just gravy for a Resto. Haste is nice, especially for builds that use a lot of direct healing, less so for builds that focus primarily on HoTs.
  Balance vs. Restoration Gear
• Were any other stats merged?
  Yes, spell hit and melee hit are now simply "hit rating." Spell and melee crit have also been merged, as well as haste.
• Am I crazy, or did the cost of my Lifebloom go up when I leveled to 71?
  Blizzard changed the mechanics of all spells so that their mana cost is measured as a percentage of base mana. This change was made to prevent downranking, a process whereby the caster used a lower level spell, often a direct heal like Healing Touch, in an effort to conserve mana.
• Why did they want to eliminate downranking?
  Essentially, developers were struggling to balance content while having to take into account the effects of downranking since the resulting mana expense was too difficult too variable.
  Wrath Recap: Downranking No Longer Possible
• What happened to my Tree aura?
  In an effort to standardize the buffs and debuffs provided by the various classes, Blizzard changed Tree of Life aura to provide a flat 6% bonus to healing done. This aura is now applied raid-wide, which means you no longer have to be assigned to the “tank group.”
• Does that mean my aura stacks?
  No. One tree is sufficient to provide the maximum +Healing aura benefit. Paladins with Improved Devotion Aura (a 3-point talent requiring an 18 point investment in the Protection tree) can also provide a 6% healing bonus, and the two do not stack with one another. This change was made with the intention to decrease the emphasis on bringing specific classes to a raid.
  Blue: Changes to Buffs and Debuffs
• So with the changes to mana regeneration, how many mana potions should I expect to carry around? 20? 40? 60?
  Blizzard introduced a Potion Sickness debuff that's applied on an encounter basis that prevents consumption of more than one health or mana potion per boss attempt. Therefore, you should plan a number of mana potions equal to the number of boss attempts you think your raid will make.
  Beta Patch Changes (Build 8681)

Spells, Talents and Abilities

• Is that my Lifebloom or did someone just use a [Heavy Mageweave Bandage]?
  Sadly, that's your Lifebloom. Lifebloom had its mana cost increased and its effective healing decreased. For more about this change, see Commentary on the Great Lifebloom Nerf (of Build 8962). Essentially, the HPS of Lifebloom took a considerable hit, but, by increasing its duration to 10 seconds via Nature's Splendor and the [Glyph of Lifebloom], its HPM is mostly unchanged.
  Koraa: We hope to tone down Lifebloom in WotLK
• What happened to my roots? I feel so much faster!
  Blizzard removed the movement penalty of Tree of Life. This should make many encounters requiring movement much easier for Restoration Druids.
• I just decursed someone in Tree of Life without being shifted out! Whoa.
  They also lifted the restriction on spells that can be cast, allowing the use of Healing Touch and Remove Curse without having to shift to caster form. Heals over time, however, are the only spells that receive a mana cost reduction. This includes Lifebloom, Rejuvenation, Regrowth, Wild Growth, and Tranquility. It excludes Healing Touch, Nourish, Rebirth, Innervate, Abolish Poison, and Remove Curse.
• Do Druids finally get an out of combat resurrection spell or can I look forward to being rejected for 5-mans again?
  We do! Blizzard finally understood that not being able to resurrect our groupmates was an unnecessary handicap that really had no effect on game balance.
  Ghostcrawler Defends Druids’ Out of Combat Rez
• HAHAHAHA!!! WE CAN HAZ REZ!! Is there any point at all to those other healers now?
  Not at all. They should all respec for DPS and leave all the +Healing gear for us. Oh … wait.
• Hey, where’s that new Flourish skill I’ve heard so much about? I can't wait to cast it and yell, “TADA!”
  Flourish was the original name for our 51-point AoE HoT talent. It has since been renamed to Wild Growth and been nerfed considerably from its original inception.
• What?! That’s so lame!
  It is lame, but it was admittedly pretty overpowered in its original form. It was nerfed into the ground at the time it was renamed but has since been buffed back up to a more respectable amount.
  Wild Growth … Grows a Pair
• What other awesome Restoration talents can I look forward to?
  Well, in summary there’s Gift of the Earthmother, a 5-point talent that shaves a total of 0.3 seconds off the global cooldown when you cast Rejuvenation, Lifebloom or Wild Growth. This amount assumes 0 spell haste; the returns actually diminish based on how much spell haste you have. Replenish is a 3-point talent that has a 15% chance to restore a marginal amount of mana, rage, runic power, or energy for each tick of Rejuvenation. Finally, Living Seed applies a buff to the recipient of one of your critical heals. This “seed” will pop the next time the target takes damage for 30% of effective healing from the original heal that planted it. This means that if your critical heal only does 100 points of effective healing, the seed will have a healing value of 30 HP. In general, I consider the talents at the bottom of the Restoration tree to be underwhelming and overpriced.
• With all these new changes, should I plan on sinking 61 points into Restoration?
  The Balance tree also got a significant revamp, making many of the introductory talents an attractive option for healing Druids. New talents such as Genesis and Nature’s Splendor are both good options, and Balance staples Nature’s Grace and Moonglow have seen increased accessibility by being moved down a few tiers.
  Balance Tree … Uprooted and Transplanted
• Indoor roots? Really? What are we, houseplants?
  It’s true! Entangling Roots can now be cast indoors, finally giving Balance Druids the viable form of crowd control they’ve been asking for. Just remember that it’s only useful on melee mobs rooted outside of melee range or spellcasting mobs out of line of sight. And if that means we're houseplants, I totally call gardenia.
  Indoor Roots and Mark(ed) Improvements

Tradeskills

• What’s this Inscription thing all about?
  Inscription is a new production tradeskill used to create Glyphs, which are essentially items that can be used to temporarily modify (as long as you have them “equipped”) various skills and abilities. They come in two flavos: Major, which provide significant improvements to core abilities, and Minor which provide lesser improvements or aesthetic changes to abilities.
   Inscription for Druids
• So I TOTALLY dropped my very lucrative Jewelcrafting tradeskill to pick up Leatherworking for Drums ‘cause my guild leader said I had to. I am such a team player.
  Actually, Blizzard introduced a new debuff called Tinnitus that is caused every time someone in your group uses a set of drums. This prevents you from using another set of drums until the cooldown of the person who caused the debuff has expired. This change was made to prevent drum rotations because so many guilds (like yours) were requiring guild members to pick up. On the bright side, you can still make [Heavy Leather Ball]s with your new skill!

Player vs. Player

• Should I still expect to cast 5 second Wraths when being attacked by a Rogue or Cat?
  Taking damage while casting a spell will now delay your casting by a maximum of 1.0 seconds, generally in 0.5 second increments for each of the first two hits. This makes it much easier to deal with fast-hitting Rogues and Cats.
  Spell Pushback Changes
• Will tried-and-true tactics of “pillar kiting” be effective in Wrath?
  While these techniques can still be employed in three TBC Arenas (Blade’s Edge, Ruins of Lordaeron, and Nagrand Arena), two newly introduced Arenas (Dalaran Sewers and Orgrimmar Arena) will introduce obstacles and fluctuating terrain that will make the use of line of sight more complex and potentially dangerous.
  Teh Pee Vee Pees! from Blizzcon Summary
• So if I can’t pillar kite, what are my options?
  Improved Tree of Life is a 3-point talent at the bottom of the Restoration tree that affords an additional 100% armor from gear when you’re in Tree of Life. Unfortunately, Tree of Life loses access to Cyclone and Entangling Roots, two spells that can greatly reduce the need for additional armor. It also leaves you susceptible to a Warlock’s Banish. Honestly, until we see how the addition of Death Knights and their anti-HoT mechanics play out, we probably won’t have a good idea of the best way to play a Restoration Druid in Arenas.
  Death Knight Degeneration to Convert HoTs to DoTs
• Why does my Shadowmeld have a 3-minute cooldown?
  Shadowmeld was fundamentally changed so that it can be used in combat and essentially functions as a temporary aggro wipe. If you happen to be alone and enter combat with one or more mobs, using Shadowmeld causes the mobs to lose their interest in you, leashing back to their original spawn point or path. Unfortunately, this puts a real damper on the tactic of sitting to drink and using Shadowmeld. However, the same thing can be accomplished using Cat Form, sitting to drink (now available in forms), and using Prowl (credit to Willowbear).
  Night Elf is to Ninja as Tauren is to Giant, Stompy Cheeseburger
• What’s all this crap on my PvP gear? Spuh...Spee...Spirit?
  The PvP sets in Wrath have been itemized with Spirit/Intellect-based mana regeneration in mind. Gone are the gobs and gobs of MP5 you found on Restoration and Balance PvP sets in Wrath. Your Innervate will thank you. As long as you hide behind a pillar to protect it from being dispelled, of course. Unlike the Arena gear in TBC post 2.4, the presence of Spirit on PvP gear in Wrath has the side effect of it a viable choice for PvE. This is even more true if your guild typically falls behind on the PvE curve.
  Wrath Build 8820: PvP Itemization

Miscellaneous

• Eek! I have to do damage to level, don't I? Is that what these non-tree buttons are for?
  While you might be fortunate enough to have one or more sla— friends to help you level up to 80 in Wrath, why not empower yourself with a few points in Balance? There are several talents that provide synergy for both healing and DPSing, including Nature's Majesty, Moonglow, Nature's Grace, Nature's Splendor, and Lunar Guidance.
  Moonfire Spamming Your Way to 80 in Wrath
• I'm not 70, yet, and I won't have time to get Honored with Lower City to be able to run Heroic Sethekk Halls! Does this mean I'm out in the cold for Swift Flight Form?
  Not anymore. As of Patch 3.0, Druids will be able to train Swift Flight Form at level 71— of course, you still have to have trained Artisan Riding for 5,000 gold before you can! For those looking forward to the quest, it will still be available.
• I heard that Druids are getting "polar bear form" in the expansion!
  While not specifically a Resto question, Trees like to look cute, too. The original idea was to provide Minor Glyphs to change the appearance of Druid forms. However, there was much public outcry to the effect that Druids shouldn't have to sacrifice a potentially useful Glyph slot to get the character customization that everyone else gets, so they're looking into alternate solutions. Blizzard has indicated that they plan to have this customization available with the first major content patch following Wrath's release.
• Which of the two starter zones has the better healing-oriented quest rewards?
  While Howling Fjord is definitely the prettier of the two zones, Borean Tundra trounces it with regard to healing-oriented rewards. Here’s a breakdown:
  • Borean Tundra has 8 Blue, 55 Green quest rewards with spell power. Of those, 1 Blue and 12 Green items also have Spirit. 8 of the total rewards are leather, and 2 of those leather rewards have Spirit.
  • Howling Fjord has 35 Green quest rewards with spell power. Of those, 10 Green items also have Spirit. 6 of the total rewards are leather, and only 1 of those leather rewards have Spirit.
• What is the best way to raise my faction with D.E.H.T.A. (Druids for the Ethical and Humane Treatment of Animals)?
  Unfortunately, D.E.H.T.A. isn’t actually a faction so much as a quest hub in Borean Tundra. The quests they give are essentially disruptions to Hemet Nesingwary’s efforts to exploit the fauna of Northrend. Caution should be taken not to aggro the wildlife when traveling through Borean Tundra because killing animals such as the Wooly Mammoth will result in a debuff that makes D.E.H.T.A. members temporarily aggressive towards you. Time to map that Soothe Animal ability!

  As a side note, completing the D.E.H.T.A. quests is worth around 4,000 reputation with the TBC faction, Cenarion Expedition, making the acquisition of the "Guardian of Cenarius" title (available at Exalted with both Cenarion Circle and Cenarion Expedition) that much easier.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Nostromo SpeedPad, it’s a computer peripheral that rests under your left hand and mimics the key commands of the keyboard. The keys themselves are laid out as follows:

• 14 keys in 3 rows (the last of which only has 4 keys)
• A rectangular thumb button
• A circular thumb button
• A clickable scroll wheel
• An analog directional pad

The 14 base keys are where you map your primary abilities. The four fingers of your left hand rest on the middle row of keys (6-9), and there’s a home row marker on key 8 so that you can quickly find your hand position without having to look at the pad. The Nostromo SpeedPad works by mimicking key presses from your keyboard. So your first step is to configure your gamepad so that each of its keys corresponds to a key on your keyboard.

What You Will Need:

• Bartender4 (via Curse.com)
• Belkin Nostromo N52 TE (via Amazon.com)
• Paper and pencil

Quick Links

• Configuring the Nostromo N52te
• Laying out Action Bars with Bartender4
• Key Binding with Bartender4
• Pagination with Bartender4
• Planning Your Macros
• Sample Role-Based Layouts
• Key Binding Character and Camera Movement
• Key Binding Shapeshifts
• Macro Help: Mouseover Healing
• Macro Help: Heal Self
• Macro Help: Form-Specific Abilities

Configuring the Nostromo N52te

Install the drivers and software that came with the Belkin Nostromo SpeedPad. If prompted to restart your computer, be sure to do so. Now we’ll want to map the keys on your Nostromo to keys on your keyboard. I have my keys mapped in the following way:

You can, of course, map your keys however you want, but avoid using keys that are bound to common interface functions you’ve grown accustomed to using (such as C for the Character screen). I’ve bound my thumb key to ALT since that’s the “alternate” key I like to use in my macros (since it has the fewest number of characters) and my red thumb button to "jump" for interrupting spells or just hopping around to annoy people. Note that in my configuration, I use F1-F4 for shapeshifting, but I’ve never used the keys to target group members as is the default configuration.

Laying out Action Bars with Bartender4

By default, Bartender starts with several bars enabled and displayed in the center of your screen. We’ll want to start by hiding all but two of these. To do this:

1. Open the Bartender4 configuration by typing /bt.
2. Click on Bar 3 in the lefthand pane.
3. Uncheck the Enabled checkbox to hide this bar.
4. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for bars 4-10 if necessary.

Because each action bar within Bartender4 is limited to only 12 keys, we’ll have to use two bars to simulate the key layout of our Nostromo.* We’ll set up the first bar as 5 columns by 2 rows and place a second bar below it that’s 1 column by 3 rows so that it looks like this:

* Note: There are multiple configurations that can work, but this layout is one that will give you the most flexibility when it comes to activating automatic paging based on shapeshifts.

To configure bars 1 and 2 to resemble the layout shown above:

1. Open the Bartender4 configuration by typing /bt.
2. Uncheck the Lock checkbox at the top of the dialog box.
3. Click on Bar 1 in the lefthand pane.
4. Set the Buttons slider to 10.
5. Set the Rows slider to 2.
6. Click and drag Bar 1 into position, leaving enough room to position a second bar beneath it.
7. Click on Bar 2 in the lefthand pane.
8. Set the Buttons slider to 5.
9. Set the Rows slider to 1.
10. Click and drag Bar 2 into position beneath Bar 1.
11. Check the Lock checkbox at the top of the dialog box.
12. Optional: Check the Button Grid option for Bar 1 and Bar 2 so that you can easily see which buttons are unfilled.
13. Close the Bartender4 configuration by clicking on the Close button.

Key Binding with Bartender4

Now that our action bars resemble the key layout above, we can bind the keys of our Nostromo to their corresponding action bar buttons within Bartender4. To do so:

1. Type in /kb. This will put you into Key Binding Mode.
2. Mouseover each key on your action bars and press the key on your Nostromo you want to associate with it. For the sake of symmetry, I like to bind the fifth button on Bar 2 to a key on the side of my mouse. I generally map this key to emergency ability such as Barkskin.
3. Exit Key Binding Mode by clicking the OK button.

Pagination with Bartender4

Druids have many abilities that are form-specific, making stance-specific pagination (automatic bar swapping when you shapeshift) especially helpful. I recommend paginating your action bars as follows:

1. Open the Bartender4 configuration by typing /bt.
2. Click on Bar 1 in the lefhand pane.
3. Click on the State Configuration tab in the righthand pane.
4. Ensure the Enabled checkbox is checked.
5. Under Bear Form, set the paging dropdown to Page 3.
6. Under Cat Form and Cat Form Prowl, set the paging dropdown to Page 5.
7. Under Tree of Life and Moonkin Form, set the paging dropdown to Don’t Page.
8. Click on Bar 2 in the lefthand pane.
9. Click on the State Configuration tab in the righthand pane.
10. Ensure the Enabled checkbox is checked.
11. Under Bear Form, set the paging dropdown to Page 4.
12. Under Cat Form and Cat Form Prowl, set the paging dropdown to Page 6.
13. Under Tree of Life and Moonkin Form, set the paging dropdown to Don’t Page.
14. Close the Bartender4 configuration by clicking on the Close button.

Planning Your Macros

Since your default action bars will be those available to you when in caster form, you’ll want to map all those abilities you want to have easily accessible to buttons 1-14. Note that how you lay them out will probably depend upon the spec you play primarily. A Restoration Druid will probably reserve her home row of keys (6-10) for healing spells while a Moonkin will probably use those keys for her Balance spells. Because we’re limited to only 14 keys for the spells and abilities that are available from caster form, we’ll want to create macros that “pair” abilities based on the use of an alternate key such as Shift, Ctrl, or Alt (whichever key you’ve bound to the thumb key under Configuring the Nostromo SpeedPad). To do this in an intuitive way, I like to categorize my spells and abilities based on what function they perform and what they require:

I will often create a macro that combines two skills within the same category, with the less frequently used (or sometimes the one that feels more powerful) version set up as the alternate ability of the more commonly used one. Such a macro looks like this:

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:alt] Ability2; Ability1

The above macro will activate Ability1 by default and Ability2 when pressed and the alt key is held down. The #showtooltip line will automatically display the appropriate tooltip for the ability that will be activated (and icon if you chose the icon when creating the macro). Example pairings that I like to use include:

Obviously, many of the above pairings are spec-dependent since a Restoration Druid won’t have access to Starfall, Typhoon, or Insect Swarm (in which case, she might instead pair Moonfire with Faerie Fire), and a Balance Druid won’t have access to Wild Growth, Swiftmend, or Nature’s Swiftness. Ferals tend to have fewer abilities available to them within a given form, so it isn’t as important to pair them up like this. However, by doing so, a Feral frees herself to keybind abilities that will shift her out of form when necessary. It can be helpful while soloing to have heals readily accessible, especially when you have “heal self by default” enabled. (Note, however, that a Bear might not want to risk accidentally popping out while tanking.) These are just to give you some ideas of how you might choose to set up paired abilities.

Sample Role-Based Layouts

Caster Form

Caster (Basic) Caster (Alternate)

Row Column Base Ability + ALT   1 1 Innervate Self Innervate Target   1 2 Entangling Roots Nature’s Grasp   1 3 Cyclone Hibernate   1 4 Remove Curse Abolish Poison   1 5 Shapeshift: Tree of Life /cancelform   2 1 Lifebloom Activate Trinket   2 2 Rejuvenation Swiftmend   2 3 Regrowth Nourish *   2 4 Wild Growth Tranquility   2 5 Healing Touch NS + Healing Touch   3 1 Moonfire Faerie Fire   3 2 Wrath Starfire   3 3 Hurricane     3 4 Mark of the Wild Gift of the Wild   3 5 Barkskin Shadowmeld

Cat Form

This layout assumes level 75+ for Savage Roar and Maim (but was created on my level 62 Feral Druid, hence the icons):

Cat (Basic) Cat (Alternate)

Row Column Base Ability + ALT   1 1 Prowl     1 2 Tiger’s Fury     1 3 Cower Nature’s Grasp   1 4 Feral Charge – Cat Dash   1 5 Shapeshift: Dire Bear Form /cancelform   2 1 Ravage   2 2 Rake     2 3 Mangle – Cat     2 4 Shred     2 5 Rip     3 1 Feral Faerie Fire     3 2 Savage Roar     3 3 Maim (nostealth)*, Pounce (stealth)   3 4 Regrowth Self Rejuvenation Self   3 5 Barkskin Survival Instincts

Bear Form

I tried to match abilities between Cat Form and Dire Bear Form to make the learning curve between the two a little less steep. For example, the Bear Form stun, Bash, is mapped to the same key as Pounce/Maim for Cat Form, and Barkskin/Survival Instinct remains the same. This layout assumes level 51+ for Berserk (but was created on my level 62 Feral Druid, hence the icons):

Bear (Basic) Bear (Alternate)

Row Column Base Ability + ALT   1 1 Growl Challenging Roar   1 2 Enrage     1 3 Frenzied Regeneration Nature’s Grasp   1 4 Feral Charge – Bear     1 5 Shapeshift: Cat Form /cancelform   2 1 Maul     2 2 Swipe     2 3 Mangle – Bear     2 4 Berserk     2 5 —     3 1 Feral Faerie Fire     3 2 Demoralizing Roar     3 3 Bash     3 4 Regrowth Self Rejuvenation Self   3 5 Barkskin Survival Instincts

And to help you plan your own custom layout(s), I’ve created a printable template in Acrobat Reader.

Key Binding Character and Camera Movement

Movement — including strafing — is important in many PvE encounters and especially in PvP content. To facilitate this, I keybind my Nostromo like this:

• Analog Down: down arrow key, back up
• Analog Right: F2, strafe right
• Analog Left: F3, strafe left
• Analog Up: up arrow key, move forward
• Round Thumb button: spacebar, jump

Then I use the in-game key bindings (Escape> Key Bindings > Movement Keys) menu to bind F2 and F3 to strafing.

Note: you may find the analog directional pad to have a non-intuitive orientation (where the up/forward key feels like it should instead be right/strafe right). If this is the case, feel free to shift your directional bindings clockwise one position.

To maneuver the camera, I hold down the right mouse button, and to turn without strafing, I hold down the right and left mouse buttons and move the mouse left or right.

Key Binding Shapeshifts

Even pairing up abilities as described above, you may find yourself short on space when it comes to being able to map your different forms. Over time, I’ve settled on using the scroll wheel for shapeshifting. I use "scroll down" for Dire Bear Form and "scroll up" for Cat Form. I then reserve key 5 for my spec-specific form — either Tree of Life or Moonkin Form. This macro won’t shift you out of the specified form unless you hold down ALT:

#showtooltip Tree of Life
/cast [nomod,nostance:5] Tree of Life
/cancelform [mod:alt]

Because my bars are set up to switch to another page when I’m in a Feral form, I use key 5 to switch between the two forms. In other words, if I shapeshift into Dire Bear Form, key 5 is set up to let me switch into Cat Form and will shift me back into Bear if I’m in Cat Form. The Bear to Cat version of this macro looks like this:

#showtooltip
/cast [nomod,stance:1] Cat Form;
/cancelform [mod:alt]

And the Cat to Bear version of this macro looks like this:

#showtooltip
/cast [nomod,stance:3] Dire Bear Form;
/cancelform [mod:alt]

Macro Help: Mouseover Healing

Mouseover techniques are worth mentioning here because of their potential when paired with a gamepad like the Nostromo SpeedPad. By setting all of your heals (and decurses) up as mouseover macros, you can heal raidmates and groupmates by simply sliding your mouse over their unitframe and pressing the corresponding key on your gamepad, all without ever having to click to target. This is a particularly great technique when paired with the Grid addon and is often used in lieu of a mouse-based healing addon like Clique. I personally prefer this technique to Clique-based healing as the number of our heals increase. This also gives you increased visual feedback on what heal you’ve selected rather than requiring you to memorize which of the 5+ buttons on your mouse perform which function. A simple mouseover healing macro looks like this:

/cast [target=mouseover] Rejuvenation

And when we pair it with an alternate ability, it will look like this:

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:alt, target=mouseover] Swiftmend; [target=mouseover] Rejuvenation

If we want to get really fancy (and we do), we can build a macro like this:

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:alt,target=mouseover,exists,help][mod:alt,target=target,help][mod:alt,target=player] Swiftmend; [target=mouseover,exists,help][target=target,help][target=player] Rejuvenation

The above macro will do the following:

1. If ALT is not pressed and the target under your mouse is one you can help, it will cast Rejuvenation on her.
2. If ALT is not pressed and the target under your mouse is one you cannot help but your current target is one you can, it will cast Rejuvenation on your current target.
3. If ALT is not pressed and both the target under your mouse and your current target are ones you cannot help, it will cast Rejuvenation on you. (This is particularly helpful for healing on the run via insta-cast HoTs in PvP!)
4. If ALT is pressed and the target under your mouse is one you can help, it will cast Swiftmend on her.
5. If ALT is pressed and the target under your mouse is one you cannot help but your current target is one you can, it will cast Swiftmend on your current target.
6. If ALT is pressed and both the target under your mouse and your current target are ones you cannot help, it will cast Swiftmend on you.

It’s a long macro, so it helps to cut-and-paste into notepad, make modifications for applicable spells, then paste it into the macro creation window. You can do something similar for other paired heals like Wild Growth and Tranquility or for Remove Curse and Abolish Poison.

Note: While you could opt to use the interface option for “Heal Self by Default”, this option won’t attempt to heal you should you have someone harmful targeted. The above parameters are necessary to achieve the PvP-friendly behavior described above.

Macro Help: Heal Self

A Feral or Balance Druid might find these macros useful, whether for soloing or PvPing. They’ll shift you out and cast the heal spell on yourself:

#showtooltip
/cast [target=player] Rejuvenation

Macro Help: Form-Specific Abilities

Because Druids have so many form-specific abilities, it’s easy to run out of character-specific macro slots. Save on macro space by building one macro that performs an action based on your current form then map that macro to the same position in either form! For example:

#showtooltip
/cast [stance:3] Feral Charge – Cat
/cast [stance:1] Feral Charge – Bear

You might be wondering why you would want to make such a simple macro when you could just as easily drag the two different abilities to your paginated action bar, but you can add alternate abilities onto this macro like so:

#showtooltip
/cast [stance:3,mod:alt] Dash; [stance:3] Feral Charge – Cat
/cast [stance:1] Feral Charge – Bear

I like to call the above macro my "Go!" macro. For your reference, the Druid forms/stances are:

1. Bear / Dire Bear
2. Aquatic Form
3. Cat
4. Cheetah
5. Tree of Life/Moonkin