Resto Druids rejoice! Today’s patch notes for Patch 2.4.2 do not include the proposed change to Natural Perfection which would have singled it out as the only critical-strike mitigating talent to have diminishing returns as Resilience increases. A big thank you to reader Joshua for pointing this out this morning!

In another surprise, Feral Druids will be relieved to know that, while Scare Beast has had its range extended to 30 yards, it will retain its 1.5 second cast time. Thanks to reader Jaegor for pointing this out below!

» See all patch notes for Patch 2.4.2 (via MMO Champion)
» Read Flyv’s humorous impressions of Patch 2.4.2 and Druids

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From the Patch Notes for 2.4.2, a “Bug Fix” will be applied to the Restoration PvP talent, Natural Perfection:

Druid Talent (Restoration) - Natural Perfection will no longer proc by normal melee attacks.

What this may mean is that the 3-point talent will no longer proc from those melee attacks that would have otherwise been critical hits if not for the Druid’s Resilience rating. Interestingly, no such change is being made to the similar Priest talents, Blessed Resilience or Focused Will. Obviously, what’s good for one should be good for the other, and if they really are nerfing this ability (and it is a nerf, regardless of being classified as a bug fix), the same should apply to both classes.

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Edit: Apparently, Boubouille was mistaken. I can’t imagine that this was an April Fool’s Day joke as it isn’t funny, so I think we have to assume it was a case of unfortunate misinformation.

Boubouille of MMO Champion is reporting that the 4-piece set bonus that grants an additional 15% speed bonus while in Travel, Cat, and Bear Forms has been restored to the [Gladiator's Refuge] (Arena epics) and added to the [Kodohide Battlegear] set (reputation-purchasable set). If true, this is great news for Restoration-based PvP and probably points to a much greater decrease in 2v2/3v3 performance by Druids than Blizzard was anticipating or intending.

Perhaps less fortunately, the Balance Wyrmhide sets have had their set bonus reverted to the speed increase, as well. I say “less fortunately” because many Boomkin were excited for the recent change to a more offensively-based set bonus. Sorry, guys!

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Hurricane by Triggerman

As previously predicted, the range on Cyclone has been reduced from 30 yards to 20 on both the TTR (Tournament Testing Realm) and PTR (source). With Nature’s Reach, the range drops from 36 to 24, so it’s an additional nerf to the benefit afforded by this talent. As of today, Patch 2.4 will include the following nerfs to Restoration-based PvP:

1. Drinking nerf
2. Nerf to end bloom of Lifebloom (the same heal that occasionally occurs when our HoTs are purged); this forces Restoration Druids to spec down to 5/5 Empowered Rejuvenation if they want to compensate for the reduction, locking them out of other talents from Balance and Feral considered to be synergistic and essential
3. Reduction of Natural Perfection from 15% damage reduction to only 12% (it is worth noting, however, that NP was buffed so that it benefits from the dispel resistance provided by Subtlety)
4. Removal of 4-piece set bonus from the Restoration set (+15% speed bonus in forms)
5. Cyclone reduced from 30 yards to 20; Nature’s Reach reduced from 36 yards to 24

Sadly, this change is pretty much the nail in the coffin for Restoration-based PvP and will severely handicap already struggling Balance Druids in Arenas. I guess Blizzard is still working toward their goal of having no more than 60 Druids at 2200+ rating. So much for making incremental changes to see how they affect things.

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According to Lead Developer Kalgan, Blizzard determines the necessity of PvP-based nerfs based on class representation in Arenas and their overall population relative to that of other classes:

One of the things we look at is class representation in arenas (although normalized for class popularity). In this particular chart, a value of 100% means the class is represented as we’d expect, a value over 100% means the class is represented that much more often than we’d expect, a value below 100% means they’re represented less than we’d want (obviously this chart doesn’t include a spec breakdown in any way).

	2v2	3v3	5v5
Druid	276.0%	184.0%	80.5%
Hunter	43.0%	50.2%	43.0%
Mage	8.7%	96.0%	96.0%
Paladin	19.7%	29.5%	147.4%
Priest	113.3%	164.8%	185.4%
Shaman	37.8%	50.4%	138.6%
Rogue	144.2%	175.1%	61.8%
Warlock	149.2%	93.2%	111.9%
Warrior	130.4%	90.7%	79.3%

Edit: one other detail regarding the chart, this one is set at 2200+ rating.

He later responds to a request for the chart relevant to the 1850 rating with the following:

	2v2	3v3	5v5
Druid	184.0%	138.0%	92.0%
Hunter	50.2%	50.2%	50.2%
Mage	61.1%	87.3%	87.3%
Paladin	68.8%	88.4%	137.6%
Priest	133.9%	133.9%	154.5%
Shaman	75.6%	88.2%	138.6%
Rogue	154.5%	154.5%	82.4%
Warlock	121.2%	102.5%	102.5%
Warrior	90.7%	85.0%	85.0%

Continue reading ‘Kalgan: Druids 176% Overrepresented in 2v2′…

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