The folks over at MMO Champion are currently previewing the stats (and aesthetics) for Season 3 armor. The trend of inflating the armor values of cloth-wearers to nearly the level of leather wearers apparently continues in Season 3 with the following total armor values for 5-piece Season 3 armor:

• Priest: 1903 (3.0% increase)
• Mage: 1903 (3.6% increase)
• Warlock: 1903 (3.6% increase)
• Restoration Druid: 2088 (6.3% increase)
• Rogue: 2186 (25.63% increase)

Huzzah for the Rogues whose armor values are seeing a significant increase after being the squishiest targets in Season 2. I’m happy, at least, to be seeing a larger percent increase than the clothies. There is a a 9.7% difference in armor between Restoration Druids and Holy Priests in Season 3, up from the 6.3% difference of Season 2 (yay). I’m still of the opinion that the difference is too marginal, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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According to recent reports, a Tranquility cast beneath the bridge in the Blade’s Edge arena will no longer affect teammates fighting on the bridge above you. While I admit that this seems entirely fair, it still … well … sucks. But it’s better to be aware of the change now than to be caught unawares and having to try to Travel Form back up top to save your dying teammate(s).

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Once considered an urban legend, the “Rawr Bomb” consists of a Druid paratrooping in over unsuspecting prey, dropping out of Flight Form and activating Feral Charge at the last moment to reach their opponent without taking fall damage. A difficult skill to master, the slightest miscalculation or unfortunate lag results in the “Rawr! Splat!” instead of the desired effect. From Logrimm of Boulderfist comes a video of his personal exploits as a Bear-a-trooper. Featuring the high-energy song, “Scatman” by Scatman John, The Rawrbomb will have you almost pitying the unfortunate Horde who find themselves in Logrimm’s shadow ominous shadow. “For the Horde” indeed.

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With the upcoming change to give healers FREE spell damage, I’m considering something a little wild … something a little craaaaaaazy. I’m considering respeccing Phaelia 34 Balance, 27 Restoration for Arenas (and because I’m a cheapskate, for PvE raiding, too). Here’s the spec I’m contemplating: 34/0/27

Rather than the popularly accepted tri-spec that picks up key talents from both Feral and Balance, this spec would ignore our Feral tree altogether and instead dig deep enough into Balance to pick up Moonkin and Dreamstate. The idea would be to switch into Moonkin instead of Dire Bear Form as a defensive measure, retaining my ability to crowd control the Rogues and Warriors who try to kill me in the face. I’d also have the ability to generate a respectable amount of DPS when it was called for (somewhere around 700 or so with Insect Swarm, Moonfire, and Wrath spam).

The drawbacks of using Moonkin Form instead of Dire Bear Form:

• Less Armor

  Dire Bear Form gets 550% bonus armor with 3/3 Thick Hide. Moonkin Form only gets 500% bonus armor.

• No Free Hit Points

  Dire Bear Form gives 25% extra Stamina. In my current PvP kit with 664 Stamina, that’s 1660 hp (664 * .25 * 10).

• No Special Feral Abilities

  No Frenzied Regeneration (which does not scale with +Healing), Rocket Bear, or Brutal Impact.

• No Mana Protection

  Moonkins are vulnerable to Mana Drain and Viper Sting.

The benefits of using Moonkin over Dire Bear Form:

• Crowd Control

  Many Druids complain that they are effectively crowd controlled when forced to switch to Bear Form as a defensive measure. While a Moonkin loses access to her healing spells, she does retain her ability to Cyclone and Entangling Roots opponents, allowing her to switch out and heal.

• Damage

  A Moonkin retains access to her damage spells: Moonfire, Wrath, Insect Swarm, and Starfire (useful for tricking someone into counterspelling the Arcane school).

• 5% Extra Crit

  While Druids are not crit-based healers, spell criticals in this build trigger Nature’s Grace, a talent that reduces the casting time of the next non-instant spell cast by 0.5 seconds.

• Mana Regeneration

  Moonkins do not suffer from the reduced mana regeneration formula of Dire Bear Form but instead regenerate mana at the same rate as caster form. They also retain the ability to cast Innervate, drink Star’s Tears, and Shadowmeld (useful when drinking). Further, a Moonkin can melee to regenerate mana, despite being a risky method of doing so. This could work out well against a pet that’s been sent to prevent me from drinking. Line of Sight his master and whack away at it with my Earthwarden for around 300 MP5. Mmmm!

• Curse Removal

  My currently competitive team is comprised of an Arms Warrior, Holy Paladin, and myself. Curse of Tongues can be debilitating to my Paladin. I would be able to remove curses in Moonkin form after Patch 2.3.

• WTH?! Value

  Potential misdirection of opponents into expecting the weaker heals of a Balance Druid and perceiving me as less of a threat. While they may expect me to have 700 +Healing, I’d be closer to 1400, making my more limited heals more potent than they would likely give me credit for.

• Moonkin is Cheaper than Bear Form

  Which makes sense when you think of the cost of something covered in fur vs. the cost of something covered in feathers. While Dire Bear Form costs 35% of base mana (828 at 70), Moonkin only costs 22% (520). Even with 3/3 points in Natural Shapeshifter (reducing the cost of DBF to 24.5% of base mana), Moonkin is still a cheaper shapeshift.

• Moonkin Dance > Bear Form Dance

  ‘Nuff said.

Other items of note concerning this spec:

• I’d be sacrificing a lot of healing power to get that much from Balance. Most notably, I’d have to lose Swiftmend (OUCH). I’d also lose the high crit chance for Regrowth (which would admittedly be totally overpowered if combined with Nature’s Grace) as well as Empowered Rejuvenation. And unlike some Balance/Restoration hybrid specs, I wouldn’t be ramping up the power of my Healing Touch (a spell considered mostly worthless in Arenas except used in conjunction with Nature’s Swiftness).
• I’d be picking up a lot of the excessively delicious talents from Balance including :
  • Moonglow: 9% mana reduction on all healing spells except Lifebloom and Tranquility — basically a mini Tree of Life all the time and with no movement restriction.
  • Lunar Guidance: 25% additional +Healing (and +Damage) from Intellect. At approximately 475 Intellect in my PvP gear, that’s 120 free +Healing. This is similar to the Tree of Life +Healing aura but based on Intellect instead of Spirit and available all the time.
  • Nature’s Grace: Shaves 0.5 seconds off the cast time of my next non-instant spell, including Regrowth and Healing Touch. Spamming Rank 1 Moonfire (pimped out at an additional +10% critical chance because of Improved Moonfire) has never seemed more appealing. Die, totems, die.
  • Dreamstate: 47 MP5? Yes, please.
• Nature’s Reach would increase the range of Cyclone and Entangling Roots by 6 yards, from 30 to 36. While a nice boost, I’ve never been very good at estimating my range well enough to take special advantage of this.
• Unfortunately, I’d also be losing Natural Perfection. While somewhat lackluster, the loss of this talent would require reitemization to bump up my Resilience rating. Of course, with Season 3 armor, I’ll likely be beyond the “soft cap” anyway. On the upside, I would gain a 4% reduction of my chance to be hit with spells (along with a 4% increased chance to land Cyclone and Entangling Roots via the Balance of Power talent).

My question for you, dear readers: would you still consider me to be Resto4Life when I have more points invested in Balance than in Restoration? Even if I’m taking all the Healing-synergy Balance talents and wearing “pure” +Healing gear? Oh, the agony! *places back of hand to forehead and looks away* *peers at you from between two fingers*

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