According to recent reports from the PTR, Blizzard has swapped all MP5 on Season 3 armor for Spirit at a value of 1:2.5. At first glance, this appears to be a nerf to Restoration PvP viability as Spirit is generally regarded as worthless in a PvP setting. However, consider that the shorter an Arena game, the greater the equivalent MP5 value of Innervate (more mana returned over a shorter period of time). On the other hand, in 2.3, all players will be able to see the buffs a player has, making Innervate that much more vulnerable to dispel. While it’s still up in the air whether this is a buff or nerf, it should at least make Arena- and Battleground-obtained armor more attractive in PvE (where many Druids espouse the value of stacking Spirit).
- Previous Stats via MMO Champion
- Updated Stats via MMO Champion
Mookysolo of Ner’zhul, well-known Druid Arena PvP mogul strongly objects to this change as a substantial nerf to the PvP viability of Druids. Here’s a snippet of what he says:
The irony of it all is that these changes could not have come at a worse time. With the recent change allowing enemies to see your buff/debuffs AT ALL TIMES, this means the chances Innervate will be dispelled is very high. Currently in high rated Arena (specifically 2v2/3v3), my Innervate will be dispelled the moment I’m in LoS of a Priest/Shaman; now this is just with the use of mods like Focus Frame, Cenemycastbar, etc. After the buff change, every single Priest/Shaman will remove my Innervate without thinking twice even if I take the time to go out of LoS, Innervate, and buff myself with “filler” buffs like Lifebloom, R1 Rejuv, R1 MotW, and R1 Thorns, players will make it a top priority to spam purge on me until my Innervate is removed. This also means they will not need to Purge until they cannot Purge anymore buffs, this means they Purge, check if I still have Innervate, repeat.
Edit: Huzzah! Recent reports from the Public Test Realm indicate that this change has been reversed!
In other Patch 2.3 news, Cromlis of Cenarius is reporting a signficant change to spellcasting for Druids while in forms:
If you try to cast a spell while you are in a form, then you will automatically shift out and cast that spell.
For example, if you are in bear form, and you press regrowth (via spellbook or a button on an action bar), then you will automatically shift to caster form and start casting regrowth. This works for moonkin, and any form really. As long as it is a caster ability that you cannot use in your current form, you will automatically shift out and cast it.
This signifies an end to the need for using the “/cancelform [stance:1,2,etc.]” command at the beginning of all heal spell macros since the game will now automatically shift you to caster form if you current form denies you the ability you’re attempting to use. And for those who aren’t necessarily comfortable with this change, note that it can be disabled by entering the following console command:
/console autoUnshift 0
Thanks to Kai for this helpful tip!
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@Graylo: Oh, my mistake!! I’ve adjusted the description to be more clear.
October 21st, 2007 at 3:53 pm
If you don’t like the click heal unshift, you can enter the console and change it thus:
/console autoUnshift #
Setting this value to 1 will allow use of spells which will automatically unshift you from form to cast it, similar to auto-dismount. Setting the value to 0 will mean that you still need to manually shift out of form before casting the spell.
Info found on the Elitist Jerks forums, the Feral Druid Megathread. Thought you might find it interesting =)
October 21st, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Wow … that is quite useful. Thank you for finding that and sharing it! I’ll add it to the original post (with all due credits to you for sharing it, of course). =)
October 22nd, 2007 at 8:11 am
Congrats on the new home!
I’ve updated my link to the new address.
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:02 am
Thanks, Leafy!! =)
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:58 am
I like the new place. This is the most fabulous concentration of druid-usefulness out there. Keep up the good work!
October 22nd, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Love the new look! The link embedded in your banner at the top is still pointing to your old site, however. Thought you’d like to know.
October 22nd, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Grats on your new home! Very nice layout.
October 22nd, 2007 at 5:37 pm
@Bigtoy: Thank you very much! I hope to, although projects at work this week may be somewhat prohibitive. ^_^
@Athryn: Thank you for letting me know - I had forgotten that it even linked to something!! Now to correct all those internal links to articles still over at Blogger… I’m glad you like the new site!
@Megan: Thank you, ma’am! As always, it’s great to have you visit. =)
October 22nd, 2007 at 11:59 pm
Oof, I mean to make my comment on the other post about the new site! >< I think where the comments link in regards to your entries might be confusing, as it looks like I’m not the only one.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:28 am
@Athryn: Yep! I have fixed that little issue, thanks to a helpful visitor pointing it out to me. =)
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:33 am
Oh, and as per the topic, MP5 -> Spirit is a rather strange change, Blizz must be listening to all the QQ’ers about Druids in 2v2 (read: outlast teams such as Druid/Lock, Druid/Warrior).
I’ve even heard of a bug (hope it’s a bug.. if not, ouch for us) that Nagrand Arena is considered “indoors” so byebye Travel Form kiting.
At any rate, it might actually be useful to keep some S2 pieces depending on the situation and your team makeup, or if you’re that successful with Arena, obtain multiple S3 sets that are gemmed differently to combat this MP5 loss. Regen is so important in Arena as HP and Resilience go up but MP pools stay relatively the same.
October 24th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
To be honest, I was trying to be optimistic about the change but it’s appearing more and more to be an outright and intended nerf to Druid longevity. Check out what Mookysolo says about it. If he’s this upset by it, I’m beginning to worry.
The Nagrand indoors Arena is a hot topic on the PTR forums and, last I checked, up to 17 pages. Most seem to be in agreement that is a bug, likely related to portions of Nagrand being flagged as noflyable. Some have pointed out, however, that there IS a roof over the Nagrand arena. It would be pretty surprising, however, if Blizzard made the decision to specifically handicap the only class that has indoor/outdoor restrictions. Then again, I guess they’ve already done so by creating such restrictions in the first place.
October 27th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
[...] Resto4life is reporting on a fairly significant change to the Arena season 3 gear on the PTR with Patch 2.3. Evidently the previous mana regen stat MP5 is being tossed by for Spirit, and that has some players howling. Now, I know there is some debate as to the utility of Spirit for priests in a PvE setting, but as they mention in the write-up, there appears to be little use for it at all in Arena PvP, at least where Druids are concerned. [...]
October 27th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
Grats on the WoW Insider love!
October 28th, 2007 at 2:50 am
[...] Resto4life is reporting on a fairly significant change to the Arena season 3 gear on the PTR with Patch 2.3. Evidently the previous mana regen stat MP5 is being tossed by for Spirit, and that has some players howling. Now, I know there is some debate as to the utility of Spirit for priests in a PvE setting, but as they mention in the scoop, there appears to be little use for it at all in Arena PvP, at least where Druids are concerned. [...]
October 29th, 2007 at 2:28 am
They changed it back to mp5 ^ ^
October 29th, 2007 at 8:44 am
I feel this is a good buff. Lets face it, if you are a resto druid you are resto for PVE not PVP. MP5 is faster, but spirit allows us to take PVP gear into a PVE setting much like warlocks, mages and other classes.
I also smell a rework on the druid resto tree soon. Spell damage anyone?
October 29th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
@Kestrel: Thanks!! =)
@Kiaia: Thanks for reporting! I’m happy for the change!
@Thsa: Actually, many Ferals respec Restoration specifically for Arena PvP since the Feral tree doesn’t perform especially well in such a format (for a variety of reasons). Restoration-specs often generally get to spend lots of time in forms, so I suppose it’s not an entirely unfamiliar playstyle. I know that right now, I couldn’t spec any other way than Restoration without dropping 100+ points or more. Although some of that would likely be due to a signficant learning curve. =D
October 29th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
@Thsa: Two changes to the Druid class in 2.3 address what you’re talking about. The 15% regen in battle means spirit is now much more useful for getting mana back fast. I calc off a 75% FSR time, so under 2.2 1MP5 = 4.4 Spirit. Under 2.3 1MP5 = 3.3 Spirit. Therefore something with a 16(.5) Spirit stat = 5MP5. In pure sense sure it’s not 9MP5 (looking at bracers) but 75% in the FSR isn’t as likely in PVP as PVE, and spirit has plenty of other uses, especially if you’re full resto with the spirit increasing talents, and ToL. Secondly “Spell Damage Anyone?” is kinda pointless as a reorganisation to the resto tree since we’re getting a heap of spell damage from our Healing gear now anyway.