Patch notes for the Public Test Realms were released on Friday and include several changes to the druid class along with the addition of the druid epic flight form quest.

The Class Eliminator™ in its most recent incarnation

Druid Epic Flight Form:

The Druid Epic flight form will be available through a series of quests, similar to the Warlock and Paladin Epic mount quests before it. This quest series will also open up a new boss in Sethekk Halls, and ultimately lead to the epic flight form.

Druid-Specific Changes:

• The Druid Epic Flight Form is now available through a series of quests.
• Barkskin now reduces all damage taken, with its duration reduced to 12
  seconds and cooldown reduced to 1 minute. The tooltip has been adjusted to indicate this ability can be used while frozen, incapacitated, or cowering in fear. That functionality was already present, but not listed in the tooltip.
• Bear Form and Dire Bear Form: The bonus health from shapeshifting into these forms will again be removed correctly when shifting out of these forms.
• Cyclone: This ability will no longer work on hunters with The Beast Within active or hunter pets with Bestial Wrath active.
• Feral Charge now suppresses all Slowing effects while charging the target.
• Fixed a data error that caused Swiftmend to generate more threat than intended.
• Force of Nature: These pets will now come into the game with full health, including that gained from a percentage of their master’s stamina.
• Gift of the Wild, ranks 1 and 2, are now available on trainers.
• Gift of the Wild: Rank 3 of this ability now has the same range as ranks 1 and 2.
• Improved Leader of the Pack: This ability will no longer generate threat.
• Lacerate: The tooltip has been adjusted to indicate it does initial bleed damage when the ability first lands.
• Lifebloom: Each additional application of this spell will now include the full bonus from effects which increase healing. The final heal, however, is still unaffected by stacking multiple applications of this spell.
• Mangle(Bear): Damage increased by 15%, but bonus threat reduced so that overall threat generation will be unchanged.
• Nature’s Grace: This talent is now triggered by Swiftmend and Lifebloom, and is triggered by and affects Cyclone.
• Nature’s Grasp: The mana cost has been removed from all ranks as intended.
• Omen of Clarity: This spell is no longer castable in Tree of Life Form or Moonkin Form.
• Prowl will now be broken correctly by damage shields such as Oil of Immolation.
• Rake: The tooltip has been adjusted to indicate the initial damage done is bleed damage. In addition, Rake can now always be re-applied, even when Mangle is active.
• Shapeshifting will no longer remove the Rotting Putrescence creature debuff.
• Subtlety (Restoration Talent) now applies to all spells, not just healing spells.
• Swiftmend: This ability will now be correctly penalized for casting low rank Rejuvenations and Regrowths just as other healing spells are penalized.
• Teleport: Moonglade: This spell is no longer castable in Tree of Life Form.
• Tree of Life Form: The tooltip has been corrected to indicate Nature’s Swiftness and Rebirth are castable in this form.

My Impressions:

I think that the epic flight form looks amazing. I was afraid that we’d have to spend vast sums of money on material quest components the same way that paladins and warlocks do for their epic mount quests,
but judging from an epic flightform quest walkthrough, that doesn’t look to be the case. One of the rewards in the quest chain is a 10% to flight speed trinket which compensates for the leatherworked riding crop not affecting flight form (and saving me 110 gold), and the form looks amazing so I’m quite pleased.

They keep fiddling with Barkskin and Tranquility, I suspect because they’re so often used together for the interruption prevention. The additional reduction for spell and ranged damage is great, even with the duration reduction. I’m ashamed to admit I wasn’t aware that I could use Barkskin while incapacitated but look forward to utilizing the ability more often in PvP.

The range increase on Rank 3 of Gift of the Wild will help a lot during wipe recoveries in Karazhan, and I’m glad that I wasn’t just imagining that the range was larger on Rank 1 and 2 pre-BC.

Lifebloom stacking is finally a viable strategy, and I’m surprised they didn’t have the spell function this way from the outset. As for the changes to the spells castable while in Tree of Life, I’m disappointed to see the form remain unable to perform one of the primary roles of a healer: decursing and removing poisons. It’s frustrating enough to have to shift in an out to cast Mark of the Wild and Thorns, but the decursing is one factor preventing the form’s use in large portions of several 5-man instances.

The change to Subtlety is nice for Restoration druids (and particularly Balance druids who suffer from threat problems across the board), but I know that some ferals pull groups using direct damage spells. This change discourages them from bolstering their healing ability with a talent I consider essential for any main healer, further widening the gap between Restos and Feral/Resto hybrids. Of course, overall it’s a very positive change for the class, especially for our Boomkin brethren.

Overall there are a couple of nice changes for Restoration druids on the immediate horizon (Lifebloom stacking and a versatility increase for Barkskin), though nothing so exciting that I’d want to try it out on the Public Test Realm. The epic flightform looks really promising, but I have a whole lot of farming and fishing to do before I even consider beginning the questline.

Related Posts

• Notable Changes in Patch 2.4.3
• PTR Patch 2.1.2
• Patch 2.4 Official Class Changes

Perhaps the single most annoying thing about Druid tanking is our gargantuan ass. As an elf, it’s perky and tight and I can see around it and all is well. But the instant I drop into Bear form, it’s all ass all the time…and it’s hairy.

The worst part is when you get backed into a corner or have to fight in confined spaces where you can’t scroll out to give yourself the same real estate of view any other character might take for granted. For this reason and this reason over all others, I nearly dropped my Druid tank for a Warrior. There are, to be certain, other reasons to select a Warrior over a Druid when picking a class to tank with, but this is one of the biggest. Still, if you can get past the fuzzy rump in your face Bear tanking is incredibly satisfying.

Why would you pick a Druid tank over a Warrior tank if what you really like doing is tanking? After all, Warriors get plate armor, shields, ranged weapons, a single form to manage, a fear break, no expectation of healing or buffing, a vast array of tanking tools, the mechanics for parry and block, and the comfort of a community that regards them as indispensible in the role of a tank, a guaranteed spot, if you will.

So why?

Bears bring a few unique tools to the table such as immunity to polymorph effects, a charge indifferent to stance, massive armor totals, pre-combat buffs, and frequently larger health pools. Doesn’t look like much does it? In truth it isn’t, but it’s the balancing act that Druid tanks endure for the versatility of roles they enjoy in contrast to the Warrior’s versatility within a role.

Rather than focusing on what Druid tanks don’t get, we’re going to look at making the most of what they do.

First and most noticeable are the massive armor totals Druids enjoy. A comparable Druid and Warrior will see an average of a 10k AC difference in the Bear’s favor. As an example, in gear that largely outclasses mine, my GM runs around 9k less armor than I do at the time of this writing. On the surface, this difference is huge, but the way the armor formula works, this is about a 10% difference in damage reduction.

So the big question that arises from this is: why? Why do Bears have such massive armor totals? There are several possibilities, but one stands out more than the others.

While Critical Hits (200% damage) are eliminated through Defense, Talents and Resilience, Crushing Blows (150% damage) are mitigated by Warriors and Paladins via their shields. Bears eat them. Bears do not have access to shields, and hence have no access to block. In theory this was mitigated in the past both through higher armor totals and higher health totals. In practice, Bear and Warrior health totals are getting more and more in-line leaving just our incredible armor to compensate while we take the Crushing Blows a Warrior can potentially push off the hit table.

So again: why pick a Druid over a Warrior?

Well, mechanically this isn’t a question I can answer. Most Druid tanking advantages are designed explicitly to make up for fundamental class and gear differences. Certainly stylistic differences can make a case, but I pointed out at the beginning what I think of my Big Bear Ass ™. Warriors are, on the whole, better designed for the role.

Well, hopefully I can work to provide an answer to this while also providing meaningful commentary on Druid tanks, the culture that surrounds us, and game mechanics. Every Druid tank will encounter bias no Warrior must deal with, unrealistic expectations, lack of in-game support for the role, and bizarre resentment from the most unlikely quarters.

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• The Bond between a Healer and Her Tank(s)
• The Good, the Bad, and the Hybrid
• Bear with Me

In the all-too-frequent comparisons of druids and priests as primary healers, one of the tools that generally stands out is the priest ability Fade. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this ability:

The exact effect of this ability is to reduce a priest’s threat level by 1500 points for 10 seconds. At the end of ten seconds, a priest regains those 1500 points of threat. The assumption is that the 10 second reprieve of Fade will allow a priest to scale back her healing so that the tank can regain aggro. It should also prevent a priest from having to exacerbate the problem of gaining healing aggro by healing herself.

Until recently, aggro reduction was an ability limited only to priests and rogues. However, when content patch 1.9, the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj, went live an epic-colored trinket quietly made its way among the Revered rewards for Cenarion Circle:

That sounds suspiciously like the description for the priest class ability, Fade, with the added benefit that the threat reduction isn’t time-limited but is actually a permanent threat reduction. At the time, Fade (Rank 6) was the highest available with a threat reduction of 820 points. So for a mere month of ridiculously arduous reputation grinding in Silithus, land of a thousand bugs, a druid (or anyone else) could have a permanent threat reduction equal to 80% of that available to priests! Also notable is that, unlike the rogue ability Feint, the effect of this trinket is not targeted; it effects all hostile creatures within 30 yards.

I completed the reputation/badge grinds necessary to obtain this item four months before the BC release. While I found it to be useful in raids, I frequently used my Mindtap Talisman and Royal Seal of Eldre’Thalas instead. It really wasn’t until the release of the Burning Crusade and an almost endless number of 5-man instance runs that I have come to appreciate the benefit of these items.

I presently have one trinket slot dedicated to having one of these items equipped at all times. I use the TrinketMenu addon to queue my threat reduction trinkets in order of decreasing power. This ensures that a fresh trinket is swapped in whenever I’ve exited combat after using one, allowing me to perma-fade at least once a combat. Trinketmenu also lets you bind a key to each of your trinkets, allowing you to respond instantly when an enraged mob comes charging at you, causing him to do an immediate about-face toward your tank.

For those of you interested in trying this tactic out for yourself, here’s a list of the aggro-reduction items that I’ve found, their relative strengths and weaknesses, and how to acquire them:

Acquired from the quest Voidwalker’s Gone Wild in Hellfire Peninsula. Arguably the easiest of the threat reduction items to obtain.

Drop from Grandmaster Vorpil in Shadow Labyrinth. Highest value available outside of those requiring a reputation grind.

Acquired at Exalted reputation with the Keepers of Time faction. Shortest cooldown of any of the aggro reduction items and some very nice stats while equipped.

The obvious downside of using the above items is the loss of one or more trinket slots. Which is a small price to pay for the ability to emulate the core ability of another class, especially when you consider that the effects on a trinket are often on-use anyway. Nonetheless, here are some additional options to consider if you don’t want to forfeit a trinket. They can also be used in conjunction with one or more of the above if you prefer:

Purchased from the Sporeggar at Honored reputation. It has one of the lowest threat modifiers, and you’d be giving up a cape slot to use it. Nonetheless, I will sometimes equip both the cape and an aggro-reducing trinket on fights I know are likely to be problematic for my tank.

The recipe for Shrouding Potions can be purchased and learned at Exalted reputation with Sporeggar. They require 3 Ragveil and 1 Netherbloom to make and reduce your threat by 800. The downside? They share a cooldown timer with Mana and Health potions.

Aggro-Reduction Immunity:

Some mobs, most notably who have wonky aggro to begin with, are immune to the effects provided by these items. It’s worth remembering which of these mobs cannot be affected so that you don’t waste a cooldown for a higher value trinket trying to survive (and, presumably, find some other means of survival). Fel Overseers from Shadow Labyrinth and Moroes from Karazhan are two such mobs.

Rules of Threat Generation:

1. Each point of healing done generates 1/2 the amount of threat for each point of damage done.
2. For the mob to turn to you, you must exceed the tank’s threat by 10%. If you’re standing outside of melee range, you must exceed the tanks’s threat by 30%. This makes the strategy of standing near mobs which AOE fear in the hopes of getting feared along with your tank more dangerous should you be unlucky enough to resist since you’ll be more likely to attract his attention than any casters foolish enough to be standing at range. (As of Patch 2.3, mobs that cast Fear no longer reprioritize their targets by who remains unfeared.0
3. Both the Priest and Druid class have 5-point talents in their healing-focused talent trees to reduce healing threat across the board by up to 30%, and warriors can increase or decrease the amount of threat they generate depending upon their choice of stance (Defensive versus Berserker).
4. Finally, you must exceed the threat value of another player by 10% before the mob will switch its target to you.

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• Handling Threat
• Adding Trinkets to Your Macros
• +Spell Damage or +Healing to be Removed in Wrath?