Big changes for druidsFollow

Yes I know, but like I said I don't read it. Really the only time I view the bars is when I forget how many stacks of LB I have going. I was without them in WotLK, but they appeared when I updated some addons, and I kept them there because they showed LB stacks, and I thought I'd give them a try. I'd like to keep them in some shape or form, but I haven't figured out just how yet honestly. Time on the game has been short, and practicality has been winning out over prettiness.

I want to shrink and redesign my grid setup, alter the position and what is shown on the bars, and lose some of the other junk I have floating around the screen (the buff/debuff display needs help badly). Grid is probably the part of it I'm least likely to lose though, as I've been using the same healing setup for a while now, and changing something like that would be difficult. Of course I've been "working" on refining my UI for the better part of a year now, and you can see how far I've gotten.

Of course, I'm not a minimalist either.

Edited, Jan 28th 2011 2:51pm by someproteinguy

Yeah the "which corner is which HoT?" question is pretty well second nature by now, after using it for so long. I don't have any indicator that would list, that I had 5 RJ rolling at the time. Of course grid would be expanded to the number of members in the party, and they'd all have their HoTs marked on them, so I'd have no trouble telling you who had RJ on them, and who needed it refreshed. I was just standing by myself in the pic.

The bars on the right side of the screenie show the targets buffs and HoTs, and I can see my own as well. I haven't generally assigned a focus target, but with 2 tanks next to each other on grid I end up clicking between them.

LB hasn't caused me trouble, but I'm not raiding yet, and haven't been in a position where keeping it rolling it on multiple tanks was critical (OT, but are they still going to let us do that? I keep hearing its on it's way out...). I could see me wanting a better timer when I reach that point however. Really having just one to refresh isn't a problem, and the indicator turns color when I need to refresh if I forget. I do like how you have both the LB stacks and duration together there though.

I might have to download healbot and give it a try. The biggest thing for me in the end will probably be it's size on the screen. Can I get it small and still read the information I want on it, or something like that. I have a relatively small monitor, so it becomes a bit of a premium.

Thank ya. I'd rate you up, but well, you know... admins...

In case people hadn't realized, rejuv's been hotfixed to 16% mana for a bit now, so when 4.06 goes live at 20% we'll actually start using more mana for rejuv.

This is actually how I like to see it. It makes things feel less like they're about attrition and more about an overall group-synergy contribution; the healer can't hold out forever so the DPS needs to get going on the quick. I have never looked at an enrage timer as "beat this time to win at WoW" but rather that being the kill time of "If you can't beat it within this you're bad and should feel bad; in fact, just die."

I'm kind of crazy like that and may be a little biased by tabletop RPGs where everything you do can almost be described like this; resource management is a losing battle, the odds are against you from the outset. You have to bring your smarts to the table if you want to survive.

Healers lack 2 tools, right now.
1 - An AoE burst, really mana intensive, but that allow you to spend your mana and prevent a wipe.
2 - A fast, expensive, effective heal spell. Right now, we only have a fast, expensive, almost useless spell. Regrowth for Druids.

And, honestly, make Nourish 0.3 seconds faster. That would make a world of difference. Or make it crit more than HT. Or give us a talent that makes a Nourish that refreshes a LB heal for the Nourish amount + LB bonus or something.
Right now, I`m almost droping Nourish of my rotation. The only use I have for Nourish is to keep LB in 2 tanks without spending mana. When I actually need to heal I cast HT.

I guess I'm just lucky enough to still be doing easy content, because I haven't had problems with wiping when I still have lots of mana left.

Not to say I haven't lost people, or even tanks. But it usually a matter of them standing in something and be not being able to out-heal the purple goo bath they enjoy so much. Regrowth does seem to feel pretty good as a saving heal, thought it certainly isn't that powerful even when talented. I mean it's a nice cushion to get out of the emergency, but it's rarely enough to save someone who's doing something they shouldn't; which I suppose makes plenty of sense. Tranquility does feel like it can save my butt from almost anything, at least for a few seconds.

To be honest though, Druid's aren't really 'bursty' healers, and I can't say we were ever 'bursty' healers, at least as far back as mid-late BC when I started playing one. We have HoTs and they can heal a lot, but heal slowly, so having a lighting quick healing spell, well doesn't seem so different to me. I mean it's like in WotLK where you had to wait for you GCD timer to finish before you could cast Nourish. That wasn't fast either, especially considering how fast things died back then.

Though Nourish could use a little something these days. Of course if they make it too good, no one will use Regrowth.

TL:DR = It's morning, I'm pretty happy with Druid heals, and I'm rambling again. Where my coffee?

Problem with druids not being really bursty, is that Blizzard, intentionally or not, tried to make it.
I mean, till recent hotfixes, Rejuvenation was almost a non cast thing, since it was such a mana hog. The only tools we had for raid healing was WG and Lolflorescence. So, they turned us into a tank healer, with a crappy beacon that is a pain to keep going (renewing more than one LB is a real pita in movement intensive fights like halfus).

Now they are trying to get us back to raid healing, but Lolflorescence is still, well, lolable compared to others AoE spells alike (shaman one come to mind), Regrowth is still only castable when you have OoC proc (and they are removing the OoC proc next patch, if I'm not wrong), Rejuvenation is fine as it is now (less mana cost, 0.5 talented GCD) and WG need a litlle push (I think they are making it better next patch, correct?).

If we go back to raid healing, Nourish will be removed from the cast bar, since nowadays I only use to refresh it on the tanks and I`ll be able to do it with Regrowth and have mastery working there, and with the current tools we have we will either go OoM really quick or hitting the bottom of the healing bar.


edit:
That is in a 25 healing view. 5 man I`m back to face rolling while sleeping and 10 mans we are just fine with either tank healing (maybe HT could use a little bit more of a punch, maybe making it criting more) or raid healing. In 10 mans WG and Efflorescence are just fine.

Edited, Feb 2nd 2011 6:40pm by Brisin

The thing is that in most cases, the reason you needed the AoE spike healing is because the DPS were dumb. Most times when I wipe in 5 mans while healing it is because of someone else failure - the tank dies because I am trying to heal someone who stood in the fire or pulled agro on a mob. It *should* be rare that you need more than rejuv, WG and perhaps a swiftment to keep someone up.

I also agree that they either need to make nourish either a bit stronger (which would be too like HT) or make it a faster cast to be useful. At the moment it is rarely worth using as it takes a long time to cast for little reward. I often find myself in trouble when someone takes a spike as I start a nourish cast - it is easy to try and finish the cast then heal the spikee, but it is often the wrong choice as by the time you get a heal on them it is too late. 0.3-0.5 secs off the cast would work really well - they can even increase the mana usage as it currently is pretty much mana neutral.



Edited, Feb 2nd 2011 10:25pm by RareBeast

Of course I only need AOE burst when DPS is doing bad stuff, but that's like 90% of all PUG runs out there. If I have the mana for it, I want to be able to prevent a wipe even if the DPS did something bad.

Yes, this means that once I'm decked in purples, I'll be able to carry most failgroups through heroics, just like in WOTLK, but let's face it, who gives a crap? If I'm decked in epics, I probably won't even bother with heroics anyway. Especially not when I risk wiping in there because some DPS went right instead of left.

Resto can still get OoC from LB ticks, via Malfurion's Gift, and casting DPS spells.

LB will not be able to be kept up on more than one target outside of ToL.

They need to bump Efflo healing a bit. But the WG change is a decent move. The Nourish change should be awesome for raiding and keeping LB rolling when you don't have an OoC proc for it.

FoS now becomes a more interesting choice. OoC heals from Wrath casts with random instant Starfires could be yummy. I think that will get nerfed though if it becomes trendy.

edit: mouse overs are fun

Edited, Feb 2nd 2011 4:51pm by Horsemouth

I've just been training myself to watch for the new Blizzard splashs that pop up on the HUD when OOC procs. Once you start focusing on it a little (instead of ignoring it like I normally do), it gets easier and easier to monitor.

All this talk about restoration and feral tanking changes and nobody seems the least bit bothered by the biggest and most game-breaking change of them all.

Shapeshifting no longer breaks roots and snares. Seriously, how is the whole druid community not up in arms and ready to storm Blizzard HQ over this? This is a disastrous change that absolutely must NOT go through. It simply cannot.