The Druid Changes were announced today.  I’m not going to go into a great deal of depth here, because there is only one that concerns me: The changes to Tree form.

Tree of Life is changing from a passive talent to a cooldown-based talent, similar to Metamorphosis. Mechanically, it feels unfair for a druid to have to give up so much offense and utility in order to be just as good at healing as the other classes who are not asked to make that trade. We are exploring the exact benefit the druid gets from Tree of Life. It could strictly be better healing, or it could be that each heal behaves slightly different. You also will not be able to be banished in Tree of Life form (this will probably be true of Metamorphosis as well). Additionally, we would like to update the Tree of Life model so that it feels more exciting when you do decide to go into that form. Our feeling is that druids rarely actually get to show off their armor, so it would be nice to have at least one spec that looked like a night elf or tauren (and soon troll or worgen) for most of the time.

I have always been attached to Tree form.  Sure, in the past I have described it as ‘dead broccoli’, ‘sad sapling’ and goodness knows what else.  However, there is one reason I (and many other people) rolled a Druid in the first place

I Wanted To Be In Forms.

I’ll say it again: I Wanted To Be In Forms.

I loved flailing my branches around.  I loved thwapping things and punching things with my branches.  I loved getting into duels with people and branch punching them until one of us gave up.

So, in defence of Tree form.  The reasons why I never found Tree form to be a painful part of being Restoration – my reasons and my reasons alone, because I can’t not speak for the rest of the community.  I can speak only for myself.

In WoW, there are essentially 7 main things we can do.  Level, Quest, Instance, Raid, Battleground, Arena and Role Play.  Tree form does affect how we do each of these to some extent.

1.  Levelling.

Many people have raised the argument that ‘This makes levelling better for Resto because they aren’t forced into Tree form, where they can only heal and are gimped’.

First things first – if you are levelling Resto, I will assume you are either a) a masochist or b) are levelling through instances.  Levelling Resto is not practical guys!  Sure, I’d consider it, but then I am somewhat masochistic, and very very silly.  Not every spec has to be a viable levelling spec. 

Secondly, no one is FORCING you to go into Tree.  It’s a button, you don’t have to bloody click it.  You want to cast offensive spells and heal at the same time?  Stay in caster form, doofus.  Shift in and out when you heal yourself if you REALLY want.

2.  Questing

This is very similar to above.  Either a) get a Dual spec or b) don’t quest in Tree form.  I have quested as Resto out of Tree.  I have respecced to my Bear spec to quest.  No, you shouldn’t have to have 2 specs to quest.  You are always free to quest in caster form anyway.  All that has happened is that choice has been removed.  And the change isn’t going to make questing any more efficient – your offensive spells are still going to suck ass, because you are a bloody healer!  All that will happen is you’ll be able to heal yourself a bit better (can’t say that will help me questing personally – my problem is other stuff dying very slowly, not me dying).

3.  Instancing

‘Oh, now you’ll be able to help out in instances!  You aren’t locked in to JUST being able to heal!’

Now, I don’t know what Cataclysm is going to be like, instance wise.  However, I think I got both types of instance healing across Burning Crusade and Wrath.

BC – OMG Druids occasionally had to do other stuff like CC.  And healing was HARD.  Heroics back then weren’t a cake walk like heroics today, unless you were in amazing gear (and, unlike now, your average player did not have amazing gear, because gear was much harder to get).  So, yes, you occasionally had to shift out of tree, Hibernate something, then shift back in.  Wasn’t a big deal.  It could be fiddly, and you had to time your HoTs on the tank to make sure they were still covered while you were doing other stuff (and heaven help a DPS who pulled aggro while you were shifted out), but it was FUN.

Wrath – Starting out, I never did anything but heal in instances.  I couldn’t afford to be fiddle faddling around DPSing or scratching my barky butt.  People needed heals, dang it, and I had to give it to them!

Now, even heroics are a cake walk.  So, if I get bored healing (which happens a LOT), I’ll shift out and cast some spells.  Then I might shift back into Tree.  Sure, some people think I shouldn’t have to be doing this shifting about.  I also probably shouldn’t be DPSing either though – that’s not my job, that’s not what I am there for.  And I most certainly don’t have to do it to benefit the group.

If I have to, I’ll shift out to help out.  Not a big deal.  One GCD.  Which, really, in 5 mans?  Who the hell cares?

4.  Raiding

If I am not healing in my raid, I am doing something wrong.  I have never had a raid leader ask me to ‘Please do a smidgen DPS while you are healing’.  Perhaps my raid leaders are strange or something, and it’s common for healers to be DPSing.  Who knows?

Situations where you DO have to do stuff other than heal?  Sure, they might happen.  Leotheras the Blind was a great example of healers having to DPS.  And we managed that wonderfully well as Resto Druids with Tree form.  It might be a smidgen easier now, but I would never say it was hard, and it was a trade off I was happy with.

5.  Battlegrounds

When I am (very rarely) in a battleground, I tend to stay in Tree and heal.  This could be bad.  I’ve been known to be a bad when it comes to PvP.  I stick with a group, hope that they will protect me, and heal until my leaves have fallen off.  If someone does come after me, I shift out, root them, then do the wimpy thing and run away if there is no one around to help me.  What can I say, I’m non-confrontational.  I guess a little more offensive ability might be useful here, but really, I like sticking around groups and just healing.

6.  Arena

Ahhh, THIS is where I think the motivation for this change has come from.  It is very obvious that this will benefit Druids in arenas.  No more shifting out to kill someone, or to CC someone.  Druids will be a much smaller target in arenas.  It just irks me no end that the people who do every other thing in the game have to be changed because of arena.  I guess that is where the game went when they introduced arena.

7. Role Play

This is most definitely not my area of expertise.  However, I am not sure why you would have a Resto Druid on a Role Play server unless you were willing to work around the whole ‘Tree thing’.  I feel for people who might have stories that this messes with somehow.

Image by Keeva

People keep saying that there is no use in QQing.  That these changes might not make it live.  That is very true – many things change between beta and release, and then they change again after that.  But if we do not let Blizzard know what we think, how will they know what to keep and what to change?  Voice your feelings about changes, positive and negative.  Don’t start planning your whole WoW experience around them, but let Blizzard know what you think – believe it or not, they DO care, if only because customer happiness affects their bottom line.

Look out… it’s my first ever non-WoW post on Tree of Doom!  Bit hard to blog about the game when you can’t play it, right?

New Year just seems like a treeish thing to talk about.  I don’t know, maybe it’s the whole idea of renewal, turning over a new leaf… but it’s definitely a more Druidy concept than a Warlocky one.

My New Year this year was quiet, and, as usual, fairly resolution free.  I’m one of those people who makes resolutions all the time, rather than at New Year… although it’s usually when I have finished doing something (After cleaning – “I’ll do this more often and stay on top of it – it’s really not that bad”; after losing weight “I’m going to keep it off this time, I swear).  I’m also one of those people who breaks those resolutions all the time… so New Year isn’t any different.

I guess to me New Year is really about optimism.  It always saddens me to see people who view the day as being meaningless, as just signifying another number in a life full of numbers.  Sure, it’s just a day (one that I usually use as a great excuse to drink heavily and party)… but it’s a point where humanity really goes ‘OK, what can I do to improve myself and the world?’  A day where we can be introspective and get away with it, and where we truly believe we can make ourselves better.  The whole world gets one giant Rejuvenation cast on it, and we make the very most of it.

So, rather than talking about what I resolve to do, since we all know I fail at that, I’ll just say the things I hope I can do and be.  New Year’s Wishes, rather than resolutions, if you like.

• I really want to be happy.  Not just ‘eh, it’s OK I guess’… outright happy.  Sure, we can’t all be happy all the time, but we shouldn’t feel blah all the time.  A lot of this just requires me changing my outlook on the world.  I need to stop being so pessimistic and glum.  People can be happy where ever they are (just about), and I think I really started to learn that at the end of the year.
• I want to be more financially responsible.  In a time where Australian household debt exceeds the country’s GDP, I think it is irresponsible to continue to contribute to that.  Of course, I also refuse to cut back on donations to charity and the amount I spend on chocolate… some things you just can’t compromise on!
• I want to feel like I have achieved something.  I remember when I used to make sure I felt like I had done something significant at the end of each day, or achieved something that I thought was important.  I have gotten a bit lax with that, and really need to work on it some more.
• While I want to find someone to be with, I think that it’s not that important.  I’m self reliant, I’m quite happy living on my own, and I refuse to settle for second best now just to not be alone anymore.  I see so many people settling for someone that they KNOW they aren’t suited to, just because they feel obligated for one reason or another, or because they feel that no one else will be interested.  So I hope that I, and others in the same situation, learn to enjoy their own company until they find someone who is right for them.
• I really hope I don’t end up buying another cat!  I adore my 2 cats, but 2 is enough for my tiny house.
• And, of course, I really hope I find a way to enjoy playing WoW again… at the moment, I enjoy blogging about it, and that’s what keeps me in there.  The game itself?  Not so much.

What are your wishes for the New Year?  (The first person to say World Peace gets a tree branch to the face! )

It’s been ages since I posted anything anyway (seriously, need moar flow chart ideas), but I am on hiatus for a month or so while I vacation.  If I find any Druidy images or such while I am schlepping around Japan, Canada and the US, I shall post them.  Otherwise, you can keep track of my adventures (if you so desire) on Destructive Reach.

Have a nice festive season!

A couple of weeks ago I was griping to some people through IM about a PuG raid that I was in.  We were having a pretty rough time of it, wiping all over the place to random things, and I was getting irked with the healing assignments.  Specifically, I really did not understand why the raid leader kept making me heal the main tank and the holy Paladin heal the raid.

Thing is… not too many people understood what I was talking about.  I got many people giving me a quizzical look (well… I am sure they would have been if they were actually looking at me) and saying ‘But any healer can realistically perform any role now.  It isn’t a big deal’.

If you read Destructive Reach at all, you will know that I am horrible at adapting to change.  I’m a traditionalist.  I like my classes doing the things they were initially designed to do.  Is this a flaw that I have?  Sure it is!  I’ll admit that.  But, when a class is acknowledged to be the best at something, why would you ask someone else to do their job instead?

As a Druid, I know that I could heal almost anything.  I’d prefer to be on raid heals, true.  Or support heals on a tank.  I’m not a huge fan of Main Tank healing, because I really do not believe that plays to my strengths.  But, when there is no one else around, I’ll do it.

But asking a Holy Paladin to raid heal, and a Druid to Main Tank heal?  In a PuG group which was failing dismally?  Why wouldn’t you use the people you had to their best advantage?

As far as I can understand (and my understanding is limited), Paladins are, or are close to, the best main tank healers in the game.  Druids are pretty flexible, but we are good at raid healing.  Sprinkling HoTs everywhere is what makes me happy.  Now, sure, we can do other things… but why should we have to when it’s unnecessary, and possibly detrimental to the raid?

TL;DR Version

Healers on Board:

1 Tree, 2 Shaman, 1 Paladin, 1 Disc Priest

Assignments

Tree: MT Heals

Disc Priest: OT Heals

All others: Raid heals.

We wiped several times.  I found that the tanks were having difficulty holding aggro, so much of the raid was going down.  In at least 2 attempts, I got smashed by loose whelps that the tanks just did not seem to be able to get off me.  The paladin seemed to have difficulty doing his job effectively.  His healing was minimal, and much of what he did cast was overheal.

The solution?  The paladin and I negotiated a secret swap.  This didn’t fix our ‘please hold aggro’ issues.  But it made the fight a lot easier, and it all clicked together.

When do you draw the line between ‘pigeonholing a healer into a role’ and ‘putting the healer in a role that is best suited to them’?

So last night I bravely ventured into the daily heroic (ToC) with some of my delightful guildies.  I’d been away for a week on school camp (and my goodness do I wish I could have blogged while I was away, because there were some mighty interesting stories to be told), and so I was fairly tired, suffering from a marginal case of sun stroke, and all in all just was not in a great way.

To be honest, I would have preferred to tank.  Tanking is pretty mindless – all I need to do is beat upon things and they beat upon me in return.  Healing?  Well, then I need to watch things.  Usually a pretty simple task, but last night I was having a hell of a time doing so.  I was so tired that I couldn’t even read how much my heals were going off for, couldn’t see when people were getting aggro until they were dead… it was just all round hideous healing.

On the first boss we wiped twice.  Both times were entirely my fault.  Standing in whirlwinds is bad, people!  Sad thing is I didn’t really notice where I was standing.  Sigh.

I managed to die again on the second boss.  Ran back in before everyone wiped though – phew!

And, of course, I died right at the end of the third boss.  Just didn’t heal myself for some stupid reason.

It really was one of those nights where I was walking around in a total zombie like mess.  One should not be trusted to heal when they are in such a state.  And one should most definitely not volunteer to do so.  Blah.

OK, short on post ideas today.  So, I asked Twitter to do all the work for me, by asking me questions to answer!  Let’s see how this goes….  Oh, and don’t expect this to be short folks.  You all know I babble!

1.  What sort of spells are you using as a tree? And what’s your spell priority? (from Amber/divinebubbles)

Oooh, oooh, this totally gives me the chance to make a flowchart!  I mean, I could put it briefly… but where’s the fun in that? (for those who like brief: Rejuv raid, Rejuv and Lifebloom tanks, Wild Growth)

For the more flowcharty minded… (oh, and I lack computer-generated flowchart skills, so you get drawings.  Which means a big ass image.  Sorry)

Hopefully you can click to embiggen!

2.  What’s the best way to learn Druiding?  Have a low-level one, but it doesn’t seem very rotation focused, which is what I am used to.  (from Jos/Snorklewacker)

In BC, I was a tank.  I never intended to heal, so I also levelled as feral.  Why?  Because it was easy, I was highly unlikely to die, and there was little down time!

For me, this is kinda a difficult question to answer.  I guess the first thing I want to know is what you want to learn about Druiding (ie – what’s your end plan?).  Honestly though, if you just want to level and live, you can pretty safely make it up as you go along.  It’s tough until you get bear form.  Then you just out live stuff.  Then you get kitty, and you are sweet!

Pre-Bear form levels: Nuke things with your crappy arsenal of spells.  Might have to occasionally whack a couple in the face as well.  Die some.

Bear form/pre-Cat levels: Smack em around with that big ol’ paw of yours.  Try not to pull too many – you are still just a wee bear.

Cat form levels (until 70): Kitty is kinda OP when levelling.  Stuff dies like you wouldn’t believe.  Beat on things.  Loot them.  If you screw up and pull too much, shift to Bear.  Beat on things.  Loot them.  Still having trouble?  Root a mob in place, quickly heal your butt, then rinse and repeat.

70+: Most people level as a Cat, but I had more fun running around as a Bear.  Just pull groups of 5 or so.  Swipe.  Win.

Honestly, I think with Druiding, you don’t really work it out until you are level capped.  There might be levelling rotations for Boomkin… but I just smacked stuff round.

Most unhelpful answer ever, right?

3.  Does your tree ever struggle with her "inner warlock"?  (from Nibuca)

All the time.  I generally resolve this by sneakily using my Warlock nature to determine who gets healed.

• Are you a Rogue?  Ooops, seems I keep misclicking when I go to heal you!  My bad
• Am I bored?  Let’s see how long the tank can stay up without heals!
• Barkskin was totally designed so Trees could pull, right?

4.  Blizz said "we want druids to use more forms" what’s your response?  (from Nibuca)

I actually use a wide variety of forms in the soloing context.  I shift between them mid combat.  I perform more than one role at a time in the same fight.  However, I just do not think that it is very plausible in the instancing/raiding/arena context.

The game rewards min-maxing to a VERY high level.  If Druids shifted constantly, the stat juggling would mean that we would be unable to min-max effectively.  Jack of all trades is very rarely given priority on group invites.  While I think it would be incredibly FUN… it would also make Druids highly undesirable for raiding.

Thanks for all the questions guys, and feel free to follow me on Twitter!

Healing while hammered!  (And not by a Pally, either!)

So… we had this little work function on the weekend.  I may have had a drink or two (or 25, at last count), so I was a little under the weather.  Anyway, when I finally managed to drag my ass home the next day, I decided that it would be the most awesome idea to play some WoW.  Well, I couldn’t eat or drink anything, what else is a girl to do?

So, I log into the game, and in between making myself dizzy running around in circles around Dalaran, admiring how smexy I look on my ram, someone asks in guild chat if anyone was interested in doing the daily heroic.  Sure, I say.  Badges are shiny.  And stuff.

So, I fly my way out to Gundrak.  I’m feeling a little queasy at this point, but hey, it’ll be all good.  I told the tank about my, um… condition, but it’s only a heroic.  We’ll be fine.

Or would have been fine… if it was this sort of hammered, perhaps!

Well…

The first pull went smooth as can be.  So did the second pull as well.  Then came the third pull.  I think I let the DPS Warrior die, but my memory on that matter is not altogether clear.  Then, all of a sudden, I was down.  And so was everyone else.  You know, I am STILL not 100% clear how that happened!  I swear I was healing them all… at least I think I was.

Well, we ran back in (although I almost got lost, because that’s what I do even when sober).  At that point I was feeling REALLY queasy.  Like…. urgh, I want to be violently ill every 2 seconds queasy.  But, I had dedicated myself to the run.  So, what is a girl to do when she can’t even look at the screen without being sick?

Spam Wild Growth, Rejuv, and cleanse off poisons, of course!  I mean… that’s how trees heal anyway, right?  Mindless spamming of two spells?  That’s what they all tell me, anyway!

It seemed to work, and everyone stayed alive most of the time… although at one point, I had somehow drifted off into a daze, couldn’t quite think… and then, when I looked back, the Ret Pally was dead.

Oops.

But, hey… we got to the end.  Just.  Although I came very close to screaming when someone said they wanted to do the optional boss as well.

Lesson?

I was flicking through my reader, when, lo and behold, I discovered Erinys (thankyou!! <3) had tagged me for this meme that is floating around many of the healy blogs.  Good thing I noticed it in my reader, because I never would have known otherwise (hallo, incoming link feature, are you working?)

Anyway, let’s get the ball rolling and see whether this quiz reveals just how much fail I am made of!  Oh… and maybe you want to take a bio, because once I get rolling, it’s hard to shut me up *hawhawhaw*.

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer?
Hermia, Restoration Druid

What is your primary group healing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)
I’d have to say 50/50 between 25 mans and 10 mans.  I don’t do very much healing of heroics these days… and when I am in there I don’t heal much anyway .  (In fact, I am usually the one doing the pulls.  True story.  And, yes, I am often pulling while Resto.  Tree –> Barkskin –> Pull! “Hey, tank, you paying any attention over there?”)

What is your favourite healing spell for your class and why?

Y’know, this is a really challenging question (you aren’t the only one Erinys!)  I guess I would have to say Swiftmend.  I pull it out when it’s one of those seat of your pants, ‘oh my god this guy is gonna DIE unless I do something drastic’ moments… like heal them for some obscene amount in less than 2 seconds.  In the time of one GCD, as a matter of fact.  Nothing like knowing that you just saved someone’s LIFE… even if they don’t always notice!

What healing spell do you use least for your class and why?

Regrowth.  It feels too expensive, too inefficient, and in that time I could probably have cast Rejuv on a couple people at least.  Perhaps this is a bad mindset, but it’s one I have stuck myself with.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why?

Our wonderful combination of being proactive and reactive healers.  I think Druids are the ultimate example of a class which shifts seamlessly between proactive healing (rolling HoTs) and reactive healing (Swiftmend, Nourish).  I think that some of the changes made in Wrath have really embraced the versatility of the Druid class – no more being pigeon holed into ‘Roll Lifebloom on the tanks kkthx’.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class and why?

Not so crash hot at spamming big heals when they are needed.  If I have to spam large heals on a tank, it means I often have to ditch a lot of the more useful tools in my arsenal and resort to direct heals.  It makes me feel gimped, and so many other classes do it better (hallo, Paladin!)

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you?

Raid healing.  I generally really get a kick out of taking care of the melee group – they seem to enjoy taking a shit load of damage, and I equally enjoy taking care of it.  In all honesty though – rolling HoTs everywhere is good fun.  Reacting when something goes awry and fixing the situation quickly is also good… although I still have a bad tendency to heal the crap out of people that I should have let die.

What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why?

Priests of any persuasion, but especially Disc Priests.  I like my bubbles… and it’s strange that I enjoy healing with a class that is also a bit more proactive than the other classes (although I would argue that Druids still have the edge in that regard).  We just have a good synergy going on – I guess Priests do like their wood!

What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why?

Shamans – I feel little synergy with Shaman healers, and their chain heal often causes my overheal to shoot through the roof.  If I got to heal exclusively with Priests and Paladins, I’d be a happy little camper.

What is your worst habit as a healer?

There is a revolting number of bad habits.  I guess the worst of them is not ever trusting the other healers to complete their assignments properly.  The good thing about being a Druid is that it’s OK to do this (in my mind) – throwing a Rejuv on someone else’s target is perfectly acceptable!  So I guess that’s not a bad habit…

Maybe my massive amount of overhealing?

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing?

Wasting time and mana on saving someone when they then go and stand in the god damn fire.  Mr ‘I don’t know how to run out of my legion flames’, I’m looking at you.

I’m going to cheat and throw another in here: healers who blame other healers when there is a wipe.  A great example was my ToC25 run I did last night – no one was interrupting the fireballs of DOOM, and the Shaman berated the rest of the healing team for not healing the tank enough.  We were healing his ass… he was just taking a metric fuckton of damage.  And we don’t have the luxury of spamming Chain Heal and facerolling *snorts and walks off*.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers for PvE healing?

I think so.  I know some healers feel that we are over powered, but I honestly believe that the nature of our healing style makes it difficult for us to appear perfectly balanced based on a meter – we either heal for enormous amounts, or little at all.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer?

I’m not at all scientifically minded.  Is everyone alive?  Did I go OOM? (Bad)  Did I go OOM without Innervate being up? (REALLY BAD)

I typically analyse as I go.  ‘Oh, I should have cast x there instead of y’.  Meters are very deceptive, and overhealing is difficult to analyse because Druid overheal is affected more by what the rest of the healers are doing than what you are doing.  For example, I had a 60% over heal rate in raid last night, which sounds terrible… until you realise we had 2 resto Shamans who chain healed over half my Rejuvs, and a couple Priests who healed over the HoTs on the tanks.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class?

That our only ability is Rejuv.  If I have ONE more raid leader tell me to ‘Rejuv the raid’ if they are discussing healing assignments, I’m going to scream.  Y’think I couldn’t work that out all by myself, buddy!?! Then they yell at you if you use any other spell all raid.  *sigh*

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn?

Um… I don’t think I have the whole tree thing down pat to be honest.  It took me a while to grasp the concept of being able to move while casting.  I see lots of trees over using direct heals, but that may just be their healing style.  I honestly think Resto Druid healing is what you make of it.

OH!  And the Crit talents in the Resto tree?  They lie, my friends!  Stacking Crit is…. um… yeah.  Stack Haste!

If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of overhealing, low healing output, etc)?

I typically have a high amount of healing on the charts (although Resto Shaman can often push me out, and on fights that are primarily tank damage based, a good Pally can beat me easily).  My overhealing, as I said before, can be quite massive (I usually sit at about 30% of my healing being overheal), and most of that overhealing is Rejuv ticks (usually a good 60% of it).

Haste or Crit and why?

Haste haste haste.  Well… until your GCD is 1 second.  Then Crit I guess.

What healing class do you feel you understand least?

I don’t have much beyond a basic understanding of the other healing classes.  I’m learning as I go, mainly through looking at parses after a fight (Oh, so THAT’S what spell they favour most!)  I’d probably say Resto Shaman though… I strongly suspect I oversimplify their job (see above)

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing?

I’m naughty.  I’m REALLY naughty.  I don’t use macros (seriously… as soon as I have more than one thing bound to a key, I get confused).  I just use the X-Perl raid frames… they aren’t pretty, but I am not a Grid fan, and X-Perl shows me everything I need to see.

Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why?

I’m always on the hunt for more spellpower and haste, but that’s a given.  I’m not haste capped yet, and a bit more oomph to my HoTs would be awesome (although I suspect I have an effective amount of +heal, and any more would just contribute to larger overheals).

——…..——

Well, I hope you had as much fun as I did! (although… you probably didn’t.  I’ll say it’s because I have wood, which means it’s almost ALWAYS better for me!).  This awesome memequizthing was started by Miss Medicina, and if you head over to her post you can see everyone who has responded.  As for my tagging?  I’d really love to know how that whole PvP Shaman deal is going for Squidly… aka Gnomeaggedon.  Of course, if he’s really not feeling like doing it (since, well, he IS actually a Mage!) I’d also be interested in hearing what Bell at 4Haelz has to say… since I think it would be good for you all to hear from a competent Druid!

It’s a hard life being a Druid.  No one really understands our changing natures, and many people find it difficult to keep up with us.  But, that’s OK… I don’t need anyone else when I have these awesome spells to keep me going late at night!

Rejuv: When being a blanket isn’t necessarily a bad thing

Rejuvenation: The bread and butter, some would say, of tree healing.  When people say HoT, Rejuv is my first thought… and boy oh boy, is Rejuv hot! 

Rejuv is a wonderfully flexible spell.  Powerful enough to keep DPS up who are taking AoE damage, and a great augment to tank healing, Rejuv truly is the spell for everyone.  It’ll be interesting to see how Rejuv works with the changes to haste, but for the time being, I enjoy blanketing my raids with Rejuv and getting down and snuggling!

Use me on: Absolutely anyone!  Everyone loves a little bit of Rejuvenation occasionally.

Lifebloom: The poor ol’ ‘bloom has fallen out of favour a bit in Wrath, but I still can’t go past it for healing my tanks.  Its HoT, while not especially powerful, is always helpful on the tanks, and the bloom can be a truly wonderful thing.

Blizzard might be a little reluctant to make Lifebloom popular again, but really… 3 GCD’s ARE a little expensive guys!  How about a Glyph that allows us to get 3 stacks up in one GCD?  Too OP?  Perhaps a chance to get 3 stacks in one GCD if Rejuv is on the target?  Pretty please?

Use me on: Tanks, Tanks and Tanks.  Far too expensive for the likes of just anyone: save your expensive goodies for those smexy plate wearers.

Wild Growth: Our answer to those Priests and Shaman with their AoE heals: after all, we all know that heals are better when they are HoT!  Wild Growth is an interesting heal, starting out with large ticks which get progressively smaller.  Every Druid has a thoroughly different perspective on WG, and each to their own, I say! 

Personally, I prefer to save my Wild Growth for when it’s actually needed.  This could change with T10 gear… but I don’t see the sense in having your smaller ticks potentially going off when people are actually taking damage.  However, many other Druids like to keep WG up at all times, and I must admit – doing so makes you look wonderful on the meter (if that’s your thing).

Use me on: I like to cast on tanks, because sometimes the melee can be a little clumsy and take some damage.  Also great for those fights where the raid take damage, but clump up enough that the growth spreads.

 Healing Touch: Shiny and green, but so darned slow!

Regrowth: Ok, I’ll admit it… Regrowth is the troublesome ex that I just can’t shake.  Occasionally I’ll go back to him when I have exhausted all the other options, but I don’t know why I keep this guy around on my hotkeys.

Regrowth was (once upon a time) a wonderful “Oh Shit!” go to for Resto Druids, providing a decent upfront heal with a nice HoT attached.  Now… well, I use it more if I am trying to keep as many HoTs up as possible… but I often ignore it.  I have seen other Druids use it regularly though.

Use me on: Tanks, honestly.  Again, a bit expensive to throw around on just anyone.

Nourish: My friends refer to this as the poor man’s Flash Heal.  I don’t care what they say, because I love my Nourish!  Quick to cast, healing for a decent chunk, Nourish can truly be a lifesaver.

Again, there are some Druids who do not use Nourish.  Who would tell you to take it off your hotkeys and forget it even exists.  Phooey to them, I say!  Sometimes you NEED that quick 10k heal!

Use me on: Tanks when they are taking a beating (although if you are the only one healing them, and they are taking a metric ton of damage, you will need something bigger), DPS when they take a big hit (2 Nourishes will fill the average DPSer’s health bar right up).  Make sure you have Rejuv up before you cast it! (Also works with other HoTs, but why would you not have Rejuv up?)

Healing Touch: No one has complained about my lack of touching them, so I guess it isn’t all bad that I don’t use this little baby either.  Sure, it heals for a heap, but… well… it feels so SLOW!  And painful!  Seriously, watching this thing cast is like watching a snail crawl.

Use me on: Tanks who are getting the holy sauce beaten out of them.  Preferably in combination with a Nature’s Swiftness, unless you enjoy watching moss grow on your branches while you cast.

Sylus (very well known from For the Horde, and also from his personal blog The World Of Sylus) created that brilliant header image for me.  Now, granted, the version of it I shrunk and stretched and generally finagled because I suck so hard at CSS doesn’t do the full image justice, so I’m posting it here for you all in its awesome beauty for you to admire.

Sylus has also started selling some other wonderfully awesome artworks at his etsy site, so if you like the looks of my tree of absolute doomishness, head on over and take a look at some of his other spectacular work!

I’d also like to give some props to Delleyntar of Delleyntar’s Resto Druid Tips, Tricks and Ravings for coming up with this beautiful header as well. <3!