So, we had a tiny bit of limited controversy, and I admit I probably could have stated the use of Wild Growth a little more completely, but the post was getting long as it was. I figure we’ll just hash those things out in the thread and move right along.
I know trees look paranoid all the time. Freakishly glancing over their shoulders every 10 seconds. But just settle down there, that’s not the sound of the goblin shredding machines you hear in the distance.
I’m not sure why people seem to think we are getting major changes, but I suspect it would only be if they are spam healing with Lifebloom. Which you now know to be a silly thing to do anyway. People also seem to be seriously concerned about this Spirit Mana Regen nerf. Don’t worry folks, let’s just look at what is really going to happen to you.
Here are the things in the patch note that effect trees, with a little commentary as we go along.
- Lifebloom: Mana cost of all ranks doubled. When Lifebloom blooms or is dispelled, it now refunds half the base mana cost of the spell per application of Lifebloom, and the heal effect is multiplied by the number of applications. No big deal for me folks. I like this one. If you are abusing LB this will force you to stop and play right. Plus, it was ALWAYS probably intended to bloom, not kept rolling as another HoT, so now they are giving you two huge incentives to do so. First, IF you let it bloom it costs the same mana as before. Second, the heal effect of the bloom is MULTIPLIED by the number stacked. Holy cow! Those of you who think think is a nerf are not allowed in tree form ever again. Not only is this a better system, it is making the spell up to 300% better if you use it like normal people. Huge Lifebloom(bloomed), no extra mana out of my pocket = I WIN.
Restoration
- Living Seed: This talent now accounts for total healing including overhealing. When you combine this one with the changes to Nourish it pretty much means Living Seed will go from about 3% of your healing to around 5% or more. That’s a big buff to a passive ability. Spec those points and leave them there.
- Improved Mark of the Wild: Now also increases all of your total attributes by 1/2%. Buff gets buffed – nice.
- Intensity: Now grants 17/33/50% of mana regeneration while casting. UP from 10/20/30% are you seriously still worried about Regen? So what if spirit based regen goes down. I am actually thinking that this will not only make up for whatever was lost, but our casting regen may actually go UP. Why the heck would you worry about a regen nerf and overlook this? Regen while casting almost doubled? L2read folks.
- New Talent: Improved Barkskin: Increases the damage reduction granted by your Barkskin spell by 5/10%, and increases your resistance to Dispel mechanics by an additional 30/60% while under the effect of Barkskin. PvP buff. Oh, and the “The pug tanks I run with suck” buff.
- Improved Regrowth: This talent is renamed Nature’s Bounty. Increases the critical effect chance of your Regrowth and Nourish spells by 5/10/15/20/25%. Now this is the first thing I can see where you might think – NERF! These numbers are half what you currently had. It’s just two words that make a difference – “and Nourish.” Blizz taketh away and Blizz giveth (yes it’s backwards but the right way round doesn’t apply now does it)? Once we cover how UBER good Nourish is about to be you won’t see this as a nerf either. If anything it will probably end up being a little better.
- Replenish: This talent is now re-named Revitalize and also works with Wild Growth. My goodness, another buff. Now your rank 1 and rank 2 HoTs BOTH have a chance to buff your party members. The two spells you SHOULD be tossing around like a clown slinging candy at a parade.
- Tree of Life: Now receives 240% increased armor. You can now use Nature’s Grasp and Thorns while within this form. Mana cost reduced to match the cost of Travel Form. PvP buff. Oh, and the “The pug tanks I run with suck” buff – part 2.
Druid (Glyphs)
- Glyph of Nourish: Your Nourish heals an additional 6% for each of your heal-over-time effects present on the target. OK, now THIS one is big. Replace Rejuv with this one the second you log in. Because IF you are doing it right already and stacking HoTs on EVERYONE from Rejuv UP, then almost anyone you will ever want to Nourish is going to have 2-3 hots on them anyway. With this baby a druid could probably come close to single healing two tanks on Heroic Patch. Ok, a bit of a stretch perhaps, but imagine LB blooming 3 times bigger right after a Nourish (and a Glyphed Regrowth on Regrowth Refresh) on top of Rejuv, Regrowth, LB X 3, and Wild Growth, followed by a Swiftmend critical with a Living Seed proc on the next hit? And at that point there is STILL a fresh Regrowth on the target. Yikes! Math that one up at a raid buffed 2300 sp and see what you come up with in that 3 seconds.
- Glyph of Rebirth: Target now returns to life with full health This one actually tempts me to some degree since there are times you would like to use Rebirth but it’s just not worth even trying because your target will just get insta-pwned anyway. Not sure if I could live without Lifebloom (or Wild Growth), Regrowth and Nourish, but tempting for sure.
- Glyph of Wild Growth: Wild Growth now affects up to 6 targets. Depending on what your normal role is in your raid, this is also worth serious consideration. No way this even comes close to Regrowth glyph, but if you are continuously on raid healing and not tank healing it is probably better than the Nourish glyph above. It also depends on if you are perfectly happy the way you heal NOW. If you like your style and don’t want to change to the Power healing system we are about to describe below, then just return to part 2 of this series and add this glyph and you’ll be perfectly happy.
As a matter of fact as I hint at above, perhaps THIS Glyph is better for the raid oriented tree, and Lifebloom for the foliage that does more tank duty. Both are better than either Rejuv or Innervate when it comes to overall healing power, and I’m all for raw boosts however much I’ve warmed up to Replenish/Revitalize.
So there are all the changes. Why in the world would anyone call them major? I can’t see a single thing that is going to change for the classically trained tree. The only thing I see is buffs, buffs, more buffs, and HUGE buffs to what I’m already doing and all I have to do is change 1 glyph and hit Nourish a bit more often.
Building on the concepts from Part 2, the only thing happening here is that Blizz is making your Rank 5 spell a Rank 6 spell. The Nourish glyph is nice, and when you add that to the little increased Living Seed proc deal it’s even better.
But if you find yourself running with really good healers anyway, like we have in Dominate, the nuclear conflagration of healing you can do with a glyphed Nourish and Regrowth might not be necessary anyway. In that case I may just leave things as they are and pop that Wild Growth glyph in there and keep facerolling HoTs.
So by MY count that’s 9 buffs, 2 decent items and zero true nerfs. And yes, the change to Lifebloom is a buff. Cry into your pillow if you don’t like it. QQ about it and I’ll suggest you just go feral and leave the healing to the true professionals. LB spam was dumb, and now it will just be idiotic. So instead of being nervous, flex those branches and get ready to show every other class what DOMINATING healing is all about. Save the Trees!
(We didn’t need help really, it was just something funy to say).