cataclysm-restoration-druid-guide
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Shifting Perspectives: Restoration Druid 101
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, we are sobbing inside now that Disentanglement has to be listed as an advantage for playing restoration. One of the things that jumped out at me while writing the Cataclysm version of Shifting Perspectives: Restoration 101 was that Blizzard really did succeed in its effort to make things a little more straightforward for players. While I cut out a few sections that didn't really feel like they were contributing to the discussion of the spec at 85, restoration has fewer caveats these days than it did toward the end of Wrath of the Lich King. Haste in particular is a far smaller rat's nest these days. As with our other 101 guides, you shouldn't consider this a comprehensive guide; it's a cheat sheet intended to get a player up and running with the spec as quickly as possible. If you're looking for a more encyclopedic approach: Elitist Jerks' guide to restoration in Cataclysm (updated for patch 4.1) is basically an extended and mathier version of this article. Restokin's guide to healing at 85 (updated for patch 4.1). Keeva's (of Tree Bark Jacket) comprehensive restoration druid guide, including tips on leveling, BoA gear, and more. Addresses post-patch 4.1 changes. Rank 4 Healing Touch's resto healing guide (updated for patch 4.1). Resto Dude's restoration druid guide (updated for patch 4.1).
Shifting Perspectives: Gearing a restoration druid at 85, part 3
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This week, we finish our series on how to gear a restoration druid at level 85. Hello, folks. This week, we're going to finish our series on gearing a resto at level 85, and next week, we're going to change course and address bears with a Cataclysm 101 guide and then gear post. For the kitties out there, Dan O'Halloran will be splitting off a cat-oriented Shifting soon, so we'll eventually have three Shifting articles per week -- one for bears/resto, one for cats, and one for moonkin. I'm so rarely DPS these days that it's a bit of a relief to focus on the two specs that get my play time, so I hope I'll be able to bring a bit more depth to bears and resto in the Tuesday Shifting column. On that note, the low-level Tank Watch project continues. I regret to say the numbers are slightly more depressing than last week if you'd been hoping that the bear population would rebound this expansion. So far, this is the tank representation I've seen in dungeon finder groups between levels 15 and 40: Paladin: 66% Warrior: 23% Druid: 11%
Shifting Perspectives: Patch 4.0.3a and the road to 85
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This week, we write ourselves a cheat sheet to haul ass to level 85. Last week, I promised I'd take a look at individual articles' popularity after the "Why (or why not) to play a druid" series finished, and here it is. In order of most to least popular: Shifting Perspectives: Why (or why not) to play a worgen druid Shifting Perspectives: Why (or why not) to play a night elf druid Shifting Perspectives: Why (or why not) to play a tauren druid Shifting Perspectives: Why (or why not) to play a troll druid I'll look at the numbers again a few months to see if they steady a bit; the troll article hasn't been up for as long as its night elf counterpart, so I wouldn't have expected it to be competitive regardless. I will say that the Alliance druids enjoy a significant pageview advantage over their Horde counterparts, and that doesn't give me hope that future population numbers will equalize. I wrote a lot of today's article because I'm lazy as sin and wanted a quick reference guide available. Past the cut you'll find information for bear and cat druids on hit caps, reputation grinds, the numbers you should have before stepping into heroics, reforging, and a host of other things that would otherwise have required me to get off my butt and Google something. Resto players, I haven't forgotten about you! Your version will go live later this week. By the way, the above video is a quick look at healing one of the earliest pulls in heroic Grim Batol. I was sorting through my beta videos and realized I'd forgotten to upload it for the worgen lore article.
