druids
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Blue Notes: Epic flight form and Hunter pet despawns
It looks like not only do Druids get the free flying mount we've all discussed, but they're going to get to quest for an epic flight form as well. From Ommra: We have upcoming development plans which we wanted to share now, as it could impact choices that Druids might make in the immediate future regarding flying mount riding skills or purchasing epic mounts: The regular Storm Crow form remains trainable at level 68 and moves at 60%. Also as previous, the normal flying mount skill comes with the form. An epic quest line will be going into an upcoming patch which will grant Druids an additional flying form with increased stats. The epic flying form will move at the epic rate of 280%, but basically fall under the same conditions as the previous flight form (i.e. can't run on the ground). However, the first prerequisite of the quest will require the epic flying mount riding skill, so it would not be a loss to Druids if they wish to purchase their epic flying mount skill now or in the near future. Obviously, one could then diversify their epic mounts beyond the Druid's casted epic form if they choose. I think it was the right move to make it required to train epic flying, since 5,000 gold, on top of the 1,000 from before, would be a little much for druids not to have to pay.And following up on the news about Warlock pets despawning when you flying-mount up, it looks like Hunter pets are getting the same treatment. Ommra again: This change should apply to hunter's pets in the same way.
Druid flight form FAQ
Earlier today, I hit 68 on my Priest, which was awesome because I got Prayer of Mending. However, if I was a Druid, I would have gotten something infinitely more awesome: Flight Form. If anyone's unfamiliar with flight form, it's a Druid shapeshift that's only usable in Outlands and turns you into a Stormcrow, allowing you to fly. This means a free, instant-cast flying mount, basically, as well as free flying mount training (which is much more expensive). People have a lot of questions about Flight Form; fortunately for us, Locust has compiled an excellent FAQ in the forums. I'll put the more interesting bits here, and the whole FAQ (which is rather long) after the cut for those who can't access the WoW forums. Do I need Journeyman Riding skill (which is needed for ground epic mounts) in order to gain this ability? Will it cost me? Yes, and it will cost you 540g. Will I still need to buy Expert Riding skill in order to buy Artisan Riding skill to ride a flying epic mount? No. Once you train for Flight Form, you automatically gain Expert Riding skill. You save yourself 800g. If I activate Flight Form while falling, can it save me from a fall that would normally cause me to die? You bet. Can I attack in Flight Form? No. No attacks. No abilities. What happens if I die while very high in the air? Your body will be found exactly where you died. If you are unable to retreieve your corpse because it is too high, you will have to spirit res. Normal running speed: 100% Walking speed: 40% Aspect of the Cheetah: 130% Cheetah form: 140% Ground normal mount: 160% Ground epic mount: 200% Druid Flight Form: 160% Normal flying mount running: 160% Normal Flying mount flying: 160% Epic flying mount running: 200% Epic flying mount flying: 380% Epic swift nether drake: 410% Wind Rider (Flight Master): 500%
Rolling restarts this morning
US realms will be seeing rolling restarts beginning at 5:00 AM PST today to apply a small fix to introduce a necessary reagent to vendors across the world. Drysc isn't specific about what he might be referring to, but I can only assume he's talking about Wild Quillvine, a reagent required for a druid to cast Gift of the Wild rank 3 (the group buff version of Mark of the Wild). Complaints about the lack of the reagent go all the way back to beta, so it's good to see them finally getting some notice. To those of you hoping for Drysc might be talking about the missing Khorium veins, his wording seems pretty specific to a vendor reagent. The restart process shouldn't last more than 15 minutes -- perfect time for a breakfast break!
Free respecs in TBC... for rogues and druids
Even though we all got free talent respecs with the release of the 2.0.1 patch, some players were still hoping for another free respec with the release of the expansion-- quite a few players (myself included) are currently using raiding or PVP specs, and planning to change back over to PVE or solo specs when the expansion hits (to make their way up to 70), and were hoping for a free respec to do that with.Neth the Snowwoman put the kibosh on that idea today, though. There will only be free respecs, she says, for the classes with "significant changes implemented"-- right now, that means only Rogues and Druids will have all their talent points refunded for free come the Burning Crusade. Warriors waste no time (2 posts!) in QQing that that means their class isn't changing, but the bigger concern is just the gold. I bought another respec after my free one on my Shaman just to try out the new talents, and if I don't get a free respec with the expansion, I'll definitely be buying another one at 61, and one more at 70. The cash adds up after a while.A few players suggest resetting the costs on respecs at the very least. But come on, I'm paying $40 real life (actually $60, for the CE). The least Blizz could do is give me a break on spending money in the game.
WoW Moviewatch: Take 40 druids...
So what can you do with 40 druids? 40 moonfires, 40 innervates, 40 bears, 40 cats... Well, not all at once, of course. But this video gives you some idea of the capabilities of druids in large numbers -- though, okay, the 40 druid raid on Ogrimmar at the end of the video may actually be the best part.
Consumables in druid forms? Maybe... not.
I don't think I'd want to be in a room with these very angry druids... On the live realms at present druids cannot use consumables in forms -- the lack of useful things like health potions and healthstones is certainly an annoyance, but after playing a druid for a while you start getting used to the trend of shifting out of feral forms whenever you need to do anything important. However, on the beta realms Blizzard dangled a carrot: for a brief period of time, "certain consumables were flagged as usable in some forms, and that has since been reversed." Drysc claims this was a bug and a mistake -- but even after his comments, countless druids insist that he is uninformed and that the change can't be a bug, pointing at recent changes to the text of Thistle Tea (restores energy) and Rage Potions (restores rage) to include druids under their class restrictions. And while I admire so many druids for believing so whole-heartedly in the power of their dreams, I wonder how much hope there is for a change after it's been confirmed as a bug.[Thanks, Atrius]
Forum Post of the Day: Druid tanks from a healing perspective
There's little discussion on this post so far, but the few posts in the thread thus far are rather interesting. As far as tanking goes, the warrior has always been king, with a much wider array of abilities to hold aggro and reduce their own damage taken. But when the Burning Crusade hits store shelves, druids and paladins will both find themselves with a wider array of tanking abilities -- druids with a hardier bear form and paladins with a much nicer protection tree. And while I still feel that protection warriors will be the cream of the crop, I wonder if druids and paladins won't offer their own advantages -- in certain situations. However, warriors and paladins maintain the advantage of block and parry, neither of which druids are capable of. But whether this means druids will be the Burning Crusade's third class tank or whether their immense stamina and armor ratings make up for it -- I think I'll really have to get some experience with it before I could decide.Forum Post of the Day attempts to highlight interesting and constructive posts (I know, I know -- I'm severely restricting the available options!) from the official forums. Seen a post recently that's made you think? Let us know about it!
Answers to BC questions from droods
Drysc has news for droods. The highlights: Natural Weapons will affect oomkin melee. The new Lifebloom's HoT will stack (as will all HoTs in the expansion), but the ending burst will not. Improved Faerie Fire may affect feral Faerie Fire (say that five times faest) Spirit's benefits may be boosted while in caster, oomkin and Tree forms, which means more mana. Droods, you may think I'm making fun of you with this post, but believe me, I kid because I love (Tranquility is definitely a favorite of mine). Finally, I'd like to take this time to point out this important point: Cat durids, tehm dosent heel. Thank you.
Burning Crusade Forums tidbits
A few tidbits about changes in the expansion have popped up in the forums... Tseric says that certain Crowd Control abilities (of course no specifics yet) will be downgraded, if not disabled in Arena PVP. Spells like Polymorph or Sleep may have a 15-20 second duration when used in PVE, but only a 5-10 second duration in Arena PVP. This is meant to "prevent extended removal [of players] from combat." On a question about how PVP ranks will show in BC, Drysc says there will be a title menu in the UI, and that players will be able to choose up to their highest rank to display. He also says there will be more titles for Arena PVP, as well as other titles through "various other means." World PVP? PVE titles? Last names? Your guess is as good as ours. We've covered mount changes in 1.12.1 pretty extensively but in case you still have questions, Hortus has all the answers you need. A player asks if flying mounts will make players immune to attacks, but Neth says they haven't decided for sure yet. This was the first concern that came to mind when I saw the Druids' new flying form-- will Druids have an instant escape plan? Considering all the classes seem to be getting pets in the expansion, Eskar has an idea for what to give rogues. And can't remember where I heard this rumor (I'm thinking it was one of our esteemed commenters?), but rumor (only rumor!) has it Blizzard has dropped the expansion price the game's price from $39.99 to $19.99** (updated-- see below). If that's true, it pretty much ensures that World of Warcraft will move from seven million players to something literally engulfing the known universe, thus creating some sort of new, superuniverse in which multidimensional beings shout jokes about Chuck Norris and Steve Irwin at each other while other beings yell at them to "stop spamming LFG." Exciting stuff! Can't wait for the expansion.. whenever it is released,Update: Our commenters, God bless 'em, have confirmed the price drop, kind of. Blizzard will be dropping the original game to the price of $19.99-- the expansion will be $39.99. But that still means the game will be cheaper than ever to play, which means we're probably due for all that multidimensional universe stuff. Plan 2007 accordingly.
Official BC Druid talents announced!
Been waiting? Wait no longer -- the druid's talent preview is up and running on the European website! See new skills here and talent trees here. Interesting highlights include a flight form for flying transport around the Outlands, a new CC spell called Cyclone that has no limitations on enemy type or an indoor/outdoor restriction (but does require level 70), the ubiquitous pet-summon at 41-points balance, and increased HoT spell domination with new healing spell Lifebloom and the 41-point restoration ability Tree of Restoration -- which only allows a druid to cast HoTs.
Breakfast Topic: I tank, you tank, she tanks
Quote of the evening last night: "we need war druids cant tank". (Of course, two druids proceeded to tank, presumably confusing this particular group member.)What defines a 'good' tank? What do you look for when selecting which group member should take on the onerous duty of being hit a lot? As a tank, what do you look for in a group?Having spent much of my time until level 60 in PuGs, I have something of a fear of tanking. Despite being a feral druid (for the most part), my experiences with random people have been universally dismal. To give you some idea, the best run I'd had for a long time was the Stockades, an instance which is loathed by many players.From the tank's point of view, it really helps to have group members who understand -- and listen. Those who realise it takes time to build up aggro, and don't rush in immediately with killer DPS. Those who realise that sometimes the squishies shouldn't do all the pulling. Those who appreciate the problems of adds -- or too much to handle -- and yell if they're in trouble. I've encountered everything from crazy DPS shadow priests to tanking mages, and most of it puts me off tanking with strangers -- but it's a dirty job, and someone's gotta do it.
