restoration
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PTR Notes: Natural Perfection and Focused Will 2.0
As of the next push to the patch 2.3 PTR, the Druid Restoration talent Natural Perfection will be enhanced:The restoration talent, natural perfection will now also (upon the next data push to the public test realms), grant the natural perfection effect after being critically hit, reducing all damage taken by 1/2/3% for 6 seconds. This will stacks up to 5 times. (Eyonix)This is in addition to its current effect: "Your critical strike chance with all spells is increased by 1/2/3% and melee and ranged critical strikes against you cause 4/8/12% less damage." Natural Perfection requires 30 points in Resto. If you have any feedback on that, feel free to drop a post on Eyonix over at the thread, which he promises to read throughout the day. Or leave a comment here, which I will read throughout the day, but no guarantees of it reaching the devs.The saga of the new Priest Discipline talent Focused Will continues. Here is the new version:The new discipline talent, focused will, has been redesigned. Once the next data push to the public test realms occur, upon taking a critical hit you gain the focused will effect, which will reduce all damage taken by 1/2/3% and increase healing effects on you by 2/4/6% for 6 seconds, and will stacks up to five times. (Eyonix)Like above, go over to the thread if you want to give Eyonix your opinion on it. I definitely like it better than the first version ("after taking a critical hit you gain the Focused Will effect, reducing critical damage taken by 10/20/30% and increasing healing on you by 10/20/30% for 6 sec"), and I do think it achieves the stated goal of providing an alternative to Blessed Resilience for those who would rather go deep Discipline. It could be a little stronger, though, especially considering how deep it is (requires 30 in Disc).
Totem Talk: Pre-raid gear - belts, bracers and boots
Totem Talk is the column for shamans. Matthew Rossi found himself sucked into a frenzy of Kara key runs this week, healing and DPSing, and as a result finds himself thinking about pre-Kara loot for shammies, who are after all the class this column is about. So I and my guildmates in the Consummate Vees, Horde-side Malfurion, did some key runs this week. (No, I'm not going to tell you my toon's name, it's a super-duper secret, but I will give you a hint: it starts with the letter V.) It's our hope to get back into semi-serious raiding shape by the time Zul'Aman comes out, and since I'm still working on my elemental set for when I switch specs (I like Resto, don't get me wrong, but I'm antsy to try something new) I started looking at gear options. I'm lucky enough to have a couple of nice epic Kara pieces for an elemental shammy (the Ring of Unrelenting Storms and the Big Bad Wolf's Head) but in general, most of my gear is gemmed out for healing.Since gearing up is part of the game, especially as you prepare for raiding, I thought it wouldn't hurt to talk over some options. The only limitations I'm imposing on myself are that I will only talk about mail pieces, and I can't cover gear for three separate specs in any comprehensive way so I'm just doing a few for each slot for each spec. (Also a note for lower level shamans - I'm testing stuff out on the PTR and will have a post about gearing up your lower level shaman with the 2.3 changes soon.) This time we'll cover belts, bracers and boots for the three specs, as well as some generic pieces that can fill a need for more variety. Belts, bracers and boots are often the hardest things to find since they're not often covered in the new dungeon sets, so it seemed to make sense to start with them first.Okay. As yet another aside, in light of last week's post about dual wielding and enhancement shamans, I present unto you Rage and Fury. I expect a lot of arguments to erupt between Fury Warriors, Rogues and Shamans over these, but whatever else can be said it cannot be denied that these are two sweet 2.6 speed fists. If I were a deluded egomaniac I'd be tempted to believe that someone at Blizzard reads my posts. But I know they don't. I made myself sad. Anyway, onto gear options.
Community class review from the EU: Druids
The EU community MVP Schwick is really great at compiling lots of good info. In the past, he's done compilations on issues raised by the community for Hunters, Priests, and Rogues, as well as a bunch of other stuff. Now he's come up with the first draft of his compilation on Druids. He asked forum-goers what their main problems with the Druid class are, sifted through all the responses, and put them together in a very readable format for the Blizzard devs (and other players) to have a look at.It seemed to me that most of the Druid issues had to do with items and abilities not scaling so well in endgame raids after Karazhan. There were some points that addressed other general issues, as well as arena PvP, but overall casual druids seemed pretty content. There wasn't even any mention of the graphical updates to the shapeshifted forms that many druids have been asking for.Keep checking the thread to see what additional thoughts the players had, and to see future drafts of the compiled suggestions.
Shifting Perspectives: Drops for Druids in Zul'Aman
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them, brought to you by David Bowers and Dan O'Halloran. Patch 2.3 has hit the PTR and the new itemization has some very interesting items for druids of every spec. The new equipment is coming from three sources: the new 10-man raid zone, Zul'Aman, the Arena Season 3 vendor and the new Badges of Justice rewards. Today I'm going to focus on the Zul'Aman drops. Here's a list by boss:Nalorakk the Bear Avatar(Cat) Bladeangel's Money Belt (Leather Waist) 227 AC, +25agi, +27sta, Blue Socket, +4atk socket bonus, +21 crit, +58 atk, 77 armor negation. A solid upgrade to the Girdle of Treachery from Karazhan, but not quite as good if you can get a Belt of Deep Shadow crafted. Arguably, one of the top 3 or 4 belts in the game. Be ready to /roll against rogues for this belt for your Cat Druid.
Resto PvP Druid FTW!
Mookysolo of the Ner'zhul server has written a PVP guide for Restoration druids. And by "guide" I mean eight enormous posts that take up almost an entire forum page. In that marathon listing, you'll find the three best pieces of equipment per slot, recommended enchants, jewels by color, different talent builds, recommended strategies, theorycraft, mathcraft and a FAQ. To say that it's thorough would be an understatement. He also provides two movies of his PvP exploits for your enjoyment.For another perspective on the same subject, be sure to check out another Resto PvP Guide on the European forums. Many interesting strategies listed and more movies at the end of that post.EDIT: I've rewritten the tone of the post to reflect the lack of surprise on behalf of PvP players of the dominance of Resto Druids. Clearly I don't PvP, but my intent here was to pass on an excellent guide I came across. I've altered the tone of the post to be more informational and in the future, I'll put my reaction in context.That being said, I'm always impressed when players manage to excel with a "gimped" spec. I'll see if I can find such a case for PvP and post it for you guys.Thanks for the feedback..
Shifting Perspectives: How to group with a Druid part 3
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them, brought to you by David Bowers and Dan O'Halloran. This it the last in a series of features talking about How To Group With A Druid. I've already covered bear tanks, cat druids and Moonkin. Today, I will be exploring what Restoration druids bring to a 5 man group as well as what they don't do. If you feel I've left out any important points, be sure to leave a comment below! We love comments like healers love aggro control. WHAT TO EXPECT FROM A RESTORATION DRUID HEALING: Druids are built to be solid healers in both regular and heroic 5 man instances. They don't have to drop 40+ talent points to be good at it. Don't be surprised if you're druid healer is actually specced 31 points in Balance and 30 points in Restoration. That's more than enough for them to get you through alive. On the other hand, don't be screaming for healing non-stop if you are not the main tank. It's your job to control your aggro, not the healers job to blow half his mana on non-tanks. I understand mistakes happen, wandering mobs appear out of nowhere, the MT gets overwhelmed and loses control of an add or two. But if the healer is dumping more healing on you than the MT for every encounter, you need to scale back your dps or talk to your tank about their taunt tactics.
Innervate: Trainable Skill in Patch 1.11
In patch 1.11, the druid's 31-point restoration talent Innvervate will be made a trainable skill. Replacing Innervate is a new talent called Swiftmend, which will consume a rejuvenation or regrowth effect to produce an instant heal (if you're familiar with the warlock's Conflagrate talent, it seems to be the same concept). This should come as welcome news for raiding druids, who have long since been forced into restoration talent builds due to many guilds' requirement for Innervate. Hopefully this change will allow end-game druids more flexibility to pick talent specs based on how they enjoy playing their characters, rather than their guilds' need for Innervate.
