Cataclysm Druid Armor Set Bonuses

I am a big fan of armor set bonuses.  They present Blizzard with the opportunity to gift new and interesting class mechanics upon dedicated raiders.  When we review the List of Druid Set Bonuses, we see that the developers have frequently taken advantage of the chance to flex their creative muscles.  The transformation of Enrage into a defensive cooldown in tier ten, the instant cast Starfires in tier eight, and critical Rejuvenation ticks in tier nine; each succeeded in changing the way a particular spec played.

The problem with tier bonuses, however, is that each new one must be bigger and better than the last.  An inferior set bonus can easily turn a new raid set into a total dud.  With Cataclysm on the horizon, Blizzard once again has the challenge of crafting a new set of mechanical goodies to accompany the expansion's first raid set.

Unfortunately, no word has yet been released on what Cataclysm's tier set bonuses will be.  Nevertheless, what's to stop us from coming up with our own tier bonus ideas.  Seeing as this is Druid Digest, I thought it might be fun to come up with some hypothetical Druid set bonuses for as of yet unreleased tier eleven.  Check out my ideas after the bump and feel free to leave yours in the comments.

Cataclysm Restoration Druid Talent Changes

Now that the Cataclysm Friends and Family Alpha is live, Blizzard has more than a few leaks on its hands. One of those leaks disclosed an early build of the new Druid talent trees for Cataclysm. Below, I will highlight all the changes coming to the Restoration Tree. For links to information about the Cataclysm Feral and Balance Talent tree changes, check out the links at the bottom of the post.

As these talent trees will likely be updated many times prior to the release of Cataclysm, I will try my best to keep this post updated as well. Last Updated: 05/06/10

Cataclysm Restoration Talents:

New Talents

Blessing of the Grove: Two rank talent which increases Rejuvenation's healing by 2%, Moonfire's direct damage by 3%, and Claw/Mangle's damage by 2% per rank

Perseverance: Reduces all spell damage taken by 2% per rank with up to five ranks

Fury of Stormrage: Two rank talent which gives Nourish a 2% to cause Wrath to become instant cast and cost no mana, also can trigger instant Starfire casts when the Druid hits a target under 25% health with Moonfire

Efflorescence: Regrowth crits now spawn a fifteen yard bed of flowers which heals friendly targets who stand in it for a percentage of the Regrowth's heal over seven seconds

Changed Talents

Improved Rejuvenation: Now also increases Swiftmend healing by 5%

Improved Tranquility: No longer reduces Tranquility's cooldown, but now reduces damage taken while channeling the spell by 25% per rank

Nature's Bounty: Completely redone, now increases crit chance of Regrowth on targets under 25% health by 10% per rank and also decreases the cooldown of Swiftmend by .5 seconds whenever the Druid crits with Nourish or Healing Touch

Empowered Touch: Completely redone, now increases healing done by Healing Touch by 5% per rank on targets below 25% health and causes Nourish to refresh the duration of Lifebloom

Swiftmend: Mana cost slightly reduced

Natural Perfection: No longer increases spell crit chance

Empowered Rejuvenation: Now also improves Swiftmend

Revitalize: Completely redone, now grants the caster 1% base mana per rank whenever Regrowth or Lifebloom's periodic ticks crit

Tree of Life: Now lasts forty-five seconds with a five minute cooldown, increases HoT healing by 15%, increases Armor by 200%, reduces movement speed by 30% and temporatily empowers some of your spells, it no longer buffs raid members and does not restrict the Druid's spell use

Improved Tree of Life: Completely redone, three ranks, now reduces Tree of Life's cooldown thirty seconds and increases damage done while in Tree of Life by 5%

Improved Barkskin: No longer provides dispel resistance

Gift of the Earthmother: Completely redone, now increases Tranquility's healing by 4% on targets below 25% health, increases Lifebloom's bloom by 2%, and adds an immediate, upfront tick to Rejuvenation

Wild Growth: Mana cost substantially increased

Removed Talents

Improved Mark of the Wild

Intensity

Living Spirit

Gift of Nature

Moved Talents

Naturalist: Moved to tier three

Living Seed: Moved to tier six

Empowered Touch: Moved to tier seven

Natural Perfection: Moved to tier eight

It seems as if Blizzard is really trying to push players to use Regrowth, Healing Touch, and Swiftmend with greater frequency. To be honest, Efflorescence is such a cool talent, expect me to be casting Regrowth whenever reasonable. It is also becoming apparent that the days of spamming Wild Growth are rapidly coming to a close. Enjoy it while it lasts.

I would be curious to hear what everyone has to say about the Tree of Life changes. Please post your thoughts in the comments.

Cataclysm Balance Druid Talent Changes
Cataclysm Feral Druid Talent Changes

Restoration Druid Keybinds

Below are the keybinds I use when healing as a Restoration Druid. For general information on how to set up your keybinds see How to Set Up Keybinds in Warcraft's Default UI. Also, check out the bottom of the post to review keybinds for other Druid specs.

Keep in mind when reviewing these binds that I have them set up both on my Tree of Life action bar and my caster form action bar when I am in Restoration spec. This is so that if I need to drop into caster form for some reason, I can continue to spam heals until the opportunity presents itself to become a Tree again.

F = Nourish: Nourish is your go to top off spell and also your bread and butter when tank healing. Depending on your role, spec, and style, however, you may want to consider swapping it for Rejuvenation (for dedicated raid healing) or Healing Touch (if you are spec'd for it and spamming it such as for Dreamwalker). Long story short, assign whatever spell you cast the most to the F key.

C = Rejuvenation: You will be tossing around this lovable HoT quite a bit, so it is important to keep it in a comfortable spot on your keyboard. C is a nice fit for me.

X = Lifebloom: Odds are you will not be using Lifebloom all that much unless you are tank healing, so the slightly out of the way X key is a fine place for it. I also like the consistency of always having my "stacking spells" (Lifebloom and Lacerate) associated with the same key.

G = Regrowth: To keep a healthy supply of mana, you want to avoid casting this spell too often. The G key is just far enough out of the way to keep you from spamming it out of panic, but close enough that you can still cast it when needed.

E = Wild Growth: For most Restoration Druids, Wild Growth is a go to spell every single time its brief cooldown is up. Hence the accessible E key is dedicated to this beast of a healing spell.

Q = Swiftmend: Swiftmend is a solid emergency heal, so having it easily accessible, but set off slightly from your other spells makes perfect sense. Q fits that bill perfectly.

Here are the specific keybinds I recommend for other Druid specs:

Feral Tanking Keybinds
Feral DPS Keybinds (coming soon)
Balance Druid Keybinds (coming soon)

Things that Make You Go OOM

For Restoration Druids, mana management is rarely an issue. The combination of efficient spells and unparalleled mana regeneration means a Druid's blue bar is rarely an adversary. Occasionally, however, a Druid finds them self frequently running low on sweet, sweet heal juice and cannot figure out why. If that is you, below are some quick tips which should help get you back on the right track.

1. Talent for Regeneration

A lot of the Restoration Druid specs you can pull off the internet are designed for endgame raiding and assume top of the line gear. In cutting edge content and hard modes, making heals as large as possible tends to be priority one, so mana regeneration talents are often set aside for bigger heals. Many Druids make the mistake of forgoing the regeneration talents before they have the gear to back it up.

If you find yourself short on mana, make sure your spec has enough of these talents: Moonglow (Balance), Intensity, Omen of Clarity, Tranquil Spirit, Living Spirit, and Revitalize. Just remember, the biggest heals in the world will not do you any good if you do not have the mana to cast them.

2. More Spirit Please

The biggest gear mistake new Restoration Druids make is neglecting Spirit. Many casters favor Intellect over Spirit and with good reason. A well though out Restoration spec will convert your Spirit into both spell power and an almost unbelievable amount of mana regeneration. Though it is likely not necessary to seek out huge Spirit numbers, the stat should be present on nearly all your major gear pieces. If it is not, odds are you are using gear that is not itemized for healing and are wasting delicious item points.

3. Tweak Your Spell Choice

When a Restoration Druid runs out of mana, it is generally because they are not leaning on their heal over time spells hard enough. Rejuvenation is your bread and butter heal. It is also an exceptionally efficient spell when you can avoid losing ticks to over-healing. Do not Nourish or Swiftmend that dps when simply waiting for a handful of Rejuvenation ticks will do the job just as well.

There are also certain spells in your arsenal which will quickly drain your mana if overused. Regrowth is a great spell to keep up on your group's main tank. Its long HoT is a great "set it and forget it" healing option and the spells efficiency is not terrible if the entirety of the healing lands. You do not, however, want to be spamming Regrowth on your raid. The spell is simply too expensive for that. Use Rejuvenation and the occasional Nourish instead.

Lifebloom is another spell which has a place in tank healing, but should generally be limited to that. Lifebloom has lost a great deal of its efficiency since the days of Burning Crusade. Unfortunately, it is now simply too pricey a spell to splash around your raid. Pairing it up with an Omen of Clarity proc, however, can net you some free mana if you are really in the mood to micromanage. Even with tank healing, be sure you let the spell "bloom" and fall off after three stacks to avoid tons of wasted mana.

Lastly, do not forget to Innervate. Blizzard gave you the spell for a reason and unless you have no mana issues, you should not be using it to top off a nearby Hunter's mana supply. Use the spell the second your mana is low enough to benefit from its full effect and hopefully it will be back off cooldown before your bar empties a second time.

4. Check Your Glyphs

Glyph of Innervate is often overlooked, but can appreciably help your mana management. Not only does the glyph provide mana when you cast Innervate on others, but it also boosts the mana received when you cast it on yourself. Though this glyph will not entirely fix your mana issues, it will certainly help.

Also, if you are having mana issues, stay away from the Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation. The glyph makes your Rejuvenations tick faster due to haste and therefore do more healing in a shorter amount of time. However, this means you will need to cast Rejuvenation more frequently to keep it up on your targets. When you get to the point of trying to maximize your healing power, you can revisit this glyph, but while mana is an issue, you would be well advised to stay away.

Druid Class Q & A Drops

Blizzard has continued its class based Question and Answer series by turning its sites on Druids. Check out the Druid Q & A here.

To give a quick overview of the information provided, I thought it might be helpful to separate the more interesting tidbits by what they reveal about the past, present, and future of each Druid role.

The Past

In terms of the history of the Druid class, Restoration has been the only spec to maintain endgame PvE viability since release. Bear tanks joined them in Burning Crusade with kitty dps pouncing into the party in Wrath of the Lich King. Balance Druids made great strides in Burning Crusade and have continually improved in terms of endgame PvE performance, but they have still yet to find a solid place to call their own.

As for PvP, although Feral has always been a viable option, Restoration became king with the advent of Burning Crusade and never left its throne. Though Balance has gained many PvP tools during the evolutions which preceded the release of Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, things have never quite come together the way the developers and players would like.

The Present

The Q & A highlighted several strengths and weaknesses for the Druid class as it exists today. In terms of strengths, Feral dps and tanking roles are both well defined and viable. Though kitty dps is complicated, it is hitting a nice target and fills the needs of players desiring a more involved dps role. Bears are also tanking on par with other tanking classes. Restoration Druids are also excelling, able to fill a wide range of PvE healing roles and hold their own in the Arena.

As for weaknesses, Balance rotations have become boring as a result of the similarities between Wrath and Starfire and Eclipse not cutting the mustard in terms of keeping things interesting. Moonkins are also generally poor performers in PvP. Restoration Druids are apparently spending too much time in Tree of Life Form. Additionally, though the developers are largely happy with Tranquility and Healing Touch, they are not especially pleased with the spells' prominence in the Restoration talent tree.

The Future

In terms of changes, Balance Druids were presented as being the most in need of some help. Unfortunately, it also seemed as though very little changes were on the way. Though there were some hints at shaking up the Moonkin rotation, the developers seem to have no clear road map for making that happen. Some more prominent distinction will ultimately be made between Wrath and Starfire, but it remains to be seen what form that distinction will take. Also, Moonkin PvP survivability needs fixed, but Blizzard doesn't want to simply retool mage spells and doesn't have the time to create something unique. Oh well.

Restoration Druids will likely find themselves shaken out of Tree of Life Form in the distant future. Though Blizzard seems committed to having the form in the game, they do not like that there is little to no incentive for Resto Druids to be in caster form. Possible fixes included beefing up the form and putting it on a cooldown or splitting healing spells between Tree of Life and Caster forms. It is also likely that some PvP nerfs might be hitting Resto in the foreseeable future.

Feral Druids seem to be in a relatively good spot as far as the developers are concerned. Bear survivability will be high in 3.2 and cat form is performing as intended in both PvP and PvE. Likely no significant Feral changes will be coming down the pipe any time soon.

More generally speaking, throughout the entire interview, Ghostcrawler frequently bemoaned the fact that Druids are not shifting often enough and hinted that mana free and perhaps global cooldown free shifts might ultimately be the solution. There were also hints that new art for Travel Form and Aquatic Form may be in the works. Blizzard also intends to stay the course in terms of itemization and keep all Druids in leather whenever possible.

All in all, the Q & A was interesting and promising for everyone except Balance Druids. Here's hoping the future isn't quite as dire for Moonkins as it may seem.

Is Tree Form Fun?

Earlier today, Blizzard poster Ghostcrawler started a new thread on the Healing Forums. The thread posed the question, "Is Druid Tree of Life form fun?" In his own post, Ghostcrawler pointed out the forms lack of distinct abilities and limited mobility as drawbacks when compared with Bear or Cat forms. He also indicated that although no major plans for changing tree form were in effect, "it's something (they) have been discussing lately."

The answer from Druids was a rather resounding, though not unanimous no. Many added cosmetic gripes to Ghostcrawlers criticisms and echoed his sentiment that the form was nothing but a superficial tool to allow Restoration Druids the mechanical benefits they need to heal on par with other classes. Of particular interest were a handful of posts which discussed Tree of Life forms role in evolving the Druid class into a place where there is little benefit to being in caster form. Curious.

I personally enjoy the form and I hope that it not removed. Obviously some unique abilities would help quiet the nay-sayers, but I am simply thankful that the speed debuff has been canned. As for the cosmetic concerns, I am hopeful that Blizzards seemingly interminable work on new Druid form graphics was not limited to the Feral arena, though I am not overly optimistic.

Despite Ghostcrawlers caution to the contrary, I take this as a sign that change will be coming to Tree From. Odds are any meaningful changes are several patches down the line, but it would be rather silly to ask for community feedback and then simply pitch it in the garbage.

Your Own Best Wild Growth Target

Simply put, Wild Growth is an amazing healing spell. Since mana conservation is largely a thing of the past, many Restoration Druids have taken to using this handy group heal whenever the six second cooldown is up. The cast is not cheap, but if you are able to land the buff on five (or six with Glyph of Wild Growth) needy targets, Wild Growth is an exceptionally efficient heal. The only real question is, who should you target with this tasty AoE HoT morsel to get the most bang out of your buck.

In raiding situations, especially those marked by periodic raid-wide damage, there will rarely be a situation in which there are not at least five targets within 15 yards of each other who need your love. This could be a pack of ranged dps and healers or, more often, it will be a pool of melee dps crowded near your tank. In raids, unless your ranged units are grouped and you are tasked with keeping them up, your tank is almost always a safe target. Generally speaking, in a 25 man, it is much harder to cast Wild Growth on a bad target than it is to find a good one.

In heroics, five man content, and PvP, however, it can be more difficult to assure that there are five recipients within range of your target. Generally speaking your ranged units and healers will not be within 15 yards of your tank and melee pack. Also, if you manage to find five or more people in either group, something bizarre has happened and I would like to see the screen shot.

In a smaller group situation, it can then be tempting to view your Wild Growth target selection as an "either-or" proposition. Either you heal the ranged or the melee. Fortunately, there is a middle ground between your ranged and melee group...literally...and if you stand in it and hit yourself with Wild Growth, everyone can feast on your healing goodness. Enabling Auto-Self cast in your Combat Configuration menu or setting up a macro to target yourself and cast makes things all the easier. Keep in mind that the name of the game with Wild Growth is to hit the maximum number of targets every time. Often that simply means taking positioning into your own hands and casting it on yourself.

Spellpower Effect on Restoration Spells

Spellpower is an interesting stat because the actual impact which it has on an individual spell is not constant across your spell book. Instead, a percentage of your total spell power is applied to each spell, or part thereof, based on values Blizzard has assigned. These percentages are invisible so it can be difficult to know what impact an increase in spellpower will have on each individual cast.

Below, I have broken down the baseline percentages of your spellpower which are applied to each Druid heal except Tranquility as of this posting. You will also find available mechanics which may be used to alter that percentage. Keep in mind that the boost from spellpower is generally applied before other effects which increase the power of your heals (such as Gift of Nature).

Lifebloom: 9.5% of your spellpower is added to each individual tick and 64.6% is added to the bloom. Those percentages are increased to 11.4% and 77.5% with Empowered Rejuvenation.

Nourish: 67.3% of your spellpower is added.

Healing Touch: 161.0% of your spellpower is added. It can be increased to 225.4% with Empowered Touch.

Rejuvenation: 37.6% of your spellpower is added to each individual tick. This can be boosted to 45.1% with Empowered Rejuvenation.

Wild Growth: An average of 11.5% of your spellpower is added to each individual tick. This goes to around 13.8% with Empowered Rejuvenation.

Regrowth: 53.9% of your spellpower is applied to the initial heal and 18.8% is added to each tick. The percentages can be pushed to 64.7% and 22.3% with Empowered Rejuvenation.

Keep Rolling Lifeblooms Post 3.1

All you Trees out there can stop having a coronary, because I do not mean what you think. Obviously since the change in Lifebloom's cost and mechanics, each cast must ultimately result in a bloom for the spell to be even remotely efficient. The days of building up a three stack and keeping it "rolling" are over. However, there is still a great deal of merit to "rolling" your stack up to three as I will explain below.

A single cast of Rank 3 Lifebloom, negating spell power and any other enhancements, heals 371 damage over 7 seconds and then blooms for a 970 instant heal. The initial mana cost is 28% of base, but with the 50% refund at the bloom, the aggregate mana cost is 14% of base presuming you let each cast result in a bloom. That means for an isolated cast without any modifiers, Lifebloom gives you 1341 in healing for 14% base mana.

Now, let's introduce a second Rank 3 Lifebloom. Let's say you are spamming up a stack and there is only a global cooldown pause between your applications. In that scenario, everything doubles: the heal over time, the end bloom, and the mana cost. The buff now ticks for a total of 742 over its 7 second life and blooms for 1940 equaling 2682 in total healing for 28% of your base mana.

What if, however, we roll our initial Lifebloom buff by waiting to cast our second stack until the moment before the first one blooms? At that point, our initial buff will have already completed its heal over time and healed your target for 371 damage. When we cast the second Lifebloom not only is a second seven second heal over time applied, but the buff from the first cast is granted another seven second lease on life. While the two stack ticks, 742 in additional healing is applied. After the bloom of 1940, by rolling your stack up you have done 3053 in healing for your 28% base investment, rather than the 2682 in healing you get from spamming.

When a third Lifebloom is added, the benefits of rolling become even more pronounced. If spammed, the third cast simply triples both the healing and the mana cost of a single cast. This results in 1113 in healing over seven seconds and a 2910 bloom or 4023 in healing for 42% of your base mana. If, however, we roll the three stack and cast the second and third Lifebloom just before blooms, we get the 371 in healing over time during our single stack and the 742 in two stack healing all before the third stack is even cast. After the third cast, we get 1113 in healing over 7 seconds and the 2910 bloom. By rolling up to our three stack, we have generated 5136 in healing for our 42% base mana investment, over 1000 more than the 4023 we would get from spamming straight up to three.

All said, rolling up a full stack of Lifeblooms and then letting it bloom makes the spell over 20% more efficient than rapidly laying down a full three stack. Obviously, the math reflects a world without overheals and with perfect timing, but if you are looking to completely maximize your efficiency, the numbers speak for themselves. Rolling Lifebloom is back and better than ever!

When to Innervate

Back when I was younger, we Druids had to spec for Innervate before walking to Upper Blackrock Spire. It was uphill both ways and we did not have anything to equip in our feet slots because of the depression. Kids these days have it easy, with Innervate being trainable for all at level 40. Unfortunately, this gem of a spell often sits on Druid cast-bars all across Azeroth unused for precious downtime saving minutes.

My advice, blow that cooldown! If Innervate is available and you are sitting down to drink, ask yourself why. Unless you are in an instance and you know there is a mana intensive boss/pull less than six minutes down the road, pop that baby and pop it now. When you are flying solo, give your self this gem of a buff anytime where its duration will not be wasted. As long as your mana is sufficiently low or you are using mana sufficiently fast that the buff will expire before your bar is full, it is good to go. As much as it may cut against your survival instincts, saving your cooldowns for emergencies is generally consumate with wasting them. Go on, Innervate yourself. It's perfectly natural and it feels great.

Things that Make You Go Bloom

Lifebloom is not dead post 3.1, it just comes with a little extra baggage. Namely, the spell is simply no longer even remotely mana efficient if each cast does not ultimately result in a bloom. This means that once you hit three stacks, consider it patience time. Throw around some raid heals, refresh buffs, eat a sandwich, do anything other than trying to add that ever elusive fourth stack.

It may seem appealing to keep that three stack rolling for another seven seconds as that is how most good trees were raised, but it is not worth it. Generally speaking, even if your bloom will be 100% overheal, take your mana and live to cast another day. Even when your target is taking heavy damage, let your stack bloom and throw up a quick new three stack if need be. Obviously a slow build gives you the most bang for your buck.

The key to making the most out of the new Lifebloom is proper planning. Let your targets health dip in anticipation of any bloom and neither healing nor mana will be wasted. One, two, or three stacks at a time, Lifebloom can still be an important part of your rotation, just let it bloom baby!

Revitalize Working as Intended?

Resto Druid talent Revitalize has both its fans and its critics. You can consider me a fan. I cast Rejuvenation and Wild Growth all the time, so anything to make them better is a plus. Also, considering I only use Healing Touch when paired with Nature's Swiftness, I had some extra talent points to throw around.

Unfortunately, the other day I noticed something slightly disturbing about the controversial little talent. Apparently, ticks which are completely foregone as over-heals have no chance of causing a proc. This appears to be because HoT ticks which occur while the target is at full health are never even processed and therefore do not even count as over-heals.

Though you arguably should not be throwing Rejuvenation on full heath targets just on the off-chance it may proc some energy (though why not if you have the mana and the time), the fact that over-heals never proc seriously changes the equation for judging Revitalize. You can check out one version of those numbers as crunched by Kae over at Dreambound Druid.

Keep in mind I tested this only with respect to 1% mana procs, it may not hold true for other procs such as Rage, Runic Power, or Energy. Also, there is a one in a billion chance that this was a statistical anomaly in that I just happened to not see the 15% chance manifest over the course of a couple dozen Rejuvs. I will not be dropping the talent yet as there is plenty of periodic raid damage to keep the proc chance up, but consider my days of full heath proc hunting suspended.

Edit: Thankfully this issue has been hot-fixed so feel free to resume throwing around those needless Rejuvenation buffs whenever you find yourself bored and high on mana.