I dont see how druids are getting "nerfed". sure displace beast is getting changed but idk if i would call it big enough to say druids are getting nerfed. if your dotted anyway ur not gonna stay invs for very long. plus cyclone lasts 2 seconds longer and still only has DR on intself. I'll agree that priests are staying about the same with their buffs and nerfs and rshaman are practically getting unchaged (only change they have is vigor and buff to elemental totems). dont know enough about pallys to judge them
Druids are getting buffed. The only nerf is stealth on displacer which isn't that much of a big deal anyway. They are getting a 10% healing buff and a change to wild mushrooms which could make them useful. All the cyclone changes have been reverted.
Disc are getting buffed to the point of probably being top tier along side the other healers. From what i've seen from people streaming PTR they seem to be pretty damn good.
Agree with Mistweavers.
Agree with Resto Shaman.
Paladin are getting a nerf to Blinding Light cast time. Meaning their CC chain isn't as faceroll to pull off. It's also a slight nerf to survivability as sometimes it was used defensively.
All in all it looks to be the most healer-balanced PvP season yet, assuming Mistweavers aren't buffed to god status and everyone rerolls them. It'll probably end up Monk = Rsham > Hpala > Druid = Disc. Obviously some will be better for various comps.
i would pick holy if i were you. much lower skill cap, easier to play.
You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish.
[QUOTE=iWolfBanei;20136429 All the cyclone changes have been reverted. [/QUOTE]
gloves have changed from increased 5 yards to duration increased by 2 secs
It's all comp and style dependant:
Hpala > Melee cleave > Rshaman = Rdruid > Priest
Rshaman > WizCleave > Rdruid = Hpala = Priest (more or less)
It's always been like this, and will always be cuz Blizz balances PvP around 3v3 and each healer being good vs specific comps and situations.
Well Build-16539 just got updated for monks and MWs are now worst of than they are on live so 'being buffed to god status' doesn't look too likely atm!
You guys don't understand why the displacer beast is a nerf because you don't use it. Sure, dots will break stealth, and sure a warrior can leap onto you, etc. Displacer was strong because of the TARGET DROP. It does a few things, one it drops focus. That makes people have to refocus mid game and sometimes people forget to do so. Two it allows you to dodge CC. I could already dodge any CC with Growl even when I was on GCD (NERFED) but with displacer I could also dodge cyclones, fears, etc with a target drop. And the growl "trick" was nerfed to not allow you to growl and shift to bear while you were on GCD. Some games you would eat a sheep because you could not shift while on GCD.
Displacer target drop is a big nerf to druid survivability. And the cyclone duration increase was most definitely reverted.
Apart from it doesn't break stuns like blink, it puts you into a form so you're on global and the stealth breaks on the first damage you take. Not saying it isn't good, but it's not like it's 3 amazing spells rolled into one.
In the same way Mortal Strike, Cheap Shot, Disengage and Grounding Totem win games. They are all spells. It's not like a Druid casting displacer beast actually won a game by itself.
(I agree with Displacer nerf, it didn't need the stealth component.. but it isn't as god mode as some of you are hinting. Any intelligent person would wait until the Druid displaced a CC before swapping to them. And if you're complaining about Druids running away from CC using it, then you've clearly never played a Druid... the only class without an aura mastery or CC break).
All healers are going to be glad viable or better in 5.2. Disc is very strong right now when you play with the right people and it's just getting buffed.
Shamans have been very strong for a long time and i dont see this changing at all. Hpallys have always been strong with melee cleaves / dk,lock,pally teams. And monks are getting buffed. Druids are pretty viable right now with the right team.
No doubt it was strong, but honestly druids needed something like that in order to live through some of the ridiculous burst. Paladins and Shaman are the go to healers this season because they deal with burst damage the best. Druids are really made for longer games. The target drop was the most important thing, but hopefully the change to allow you to move faster and break snare in one button will be enough to get to pillars and heal up. Talent was so strong I even used it over wild charge on z-axis maps so we all know it was overpowered and needed a fix.
The other good use for Displacer Beast I haven't seen mentioned yet was drinking. God Comp rdruid's for example can frequently pull off mid-arena drinking (which is far more rare for other healers either this season or all last expansion), via Displacer Beast --> Stealthing to a distant pillar, they don't drop stealth until they are out of combat drinking. So, if you fortunately have a pet on your team you can sic them immediately, but they will still get a few ticks in - if you don't have a pet on your team they will likely get even more, since you have to figure out which pillar they went to in stealth.
So part of the reason the stealth on displacer beast was so incredibly strong was that it was:
1) target drop / cast stop (blocking CC's and big nukes)
2) melee escape tool (blink/vanish-> wait for recklessness to end in stealth, or they blow their charges picking a new target, then root them)
3) out of combat drink tool (blink/vanish->go drink behind the farthest away pillar)
4) oh shit button (blink/vanish->LoS/heal up)
Displacer Beast was WAYY too strong an ability, and I think some of you are underestimating just how good it was (my rdruid is in like <290k hp greens and never dies in 90 bgs, wholly because of my ability to blink/vanish the moment I take a hit). With that said, even with Displacer Beast rdruid's weren't as strong as hpal's and rsham's this season - so I think the nerf to an ability like DB that was propping them up - is going to hit them hard. They will still work in things like god comp, because of frost mage peels and spriest heals if they get stunned/tunneled - but their comp diversity is going to suffer in any comp that doesn't have frost mage peels + support hybrid heals for them.
With teleport, snare break and sprint all rolled into one spell on a 30s cooldown, it will be next to impossible to kill a druids.
Resto druids are weak when Displacer Beast is down. Most classes don't have a strong escape mechanism, but they have abilities to slow focused damage: strong instant cast heals, Focused Will, Armor (Plate/Mail/Shields), Bubble, etc.
When your escape mechanism is on a 30 second cooldown, you are going to get caught. In other words, Resto Druids find themselves in their worst position all the time.
For utility easy: shaman tons of strong cds decent stacked AoE healing strong single target. Mana tide for mana and tremor to remove fears (Grand empires with 3 shamans is so easy) stormlash for more raid dps
For pure numbers Paladin should be top on meters with loads of AoE healing to spend tons of mana with higher spirit levels and just good overall healing