My thoughts on the ToL Cata change.

[Attackmonkey]

We've all been reading on WoW forums across the net that many of us resto druids are a little unhappy with the ToL changes in Cata. I understand what Blizz is trying to do with making it a cooldown, but I feel I'm being slightly robbed. The initial appeal of druids are their forms and versatility, each form has a respective role to fulfil, I don't think I'm alone when I say that I feel like I'm losing a druid form in Cata. While this might be just a cosmetic thing to some of us, I personally like healing as a tree. A suggestion I have is to keep tree form as a permanent form, but give us some sort of empowered version on a cooldown. Over the years, as a druid player, healing has become synonymous with The Tree. I would hate to lose that.

[Myrrar]

Making your own thread is pointless when there are tons of threads already on this.

If you had read them, Blizz has said they are considering putting in a cosmetic Glyph to keep old tree form look at all times for those druids who liked it.

[Ravenblade]

I felt slightly violated when ToL was introduced. What role did it fill which your caster form couldn't? Yes, that's right, Druids are a caster class capable of supplementing additional roles and tasks through shapeshifting. It's been nothing but a costumized spell filter only usable in groups, adding nothing to your play-style while acting as passive buff zombie. Healing has become synonymous with tree - no, healing has become synonymous with HoT casting and even that raw emphasis on that is going away in Cataclysm aside from the aura it provided effectively leaving nothing else than that dead husk it was. At least that insane conceptual roller-coasting will finally come to an end.

[Syph]

I understand what Blizz is trying to do with making it a cooldown, but I feel I'm being slightly robbed.

Robbed... Thats funny 'cause thats exactly how I felt when the Tree of Life invaded my class... ToL basically tied me up against a tree and made me watch as he grabbed my spellbook and started tearing out the pages one by one, leaving behind only 3/4th of the last page...
As if that wasn't enough torture, it turned out that the tree he tied me up against was infact a second ToL ...

[ELEDIN]

I felt slightly violated when ToL was introduced. What role did it fill which your caster form couldn't? Yes, that's right, Druids are a caster class capable of supplementing additional roles and tasks through shapeshifting. It's been nothing but a costumized spell filter only usable in groups, adding nothing to your play-style while acting as passive buff zombie. Healing has become synonymous with tree - no, healing has become synonymous with HoT casting and even that raw emphasis on that is going away in Cataclysm aside from the aura it provided effectively leaving nothing else than that dead husk it was. At least that insane conceptual roller-coasting will finally come to an end.

Actaully our tree is synonimus to our resto spec. I always hear people say bring a tree for hots, or we dont have trees. In forums when we talk for resto druid the most of us start with the name "what happend to our tree" , "tree druid choices of gear", tree on this ,tree on that....!Raid leader: Oh we lose a healer. Druid: np cause my second spec is tree and tons of examples like this!!

[Dundebuns]

Yes. I can see it's absolutely abominable that Druid healing will be buffed to compensate for the lack of perma wood, and that you will now be able to cast offensive spells as well as supplemented healing on your brand new healing cooldown.

[Horben1]

Yes. I can see it's absolutely abominable that Druid healing will be buffed to compensate for the lack of perma wood, and that you will now be able to cast offensive spells as well as supplemented healing on your brand new healing cooldown.

QFT! Quoting icons of a class is no valid defense; iconoclasm can be very good for all things sometimes. Especially video games.

[Ravenblade]

Actaully our tree is synonimus to our resto spec. I always hear people say bring a tree for hots, or we dont have trees. In forums when we talk for resto druid the most of us start with the name "what happend to our tree" , "tree druid choices of gear", tree on this ,tree on that....!Raid leader: Oh we lose a healer. Druid: np cause my second spec is tree and tons of examples like this!!

I can see what you mean, but you know in the same sense it should be noted that Druids in general were synonymous for healers once. Popular belief is fun when it suits you, outrageous if it hurts you.8) As a player of this class I primarily associate Druid healing with HT spam first, then Lifebloom spam, then 5+1 (Rejuv+WG) spam. ToL was really an annoyance in the beginning to the point of making me reroll another class after a while to heal in TBC. I just accepted it after a certain period of time and in WotLK seeing that eventually either they will find a concept to settle with - which they didn't or a total overhaul - which they did. A year ago I expected it to be still a permanent form just being Druid-ified for a lack of better words.
Considering that their original intention of the ToL seemed to be a non-permanent form which you dynamically acquire by need yet failed to achieve their goal it makes sense that they are rebooting the whole idea.