Druid changes - beta build 13066

[exochaft]

Figured I might as well get this started!

Balance

* Nature's Torment is now named Nature's Grace and now resets the cooldown of Nature's Grace instead of Nature's Torment.


Feral

* Thrash affects all targets within 8 yards. (Tooltip clarification)
* Tiger's Fury now increases physical damage done by 88.8% for 6 sec. (This one is weird, might want to wait before theorycrafting)
* Pulverize base additional damage increased by 66%.
* Stampede now affects your next Ravage. (Tooltip clarification)
* Fury Swipes - When you auto-attack while in Cat form or Bear form, you have a 5/10/15% chance to cause a Fury Swipe dealing 200% weapon damage. This effect cannot occur more than once every 3 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant


Restoration

* Lifebloom can now be cast on an unlimited amount of targets while under the effect of Tree of Life.
* Omen of Clarity (Passive) - If specialized as a Feral Druid, Omen of Clarity will also have a chance to occur from your auto-attacks. (Tooltip clarification)
* Tree of Life now lasts 30 sec, down from 45 sec. Costs 6% of base mana, down from 13% of base mana.
* Efflorescence no longer procs from Regrowth critical heals, now procs when you heal with your Swiftmend spell. Now heals all nearby friendly targets within 8 yards (up from 4 yards) for 10% of the amount healed by your Swiftmend over 7 sec.
* Blessing of the Grove no longer increases the damage done by your Claw and Shred.



I'm just going to start on the tanking perspective, since it interests me the most.

The Pulverize damage increase we saw coming... at least I think some of us did, since the bonus damage was based off of 5-stacks of Lacerate. A 66% increase would bring it in line with 5-Lacerate damage.
With Fury Swipes... wow, that's really nice now. Aside from the 200% weapon damage done when it does proc, the cooldown reduction from 6sec to 3secs (as well as the increased chance to proc) makes it much more attractive.

[dmx87212]

Fury swipes is going to be very attractive now.

The one that interests me is efflorescence. Because it is not based off of regrowth critical hits, nature's bounty doesnt seem to be right. It doesnt make sense. On the premade, swiftmade is supposedly healing for around 8.8K. So each tick will be around (8800*.1)/7=125. If you stack mastery up to a 20% bonus healing (theoretical) you will have (8800*1.2*.1)/7=150.

Maybe I'm doing my calculations but it seems like a nerf. Also you cannot chain cast Regrowth for efflorescence patches.

Also it requires a hot. hmm. Need smarter people with better theorycrafting. haha

[Millhi]

Fury swipes is going to be very attractive now.

The one that interests me is efflorescence. Because it is not based off of regrowth critical hits, nature's bounty doesnt seem to be right. It doesnt make sense. On the premade, swiftmade is supposedly healing for around 8.8K. So each tick will be around (8800*.1)/7=125. If you stack mastery up to a 20% bonus healing (theoretical) you will have (8800*1.2*.1)/7=150.

Maybe I'm doing my calculations but it seems like a nerf. Also you cannot chain cast Regrowth for efflorescence patches.

Also it requires a hot. hmm. Need smarter people with better theorycrafting. haha

my swiftmend is hitting 12k+normals and 20k+ crits will be a bit more efflorence healing but we'll see how it turns out but ye an additional effect on nature's bounty for swiftmend would be great. something like 10% on regrowth crit or rejuv tick, nourish/HT heal on swiftmend with no mana and cooldown cost (like rime talent of dk's).

[zlygork]

ToL 15 secs less and 7% less mana? if they really hate it so much, why yhe heck do they work in keeping it? as someone that only played the healer role as a druid, I loved ToL and one of the reasons (other than the kickass fact of being a tree) was the not having 80 "lol30secs" buffs, I don't find them at all hard to use (some of them can even be randomly implemented in a rotation,imo) but thiS!?
nono, either keep ToL oldschool or delete it, don't add a 30 sec shadow form,tnx

[Metallikiddd]

Dumbest change to druids is the thorns change...WTF?!

[dmx87212]

my swiftmend is hitting 12k+normals and 20k+ crits will be a bit more efflorence healing but we'll see how it turns out but ye an additional effect on nature's bounty for swiftmend would be great. something like 10% on regrowth crit or rejuv tick, nourish/HT heal on swiftmend with no mana and cooldown cost (like rime talent of dk's).

Ahhhh thats good. I found those number on a premade on EJ. The 10% still seems a bit low still for efflorescence.

I'd rather have healing touch/nourish reduce the cooldown of Swiftmend by .5s on successful hits, instead of successful crits.

ToL 15 secs less and 7% less mana? if they really hate it so much, why yhe heck do they work in keeping it? as someone that only played the healer role as a druid, I loved ToL and one of the reasons (other than the kickass fact of being a tree) was the not having 80 "lol30secs" buffs, I don't find them at all hard to use (some of them can even be randomly implemented in a rotation,imo) but thiS!?
nono, either keep ToL oldschool or delete it, don't add a 30 sec shadow form,tnx

I have no idea what they are doing with tree form. If lifebloom can be stacked on all targets with tree form, will they disappear when tree of life fades? Or can we keep them rolling with nourish/lifebloom. I personally wish they would make tree form a 15s duration and a 90 sec cooldown. I mean right now its a difficult decision. With a 30s duration and a 5 minute cooldown I'm not sure if I want to blow it on that moment. A 15s duration will essentially say: use it when you need it, and it'll be back within the minute or so.

Hell, maybe we can have nature's bounty effect tree form. Like 5% chance on all ticks from Regrowth, Rejuvenation, and Lifebloom to lower the cooldown of Tree Form by 5 seconds (or 1 second if its the 90sec cooldown).




And Blessing of the Grove is completely worthless now. 4% more healing on Rejuv (which we shouldn't spam) and 6% on the DD of moonfire (which is insignificant compared to where 2 talent points can go)

[Parabol700L]

I totally agree with Blizz on this one. ToL was most definitely 15 seconds too powerful. /sarcasm

The Efflorescence makes me a little sad, too. I kinda liked turning the ground green. Making it only proc from SM seems like a waste to be honest. They kinda killed the utility of the mechanic I think. I mean, you can throw a regrowth out to say..the melee and get a nice little patch of AoE for 'em. who's going to waste the GCD and SM cooldown just for that? qq

I DO, however, like the lifebloom change. Very cool.

[Struja]

Resto notes are really confusing and it makes it look like Blizzard has no idea in what direction to take Druid healing. I'm not in beta but from I've seen so far, healing as a Druid doesn't seem really fun and lacks depth if you compare it to other healing specs (especially Holy Priests and Shamans)

[exochaft]

On the surface, I think the Efflorescence change is probably for the best.

When you look at all the aspects of the change, it's allow more control over the effect. The increase in range from 4 to 8 yards and the proc on Swiftmend use rather than relying on a Regrowth crit... there's more power behind it now. By power, I mean it has the opportunity to hit more targets, and the healing component is not only larger, but the healer can choose when/where it will go off.

With respect to the ToL mana/duration reductions... it's either for two reason: the cooldown was too powerful in PvE or the benefits in PvP are too great to last 45 seconds. My gut instinct usually falls into the PvP realm when the power of something is reduced.

[shags the penguin]

Does it not force us to almost use swiftmend on melee targets or range groups ? like we do with WG now its most effective to use it on melee or groups, same with swiftmend ? kinda takes it away from being the oh shit go to heal for low HP burst up ?

[Millhi]

Dumbest change to druids is the thorns change...WTF?!

nah i like the thorns change 1470dmg on ranged/ melee hit (on my druid) for 20seconds eat it rogues^^

ye the ToL change might be a pvp nerf. not only the instant regrowths you get for it but the damage increase, cast time reduction of wrath for "30seconds" can hurt alot.

[shags the penguin]

Also lifebloom someone test this please...

Take 3 targets spam lifebloom to 3 stacks. Then use nourish to refresh them for ages ? I hope that this does not work, sound too like BC again.

[Struja]

On the surface, I think the Efflorescence change is probably for the best.

When you look at all the aspects of the change, it's allow more control over the effect. The increase in range from 4 to 8 yards and the proc on Swiftmend use rather than relying on a Regrowth crit... there's more power behind it now. By power, I mean it has the opportunity to hit more targets, and the healing component is not only larger, but the healer can choose when/where it will go off.

With respect to the ToL mana/duration reductions... it's either for two reason: the cooldown was too powerful in PvE or the benefits in PvP are too great to last 45 seconds. My gut instinct usually falls into the PvP realm when the power of something is reduced.

But then Druids loose the spot on raid healing CD as Swiftmend is going to be thrown mostly on tanks to maximize it's healing. Don't get me wrong, proccing of RG crit seemed rather stupid design to me, but this change is an unneeded nerf.
As lot of (smarter then me) people pointed out, some kind of AOE healing with Wild Mushroom (detonation proccing Efflorescence maybe???) makes perfect sense, and I'm not really sure why is Blizzard so hesitant with that idea.

[exochaft]

Does it not force us to almost use swiftmend on melee targets or range groups ? like we do with WG now its most effective to use it on melee or groups, same with swiftmend ? kinda takes it away from being the oh shit go to heal for low HP burst up ?

I don't foresee this being a problem for melee. If you're in a position of tank healing, unless the hitbox is huuuuuge, the melee should get hit by the Efflorescence with the new range w/o tank movement. Even if they don't... the tank should be smart enough to position his/herself at the back edge so the melee can stand in it.

Besides, range generally don't clump up unless a mechanic makes them do it (even then, it can be pulling teeth). Melee are generally going to be the only group of raiders that are fairly clumped. This change actually enforces the ability of resto druids to be tank healers and have incidental AoE healing built in.

But then Druids loose the spot on raid healing CD as Swiftmend is going to be thrown mostly on tanks to maximize it's healing. Don't get me wrong, proccing of RG crit seemed rather stupid design to me, but this change is an unneeded nerf.
As lot of (smarter then me) people pointed out, some kind of AOE healing with Wild Mushroom (detonation proccing Efflorescence maybe???) makes perfect sense, and I'm not really sure why is Blizzard so hesitant with that idea.

And this in no way breaks a resto druid out of raid healing. As stated before, you'd have to make your ranged move most likely to benefit from Efflorescence, and that can be a DPS/HPS loss... and that problem is actually worse with Regrowth since it's still a non-predictable crit. There will likely be tank and raid healing specs that you can switch between if you so desire, this new Efflorescence is actually better if you're trying to rely on the ability instead of crossing your fingers and waiting for a crit. Besides, the times where you'd want to use Swiftmend on a ranged as a raid healer is when they'll take spike damage, which classically can have splash damage that hits other raiders close to that target... just use SM smartly, and you have one of the best targeted incidental AoE healing spells.

[Millhi]

I don't foresee this being a problem for melee. If you're in a position of tank healing, unless the hitbox is huuuuuge, the melee should get hit by the Efflorescence with the new range w/o tank movement. Even if they don't... the tank should be smart enough to position his/herself at the back edge so the melee can stand in it.

Besides, range generally don't clump up unless a mechanic makes them do it (even then, it can be pulling teeth). Melee are generally going to be the only group of raiders that are fairly clumped. This change actually enforces the ability of resto druids to be tank healers and have incidental AoE healing built in.

ye druids are getting more tools to tank heal like other classes as pala gets tools to raidheal. hope gc clarifices some changes when the patch goes live.

edit: woop 400posts

[Struja]

And this in no way breaks a resto druid out of raid healing. As stated before, you'd have to make your ranged move most likely to benefit from Efflorescence, and that can be a DPS/HPS loss... and that problem is actually worse with Regrowth since it's still a non-predictable crit. There will likely be tank and raid healing specs that you can switch between if you so desire, this new Efflorescence is actually better if you're trying to rely on the ability instead of crossing your fingers and waiting for a crit. Besides, the times where you'd want to use Swiftmend on a ranged as a raid healer is when they'll take spike damage, which classically can have splash damage that hits other raiders close to that target... just use SM smartly, and you have one of the best targeted incidental AoE healing spells.

The thing is, proccing Efflorescence of Regrowth crits (again, which I'm no fan of) just didn't feel as a real AOE heal, more like a bonus comparable to Living seed. With some numbers tweaked it could be made into a competitive AOE heal if it procs 100% of Swiftmend (which I'm sure will be the case). But then, didn't Blizzard just give us a new AOE healing spell, which they swore would not be granted to Druids, and took away Swiftmend?

[Deleted]

They should just make Efflorescence a targeted aoe heal with a 15sec cd or something - yeah i know they always swore blind they would never do such a thing, but it would make sense and would not almost 'force' us to use SM just as a means to proc it.

[ELEDIN]

They should just make Efflorescence a targeted aoe heal with a 15sec cd or something - yeah i know they always swore blind they would never do such a thing, but it would make sense and would not almost 'force' us to use SM just as a means to proc it.

They did it on priests power word: sanctuary
Eflloresnece is a nerf of course and im very sad
30% it was form regrowth (with 60% crit naked) and 10% of swiftmend its about the same healing, plus that swiftmend has cd and with regrowth you can stack it more than 1 times with more control.
Of course its a nerf

[axio]

Also lifebloom someone test this please...

Take 3 targets spam lifebloom to 3 stacks. Then use nourish to refresh them for ages ? I hope that this does not work, sound too like BC again.

This is definitely interesting and I'm hoping it will work that way. You obviously wouldn't be able to do it for too long or you'd be oom.

As for the Effloressence change, did you honestly not see that coming? If people where stacked up you could stack the green circles, especially with tree form. With it on Swiftmend it gives the healer more control by reducing the chance of randomness. The 8 yard range also allows it to reach the melee if used on the tank.

Once every 15 seconds or so is a bit much though. Right now Healing Touch doesn't have much benefit compared to the other spells... If they made Nature's Bounty reduce the cooldown of Swiftmend by 0.5 seconds for Nourish and 1 second for Healing Touch then it would give it a bit more incentive (other than just being behind on healing).

The only thing that still pisses me off about Resto Druids is that the Glyph of Swiftmend is basically still required. If they would add that affect to a talent like Gift of the Earth Mother and move and move the instant 15% of Rejuv to Swift Rejuvenation then the change to Effloressence wouldn't seem as bad.

[Struja]

Efflorescence - When you heal with your Swiftmend spell you also sprout a bed of healing flora underneath the target, healing all nearby friendly targets within 8 yards for 120% of the amount healed by your Swiftmend over 7 sec.
I guess the 10% of Swiftmend was a typo, 120% makes much more sense. And confirms my previous and Ranavar's post.

Oh and while we're on Priests Chakra:

Revelations - While in a Chakra state, your Holy Word: Chastise ability will transform you into a different healer depending on which class you wish to make fun of.

Holy Word: Serenity (Heal) - Transforms you into a Holy Paladin, only better.

Holy Word: Aspire (Renew) - Transforms you into a Druid with more powerful healing over time spells which when complete their duration put another healing over time spell on current target.

Holy Word: Sanctuary (Prayer of Healing) - Transforms you into a Shaman with more AOE healing spells that heal more raid members than Shaman ones.
:P