Just a quick note to say that I have fixed up a few of the suggestions and corrections sent in, and I’ve now updated the guide to include Wowhead mouseover links for all talents, objects and abilities.

All 580 billion of them.



http://treebarkjacket.com/restoguide/

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Warning: if you can’t handle creepy crawlies, don’t read this.



I have chickens. A couple of very handsome roosters, a handful of age-defying bantam hens, and a flock of generic layers.

The chickens have lice.

I now have lice.



Being a laz0r chicken: You’re taking authenticity a bit far, actually



Well, I don’t actually have them right now. $50 worth of insecticide, a bottle of head lice shampoo (mostly to make me feel better), a big pair of gumboots and a garden fork, and it’s all sorted.

The shed has been mucked out, perches have been sprayed, nest boxes dusted, birds ruffled. And to satisfy my own paranoia – my bed sheets changed, hair foamed, and shoes sprayed.

The hair foaming (with head lice shampoo – which was awfully nice, to be honest) was also partly because one of my stupid hens decided the best path to the outside world was via my HEAD. So along with ripping out half my hair and gouging my scalp, she probably deposited a nice brood of bird bugs on my head. Sigh.

I’ll be repeating the dusting and spraying (quite an expensive exercise) each day until I’m satisfied that walking into the pen to feed them will not re-infest myself.

I spent ~$100 on insecticides, shampoos, and new straw bedding. Plus I lost $100 in wages, having the day off to shower, go into town to buy powders and sprays, and then clean out the pen.

Ever have to tell your boss you need to go home because you have lice? Yeah, not the highest point of my week. Then, coming home from buying various bottles and boxes of poisons, a truck kicked up a stone and put a huge chip in my windscreen.


I sure could use a hug right now. Anyone..? I swear I’m lice-free now!

…Honest!

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For a little while now I’ve been working on a Resto healing guide of my own. For ages I didn’t bother, since there were other guides up, and I didn’t think it was worth the effort to reinvent the wheel. But I realised that if I want my site to be any kind of resource, I need it to have information that people are seeking when they come here.

I do have a guides page, but those guides have been a bit few and far between.

So in the future I would like my site to continue to be “bloggy”, but I’d like to put more of an emphasis on helpful and informative guide-type articles along the way, so that TBJ can be a solid resource for resto druids.

As a foundation, I’ve created my own resto PvE guide:




I haven’t added it to my guides page yet – but I will soon. I need to update that page a bit anyway.

Due to the size of the guide, I’m positive there will be typos, a broken link or two, and most likely some wonky advice, no doubt. If you spot something that you think isn’t quite right, would you mind letting me know?

Some of it is accepted theorycraft, but a lot of it is “this is how I do it” based on my experience. If you think something is way off base, or perhaps something is missing, please let me know. I’ve already had to fix one part of it because I wrote it from my point of view, rather than as a new druid.. so I don’t mind if you think something isn’t quite right.

(Just be gentle though, I spent a lot of time on it!)

Thanks!



Oops, quick edit: Before anyone comments – I realise it is too wide for a 15″ monitor (if you have one). Unfortunately if I make it any narrower, it will make it so that the text in many of the tables will have to be reduced to being almost illegible, in order to fit. I do apologise that you’ll have to scroll – but it has to be that wide. Cheers!

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24hours and counting on my migraine, so I can’t make any promises regarding coherency here. But I wanted to share my (initial) thoughts on Blizzard’s announcement that in Cataclysm they will be putting 25s and 10s on the same lockout, with the same loot.

Summary from WoW.com:

* 10- and 25- man raids in Cataclysm will share the same lockout
* Normal versus Heroic mode will be chosen on a per-boss basis in Cataclysm raids, the same way it works in Icecrown Citadel
* 10- and 25- man bosses will be close in difficulty
* 10- and 25- man bosses will drop the exact same items
* 25-man bosses will drop a higher quantity of loot, but not quality
* Content will continue to be gated
* First Cataclysm raids will be tuned for players in dungeons blues and crafted items



10 man raiders have always been the red-headed step-child

First of all, it’s not a big surprise. Giving all healers dispels, the creation of Magelust, consolidating buffs – it all points to “take the player, not the class” and making it easier to fill a 10man group – without missing out on key buffs and abilities. 10 man raiders have been crying out for a long time that it’s unfair that they work hard for their boss kills – often with inferior loot – and despite Blizzards previous claims that 10 mans were a viable “branch” of raiding, they still fell short and were not as difficult, and didn’t give similar rewards.

On the other side of the street, you have 25man raiders rightly claiming that 25man raids are harder to coordinate – it’s harder to wrangle 25 bums into seats, for a start. Harder to keep recruitment running, harder to deal with attrition, etc. There’s usually more drama in 25mans, more cliques, more pressure on officers to “run” things (when we were a 10 man guild, nobody had to run anything – the guild practically ran itself).

So part of me believes that 25man raiders deserve more because it is undeniably harder to run a 25man raid team and 25man raiding guild.

But the other part of me believes that if Blizzard really does want 10man raiding to be parallel to 25man raiding in terms of skill (etc) then something has to give. Giving 10 man raiders inferior loot always made them feel like it wasn’t “real” raiding. I remember the Valanyr debates – why can’t 10 man raiders get one, too? Obviously because 25man raiders would go run 10s for multiple maces – just as they would run multiple instances for extra loot if it was made equal to the 25man gear – and obviously that is unfair. And 25man raiders would often claim positions on the 10 man progression ladder, wearing their 25man loot (that won’t be a problem anymore, since we’ll all be wearing the same stuff – 25man raiders won’t have a head start on 10 man fights through superior gear).

So what’s the choice? Either continue as we are now, with 10man raids being (unfortunately) inherently inferior, or change it so that they truly are in parallel with 25s.

Evidently Blizzard really does what the 10 man raiders to have their raids without feeling like it’s a consolation prize, when they should really be doing “real” raids with the “real” raiders.


They want more people to see more content

Anyone remember 10man Stratholme? I loved that place with 10 people. It was a great size. But they changed the 10 man dungeons because it was too difficult to form a group from Trade. Making it 5 man made it much easier for groups to form, which meant more groups seeing the content.

This is the same. Bringing 10s in line with 25s means more people getting a chance to do it. Not restricting it to the people who have and run large guilds. Allowing small groups of friends to raid. I remember back in Kara, playing with my friends – I loved that place. But I always felt like I was lagging behind the “real” raiders because I wasn’t in 25man raids.

10s are more fun, with less hassle, a closer group, and less chance of you having to drag half a dozen slackers around for free loot. I loved it when we were a 10 man guild.

So, honestly, I like it. Throw your stones, I don’t care. And I’m a 25man raider!


Less pressure to cram it all in

These days, I never get to do 10s. I still haven’t killed LK on 10, despite him being killed by our guild weeks and weeks ago. Why? Because we have one group that raids at midnight on (I can’t do that), and another group that is already set in stone and I only ever get invited if the other druid is away. It’s not fun being on the bench permanently. The only chance I get is if there is a third part-alts run, perhaps on a weekend. And I feel obliged to go because I want those achievements, I want to say that I’ve done it. And because I do need some of the gear for my other spec. And then someone is away, and we can’t finish it off tonight. Or tomorrow. There goes another week that I don’t get to finish the instance.

I’m left feeling ripped off that I can’t get a group for 10s, while other people can. And why? Because it’s there. Because the achievements beckon. Because there’s a bit of gear, I guess. And more badges. I feel obliged to do it.. and I feel really annoyed and upset when I miss out on a week.

If that option/obligation is taken away – well, I’ll be honest – YEEHAW.

Some people are upset about “missing out” – ie if you choose to do 25s, you’ll “miss out” on 10s. You’re not missing out on something that doesn’t exist anymore (a second lockout). We never had parallel 10 and 25 raids in TBC. There were 10man raids, and there were 25s. We didn’t have the same instance for both sizes. I think at first, it seemed like a good idea to be able to choose; it seemed like it would give people the choice to be a 10 or a 25man raider. But all that really happened is that 10 man raiders felt ripped off, and 25man raiders felt obliged to do double or quadruple the raiding each week.

I am not a fan of double (or quadruple) raid lockouts. I feel obliged to run them – as many serious raiders do – to maximise my character. And that’s not even bringing alts into the picture. Two or four runs of the same instance per week – per character – is not fun. I can’t say I’ll be sad to see the back of that.


The near death of 25s?

I don’t buy the argument that 10man loot is poorer because the fights are easier. If Blizzard can balance 40 man raids to be difficult for 40 people, and 25man raids to be difficult for 25 people, then they can balance 10 man raids for 10 people. Especially with the changes to buffs etc.

However, I do know that it is harder to pull together a 25man guild, and to keep a 25man guild running, keep recruitment up, keep the bench healthy, etc. But I still don’t think that should mean free ponies.

I do agree that extra gold and badges won’t be enough to encourage people to do 25mans. 10man raids are easier to put together, more fun to run, with less drama, less noise on vent (I ran last night with a migraine and vent made me want to curl up in the dark and die). I think that this change will be the death of many 25man raids – because there just won’t be enough incentive to bother with all that hassle, when you can do the same encounters, for the same loot, but with a smaller and tighter-knit group.

Heck, it’s hard enough now with 25man heroic loot to get people to turn up – why would anyone turn up to a 25man raid with more noise, more people to organise, more hassle… when you can go to 10s and get the same stuff, just fewer pieces (which won’t matter much, since the raid will be half the size – more items is only to make sure the raids are outfitted at roughly the same pace – it doesn’t mean everyone will gear up super fast in 25s)?

I’m not sure how they can make it more attractive to 25man raiders, without simply going around in circles to make 10s feel downtrodden again. If you give the 25man raiders anything more than the same loot but higher quantities – say, a mount or a title – it’s just like it was before, with the 10man raiders clearly being second-class, and making them feel obliged to do 25man raids for the better rewards.


Why bother?

I loved 40 mans. I miss 40 mans. But there’s no denying that they were a royal pain in the butt to put together. Not to mention incredibly frustrating when you had 38 people online and had to cancel because you were just short of being able to run MC. As much as it made me sad to say goodbye to 40 man raids.. I knew it was mostly for the best. And as much as I do enjoy 25man raids, they also come with their share of pain. And, frankly, these days I am beginning to feel that the pain outweighs the supposed glory of being able to claim victory over a 25man sized raid encounter rather than a 10man sized one. I think I’m over it.

If the 10man raids really are equal in difficulty, then I would love to do them. At this stage in my WoW career, I am far more interested in killing dragons with friends than being #1 on the 25man charts. Sure I love being a peacock at times, standing around in heroic 25man gear and getting comments – but having fun with my friends is so much more important than showing off my pixels. All I ever wanted was to know that my (our) skill was competitive – and you can’t do that in the current 10mans – they are seen by many people as the ezmode/casual option.

I just want to be at the pinnacle of raiding – whatever that is. If the 10man fights require the same skill (and aren’t seen as the “ezmode version”), then I will quite happily give up competing on the 25man ladder – because it won’t matter anymore. Whether or not they are equal remains to be seen, though.

I believe that they only reason people will do 25s is to be able to say they’ve done it, on the realm progression list, and, presumably, if there are 25man achievements separate to 10 man achievements (god I hope not – or I’ll STILL feel obliged to do both raids, over time).

I’m certainly not going to make assumptions or decisions for my guild, so far ahead of time. But with the trouble we go through week to week trying to fill a 25man raid – I seriously doubt that a chalk mark on the wall and some check marks on an achievement list will be enough to keep a 25man team running strong in Cataclysm.


And if I said that thought upset me, I’d be a big, fat liar.

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Alrighty – here are my Power Auras exports for balance.

Remember: these settings have my auras show up at the bottom of my screen, off to the right of the middle. You will need to adjust the X/Y settings to put them in the spot that you prefer.


Eclipse

My eclipse notifications are actually two effects on top of each other; a coloured rune, and then the spell icon on top. You don’t have to do this of course, you can use one or the other, but as a beginner moonkin I wanted it to be as plain as day which spell I had to cast.

So I made a green rune with a Wrath icon for Solar Eclipse, and a purple rune with a Starfire icon for Lunar Eclipse, so there was no doubt what to do when they popped up.

Lunar Eclipse (cast Starfire now!)

Starfire icon indicator (with timer):

Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu0.98823529411765; anim1:nu1; g:nu1; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:bofalse; icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Druid_Eclipse; size:nu0.25999999046326; torsion:nu1; r:nu0.97647058823529; y:nu-471; x:nu312; customname:st48465; groupany:bofalse; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu1; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu16; alpha:nu0.34999999403954; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu1; owntex:bofalse; isResting:nu0; duration:nu0; mine:bofalse; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1; anim2:nu2; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; spec2:botrue; InactiveDueToState:bofalse; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; sound:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:nu0; id:nu15; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:botrue; aurastextfont:nu1; buffname:st[48518]; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:botrue; stance:nu10; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:botrue; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:botrue; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu2; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; finish:nu1; timer.InvertAuraBelow:nu0; timer.dual:bofalse; timer.HideLeadingZeros:bofalse; timer.h:nu1.5; timer.ShowOnAuraHide:bofalse; timer.UpdatePing:bofalse; timer.Texture:stDefault; timer.enabled:botrue; timer.Showing:botrue; timer.lastShownLarge:nu12; timer.y:nu-346; timer.x:nu200; timer.CustomDuration:nu0; timer.Transparent:botrue; timer.a:nu1; timer.HideRequest:botrue; timer.id:nu15; timer.cents:bofalse


Rune background:

Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu1; anim1:nu1; g:nu0.26274509803922; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:bofalse; icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Druid_Eclipse; size:nu0.45999997854233; torsion:nu1; r:nu0.58823529411765; y:nu-470; x:nu311; customname:st48465; groupany:bofalse; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu1; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu2; alpha:nu0.34999999403954; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu1; owntex:bofalse; isResting:nu0; duration:nu0; mine:bofalse; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1; anim2:nu2; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; spec2:botrue; InactiveDueToState:bofalse; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; sound:nu0; wowtex:botrue; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:nu0; id:nu20; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:botrue; aurastextfont:nu1; buffname:st[48518]; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:bofalse; stance:nu10; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:botrue; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:botrue; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu1; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; finish:nu1


Solar Eclipse (cast Wrath now!)

Wrath icon indicator (with timer):

Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu0.9843137254902; anim1:nu1; g:nu0.9921568627451; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:bofalse; icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Druid_EclipseOrange; size:nu0.25999999046326; torsion:nu1; r:nu1; y:nu-472; x:nu311; customname:st48461; groupany:bofalse; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu1; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu16; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu2; owntex:bofalse; isResting:nu0; duration:nu0; mine:bofalse; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1; anim2:nu2; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; InactiveDueToState:bofalse; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; sound:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:nu0; id:nu16; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; buffname:st[48517]; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:botrue; stance:nu10; spec2:botrue; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:botrue; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:bofalse; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu2; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; finish:nu1; timer.a:nu1; timer.dual:bofalse; timer.HideRequest:botrue; timer.id:nu16; timer.cents:bofalse; timer.HideLeadingZeros:bofalse; timer.enabled:botrue; timer.Showing:bofalse; timer.y:nu-346; timer.h:nu1.5; timer.ShowOnAuraHide:bofalse; timer.Transparent:botrue; timer.UpdatePing:bofalse; timer.InvertAuraBelow:nu0; timer.x:nu200; timer.Texture:stDefault


Rune background:

Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu0.074509803921569; anim1:nu1; g:nu0.48627450980392; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:bofalse; icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Druid_EclipseOrange; size:nu0.45999997854233; torsion:nu1; r:nu0.11372549019608; y:nu-470; x:nu311; customname:st48461; groupany:bofalse; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu1; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu2; alpha:nu0.10000000149012; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu1; owntex:bofalse; isResting:nu0; duration:nu0; mine:bofalse; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1; anim2:nu2; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; InactiveDueToState:bofalse; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; sound:nu0; wowtex:botrue; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:nu0; id:nu19; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; buffname:st[48517]; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:bofalse; stance:nu10; spec2:botrue; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:botrue; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:bofalse; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu1; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; finish:nu1



Long cooldowns

This is useful to remind you that an ability is “ready to go”. You could also attach an alarm sound, to alert you to when something comes off cooldown and is ready to go again – this is very useful. Just don’t use it on short cooldowns or it will drive you nuts.

Note: the timers you see on the icons are where the cooldown timers will show when the ability is not ready. When it’s ready to go, you’ll see an icon; when the ability is down, you’ll just see a number in that spot, telling you how long you have to wait.

Starfall icon (with cooldown timer):

Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu0.93333333333333; anim1:nu1; g:nu1; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:bofalse; icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Druid_Starfall; size:nu0.15999999642372; torsion:nu1; r:nu0.96470588235294; y:nu-512; x:nu234; customname:st53201; groupany:botrue; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:st; bufftype:nu15; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu21; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu0; owntex:bofalse; isResting:nu0; duration:nu0; mine:bofalse; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1; anim2:nu1; spec2:botrue; stacksOperator:st>=; realaura:nu1; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; InactiveDueToState:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; sound:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:nu0; id:nu17; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:botrue; aurastextfont:nu1; buffname:stStarfall; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:botrue; stance:nu10; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:botrue; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:botrue; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu2; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; finish:nu0; timer.InvertAuraBelow:nu0; timer.dual:bofalse; timer.HideLeadingZeros:bofalse; timer.h:nu1; timer.ShowOnAuraHide:botrue; timer.UpdatePing:bofalse; timer.Texture:stDefault; timer.enabled:botrue; timer.Showing:botrue; timer.lastShownLarge:nu2; timer.y:nu-328; timer.x:nu149; timer.HideRequest:botrue; timer.Transparent:botrue; timer.a:nu1; timer.CustomDuration:nu0; timer.id:nu17; timer.cents:bofalse


Force of Nature (treants) icon (with cooldown timer):

Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu0.93333333333333; anim1:nu1; g:nu1; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:bofalse; icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Druid_ForceofNature; size:nu0.15999999642372; torsion:nu1; r:nu0.96470588235294; y:nu-431; x:nu233; customname:st33831; groupany:botrue; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:st; bufftype:nu15; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu21; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu0; owntex:bofalse; isResting:nu0; duration:nu0; mine:bofalse; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1; anim2:nu1; spec2:botrue; stacksOperator:st>=; realaura:nu1; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; InactiveDueToState:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; sound:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:nu0; id:nu18; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; buffname:stForce of Nature; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:botrue; stance:nu10; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:botrue; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:bofalse; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu2; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; finish:nu0; timer.InvertAuraBelow:nu0; timer.dual:bofalse; timer.HideLeadingZeros:bofalse; timer.h:nu1; timer.ShowOnAuraHide:botrue; timer.UpdatePing:bofalse; timer.Texture:stDefault; timer.enabled:botrue; timer.Showing:bofalse; timer.y:nu-275; timer.x:nu149; timer.HideRequest:botrue; timer.Transparent:botrue; timer.a:nu1; timer.CustomDuration:nu0; timer.id:nu18; timer.cents:bofalse

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Our guild has been without a Moonkin for a long, long time. And even when we had moonkins in the past, they were unreliable or had bad connections. Basically, I can’t remember when we ever had a solid moonkin in the raid.

The raid leaders really wanted one, badly, and were discussing the option of someone swapping to play one. I hated the idea of someone having to give up their main, especially since soon we’ll work on getting our Icecrown drakes. Kinda crappy to miss out on all the achievements and boss kills, just so we can have a buff.

So I volunteered to give it a go.

They laughed.

Can’t really blame them, I’m dual-spec resto and I’ve been resto since I very first started playing, over 4 years ago.

But I was serious. If I did it, it would mean nobody gives up their main character. Plus, I already have pretty awesome gear, and would only have to make a few adjustments to get hit capped and be ready to go – a bunch of my gear is perfectly acceptable as boomkin gear already – so I’m not going to have to be loot trained to a bunch of gear. And, of course, they know I’m reliable.

So I set out to become a Moonkin.

I figured I would share what I did – for anyone else who has been a healer for a million years and suddenly wants to raid as a Moonkin (and isn’t sure where to begin). It’s certainly not an in-depth guide at all, just the steps I took to get myself up to scratch in a big, fat, feathery hurry.


Steps to becoming a moonkin in a hurry

Step 1: Make your UI a bit more DPS-friendly.

Healer UIs and DPS UIs (generally) have some fundamental differences. At the very least, they tend to have elements that are more detailed for one spec than the other. For example, a healer UI will generally shift focus to raid frames, where a DPS UI will usually have frames, but they won’t be focus.

I wanted a hybrid UI, so that I could use it for both resto and boomkin. My trademark “empty” UI wouldn’t cut it if I wanted to DPS. Here’s what I had to do:



• Make sure my player and target frames are nice and clear, and show all appropriate buffs, debuffs, target-of-target, cast bar, and nice clear fonts. I use Pitbull4 for this.

• I kept Grid as-is, because I use it for decursing, finding people who need to be innervated or revived, etc. But boy is it hard to ignore Grid and resist the temptation to heal! I moved Grid closer to my character, but I still prefer not to have it right under my character, because that makes me antsy about not being able to see “behind” me. This is personal preference only.
• PowerAuras – oh how I love you. I’ve set my PowerAuras up to tell me when my cooldowns (Starfall, treants) are ready to go – but also, most importantly, which Eclipse buff I have. PA also tells me that I have debuffs up on my target, as appropriate. (see the rotation section for an explanation of my Power Auras)
• I updated my spreadsheet of key bindings. In Moonkin spec, I’ve had to swap my 1-2-3 (etc) easy bindings to my damage spells. Normally, Alt-W is Wrath, Alt-M is Moonfire, and so on. But having to keep pressing alt hundreds of times a night would probably break my wrist and give me RSI over time, so I had to fix it. In resto spec, my easy bindings are for healing. In balance spec, they are for damage spells – but I can still pop out of form and use my heals.
  
It took me a while to get into the groove with the new bindings, but some time on the target dummies got them cemented in. It won’t take long to have them ingrained, like my healing binds.



Step 2: Fill in the gear gaps

My gear was pretty good as it was – lots of high level ICC spellpower stuff (obviously). But I didn’t have any hit, so I needed to work out what I could gather together ASAP.



• So I headed to Graylo’s site to check out his gear suggestions.

• I brought out my spreadsheet, and decided what could stay, what I could bring out of the bank, and what I’d have to go chase.
• I was super lucky and picked up a few nice balance items, and gemmed them with hit.
• My crit was low so I grabbed the Sundial of the Exiled (heroism badges) to help boost it a bit.

So now I’m hit capped – I can work on ditching more and more pieces of resto gear and working on my moonkin set.



Step 3: Learn the rotation

Four great sites to visit when you’re absolutely clueless but you have to know how to be a raiding moonkin yesterday:



1. Restokin – Moonkin basics for the new level 80 Raider

2. Restokin – Eclipse Basics & Rotations for Beginner Moonkin (in pictures)
3. Wow.com – Balance 101
4. Elitist Jerks – Moonkin PvE DPS (3.3.3)


Once you understand the rotation (and you will, if you visit the above) and you have your keybinds set up, you can spend time on the target dummies, practising.


The importance of a good Eclipse mod

A moonkin’s DPS rests quite heavily on how well we perform our rotation, specifically within eclipses. It’s absolutely essential that you have a good mod that alerts you to your eclipse procs and cooldown, so that you can time your spells properly.

I use Power Auras to do this – as well as to let me know when my long cooldowns are available. Please excuse the mess, here’s my work-in-progress:



Lunar Eclipse (cast Starfire now!)



Solar Eclipse (cast Wrath now!)



So as you can see in the above pictures, I can very clearly see my debuffs (Faerie Fire, Moonfire, Insect swarm) and their timers. The treant and starfall icons are actually Power Auras indicators that only show when I am able to use those abilities. Basically, they say “I’m ready – use me!”

But the most important part is the eclipse indicator. Now, most people prefer a HUD (heads-up-display) style for their eclipse (see Kae’s examples at Dreambound), so that they can keep an eye on their character’s position (and any fires, etc) while they watch their procs.

Personally, I just can’t seem to get used to it. Plus, I find that with a lot going on around my character, I can sometimes miss indicators. And I’ve never had any problems watching frames AND keeping myself out of bad stuff, so I don’t worry too much about having all of my information in the centre of my screen. So instead I decided to put a big, pretty indicator right next to my target frame.

Again, this is entirely personal preference (and it may even change over time!)


The difference these things can make

I think I’m doing pretty good, so far. I started out doing about 4300DPS on the dummies, being under the hit cap, wearing resto T10 and a healer weapon, no glyphs, fumbling with my new keybinds, and mis-timing my eclipse rotations pretty badly.

With some tweaking, a few gear changes (and gems) and some practice, I was doing 6800-7200. I think that’s pretty good so far, considering how much resto gear I still have (and how much crit I don’t have, ugh).

The numbers aren’t really important, they will vary according to your entry level gear – I was pretty lucky to jump in with 25man ICC resto gear, which acts as a pretty good crutch until you can gear “properly”. I really just wanted to put those numbers in there to show how much of a jump you can make in DPS if you tweak your gear, improve your UI, and practice your rotations until you get the hang of it.

I know I said I’d never be a Moonkin – I never really enjoyed it before. But I’ve never raided as a Moonkin before either – it’s quite fun!

Possibly Related Posts:

• Slayer of Dragons
• Talent trees in Cataclysm – scrapped and redone
• Resto Druid calculator!

Another Twitter Dev chat, and some interesting snippets. Enjoy!


New Tree Form graphic and hints at cooldown effects

Q. Why are Restoration druids the only spec in the game not receiving a new spell?

A. Restoration druids are actually getting a fair bit. For one, Tree of Life is getting a whole new model (think Ancients of War) and will also “morph” some of your spells to do crazy things while in the form, such as cause Regrowth to be instant, or Lifebloom to apply two applications at once. Tranquility will be raid-wide. We’re also touching nearly every Restoration druid spell to make sure each has a niche and feels good. In general, playing a Restoration druid should feel a lot different (better!) in Cataclysm than it does today.

Key points:



• Tranquility raid-wide (more like Divine Hymn?)

• New tree model (like Ancients of War?)
• Cooldown could change spell effects – eg instant Regrowth, double lifeblooms (examples only!)
• Overhaul of all spells to tweak them

Hold still a minute, I’m going to HEAL YOUR FACE OFF


Finally, a fix to make Tranquility good in raids. I am very much looking forward to this.

I’m definitely excited to see what the effect of the tree cooldown is – instant Regrowths, double lifeblooms – they’re tossing ideas around and nothing is final, but it gives us a bit of an insight into what they might be thinking. Pretty cool!

I really hope that the reference to Ancients of War is more a passing reference to the cooldown graphic looking large and imposing. I like the ancients, but I don’t want to be one – I don’t want them to rehash a model that we already have in the game. I’m sure they will give us something new and shiny, though (PS – I still don’t want to lose my ability to be a tree at will).


Boosts to our tank healing capabilities?

Q. Is every healer supposed to be able to tank-heal efficiently, or will we still see specs excel in it more than others?

A. Each healer is intended to have a different niche, and different strengths. Such as Restoration druids with HoTs, or paladins at direct healing, Discipline priests at absorption/prevention, etc. That said, each healer should be able to keep up a tank and have some deeper “tank healing gameplay” as they do now.

No specific mention of any mitigation abilities, but I still have my fingers firmly crossed. This answer hints at us getting a little more tank-healing ability; I just hope it doesn’t mean we hit them with Healing Touch all day. I really would love to see us get something that we can use in an emergency (that isn’t just a heal). Something that will help during a few seconds of enrage, or if another healer dies and you need to hold it together for a few seconds, etc.

The ToL cooldown will probably do a lot to help here, depending on the effects they choose – but I still want to see a mitigation ability, it’s something I think we are sorely lacking. Perhaps not so much in a large raid environment, but in smaller raids it would be good to know that we have the cooldowns.

Even so, Tranquility going to a Divine Hymn style spell would be awesome. At the moment, a resto druid’s counter to an enrage or heightened damage phase is just – heal harder. Spam faster. I’d really like to be able to be calling out that I’m doing my awesome cooldown now, to help us get through the crazy phase. I’m terribly jealous of people who can call out “I’ve got the next sac”, “I’m hymning now”, or “I’ve got a BoP on Bob, he’s good for 8 seconds” etc. During crunch times, I want to be able to do more than just heal harder.

So I’m super excited to see the true effect of our ToL cooldown, and just what raid/tank-saving goodies we might end up with, within that ability.


Haste and channeled spells

Q: How will haste affect channeled spells. Will it be similar to DoTs and HoTs?

A: They will channel faster but their duration will remain unchanged. You will get more ticks on the same cast.

This is a pretty simple one – affecting our Tranquility (I assume, depending on how it changes in Cataclysm) and Hurricane. The current effect of high haste is to speed up the ticks, making the duration shorter but the ticks close together, BAM BAM BAM, quick healing or damage.

In Cataclysm, the duration will be (back to) normal, but inside that normal duration you will have more ticks, faster.

So for example:



• Base spell XYZ:
  Ticks for 3000 every 3 secs
  Lasts 18 seconds
  Total: 6 ticks of 3000 = 18,000. 1000dps/hps

• WotLK, with a tonne of haste:
  Ticks for 3000 every 2 secs (haste makes it tick faster)
  Lasts 12 seconds (haste shortens the duration)
  Total: 6 ticks of 3000 = 18,000. 1500dps/hps

• Cataclysm, with a tonne of haste:
  Ticks for 3000 every 2 secs (haste makes it tick faster)
  Lasts 18 seconds (haste no longer shortens the duration)
  Total: 9 ticks of 3000 = 27,000. 1500dps/hps


So it lasts just as long as “normal” but packs in more ticks as your haste increases, which means more healing/dps for your cast, which is obviously more mana efficient. And, obviously, the closer your ticks, the faster you heal or damage your target – which is very nice.


Idol overhaul

Q: When you say you’re going to make relics class agnostic, does it include druids’ idols as well?

A: Druid, shaman, paladin and death knight. It’s possible we will still keep some that are very specific to certain classes and specs. Overall though we’re not happy with the current design where an ability procs a buff on you. If it’s an ability you don’t use often, then the item is terrible, so they end up feeling really passive already. At the same time, the fact that we have to offer so many prevents us from ever giving you the choice of which one to use. So we make the Resto druid or Enhance shaman version every new tier. It would be a more interesting decision if there was a crit + Intellect relic and a haste + Intellect relic, and you can choose which one to use.

By “agnostic”, they mean that they will be interchangeable between classes. Rather than relating directly to our specific spells, like Rejuvenation or Lifebloom, they might be +healing, or +crit, so that a druid and a paladin could use the same idol. Or, more importantly, you could share an idol between two specs (eg resto/balance). With the current system, every tier of gear you have to spend badges on two idols; agnostic idols would mean that we wouldn’t necessarily have to.


That’s it for now. I really can’t wait to see our next lot of sneak peaks – mostly I’d like to know more about our ToL cooldown, and how they’ve pruned and changed the talent trees. I have high hopes!

Possibly Related Posts:

• Super quickie: Cata glyphs observations
• So, what’s going on?
• A little bit of history repeating itself

At the risk of starting to sound a bit like a broken record, I’d like to talk about the Cataclysm preview again. Yay! Just for something new and different

I wanted to go back and give more thought to the changes, past my initial reactions. Initially I was very disappointed; I didn’t want another healing spell, but I had my heart set on a tank mitigation ability, something I felt we were missing compared to the other classes. I had hoped this would be the time that they gave us one to bring us in line – but no luck. Plus, I was selfishly disappointed that we didn’t get a “new toy”, like all the other classes – pretty lame, a new expansion and no new ability. And, obviously, removal of tree form was very upsetting.

But there’s more to the preview than just new toys and graphics, and I want to expand on my thoughts.



On flavour and art

First, a quick word about the concept of “flavor”.

GC is right when he says that tree form, these days, is basically all art and little function. But implying that it’s “just” art, or “just” flavor – that’s just wrong.

Our tree form is not “just art”. For many of us, it’s our identity. (For those people saying “you’re not losing tree form, it’s just on a cooldown” – well, then it’s no longer our identity. I don’t believe I would be a “tree druid” if that tree was only able to come out every 3/5/10 minutes.)

Think of all the things in this game that are just art or just flavor. Even further – think about the additions and improvements made to the game that are purely art or flavor. Anytime there is an updated graphic, a new mount, a new hunter pet, hair styles, toys, and gimmicks – with the exception of mounts (which contribute to achievements) they add nothing to our gameplay or progress. It’s all for fun, for flavor.

I know this is a bit of a stretch of the imagination, but imagine saying to hunters:

We’ve decided to consolidate hunter pets into one class of hybrid pets, rather than having various pets with different roles. Mechanically, it feels unfair for a hunter to give up his choice of animal because it isn’t in the pet family that he needs; so instead, all pets will have the same basic stats and function. Also, we have decided to allow hunters to only tame wolves, cats, and bears, as our design goals for exotic pet types haven’t worked out over the last few years, and we now realise that all other exotic pet types add nothing to the hunter class except for art. All pet abilities from the former classes will be available in their basic forms, but will be renamed appropriately.

We knew this would be a controversial change, and I’m sorry if taming a purple spotted chazwazza was what drew you to the hunter class.

Ok, so it’s a stretch – I doubt Blizzard would ever do that – but the point is – in the past, Blizzard have opened up MORE options for hunters to tame different looking pets. Some have had new abilities, but many are just the same types of pets with new skins, or the same kind of abilities, but retooled to suit that family of animal. Why? It adds no function or performance – it’s purely art. It’s just to keep hunters happy by introducing some new and different skins. Hunters love their pink tallstriders, or matching their pet according to their race or RP style.

Same goes for giving races a bunch of hairstyles from the other races. It’s flavor. Hairstyles may seem trivial, but they make a difference. Look at the time spent updating the feral druid forms. Time, money, and artist/developer time poured into creating things that add nothing to the game, “just flavor”.


I can tell you right now that I have thrown characters out PURELY because of aesthetics. I can’t stand the way human females run, so I abandoned playing them. I’m not kidding. It’s not petty to hate the way a character looks and to refuse to play it for those reasons. Now, I’m not going to toss my druids out because of the tree form change – but the point is that aesthetics ARE important to people. I wish Blizzard would see just how important this is to us.


But, honestly – ToL on cooldown will be a BUFF to our class

First – let’s get something straight:

I like the idea of the cooldown, I just don’t like my appearance being put on cooldown with it.

That’s it. It’s really that simple (don’t let the walls of text fool you!)

Some druids are confused over the changes. I took for granted (bad habit) that everyone would assume, as I did, that all of our current ToL perks would not be lost, but rather woven into our resto talent tree and given to us in “caster form”. Currently, Blizzard balances all of our healing around being in tree form, meaning we are on par with other healers while in tree, but when we shift out to caster form, we are below average.

It wasn’t meant to be like that; Tree was meant to be an occasional buff – you’d jump in to cast some HoTs and conserve some mana, but back out again to use Healing Touch (…*snicker). But what happened was that over time, it simply became mandatory for healers to be in tree form for maximum output. So we got “stuck” in a form that wasn’t really amazing.

The changes aim to fix this problem – to balance around caster form, so that we are even with other healers, and not forced into a form full-time in order to be competitive.

This, I wholeheartedly agree with.

We shouldn’t have a weak healing form and a normal healing form, because it forces us into that form to do as well as the other healers. Note: yes, cats and bears are forced into their forms so they can imitate rogues and warriors, but that is another issue entirely, as these forms grant them new abilities not available in caster form. Resto druids shift into tree form and gain no new abilities – just some weak aura bonuses, basically.

This is the crux of Blizzard’s design change: they can’t make us uber in tree form, it would be unfair to other healers. But if tree form healing is balanced with the other classes, then our caster form is weak, meaning that we are locked into that form just to be on par with the other healers, and this is unfair.

Of course, many druids don’t mind that. It certainly never bothered me before – but it’s hard to deny that it’s a bit unbalanced to have a form that doesn’t make us great, it just makes us – even.

Many people’s reaction is to say, “Then make tree better.” The problem is that there’s not much you can do to fix it. If you make ToL stronger, then the classes are unbalanced. Short of giving tree a whole set of new abilities when you shift in (which would be a bit nuts), I can’t see a way that tree form can be “fixed”.

Originally we could only cast certain spells – but over time Blizzard has given us the ability to cast HT, Rebirth, Innervate, Thorns… more and more we are creeping towards being able to do everything in tree form, which makes the tree graphic even more of a purely cosmetic buff, rather than a functional one. If we can cast everything in tree form – then we’re just a caster druid in a tree suit. The auras and other buffs can be easily worked into other talents.




Basically – and obviously it hurts to say it – tree just didn’t work out. They had a vision for it – and it didn’t work out.

So they want to take it back, and give us something more useful. You’d be silly to fault them for that.



What we lose/keep/gain:

As I said before – when they take tree away, we’re not going to lose those tree perks. Blizzard will stitch them into the resto talent tree innately or change our talents to make sure we don’t lose out. I’m confident that our talent tree will be reworked quite a bit in order to facilitate this.

Here’s what I assume we will lose/gain:



• LOSE: Polymorph “immunity”. I’m torn about this. On one hand, I don’t care a whit about PvP. But on the other hand, I think it’s a bit unfair that resto will be the only spec that can be polymorphed. Of course, we can shift to cat or bear to get back out, but I can’t help feeling slighted that we will be the only spec vulnerable to poly in the first place. However, it’s only returning to the way it was before tree.
  
Armor bonuses – I have no idea what they’ll do here. Perhaps we’ll have an armor talent, but it seems a bit alien to be running around as a humanoid with a whole bunch of armor. But if priests have Inner Fire, a druid armor talent probably isn’t too far-fetched. The problem though is this – how many of us would take a talent that was purely devoted to armor? On some fights, it’s highly valuable, but on many fights where we don’t get hit, it would be useless. Would we bother taking it for PvE? Hopefully they will work our armor back into something else, because I doubt I would take an armor talent unless I had spare points.
  
And to be honest, I like having a reason to shift to cat or bear, as a resto druid – it reminds me of our versatility, and it always give me a buzz to do it. Running back in travel form on Archimonde, sprinting away from oozes on Putricide.. I even remember shifting to bear back in AQ days! I enjoy using my other forms, despite being a healer. So I don’t mind much about poly immunity. PvP restos may disagree.

• KEEP: All existing aura effects and bonuses. As above – these will either become innate bonuses, or will be reworked into the tree accordingly. Once upon a time our tree form gave us discounted healing, to the point where popping out of tree and healing for a short period of time would put a real strain on your mana. Blizzard felt this was unfair (see above – we shouldn’t be stuck in a form to be as good as other healers), and made it so that as long as you had the tree talents, you could have the mana discount anytime.
  
This is basically what I see happening to our current tree perks – they will end up part of other talents, or “if you spec deep enough to get XYZ, you will gain these innate bonuses.” There’s really no need to worry that we will lose our tree auras etc. Blizzard will balance us.

• GAIN: Here’s the exciting part. We didn’t get any new spells, but the ToL “cooldown” has great potential. We don’t know what it will be yet – but I’m hoping that it isn’t just a flat spellpower buff (ie: 500 extra spellpower for 15 seconds), but a raid or tank-saving ability. GC has hinted at Tranquility becoming more like Divine Hymn; I think I would be quite pleased if the ToL “cooldown” gave us access to a Divine Hymn-like ability. Something that has the potential to save the raid.
  
Who knows – but it’s exciting to wait and see what it ends up being. We didn’t get a new spell, but this cooldown has the potential to be our “shiny new toy” for Cataclysm.


We don’t need more healing spells. We have enough. My hope for Cataclysm was a castable Barkskin or other tank cooldown; maybe they are yet to give us that – inside the new cooldown. We’ll have to wait and see what they come up with – I really hope it’s worth the wait.

Also, I think it’s worth mentioning that some people are complaining that healer cooldowns suck, and we shouldn’t have to hit a button every few minutes to maximise our throughput. I’m hoping that our cooldown isn’t that kind of cooldown – like a proc that gives you 500 spellpower every few minutes. I’m hoping that it will give us something unique that will save the raid – not just “for a few seconds, you do more healing.” That would be boring.

Of course, the length of the cooldown will determine the strength of the buff; a raid-saving ability like Divine Hymn has an 8 minute cooldown (a shorter cooldown would mean a weaker bonus and less chance of it being awesome). I could handle the ToL cooldown being long if they reworked Tranquility like Hymn. Particularly if they kept Imp Tranquility; it would become fairly desirable for raiding (for a change).

TLDR: I doubt our cooldown will simply be “you do X more healing for Y seconds”. I’m hoping for something more specific and interesting.

So, while I was disappointed at first at the lack of new spells, the “OK” tweaks and mastery bonuses, and the removal of tree form to a cooldown, overall I am actually excited to see how things pan out.



On healers being able to DPS

Generally speaking, I don’t give a crap about DPSing as a resto druid, pardon my language. I know that many druids out there feel the same. But, let’s face it, there have been times that we’ve needed to, and people have scoffed. I’ll never forget going to Leo and being told “you’ll probably die to your inner demons.” For the record, I was specced 11 into balance (which, at the time, got you to Insect Swarm, and was not cookie-cutter) and I pwned my demons, much to the surprise of the raid.

I LOVED being able to spec partly into a few DPS talents, without losing too much in resto. I was so sad when they rearranged the balance tree and I had to give up my insect swarm! Ultimately, I would love to be able to go back to one of those part balance specs, without feeling guilty about giving up points in the resto tree. I’m excited to see our tree reworks so that I can see how much I’ll be able to spec into balance. This is something I’m REALLY looking forward to.

Now – do I want or expect to DPS in raids? Rarely. Only if we outgear, usually. Or in the dying seconds of an enrage timer fight, like Blood Queen, when I make the judgment call to switch to DPS. Or if the raid leader calls for “all DoTs”, and I know that I can stand there and keep Moonfire up on the boss in between weaving heals.

I don’t want to DPS in raids – but I absolutely ADORE being a utility class. Keeping a debuff on the boss without making my HoTs X% weaker or wasting GCDs to swap in and out – or having people around me think I’m a bad healer for being “out of form” – that’s pretty exciting for me.

And, of course, there are obvious PvP implications for druids to be able to CC and DPS without sacrificing the strength of their healing.



Face facts: It’s too late to save our current TOL

I believe it’s too late to “save the tree” in its current, clunky form – and that the cooldown-style buff is inevitable. This change WILL go ahead. There’s just too much about tree form that doesn’t work. So, bring on the cooldown buff, let’s hear it. Let’s see how you fix up our talent tree to compensate. I’m excited to know how it’s all going to change.



• I agree that we shouldn’t be “stuck” in tree form, where tree form only just brings us level with other healing classes, rather than setting us apart.

• It will be good to not feel stupid or “bad” if I realise I’ve been healing out of form by accident.
• It will be good to be able to debuff a boss or use CC without wasting GCDs to get back into healing form.
• I know that overall, this will be a buff to my class. This could be the raid-saving cooldown I’ve been hoping for.
• I agree that we shouldn’t waste talent points to pick up a form that is mostly cosmetic.
• I’m excited to see how they make the new tree form look.
• And yes, it will be refreshing to be able to be a caster occasionally.


Overall, it’s a buff to our class and its mechanics. I just don’t want to lose my ability to look like a tree at will. I don’t want to lose my ability to “be a tree”. That’s all I ask. Let me be a tree when I’m standing around in Dalaran. Let my raid leader say “stack on the tree” in raids. Let me keep my tree slap, tree dance, and hilarious tree-cower. Let me run around with my little sproutling twin. Let me keep my tree-flavored legacy.

I really hope that Blizzard considers a toggle to fill the void left by removing tree to a cooldown. Bears, cats, moonkins – and trees – we should all have our identifying forms.

Let us keep our beloved tree, even if it is only a cosmetic shell paying homage to its former (messy, unbalanced, clunky) glory.


OK, that’s it, I guess. I really hope that cooldown is awesome, and I really hope they consider the toggle. *crosses fingers and waits*

Possibly Related Posts:

• Super quickie: Cata glyphs observations
• So, what’s going on?
• A little bit of history repeating itself

OK, so. Blizz says the Tree of Life (ToL) form is slowly becoming a pointless costume, rather than a useful shapeshift. Cats and bears have entirely new abilities and gameplay while in their forms; trees do not. Shifting into tree restricts us and hides our armor. Whether or not we agree with that, it’s what Blizzard believes.

But a huge number of trees don’t want to lose their tree look to a cooldown. Some people are saying “stop whining, you aren’t losing tree form, it’s just on a cooldown.” Whoosh. That’s the sound of our concern flying over your head. We want to be able to continue to walk around town as a tree if we want. To fight as a tree. To just be a tree. Putting our identifying form on a cooldown is a horrible prospect.

Yes – I’m sure the ability or buff they attach to this cooldown will be great. I’m not saying it’s a nerf to our performance – it will be a gain, I’m sure. That’s not the issue either. We just want to be able to be trees. Whenever we like.

Here’s what I think should happen.


Keep legacy tree form, but put it on an optional toggle.

The current tree of life form (legacy tree) should stay in the game, but be opened up only when you spec deep enough into the resto tree to pick up Blizzard’s new uber tree cooldown (which, I assume, will be at the same spot in the tree anyway).

Speccing this deep “unlocks” the ability to look like legacy tree, if you wish.

Legacy tree is activated through a Two Forms toggle spell, à la Worgen:

Two Forms is a racial ability available to worgen which allows them to freely transform between their human and worgen forms while outside of combat. The transformation is purely cosmetic.


Worgen will already have Two Forms to toggle their humanoid form, so it would have to be a different ability. Let’s bust out the imagination and call it Tree Form.



• If you wish to look like a tree, you hit Tree Form. You will now be a tree for as long as you like, until you hit Tree Form again. Just like a “real” shapeshift – except it is basically just a costume. Like Worgen’s humanoid form – it adds nothing to your character in terms of performance, just flavour/art/RP/etc.

• If you hate legacy tree form and wish to never ever look like it again (because you think it’s hideous, or you want to see your gear while you fight), don’t ever hit Tree Form. This also helps to be less of a target in PvP.
• When the uber tree cooldown is activated and we transform into New Tree, both tree lovers and tree haters alike can go “ooooh” at Blizzard’s new model. Then we can save the day, transform back into whichever form we choose (legacy tree or humanoid/”caster”), and go along our merry way.



See how easy it is to keep the tree “flavour”, but allow the people who hate tree form to never use it if they don’t care to?

Those of us who love our legacy tree can wear that shapeshift “costume” whenever we like. And those who hate it won’t ever have to wear it, ever again.

Plus, Blizzard doesn’t have to balance around a shapeshift that restricts our offensive casting and doesn’t add any unique abilities. They can balance around “caster form”.

And, importantly, nobody has to invest talent points into a talent that is chiefly cosmetic rather than functional, which is one of Blizzard’s main concerns. The costume toggle is simply attached to the new cooldown ability talent – which will likely be a core talent in the resto tree, so you would be picking it up anyway. No wasted talent points, no imbalance, no forcing people to look a certain way if they don’t want to.


Everybody is happy!*




(*This statement is never, ever entirely true, but for the purposes of this scenario, I believe that almost everyone would be happy.)

Possibly Related Posts:

• Super quickie: Cata glyphs observations
• So, what’s going on?
• A little bit of history repeating itself

I know a lot of people out there don’t like the Tree of Life form – but I also know that MANY people DO like it, and don’t want to see it go to a cooldown ability. No other druid form is forced onto a cooldown – bears, cats and moonkins don’t have to give up their iconic forms and have them relegated to the status of a trinket.

Show your solidarity! No to druid forms on cooldown!

Edit: feel free to use this picture on your site. Save the trees!



Possibly Related Posts:

• Super quickie: Cata glyphs observations
• So, what’s going on?
• A little bit of history repeating itself