P.S. Many thanks to BigRedKitty for his recommendation on the new web host! We (Toothy and me) like it already.

In another surprise, Feral Druids will be relieved to know that, while Scare Beast has had its range extended to 30 yards, it will retain its 1.5 second cast time. Thanks to reader Jaegor for pointing this out below!

» See all patch notes for Patch 2.4.2 (via MMO Champion)
» Read Flyv’s humorous impressions of Patch 2.4.2 and Druids

With the assistance of readers in resolving my Firefox-specific CSS issues, the left side of the page became worthy of a truly special artistic contribution from Andrige. Andrige illustrated and colored the Tree of Life you see at left, and I absolutely love it! Andrige also recently completed a new illustration of an unhappy Bear faced with now forbidden fruit, the dreaded [Shiny Red Apple]. Personally, I’d like to see the Blizzard developers try to tell a real bear that he can’t have an apple!

I also have a host of blogs to share with you, some of which are old, some of which are new, none of which are borrowed, but a few of which are blue:

• FauxPaws
  A ridiculously cutely named blog from a Hunter and a Druid (the two classes often considered as the most prolific in the blogosphere) hailing from Kael’thas.
• Flyv’s Warcraft Blog
  Flyv of Garona (US) writes a well-rounded and enjoyable Feral blog, sharing theorycraft, gear discussion, and news!
• Golden Leaves
  Akhila of Nathrezim (EU) plays an endgame Restoration Druid. And a Tauren! Her leaves are a lovely color of yellow ochre.
• Lady Jess
  Lady Jessymn of Khaz’Goroth (US) writes what is quickly becoming one of the “best-dressed” Priest blogs out there with a smattering of posts related to her Night Elf Druid.
• Malicious
  The Unlife of a Death Knight. A brand new blog for a brand new class, the Death Knight! Learn about your OP Warlock twink replacement before you can even create her!
• Nekkid Cow
  Grizz of Feathermoon (US) gives new meaning to the phrase “keep your pants on.” /shudder
• The Nyxes
  Breaking the rule that Restoration Druids must have long, white hair (I swear you can recognize our spec from the hairstyle choice), Nyxtaru of Garona (US) instead has Lifebloom-colored hair.
• Shifting Out
  Onionpeels of Windrunner (US) plays a Feral-gone-Restoration Druid with raiding and PvP experience.
• ThinkTank
  Kalon of Quel’Dorei (US) has a certain predilection for getting his face bashed in … while keeping healers and DPSers everywhere safe from harm.
• Vendor Trash
  Megalis of Shandris (US) is a Bear tank learning the ropes in Serpentshrine Caverns.

And just as a reminder, the deadline for submitting your Tree of Life pictures for the Arbor Day Challenge is a little more than two weeks away. I’ve gotten some really stunning submissions already, but I’m still waiting for yours!

After healing in our recent night in Mount Hyjal, I was annoyed at the fact that, while there were five tanks all taking damage, I could only Lifebloom four of them. While this is a dream scenario for Resto Druids, I had to leave one tank out. Since the changes in 2.4 (spell haste now reducing the global cooldown to a maximum of one second), I have gone about looking up how much spell haste is needed to reach the super-tree mode of having five global cooldowns per rotation as opposed to four.

How much spell haste do I need? *

In theory, the minimum number of spell haste required is 113, although due to latency this isn’t realistic. To be 100% certain that you will make the 5 GCD target, you’re looking at closer to 180-200 spell haste.

Where can I get spell haste?

First of all, start running ZA. While there is no leather +Healing gear that has spell haste in this instance, there are four Druid-usable items that do:

• [Brooch of Nature's Mercy]: +33 spell haste rating
• [Cloak of Ancient Rituals]: +25 spell haste rating
• [Dark Blessing]: +30 spell haste rating
• [Signet of the Quiet Forest]: +30 spell haste rating

The four items alone total to 118 spell haste rating. You can also get gems that increase spell haste, the best of which fits a yellow socket and increases spell haste rating by 8.

What does this mean?

This means that with the gear from ZA and 3 or more spell haste gems, you’re looking close to or are reaching the 5GCD per rotation. (The gear from ZA unfortunately doesn’t have sockets, but if you get items drop that don’t need for regular upgrades, you can socket them for spell haste.)

Is it worth all this effort?

In my opinion, yes. Whether you let this gear replace your current healing gear is more of a personal choice, but the extra time while general raid healing is nice as it means that you can get a Rejuvenation + Swiftmend off quicker and generally have more GCDs to play around with. If you carry this gear with you in your bags you can equip it when necessary. For example, when 4/5 tanks pop up that need healing simultaneously then I would highly suggest switching gear. Here’s why:

If your triple-stacked Lifebloom heals a tank for approximately 700 HPS, being able to stack on four tanks will produce 2,800 healing per second (this is already a larger healing per second output then any other healer can sustain). However, you will be locked down to just casting Lifebloom on the tanks. If, however, you have enough spell haste to cast five insta-cast spells, you will have one GCD free to heal yourself, the raid, or to boost a tank with Rejuvenation. Of course, you could now keep five tanks triple-stacked, which would result in 3,500 HPS, way above what any other healer can match over a sustained period of time. These stats also increase with an increase in your +Healing value; if the 700 HPS were increased to a still-plausible 800 HPS, you’d be looking at 3200 HPS without spell haste and 4000 HPS with it.

This extra GCD also opens up additional spell rotations, using Rejuvenation and Regrowth, for example. **

This rotation doesn’t require full spell haste, just a few items to get the Regrowth off in the second rotation. This cycle costs 742 mana every five seconds:

LB 1, LB 2, LB 3, RJ 1
LB 1, LB 2, LB 3, RG 1

A haste-heavy, 5-GCD cycle (requiring around 200 haste rating) can keep up Rejuvenation and Regrowth on two tanks while triple-stacking Lifebloom on all three. This cycle costs 869 mana every five seconds:

LB 1, LB 2, LB 3, RJ 1, RJ 2
LB 1, LB 2, LB 3, RG 1
LB 1, LB 2, LB 3, RJ 1, RJ 2
LB 1, LB 2, LB 3, RG 2

I personally believe that this increase in healing per second and the ability to simultaneously stabilize five tanks’ health (or four tanks with a random spell every seven seconds), definitely gives enough reason to go out and start collecting spell haste as a Resto Druid.

* Information gathered from http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t17783-druid_raiding_tree/
** Information and rotation designs gathered from http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t17783-druid_raiding_tree/

Nichgoul is specifically asking for feedback on the above, and I’d love to hear your thoughts, as well!

» View my pet collection (and create your own) at Warcraft Pets

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If there are any CSS-experienced gurus out there who think they can help, I’d greatly appreciate if you could either respond here or contact me via the site’s contact form or by e-mailing me at resto4life@.com. I have a sandbox version of the site that I can give you access to if you think you can help!

Thanks, everyone!

Druids to be Masters of Crowd Control

With the involvement of … one or more colors of Dragonflight, it only follows that portions of Northrend be swarming with Dragonkin. With the spell “Hibernate,” Boomkin will finally have the CC-based role they’ve been begging for. The spell will actually see an increase in utility as, when cast upon flying targets, it will cause the victim to crash to the ground and take falling damage in proportion to its body mass. Blizzard, however, will have the last laugh as Boomkin can’t cast Hibernate.

Balance and Feral Trees Scrapped

Video scenes seem to imply that Druids will gain access to two new forms: a Fire Tree and a Frost Tree! Correspondingly, our two non-Tree-based talent trees will be replaced with talent trees similar to those of the Mage class: Fire and Frost.

Dire Cat Form

In a bizarre amalgam of the Dire Bear and Cat Forms, Blizzard finally introduces the long-awaited Dire Cat Form for Druids. Shown at left howling at a full moon, we can only assume it will have Ghost Wolf-like speed and accordingly restore Feral Druids to their rightful Arena dominance (though due to susceptibility to Hunter’s Scare Beast, they’ll still spend the majority of Arena matches pillar humping like their Resto brethren).

Improved Mobility

Leafshine writes more about this in his article, New Wrath of the Lich King info - What about Druids?, but I’ve discovered evidence that his hopes might be true, including an image of what can only be the Druid’s new Aquatic Form, an orca! To make up for never giving us Teleport: Cenarion Refuge in the Burning Crusade expansion, we’ll be able to teleport to a strange, hollowed out tree city, making trips to the Auction House and back to Northrend less arduous!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this exclusive (totally fabricated) preview of what we Druids can expect to see in the expansion, and I’ll do my best to keep you posted on new information as it develops!

• A [Cenarion Expedition Tabard], demonstrating your worthiness to be hugged by that hippiest of factions
• One or more of the following: [Enormous Barbed Gill Trout], [Red Winter Hat] or [Green Winter Hat], [Grayson's Torch] or [Elune's Lantern], [Farmer's Broom] or [Pitchfork], [Crown of the Fire Festival]
• The 2-piece T4, T5, or T6 set bonus OR, alternatively, the chest, helm, and legs from Wildheart, Cenarion, Stormrage, or Dreamwalker sets! Show us your old-school pride!
• 2 stacks of [Heavy Netherweave Bandage] for handing out to those people who still use the annoying “Heal Me!” emote
• A stack of [Lesser Mana Potion] for giving to people who ask for your Innervate
• A pair of gloves enchanted with [Enchant Gloves - Fishing]
• The [Violet Signet of the Grand Restorer], demonstrating unwavering commitment to fixing whatever the heck is wrong in Karazhan
• A [Shiny Red Apple] with which to taunt hungry Ferals
• A [Swashbuckler Shirt] of any color; ‘ARRRRGG!! YE BE A PIRATE TREE!’
• The ability to build a [Basic Campfire] without setting yourself ablaze (actually including the bonfire in your picture is purely optional)
• 20 x [Maple Seed] to use when casting Rebirth out of combat or for planting baby versions of yourself

Submission Requirements

To participate in this challenge, you must send me a screenshot of your Druid meeting the above requirements. In honor of Arbor Day, pictures should be taken while in Tree of Life and should meet the following criteria:

• Nothing should obstruct the full and glorious view of your character you’ve (no inventory screens or character sheets; we just want to see your Tree).
• Include a description of your surroundings or really any sort of flavor text you like.
• Feel free to include your favorite non-combat pet in the picture, particularly if you feel it complements your roleplay backstory.
• Be creative with your backdrops, and feel free to combine entries with your friends. A forest of trees would be great!
• Note that if your Tree of Life is of the … purple variety, I will not include your character server name.

I’ll be compiling all the appropriate entries into a gallery of images for the site and showcasing a few of my favorites. Entries should be in TGA or JPG format and can be sent to me at resto4life@.com. Entries must be submitted no later than Friday, May 30th.

Advertising the Arbor Day Challenge

For other blog authors interested in encouraging participation in this contest, Valenna has created the following *.PNG banners (feel free to create your own):

I hope that many authors from the Restoration branch of the World Tree will opt to play along themselves!

Taking TGA Screenshots in World of Warcraft

If you prefer to take your screenshots in TGA format, use Notepad or another plain text editor to open the config.wtf file found in your WTF directory. Find and change the lines that look like this:

SET screenshotFormat “JPG”
SET screenshotQuality “3″

So that they look like this:

SET screenshotFormat “TGA”
SET screenshotQuality “10″

Save the file and close it. Note that you’ll need to restart WoW for your changes to be effective.

As I’ve mentioned before, perhaps the most compelling and addictive feature of World of Warcraft are its multiple paths of character progression. From gear (PvE and PvP) to mounts to Reputation grinds to non-combat pet collections, Blizzard seems keen to provide players with ample opportunities to feel like they’re making progress. But unlike many of their competitors, they have yet to add what is perhaps the most significant, non-combat progression path: player housing.

I admit that I am a long-time player of the Sims and Sims 2 games. I find building and decorating homes in that game to be incredibly rewarding. (Mr. Phae at one time lamented the time I spent in the Sims until I pointed out that I could otherwise be spending our real money on such things!) And while the aims of a game like the Sims might seem vastly different from the aims of an MMORPG like World of Warcraft, I see no reason not to incorporate the home-building aspect of what is the best-selling game franchise in history.

There are other games that have included player housing, including EverQuest II, City of Heroes, and Final Fantasy XI. Even in the single-player RPG Oblivion, a popular in-game activity is building up a personal stronghold. I believe that any implementation of player housing by Blizzard would be vastly superior to anything that’s come before it, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t necessarily borrow ideas from previous incarnations. And because it’s something I’ve given a lot of thought to over the years, I would like to share a few of my own ideas for this feature!

• Upgradeable Housing Level
  Each city would have an instanced housing district with appropriate architecture. To build or purchase a home would require not only a considerable sum of gold but a certain reputation level. Each city could have several levels of house size and elaborateness at ever-increasing cost. Low-level characters could opt to “rent” an apartment which would lack many of the capabilities of a full-scale home (such as outdoor areas) but would provide a place for storage.
• Upkeep
  Players would need to pay a certain amount per month in upkeep costs or risk being locked out of their homes. To regain entry, they would need to pay the back rent (though no more than a month’s worth to avoid players taking a break from the game from being discouraged).
• Adjustable Permissions Set
  Characters could be granted access to visit and/or make changes and additions to a player home. (I am personally thrilled at the idea of sending Mr. Phae out for a new tablecloth.) Perhaps players could even make impermanent copies of their house keys to give to visitors that would expire after a certain amount of time.
• Craftable Furnishings
  The potential for tradeskilling to furnish one’s house are practically endless. To facilitate this, the Woodsmanship (gathering) and Carpentry (production) tradeskills could be added. The carpenter would also rely upon smithed nails and fasteners along with tailored upholstery fabrics and fillers. More elaborate fabrics could be created with the help of dyes and chemical treatments produced by alchemists. Jewelcrafters could create home furnishings such as mirrors, stained glass windows, and doorknobs.
• Droppable Furnishings
  A popular inclusion in EverQuest’s player housing was the ability to collect and display important trophies and artifacts within one’s home. Imagine being able to display the Hand of Uldaman’s Ironaya after defeating her. Similar epic encounters could also yield suitable trophies for display.

  One way to facilitate this would be to allow each character a single “large item” inventory slot. The player could then carry with them one large piece of pilfered loot, such as a chair or small table from Karazhan. Essentially, any item flagged as “furniture” of reasonable size could be moved to your house, provided you have the room to store it.

• Tradeskill Machines
  Although many tradeskills do not require the proximity of a tradeskill machine, many craftsmen would enjoy including either cosmetic or working tradeskill machines within their homes (ex. loom or spinning wheel for Tailors). These items could provide a small (+5) skill bonus to their relevant tradeskill or contribute to reducing the cooldowns on some recipes (ex. Primal Mooncloth).
• Reputation-Based Recipes
  Each race has its own style of architecture and furnishings. Therefore, some recipes and patterns could be reputation-based. To learn how to create an elegant, curving bed, you might need to raise your reputation with a tradeskill guild in Darnassus. No doubt, any elaborate stonework would require trafficking with a Masonry guild in Ironforge.
• Mannequins and Display Cases
  Imagine if instead of having to dispose of old, class-specific armor sets (Wildheart, Cenarion, Stormrage) for the sake of bank space, you could assemble these pieces onto a mannequin for display within your home. You could then have a gallery of previous armor sets you’ve collected over the years. Completionists might even feel compelled to finish their sets after they’re well beyond the appropriate content, ensuring that this old content isn’t completely obsolete. Similarly, weapons could be displayed on the wall or in a special weapon-case.
• Room Types
  Some possible room types include:
  • Indoor Tradeskilling Areas: Sewing Room, Alchemy Laboratory, Kitchen, Jeweler’s Station
  • Outdoor Tradeskilling Areas: Forge, Tannery
  • Garden: Herbalists could plant small, functional gardens that could be seeded with seeds acquired while herbing. These seeds would occasionally result in a harvestable plant of the same type as the plant from which they were gathered. (I think there is something similar in FFXI.)
  • Fishable Pond: Similar to the garden, these ponds could be seeded with fresh fish caught from other areas of the world. Occasionally, these ponds would yield a pool that could be fished for that type of fish. Only one type of fish pool could be active at a time.
  • Bedroom: For earning rest or cyber XP.
  • Stables: Provide a happy home and display place for the mounts you have outgrown. Could also replace or supplement the limited stable slots allowed to Hunters.
  • Vault: Personal, upgradeable storage outside the standard bank. Also useful for Scrooge McDuckin’ through enormous piles of gold.
  • Library: When a player encounters a book in game (such as those on the floor of Scarlet Monastery), allow her to take a copy to be stored for later reading. Who really has time to read all of those books during a 5-man instance run?
• Bind Point
  A player could set his hearthstone by interacting with the mantle of his hearth.
• Mailbox
  Same as the standard mailbox but with the additional option to request that items from your bank be mailed to you for a small fee.
• Pets
  Just as in EverQuest 2, players could allow 1-2 non-combat pets to roam their house.
• Collections
  Various collections of items could be added to the game. Each item in the set would indicate which set it belongs to and might not necessarily provide any in-game benefit. Examples of these collections could be rare flowers or catchable insects. Once complete, a collection could be displayed. This would encourage exploration, particularly of older content.
• Seasonal Decorations
  Purchasable, craftable, and questable seasonal decorations. These could include the items used to decorate major cities during the Holidays.

I know that many players find the idea of player housing to be silly, but it’s an aspect that would greatly increase the enjoyment of a large percentage of the player base. If nothing else, the additional character storage would provide everyone a tangible benefit to having a home. And really, who wouldn’t want an Onyxia-hide throw pillow?

P.S. Check this out!

Reader Nilianil of Silver Hand (US) recently posted a hilarious parody of the song from the end credits of Portal. For those of you living under a rock (or just raiding 24-7), you can listen to the original via YouTube: Still Alive by GLaD0S

This was a letdown.
I’m making a note here:
HUGE FAILURE.
It’s hard to overstate
My disappointment.
PvP Warriors.
We Mortal Strike you because we can.
For the good of all of us,
Except the ones who aren’t friends.
But there’s just one cunning class I simply can’t beat.
You just keep on running it’s almost like you cheat.
And the 2v2 gets done,
And I realize there’s a ton
Of these druids who just
Never die.

I’m not even angry.
I’m being so sincere right now.
Even through you broke my snare
And bashed me.
And danced around pillars,
And threw all your HoTs, onto, yourself.
As they ticked it hurt because
I simply could not kill you.
Now these PTR notes give some peace to my mind,
And we’re out of 2.3 they’re patching on time.
Though we had to get burned,
Think of all the things Blizz learned
‘Bout the druids who just
Never die.

Go ahead and root me.
I wish that Arena was inside.
Maybe I’ll find someone that can free me.
Maybe the Pallies.
That was a joke, HA HA, CYCLONE.
Anyway their tears are great;
They’re so delicious and moist.
Look at me still typing when there’s Arena to do.
When I check the ratings I get sad I’m not you.
I’ve some matches to be run,
There is screaming to be done
At the Druids who just
Never die.

And believe me they’ll just never die.
They’re always drinking so they’ll never die.
They’re pillar humping and they’ll never die.
With their Lifebloom they’ll just never die.
And when you’re Cycloned they’ll just never die.
Never die.
Never die.