I am delighted by our decision to invest in a digital camcorder. And so is Grandma.

Here Mr. Phae is posing with Colin at two weeks old, showing off the Huff v1.0/Huff v2.0 shirts I made him for Father’s Day earlier this year. Never mind the fact that Colin’s shirt is designed to be worn by a three month old, and that he’s practically swimming in it!

Thank you to everyone for their warm wishes and kind thoughts over the past few months. I hope you are all doing well and are enjoying both Azeroth and the Druid class!

In Game Party

And here were a couple of images from the in-game Farewell Celebration (complete with cake, dancing, and – of course – plenty of booze)!

The Winners

As announced, I randomed off a Belkin Nostromo N52 TE along with 2 Tree Shirts. As a surprise thank you gift to those who showed up, I randomed off an additional 3 Tree Shirts! Congratulations to the following winners:

• Yragon of Medivh (US) – Nostromo
• Timov of Proudmoore (US) – Tree Shirt
• Eittynn of Eldre’Thalas (US) – Tree Shirt
• Ermengol of Shadowsong (EU) – Tree Shirt
• Macclean of Doomhammer (US) – Tree Shirt
• Kayeri of Doomhammer (US) – Tree Shirt

Thanks to everyone who participated, either by sending in a picture or coming to the party!

Thanks, Fim and Bre! It has been a tremendous honor to share the blogosphere with you both!

P.S. Apologies for the heavy breathing. My mic is just awful!

Secondly, I’ve realized that I could have been clearer in terms of how you can submit your screenshot for the “Farewell” competition. Here is some additional information:

1. You can submit your image(s) by e-mailing them to.
2. All entries must be submitted on or before March 12th to give me plenty of time to prepare the post.
3. TGA, JPG, or PNG are all acceptable formats.
4. You must be in some Druid form or in one of the class-specific armor sets so that I can verify your Druid identity.
5. I would appreciate also if you could let me know if you happen to live outside the U.S. or Canada so I know whether you are eligible to win the Nostromo N52te.
6. I’m going to do the give away in game on March 19th at 9 PM EST in the Shadowglen starting area in Teldrassil on my home server, Scarlet Crusade (US). Shadowglen is the starting town for Night Elf Druids.
7. You need not be present to be eligible to win, and you need not have submitted a picture to come hang out with all the baby Druids (Restoforwife, I’m looking at you).
8. Because of the tremendous number of shirts that have been ordered in the last few days, I’m also able to offer two shirts as “runner-up” prizes in the “roll off” competition! Thanks, everyone!
9. No, I’m not giving away naming rights to our baby. Nice try, though!

Fimlys and Bre, cohosts of the Twisted Nether Blogcast have very graciously invited me onto their upcoming show. I had to decline recording it live because a) I might get overly emotional and b) I’d definitely be over-nervous, but I am looking forward to recording on Friday (shows are typically released at some time the following week).

My contact form has apparently been borked since the last time I tried to “fix” it. If you sent me a message that way, please send me an e-mail instead. I’ve been unable to respond to Ako of Tortheldrin (US) or Imparatus of Azgalor (US) so far.

Finally, I realize that I wasn’t clear about the future of the site. As far as I can foresee, Resto4Life will remain online at least until the next expansion (the only thing that would change this would be if something went catastrophically wrong with it). I’m a web developer so having some web space available to me is always a good thing. As such, while I appreciate the several offers of hosting I’ve received, I’m happy to continue hosting it myself. Thank you, though.

As of March 19, 2009, Resto4Life will be closing its doors*.

As you can (hopefully) imagine, this was no easy decision to make. In fact, it’s one I’ve been struggling with for the past three months which – not coincidentally – was about the time I found out the happy news that Mr. Phae and I are expecting our first child. I quickly came to realize that it will be too difficult for me to balance working full time, taking care of a new baby, blogging, and finding time to actually play the game I blog about.

I feel a tremendous amount of love and obligation toward Resto4Life, its readership, and all of the time I’ve given to both over the past two years. I take pride in the readership I’ve garnered and the reputation I have for helping others. All of which are positive emotions. At the same time, however, feelings of guilt, disinterest, stress, and unhappiness have lead me to conclude that it is time for me to move on to a new chapter of my life. Hopefully this will be a chapter where I can consider playing another MMO, drawing, or rereading a favorite book series without feeling a sense of guilt that I’d be stealing time away that could be devoted instead to improving Resto4Life. Perhaps I can finally take a laptop-less vacation or stop compulsively checking my Blackberry every 5 minutes for new site-related emails or comments. And maybe I can finally stop saying “I’m sorry, but I just don’t have time for another personal project.”

I want to give special thanks to everyone who’s helped make Resto4Life what it is or just helped made my stay within the blogosphere a happy one. Runycat of Unbearably HoT, Megan from Out of Mana, Karthis from Of Teeth and Claws, Bigbearbutt, Andrige, Graylo, Daniel from Bigredkitty, Leafshine, Matt and Sydera from WoM, Bell from 4 Haelz, my co-authors Currant and Korryna. A special thank you goes out to Mr. Phae for his dedication, mathematical analysis, and tolerance of my near obsession over the years. Thank you also to the many wonderful commenters who have frequented Resto4Life, among them Zackoria, Ermengol, Hokuto, Nilianil, Tone, Yggdrasil, Bigtoy, Crythia, Zaira, Kestrel, Kalaghan, Keeva, Aiuriun, Warscreamer, Dimitris, Beathooven, Kaera, Josh, Kuhbi, Ammeli, Draezele, Not An Issue, Wise Fox, Adarel, and Horns. Finally, thank you to all the readers out there, RSS or otherwise. Even if you’ve never commented before, thank you for choosing to read Resto4Life. I hope that it has enriched your enjoyment of the game in some way and wish you all the best in your future adventures in Azeroth, Outlands, Northrend, and beyond.

As a celebration of the community here at Resto4Life, I plan to make a final post in March, comprised of reader-submitted screenshots and artwork. Because over the past two years, I’ve tried to embrace and welcome all types of Druid players, you can feel free to submit a picture in whatever form (excluding Elf or Cow for verification purposes) that you prefer and needn’t limit yourself to Tree Form. Of those who choose to participate, I will randomly be awarding a Belkin Nostromo Speedpad N52TE, purchased from the funds I’ve acquired from shirt sales and advertising revenue. I hope that in this small way, I can say “thank you” to everyone who has made such a difference in my life. If you are interested in participating, please be sure to send me your submission by or before March 12, 2009. Due to shipping costs, you must live within the U.S. or Canada to be eligible to win the Nostromo, but I encourage International visitors to participate anyway.

With warmest regards,
Phaelia

P.S. Although the Tree Shirts store will remain online as long as Resto4Life does, I probably won’t be advertising any further sales. As such, U.S. residents still interested in purchasing a Tree Shirt can save 17% with code MARCH29. Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39. Note that this discount only applies on orders of $25 or more and will expire March 12th.

*The contents of Resto4Life will remain available for at least the forseeable future. However, I will no longer be posting or responding to comments or contact requests. I will also be largely withdrawing (even further) from the blogging community at large, including Blog Azeroth.

And now apparently it’s incumbent upon me to challenge a few other bloggers to participate in this quick and easy blogosphere challenge. Therefore, I throw down my leafy gauntlet to:

• Runycat of Unbearably HoT (please, try to pick a PG-13 screenshot at the very least)
• Karthis from Of Teeth and Claws (where might the bear have been THEN?)
• Leafshine (I know he’ll love this)
• Graylo of Gray Matter (think the camera can angle around his big boomkin bottom?)
• Kalon from Think Tank (maybe we’ll get something juicy like Kalon playing a healer and wearing a dress! or heck, tanking in a dress!)
• Keeva from Tree Bark Jacket (hopefully we don’t catch her /mooing at passing Alliance)

Devoted readers of BigBearButt who have despaired at his recent silence may still be subscribed to a defective version of his RSS feed. You can subscribe to a working version of his feed at http://thebigbearbutt.com/feed/.

Resource Highlight: The Daily Druid

Dan O’Halaran of WoWInsider renown has created a fabulous new resource that may just obsolete the Community Spotlight feature here at Resto4Life (though I enjoy these posts too much to admit as much)! The Daily Druid reviews the most topical Druid-related posts from all around the blogosphere. Best of all, these posts are categorized by spec, making it a snap to get the information that’s most relevant to you and your playstyle. Check him and subscribe out here!

Posts I Loved

Here are a few of my favorite reads since the last Community Spotlight post:

• 3.09 and You from Orbital Bombardment
  Wondering how the upcoming change to Ferocious Bite will affect you? Raine explores this (mostly) PvP-related nerf to burst DPS.
• Best in Slot for Resto Druid from Sydera of World of Matticus
  Sydera shares her thoughts on the best items by slot from all currently available raid content. Warning: may become outdated with the upcoming nerf to Spirit.
• The Best Raid Heal from Passport to Shandris
  Dave Ciskowski breaks down the total amount healed over time of all available raid heals. Includes some very cool step-graphs!
• A Comparison of Two-Handers from Unbearably HoT
  Runy takes a look at the best DPS-oriented 2-handers available to Cats. Let it be known that I take no responsibility for the ridiculousness of her double entendres.
• Doing It Kitty Style: The Basics from Of Teeth and Claws
  Everyone knows that CATIS4FITE. Karthis shows you how in this great DPS primer for cool cats and wanna-be dps-kittens.
• Eclipse: Parts I, II, III, and IV from Gray Matter
  In a series larger than a boomkin’s bottom, you’ll learn more than you ever wanted to know about the Balance talent, Eclipse.
• Flavors of Tanking – A Healer’s Guide from World of Snarkcraft
  A guest post from Joveta’s significant other and detailing the different “flavors” tanks come in: threat and mitigation. Personally, I prefer Karamel Sutra.
• Healing without the Tree of Life Form from Casual WoW
  Byaghro rebuts my earlier post Mailbag: A Deforested Restoration Build with his recommendations on a build and playstyle for healing without Tree of Life. Due to its limitations, he strongly emphasizes this spec as unsuitable for raiding.
• Heroic Cheat Sheet: Utgarde Keep from 4 Haelz
  Bellwether walks (waddles?) Resto Druids through healing this Heroic instance.
• How to Level a Moonkin from Gray Matter
  A straightforward approach to maturing from plucky chick to a level 80 laser turkey of death.
• Hybrid Envy from Of Teeth and Claws
  A great rebuttal to the assertion that Druids (and other classes capable of speccing for more than one role) should perform at less than 100% than their “pure” counterparts.
• Macros for a Leveling Druid from Druid Main
  As a devoted user of the Nostromo Gamepad, I’m a big fan of space-saving macros. Here are a few fun and useful ones to add to your arsenal.
• More on Wild Growth from Nerf This Druid
  Averna reviews the basic mechanics of Wild Growth, a spell that seems to confuse many Druids.
• Representation of Mice from Out of Mana
  A fantastic explanation of the cascading effect class imbalance can have on class distribution in competitive Arena play.
• Waxing Philosophical: Healer Squabbles from Tree Bark Jacket
  Keeva takes a look at the underlying reasons for the seemingly disproportionate animosity among healers on the official role forums.

Eggo on Wild Growth and Nourish

This week reader and avid Druid illustrator Eggo shares a comic related to the recent change to Nourish whereby it benefits from the HoT applied by Wild Growth. Here’s the first panel, but be sure to click to view the whole comic!

Personally, I’m excited about the prospect of “Zomg Boob Tree.” Hopefully Blizzard takes notice and gives my Tree boobies and a grass skirt in their upcoming graphical revamp. (I’m kidding, of course. Mostly.)

Blue: I <3 Graylo

A recent blue post in the official Druid class forum caught my eye a few moments ago. Eyonix writes:

<3 Graylo’s blogs

A big congratulations to Graylo! It is really exciting – for all of us – to think Blizzard might read some of the many fantastic class/spec-based blogs out there. This makes me feel a little guilty about all my crab-related posts. Well, sorta.

Paininabox’s WotLK Restoration Spreadsheet v1.31L

Paininabox has updated his WotLK Restoration Spreadsheet with a number of significant changes and bug fixes, among them:

• Added gems
• Added Innervate
• New stat scale options
• Added Tauren support (cows are HEAVY)
• Beaming Earthsiege and Ember Skyflare Meta gem support

You can always find the most current link to download this spreadsheet in the Resources section.

Blogroll Additions

New Druid blogs! New Druid blogs!

• Druid Main – And alternates!
• Foofy’s Cupcake Factory – Who wouldn’t want to visit a cupcake factory? OM NOM NOM!
• Gnome Druid – Blasphemy!
• Nerf This Druid – Well, not THIS Druid. That’s just the name of a blog. Please don’t nerf me.
• Passport to Shandris – Just make sure you store all fluids in containers of 3.4 ounces or less.
• Sauteed Sunfish – Best enjoyed with a glass of Chardonnay.

Save 14% on Tree Shirts until February 11

U.S. and Canadian residents can save 14% on Tree Shirts orders of $25 or more today and tomorrow. Simply enter codes FEB19 (U.S.) or CADFEB19 (Canada) upon checkout.

P.S. I love words that I can type with just one hand because then you can use the mouse at the same time. Did you know that "warcraft" is one such word?

I am trying to avoid deep Resto and still be a great healer because I like to see my character’s humanoid shape more often than not. I was either going to go a bit down Balance to get Lunar Guidance and Dreamstate or a bit down Feral to get Nurturing Instinct. I wouldn’t think to go Feral, but 70% of Ggility gear could be a lot of a healing, right?

I was wondering if you’ve done the math on these and could suggest one path over the other.

Prior to the release of Wrath, it used to be somewhat viable to skip over Tree of Life as a Restoration Druid. In fact, one of my guilty pleasures in TBC was to run Heroics as a Night Elf in all my S2 PvP gear just because I looked so darn cool (though I kept using the form for difficult raid content). You see, while the 20% spell cost reduction was great, you could get a weaker, non-Lifebloom-affecting version from Moonglow, a talent that was formerly much deeper in the Balance tree. There were also a number of TBC encounters where staying in Tree of Life was more a liability than a benefit due to its 20% slow-movement and inability to decurse.

However, with the release of Wrath of the Lich King, we get all of the (raid-important) benefits of the form with none of its limitations. Blizzard has removed the movement speed reduction, added both Abolish Poison and Remove Curse to its arsenal of available spells, and even allowed us to cast our class buff, Mark of the Wild without leaving form (and in Patch 3.1, we’ll finally be able to cast Thorns). Moonglow has also been made much more accessible, a talent whose effects stack with the mana reduction afforded by Tree of Life. Without Tree of Life, you also lose access to Master Shapeshifter, a Tree of Life-specific talent that grants you an additional 4% healing in the form. And this doesn’t even consider cases where you are the only Restoration Druid in a raid where no Paladin has 3/3 Improved Devotion Aura, making you the only potential source of the 6% to healing aura. To summarize:

As you can see, there is no justification for not having and using Tree of Life as a Restoration Druid in Wrath. It is a spec-defining form that you sacrifice too much to avoid. As such, I cannot in good conscience recommend any spec that doesn’t include the ability (and in Wrath, there are specs that include both the form and Dreamstate). Honestly, if you’re hung up on having to look at rotten broccoli, can’t wait for the upcoming revamp to Druid forums, or simply don’t have much faith in Blizzard meeting your aesthetic standards, I suggest rolling a Priest doll to dress up. They certainly get the best looking armor and aren’t restricted to using a special form to reach their full healing potential. Of course, Druids are still way more fun than Priests, in my opinion, even if we do look ridiculous.

P.S. Nurturing Instinct is a terrible talent for any healing Druid as there are no items that have spell power and Agility on them. You would never want to purposefully wear Feral items to boost your healing if healing is your intended role.

As of Patch 3.1, the effects of Revitalize (simultaneously renamed from Replenish to avoid confusion with the Replenishment effect) will be able to proc from ticks of our 51-point group heal, Wild Growth. This substantially increases the effectiveness of the ability for a number of reasons:

• Wild Growth has seven ticks instead of the six of a talented Rejuvenation.
• These ticks occur every second instead of once every three seconds, making it less likely that they will go toward overheal and yielding a much higher rate of restoration.
• Wild Growth hits up to five targets at a time instead of one per spell cast.
• While justifying the use of Rejuvenation can sometimes be difficult, there are many cases where the use of Wild Growth makes sense.

In short, the returns go from looking rather shabby to looking OM-NOM-NOM-delectable. To update the values presented under the Rejuvenation discussion, we’ll look at the effects it can have on just one target, keeping in mind that it has the potential to hit five of assorted shapes and colors. We can use a modified 8.57 casts per target per minute (60/7-second duration) and 1.05 procs per cast (0.15 * 7) to arrive at an approximate average PPM of 9.0, three times that of Rejuvenation:

Mana cost per Wild Growth Cast = 643
Wild Growth Casts per Minute = 60 / 7 = 8.57
Avg. PPM per Target = 8.57 * 1.05 = 9.0
Mana Cost per Target per Minute = (643 * 8.57)/5 = 1102.102*

* Here I’ve divided the total cost by five targets to avoid overstating the mana cost per target.

We can then apply this new PPM value to our previous calculations by individual class:

Avg. Return per Minute _DK = 9 * 16 = 144 Runic Power/Minute
Avg. Return per Minute _Warrior = 9 * 4 = 36 Rage/Minute
Avg. Return per Minute _Rogue = 9 * 8 = 72 Energy/Minute

For mana users, the return is again based on total mana pool, using the higher PPM of 9 instead of 3.

Avg. Return per Minute _Paladin = 9 * 0.01 * MANA POOL

Keep in mind that the above returns are on a per mana-using target basis. Assuming you hit a group of well-geared spell casters with it, you could be looking at upwards of 600-700 MP5 for your raid, more than (indirectly) compensating you for the cost of casting the spell.

Summary

With such a potent regenerative tool in their arsenal, Restoration Druids may soon be counted among those players who can contribute significantly to the longevity (or throughput) of their raidmates (alongside Moonkin, Shamans of all flavors and Replenishment-providing Survival Hunters, Shadow Priests, and Retribution Paladins), and with the unique twist of restoring more than just mana. Such a change would go a long way toward accomplishing Blizzard’s stated intention to "offer [Replenishment] to additional classes, as well as make sure that existing sources of Replenishment are more equitable." And if you’re wondering if Blizzard would consider giving such a tool to a healing class, remember that Shamans provide Mana Tide Totem, and Paladins provide Blessing of Wisdom, each of which has the potential to overshadow Revitalize, given the number of targets they can effect and the relative ease with which they are maintained.

Dear Blizzard,

I promise not to (excessively) lord my Wild Growth over DPSers if you give it the same proc chance per tick as Rejuvenation.

All my love,
Phae