Nat's Twee House

Back to Alliance; Resto Druid Woes

2013-01-03T12:02:00.000-08:00

Happy after Holidays! During break, I had the realization of how much I missed raiding. I'll be honest; sometimes it does feel like a job but when you accomplish things it makes it all worth it. I haven't raided really hardcore since Wrath and I wanted to push progression again. At the end of Cata I had nothing but regret for not raiding. I really liked T11 and T12, but after doing normals my guild fell apart. Due to all that I went through, I had no motivation to raid. I came back during Dragon Soul but I wasn't impressed. It was my least favorite instance by far. It did have a few interesting mechanics, but I just wasn't feeling it.

With that being said I went back to my old guild and they welcomed me back and i'm thankful for that. I'm happy to be in the raiding 25s again.

One thing I noticed was as I healed this expansion for mvp, my healing just doesn't keep up with most healers. I find myself falling behind on burst and as well as mana trying to keep up on damage. Our mana pools don't allow us to use [Rejuvenation] as much as we used to. Granted, I hated the idea of spamming it in Wrath, but now we don't really have much else to do. Our toolkit is very limited, especially when it comes to burst damage. All the fights are designed that way and druids were left behind on the burst department.

These are a combination of logs post 5.1. We're behind of all healing specs, including holy. This disheartens me as I really love playing my druid. I've mained her since vanilla, and I would really hate to have to reroll.

My problem isn't about keeping up on meters, it's about keeping up on damage. Where the other healers can't make up for the burst, druids can't. I find myself having to stop mid tranq during Wind Lord on [Rain of Blades] due to having to heal myself or i'll die, regardless of having Bark Skin. We just can't keep up.

There have been multiple posts on Blizzard forums and there has been no replies from blues. I really hope to see something from 5.2 patch notes. I won't quit my druid unless i'm forced to reroll for progression because of being a druid bringing down the raid. Wish me luck.

Into the Mists: Return to Blogging!? Reforge headaches?

2012-12-22T14:58:00.001-08:00

Hello, hello! It's certainly been awhile (again.. I'm so terrible, I know). This time I'm back for quite awhile. Mists of Pandaria has so much to offer for me (because I'm returning to my Achievement Mongering again). My goals so far were to finish getting 150 mounts, the Pandaren Ambassador, and 60 exalted reps.

My progress so far!
I made the switch from Alliance to Horde; as much as I miss my Night Elf. I play casually on Tichondrius (US, of course). The latency is much better, as I am from the West Coast. I PvP very little because I don't feel to push past 2200. Once I reach it, i'm satisfied (Yay xmog gear!).
I do a little raiding on the side, but for the most part we're a PvP guild. So to fill that gap, I just do a bunch of dailies and Archaeology. I found myself doing achievements here and there.
Even though i'm a casual player now, I still try to min/max my stats in anyway possible by keeping up with information on my class as well as testing things out myself. I guess you can call me a "hardcore casual" or a "tryhard" but I like doing the best I can.
As a Resto Druid our stat priorities are:
Spirit(until you're comfortable) > Int > 1st Haste Cap (3043) > Mastery > Crit
To be honest, as Resto Druids stand right now, I won't be feel comfortable gemming Intellect instead of Spirit until I have heroic gear and for the next tier. Our healing is behind due to our regen and our HoTs going to overheal due to sniping and absorbs. I keep most absorbs tracked on my grid, but it's kind of hit and miss.

Coming to the haste part, I always had problems working ReforgeLite around Spirit (maybe that's just me being dumb). But with that problem, I found a solution: wowreforge.com.

This site enables you to check your reforge numbers and asks for priorities, as well as helps you get the exact numbers you need. If the numbers are too much, you can use Simple Mode.

On the bottom you can choose what stats you're trying to get. As you can see I put our first haste cap and unchecked the Spirit box because I didn't want that stat to be modified. Once the numbers are added up and you like what you see, you can hit the summary button and it will tell you exactly what you need to reforge to get there.
Also if you don't wish to go through all the stuff, you can simply use my template! Keep in mind that I don't modify Spirit for haste, but i'm easily able to access the first haste cap while doing so.

http://www.wowreforge.com/?template=for:Druid-Tree,Haste=3043+,Haste:0.8,Spi:0.75,Crit:0.6,Mastery:0.65

With that, I take my leave for now. I'm extremely rusty on blogging so I apologize if this post was short. I'll have more to come when I raid once more. Happy Holidays, Everyone! <3

The Summer Shudder

2012-07-26T01:53:00.000-07:00

So i've been MIA from this blog for a long while and I apologize for that. I've had many changes going on my life with all the moving around and going into college. Now that i'm sitting here, i'll be explaining what has been going on.
The guild I was raiding in quit due to the lack of attendance and everyone transferring to greener pastures. I decided to take a little break due to the rush of the beginning of the expansion.

When Firelands came out I raided casually and a friend of mine from my old guild said they were recruiting a resto druid. I'm always hesitant about transferring servers, but I went on ahead. I was able to clear Heroic Firelands, minus Rag, the first week. I did well and passed my trial. SWTOR came out and there went our attendance, as well as our officer core and guild master. The server was extremely low pop so I couldn't raid casually. I had problems finding groups for Baradin Hold 10 man. I went MIA from WoW to focus more on school.

Now that MoP is announced, I really don't know what i'm going to do. I really don't like guild hopping, but it's the only thing i've been able to do. I've just been having troubles finding a stable guild in need of a resto druid. I love raiding, but it's so hard to stay into the game while i've done everything I wanted to do outside of PvE.
So I hope soon or by the time MoP comes out that i'll have a guild.

I'll then be posting my merry adventures, but for now i'll just cross my fingers. I really regret not having found a guild yet. This is exactly what happened at the end of Wrath where I missed H ICC. I regret missing H Dragon Soul but there really isn't anything I can do about it.

Anyway i'm done with my little rant. Here's to me hopefully having luck for once. Cheers!

The Long Hiatus

2011-11-03T16:36:00.000-07:00

Okay.
So we definitely know I haven't posted in an extremely long time. A lot "real life aggro" has happened these past months. I moved states and now i'm going to college! =) I just now found a guild to raid with thanks to one of my bestest friends! I will try to post more, just need to get more into the habit of doing so again.

Also I need any resto druid advice as I haven't raided in awhile besides random pugs. x_x Thank you!

Back to Posting!

2011-01-08T03:36:00.000-08:00

Hello, everyone! It's certainly been awhile, I hope Cataclysm is treating you all well. :) I took a little hiatus from my blog due to that so I apologize.
We're now 8/12 on 25 man (we have Ascendance Council and Cho'gall down from 10 man) so far. I've got to say that I love all the fights. Each one brings something different to the table like Omnitron where you have to deal and adjust to the various mechanics of each boss or Atramedes where you have to manage not getting too much sound!

Healing now is certainly more interesting and fun in it's own way. In fights so far i've generally been a raid healer minus Chimaeron where I tank heal. ). I try to pop tree of life around 2 times a fight whenever I see high damage effecting the raid. I start rolling lifeblooms then use my Omen of Clarity procs on instant regrowths. I try not to cast Rejuvenation or Regrowth too much due to it'll strain my mana.

I managed to max out Archaeology and i'm still working on trying to get Tyrande's Favorite Doll. It's currently my last rare for Night Elf but I haven't been able to push myself to keep doing it due to my terrible luck. I'm going to try to do at least 3 Night Elf artifacts a day, wish me luck. >.<

Patch 4.0.6

Empowered Touch now also affects Regrowth.
Nature's Bounty no longer affects Swiftmend, but now has a new effect. When the druid has Rejuvenation on 3 or more targets, the cast time of Nourish is reduced by 10/20/30%.
Omen of Clarity can no longer trigger from helpful spells (aka heals), unless the Restoration talent Malfurion's Gift is chosen.
Rejuvenation's mana cost has been reduced from 26% to 16%.
Glyph of Regrowth now causes the heal-over-time effect to refresh itself on targets at or below 50% health, up from 25%.

The patch notes for 4.0.6 look promising. I haven't really used Regrowth so much due to I didn't really think it healed for a lot as it should, especially with how much it costs. I mainly used it from my OoC procs if someone was low and needed to be topped off quickly. One thing that i'm not sure of is the change to Omen of Clarity is if we get Malfurion's Gift will it proc off ALL healing spells or only Lifebloom still? As for rejuvenation, I haven't been using that too much either due to the mana cost. I mainly used it to put up efflorescence, put it on 2-3 targets that are around 50%. I need to start working with a talent calculator to have a spec ready for 4.0.6 when it comes out. :)

Cheers!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

2010-12-24T14:27:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posting as of late, things have been terribly busy. x.x I'll be getting back to posting soon. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holidays. =)

Cataclysm Resto Druid Pre-Raid List

2010-12-05T01:09:00.000-08:00

Lately i've been looking around Cataclysm dungeon loot, rep faction rewards, and craftables so I thought I would make a little item list! I won't be posting one specific item for each equipment slot as to everyone has their own preferences and everyone's heal style is different (like raid/tank healers).

Stat priority may go as follows: Intellect > Spirit > Haste > Crit/Mastery. Intellect has always been a good stat for us due to increasing our healing output. Since it's the first tier of the expansion, mana regen is expected to not be so great so spirit comes in second (can't heal if you're oom!). As for haste, a good haste point to go for is 915 for the 5th tick of rejuvenation (see here). As for crit and mastery, mastery may prove more useful when healing 5 mans, 10 man raids, or tank healing in a 25 man. So depending on whether you focus on one of the above, mastery may fair better than crit. I'm just posting this as a quick reference if anyone needs.

I'll be posting items in each slot in four categories: Haste, Crit, Mastery, and No Spirit. If you're aiming for something with no spirit on it, make sure you have enough regen to sustain your mana pool for whatever you may do. Remember you can always reforge for spirit as well. I've also listed a few epic pieces from professions. No cloth or items with hit are listed. If I missed something please let me know. =)

Helm
Haste
[Cluster of Stars] - 2200 Justice Points

Mastery
[Cowl of Rebellion] - Heroic Deadmines//Vanessa Vancleef

Neck
Haste
[Quicksliver Amulet] - Heroic Blackrock Caverns//Karsh Steelbender
(No heroic link available for the time being; stats for heroic are 252 Stam, 168 Int, 120 spirit, and 98 haste)

Crit
[Amulet of Tender Breath] - Heroic Vortex Pinnacle//Altarius

Mastery
(BoE!) [Acanthia's Lost Pendant] - Heroic Blackrock Caverns//Trash Drop
(BoE!) [Celadon Pendant] - 1250 Justice Points

No Spirit
[Tauntka's Necklace] - Heroic Lost City//High Prophet Barim
[Pipefish Cord] - Heroic Throne of the Tides//Ozumat

Shoulders
Haste
[Mantle of Bestilled Winds] - Heroic Vortex Pinnacle//Altarius

Crit
[Mantle of Soft Shadows] - Heroic Halls of Origination//Anraphet

Mastery
[Somber Shawl] - 1650 Justice Points

Cloak
Haste
[Solar Wind Cloak] - Heroic Halls of Origination//Rajh

Crit
[Springvale's Cloak] - Heroic Shadowfang Keep//Commander Springvale

Mastery
[Azureborne Cloak] - Heroic Grim Batol//Drahga Shadowburner

No Spirit
[Periwinkle Cloak] - Heroic Throne of the Tides//Lady Naz'jar
[Cloak of Ancient Wisdom] - The Earthen Ring (Revered)

Chest
Haste
[Robes of Forgetfulness] - 2200 Justice Points

Mastery
[Cursed Skardyn Vest] - Heroic Grim Batol//General Umbriss

Bracers
Mastery
(BoE!) [Oasis Bracers] - Heroic Lost City//Trash Drop

No Spirit
[Armbands of Change] - Heroic Blackrock Caverns//Corla

Gloves
Haste
[Deep Delving Gloves] - Heroic Stonecore//Slabhide

Crit
[Blessed Hands of Elune] - 1650 Justice Points

No Spirit
[Aessina-Blessed Gloves] - Guardians of Hyjal (Revered)

Belt
Haste
[Thatch Eave Vines] - 1650 Justice Points
(A)[Belt of the Untamed] - Wildhammer Clan (Exalted)
(H)[Withered Dream Belt] - Dragonmaw Clan (Exalted)

Mastery
[Underworld Cord] - Heroic Halls of Origination//Earthrager Ptah

Leggings
Crit
[Leggings of Clutching Roots] - The Earthen Ring (Revered)

Mastery
[Leggings of the Path] - Heroic Lost City//Siamat

No Spirit
[Leggings of Late Blooms] - 2200 Justice Points

Boots
Crit
[Decapod Slippers] - Heroic Throne of the Tides//Erunak Stonespeaker

Rings
Haste
(BoE!) [Ring of the Great Whale] - Heroic Throne of the Tides//Trash Drop

Crit
[Band of Life Energy] - Heroic Halls of Origination//Ammunae
[Ring of Frozen Rain] - Heroic Vortex Pinnacle//Asim al Akir

Mastery
[Kibble] - Heroic Blackrock Caverns//Beauty
[Veneficial Band] - Heroic Lost City//Lockmaw

No Spirit
[Rose Quartz Band] - Heroic Stonecore//Slabhide
(BoE!) [Abandoned Dark Iron Ring] - Heroic Grim Batol//Trash Drop

Trinkets
As far as trinkets go, due to spirit being our second best stat i'll only be putting up trinkets with any sort of mana regeneration here.
(Mastery/Equip - Spirit) [Blood of Isiset] - Heroic Halls of Origination//Isiset
(Int/Equip - Spirit) [Tear of Blood] - Heroic Stonecore//High Priestess Azil
(Spirit/Equip - Haste| BoE!) [Rainsong] - Heroic Vortez Pinnacle//Trash Mobs
(Spirit/Use - Spell power) [Sea Star] - Heroic Throne of the Tides//Ozumat
(Int/Equip - Spirit)[Darkmoon Card: Tsunami] (Inscription)
(Int/Use & Equip - Mana return)[Tyrande's Favorite Doll] (Archaeology)

Weapons/Offhands
Haste
(2h) [Soul Releaser] - Heroic Halls of Origination//Earthrager Ptah
(1h) [Scepter of Power] - Heroic Halls of Origination//Setesh
(Offhand) [Apple-Bent Bough] - 950 Justice Points
(Offhand) [Divine Companion] - Crafted (Inscription)

Crit
(Offhand) [Bioluminescent Lamp] - Heroic Throne of the Tides//Ozumat

Mastery
(1h) [Torturer's Mercy] - Heroic Blackrock Caverns//Rom'ogg Bonecrusher
(2h) [Staff of Isolation] - Heroic Shadowfang Keep//Lord Godfrey
(Offhand) [Prophet's Scepter] - Heroic Stonecore//High Priestess Azil

No Spirit
(2h) [Staff of Siphoned Essences] - Heroic Grim Batol//Erudax
(2h) [Emberstone Staff] - Heroic Deadmines//Foe Reaper 5000
(1h) [Biting Wind] - Heroic Vortex Pinnacle//Grand Vizier Ertan
(2h) [Insidious Staff] - Baradin's Wardens/Hellscream's Reach (Revered)

Relics
Crit
[Book of Dark Prophecies] - Heroic Stonecore//High Priestess Azil

Haste
[Captured Lightning] - Heroic Vortex Pinnacle//Asaad

No Spirit
[Book of the Well Sung Song] - Heroic Deadmines//Vanessa Vancleef
[Tattooed Eyeball] - Crafted (Inscription)

Throwing Myself Off Cliffs?

2010-11-29T22:37:00.000-08:00

Most people deal with their Inner Turmoil through thought. I just throw mine off the cliff repeatedly.

About a week until the expansion hits and things have been slow around here lately. I've been leveling up a horde priest on another server to check out the new zones from a different faction's point of view. I really liked Silverpine and Hillsbrad so far. My favorite quest so far has got to be Peaceblooms vs Ghouls. I didn't really understand it at first since I haven't played Plants vs Zombies yet, but with a little help I was able to kick some ghoul butt! :) The little sunflower pet from completing the chain is adorable.

I've also been trying to go through to do the new quests on my druid. I've done some zones but then stopped because I wanted to raise my goblin rep up (darn, bloodsail!). So far I was able to get Booty Bay back up to Neutral; the rest i'm still hated with!

Today I decided to drop my Jewelcrafting to pick up herbalism once again. I'm not really good at making money so I wouldn't be able to buy my way through maxing out both Alchemy and Jewelcrafting. I finished leveling my herbalism 1-450 today and it really didn't take that long to begin with. It feels like the zones have more herbing nodes than they did before (Hillsbrad has a lot! [Mageroyal, Briarthorn]).

A couple guildies and I usually run Tempest Keep weekly to try to get A'lar but this week seemed to go rather.. odd. We got to where he started flying into the air, but he wasn't doing anything so we just sat there and waited. Our tank started moving around and walked away and there went Kael'thas chasing after him.

It appears he lost his spine in the last patch..
We eventually called it quits so hopefully this will be fixed until next time! I honestly can't wait until Cataclysm. Bring on the new content!

The Shattering: Takin' away mah ZG!

2010-11-22T19:30:00.000-08:00

So 4.0.3a is tomorrow and with that many changes are coming whether it be from lands getting obliterated, class changes, me setting my hearth to Stormwind since Dalaran/Shattrath portals are being taken away, and.. dwarf shamans?! I'm excited that we're finally going to be seeing land changes happening! Speaking of which, we all know Zul'Gurub is being removed which makes me a sad panda (many, many, many, many runs and no Raptor or Tiger mount). There's no point in dwelling on it so i'm ok! The mounts will no longer be available but I hope one day in the near/far future that they'll return. *crosses fingers*

The new class/race combinations make me want to level an alt up! My character slots on my main server are full so i'd have to start over on a new server (no biggie!). With that being said... WTB more character slots on the same server! :P

4.0.3a Restoration Changes
Info from MMO-Champion.

Empowered Touch now procs from Healing Touch as well as Nourish.
I think it means the 50/100% Lifebloom refresh, pretty neat! :D

Malfurion's Gift no longer has Fury of Stormrage as a prerequisite talent.
I never thought about getting Malfurion's Gift before due to Fury. I generally keep lifeblooms on the tank at all times so this is makes me happy.

Natural Shapeshifter now also increases Tree of Life duration by 5/10 seconds.
10 seconds onto Tree Form isn't a bad thing! We keep 2 points into this talent in the first place due to getting Master Shapeshifter.

Revitalize is now a 2-point talent, down from 3. It provides a 20% chance to return 1/2% of the druid's total mana on periodic heals from Lifebloom or Rejuvenation. This effect cannot occur more than once every 12 seconds.
Nerf to our regen (we do have a lot at the moment, not sure about Cata). The proc chance was reduced by 6%, mana return down from 3%, and the icd for it doubled.

Swift Rejuvenation is now a 1-point talent, down from 2. The global cooldown reduction this talent provides to Rejuvenation remains 0.5 seconds.
This talent was bugged before if you had 1 point into it (didn't benefit from your current haste as well) so i'm glad they're making it a one talent. :)

Symbiosis: heal-over-time spells (Rejuvenation, Regrowth, Lifebloom) can no longer benefit from this Mastery merely by refreshing themselves. A different heal-over-time spell must be present.
A fix, i'm guessing. I still think our mastery benefits tank healing best. I've been told healing in Cataclysm won't be as fast paced as it is now so it might be different then.

I've been playing around with the talent calculator to get a spec ready for tomorrow, but I still have one extra point dangling around! Hopefully i'll have it figured out by then. Hope you guys enjoy your last day with Azeroth not in flames, everyone. I'm off to go set my hearth! :)

It's close!

2010-11-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

Hey, guys! Sorry, it's been awhile! I've been refraining from posting for a bit to get some things done before Cataclysm and with that being said; I finished my Hydraxian Waterlords rep! My next little project when ZG goes away will be to try to get Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros! The eye off Rag still hasn't dropped for me, but i've been trying to gather some of the many materials to make it! I've gotten both bindings for Thunderfury *ducks*, but i'm not really motivated to make it yet due to no Feat of Strength if I make it. :P Unless they changed that, of course.

I'm sad that ZG is going away due to not getting any mounts yet (one more reset left!), but i'm pretty excited to see old world change! It's so hard to think that the expansion is coming out soon. I'm ready to rush to my local Gamestop to pick it up!

It was a hard decision, but I ended up quitting my guild last night. I went to go rejoin my old guild for Cataclysm since they wanted me to come back. I really missed raiding with my friends. Not going to lie about it but I feel bad. :( I'm not one to guild hop so this was a very difficult decision for me.

On a happy note i've been watching some Cataclysm dungeon run videos on youtube. One that i've been watching is from TotalBiscuit. I've also watched some of the raid bosses from the Paragon videos and they look really fun!

Here's hoping we all have a great last 2 weeks of Wrath of the Lich King! Take care, everyone!

I respec too much!

2010-10-26T06:39:00.000-07:00

Ever since the patch has been released, i've respecced multiple times! I'm really indecisive as you can tell. I was happy that we were getting new talents and all, but I really wish we had more points to work with! Come on Cataclysm; come out so and gimmie my 5 talent points! *shakes fists*

Before 4.0, I was satisfied with the spec I decided to go with. My main goal for this patch was to find a spec I was comfortable with that had what I thought worked for me the best. Anyway here's my respecs to find my spec until Cataclysm. If any resto druids see anything wrong with my final, please let me know. I'm always open to suggestions! :D

First Spec
2/3/31

As you can tell one of my main concerns once the patch hit was mana, so I picked up [Furor]. I wasn't sure if my mana would be ok in a raid setting because all I did on the PTR was some heroics and the Cataclysm event bosses. It wasn't really a good test due to not a lot of people were taking damage. I should've told everyone to stand in the fire so I could heal something. :(
I didn't pick up [Nature's Cure] because silly 'ol me thought paladins could dispel magic without talents, but I was wrong. My guild was doing Ulduar 25 with the people that decided they wanted to test out their spells (we got a little break to prepare our chars once patch hit). We were on Iron Council and I was asked to dispel and I said I didn't have it (I felt a tad embarrassed, to be honest >.<). With that being said that lead me to do my first respec..

Second Spec
2/0/34

Since I had no mana problems while raiding I decided to remove the 3 points into [Furor] and put it in [Swift Rejuvenation] and [Nature's Cure]. I really like dispelling magic, like when people get turned into oozes by Plague Scientists. I noticed while healing last week that I really didn't use [Nourish] or [Healing Touch] a lot since i'm normally assigned to healing the raid. I generally use them when I have time to spot heal tanks when the raid isn't taking damage. With that I decided to respec yet again.

Final Spec
2/0/34
Same numbers, different spec!

The difference in this spec is that I moved the points from [Empowered Touch] into [Blessing of the Grove]. As i've said I really haven't used neither Nourish or Healing touch on the raid due to their cast times so I decided to spec out of it. The 100% lifebloom refresh with nourish is really nice, but instead of casting nourish I could just simply refresh it in less time than the cast.
I generally keep 3 stacks of Lifebloom on the tank and wouldn't mind casting nourish to keep it up, but while the raid is taking damage it's a tad bit quicker to cast lifebloom again to keep the stack than nourish. As of now, i'm not going to use Empowered Touch but in Cataclysm I can see myself picking it up (I wanna try tank healing! Valithria doesn't count).

I love new patches. Especially ones with new talents and spell changes to play around with. I really enjoy playing my druid now due to all the spell variety we have (so long WG, Rejuvx5, WG, Rejuvx5). I really can't wait till Cataclysm, I want to heal me some new dungeons and raids!

Until Cataclysm comes out i'll be raiding until my guild decides to have a break before it comes out (if we have one) and while we're not raiding level my not-so-little druid who's now level 70. I've been trying to get money with my professions on my main druid, but i'm really terrible at it. I need to get back doing dailies. I wouldn't mind getting the mounts from the Argent Tournament to try to get 100 mounts!

Looking back, I posted a Pre-Cataclysm Bucket List awhile ago. Now to see what I still need to accomplish!

Four out of five isn't so bad! We still have a few more weeks to go. 3-5 more weeks of Molten Core runs and I should be exalted! Anyway thanks for reading. Cheers, everyone!

Good News Everyone!

2010-10-22T04:44:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!
Sorry about the title, my guild is now working on heroic Professor Putricide so the saying is stuck in my head. Patch 4.0 has been treating me decently. I'm more than satisfied with the healing style of resto druids now. I really wanted to do Valithria this week, but I was able to take the raid night off (my mom finally got a night off, we rarely get to spend time together) so I wasn't here this week for Valithria (there's always next week!).

4.0! *dances*
One thing about this patch that has been getting to me is the random fps drops. I only experienced it during Saurfang and the last phase of Sindragosa. I usually run at 40-60 fps during a raid, but now I just drop down to 3 and I really can't do anything. >.< Other than that, this patch has been treating me well!

Nomnomnom.. Water graphics
On off nights i've been trying to level up my little druid (she's 48 now!). I was so happy to buy dual spec due to the patch making it 100g from 1000g. She's herb/skinning to make money, but 1k is just too much! :) I generally now kitty my way through quests and queue up as a healer for randoms. I tanked on her before but once patch hit I just decided to heal it up!

Stop Silencing Me!
Today right before Zul'Gurub reset I did the Tiger boss as Balance and boy, was he a pain! I kept getting silenced, gouged, etc. It was a nightmare! But I shockingly was able to down him in one attempt. I think I felt my heart stop beating because after the 2 adds of his died, the high priest was sitting at 2k health for the longest time because I got silenced. I totally thought he was going to resurrect them!

Hope everyone has a lovely day and have a happy Hallow's End!

New name, same blog!

2010-10-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone! As you can tell my blog name has been changed! This wasn't really planned in the beginning this name seemed neat! My character wasn't named Nat at the time so it wouldn't really make sense. >.< Reason it's twee instead of tree is due to the name was already taken (and I thought I was being original! T_T!).

Yesterday I had some fun with the patch. I was able to get *some* add ons working. Grid was being a little buggy with me though. I did some instances as well as some bgs and whenever I joined or someone left and another joined my grid wouldn't show that person so i'd have to play with the format over and over for them to show. It was especially icky when I did Wintergrasp! But then again only 10 alliance showed up.. o.o And yes, in the middle of the day. :P I hope that the side indicator text gets updated! Nat needs her HoT countdowns! *goes into fetal position*

I feel like I kind of rushed my spec on my druid since the spec number thingy (2/1/33) looks odd to me. I wanted to max out Swift Rejuvenation since 1/2 doesn't really work with our haste. I don't know if it's fixed so if anyone knows, lemme know! :D I've only healed dungeons and pvp so I don't know about my mana regen yet. In dungeons my mana barely moved, but that's how it was before. In pvp, my mana was slightly going down a bit faster but I wear wyrmhide and I didn't have a mana trinket equipped like I usually do. >.< I is scurred of the mages! /cower Also the random battleground kicks. I'd be healing someone in the middle of a fight and i'd get a loading screen with the lovely gift of deserter. Go bugs! But it'll be fixed soon, i'm sure. :D

Yesterday on the forums I saw so many posts asking about the new tree of life model since the patch came out! At the end of the night MMO-Champion released a preview of it. It looks kind of cute, I still kind of like my broccoli form better though (you know you miss the shake dance!). The models still look decent though! It'll take some getting used to seeing but it's ok. =)

With that being said, i'm going to try to configure grid more before raid time! >_< Have a great day!

Getting Ready For 4.0

2010-10-07T16:16:00.000-07:00

Since the patch is most likely next week, it's time to prepare! I mostly think it's going to be the 12th since that's when season 8 ends. :P

One of the things i've been doing is selling gems! Gem prices will most likely be going down due to gem transmutes not having cds. I've been keeping some gems if I ever decide to gear my alts. /lazy

I've been running ZG like mad! Everytime I see an epic drop from the raptor boss I get all excited. >_< Hasn't dropped yet, but it will soon!

I've been on the ptr on and off for a couple of days to try to get used to the spell changes (big heal, medium heal, little heal) once the patch hits. My guild will still be raiding after it comes so I thought it would be best to prepare. I've been playing around with talent points for awhile. I was going to get Malfurion's Gift, but decided not to since I haven't had any mana problems so far and other druids I talked to say the same. I haven't healed a raid yet, but we'll see. Another reason is that i'd have to spend 2 points into a filler talent just to get that and right now i'd rather use those points for something else.
These new resto changes will need some getting used to like Regrowth not having a long HoT anymore, nourish having a longer cast and being our medium, mana efficient heal, lifebloom being able to be on only one target, and.. well, you understand.

I'm really looking forward to HoTs being able to crit as well as being effected by haste (without glyphs! *tosses all her rapid rejuv glyphs away*). So, yes. Crit is good for us! I thought about writing a guide for 4.0, but there's just so many already and i'm terrible at writing guides.

Some guides that have helped me prepare to get used to this change are:
Keeva's 4.0 Guide
Lissanna's Guide

Another guide to look out for is RestoDude's so stay tuned for that!

About tree form being a cooldown; at first I really felt sad about it turning into a cooldown. I started healing at level 70 so tree form was something I grew used to. I'll miss my tree-like nicknames like Barkface. Me and an old guild member used to call each other Barkface and Bearface. The cooldown seems really neat, I just need to figure out when to use it. :P So i'm not going to say goodbye to tree form, since it'll still be there. I see this patch as a new beginning for resto druids and i'm excited!

To bloom or not to bloom.

2010-09-26T23:40:00.000-07:00

Random topic! I've been looking at our spells and talents to think about ways to use spells when the new patch comes out and I thought about lifebloom. Many talents have been added pertaining about lifebloom where it made me question some things. It's on my mind currently so anyone able to help or shed some insight on me, be my guest! : )
I'm probably thinking way too much on this subject but is it better to let lifebloom bloom then restack or just keep it up? Talents like Empowered Touch makes me think it might be good to keep up, but then Gift of the Earthmother which increases the healing done by it's "bloom" effect (unless I misread, I tend to do that a lot! ^.^;). I was just wondering if one way would be better than the other or if it's situational.
So far even though lifebloom is only a one target only healing spell, it's not disappointing me so far. It can give us back mana with replenishment from Revitalize and OoC procs from Malfurion's Gift. It'll also give regen from our tier 11 four set bonus (Whenever you have Lifebloom stacked to its maximum of 3 applications on its target, you gain 540 spirit). And today it's been fixed so that when we pop ToL, it removes the target limit on lifebloom. :D

Cataclysm Reso Druid Build 13066

2010-09-26T18:38:00.000-07:00

Greetings, friends! I took a little break from Cataclysm updates on my blog, but i'm sorry to return to them. Reason being there's been some interesting changes done for resto druids.
I haven't been posting about the builds I missed due to most of the changes being changed yet again, so I apologize for that.

Information is from the wonderful MMO-Champion! :D

Balance

Nature's Torment is now named Nature's Grace. When you gain Lunar or Solar Eclipse,the cooldown of Nature's Grace is reset..
The last time I updated about this talent it was still a 1/2/3% haste talent. A lot has changed since then! This is similar now to Focus Insight for shamans, but instead of reduced mana costs as well as increased healing effectiveness we get increased casting speed.

Restoration

Lifebloom can now be cast on an unlimited amount of targets while under the effect of Tree of Life.
When I first read this, I thought they were removing the target limit but then read the rest, Doh! It's still pretty nice and better than just having 2 stacks at a time but only on one target. With this change it only makes me think of how awesome Malfurion's Gift will be with it.

Omen of Clarity (Passive) - If specialized as a Feral Druid, Omen of Clarity will also have a chance to occur from your auto-attacks. (Tooltip clarification)
/falconpunch

Tree of Life now lasts 30 sec, down from 45 sec. Costs 6% of base mana, down from 13% of base mana.
I also first glanced at this wrong. I first thought it was a nerf but the cooldown was reduced by 2 minutes as well. I wouldn't mind removing 15 seconds for it to be a 3 minute cooldown. :D 45 seconds seemed a little long anyway.

Efflorescence no longer procs from Regrowth critical heals, now procs when you heal with your Swiftmend spell. Now heals all nearby friendly targets within 8 yards (up from 4 yards) for 10% of the amount healed by your Swiftmend over 7 sec.
The efflorescence change seems ok. Currently the maxed out rank heals for 120% over 7 sec. I'm still unsure of the exact range of the spell since here it says 8 yards from 4, but the tooltip is saying 15 yards. o.O Now that I think of it, I wouldn't mind the floor not being covered in shiny, green void zones.

So far i'm like what we're getting. :D I'm anxious for the patch to come out! *flails arms* I kind of wish that we didn't have to put points into Fury of Stormrage to get Malfurion's Gift, but beggar's can't be choosers! Also the names for both talents fit together oh so well!
Thanks for reading, time to go back to leveling my lock! Outlands, here I come! :D

Random blog. I'm on a horse!

2010-09-25T01:58:00.000-07:00

"Curse you, wireless!"

Greetings everyone!

I'm currently downloading the stuffs for the next patch. Yes, stuffs. My wireless is literally as slow as a snail so I thought i'd make a random blog post. Yes, this may be a boring post and I apologize! Here's a cookie for sticking with me. *hands cookie*

Daughter Tree, Momma Tree.

With randomness comes random stuff, like RL stuff! Today I was able to spend time with my mom. It's hard to do that since she's usually working most of the time, so it was fun once we got to spend actual time together after she got out of work today. We went out for dinner and boy was I stuffed after (nomnom breadsticks!~). Today made me realize how much I missed spending time with her. I want to do it more often when she's available. (I should totally make her play WoW!) :D

/head~~desk~~tree.

Now onto a different subject! Anyone else feel overwhelmed with all the changes going on or is it just me? In BC I hardly ever visited forums, WoW websites/blogs, or knew about changes (yes, i'm a noob, shhhhh!) so I guess it's just new for me. I'm looking forward to the patch/Cataclysm but at the same time i'm kind of nervous about "relearning" how to play my druid again. I wish I could log onto the PTR to check but then again *points to the angry druid on top of the page*. Wireless!

I'm on a horse.

So now i'm currently leveling up a new lock in my spare time. I always wanted a pure caster class and decided i'd level a lock! As of now, i'm having a blast and enjoying leveling her up. I'm currently using the quest/queue for lfd while questing. Since queues are usually slow, I just quest in between. I'm not an expert leveler but i'm pretty satisfied on how much time it's taking me to level. Lock is fun!

Anyway thanks for stopping by and reading! Have an awesome day!
Also wish me best of luck in hope of the raptor dropping before ZG goes away, ack! *flails arms* Dx

Why do you like your main?

2010-09-21T13:38:00.000-07:00

Since the expansion is coming out and talent changes are released on the ptr, my guild asked if anyone would be changing mains in Cata. As for me, I won't be changing mains. I like playing my druid and have liked playing her for years. When Wotlk came out, I rerolled on my shaman as resto since my guild back then needed heroism due to no other shamans so I offered. I leveled my druid quickly after my shaman and I realized how much I missed playing her. Two months after wrath came out we got a shaman I was able to switch back (making sure my guild was ok with it, we had no resto druids as well).

So this brings me to ask the question which is also the blog topic

Why do you like your main?

Do you like it because of certain spells you get, how awesome you look in a Festive Pink Dress, or how much time you've spent on your main? Let me know. : )

Some PTR Stuffs!

2010-09-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

I was able to get on the PTR yesterday and started playing around with my spells. I noticed our HoTs are really short and it just doesn't register in my head. Rejuv at 12 seconds, Regrowth at 6, Lifebloom is longer but can only stay up on one target at a time, and Wild Growth duration remains the same, but on longer cooldown (10 seconds). I knew these things beforehand, but they just hit me when I logged onto the PTR. I'm not going to "QQ" about it, i'm just saying this is going to take some getting used to!

Efflorescence seems pretty cool. Yes, I took the pic while in our beloved tree form. Instant regrowths are awesome! The two lifebloom stacks from tree form isn't working; I think it's not working on beta as well. I also did a bg on the ptr (while crashing many times) and went tree form to throw wraths at people. >_> .. I thought it was funny.

While professions were broken and there was no glyph vendor, I was able to get Glyph of Healing Touch (When you cast Healing Touch, it reduces the cooldown on Nature's Swiftness by 5 seconds.) Of course I was spamming healing touch, giggling while watching my cooldown go down, but it was a strain on my mana.

Also nourish is the same cast as healing touch. In wrath I thought it was our flash heal, but now it's regrowth come 4.0.1. I personally liked the thought of our flash heal interacting with our HoTs. Regrowth seems ok, but the HoT tick really doesn't seem to heal for a lot. I haven't seen a tank yet to know they're health but I have 30k health and it's criting for about 900. It seems a little low but I haven't really healed a dungeon on the PTR yet(i've been crashing), i'm just a little anxious!

I just feel a little scared, changes usually scare. I'll just do my best to relearn how to heal again with my druid in 4.0.1 once it comes out. This goes out to change, hoping it will lead us in a better, happier place than now. Cheers!

PTR PTR PTR!

2010-09-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

4.0.1 is live. Patch notes located here.

I'm currently downloading it and also waiting for character queues to go through.

*rolls on the floor*
Short post, I know. I'll put more up once I get my druid on here, promise!

Talent Changes, Tier 11 Set Bonuses, and Resto Glyphs!

2010-09-11T17:01:00.000-07:00

A few days ago some talents have been revamped/renamed, tier 11 set bonuses, and I was browsing through forums to find someone posted the druid glyphs in the druid section on MMO-Champion forums. Let's get started!

Talent Changes

So not a lot of talent changes occured that will effect resto druids, but..

Nature's Grace New - Increases all spell haste by 1%.
Old All non-periodic spell criticals have a 33% chance to grace you with a blessing nature, increasing your spell casting by 20% for 3 sec.

Another talent that was changed was the beloved Nom Nom Nom which is now named Feast of Flesh. RIP Nom Nom Nom. :(

Tier 11 Resto Set Bonuses

Set bonuses were released and here's the resto druid ones!

Restoration 2p Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of the periodic portion of your Lifebloom spell by 5%.
Restoration 4p Bonus - Whenever you have Lifebloom stacked to its maximum of 3 applications on its target, you gain 540 Spirit. / Instant

I looked at other healer set bonuses and it seemed like the 2 piece bonus was for their big/tank heal and the 4 piece was for a HoT or AoE HoT (or absorb if you're a priest!). For us that may seem different since our 2 bonuses revolve around the same spell (lifebloom). I will say i'm kind of disappointed it's on the same spell seeing as how lifebloom is single target (I will not keep mentioning that! /sadpanda).

Blizzard seems to want us supporting tanks more. I have no problem with that since I usually keep HoTs on the tank if i'm raid healing.

Glyphs Glyphs Glyphs!

As i've mentioned before I found a forum post on the druid forums about glyphs in the beta currently. I don't know whether they're correct or not since i'm not in beta, but here they are. Remember we can choose 3 Prime glyphs, 3 Major, and 3 Minor. :)

Prime Glyphs

Berserk - Increases duration by 5 seconds.
Insect Swarm - Increases damage by 30%
Lifebloom - Increases crit chance by 10%.
Mangle - Increases damage by 10%
Moonfire - Increases periodic damage by 20%.
Regrowth - The HoT portion will automatically refresh if the target is at/below 25% HP.
Rejuv - Increases healing done by 10%.
Rip - Increases damage done by 15%.
Savage Roar - 3% additional bonus to Savage Roar.
Shred - Each Shred will extend Rip by 2 seconds, up to 6 seconds.
Starfire - Increases duration of Moonfire by 3 seconds, up to 9 seconds.
Starsurge - When Starsurge does damage, the cooldown on Starfall is reduced by 5 seconds.
Swiftmend - Swiftmend no longer consumes Rejuv/Regrowth.
Wrath - Wrath does 10% additional damage on targets affected by IS

Major

Barkskin - Reduces the chance to be crit by melee attacks by 25% for the duration.
Claw - Reduces energy cost by 5 energy.
Entangling Roots - Reduces cast time by 100%.
Focus - Increases Starfall damage by 10%, reduces radius by 50%
Frenzied Regen - While active, increases healing taken by 30% but no longer converts rage into healing. (/tear)
Healing Touch - When you HT, reduces the cooldown on Nature's Swiftness by 5 seconds.
Hurricane - Slows victims by 50%
Innervate - When Innervate is cast on a friendly target other than the caster, the caster gains 50% of the Innervate's effect.
Maul - Hits a secondary target for 50% damage.
Monsoon - Reduces the cooldown by 3 seconds.
Rake - Prevents targets from fleeing.
Rebirth - Target is returned with 100% health.
Solar Beam - Increases duration of silence effect by 5 seconds.
Starfall - Reduces cooldown by 30 seconds.
Thorns - Reduces cooldown by 20 seconds.
Wild Growth - Affects 1 additional target.

Minor

Aquatic Form - Form speed increased by 50%.
Challenging Roar - Reduces cooldown by 30 seconds.
Dash - Reduces cooldown by 20 seconds.
Mark of the Wild - Reduces mana cost by 50%
Typhoon - Reduces mana cost by 8% and increases radius by 10 yards, but no longer knocks back.
Unburdened Rebirth - Rebirth no longer requires a reagent.

One thing I noticed is that Glyph of Thorns was removed from the minor glyph list. Another thing I noticed, inc pvp woe, is that Glyph of Innervate (current) will no longer be able to cause protection from dispels since we only get it if we cast it on another player in Cata. Ok, priests.. you win this round.. For now!

Where's our tree form minor glyph?! ;)

So what glyphs do you think you'll be using in Cata and what are you looking forward to the most?

Spell Change Thoughts and WTB Resto Glyphs!

2010-09-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

Awhile ago spell and talent changes were released on MMO and now the talent calcs are updated with them. =) (Links here and here) Some glyphs have been released for a few classes (Mage/Rogue/Shaman/Warrior). None for druids yet, just have to wait! For shamans they've introduced a cosmetic minor glyph or their ghost wolf form. Maybe they'll make one for us?

Restoration Changes

Lifebloom now heals over 10 sec, up from 7 sec. Costs 7% of base mana, up from 5%.

The duration is increased maybe to be able to keep it up easier with Empowered Touch? Still sad to see lifebloom going as a single target heal, but maybe they'll implement a glyph?

Omen of Clarity is now properly flagged as Passive.
Regrowth HoT effect reduced by 60%, now heals over 6 sec instead of 21 sec. Cast time reduced from 2 sec to 1.5 sec.

In Cata i'll definitely have to get used to remembering that duration won't have a long HoT. Regrowth will now be used as our "Flash Heal". Also it's going to tick every 2 seconds instead of 3. =P

Natural Perfection is now a Tier 5 talent, down from Tier 6.

Swift Rejuvenation is now a Tier 6 talent, up from Tier 5.

Revitalize revamped - When you periodically heal with your Rejuvenation or Lifebloom spells, you have a 8/16/24% chance to instantly regenerate 3% of your total mana. This effect cannot occur more than once every 6 sec.

Regrowth was switched out for Rejuv. Possibly so we have a chance to get it to proc whether we're hotting the tank or the raid?

Heart of the Wild no longer increases maximum mana by 5/10/15%, now increases Intellect by 2/4/6%.

Instead of our mana just going up, we'll have our intellect (spell power in Cata!) going up as well. I was waiting for this, to be honest!

Another thing to mention as well is Innervate is reduced by 13% (33% to 20%). One thing I wanted to see most was Efflorescence to be increased by one or two yards at least! Hopefully people will be good about standing in it when it procs. =)

As for glyphs, I hope they're released soon for us! Moonra came up with a good idea for one:

"Glyph of Everlasting Rejuvenation: Increases the duration of your Regrowth by 6 seconds, the duration of your Rejuvenation by 3 seconds and the duration of your Lifebloom by 2 seconds."

It covers the lose of the talent we know and love. I shall miss you, Nature's Splendor. *hug*
Hope everyone has a good day and thanks for reading!

Cataclysm Build 12803

2010-08-28T03:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posting as of late, had a RL happen so that occupied me for a bit so I apologize (again!). Thanks for bearing with me, everyone! =D

Now onto the main topic: New build change (kind of, i'm late)! A decent amount of talents have been updated/changed since I last looked!

Changed/Added Spells:

Heart of the Wild - I think it's safe to assume this is Furor's replacement. I'm happy to see most of our talents in our first tier being useful for healing. I'm still kind of iffy with Natural Shapeshifer seeing as how our main form we used to shift into is now a cooldown.
Empowered Rejuvenation - switched into Swift Rejuvenation. We lost some effective healing from our HoTs, but we have our passive bonus for speccing resto to compensate as well as it's not only for HoTs, but all of our heals.
Nature's Cure - I understand why they're making healers able to dispel any debuff and not making us limited, but I wished they wouldn't combine them in terms of PvP (Unstable Affliction, mostly). Other than that, I really don't mind being able to dispel magic as well. :D
Efflorescence - Reduced the range from 15yd to 4yds (the tooltip is a lie!). In most fights this would seem mostly useful for melee unless the ranged aren't spread out. I hope they make it at least 8 yards. =P What does everyone else think about this?

And lastly...

Wild Growth!

No longer costs 50%+ mana to cast and is now reduced to 28%. >p> Overall about the current changes (besides Efflorescence!), I feel okay with it. Our talent tree is starting to have a little room for originality depending on the resto druid's play style and that was one of the things I was worried about when I first heard about the 31 point talent trees.

I've been playing around with the talent calculator but really can't decide what to put points into or what not to put points into. Guess i'll mostly wait until these are live and I run a few instances/raids to test them out! Until then!

Cataclysm Build 12759

2010-08-15T17:12:00.000-07:00

Resto druid updates, resto druid updates, resto druid updates!

Yes, i'm super excited to see some resto druid updates on MMO-Champion and that makes me a super happy panda. Anywho let's look at what's been changed!

Restoration Talents

Master Shapeshifter - has been changed 2% up to 4%.
Furor - gives a 33/66/100% (up from 20/40/60%) chance to gain 10 rage when you shapeshift into Bear form and you keep up to 33/66/100 (up from 20/40/60) of your Energy when you shapeshift into Cat Form. Now increases your total Intellect by 2/4/6%.
Naturalist - Reduces the cast time of your Healing Touch and Nourish spells by 0.15/0.35/0.5 sec.

We finally get to see Furor being useful for resto druids as well so i'm happy about that. I'm still not so happy about lifebloom only able to be on one target at a time, but overall these new changes don't seem so bad. Talents are being added and switched around so that we have more choices so maybe there will be hope for non cookie cutter specs but we'll just have to wait and see. Now to wait for talent calcs to update so I can play around with points! *giddy* : )

You.. I remember you..

2010-08-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

In the mountains..

Just kidding, but it has been awhile and I apologize for that! Lately i've been raiding, attempting to raise my goblin rep then give up after around 2 runs, and leveling my warlock (she's 32 now by the way!). Also does anyone know anywhere else to level but Stranglethorn Vale at that level? I've leveled dozens of characters there so I want to level elsewhere if possible. :D

Other than being the crazy, hyper druid that I am i've also been waiting for resto druid updates for blizzard. Every night I check MMO-Champion in hopes, but none so far. I'll just sit patiently and twiddle my thumbs. Anyway sorry for the lack of posting, i'll be writing more, I promise! Have an awesome day. :)