Filed under: Druid

Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them. This week, we stress the importance of pattern recognition.

Cirocco: I enjoy a healing model based around triage, quick reactions and maximizing output. I very much doubt I'll enjoy a healing model based around parsimoniously doling out mana and yelling at people who snipe my HOTs.

I've been guilty of a little pessimism concerning the restoration tree in Cataclysm. Many of my experiences healing on the beta haven't been good, and while I'm willing to allow for the likely possibility that that's just because I suck, it hasn't escaped my attention that a lot of druids have had the same hard time. Normal Cataclysm instances aren't bad if people are well-geared and play sensibly, but when things go wrong, it feels like you're emptying your mana into a group with nothing to show for it.

To be frank, it really is too early to evaluate whether the 5-man experience is representative of what we can expect in raids at 85, but I'm not worried about the numbers themselves. As Ghostcrawler (lead systems designer) has reminded us, numbers are pretty easy to fix. What worries me is more systemic; right now, it's hard to escape the conclusion that what made the restoration spec succeed in Wrath of the Lich King is a bad fit for Cataclysm, and a lot of our effectiveness is going to depend on player behavior that I'm not sure is going to change.

EDIT: Naturally I had to finish this article shortly before new information concerning beta build 12857 became available. It's not live on the beta servers yet, and may not be (12857 might be a purely internal build, in which case I wonder who Boubouille paid off), but there are a few things there that would have impacted how I wrote this column.

Every Friday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting balance druids and those who group with them. We've totally got this one down, right folks? You know the drill, huge army of baddies, you all by your lonesome; it's time to show them why we don't mess with moonkin. After all, who would want to try and tango with a creature powerful enough to cause a localized eclipse? And Eclipse is exactly what we're talking about. Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Greetings again, fellow moonkin. It's probable that I may start to sound like a broken record, but barring any significant changes of note, I want to visit the concept of Eclipse one last time. I know, I know ... It is something that I've spoken about before -- several times, in fact -- but it is a highly important concept for all of us. One might argue that it is the most important concept. I am not interested in the rotational aspect of Eclipse this time, although it is a factor that will be mentioned; instead, I would like to discuss the other aspects of Eclipse.

You see, there is a very specific reason why I feel compelled to speak about Eclipse one last time. Since its inception in Wrath, Eclipse has become everything to balance druids. It is the focal point of our damage; it is the core of what we are balanced around. Balance druids will rise or fall with Eclipse; should it fail, then we too shall fail. Gloom and doom as all that may seem, I am not attempting to suggest that Eclipse is, in its current state, a terrible concept that will be the end of balance druids. Quite the contrary -- I think the current version of Eclipse on beta is rather workable. I am merely attempting to stress the importance of why this has to be said. If Eclipse does not function as it should, then there is simply no hope for us. There are no other options, no other avenues to pursue; Eclipse is the final destination.

Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting feral/restoration druids and those who group with them. This week, we ponder change.

Beta build 12803 dropped late Friday, and with it a number of changes to the feral and restoration specs. Some are what you'd expect after some recent forum conversations with Ghostcrawler (lead systems designer), and others came out of left field. We'll take a look past the cut.

Blizzard snuck in another beta build last night, and it was more than a little exciting for the balance druid side of the world. Although I wouldn't say that druids or balance in particular were the "primary" focus of this build, as paladins have been in the past few builds while Blizzard fixes the new holy power mechanic, it certainly held quite a number of changes that we've been looking forward to for a long time. I've dawdled on long enough, though, so let's just get right on with it.

Spell changes

• Faerie Fire range increased to 35 yards, up from 30 yards
• Insect Swarm range increased to 40 yards, up from 35 yards
• Starfire range increased to 40 yards, up from 35 yards
• Entangling Roots range increased to 35 yards, up from 30 yards
• Moonfire range increased to 40 yards, up from 35 yards
• Wrath range increased to 40 yards, up from 35 yards
• Cyclone cast time increased to 2 seconds, up from 1.5 seconds
• Thorns now lasts 20 seconds, down from 10 minutes; damage increased by 1,400%
• Wild Mushroom is now limited to 3 mushrooms, down from 5

Every Friday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting balance druids and those who group with them. This week, we are delving back into the world of betacraft as we examine what is that is making the balance rotation tick, how there might be some flaws in it, and what might patch everything back together.

Greetings and salutations, friends. Those of you who follow the Cataclysm forums or read either Relevart's or Graylo's blog know that we've had something of a discussion going on about how the balance rotation currently exists and how, if at all, it might or could be changed. While these two both posted up blogs on the matter last week, I had originally not wanted to bring that particular discussion up within Shifting Perspectives; however, I've had something of a change of heart. Note, the intention here is not to really bring up the interesting debate again -- for that, I would much rather direct you all to the thread on The Moonkin Repository. Instead, I'd rather bring up the theory behind the discussion.

Not too long ago, Blizzard finally activated mastery effects on the beta servers, meaning Eclipse now actually does something for a change. This has given the balance community, myself included, a bit more practicality in how we can test rotations. Previously, we could test Eclipse gains to get theoretical DPS fluctuations, but now we have some actual numbers to work with. This allows us to go into deep theories of Eclipse, such as whether or not using non-Eclipsed spells to extend the effect's duration is an effective DPS gain; however, there are still a few tweaks that need to go through, particularly reaching level 85, before anything really solid can be configured. There are things that we do know. One of those things is that our rotation is rather bland. The current incarnation of Eclipse is very mechanical, very predictable -- which is not to say that's a bad thing. It does allow for a certain level of "zoning out" while playing, though.

Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting feral/restoration druids and those who group with them. This week, we equivocate on the best means of filling a bottomless pit.

Beta build 12759 dropped early Saturday morning, and with it the introduction of mastery and quite a few changes to the feral and restoration specs. I think Blizzard may even have fixed some of the issues with feral damage, but the newest bug on the block is making that a little difficult to tell. The default scrolling combat text is now broken -- you can't see how much damage or healing you're doing to hostile mobs or friendly players, respectively -- so at best, you're confined to guesses based on how much health the mob's losing when you hit it. For me, this requires squinting at a very small portion of a laptop screen with my nose two inches from the monitor, and I'll be damned if I'll wind up financing the purchase of another Maserati for my ophthalmologist.

Some relics -- sigils, idols, librams, and totems -- were unearthed in the latest beta patch that work in a fundamentally different way from how relics work currently in the game. They are now stat items with sockets. Currently, relics are non-stat items that confer a special effect specific to a common ability used by a particular spec, such as the restoration druid's Idol of the Black Willow, which only affects Rejuvenation. While unique and creative, relics weren't always optimal and proved difficult to balance.

The change makes relics more like other items that fit in ranged slots except that they remain class-specific, with stats tailored to a particular spec. This should be a welcome change for many players who play hybrid classes and found it difficult or constraining to use ability-specific relics. A list of the relics for death knights, druids, paladins and shaman found in the latest beta can be found on MMO Champion.

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From goblins and worgen to mastery and guild changes, it's all here for your cataclysmic enjoyment.

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Every Friday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting balance druids and those who group with them. Itemization in Cataclysm is changing, and this week we'll be talking about how you can prepare yourself for the oncoming storm.

I've talked quite a bit about various changes that are happening with balance druids in the coming expansion: the Eclipse changes, the talent tree changes, Moonkin Form and a slew of other topics as well. One vital change that I have somewhat neglected, however, is that to spellpower and intellect. Blizzard announced many moons ago that, come Cataclysm, the spellpower stat would be completely removed from the game; instead, raw intellect from gear would passively provide spellpower for all classes. The only exception to this rule would be caster weapons, which would still retain pure spellpower as a stat in order to balance the difference between a melee player's gaining strength/agility and weapon DPS versus a caster's simply gaining intellect. Unfortunately, this is a change that's come and gone untouched.

As a core concept, removing spellpower to allow intellect to provide the same bonus is a strong change. To start with, it significantly reduces the time required to revamp lower-level quest rewards (despite the fact that most previous low-level quests are gone anyway, and thus, rewards would have had to be redone to a certain degree regardless), given that all of them already have intellect on them yet more often than not lack spellpower. This also allows for more commonality between all of the "base" stats: agility, strength, stamina and intellect (spirit is technically a secondary stat, not a primary stat). In removing spellpower and attack power as well, Blizzard allows for better balancing between spellpower and attack power values. Just as with spellpower, intellect is the new top dog in the caster stat options, especially for balance druids due to Heart of the Wild, Furor and leather armor mastery.

Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting feral/restoration druids and those who group with them. This week, we push off from the island of Swipe spam and float toward the ominous continent inhabited by Lacerate spam.

Hail, druids. I've had another week in the beta, and my main's now level 82. While I would love to tell you that all of the bugs we talked about last week have been tracked down and eliminated; that's not the case, so I'm not sure that a big analytical article on abilities that Blizzard's by no means finished with is a great use of our time. But I did tank a very successful Blackrock Caverns run, and Ghostcrawler (lead systems designer) recently wrote something interesting about the future of AoE tanking, so today's post is going to take a quick peek at how bears are developing.

Also, there's a great quest in Mount Hyjal where you throw bears off a tree, which naturally I recorded. It recorded upside down for some reason, so I'll have to figure out how to flip it before it gets posted.

Every Friday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting balance druids and those who group with them. Does anyone have a mailbox? I've had that little mail flag over my minimap for ages now, and it's time to go in an check out what I've got this week. That's right, it's time for another session of the moonkin mailbag!

Hey there again kids, it's that time of the week again! You know, there's something great about writing on Fridays. I get to kick off the end of the week, which to some people is the best part of every week. I'm not one of those people; every day is the same to me. There are no weekends or week beginnings -- just weeks. Instead, my weeks are tied to two entirely different days: Tuesdays and Thursdays. Tuesdays of course are WoW maintenance/patch days, which we all must obey; Thursdays are beta patch days. Perhaps that's a little bit nerdy, even a little bit excessive -- but apart from two-for-one drink specials (which you can find every night of the week somewhere, to be honest), there's little else to mark the passing of the days.

Unfortunately, this Tuesday and Thursday passed by rather uneventfully. There wasn't much new for balance druids on either front. People are still famished for Cataclysm information, though, and I aim to please. While there isn't much new to report, there are still a lot of things out there that haven't been covered; a lot of questions that people have been asking that I haven't answered as of yet. So here are the answers for you now -- all the random stuff you might have been wondering about. If you have another question that isn't answered, feel free to ask! I'll answer everything as best I can.

As a generalized disclaimer, there might be some spoilers in this edition. I've tried to keep them down as best I can, but you never know ... So read at your own risk.

Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If in need of additional healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community.

Thanks to Dawn and Allison for filling in for me while I was away at Laguna Seca. Dawn did an excellent job discussing pointers about paladin-less healing. Maybe the next time I join a raid that doesn't have a holy paladin, it won't take hours to get off the ground. Then Allison comes along discussing what is considered good and bad when applying to guilds. What's scary is that some of those seem familiar. It's as if she looked at one of my guild applications years ago.

Got an email this week from a reader. We'll call him G. I'm sure it's a question that many raid leaders or loot masters had to struggle with over the years.

[...] When cloth item A drops, our caster DPS and healers always /roll on it; the caster DPS doesn't seem to mind if it's MP5 or spirit. Let's take an example of the Cord of the Patronizing Practitioner. Our warlock says spirit is good for him and he /rolls; our priest says it's healer gear [because] of the spirit [as] regeneration for him; and our mage of course wants this also.

The healer complains the caster DPS gets to roll not only on items like this but also on cloth stuff with +hit, effectually rolling on everything cloth in ICC. I can kinda see what he means. My question is what's an easy way to differentiate "healer" gear from caster "DPS" gear, or is it all rolled into one big pot now?

Thanks for any help you can give me, I am not the guild leader but I am the full time loot master, the guild leader has given it to me to decide, as he's never played any caster at all.

Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting feral/restoration druids and those who group with them. This week, we get a beta key, and maybe a little sloshed.

After getting a beta key, it was my intent to hit the servers and write an FAQ/reader mailbag-type column, but I'm not going to do that today. I'm going to answer my questions, not yours. I don't care about any of you.

Well, that's not true. I do care. But I've been in the beta for less than a week and:

• Half the stuff we've read about has been scrapped or just hasn't been implemented.
• The other half is a writhing mass of angry, toxic bugs.
• The servers crash like that drunk buddy who swore he'd only be on your couch for a few days but is still there weeks later and you poke him with a stick every morning to make sure he's alive and unfortunately he is.
• About the most I could do without pulling several consecutive all-nighters was level a worgen and troll druid to level 13 as quickly as I could. Oh, and wipe a Blackwing Caverns group several times over.

Readers beware: while I may not answer any useful questions past the cut, there are still a few serious spoilers here.