4.0.1 PTR, Restoration Druid Spells, Talents and More

I finally got on the PTR with my druid, and I’m pretty excited about it. The first thing I did was teleport to Moonglade so I could learn any new spells (Mastery!) and sort out my talents. I’m very happy with the talents trees. I feel like every talent I pick up is helping me in a more unique way than they were before.

Stats, Talents, and Spells

PTR Talent Spec: http://cata.wowhead.com/talent#0hZZrfzIzGckcd

PTR Stats vs Live Stats

There are some stand out talents that I really like, so I took the time to gather some information and numbers about them. Along with my own observations of how they’re going to pan out.

Efflorescence
I will admit, I’m a sucker for “proc” things. It could be because it’s one less button I have to press, or the fact I’m getting a little extra oomph for free. Whatever the reason is….I love this talent. When I was first reading about [Efflorescence], I thought there was no way it would ever really heal anything. Though after trying it out in 5-mans on the PTR, I’m a little more excited about it. At it’s worst, it’s another HOT for the tank to get (since the tank is generally standing still). At it’s best, it will be another HOT for an entire group of people. I find myself using Regrowth enough where Efflorescence is up on the tank the whole time, and is up on various people/groups of people regularly enough to make an impact. On top of all that, you can have multiple Efflorescence “healing zones” stacked on one another, and people will get the effects of each one they’re standing in.

I also like the way it looks on the ground, it’s like a “druided” out Shadow Trap.

Finally, here’s the numbers I was getting, unbuffed, with the stats I have in the screenshot above.

Nature’s Cure
[Nature's Cure] gives us the ability to dispel magic effects! This is bitter sweet for me. I’ve always wanted to be able to dispel magic, but after playing on a pally alt for a little bit…there are -so- many magic things that pop up during the course of a run. I guess at least druid HOTs will keep healing while you mash your dispel button. It will just take some getting used to.

Gift of the Earthmother
[Gift of the Earthmother] does a couple different thing, but I like the instant heal from Rejuvenation portion of this talent especially. With the way healing is going to work in Cataclysm, along with haste affecting HOT ticks, this keeps Rejuvenation up there as a powerful heal for moderate to heavy raid damage, or when we’re moving and someone needs to be healed. I see Regrowth being the go-to heal for more heavy spike damage on a smaller amount of targets, especially when the damage is going to persist. Though I’m confident that Rejuvenation will have it’s uses. As expected, this instant heal can also crit.

Tree of Life
Probably the most widely talked about change to Restoration druids is the fact that Tree of Life is now a cooldown ability. Which means we’ll be healing in our “normal” forms most of the time. I’m still a supporter of this change. Though after putting in some time doing 5-mans and BG’s on the PTR, I’m having a hard time remembering I have another healing CD, picking the right time to use it, and knowing the most effective series of buttons to press while I’m in Tree of Life form. Of course I’m confident that I’ll figure those things out with more practice, but right now it’s tough getting used to. Regardless, I still like healing in my unshifted form, since it lets me throw out a Moonfire or two without spending GCD’s getting back into Tree of Life form, or gimping myself by just staying out of it.

For those who may not know, your healing spells behave differently when you’re in your Tree of Life cooldown. Some of the behaviors are in the spell tooltips, while others I found out on my own.

• Regrowth: Becomes an instant cast (this does not appear in the tooltip, so it may not be intended)
• Wild Growth: Affects two additional targets. (according to the tooltip)
• Lifebloom: Applies an additional application (according to the tooltip, but it doesn’t appear to be working)
• Rejuvenation: No tooltip information, and I didn’t notice anything different.
• Nourish: No tooltip information, and I didn’t notice anything different.
• Healing Touch: No tooltip information, and I didn’t notice any difference either.
• Swiftmend and Nature’s Swiftness: No tooltip information or difference that I noticed.

Thorns
Thorns is now on a 20 second duration with a cooldown of 45 seconds (or 25 second with the new [Glyph of Thorns]), but it does significantly more damage. In 5-man dungeons I found myself throwing it on the tank as soon as it was off CD, assuming we were in combat or about to be in combat. In a raid I see it as being something you put on the main tank as you pull the boss, for some added threat. It won’t compete with Misdirect, and other abilities like that, but it sounds like every little bit of threat will count in Cataclysm. Once the fight settles in, throwing it up on the tank whenever it’s off cooldown seems like the best idea.

Leather Armor Specialization
Taking advantage of this specialization is definitely worth it. On live servers I’m currently wearing a cloth chest, with gives me more stats and spellpower than the other leather chest I have available to me. On the PTR, using the leather chest boosts my spellpower by quite a bit (or my intellect anyway, which then boosts my spellpower). So even though comparing the two pieces side by side gives me a spellpower loss, the Leather Specialization more than makes up for it.

That’s all I have for now. I’m going to be messing around on the PTR for awhile, and will have a post up for balance things soon. If you have anything else you’d like to me clarify, leave me a comment below!

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