The Shattering of Treant Form: 4.03a Restoration Guide

The Shattering (of Treant Form) 4.03a Restoration Guide

Why Ulduar is Amazing/ Did Blizzard wimp out on us?

In the spirit of grabbing achievements for guildies before Cataclysm blows Azeroth up, we have been spending a lot of time back in Ulduar. After cruising through Icecrown Citadel, going back into Ulduar is almost like going back in time. I was raiding with <Taint> back then, and we were struggling through each boss and high fiving each other after killing Auriya. Yeah, those were the days.

So this is what satisfaction feels like

The End of WotLK: The Journey

I've been playing WoW for almost 3 years now. I started during the time BC was ending its course; I only got into the game because my boyfriend at the time, and his brother and his GF, all wanted me to play. My EX wasn't playing at the time, but once I started, he joined me. It's interesting to note that my very first toon is not the one I play; in fact, it's the most least played toon I have. The leveling process in BC was utterly slow. And my ex's brother told me how to gear and play wrong, so I ended up taking much longer then I wanted to. I honestly never realized the huge community in this game, and how much information was at the tips of my fingers. But nonetheless, I continued with a huge NOOB sign on my forehead for my entire BC career. I was dragged through a Karazhan 10 one night, but literally that was my end game experience. For less then a month after I hit 70, WotLK came out.
When WotLK came out, everything changed. I started leveling in the right spec, looking for the right gear. But I also started recruit-a-friend with my current boyfriend. This was a huge step in my WotLK career. I started leveling a druid. My druid changed everything. I fell in love. I went balance after level 40 and enjoyed eclipsing my way through BC content and up to level 80. And because I was so enthralled with this, I even began end game content.
Because of my ex's brother, we ended up in a medium sized casual guild, with about 15 or so core people who raided. We only raided a couple times a week and we're progressing fairly decently through Naxxramas. We eventually were able to one-shot Kel'thazad, and try dappling in 25 mans before Ulduar came out.
The turning point for me was in Ulduar, where, after some problems with roles, I switched specs. I was asked to try out Restoration druid, and the rest...well was history.
Since then, I went from casual gamer to hardcore; I had multiple alts, all with the intention of trying out every healing spec in endgame raiding. Every aspect of healing I loved; it was so natural to me, that I couldn't get enough of it. Didn't matter what class I was playing, I felt most natural healing. Even when I needed a break and tried out dpsing, nothing came close to my effectiveness as a healer. And that is how I ended up here today. 
It's amazing how you develop within the game. I was relatively, and still am, unknown; I'm not notoriously known like Rejuvy or Darkleon. But I do have a basic reputation within the game. People within some basic raiding guilds know I'm a good healer who can pull my weight and not mess up. Even Rejuvy knows me as that Boomkin who has ridiculous critting. I've had him tell me to go Boomkin after not speaking to him for almost over a year, because he remembered my dps that one night...I went from being freaked out by even pugging with strangers alone, to being able to raid lead some weeklys. I no longer shrink away from talking on vent; the other night I was actually instructing some movements within a fight. I'm fairly confident, probably as much as I am at work, where I know my stuff.
Today, as I wait for Cataclysm to come out, I really wonder where I am headed. In a new guild, with new people, but with the only stable force by my side (even before we were dating, my boyfriend is the one person whose always been there). I'm pretty satisfied going into Cataclysm, despite the ridiculous amount of changes headed our way. It's a comforting feeling, even as we stare into the face of the unknown.

Micro Reviews: Due Date, The Walking Dead, Gossip Girl

Due Date
Saw this movie the other night. It stars Robert Downey Jr., and Zach Galifianikis and is about two men who take a road trip across country after both being placed on the No Flight List. After seeing this, I walked out and tried to justify liking the movie. I say this because the acting is good. Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianikis are very good actors and play their characters perfectly; the move through the banter and jokes without blinking and its entertaining. That being said, after thinking about it a little bit, I realized I hated the film. There's something absolutely dead about the plot; the basic storyline is there, but the small branches and back stories are all forced. And there's no real deeper meaning to the story, which is trying to develop characters for a story with deeper meaning. Some of the jokes weren't my style; they were just plain vulgar. I'm really not into anything like that (Jackass 2), but that is a personal taste. The only saving-grace of the film is Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianikis (I am getting good at typing that name without thinking twice). They have a sort of chemistry between them and it shows that they are both good actors; the only thing holding them back is the script.
Grade: C-

The Walking Dead
I haven't caught up to the second episode, but if you like Zombies and want a movie-quality show with an intriguing story, this is it. I have to admit, the best part of this show is being amazed with the production value. The zombies are all individually well made, and the blood and guts are impressive. The show gives off the normal eerie post-apocalyptic feel, with its opening scene of a young girl turned zombie getting shot. It's interesting that the zombie production is so great, but it becomes clear that it's about the living character's development. I'm interested to see the story of Rick's family play out, considering his wife is shacking up with his best friend after his supposed death. Also, the subplot of the boy and his father, facing their zombie mother made me a little sad. I'm excited to see where this show goes.
Grade: A

Gossip Girl: Juliet Doesn't Live Here Anymore
I really hate when two characters I believe should be together, aren't. I guess that's the point right. Because the triumphant feeling of when they seem to be finally heading down that road is exhilarating. The show seemed to be promoting a focus on Chuck and Blair having non-friends with benefits sex, but this was far from the case of the actual episode. Which is a good thing, because as much as we love Chair, being teased to death doesn't sound fun, especially this far into the show. As much as I dislike Vanessa, she has a point about Serena always having the upper hand, always being treated almost like a spoiled child. She does win, most of the time. And Dan, Chuck, Blair, and Nate always stand up for her. It's kinda sad. Especially with Dan. But I still think she's annoying, and since she's just stooping to their level, maybe she deserves it. I'm a little annoyed with how long this Dan/Serena/Nate thing too. It brings me back to my complaint that, hey don't these people talk to anyone else in New York. But it's a show. I personally am rooting for Dan, simply because he's brought out the best in Serena, where Nate was an underlying problem (between her and Blair). The ending was a surprise. I dislike Taylor Momsen. I think she's trashy, and don't like her stuck up "look at me, I'm so edgy" attitude. Plus her dressing choices put Miley Cyrus to shame. But I was kind of excited to see what Vanessa, Juliet and Jenny have in store for next episode. The best scene though, goes to Chuck and Blair at the end. It's just a reminder that they are meant to be together. How they work best together bringing people down and how they are an unstoppable force. Do the writer's of Gossip Girl read their own stuff?!? They write reasons why they should be together. Make me happy already XD.
Grade: A (Can't wait for next week.)   

The State of Patch 4.01: Confusion

Because Cataclysm is supposedly making everything different as far as the way we all play our roles, it makes sense that patch 4.01 would drastically change everything in hopes of preparing us for these inevitable changes. But either no one is getting the hint (cough dps cough) or we are being led to go one way, and read that Cataclysm will want us going the other way. There's a bit of confusion among my guildies and I as we explore the patch content within ICC.

"But if healer mana doesn't matter, our whole combat design collapses. Healers won't value cheap heals. Since mana won't constrain them, overhealing will be common, so they may start devaluing crit as well. DPS specs won't value talents that help them stay alive. And the only way to challenge raids will once again be to clobber tanks so hard that any missed heals will result in tank death. It doesn't have to be this way, and in fact it wasn't this way for much of the game."

Ok. So here's the problem with this blue post, as of 4.01 in WotLK. 

"But if healer mana doesn't matter, our whole combat design collapses."

As far as druid heals are concern after 4.01, mana is not an issue. I also know that priests and shamans are not having issues as well. Pallies were, but it got hotfixed, and they are doing okay now. So. In essence, mana doesn't matter. Many people I know are bypassing mana talents for other talents because, why waste talents for mana you're never going to spend. Blizzard missed the ball with this one.

"Healers won't value cheap heals."    

 Blizzard decided it was important we start working with the new healing style. Unfortunately, ICC boss fights and the proposed Cataclysm boss fights rely on completely different strategies. And these so called cheap heals are long and ineffective. And because, mana is NOT an issue, who uses them? Yes, Regrowth spamming does hurt you in the end, but Nourish is far more ineffective and a long cast time. For the types of heals we are expected to pull out in ICC (intense, reflexive heals), we don't have time to sit on our butts and wait for 2.5 second (with talents and 1k haste, its still almost 2 seconds). 

For shamans, Healing Surge is said to be a quick, but costly heal. This is very true. It is about as expensive, although slightly cheaper, then Greater Healing Wave. It's also about half the speed to cast. Shamans can now bypass using GHW in favor of Healing Surge.     

"Since mana won't constrain them, overhealing will be common, so they may start devaluing crit as well." 

This is untrue. In most guides, people do place value in crit. I'll be honest though. Relying on crit is a mistake, especially for a healer. A chance to hope for a 10k heal instead of a 5k is just plain stupid. I don't understand why they think we value or devalue crit neways. It's a risky it's completely based on chance.  As a healer, I have never ever placed a huge amount of value on Crit.

With their changes to intellect now giving spellpower and spell crit, i think players are forced to get some crit rating anyways. Thanks to all my intellect, I am sitting on 30% crit rating. I am not going to drop some intellect because I want to get rid of crit. So in essence, Blizzard is making me value crit anyways.

Overhealing happens because healers are in a race to top everyone off. I can hot people up, but a shaman will top them off before my hots have a chance. This has nothing to do with mana constraint.  

" DPS specs won't value talents that help them stay alive." 

Blizzard wants DPS to also watch their threat more. Unfortunately, Blizzard does not understand their players very well. Most dps who can pull numbers like that are going to be obsessed with doing those numbers (I want to say this isn't the case with everyone, but I've yet to meet a dps who isnt proud of their high numbers). They don't watch their threat now, and I truly don't believe they will watch it later. I've personally had DPS blame healers for their death. I've also had a lock tell me that because he pulled threat, nearly died, but survived, that it was okay that he pulled threat. This is just ridiculous. DPS don't value talents that keep them alive; they expect healers to save their asses, or say that tanks are bad because they can't hold their ridiculous threat.

I think the concept is good. DPS should have more responsibilities, and we've seen this happen with fights like Freya, where you don't just stand there and dps, or watch out for fire. But unfortunately, no one is really listening, and it's ruining the game for others.

Tanks are complaining because dps can't keep their fingers off their keyboard for a couple seconds. Healers are complaining because they are obligated to heal unnecessary damage. And while we could just all be dicks and let them die, when you're doing endgame hardmodes, every person counts. Including that 10k dps mage. So you have to keep them a live. I wish they saw value in us, the way we see value in them.  

"And the only way to challenge raids will once again be to clobber tanks so hard that any missed heals will result in tank death. It doesn't have to be this way, and in fact it wasn't this way for much of the game. "  

I don't think this is true. While yes, in ICC the tanks get smacked around in the face a lot, Blizzard has been successful at creating boss fights that aren't reliant on keeping the tanks alive. They are reliant on many factors that include cooperation with dps, healers, and tanks. I do not understand why they are claiming that the only way for raids to be challenging is to clobber the tanks. Have they done their raids before? A  lot of raid wipes have nothing to do with, oh the tank is dead." Can we start talking about Defile? How about DPS not taking care of oozes the correct way in Professor Putricide?  

I am definitely frustrated with Blizzard when it comes to them justifying the changes they are making in raiding. Some of their claims just seem really far stretched. I still don't understand (and yes, I know they've been doing this for expansions in the past) why they have to release patches early. I never raided in BC so the changes from BC to WotLK were not much of an issue for me. I don't know if this was the way it was beforehand.

But if Blizzard wants us to learn to raid with the new style BEFORE Cataclysm comes out, they're going to have to change WotLK content, or release Cataclysm content for us to play with. 

Healing is supposed to no longer be about topping a player off. It's just about keeping people alive. Blizzard claims that we'll survive fights with 50% of our health left. So they've tailored heals to be this way; less about urgency, more about efficiency and longevity. But we're not fighting in fights like this; we're still fighting in WotLK. So it's confusing that Blizzard wants us to learn a new style of raiding, but I guarantee you, everyone is tailoring a spec to ignore the things Blizzard wants from us for Cata, and make us useful in ICC. Healers don't have mana problems for some reason, thus they can use expensive heals and be successful healers. Is this Blizzard's way of making ICC doable for us?

If so, why bother releasing the patch anyways. I am currently sporting a spec based entirely off of Rejuvenation, yet a lot of the T11 bonuses and talents point towards druid's turning into tank healers. Am I preparing for this? No. Am I practicing for this? No. I am far more effective at raid healings.

hm...so we have

Healers with no mana problems

DPS who are still threat whores and can't control themselves

and Tanks who can't compete with it.

Bravo.

(Speaking about RNG deaths; tanks getting killed after 2-3 hits)
"This is also something we have set out to change. I understand that you personally don’t believe we will change it, and since your vision of what the world will be like is at odds with our vision, it is unsurprising that the changes we make to bring about our vision might not make sense to you."

I'll hold you to that then...