This is the comprehensive druid survival guide.

Hard times are upon us, and we have to act accordingly.

This guide should let newly created druids get to know what could lie ahead of them in this game.

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CHAPTER 1

GUILDS and LOOT
=====================

Druids have the worst CLASS Tier 1 and Tier 2 sets in the game.

Both druid sets (one obtained in Molten Core - a 40 man instance, other in Blackwing Lair, another 40man instance) are healing oriented.

Set 1: http://www.thottbot.com/?set=205
Set 2: http://www.thottbot.com/?set=214

Entire T1 set can be replaced by random blue items gotten elsewhere (in 5man instances), in many cases, those blue items ensure superior healing results then epic items designed for healing.

This lands druids into the healbot role (doing nothing but spamming healing spells) and spawns several prejudices towards non healing specialized druids (those who dont have 40-some talent points in Restoration talent tree).

Most classes can hope to get their class sets (items which state "classes: your class"), non class items are much harder to get since more people claim priority on them.
Hybrids being able to wear and use almost anything tend to make other classes feel endangered.

All classes except for druids can function well in both PVP and PVE using their class sets.

Druids cant. in our T1 and T2 sets we can only heal in PVE

All classes get their set items more easily than non set items, same thing goes for druids.

Druids wanting non class set items find themselves antagonizing other classes, which also want those items, but since they DO tank or DO damage while druids heal, they will inevitably argue that they should have a priority on these items.

Members of other classes will do EVERYTHING in their power to lock druids in the main healing role so that later they could argue that healers dont need damage dealing items because they HEAL and dont do damage.

The vast majority of druids end up doing the most difficult and boring job (paralleled only by tanking) and cant hope to get ANY non class (healing) related items.

If a druid should end up in such a guild (where he cant hope to get out of class items) he should gquit without any regrets whatsoever.

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How to recognize a guild where you wont be allowed to get "out of class" loot?
==================================================================
1) upon joining the guild, tell them you really want Heavy Dark Iron ring
http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=37315
If anyone tells you ANYTHING that may be interpreted as "other classes need it more", quit the guild

Why?

Because as a hybrid healer you benefit the same from this item as other tanks.
Actually, by strictly following the game mechanics, only feral druids can use this ring to its fullest potential, it ever there was an item solely made for one class, then it is this ring for ferals.

I am not saying you should have a priority on this item, but you have every right to spend your hard earned raiding points on it as any other player.

2) upon joining the guild, tell them you really want Choker of the Fire Lord
http://www.thottbot.com/?i=37852
If anyone tells you ANYTHING that may be interpreted as "other classes need it more", quit the guild.

Why?

Because this items helps boost your healing capabilities along with your damage dealing capabilities and you deserve it same as other casters, actually the raid might even benefit more if they gave it you or the priests as it ensures more healing.

I am not saying that you should demand a priority on this item, but you must be allowed to spend your hard earned DKPs on it.

3) upon joining the guild, tell them you really want either

Herald of Woe (http://www.thottbot.com/?i=51923)
or
Staff of Dominance (http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=37319)
as your weapon.
If anyone tells you ANYTHING that may be interpreted as "other classes need it more", quit the guild

Why?

Because both of these weapons benefit you as much as any other class (or maybe more?), you are not asking for priority on these weapons, you simply want to be allowed to spend your hard earned points on them.

If the guild refuses to answer your questions or says you wont be able to get these items, quit the guild.

Belonging to the guild means that doors swing both ways, you can do a lot for them, but they should return the favor.
If they dont want to return the favor...well lets see how they raid without yet another healer who went PVP.

The reasoning behind this is simple: healing is difficult and after a short while it becomes tedious
If you are not getting rewared for it, you should not do it.


PVP queues have almost been eliminated, all healers and tanks who suffer random abuse are better off in PVP as in PVP noone can decide not to give you your hard earned epics.

Fighting other players is more fun than having to healfor 5-6 hours.

Druid EPIC PVP set (http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?set=397) is the best DRUID set before GENESIS set (http://www.thottbot.com/?set=493, found in AQ, another end game instance), so please do note that it takes less time (and abuse) to get PVP set than to get Genesis set.

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CHAPTER 2
Druids and raiding
-how to enjoy the world of PVE-
============================

In my opinion Blizzard most likely made all instance manageable by a mixed group of different specs.

This would mean that most likely, the talents paladins/shamans/druids/priests take, will not nullify (destroy) the raids chances of actually completing the instance.

Lets discuss why then are healers (and tanks) FORCED to spec. a certain way.

Lets first define a good raiding group: (the one where you can hope to have fun)

1) they have enough of healers, and they seek to make them feel welcome, in order to keep them

2) they have a skilled MT (main tank, warrior)

3) they have 1 healer per tank and on or 2 backup (hybrid) healers per MT healer

4) they dont particulary care about in which dungeon you get better DPS epics, they do dungeons for the sake of "beating the challenge"

5) they dont prefer any class to any other class, they will go to Gurrub/AQ20 because their healers wish to go there

6) raid leader will trust his own judgement ABOVE that "guide to flawless farming of MC, 2005 edition, the comprehensive version"

7) players love a good challenge and doing things different every time, because they intend to keep on pve-ing even AFTER they get their epics, so making every run UNIQUE in some way is VERY important to them (since it ensures replayability which is normally pretty low)

=====================
Bad raiding groups:
=====================

1) dont have enough of healers as they dislike healers because as far as they are concerned healers are those cross dressing little buggers whose absence means they cant raid often enough

- they will often say that healers always whine about wanting some loot and about being bored, to hell with them, why did they roll a healer in the first place


2) they have a decent MT (mana sponge, or the MAIN TANK)

3) they force ALL healers to spec. pure healing because they have very few healers, they have autoshot T2 hunters who will NOT stop dps-ing once the "stop DPS" order is given becasue they are watching TV, paladins who dont care to install decursive and will refuse to heal, not even themselves etc etc.

- hybrid healers are forced to forego hybridity to "make it happen" because half the raid is sick of raiding

- the majority will be able to watch TV and get goot epix LEWT with minimal effort


4) know what EpL1X!Xx1!0neeleven1!o-1/hr means

- it means they need UBER TWEAKED healers because they are already SO fed up with raiding, they are VERY impatient to get their epix so they can FINALLY go PVP

- they actually know EXACTLY how many epics per hour you get in an instance

- this means that they will want to FARM only and exclusively MC/BWL as those instances harbor better PVP epics/hr than Gurrub/AQ20


a) because there are guides (although they are OUTDATED[/b, they still follow the recipe for farming found there])

b) because these are "old" dungeons, very easy to learn how to farm; very low interactivity, no "surprises" ever; a very straight forward "by the book" experience (which is BORING to play)

c) DPS loot in these dungeons is better than the DPS loot in Gurrub


5) all players are in it solely for the purpose of getting loot and going into pvp

6) they [b]DONT enjoy a challenge, its a waste of preciouss time for them

7) they DONT want to learn/adapt/study new tactics, all they need to know is where to find that 2005 guide to farming

8) they WANT healers specced just right so they can AFK a lot during the raid because they dont enjoy raiding, they just want pvp loot

9) they will usually prefer one class (or a class category) to another; usually DPS-ers to healers

10) they will enforce discipline, they will HATE roleplaying, and you have negative DKP penalty in case you dont comply to their EULA

==============================
ADDITION TO "BAD RAID GROUPS"
- How to recognize subtle harrasing?
==============================

I will now explain several tactics other players usually use to covertly harras druids, so you can avoid them.

1) "Look ma, he cant tank!" harrasment tactic

Situation:

You are trying to prove to the guild that you can tank by tanking.
If you prove it to the guild you will be able to bid on "warrior only" items.

What other classes can do to sabotage you?

a) Always check the list of "Friendly" buffs for Blessing of Salvation
you will most often find it there, rightclick it and see how quickly the paladins will refresh it
b) Record the combat log using fraps, restoration druids will simply not heal you, priests will also "fail" to heal you.

2) "Look ma, he cant heal!" harrasment tactic

Situation:

You are trying to prove to the guild that you can heal well even as a feral.
If you prove this to the guild, dps classes will have to share the loot with you.

What can they do to sabotage you?

a) they will rightclick the Mark of the Wild and ask in raid chat for it just as you pull
- this way everyone knows you havent buffed other players when it was time to do so
- you will cast Mark on him, using up a lot of mana, and you will have less mana to heal
- the same player will soon thereafter ask for innervate (so you wont be able to use it on yourself)

b) the priest (or a resto druid) will start spamming huge heals on MT
- this way he will pull all the aggro and you will be forced to either
a) heal him, take aggro, and die, proving to the guild that you cant heal
b) dont heal him, he will not fade, he will die, proving to the guild that you cant heal

If any of this EVER happens to you, QUIT the guild.





================================================================================
By this point I probably lost 50% of readers, but never mind that, they probably dont play druids anyhow.
Persons with a short attention span dont play druids anyhow :)
================================================================================


Keep reading. :P

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CHAPTER 3
Forced RESTO specialization, why?
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The base premise I will try to argument now is that bad raiding groups will DEMAND that you have improved healing touch (and 36 more resto talents) BECAUSE of the reasons I mentioned above.

It is beyond any doubt that not having resto talents WILL influence your healing capabilities, more visibly in main healing low end dungeons, less so in 40 man raids
(because SEVERAL healers get assigned to heal, so you individual healing capabilities wont really tip the balance in favor of survival EXCEPT in the case of EVERYBODY but you is slacking)

- after you get epic +500 healing loot you can main heal in low end instances with no resto talents so basically AFTER you get a SOLID healing SET of equipment, you will be top 3 healer in BWL and will be able to main heal without NS/swiftmend in 5man instances

What usually happens in "bad" guilds is that DRUIDS are the ones who HAVE TO spec 40++ resto so others CAN slack.
WHEN other healers slack (or outright refuse to heal, which is a trend nowadays) your RESTO talents BECOME TRULY crucial for the raid survival.

Additionally, once they get you specced full resto, they will also eliminate you as competition to any DPS leather/jewelry.

In those guilds both you and they will notice that you lack healing power.

But, be warned, those guilds fall apart sooner or later, I have personally been in 5 of those, all disbanded within only a couple of months, from #1 raiding guild to "LF4M healers UBRS"

- the best spec to use in one of those guilds (if you absolutely HAVE TO belong to such a guild, in case of that one guild being the ONLY guild on your server doing BWL) would be the "covert feral build" , some call it the "Che Guevara build" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara)

11/30/10 (11 points in balance / 30 points in feral / 10 points in restoration)

or:

http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/druid/talents.html?01400500100000005050021323022050505000000000000

Feel free to move some talents around as this build favors bear form tanking above cat form DPS.

By using this build you achieve the following:

1) you have OOC and natural weapons which allow for better tanking (aggro holding)
(aggro is how much a mob hates you, by doing more damage to it, its more likely to hit you than other players, tanking is forcing a mob to hit YOU instead of others)

2) you have Heart of the Wild, the single best druid talent (not just feral talent) allowing for 2 things:

a) more healthin bear form, allowing for tanking (it is easier for the healers to heal you)

b) more mana in caster form allowing for better (ab)using of a lot of +healing


3) you do not have LOTP aura (dead giveaway that youre a feral)

4) you have IMPROVED HT

- you will be using HT rank 4 for healing, you will have a lot of +healing and you will use HOTW to gain more mana so 0.5s means a HUGE difference in HPS (healing per second) over a longer time period


5) you dont have furor, you have MOTW instead, so they cannot notice you have a weak "pink paw" spell, they also dont have to exclude you from buffing procedures at raid start

Now, if anyone from your guild actually bothers to scan combat log to see whether you use NS or swiftmend, feel free to type /gquit at any time.

You do however need a lot of +healing on your healing set to help you mask your lack of restoration talents.

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CHAPTER 4
What you need to do in order to qualify as an endgame FERAL healer
=======================================================

Blue +healing items which are better than most epics, some items are craftable or you can buy them off of AH, hereis a list of items I had little or no problem getting for myself;

=================================================
Gloves of Restoration
Binds when picked up
Hands Leather
105 Armor
+10 Stamina
+9 Intellect

Requires Level 54
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 37.


Alzzin the Wildshaper
Dire Maul
==================================================
Tribal War Feathers
Binds when picked up
Head Leather
137 Armor
+12 Stamina
+15 Intellect
<Random enchantment>

Requires Level 55
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 33.

Gyth
<Rend Blackhand's Mount> Blackrock Spire
==================================================
Sash of Mercy
Binds when equipped
Waist Leather
105 Armor
+14 Stamina
+10 Spirit
Durability 40 / 40
Requires Level 56
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 53.

World Drop
==================================================
Waterspout Boots
Binds when picked up
Feet Leather
114 Armor
+6 Intellect
+6 Spirit

Requires Level 53
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 25.

Hydrospawn
Dire Maul
==================================================
Padre's Trousers
Binds when picked up
Legs Cloth
76 Armor
+20 Intellect

Requires Level 56
Equip: Restores 6 mana per 5 sec.
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 42.

Illyanna Ravenoak
Dire Maul
==================================================
Fordring's Seal
Binds when picked up
Finger
+4 Stamina
+5 Intellect
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 37.

Quest reward from:
http://www.thottbot.com/?qu=5944
==================================================
Pattern: Hide of the Wild
Requires Leatherworking (300)
Requires Tribal Leatherworking
Use: Teaches you how to craft a Hide of the Wild.

Hide of the Wild
Binds when equipped
Back
48 Armor
+8 Stamina
+10 Intellect
Requires Level 57
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 42.

Knot Thimblejack's Cache (the recipe)
Dire Maul
==================================================
Bracers of Prosperity
Binds when picked up
Wrist Leather
77 Armor
+8 Stamina
+10 Intellect
+5 Spirit

Requires Level 58
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 22.

King Gordok
Dire Maul
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Chestplate of Tranquility
Binds when picked up
Chest Leather
174 Armor
+10 Stamina
+20 Intellect
+6 Spirit

Requires Level 57
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 23.

Prince Tortheldrin
Dire Maul
==================================================
Ghoul Skin Leggings
Binds when picked up
Legs Leather
150 Armor
+20 Stamina
+8 Intellect
+8 Spirit
Durability 75 / 75
Requires Level 56
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 44.

Scholomance
==================================================
Royal Seal of Eldre'Thalas
Binds when picked up
Unique
Trinket
+10 Fire Resistance
Classes: Druid
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 44.

Quest reward: http://www.thottbot.com/?qu=7506
==================================================
Hammer of the Grand Crusader
Binds when picked up
Two-Hand Mace
116 - 175 Damage Speed 2.70
(53.9 damage per second)
+10 Stamina
+26 Intellect
+9 Spirit

Requires Level 58
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 22.

Balnazzar
Stratholme
==================================================

End of list.

In order to see for yourself what I am aiming at, please download and install the WoWEquip program from http://wowequip.tehbox.org/

Then download my character templates from:
http://www.cro-net.org/hrizip/wow/CheGuevara.xml
http://www.cro-net.org/hrizip/wow/CheGuevaraCenarion.xml
http://www.cro-net.org/hrizip/wow/CheGuevaraStormrage.xml
http://www.cro-net.org/hrizip/wow/Greyclaw.xml => this is my current pure healing set
And import them into the program to see the cumulative +healing done when using blue items VS using cenarion

For those of you who are lazy beyond any recognition:

Cenarion stats:
3800 health
6700 mana
18mp5
276 "+healing"


Dire maul blues + crafted items
3000 health
5300 mana
6mp5
396 "+healing"

Just fo kicks:
Stormrage
3600 health
7000 mana
20mp/5
453 "+healing"

There you go, you cant say you arent able to get a lot of +healing :)

P.S. I still use some of these BLUE items in BWL, as they have more +healing than Cenarion and some have close enough) to Stormrage, feel free to check it for yourself before you spend DKPs on a healing set that fails at healing.

I would not recommend spending DKPs on ALL of the Cenarion/Stormrage set pieces, just try to get the most "+healing" you can (by taking only what you absolutely have to, some cenarion pieces arent superior to ordinary blues) because it will make you a VERY good healer no matter what talent spec.

Take only those set pieces which improve your +healing.

The +healing "magic" begins to happen at about +300 healing, making Healing Touch rank 4 begin to shine above other healing spells.

There WAS a precise table showing how and why HT4 rules over any other spells...but since we moved to these new forms I lost it.
*If anyone finds that table plese reply to this thread*

=================================================
CHAPTER 5
The reasoning behind taking a feral/hybrid druid to your raid
How to utilise endurance healers
=================================================

In my humble opinion, even the hardcore PRO, epic farming guilds SHOULD recognize and implement +healing druids AND paladins (yes, paladins can abuse a lot of + healing as well as druids, maybe even better) into their raid groups.

In order to maximize the impact of +healing, druids (and paladins) should use lower ranks of their healing spells.

The proper procedure for using this kind of healers is to put at least 2 of these into a healing chain alongside a priest.
Druid #1 will spam HT4 ceaselessly along with another druid.

Two druids (lets say for the sake of the argument that each have +400 healing) will spam
Healing Touch (Rank 4)
185 Mana 40 yd range
3 sec cast
Heals a friendly target for 363 to 445.

each healing some 700 health every 2.5s, together healing some 1300-1500 every 2.5s, only one of them will use regrowth/rejuv, together they will be able to buffer up the sponge for a lot of extra safety.

The priest(s) will take care of the sudden drops in health.

When druid #1 reaches 50% mana, he will whisper druid #2 that he (druid #1) will now start jumping in order to stop casting of healing touch rank 4 which could overheal to conserve mana.
(jumping stops a spell, so when a druid sees his spell will overheal he will want to conserve mana by aborting that spell)

Druid #2 will continue spamming (even if his heals overheal) until he is at 50%, then he whispers the next healer in chain.

Both druids can use their innervates (regardless of spec) on priest(s) in their chain.

From personal experience, the difference between using healing chains on +healing paladins and druids vs. not using them is the difference between having to use pots to keep the sponge alive and killing Firemaw at 80% mana pool on all members in the chain.

The impact on healing efficiency is AMAZING.

There are more advantages to using +healing druids and paladins in healing chains, some are less apparent;

1) combat rez (regardless of spec)

2) innervate (regardless of spec)

3) OFF TANKING on magmadar or Majordomo (less warriors needed, less contention of their set items)

4) OFF dps on trash (reduces typical MC run by 5min per druid)

- bear in mind that the druid also doesnt expect any healing while doing dps, he will heal himself, to compensate for his lack of dps in comparison to rogues

- rogues will do more dps, but will also drain healers mana

- druid will do LESS dpd, but will NOT drain other healers mana

- 10/31/10 druids will also give their crit aura to the hunters or rogues while doing free damage on trash

- full feral druid (only furor in resto) can do comparable damage to rogues on Ragnaros, while packing innervate, combat rez and BACKUP healing for the rogues in his group in case healers positioned near the wall should swim in the lava
(the druid will do comparable damage because rogues usually nerf their damage by equipping more fire resistane items, druids dont need to do this as they can self heal just fine)

In my humble opinion, those guilds who dont have enough priests, so they have to utilize their druids as 1/4 druids (resto druids wearing cloth) are BAD guilds with a VERY bleak future.

What they dont know (because of leaders who cant the bothered with learning about other classes) is that the best PVE druid spec ISNT full resto.

THE BEST DRUID PVE SPEC includes HEART OF THE WILD in ANY CASE
From there you can either go for NS (for pvp) OR OOC with Furor

With the new (havent tested it yet though) 30% passive aggro reducing for cat form, druid off DPS becomes a fully viable reality in MC/BWL (I have done it BEFORE the bonus aggro reducing) with no more than 1400 attack power with 26% crit in cat form.

The raid LOSES integrity/strength and team spirit with every druid forced to spec full resto.
You CANNOT compensate for the lack of capable priests by forcing druids to spec resto.
This only makes druid more weak (hence it makes the raid group weaker).

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CHAPTER SIX
Restoration talents explained
Why I think resto talents dont outweigh the usefullness and versatility of a druid?
=======================================================================
Lets have a look at the resto tree shall we?

Furor...heh...yeah...best resto talent :)

Improved healing touch is a VERY good talent indeed, especially for HT4 spamming

Natures Focus: you have barkskin, in pvp its not melee damage that stops you from casting, its fear/stun

Reflection: ok-ish IF you have a lot of spirit, most druids DONT use spirit, they use MP5 instead as MP5 works outside the 5s rule so in longer fights (endgame fights) MP5 is worth more than spirit.

*I forgot the exact number, 1MP5 is worth HOW MUCH spirit?, if anyone can find that piece of info, please add it to this thread*

Tranquil spirit - very good HT4 spammage talent, but on the other hand you get 20% more mana with HOTW talent, pretty much evens out except for the case when you are healing "on fumes" (with what mana regenerates) in which case the lower the initial cost of HT, the more chances you have to keep MT alive (THIS IS VERY RARE)

NS - best PVP talent for carebears (people who dont really wanna bother with complex hit and run tactics

Gift of nature - doesnt work on +healing, makes me a sad bear

Improved regrowth - once I though it was good for pvp, it isnt, as soon as things get tough in either pve or pvp I am back to spamming HT4 due to EFFICIENCY

Swiftmend - I have recently been testing it AGAIN in PVE and PVP, unfortunately it was too situational for me (HoTs get purged, I get delayed by the act of shifting so I cant cast it in time), basically it is bonus healing but it does not happen ON DEMAND, I dont like/enjoy abilities which I cant use on demand, NS is 10x better in most occasions.

If you dont wait until your HoTs tick a while before consuming them with swiftmend you lose mana efficiency and once again HT4 becomes superior.

Ironically, the more +healing you have the better swiftmend is, but HT4 becomes more efficient more quickly the more +healing you have.

Be mindfull that you should use only 1 (ONE) druid with swiftmend on a tank, you definitely shouldnt have more than one, as it basically spells OVERHEALING and loss of mana efficiency.

I dont know why exactly blizzard gave restos that talent...maybe so that they can come closer to holy priests on "healing done" meters, but then again healing done meters dont mean a thing....
Resto druids need 2 things:
1) tree form to prevent immense crowding they suffer from in PVP
2) disorient/slow effect to escape

If you gave them something too powerfull you would risk endangering the integrity of priest class AND shaft ferals and balance druids because then, raid groups would have every right to expect druids to spec resto, maybe thats why swiftmend isnt powerfull enough...

I dont think that blizzard will ever make resto tree superior to priest healing, from what I can read between the liens of the new talents (BC) blizzard is still trying to encourage players who play druids to shift forms.

Therefore, they saw to it that ANY druid (feral, balance OR resto) can heal sufficiently well to warrant his place in the game.

Resto tree should (and perhaps will) become survival tree, increasing druids survivability in raids and pvp, anything else would once again break the balance between druid talent specs,
I am now done with my off topic ranting.


So there you go...for PRACTICAL purposes (of achieving the BEST group results in endgame), 0/30/21 or 10/31/10 are SUPERIOR builds to pure resto build.

PLEASE NOTE ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING!!

When I say best group results I mean best GROUP results.

If the group itself is healthy (it harbors enough of priests) druids become more valuable as strong hybrids with exceptional endurance healing capabilities BECAUSE you have priests to take care of MT.

In BAD groups where you dont have a sufficient number of priests pure resto druid is more valuable than a strong hybrid druid.

This however will not rectify the basic underlying problem of that group having deeper issues than mere "what spec is the druid?"

If we talk about GROUP efficiency (where every single member strives to do his/her best, even the guild leader(s), then we can say that restoration spec. is sub par to strong hybrid specs.

Unfortunately most PRO groups are just a conglomerate of 40 individuals each backstabbing each other over epic loot.
They do call themselves raiding groups, but they are not groups in the true meaning of the term.

In a nutshell, druid class got destroyed the moment when druids, wow community AND blizzard begun trying to compare druids to priests in terms of healing efficiency/healing done.
This is what landed us druids into our present situation.

We ARE NOT main healers, priests are superior to us on that task in many ways.
We are the BEST support class, we support DPSers, we support healers, we support tanks.

Raid leaders who still see us as priests (when they cant get/keep real priests) should REALLY try to learn something about our class, about priest class and about raiding.

I will not talk a lot about paladins as I never played one, but I have seen SEVERAL paladins topping BWL healing done meters with 4-6% overhealing (therefore beating holy priests) which means they too (similar to druids) CAN heal damn good.

What never ceases to amaze me is how noone sees THEM as main healers, noone WANTS them to main heal, hell, people wont take paladins to BRD as main healers even if paladin wears epic healing set.

Talking L33T and doing L33T damage doesnt mean you can lead raids efficiently.

Druids/shamans/paladins are very TRICKY classes indeed.
Players of these classes have to invest a lot of time to master all aspects of their classes.

RAID LEADERS have to invest A LOT OF TIME to learn how to best use his men/women.
This, unfortunately, they cant be bothered to do.
The easy way out for them is to force hybrids to simply be healers.
Less trouble and more loot for DPS-ers (healers dont need dps loot)

I dont know about you brothers and sisters, but I will NOT spec. the way that I know I will be UNDERPERFOMING just to make things easier for raid leaders and other raid members.

I will NOT work more (and recieve less rewards) because some people cant be bothered to invest ANY effort into their game but nonetheless DEMAND that I do so (and more).

I know what my class can and cant do, I know what I am doing, this I cant say for many raid leaders whom I met over past 12 months.

I will quit any group which fails to meet MY standards.
ANY group that cant get enough priests and will intentionally have their druids in nerfed state WILL ultimately fail, its better to quit in time and find a better group.

Its the brains that beat bosses, not healing talents.


When I join a guild that forces druid to be 46pt resto, I am left wondering, if they intentionally have their druids in their weakest group spec, are they doing the same to paladins? priests? warlocks?
How weak are their raids then?

What am I doing in what might be a WEAK raid? Getting blamed for wipes?

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Q u o t e:
There WAS a precise table showing how and why HT4 rules over any other spells...but since we moved to these new forms I lost it.
*If anyone finds that table plese reply to this thread*

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http://tangedyn.pbwiki.com/Healing%20Efficiency

The links on those pages? I remember there was a table of that on the US boards, but they've all been taken down already.

Sticky please.

marvelous
sticky please

This is one extremly in-depth and truth-to-the-bone post.

I ask for Sticky on this one.

Very well written. Nice arguments which are based on solid knowledge and a lot of experience. The subtle sense of humor finishes it perfectly.

I would also want to suggest a sticky for this post.

Haha,

This is the biggest pile of crap I've ever read.

Where did you come by these magnificent "Insights"? Because it certainly doesn't seem as if you're speaking from an endgame raiding perspective.

Great guide - Needs a sticky.

Very well thoughtout/researched, insightful and compeltely true.

To greyclaw: RESPECT

To blizz: sticky this!!!

/ignore Arturos :o)

I endorse this post! Definately needs to be a sticky. Its about time people shed their ignorance of what druids can really do if they're allowed to do it.

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Q u o t e:
In my humble opinion, those guilds who dont have enough priests, so they have to utilize their druids as 1/4 druids (resto druids wearing cloth) are BAD guilds with a VERY bleak future.

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Alternatively, you could look into this a little more. Does this "Very bleak future" you envisage include server, EU and World firsts?

In your really extensively formatted post:

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Q u o t e:

would be the "covert feral build" , some call it the "Che Guevara build" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara)

11/30/10 (11 points in balance / 30 points in feral / 10 points in restoration)

or:

http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/druid/talents.html?01400500100000005050021323022050505000000000000

Feel free to move some talents around as this build favors bear form tanking above cat form DPS.

By using this build you achieve the following:

1) you have OOC and natural weapons which allow for better tanking (aggro holding)
(aggro is how much a mob hates you, by doing more damage to it, its more likely to hit you than other players, tanking is forcing a mob to hit YOU instead of others)

2) you have Heart of the Wild, the single best druid talent (not just feral talent) allowing for 2 things:

a) more healthin bear form, allowing for tanking (it is easier for the healers to heal you)

b) more mana in caster form allowing for better (ab)using of a lot of +healing


3) you do not have LOTP aura (dead giveaway that youre a feral)

4) you have IMPROVED HT

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Dead giveaways that you are feral for anyone that knows how druids work:

- Mana is "too high". End game resto druid has about 6k mana (less with loads and loads of +healing), a feral druid can have much more (8154 mage buffed in my case iirc, and this using +healing gear with +healing (not +int) enchanted staff).

- The OOC proc is clearly audible during the fights.

- "Attitude": 46+ resto druids tend (it's not always true) not to go in forms and eventually die by mobs. Feral druids tend to go in forms a lot often, to use bear proactively when getting agro (and actualy doing something not stupid to prevent dying, they are accustomed at their forms after all). Resto druids may get a shield for fallout damage, a feral druid switches in cat form well knowing he will avoid fall damage.

I repeat, this is not a 100% rule at all and the exceptions are many, but the trend is here.

Finally, resto "inside" druids tend to not want to offtank and to roll on feral gear, feral druids are really easy to spot as they show too much knowledge of the benefits that stuff give and are too ready to litigate and contend it.

- Hard core guilds gather "force specced classes" before raids and demand cooldowns to be cast on an officer. You WILL be caught when they demand swiftmend.

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Q u o t e:

Unfortunately most PRO groups are just a conglomerate of 40 individuals each backstabbing each other over epic loot.

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No, PRO groups are 1-3 per server and are easily recognized by the fact that all their members share a common target: be the best regardless of the abuse, effort, grinding, dire life they will have to withstand.
In those guilds, druids enter well knowing what awaits them, and are not the only class having to do that.

What do you describe instead are the wannabe "hard-core-because-a-dictatorial-14-old-leader-wants-to" guilds.
They are many more but are easily spotted the first day you type something on the guild chat.
The true hard core guilds usually have members looking from a sort of high horse on the others, but collectively and are more or less "attuned" together under a common objective.
The just bad wannabe jerk hard core guilds, which will NOT score world firsts, have elitist members watching each other on what they do and get and looking superior on their same guild mates.

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Q u o t e:

Haha,

This is the biggest pile of crap I've ever read

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It's the "other" point of view you'll never see in your life but that many other do.

Just because it sucks does not make it impossible to happen.

---

Q u o t e:

Alternatively, you could look into this a little more. Does this "Very bleak future" you envisage include server, EU and World firsts?

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/care?

He is posting something like a log of the crap many druids are being subject since a year.

Believe it or not, almost the totality of druids out there don't give a flying crap about world firsts that cost them their fun.
Those end game guilds cater to a minority of druids bent in achieving the world first regardless of what they have to endure, exactly like every other class in those guilds must endure similar trials. But they are just that, the few world / continent / server first guilds, that is below 1% of the druids.

All the others would give a leg to be able to play their class in a fun way, with the limited and not world best gear their guild can get them.

---

Q u o t e:


Alternatively, you could look into this a little more. Does this "Very bleak future" you envisage include server, EU and World firsts?

---

Already succesful guilds before the feral patch had only resto druids so no problems for them with continuing with that. And server, EU and world first guilds have no problem with choosing druids that like that path and it still works well also in the instances.
But new guilds that follow the playing style of the most succesfull old current guilds almost always fall flat on their face as they don't get good members that like that style.

If we count also BC future also the current top guilds will have to change though as if the leaked info is true it will be almost mandatory with 1 resto, 1 feral and perhaps also 1 balance druid in the 25 man and the top guilds will have more good pure healing druids than they need.

About extensively formatting my post:

I blame the training I recieved as a lecturer.
It is very important to me to stress (vocally) some words I use to better delegate the meaning.

Bill has a ball.
Bill has a ball.
Bill has a ball.

These sentences have different meanings now.
Anyhow, sorry for the abundant formatting.



About raid leaders asking for a Swiftmend before the raid starts:

Just quit the guild for crying out loud.
Find 10 people interested in hybrid play and/or stealth runs and have some fun.
As far as epics are concerned, do PVP.



About server first kills / world first kills:

These things are for other classes who dont (cant) have much fun raiding (they either have a unidimensional role or no role at all) and see themselves as "specialists".
For some wierd reason they think that server first kills are important.

Going in with flasks of the titans (or whatever), with borrowed T2 epic tank etc. in order to be the first one to post "server first kill" post on your realm forum is not an achievement as far as I am concerned.

I havent included "first time kills" into my post as these are so unimportant to me that I actually forgot about them.

Because of me migrating around all the time I have done several server first kills on the same boss.
And from my own experience ANY boss kill achieved in free spec guilds (due to brains, not the brawns) gave me much more pleasure than "server first" kills.

I mean, cmon, first we all read the guide, then we look at the diagram of the correct placement, then we buff up in LBRS, then we down a lot of potions and then we do things by the book and at the exact second stated in the guide, the boss goes down, DPS classes pack their new epics and we move on...
YAAAAWN anyone?

Is it just me or doing things by the book ruins ALL the fun?



About the PRO guilds:

What my original post maybe failed to depict correctly, SERIOUS PRO guilds:
1) dont have a lack of priests
2) SHOULD by all means RECOGNIZE the superiority of a strong hybrid druid (packing a lot of +healing) over a pure resto one in 40 man instances where mana conservation is a first and foremost priority.

As far as I am concerned, the TRUE PRO guilds SHOULD (by now) have realized that healing chains with several "+healing" druids or paladins are WAY superior to just winging it with ordinary healers.

No healer (except for MT priests/druid/paladin) in end game should overheal by more than 8% of total healing done.

For me, if a "PRO" guild doesnt actively seek out endurance healers to buffer up the tank, they ARE NOT PRO as they still have to learn a thing or two.




Rant (feel free to skip reading this section of the post):

When we played pen and paper roleplaying (when we were younger and less burdened with real life issues) we also have classes that underperfomed in all in game situation except those which were designet to utilise them, believe it or not in AD&D rogues were totally outshadowed by other classes.

We did not care about the fact that we were playing with someone who cant "boost" the group, but will rather endanger us all from time to time.

We were HAPPY (we felt proud) to help him, we gave him potions/items we properly buffed him and generally did our very best to help the RL friend playing that class to enjoy the game.

This PERSONAL component is totally lacking in this game.

Because of this, the BEST PVE class (druid class) gets abused, forced to throw away 70% of its power, recieves gimped healing loot and the end result is: people see as us UNDERPERFORMING in PVE (ironically, its their demands that made us underperform).

Blizzard cannot be held responsible for how players treat one other, I agree with that one.
BUT
Blizzard should have taken the social aspect of the game into account and should have BUFFED druid class for PVP purposes and ensure hybrid viability in endgame raids because without their help, the druid class will remain (wrongfully) unwanted in SERIOUS ENDGAME (be it pvp or pve).

Wake up blizzard, hire a sociologist or two, they might explain a few things to you! :)

A thread of mine and one of Greyclaw both stickied.

The world we used to know is coming to an end. ;P

Tarii dont get me wrong, I am VERY SELDOMLY allowed to do anything BUT heal.

I heal non stop and I am not complaining about healing, even with 0/0/0 build I guarantee I could save the day via healing so thats beside the point..

From A LOT of personal experience I came to realise that I heal better when I am capable of surviving attacks, when I am capable of faster movement, when I maximize my healing efficiency (resto or not, swiftmend or not, I always end up using only HT4 when going gets tough), when I can solo grind for mats before the raid...

I bring more to a raid as a hybrid healer than as a restoration healer.
Now as I said before, IF the raid lacks priests then I am not doing them a favor by being a hybrid because they dont NEED hybridity, they need healing.

Hovewer this is a problem that has to be solved elsewhere, not by forcing druids to spec. resto.
Its guild leadership problem.
There is a REASON why some guild always lack priests.

Avoid such guilds not simply because they lack healers so you will have to heal, but because there are obviously more deep rooted issues within the guild.

All free spec. / free loot guilds recieve fully epiced out druids who WILL heal if asked to, more and more PRO guilds lose fully epiced warriors, priests and druids.

With each fully epic druid a PRO guild loses and a free spec guild gets, the difference between the two grows.

PRO guilds are pretty much stuck farming MC/BWL following their vastly outdated guides while newly formed FREE spec. guilds are doing AQ20/40 BECAUSE THEY LIKE these NEW instances.

As a druid you have HECKUVALOT to offer to ANY guild.
Those guilds that dont see it...well...you dont belong there.

So many guilds are falling apart as we speak, core issue being : players are fed up (bored) with pve and wish to PVP or change the guild to perhaps try out a new tactic.

Choose visely, dont sell yourself short.
For every druid that sells himself short there are dozens of druids who will have no option but to sell themselves short because you have set the standard.

One guild might see you as a lesser version of a priest, other may see you as an imba PVE class (in the SAME instance).

Do yourself (and other druids) a favor and dont sell druidism for less than its worth.

You shouldnt feel like quitting your druid, PERHAPS you should be feeling like taking for yourself a smallest portion of what you invested into the game up to this point.

People will not offer rewards to you in this game for all the work you have done for them.
Stretch out your paw and demand your share :)

You have every right to do so, because, in the end, thats what everyone ELSE is doing all the time (and taking it for granted).

Bottomline logic being; if you arent getting any rewards for healing people in pve, you are WAY better off in PVP or in some newly formed FREE spec. guild.

Its not your class, at least not in PVE, if you feel miserable, the cause of it lies elsewhere.