Jeffrey

Don't forget that the ToL aura is "set" the moment a druid goes into ToL - use a bangle and have spirit gear on while shifting and then you can equip something else without reducing the aura. Of course, this does make buffing people who die quite a pain but it works.

Raven Goddess idol is currently broken and will only apply if you equip it while already in ToL (testing done on PTR, might not function at all on live). Unequipping it will also remove the effect.

 

Douglas

Interesting. So, having ItemRack equip it upon detecting that you've shifted into tree, and switch back to some other idol upon detecting that you've switched back out, would seem to be an optimal setup?

I think I'll set up my ItemRack config to equip Raven Goddess in tree form and Avian Heart in elf form, since if I'm healing, one of the big reasons for me to shift into caster form is to get off an emergency NS/HT combo. It's at least no worse than leaving Raven Goddess in place, and apparently I'd need to de-equip/re-eqeuip Raven Goddess on going back into tree form anyway.

Two bird-idols, one stone, as it were.

 

Aramul

The 2 piece T5 bonus is applied before Improved Devotion Aura, as are similar effects like the pre-TBC libram. My Devotion Aura with Imp Devo + 2 piece T5 gives 1695 armor.

(861 + 350) * 1.4 = 1211 * 1.4 = 1695.4

 

Kretschmer

This seemed like the best place to ask:

Will my dreamstate spec hold up in later content?

I've been running 34/0/27 for a while, and it's been great. Tons of MT healing throughput, literally limitless mana (especially when paired with an alchemist's stone), and the ability to DPS on trash to speed up clears. I've tried treeform, and found it insufficient in throughput for heroics (and if I have to shift out of caster form to keep a tank up in tough situation, why not just stay dreamstate?).

So far dreamstate has been great for me, but there seem to be quite a few trees out there in 25-man raid guilds. I'm used to HT precasting and canceling, and nothing can be as frustrating as Ht healing in Molten Core with 10 other healers. Do they know something I don't, or are they taking the path of least resistance? To reiterate, will I be able to continue progression - and excel - in Dreamstate spec?

 

Ghando

Dreamstate, like all hybrid builds, sacrifices a lot for PvP/soloing convenience. I healed through most of Karazhan as 36/0/25 (Shaman) and it was fine. But once you get into T5 content, what are you bringing to the table? Not much. I don't see much of a point in a Druid spamming Healing Touch, a 3.0s spell. It's a cliche at this point, but the "Paladin with Curse of Tongues" thing holds. Why is another efficient single-target heal spammer (with a lot of overhealing downside) desirable when you have Paladins? It's not. Tree Druids maintaining rolling trinketed Lifebloom stacks offer multiple-target throughput that no other class can attain. They are unique among healing classes. Dreamstate Druids are not.

 

• Playered

Dreamstate isn't horrible, you wont be useless for healing, however Tree (or well hot-spamming) is just superior, and on many of the later game fights you wont be sitting in one spot, spamming HT on one tank.

I remember seeing one of our Druids try it in a BT run, Teron was quite funny at how horrible he performed with that spec in comparison to Tree (about 30% of his normal amount) as normal.

And quite honestly, the MP5 can be sustained via potions instead but the bonus healing cannot :P

 

Cuandoman

As a side note, the Scorpid hunter pets are being fixed and they behave very similar to trinketed lifeblooms aparently:

Pulled from a post on ptr forums:

 

• Playered

I hope it doesn't effect LB, god knows we need more reasons to make clicky trinkets worthless.

 

◊ Lord BEEF

All they did for scorpids from what I understand is change the coefficient, hunters can still use trinketed scorpid poison

They haven't come up with a way to stop the rolling effect, which is what they would need to nerf lifebloom in the manner you're thinking

Check out my friend's bitchin' Lord of the Rings Art

 

Infenwe

Of course they know how to stop rolling effects. q.v. Ignite (So much fun at Thaddius!)

 

doogless

Um, what? That's a completely different type of rolling.

 

Oxylos

I hadn't heard this before so upon reading it I was quite interested. Unfortunately a simple test on live shows that its simply untrue.

Unbuffed, no gloves on, shifted into tree and stacked lifebloom up to three. Ticked for 787 consistantly with the occasional 788.

http://i14.tinypic.com/4kjit83.jpg

Put on the displayed gloves, gaining 16 spirit and therefore 4 healing due to ToL aura and lifebloom went up to 789 consistantly.

http://i10.tinypic.com/4qh0r4x.jpg

Took them back off and it dropped back down and I didn't bother taking a screenshot as it seemed unnecessary.

Oh well.

-Oxy

 

Radixx

My observation has been:

Bangle activation still appears to fix the spirit value in the ToL aura, but switching spirit gear in and out does not. Also it seems that if you switch gear once in ToL it will remove the bonus from the Bangle activation - so ideally you equip whatever gear you need, activate Bangle, go into ToL, and do not switch gear after that.

If anyone can confirm this with a bit more testing it would be appreciated

 

zang1983

I read somewhere (can't find the link) that the amount of +healing you gain from your ToL aura is set the second you switch into tree form. After that you're supposedly free to switch out and green +spirit items and stuff that you abused because of this. Is this true? Anyone tested?

 

Maynard

Yeah, Oxylos, two posts above you.

 

zang1983

Haha, this is awkward.

 

zang1983

Tested Bangle too, and came to the conclusion that it doesn't affect the +healing AT ALL.

I started in treeform my rejuv ticked for 615. Then activated Bangle, still in treeform - rejuv still ticked for 615.

I then switched out of tree and activated bangle, and immidiately switched into tree after - still 615. After Bangle buff was gone (still in tree) - still 615.

Dunno if its bugged or what.

 

Ribeye

So, my guild is slowly approaching the point where a jeweler has the reputation to start making the 11 healing 2 mana/5 gems, and basically I have been holding out t6 gem requests for these particular prizes. But, as time ticks by, I'm wondering if I might not be better served by stacking 22 healing on my gear?

I'll be the first to admit that I play druid by feel and I am not so great with theorycraft or numbers. As it stands, I have about 1900 healing and if anything, I really wish I had more mana/5. For this reason, my choice was the 11/2 gems but could it be that simply stacking 22 healing and downranking might work just as well or better?

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

 

Heavenfall

Lifebloom only has one rank

Really, 11/2 gems are better, but only marginally so (on their own merit!). You will, however, begin to notice that most druid healing items have blue sockets (which means socket bonuses, which means tilting the weight), making 11/2 gems "better".

 

Ribeye

Ya, that was alot of my thinking. It isn't much but several pieces of my gear already offer plus 9 healing for the socket bonus just cause I happen to be using the 9/2 gems as is. I'm definitely not a "lifebloom" druid by any means though, so I still feel attached to my mana/5. I frequently use a rank 8 regrow and if I boosted healing higher I could possibly go with rank 7 and drop rejuve down to 10.

 

Heavenfall

Why?

Lifebloom is better in almost all possible ways. I am not just talking big, I am sincerely curious.

 

Ribeye

I don't mean to say I dont use lifebloom. But in my guild I am often put in a raid healing position rather than watching tanks or offtanks. When it makes sense to roll LB, I LB, when it doesn't, i don't. I use every trick in my bag to get the job done.

 

Balean

The rolling LB is simply not useable in every fight situation, every fight, to often I can happen that the trinkets bonus gets lost due to expected and unexpected moving during the fight. Especially when you re asigned to more than one tank.
For raid healing with the LB the rolling one isnt more effective than a " normal" one anyway.

 

Nysus

So while we're at it, what is the most efficient way to raid heal as a ToL druid?

My immediate thoughts are either a single Lifebloom or Rejuv on the people with the least health missing. I say the least health as these guys would be less likely to receive a Paladin/Shaman heal which would overwrite our HoTs.

Is Regrowth better? I think you would still have a high probability that your HoT portion of Regrowth would be overwritten by an overzealous healer topping off your target. Does lower rank Regrowths make that less of a worry?

With that in mind is it indeed better to just stay out of tree form and cancel cast different ranks of HT? Or is it just a sad truth that ToL druids are better off on multiple targets that are taking constant damage?

 

◊ Sorrowheart

When raid healing (and since I divvy out healer assignments, I normally assign myself to the MT, but sometimes I do other stuff), I'll try to make a snap decision. If a person is missing less than 1k hitpoints, I'll toss a lifebloom on them - even if it only ticks one or two times, that's still a decent amount healed.

If a person is missing somewhere between 1-3k, I'll normally throw a rejuv at them, figuring it will till maybe twice before it doesn't matter anymore. If a person is critically low, I'll either NS+Regrow or shift out of tree and NS+HT depending on circumstances. I tend to stay in tree while raid healing just to gain the mana savings on HoTs.