I find that the best way to deal with spot healing is to take a proactive approach. For example, there are people that I absolutely know will take raid damage, usually melee. So I will usually put up a LB a couple seconds up ahead of time, that way I can use nourish if they are in dire need of spot heals, and nourish will be, shall I say, less inefficient. However, it looks like unless it's just one solitary person taking damage or if 3 or more people have received damage, I just spot heal with a WG.

As a raiding druid that has now cleared all current content (including Sartharion + 3 drakes) what are the optimal professions to max out your character ?

I raid as restoration and feral so consideration of possible professions would have to keep this in mind. Atm i have Inscription which seems a bit lack luster as it doesn't offer anything other then the shoulder enchants, which only offers 31 extra dodge rating over the SoH exalted enchant, as defence is wasted on bears. The healing Inscription shoulder enchant is quite good however.

I also have alchemy, which offers quite a nice perk in Mixology. This not only gives double duration to the flask / elixir, but increases its benefit if you can make it. Whilst i'm not concerned about the extra duration (dailies ftw), is the increase in stats whilst under the effect of the buff really worth it over say the JC only gems or the BS extra sockets or the LW fur lining ? I have done alot of research both on these forums and in game and the buff received is in the range of 25 - 40% extra stats from the flask or elixir.

I'm unsure if this topic requires a new thread, if anyone feels this way ill gladly make it. I am of the thinking that maxing out your character is the least you can do to help your guild progress.

You give up your ns/ht emergency heal as well as other very powerful glyphs such as regrowth. The standard resto set up at the moment is swiftmend/regrowth and either lifebloom/rejuv/innervate.

The best possible Feral Min/Max currently is Leatherworking/Jewelcrafting. You benefit from the spectacular wrist enchants of Leatherworking and the three JC-only gems via Jewelcrafting. Enchanting is an option if you don't want to take Leatherworking, as the 2x AP ring enchants + standard wrist enchant match the LW wrist emboss, but the cheap cost of LW to level and the incredibly cheap self-only leg patches make LW very attractive.

Proactive healing is definitely the way to go if you can (mashing Lifebloom til you have carpal tunnel 9 seconds before the aura wears off on Loatheb, ex.), but there are some much more sporadic/unpredictable sources of damage (say, spikes on Anub'arak) that need topped off too in a not super time-critical fashion. Replenish looks bad on paper even for those situations though, since they're generally so infrequent that you'd be giving out a negligible amount of power. I specced into the 3% haste in Balance and am digging it.

Hello. I need some advice. I can't seem to find a suitable healing rotation (if any) in this xpac. Everything that I've been doing so far is very situational which I tend to use any healing spell at any given situation. Edit: Meaning, I find myself concentrating on healing raid wide when I can instead of just focusing on tanks. Seems right so far. I am doing my job in keeping people alive. I guess I just can't get used to the fact that I can't press 1, 2, 3, 4 rinse repeat anymore. Don't get me wrong. It's great!! I love the fact that I can throw out WG for AE damage and RG and Nourish for certain things. I've read and talked to other druids as to what their rotation is and it seems pretty similar. I still get the oddball healers that still roll LB's.

I guess I'm asking 'coz I seem to be hurting when I look at the meters. I know I know. Meters shouldn't matter as long as you keep your target alive. Which I've been doing. But what kills me is that when I analyze the meters, with the overall encounter, I top it. When it comes to certain boss fights, I don't. This I can understand. There are fights where other healers will shine. What hurts even more is that another druid is topping meters on boss fights and I'm either 2nd or 3rd. Take note that the druid has a lower mp5 regen and has lower spellpower. But we're doing the same thing. I just don't get it.

I've never had to ask anyone about help about healing or how to play. I guess the new mechanics is kind of throwing me off. I'm asking the community for advice because I need feedback on how to be better. This is the only place I know I can ask.

You can armory me HERE to see what my gear and build looks like.

For glyphs I'm using the following:
Regrowth
Swiftmend
Innervate
Gift of the Wild
Rebirth
Thorns (couldn't think of anything else to use other than aquaform)

I appreciate any feedback.

Thanks guys.

You're doing it wrong.

Full hots on the tank(s). That includes stacking LB. If the tank doesn't need more heals, heal the raid. pre-heal people you think might need it. WG when raid damage occurs. Be aggressive with your heals, waste some mana, it does no good if you end the fight with a full mana bar and are afraid to roll LB on the tank because LB uses more mana now.

With Nature's Splendor and Gift of the Earthmother there is no real reason not to keep a lifebloom stack up. Its throughput relative to tank health is decreased, but it takes significantly less time to keep up (without haste, 1.2 seconds every 9 instead of 1.5 seconds every 7, a 38% reduction). Even with poor healing gear it's still 900 HPS, which is nothing to sneeze at.

When you put it that way, then my only reaction is "d'oh!" Thank you for putting that into perspective for me.

A note on JC: you have to factor in not only the ability to meet meta requirements without using sub-par gems, but also the socket bonuses achievable by using prismatics. Obviously it would depend on the exact gear, but it can be a significant advantage. And the trinkets, while not amazing on their own, offer two additional sockets in a slot that would otherwise never have sockets available.

JC/BS combo effectively offers 4 (six if you can get away with doubling up on the JC trinkets) extra sockets, 3 socket bonuses, no wasted slots to meet meta requirements, and 3 gems with significantly better stats. I think it's a fairly clear winner here.

I'm really confused reading this thread (and many others).

I'm new to playing a Druid, and i guess most of the stuff i do know, i learnt from TBC. Now, because i didn't play a Druid in TBC, i don't really notice the effect the LB nerd had on how people prioritize their heals, be it in raids, 10mans or heroics. No matter what instance i'm doing, nor what size, i always roll 3xLB on the tank(s). I've read a lot about how it's not mana efficient anymore, but i'm not finding myself running out of mana. Infact, in most heroics i'm not even using Innervate half the time and only do if people are making silly mistakes that cause the extra damage, or if i need to CR someone. I used Innervate on Kel'Thuzad and Sapph 10 man due to me really running around like a headless chicken healing anything i could and probably over spamming my heals. But i didn't go OOM. With a combination of Innervate / Mana Potion, i don't even think i've been in the position where i cannot heal due to mana problems. If someone takes 10-20% damage in a heroic, i will just throw a lifebloom or 2 if it's recurring damage to keep them up. I heard of people using rejuv for raid healing, but to me rejuv just seems really slow when it comes down to it and i'm worried if they take another spike then they'll die. I only really use rejuv on tanks where i keep it active 100% of the time to use Swiftmend.

I just can't get my head around people not rolling lifeblooms, especially on tanks.