05-02-2006, 05:59 PM
Hmm I thought I was against this but as I posted more I'm not sure.
The issue is that because of how healing talents and gear interact, gear was already more important for how good a healer a druid was than talents (well that and skill at playing the class). You see priests looking at not taking a talent that improves the amount healed because it doesn't change the amount that is healed when you add in new gear and suddenly those 2-5 talent points look better spent somewhere else. 10% healing is the same amount per rank regardless of gear. 10% damge talents give you even more damage when you add +damage gear.
I was already at that stage with my druid and was quite happy being full on feral (all talents placed to increase feral abilities) and I knew I could still be a very effective healer in any situation.
The biggest talents for a resto druid right now, that help them heal better, are nature's swiftness and the time reduction talent on healing touch. The cheaper mana cost provided by Tranquil Spirit had a feral and a balance talent to even it out (Quark pointed this out already). I've touched on the +healing talents being overwhelmable by gear, sure a druid with those talents and the same gear is a better healer but they are still no where near my damage and tanking abilities and they aren't that much better of a healer from those talents, they just have a little more longevity. They are a better healer because of NS, Imp Healing touch, the longevity that Reflection can add, the ability to not have to worry about aggro as much in small groups that subtletly can provide (it's a pointless talent in raids) and the bigger effective mana pool they could have in small groups from innervate (innervate is rarely used on a druid in raids so that is small group solo healer booster).
Giving me innervate when I'm in my full healing gear is a huge deal for how long I can keep healing.
However depending on how swiftmend works, two instant heal abilities is a big deal in how much better of a healer you are. I miss NS and the 3.0 cast healing touch much more than I do innervate or the other healing talents since I respec'd the druid to feral when 1.9 (yes, 1.9, not 1.8 when they did the talent revamp) came out. I'm not sure it's enough, but they would have to change all the healers talents to work with +healing gear the way they work with +damage gear to really make a healing build feel that all the talents are really giving you a boost. Pretty much in the end game all those talents do is make it a little easier to go down to a lower rank of the healing spell for more efficiency. Resto druids given the same gear, can outlast full on feral and balance druids but not by a lot right now. The big difference is innervate, even if they don't use it on themselves. There are very solid mostly feral builds that still provide the biggest bonus that resto offers, which is NS. Now they get innervate as well. Pretty crazy.
What was Blizzard trying to fix here? When I look at resto talents many of them are pointless in raids or just offer a marginal effiency upgrade. That is generally more valuable in raids but with the huge boosts to priests has become less valuable, because of the role that druids fill in raid healing. Innervate was a boost to the raid not to the druid. In 5 mans running out of mana as a solo healer usually wasn't an issue on guild run, in PuGs it could be. Innervate would help cut down time as a healer. It helped cut down time solo play as well.
So yeah, I think it might be a good thing. You've made 45 minute Baron runs easier for PuGs, you've just boosted the whole raids healing ablities (since those feral and moonkins can now innervate priests too and open minded raids were already embracing the other druid builds) you've cut down time while soloing for other builds (and we all know that resto druids don't solo :) ). You may have increased the "oh #$%&" healing of a resto druid by a lot. Yeah adding a unique ability that helps you do things a lot better with your spec is good. Innervate was unique but it didn't help your healing power (well it could but it generally was better used on someone else) as resto. Most resto druids already know that improved regrowth, improved rejuv, and subtlety were better talents for small groups than raids anyway. Tranquil spirit and gift of nature are both just effiency boosts for raid healing even if they do other things and tranquil spirit has counters in the other trees.
So yeah, I might actually be tempted to go back to resto with this change because it will give me a couple of talents that really mean something to me being able to heal better than I can without them. And yes with mostly blue (just a few epics) and feral spec I was only healer for the tank on the last elite standing on domo. I got to do that fight resto and feral in the same gear and it was the reason I want full feral because it didn't really make that much of a difference what my spec was and I was doing that at a time when we still didn't have domo on farm status.
Interesting how I started out thinking this was bad but now I think it's good because it's the unique talents, the talents that gear can't really replace, that make resto that much better at healing. Reflection, nature's swiftness, and improved healing touch are really the talents that help you heal significantly better than a druid without them. Nature's focus to help prevent stuttering is a talent I miss too. Yeah giving resto druids a healing focused talent in their healing tree should be a good thing. It might be enough to make me want to give up all that I can gain in feral because it might actually make me feel like I can really heal that much better as a resto spec, give me something that I can't get through gear or that I don't need if the party plays well.
The issue is that because of how healing talents and gear interact, gear was already more important for how good a healer a druid was than talents (well that and skill at playing the class). You see priests looking at not taking a talent that improves the amount healed because it doesn't change the amount that is healed when you add in new gear and suddenly those 2-5 talent points look better spent somewhere else. 10% healing is the same amount per rank regardless of gear. 10% damge talents give you even more damage when you add +damage gear.
I was already at that stage with my druid and was quite happy being full on feral (all talents placed to increase feral abilities) and I knew I could still be a very effective healer in any situation.
The biggest talents for a resto druid right now, that help them heal better, are nature's swiftness and the time reduction talent on healing touch. The cheaper mana cost provided by Tranquil Spirit had a feral and a balance talent to even it out (Quark pointed this out already). I've touched on the +healing talents being overwhelmable by gear, sure a druid with those talents and the same gear is a better healer but they are still no where near my damage and tanking abilities and they aren't that much better of a healer from those talents, they just have a little more longevity. They are a better healer because of NS, Imp Healing touch, the longevity that Reflection can add, the ability to not have to worry about aggro as much in small groups that subtletly can provide (it's a pointless talent in raids) and the bigger effective mana pool they could have in small groups from innervate (innervate is rarely used on a druid in raids so that is small group solo healer booster).
Giving me innervate when I'm in my full healing gear is a huge deal for how long I can keep healing.
However depending on how swiftmend works, two instant heal abilities is a big deal in how much better of a healer you are. I miss NS and the 3.0 cast healing touch much more than I do innervate or the other healing talents since I respec'd the druid to feral when 1.9 (yes, 1.9, not 1.8 when they did the talent revamp) came out. I'm not sure it's enough, but they would have to change all the healers talents to work with +healing gear the way they work with +damage gear to really make a healing build feel that all the talents are really giving you a boost. Pretty much in the end game all those talents do is make it a little easier to go down to a lower rank of the healing spell for more efficiency. Resto druids given the same gear, can outlast full on feral and balance druids but not by a lot right now. The big difference is innervate, even if they don't use it on themselves. There are very solid mostly feral builds that still provide the biggest bonus that resto offers, which is NS. Now they get innervate as well. Pretty crazy.
What was Blizzard trying to fix here? When I look at resto talents many of them are pointless in raids or just offer a marginal effiency upgrade. That is generally more valuable in raids but with the huge boosts to priests has become less valuable, because of the role that druids fill in raid healing. Innervate was a boost to the raid not to the druid. In 5 mans running out of mana as a solo healer usually wasn't an issue on guild run, in PuGs it could be. Innervate would help cut down time as a healer. It helped cut down time solo play as well.
So yeah, I think it might be a good thing. You've made 45 minute Baron runs easier for PuGs, you've just boosted the whole raids healing ablities (since those feral and moonkins can now innervate priests too and open minded raids were already embracing the other druid builds) you've cut down time while soloing for other builds (and we all know that resto druids don't solo :) ). You may have increased the "oh #$%&" healing of a resto druid by a lot. Yeah adding a unique ability that helps you do things a lot better with your spec is good. Innervate was unique but it didn't help your healing power (well it could but it generally was better used on someone else) as resto. Most resto druids already know that improved regrowth, improved rejuv, and subtlety were better talents for small groups than raids anyway. Tranquil spirit and gift of nature are both just effiency boosts for raid healing even if they do other things and tranquil spirit has counters in the other trees.
So yeah, I might actually be tempted to go back to resto with this change because it will give me a couple of talents that really mean something to me being able to heal better than I can without them. And yes with mostly blue (just a few epics) and feral spec I was only healer for the tank on the last elite standing on domo. I got to do that fight resto and feral in the same gear and it was the reason I want full feral because it didn't really make that much of a difference what my spec was and I was doing that at a time when we still didn't have domo on farm status.
Interesting how I started out thinking this was bad but now I think it's good because it's the unique talents, the talents that gear can't really replace, that make resto that much better at healing. Reflection, nature's swiftness, and improved healing touch are really the talents that help you heal significantly better than a druid without them. Nature's focus to help prevent stuttering is a talent I miss too. Yeah giving resto druids a healing focused talent in their healing tree should be a good thing. It might be enough to make me want to give up all that I can gain in feral because it might actually make me feel like I can really heal that much better as a resto spec, give me something that I can't get through gear or that I don't need if the party plays well.
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It's all just zeroes and ones and duct tape in the end.
It's all just zeroes and ones and duct tape in the end.