Is Tree Form Fun?

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On Thursday Ghostcrawler put up a provocative new topic in the healing forms asking druids an open question–is tree form fun? Ever since I’ve been following the topic, and I must admit that I’m glued to my seat. I’ll post below my answer to GC’s query:

In all honesty, I love the druid healing style but hate tree form.

Tree form is a sacrifice I make so that I can play in the style I like.

Why?

1. The form is not aesthetically pleasing. The tree is unfeminine, un-treelike, and brown all over. In the blogosphere, we’re jokingly referred to as rotten broccoli. I love the grace and beauty of my elf. I originally healed on my character because resto druids could stay in elf form. I do have healers of other classes, but it is the playstyle, not the look, of my druid that makes her my main.

2. The limitations of tree form restrict certain types of behaviors in a seemingly arbitrary fashion. It makes me less likely to contribute dps in a raid when other healers would do so (XT’s heart).

3. The limitations are no longer verisimilar (realistic). I actually used to like the tree snare of 20%. I healed some fights in Tier 6 in form, some out. I shifted to move. I liked this mechanic, as it showed the “true” elf underneath the “false” tree skin. Now that the limitations are purely arbitrary, I don’t see their purpose.

I’d rather keep the elf form for healing–would it be possible just to glow green or something?

Otherwise, can the tree form be updated to something
1. customizable
2. anthropomorphic (dryad/nymph and centaur please)
3. gender-specific
4. horde-alliance specific
5. gear-progression revealing. This isn’t a big deal to me, but many players would like to display a weapon as moonkin do.

Thank you for including this topic. It raises my hopes–please don’t disappoint!

And now, for the blog, maybe I’ll explain a bit more what’s most important to me. In my opinion, which I recognize may differ from others, the art is the number 1 attraction of any game. I simply won’t play if the visuals don’t appeal to me. As far as druids are concerned, I like the concept of shape-shifting in its original form (cat and bear only when Syd was created), but I don’t like to be locked into shape-shifting. I also love being an elf.

Here are my suggestions to Blizzard for managing the overwhelming outcry for new, better-looking forms in this topic.

1. I would make the greatest number of people happy with the least work. Along with “display cloak” and “display helm,” let people click a box for “display form.” This is a solution that costs little, allows for customization, and doesn’t require an artist.
2. If Blizzard is determined that all druids must display a form, start actually working on them. I know that art is costly and time-consuming. I also know that artistic projects can actually be finished–if they are being worked on. Even though Blue posters say that druid forms are “in the works,” they have been at that state for years. Pardon me if I don’t believe them. I think it’s a shame, because any budget spent on player character art will be directly appreciated by the player-base. It is a better investment than designing a great T8 shoulder. When it’s the character itself, something that we look at all the time, the artwork really shows itself to best (or worst) advantage.

I’m not saying that I’ll reroll a priest right now just to get to see my elf form while I raid, but it’s definitely something I might work on for the next expansion, especially if we get some raiding down-time. I do love the druid playstyle though–it’s just that it requires me to be uglier than anyone else in raid.

Also, did I ever tell you guys about the time I failed the Thaddius ledge boss? Yep, I thought the tree druid in front of me was me. There can, in fact, be PvE advantages to customization.

What’s my ideal “tree” form? Well, I think I’d just use the priest’s shadowform and turn it green and sparkly. Either that, or let’s scrap the tree, I want to be one of the gorgeous new girl centaurs they introduced with Wrath–naturally, with a customizable hair style and color.

Patch 3.2: Crusader’s Coliseum Reactions

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In case you haven’t heard, some details of Patch 3.2 have been released. The biggest change that appeals to me is the Crusader’s Coliseum. We’re not even done Ulduar yet and already there’s another instance being released.

What is it?

It looks to be the new instance hub that 3.2 will offer.

Let’s stop for a second. Lots of reactions on Twitter have been knee-jerk negative reactions.

“I don’t want to 25 man joust!”
“What? A PvP instance?”

Take a step back and start analyzing. We don’t know anything about this instance yet. All we know is that:

  • There is an instance
  • It will come in 5-player, 10-player, and 25-player varieties

I want to stress that we do not know what type instance it’s going to be inside.

Speculations

I love raiding. I love looking at the lore behind it and the mechanics, the environment and so forth.

I don’t think the Coliseum is any sort of PvP type instance.

What I think will happen is that a raid group is going to march in there and engage in gladiatorial combat against raid bosses. Think of an instanced version of the Ring of Blood quests that we first saw in Nagrand and then in Zul’Drak.

Are we going to see mounted combat? It’s a possibility. Maybe half the raid is on horseback and the other half is on their feet. I honestly have no idea.

New Battleground: Isle of Conquest

A new large-scale siege Battleground where Horde and Alliance have to battle head-to-head for control of strategic resources to lay siege to the keeps of their opponents.

Not quite death match. Sounds to me like it’s another control-the-point battleground with vehicles (large-scale and siege). Now I wonder if it means large-scale as in 15 player or large-scale as in 40 player.

Yeah. Alterac Valley in siege tanks.

Also, note that it’s called Isle of Conquest. (The island part, not the Conquest part, although it’ll be corny to jump in there and go “GET OFF MY ISLAND!”, because you know my guild’s name is Conquest, hah.). This leads me to wonder if we’ll get access to naval units. Maybe drivable ships or something to attack from the water in addition to laying siege on land.

Final Notes

Don’t perceive that this is what’s actually going to happen. Take a step back. We’re only seeing pieces of the puzzle here. There could be more stuff coming out. Actually, there will be more stuff coming out.

What do you guys think? How’s my reasoning? Sound? Terrible? Are you looking forward to any of these? (Bloggers can link and trackback here too!)

Healing Ulduar: Kologarn

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kologarn

For other bosses in Ulduar, check the Ulduar Healing Strategy Page.

Kologarn is the sentinel that stands in the way between your raid group and the rest of Ulduear. He is a challenging boss for guilds that are new to raiding. Like Deconstructor, victory lies in the ultimate ability of individual players.

Abilities

Eyebeams: Two ways to handle this. Run out the door or run circles on the right side of the platform. More on this later.

Stone grip: He’s going to pluck three players into the palm of his hand and attempt to squeeze them to death until they get broken out. The only way to break players out is by DPSing the arm. Once it takes 380000 damage, the players are released.

Execution

DPS priority is going to approach the boss in this order: Right arm, Elementals, torso. When any arm is destroyed, the torso loses the same amount of health.

It’s best to call out right arm health at 5% intervals starting from 20 so your tanks know when to switch. After the right arm falls, elementals will spawn.

Two tanks are needed to hold Kologarn’s attention. He’s got a Gluth-like debuff that requires two tanks to taunt off each other. Otherwise, the debuff becomes flat-out unbearable.

kolo-beams

Dodging eye beams

When you get focused by twin green beams, you have around 2 seconds to start hustling before you get rocked. There are two ways to handle avoiding them:

Out the door

Make a beeline for the door and down the stairs. The upside is that it presents minimal risk to the players in your raid group. The down side is if the player is too slow, they might die due to line of sight issues. As healers, we don’t have to worry about this.

Laps on the right side

Have beam-focused players run circles along the right side of the room. The pros and cons are the exact inverse of the bailing-out-the-door method. Focused players are well within the range of healers. But poor kiting can lead to multiple casualties.

Whatever solution you choose, drill it in the heads of the rest of the raid to immediately get out of the green. The beams are extremely hard to miss. Keep your head up.

The Elemental Tank

It’s happened before. I’ve seen the off tank gain aggro of all ads and get focused by beams at the exact same time. As a tank, he’ll live for a few extra seconds but not anymore after that. Use whatever saves you can on him to help lessen the blow. Pain Suppression, Guardian Spirit and Blessing of Sacrifice work admirably.

Healing strategy

Around 6-7, healers is a good number to start with. This can drop with more gear and experience. Expect an enormous amount of raid damage being doled out. His left arm sweeps the entire raid for around 15000+. Pick two of your strongest tank healers and assign them to the main tank (this will vary as they’re taunting off each other). Be sure to have Kologarn’s target up so you can see which tank he’s presently on.

If you have access to two Resto Shamans, they can anchor the Stone Grips quite easily.

Healer items

Ironmender OH (Priests, Druids)

Gloves of the Pythonic Guardian Gloves (Paladin)

Robes of the Umbral Brute Chest (Priests)

Unfaltering Armguards Wrists (Paladin)

Which Came First? The Aegis or the Shield?

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pws-vs-da

On my daily patrol through the Plus Heal forums, I came across this thread with one very important question by Sundotz.

If I proc Divine Aegis ( for 12 sec) and then apply PW: S (15 sec after absorbed), which shield is absorbing damage first?

I could have commissioned a study on this with the assistance of guildies. But I decided to take matters in my own hands and test it out only in such a way that true Dwarves would do it.

I’d tackle the Molten Colossus of Ulduar after activating both shields in an attempt to see which happened first. Here’s 5 combat logs with different cast sequences. Log’s been trimmed somewhat.

Test 1:

Mallet casts Power Word: Shield at Mallet.
Mallet is afflicted by Mallet’s Weakened Soul.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Borrowed Time.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Renewed Hope.
Mallet’s Flash Heal heals Mallet for 1977.(4306 Overhealed) (Critical)
Mallet’s Borrowed Time fades from Mallet.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Inspiration.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Divine Aegis.
Mallet gains 300 Mana from Mallet’s Darkglow.
Mallet’s Flash Heal heals Mallet for 0.(4185 Overhealed)
Molten Colossus’s melee swing hits Mallet for 18720 Physical.(8103 Absorbed) (3247 Overkill)
Mallet’s Power Word: Shield fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Divine Aegis fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Power Word: Fortitude fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Inner Fire fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Weakened Soul dissipates from Mallet.
Mallet’s Inspiration fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Renewed Hope fades from Mallet.
Your equipped items suffer a 10% durability loss.
Mallet died.

Test 2:

Mallet gains Mallet’s Divine Aegis.
Mallet’s Flash Heal heals Mallet for 0.(5915 Overhealed) (Critical)
Mallet casts Power Word: Shield at Mallet.
Mallet is afflicted by Mallet’s Weakened Soul.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Borrowed Time.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Renewed Hope.
Molten Colossus’s melee swing hits Mallet for 16490 Physical.(9530 Absorbed) (12804 Overkill)
Mallet’s Divine Aegis fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Power Word: Shield fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Inspiration fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Weakened Soul dissipates from Mallet.
Mallet’s Borrowed Time fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Renewed Hope fades from Mallet.
Your equipped items suffer a 10% durability loss.
Mallet died.

Test 3:

Mallet casts Power Word: Shield at Mallet.
Mallet is afflicted by Mallet’s Weakened Soul.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Borrowed Time.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Renewed Hope.
Mallet gains 300 Mana from Mallet’s Darkglow.
Mallet’s Flash Heal heals Mallet for 2330.(1824 Overhealed)
Mallet’s Borrowed Time fades from Mallet.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Forethought Talisman.
Mallet’s Flash Heal heals Mallet for 0.(6049 Overhealed) (Critical)
Mallet gains Mallet’s Inspiration.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Divine Aegis.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Effervescence.
Molten Colossus’s melee swing hits Mallet for 16490 Physical.(9895 Absorbed) (6884 Overkill)
Mallet’s Power Word: Shield fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Divine Aegis fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Inner Fire fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Weakened Soul dissipates from Mallet.
Mallet’s Forethought Talisman fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Renewed Hope fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Inspiration fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Effervescence fades from Mallet.
Your equipped items suffer a 10% durability loss.
Mallet died.

Test 4

Mallet gains Mallet’s Divine Aegis.
Mallet casts Power Word: Shield at Mallet.
Mallet is afflicted by Mallet’s Weakened Soul.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Borrowed Time.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Renewed Hope.
Molten Colossus’s attack misses Mallet. (My agility and dodge is strong)
Molten Colossus’s melee swing hits Mallet for 16490 Physical.(7968 Absorbed) (13299 Overkill)
Mallet’s Divine Aegis fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Power Word: Shield fades from Mallet.
Ragadast’s Leader of the Pack fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Inner Fire fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Inspiration fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Weakened Soul dissipates from Mallet.
Mallet’s Borrowed Time fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Renewed Hope fades from Mallet.
Your equipped items suffer a 10% durability loss.
Mallet died.

Test 5

Mallet casts Power Word: Shield at Mallet.
Mallet is afflicted by Mallet’s Weakened Soul.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Borrowed Time.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Renewed Hope.
Mallet’s Flash Heal heals Mallet for 5654.(Critical)
Mallet gains Mallet’s Effervescence.
Mallet’s Borrowed Time fades from Mallet.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Inspiration.
Mallet gains Mallet’s Divine Aegis.
Molten Colossus’s melee swing hits Mallet for 15100 Physical.(7651 Absorbed) (21476 Overkill)
Mallet gains 300 Mana from Mallet’s Darkglow.
Mallet’s Power Word: Shield fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Divine Aegis fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Weakened Soul dissipates from Mallet.
Ragadast’s Leader of the Pack fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Inspiration fades from Mallet.
Mallet’s Effervescence fades from Mallet.
Your equipped items suffer a 10% durability loss.
Mallet died.

So in conclusion, while not technically a scientifically valid test, I’ve conceded that the order in which the different absorb effects are used are based on which one happens to land first. If a DA activates before a PW:S, then the DA gets consumed. If a PW:S lands first followed by a DA, the PW:S gets chomped alive before the DA.

A simple, easy, and cheap test. 5 minutes. 45 gold.

Done.

But also incorrect. So take this entire post with a grain of salt.

Restoration Shaman – Ulduar 10 Gear

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It was requested that I do a post highlighting the gear for the 10 man raiders, so here it is!

It’s often easily looked over when your focus is on 25 man raiding, but 10 mans are there and are a wonderful thing. They allow smaller guilds to still be able to see endgame content and to be honest some of the best loot comes from 10 man raids. Lets take a look at the toys a shaman has available to him running around in 10 man Ulduar!

Head – Couple good pieces for your head come from 10 man Uld First up is [Helm of Veiled Energies] (XT-002) Haste, Crit and good spellpower, can’t really go wrong there. Second choice is your tier piece [Valorous Worldbreaker Headpiece] (Mimron). Your tier pieces are always a good pick up

Neck – [Pendant of Endless Despair] (General Vezax) is a good pickup Crit and MP5 will help keep those mana stores filled and it has decent spell power to boot. Another choice is [Pendant of the Shallow Grave] (Thorim) Haste, Crit and Spellpower as well as a yellow socket. Not bad at all.

Shoulders – Not much for us unless you have some odd obsession with spirit (let’s hope you don’t) so I would say just snag your [Valorous Worldbreaker Spaulders] (Thorim) and say thank you =D

Back -  Here we have three choices, two of which are zone wide drops from trash. First up is [Cloak of the Dormant Blaze] crit and MP5 make this an attractive pickup if you’re lucky enough to see it drop. [Drape of the Spellweaver] this one has Haste and Crit. It’s a bit more of a dps cloak but it’s still good for us. If you don’t want to wait for trash to drop it, you can take a gander at [Shawl of the Caretaker] (Ignis). Good stats, if you see it drop I suggest trying to snag it.

Chest – Obvious choice would be the tier 8 chest piece [Valorous Worldbreaker Tunic] (Yogg). If you’re find yourself with time before you get to yogg you can always opt for [Firestrider Chestguard] (Flame Leviathan). Haste and Crit, its a good pickup.

Waist – [Belt of the Iron Servant] (Iron Council) is a great belt from the 10 man. Great smattering of stats, good regen. Well worth the pickup. Another option if you have the cash to burn, you can pick up [Blue Belt of Chaos]. Crit and MP5 as well as two sockets make for a good belt. Toss a belt buckle on there and it’s even better.

Wrist – [Armbraces of the Vibrant Flame] (Ignis) are BoE so you can probably snag them on the AH if you don’t see them drop. Another option is after you snag 60 Emblems of Valor to pick up [Pigmented Clan Bindings], they should last you a long while.

Legs – [Ironscale Leggins] (Razorscale) has good MP5, a nice smattering of haste and some good spell power. Worth the pickup while you wait for [Valorous Worldbreaker Kilt] (Hodir)

Feet – [Greaves of the Earthbinder] (Thorim) are a good pickup. Crit and MP5 as well as a blue socket make these very nice.

Main Hand – First up is [Pulse Baton] (Mimron) A solid main hand weapon and well worth picking up. Less conventional options are [Stormtip] (IC) and [Plasma Foil] (XT-002) they pack good spell power with either Haste or Crit respectively. The only problem with them is that they pack spirit, which is wasted on a shaman. If these are going to be sharded or offer a significant boost in spell power and either crit or haste they are worth grabbing as a transition piece. But its something I would avoid if possible.

Offhand – [Ice Layered Barrier] (Hodir hardmode) is a best in slot item for even heroic level. It’s a rock solid shield with great stats. If you can get this get it! Another very solid option is [Pulsing Spellshield] (XT-002) Crit and Haste help it be a very nice shaman shield.

Rings -  [Fire Orchid Signet] (Freya) is a great pick up. The ring has all the right stats and a socket to boot. Another good option is to get [Renewal of Life] (25 Emblem of Valor) with your badges. It’s a solid ring and will last you a while.

Trinkets – There are three trinkets from 10 man ulduar that are worth looking at. [Energy Siphon] (FL) has great MP5 and the on use effect is nothing to scoff at.  [Eye of the Broodmother] (Razor) 87 crit (almost 2%) combined with essentially a 125 sp boost makes this an amazing trinket to grab if you can. Last up is [Sif’s Rememberance] (Thorim) Good spell power and it gives you a chance to proc more MP5. If it drops there is no good reason not to take it.

Well thats it for today. Those are the items you can look forward to from Ulduar 10. They are really nice, and in serveral cases comparable to gear from Heroic Ulduar.

Until next time, Happy Healing.

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