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As a
species, humans are mostly resistant to change. It is
an inherent trait that exists in almost all communities and nations
around the
world. No community, however, is more reluctant to accept and quick to
decry
changes like those that congregate in MMOGs. Perhaps it's the years and
years
of being slowly built up then quickly torn down by seemingly erratic
developers
that have ingrained this in us or a deep seeded belief that every other
class
is jealous of us and out to get us. Whatever the root of this paranoia
is one
thing is certain, if your class has a major change announced come patch
time,
then the doom and gloom will begin.

Recent changes to the druid were met with typical outcry and
predications of a
“druidageddon” where all restoration druids would
simply vanish come patch day.
I am glad to say this didn't happen and most of us are still here.

The changes that 3.1 presented to resto druids were two fold. First,
the change
in the lifebloom mechanic, and second was the change in spirit in
regards to
mana regeneration that also affected other classes.

Lifebloom -
Lifebloom is a heal over time
spell that replenishes health every second as
opposed to every tick, and has a larger healing effect upon expiration.
The
effect stacks up to three times and is increased by spellpower. Patch
3.1
modified the way lifebloom is used by doubling its mana cost but adding
a mana
refund if it were allowed to run its full course and "bloom" on the
target. Prior to 3.1 most druids simply kept track of the timer and
refreshed
it as it was set to expire to keep a three stack rolling on their
targets at
all times. At first glance this change in mechanic seemed like a huge
disadvantage, however they added a wrinkle. Lifebloom’s final
tick of healing,
the "bloom" portion, is now able to have a critical effect. This
addition along with the way spirit affects us has actually made
lifebloom a
more powerful spell than it was before but a bit trickier to use. Pre
3.1 I
would time my rotations around lifebloom and use regrowth at the end of
the
rotation for its big heal. Now I cast regrowth in the middle of my
rotation and
lean on nourish to do the brunt of my big healing, with the biggest
change
being the amount of trust I put in the final tick of lifebloom to top
the tank
back off.  This change took a bit of getting used to but I
find myself
with more mana now as allowing lifebloom to come to fruition keeps out
of the
five second rule longer and allow me to achieve greater mana
regeneration.

Nourish
-
Nourish is a single target heal
that is strengthened if you have an active HOT
spell on your target. I have glyphed nourish to be increased by the
number of HOTs
on my target, and with my current haste rating it has a 1.35 cast time.
I find
nourish to be a great lifesaver for spike damage, and with the glyph I
rarely
need to use swiftmend anymore. Knowing that nourish will save your tank
is
empowering because the likelihood of swiftmend being available when you
really
need it will be that much higher. I have highlighted nourish here not
for any
direct change to it from the patch but for its default increased
potential
considering the changes
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Sample
Rotation.
This is a 30 second breakdown of a typical HOT rotation. My
charts below assume two things. First is that you have the Lifebloom
glyph that
increases the duration by one second. Secondly that your haste rating
is high
enough and that you have selected gift of the earthmother to reduce
your global
cooldown to approx 1 second.

FSR = The "Five Second
Rule"  is the name given to the
mechanic that states no mana will be regenerated naturally 
for five
seconds after a spell is cast. While under this effect you
regenerate an
amount of mana displayed by the character sheet as "mana regenerated
while
casting", which is the total of the mana restored from MP5 items plus
any
passive mana regeneration from talents and abilities. This
amount
is always on and will regenerate its value regardless of
whether or not
you are casting.

GCD =
"Global Cool Down" which is pretty much as it sounds - a
timed window that prevents you from casting a spell immediately after
another
spell. Unhasted, the GCD is approx 1.5 seconds

 

style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
difference results in 3 additional seconds per 30
second block of the rotation. While this doesn't seem like a lot of
time, it
can really add up over an extremely long fight. The chart does not take
into
account a swiftmend or nourish, however you could apply a nature's
swiftness
heal without affecting the GCD timer.
.

 
Pre
3.1

border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Spell style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Seconds style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Duration style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">FSR style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Lifebloom style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">1 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">2 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Lifebloom style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">3 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">4 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Lifebloom style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">5 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">10 sec. style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">6 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Rejuvination style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">7 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">18 sec. style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">8 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Regrowth style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">9 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Regrowth style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">10 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">27 sec style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">11 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">12 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">. style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">13 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Lifebloom style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">14 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">10 sec. style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">15 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">16 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">17 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">18 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">19 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">20 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Out style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">21 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Out style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">22 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Out style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">23 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Out style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Lifebloom style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">24 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">10 sec. style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Rejuvination
expires style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">25 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Rejuvination style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">26 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">18 sec. style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">27 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">28 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">29 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">30 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In

Post
3.1

border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Spell style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Seconds style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Duration style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">FSR style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Rejuvination style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">1 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">18 sec. style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">2 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Lifebloom style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">3 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">4 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Lifebloom style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">5 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">6 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Lifebloom style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">7 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">10 sec. style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">8 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Regrowth style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">9 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Regrowth style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">10 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">27 sec. style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">11 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">12 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">13 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">14 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Out style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">15 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Out style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">16 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Out style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Lifebloom
expires style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">17 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Out style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Rejuvination
expires style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">18 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Out style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Rejuvination style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">19 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">18 sec. style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">20 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Lifebloom style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">21 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">22 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Lifebloom style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">23 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">24 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">Lifebloom style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">25 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">9 sec. style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">GCD style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">26 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">27 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">28 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">In style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">29 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Out style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);">30 style="background-color: rgb(21, 160, 71);"> style="background-color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Out

style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Spirit
vs. MP5
style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-weight: normal;">In
patch 3.1 the amount of mana regeneration
provided by spirit was reduced by 40%.
Blizzard has historically telegraphed their intentions prior to making
changes
or releasing certain content. In TBC, Blizzard began to introduce
massive
amounts of spell haste on restoration mail items in the latter stages
of Mt.
Hyjal,
w:st="on">Black
Temple
and Zul'Aman.
At first glance this stat seemed out of place as raid healing was
easily
managed with base cast times. Once we opened the doors of Sunwell,
however, we
found it to be one of the most important stats for us. Similarly, in
WotLK they
have started to stack Mp5 on resto leather. Spirit is still a preferred
stat
over Mp5 especially when improved tree of life and intensity are
factored in.
With the recent changes, a good mix of the two will greatly improve
your total
mana regeneration.

Overall, the fears of the community have thus far proven to be largely
unjustified. Druid healing and mana regeneration, while having a slight
modification, still have the same end result - exceptional healers with
large
reserves of mana for even the longest of fights.

Until next week, be safe and have fun in Azeroth