Now, you might think this is odd, as I think it’s obvious that I’ve been a pretty big Wrath fanboy.  Still, as time goes by, and I see more and more of the content, and reach many more individual goals, I’ve come across a few big changes that bother me.  I love what Blizzard did overall with this expansion, I’m having a blast and still playing as much as I can, but it isn’t perfect.  Perhaps it’s the curmudgeon in me, but there are a few things that are just plain sticking in my craw.  Let’s take a look!

1)  The Death of CC

Somewhere along the way, CC died.  I didn’t even really notice it for awhile, I just figured we were flat out bludgeoning the content.  I recall it often got like this when we seriously outgeared certain instances, and I didn’t realize how serious the problem was anymore.

Nobody CCs anymore, not anywhere.  I can’t think of a single encounter where a group I was in had to bother marking targets for sheeping or frost traps or anything.  Heck, people laughed when I first began my forays into tanking, and asked for CC from mages or hunters.  It seems every tank has a way to hold several mobs without really breaking a sweat.  And the DPS is so through the roof, even for players in crap gear, that CC isn’t even necessary anymore.  And I’m not just talking about in heroics, I mean in any situation.  Not even Naxx requires anything other than a little Mind Control for a single boss fight. 

Remember that nasty old 6 pull towards the end of Magisters’ Terrace?  And how with the right CC you made strategic, quick work of it?  I do.  I remember what a bastard of a pull it was without any CC.  Frantic, edge of your seat, let’s hope we get through this alive type excitement.  Well, nowadays I guess all we’d need is a Warrior’s TC to grab everyone, eh? 

What happened?  I remember that one Druid change I was quite excited about was the fact that they were going to allow roots to be used indoors.  Wow, I thought, I could actually contribute to CC in a pinch.

Boy was I wrong.  Bye bye CC, it seems we left you somewhere in Magisters’ Terrace.

2)  No Rare Patterns

Here’s another one.  Tradeskill recipes.  Remember when people used to grind for rare drop enchanting recipes, and then were able to make a nice profit off them for quite some time?  Well, those days are long gone, too.  Is it just me, or is everything too easy to get now?  Sure, you have your patterns only available at exalted rep, or the couple tailoring patterns tied to achievements, but that’s not all that difficult.  It’s just a matter of time. 

In the end, though so many good patterns are BoE, pretty much everyone can make them.  The AH, for even good epics, is a pure undercut fest.  Unless, of course, you have a Nobles card to sell.  There’s no profit!  Boo!

It seems maybe I’d be better off going to straight mat farming to make money.  But of course I’ve always been terrible at making money.  I’ve played since beta and only have one stinking epic flyer, and even that seemed to take forever.

PTD is just too dang spendy. 

3)  OP DKs are Everywhere

And they embarrass me with their easy cheesy DPS.  DKs are the locks of Wrath, crazy DPS with crap gear.  Insane DPS with great gear.  To top it all off, they’re competing directly with my for my tasty DPS plate drops.  Doh!  Yes, yes, I know they are fairly complex to play, but I’ve  yet to see one doing under 2k DPS, and most I’ve seen are closer to 3k if not well over.  Hell, even as tanks they put a sizable dent in the DPS meters, it can be disheartening! 

And I thought for sure they would have gotten a sizable nerf by now, but I don’t see it yet.  My new precious TG warrior is getting a nerf, and DKs everywhere are now laughing at me.

In that ultra-cool evil sounding maniacal laugh.  It just ain’t fair!

4)  PUGing Heroics is Now an Option

I mean, it used to be an option before, but now it’s almost too easy.  The only PUG heroic I’ve seen fail is in one instance:  Azjol Nerub.  Every other PUG  heroic I’ve been in, and I’ve been in a lot, has blasted whatever heroic we chose to tangle with. 

I NEVER used to PUG heroics.  Never.

Now I have no real fear of doing so, and the curmudgeon in my doesn’t like it.  "In my day you NEVER PUGed heroics, and you used CC too!"

Really though, all these complaints are fairly minor, and not really complaints at all.  The fact is that WoW has changed, just as it did when BC was released.  It’s just that this time everything became easier.  It makes me glad I’m not a hardcore player, as I’m sure I’d be incredibly bored by now.  I do hope that Ulduar is a solid upgrade in difficulty, though.

I still find myself logging in at any opportunity, and enjoying my time running Naxx or Heroics or whatever.  Whether they are "easier" or not, I’m having a good time.  Hell, I even busted out the Druid the other night to heal a 10 man Naxx run, and I found that I’ve still got it.  I intend to keep him dusted off, too, and will continue to pull him out whenever I  hear the cry for a healer. 

So, now that the honeymoon is over, what do you think about Wrath?

Warning!!  Warning!!  PTD is spreading!  I’ve decided to do a little guest posting on Big Hit Box, a melee-centric WoW blog, and I went ahead and cross-posted this over there as well.  Be sure to drop by and add BHB to your reader! 

I don’t think I can even split hairs about it anymore.  My Warrior is my main.  It makes the title of the blog a tad bit deceptive, but hell, it’s my blog.  If BBB can spend his time writing about his hunter, I can surely write about my Warrior.  And I’m exceedingly confident that the Resto Druid Blog World has got that corner well covered.  Hell, is there any spec/class with more blogs devoted to it than Resto Druiding?  I really think not.  Maybe there is something about playing a Tree that lends itself to the analytical writing type.  I really don’t know.  I do know that Phaelia, Bellwhether, Leafy and many others have the whole Resto Druid blogging thing down pat.  They won’t miss me.  Much.

Though when I first hit 80 I went prot, a while back I switched to Fury adue to an overabundance of tanks in the guild.  (Strange, I know.)  And I can freely admit that I sucked at first.  I was barely breaking 1k DPS in my sorry Fury gear, as I hadn’t been picking up that stuff at all.  I languished somewhere below the tank on the damage meters my first few runs. 

Well, since then I’ve made huge strides in gear and skill, and can happily pump out 2300 or so DPS in heroics without much of a problem.  I can put out about 3k or so in a 25 man raid, with upwards of 3500 DPS on boss fights.  Not the best, to be sure, but not bad.  So in the interest of helping any other fresh fury warriors out, I’ll list five things you should know to help you avoid some of the problems I had in the beginning. 

1)  Don’t Level Fury

Ok, maybe I didn’t need this one.  I didn’t level Fury myself, that much you’d know if you read regularly.  I leveled Arms, and I’m a big proponent of the spec for leveling purposes.  For one thing, Arms is far FAR less gear dependent than Fury.  All you need for Arms is one good 2 hander.

To add to that, many of the plate DPS quest rewards are geared more towards a DK or an Arms spec warrior.  They normally favor crit over hit, which works great for an Arms warrior, but isn’t as big a priority for Fury.  You need a good deal of hit as a Fury warrior just to get your DPS off the ground.  At a bare minimum you need 164 hit rating, and that only serves to make sure all your specials will land.  A TG Fury warrior with only 164 hit will have very poor rage generation – and there’s nothing worse than a rage-starved Fury Warrior. 

Besides all that, Bladestorm, the 51 point Arms talent, is still perhaps my favorite warrior talent.  There’s nothing quite like mowing down 5 or 6 mobs in about 20 seconds.  Trust me, stick with Arms until 80, you won’t regret it.

2)  Don’t Spec Stupid

You don’t need to kid around as a Fury Warrior.  A lot of classes and specs have a good deal of variance.  Maybe they’ll have a Raid DPS spec or a 5 man DPS spec.  With Fury, there’s a fairly standard spec you can go with from the start.  18/53/0.  The Arms points are basically for Deep Wounds and 2 handed spec.  I’ve seen very small variants, like a 19/52/0 array, but for the most part 18/53/0 is the de facto spec for a Fury warrior.  So don’t go trying to get all fancy with a weird hybrid spec, the standard will give you all you want. 

3)  Learn to Love Your Threat Meter

It doesn’t matter which one you use, but make sure you’re using some kind of threat meter.  Fury Warriors can pump out a LOT of DPS, but at the same time they don’t have a Get Out of Jail Free card.  There are only two aggro dumps for a Fury Warrior, stop attacking or die. And nobody likes to stop attacking. You can’t Ice Block or Fade or Feign Death or even beg for mercy.  If you draw aggro in a heroic or raid, chances are you will die.  And don’t go thinking plate will save you, it doesn’t make you THAT much more resilient than any other DPS class.  You might last half a second longer than a clothie, but not much more.  So don’t be lazy, and watch the threat, Mister.

4)  Learn Your Rotation and Positioning

Like your spec, your skill rotation is pretty straightforward.  Whirlwind and Bloodthirst are your best friends, make sure you can use them whenever they are off cooldown.  After that, watch for instant Slam procs, and use them immediately (UNLESS WW or BT are off cooldown!)  If everything is on cooldown, and you’re sitting on 50 or more rage, go ahead and throw in a heroic strike on single targets or a cleave in multi mob situations.  So the hierarchy is WW –> BT –> Instant Slam –> HS/Cleave.  Rinse and repeat.

Now the Warrior is my first melee DPS class, so I had to learn positioning.  With my Hunter I just stayed at max range and went to town.  With the warrior I have to try to make sure I stay BEHIND the mobs as much as possible, ESPECIALLY if it’s a boss.  They can’t parry if you’re attacking from behind, and you’ll do more damage.  Be careful not to pull extra packs, but try to stay to the side or behind as much as possible.

5)  Don’t Expect Big Numbers Right Away

As I’ve already mentioned, Fury warriors are fairly gear dependent.  Some people consider them THE most gear dependent DPS class. As I mentioned before, my DPS sucked when I first respecced.  I didn’t have 2 good weapons to use, and I didn’t have a lot of hit, not to mention poor AP and crit numbers.  Now a good fury warrior CAN lead the damage meters, but only with really good gear.  You don’t get to pump out 2500 in crap gear like a DK – not everyone gets to be OP you know!    Expect your numbers to slowly ramp up as you gear up.

Now ABOUT that gear.  I won’t get too far into it, but here are a few pointers.  Focus on hit until you’re at least at 164 hit rating.  After that, while you shouldn’t flat out ignore hit, you don’t need to go out of your way to find it, it comes naturally on gear that you’ll want.  You also want a good deal of Strength, as we get 2 AP for every point of strength.   I almost ALWAYS gem for pure strength.  I’ll put +14 str gems in minor upgrades, and I make sure and plug in +16 str gems in the really good stuff.  Don’t focus on socket bonuses, chances are you’ll be wasting your time.  Once you get close to 4000 AP unbuffed, then you can start thinking about gemming for Crit instead of straight strength.  But 4k AP is a long way off at the beginning.   

For some easy upgrades, work on Ebon Hold rep.  They have a nice 2 handed sword at Revered that will serve you well, along with the AP helm enchant.  At exalted they have a very nice set of epic boots you can pick up.  The other easy avenue for upgrades is Blacksmithing.  The Spiked Titansteel Helm is one of the best helms you can get period, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to make.  You also might want the Spiked Titansteel Treads and you will surely want the Titansteel Destroyer.  Get those upgrades, and you’ll soon be rocking the DPS meters.

There you have it.  I’ve found playing a Fury Warrior quite enjoyable, and I don’t regret the switch from Prot spec at all.  In higher end guilds, Fury Warriors are often at the very top of the damage meters, and I can see why.  I’m putting out 3.5k+ on bosses right now, and I still have some significant holes in my gear.  I can’t wait to see what I can do when I REALLY get geared out!  It should be fun! 

Hey everybody, it’s been awhile since I did one of these posts, but I thought this made for a good idea with some debate potential.  I’m sure we all have boss fights that are memorable to us, and I’m going to take this opportunity to share mine.  This will encompass encounters in both old world WoW and post Burning Crusade WoW.  We’ll start it at the bottom with number five.

#5 Blackheart the Inciter, Shadow Labyrinth

I know a few of you out there my cringe at this choice.  A lot of people hate Blackheart, and for good reason.  His fight can be VERY, VERY chaotic.  Frankly, that’s one of the reasons I like it so much.  I think you’ll see as this post continues that I have an appreciation for unpredictable fights.  I get bored with the standard bosses where a single strat works every time.  I don’t just mean the tank and spank bosses, but any boss where when you’ve got it down, it becomes a trivial fight. 

With Blackheart, a little bad luck on the "Time for fun" mind control phases can wreak havoc on even the most polished five man team.  Maybe you have a rogue in the group, and during the MC phase he goes all out on your priest.  Ouch.  Maybe a lock in the group works the tank over in a bad way.  Maybe a hunter decides to unload on the kitty druid.  Who knows.  There are a lot of ways that things can go wrong, and this fight is ALWAYS at least a little crazy.  That’s why I like it so much.

#4 Zul’Farrak Stairs Event

Back to old world Azeroth for my fourth favorite boss fight.  If you’ve never seen this fight, I’ll try to give you a brief rundown.  Basically, you climb to the top of a troll Incan pyramid style thingy to free a few prisoners.  You then fight alongside these NPCs at the top of the stairs as you try to fend off wave after wave of mobs, culminating in a boss you have to take down.  This is another fight I note for its chaotic nature.  I like it when things are a little out of control, it keeps me on my toes.  If you’ve never done ZF in a level appropriate group, you are missing out. 

This event also includes a nice bit of story with a traitorous twist at the end.  Well worth the price of admission.  ZF can also be noted as a whole as both a quick and well-designed instance.

#3 Priestess Delrissa, Magisters’ Terrace

I told you I liked chaos, and the chaos explodes in this tough fight in MagT.  With this fight Blizzard attempted to create a PvP style fight, similar to Moroes in Kara and the Hex Lord fight in ZA.  Delrissa spawns with four cronies of different "classes" that you must take down.  The mix of classes in her crew has serious repercussions in terms of the fight’s difficulty.  The right group can make it cake, the wrong group can make it a headache.  It has a good level of challenge, which is one of the reasons I rank it so high.  There are nights we have one shot this encounter, and there are nights where it took us 5 or more attempts.

Another reason I am fond of this fight is because it is one of the few events in group play where I get to use ALL of my tools.  And I often have to use all of those tools to succeed.  I rarely use cyclone, but bust it out with impunity here.  If the rogue comes my way, he can make quick work of me, but a well-timed cyclone can shut him down in a hurry.  I also often spend this fight both healing and contributing where I can to DPS.  Sometimes the small amount of damage I can add makes all the difference.  The moral of the story is that everyone has to contribute whatever they can in this fight.  Blizzard did an excellent job of making Delrissa’s cronies VERY good at what they do, for AI at least. 

#2 Harbinger Skyriss, Arcatraz

This is a fight where everything works together very well.  It makes a ton of sense in terms of the overall instance "story arc".  It is also both challenging and entertaining.  I’m a big fan of Arcatraz overall, and I’m a little disappointed that people don’t run it more.  It can be a very long instance, and people generally like to stick to the quick and dirty ones when possible.

If you’ve never run this instance, do it now.  I’ll wait.  Millhouse Manastorm is what makes this fight memorable.  His one-liners during the fight really make it a far better experience.  The fight itself is interesting, but the addition of a funny little NPC gnome mage puts it over the top. My favorite line from Millhouse?  "Aaalllriiiight!! Who ordered up an extra large can of whoop-ass?"

Every time I get to the end of Arcatraz – and it’s not all that often – I wonder why people don’t run the instance more often.  Oh well. 

#1 Dire Maul Tribute Run

I know I know.  This isn’t 100% technically a "boss fight."  But I couldn’t let this one go.  If you joined the WoW craze after Burning Crusade, chances are you’ve never had the pleasure of doing a DM Tribute run.  Perhaps you’ve heard the old-timers wax nostalgic about this old world encounter.   

For you post-BC babies, here’s the rundown on the "Tribute Run."  Basically, the tribute run consists of running through Dire Maul North without killing any bosses but the king himself.  You need to use several tricks to accomplish this, including fixing a huge frost trap to freeze one boss, and creating and then donning an Ogre suit to fool another.  If you successfully ran the instance without killing anyone but the king, you received the Gordok Tribute (hence the name), a chest with a high quality reward for each boss you did NOT kill.  The other bonus is that you could then go back and talk to the bosses you did not kill (as after killing the King you are named the new King, and all the ogres become friendly) to receive some nice buffs. 

I ran this many, many times in the days before BC, as for me it was the most fun to be had at level 60.  The loot was pretty darn good, too.  I nearly always logged on with the same phrase in guild chat, "Anyone up for a Tribute run?"

Conclusion

One of the interesting things about this list is that when I started to rank my favorite fights, it was all BC bosses.  I suppose it was a product of recent familiarity more than anything.  As I spent more time, however, I started to remember the old world instance fights that I loved so much.  In the end, I probably could have done a separate list for Azeroth and BC.

There are probably a few repeating themes in my selections.  Uniqueness of the encounter, difficulty and predictability.  All of those are important to me.  I’ve played this game for over 4 years now, and I like encounters that "mix things up" a bit.  If it was all about loot and progression, I would have quit long, long ago.

Very briefly, here are a few that missed the cut.  Kael’Thas in MagT, VanCleef in The Deadmines and the married couple in Arcatraz.  Kael almost made the grade based on the difficulty and chaotic nature of the fight.  VC was in the running for nostalgia, as he was the first boss I had the pleasure of taking down.  The Married couple (Dalliah and Soccothrates) in Arc almost made it based on their funny quips, my favorite being from Soccothrates when the group pulls Dalliah, "Have you come to kill Dalliah? Can I watch?"

That’s all for now.  I’d love to hear what some of YOUR favorite boss fights are and why.  Perhaps in the future I’ll address raid bosses.

They will tell you it can’t be done.  They will tell you that if you don’t raid at least 3 times a week, you’ll never see any success.

They tried and failed?
They tried and died.

They will say that you can’t learn the advanced encounters, that you’ll hold the group back.  They will tell you "show up 80% of the time, or don’t show up at all."

Lies, all lies.  And I am here to prove it.

One of the questions I often get asked is this:  "PTD, how do you do it?  How do you raid part-time like you do?"  Well, today I’ll try to give you some insight as to how I accomplish this seemingly impossible feat, and give some recommendations on how you can do it yourself.  Without further adieu, here are my five keys to casual raiding.

Key #1:  FOCUS!

It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

The first key is simple.  To be a successful casual raider, you MUST have one character that is geared to the hilt, and raid-ready above and beyond any other character.  The more hard-core out there can afford to gear multiple characters for raiding, but for casuals like us, we need to focus.  In time, you can slowly gear another toon, but do NOT do it at the expense of your main. 

The problem with this key is that as a casual player you probably have a LOT of alts.  I know I have every slot filled with characters level 8 to 63, and I’m sure I’m not alone.  They key, though, is that my Druid is in very good shape.  I didn’t even attempt to start 25 man raiding until I was fully equipped in epics, with proper gemming and enchants. 

If you are going to try to raid only one night a week like I do, that one character better be good, very good.  Don’t get too wrapped up in gearing alts.  Make a decision on a main and stick to it.

Key #2:  Be Overly Prepared

Shield Practice.
Gurney, we had practice this morning. I’m not in the mood. 
Not in the mood? Mood’s a thing for cattle and loveplay, not fighting!

Similar to Key #1, you can’t afford to mess around in terms of knowledge, either.  You aren’t going to have the same number of attempts to learn about the various boss encounters, so be as ready as you can be.  To counter that, do your homework.  Read a few different strategy guides for the bosses you expect to see.  Watch at least one video, but if you can view a few different ones from different perspectives.  Admittedly, there is no replacement for actual in-game experience – but you need to get as close as you can. 

Also, make a point of being that guy that’s always early for raid night.  Make sure your gear is repaired, and make sure you are fully equipped with pots, oils, food, elixirs – everything.  Don’t be the guy that asks for a summons 2 minutes after the raid was supposed to start, or who asks if anyone has any healing pots.  Be there and be ready.  Be an example, and you’ll have a better chance of being invited back in the future.

One other thing regarding preparation is this:  don’t be afraid to ask questions.  If you show you’re actually interested in getting things right, the raid leaders will notice.

Key #3:  Be Honest About Your Availability

As the new Duke, I hereby invite you to ask me for whatever you wish. You may request anything of me, anything at all.

This part is just as important as the others.  When you are looking at raiding, make sure you are honest with the raid leaders about your availability.  Be honest with yourself, too.  Don’t say you can make 2 nights a week when you can only REALLY commit to one.  Don’t say you can make a 5:30 raid time if that’s the time you walk in the door after work. 

The point is to make things as clear as possible, before you even get an invite to any raids.  Don’t write any checks with your mouth that your butt can’t cash.  Chances are, they may already be hesitant about you and your limited availability, so don’t say you can do something you can’t.  On the nights you CAN raid, be utterly reliable.  If you can make EVERY Wednesday night raid, make sure the raid leader knows that.

This can also be important if you have issues similar to mine.  My wife wants nothing to do with WoW, and I have an 18 month old and another baby on the way.  I am VERY clear with her with regards to the nights that I raid.  She knows and accepts that Saturday nights I will get on the game before 8 PM, and she’s ok with that. 

Key #4:  Be Open to Other Raiding Avenues

I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when my fear is gone I will turn and face fear’s path, and only I will remain.

You must be reliable if you are to raid casually, but you also might have to be flexible.  I know it’s frightening to think of, but there are in fact 25 man PUGs that happen all the time.  Don’t be afraid to give them a try if that’s your best way to see that content.  Perhaps in the course of PUG raiding you will find other people with similar schedules.  Maybe that can lead to a more established raiding group.  If you’re not raiding at all right now, it’s at least worth a try.

Also be sure to ask around and see if there are guilds out there that are open to outside members to fill their raids.  Use the official boards to look for guilds that may be doing that.  Believe me, there are MANY guilds out there that can’t quite fill a 25 man, and they’d love to have a reliable fill-in.  Maybe you can find a group that suits your playtime, and since you are so utterly prepared (See Key #1 and #2), your success will net you future invites. 

Key #5:  Perform

I’m dead to everyone unless I become what I may be.

Above all else, this is the true key.  Beyond preparation, reliability, and flexibility lie skill and performance.  If you have any dreams of being able to raid on YOUR schedule, you had darn well better perform when you get the chance.  You’re like the rookie that gets one shot during a pre-season game to show your stuff.  Make sure you show it.  You can’t afford to make big mistakes or even little ones, you have to show that you have the goods from the first pull.

Don’t randomly go afk.

Don’t ignore the orders of the raid leader.

Don’t break sheeps, AOE in a bad place, pull aggro, or let someone die.

Basically, don’t do anything stupid.  Be as close to perfect as you can be.  If you show that you can handle the job, you’ll get the job.  I am normally way down the healing totem pole in terms of gear.  My +heal, MP5 and everything else are usually bringing up the rear, or close to it.  I still routinely lead the meters in terms of overall healing.  I think one of the reasons for this is that I get so focused about the one night I raid a week.  I make a point to get everything right, because in some way I have to.  If we fail repeatedly because of me, I would feel like I let a lot of people down.  So I make a point not to do that.  I mean business when I’m raiding, and the raid leader(s) know that.  My skill and overall performance trump my gear.

There you have it.  If you’re looking to raid casually, that’s my advice.  Focus on one character, be prepared, be honest, be open, and, most important of all, perform.  If you follow my advice, I don’t know how any raid leader could turn you down, regardless of how seldom you can raid.  The point of all of this is to assure you that it CAN be done.  I raid one night a week for four hours.  That’s it.  I’ve seen 5 bosses in SSC, 4 in Mount Hyjal, and 4 in the Black Temple.  So don’t listen to "them" when they say it can’t be done.  They’re just jealous is all.  Thanks for reading!

One of the first posts that really put me on the blogging map was Resto Druid:  5 Things You Should Know.  It was the first post I wrote that got a real reaction from the community.  Phaelia did me a huge favor by posting her reaction to my post on her blog.  It expanded my readership significantly, and it also taught me something:  people did read my blog.  I wrote the initial post in all of about fifteen minutes, just trying to "get something up" for the day, and didn’t give it a whole lot of thought.

That was a mistake.  A big one.

Phaelia’s reaction wasn’t exactly positive, and other bloggers like Runycat had adverse reactions to the post as well.  Honestly, I can’t blame them.  In a lot of ways I showed my early weaknesses as a blogger.  I was too harsh on the class I love, and in a lot of ways I was ill-informed as well.

Since then, I’ve grown a lot both as a druid in game and as a blogger in real life.  For a long time I’ve wanted to do an update to the post with some of my new key thoughts on the druid class, and that time is now.  So without further hesitation, let’s get it started.  Here are five ways to get the most out of a Resto Druid.

Use Your Versatility

The Resto Druid is very versatile.  IMO, they are second only to Priests in terms of versatility.  The Druid goes about things differently, but is also very capable of filling multiple roles. 

Druids, of course, make excellent tank healers.  Rolling LB, Rejuv and Regrowth on the tanks can make all the difference in tough fights.  If I only have to roll my array of HOTs on one tank, I can very easily handle a good deal of raid healing at the same time.  I have successfully ran as the only healer in Kara.  It wasn’t a spotless run, but I got the job done with minimal wipes. 

In a multi tank situation, I can fairly easily roll triple lifeblooms and rejuv on two separate tanks, and if necessary I can roll lifebloom on as many as five tanks at a time.  That’s some pure healing power. 

In a raid healing situation, Druids can do pretty well too.  They can’t compete with a Resto Shammy or a CoH Priest, but they can certainly hold their own.  While our single group heal is largely situational, we can throw multiple instant HOTs quickly, and help out with Regrowth as well. 

Druids can fill any healing role, and don’t let anyone tell you different.  I have led the healing meters while healing the MT, and I have led the meters while raid healing.

Use Your Mods

I’ll preface this by saying you can effectively heal using no mods at all.  You can use standard targeting methods and standard casting methods and be successful.  I don’t think I could live without my healing mods, though.  Here are a few you might want to think about.

Grid

Grid is a raid frame mod along the lines of Pitbull.  People have varying preferences when it comes to raid frames modifications.  Some people love Pitbull, some love Xperl, some love Grid.  Me?  I’ll take Grid.  The reason I am so fond of Grid is it’s compactness.  It gives me ALL the info I need in a relatively small area, especially when it comes to 25 man raids.  One of the keys to good healing is being able to heal the proper targets as quickly as possible.  Preferably by anticipating their damage.  With Grid, I can switch healing targets in a flash, and it doesn’t take up too much precious screen real estate.  In this screenshot you can see how I have Grid set up, it’s on the upper left side of my UI. 

Grid and other raid frame mods usually take a bit of time to set up to your liking, but they are well worth it.  I can track literally everything I need to track in that tiny package, and it works VERY well with my next mod…

Clique

Clique is a casting mod that allows you to cast your spells on a specific target by clicking on their raid frame or portrait or whatever.  What happens is if I want to cast lifebloom on the tank, I just left click on the tank.  I have all the spells that I really need bound to different combinations.  Here is how I have Clique set up.

• Left Click:  Lifebloom
• Right Click:  Rejuvenation
• Ctr+Left Click:  Regrowth
• Ctr+Right Click:  Swiftmend
• Alt+Left Click:  Nature’s Swiftness
• Alt+Right Click:  Healing Touch (I hold down alt and left click then right click for a VERY fast, big heal)
• Shift+Left Click:  Abolish Poison
• Shift+Right Click:  Innervate
• Ctr+Alt+Left Click: Remove Curse
• Ctr+Alt+Right Click:  Rebirth (The best way there is to Battle Rez)

This makes my healing fast, very fast.  I spend a good deal of time hovering over the raid frame of my next target awaiting the GCD.  It might look intimidating at first, but it’s now second nature to me.

HOTCandy

Just about any HOT timer will work, but as a Resto Druid you want to make sure that your LB stacks keep on rolling.  A good timer works great in that regard.  You can see my timer in that above screenshot just under the Grid interface.

Now, there are many more useful mods, but those are the most important, IMO.  I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 or more mods, and at least 20 of those are there to make my job as a healer easier.

Use Your Healing Tools

All of them.  I was guilty of being limited early on, and I didn’t use all my tools.  There was a time, and I hate to admit it, that I NEVER used Swiftmend.  I didn’t quite understand how the spell worked, or how effective it could be.  In my defense, this was early on in my career as a healer.  Now, I couldn’t live without Swiftmend.  It’s one of our most powerful tools for delivering a lot of healing quickly.  It’s cooldown is a mere 15 seconds, so use it early and use it often.  I’ve come across a few druids that NEVER use it, and I make a point to suggest they start.

Another big tool to make sure you use is Nature’s Swiftness.  Coupled with Healing Touch, this is our biggest possible instant heal.  The cooldown is 5 minutes, so don’t bother always trying to "save" it for the biggest, near wipe situations.  Maybe if you had used it earlier you wouldn’t be in that situation!  Almost without fail, the times I most often hear "good healing" from a group member or tank is when I just blew my NS+HT combo to give them a blast of 5k plus health instantly, usually when they were sure they were about to die.  Don’t ignore it.

Another spell you shouldn’t be afraid to use is Rebirth.  Yeah, I know, 20 minute cooldown.  It’s a bummer.  Just remember that the earlier you use it, the earlier it will be available again.  You don’t have to reserve this for the final boss all the time.  I’ve saved a raid in more than one situation by my ability to quickly battle rez a key player.

There is one last healing tool that I want to be sure to call out — mobility.  Nobody can heal on the move like a druid, regardless of the run speed debuff of tree form.  You can still cast your most important heals while running around.  Take advantage of it.  Don’t be afraid to roam a little and get a different view of the situation.  It can also help identify when someone is in trouble.  You aren’t nailed to one spot, get moving!  Priests, Pallys and Shammys are all stuck, you are not!

Don’t Pass on Off-Spec Pickups

This is less important, but if something you could potentially use is going to be sharded, don’t be afraid to speak up!  You never know, maybe some day you’ll want to go Boomkin to shake things up.  Maybe you’ll want to try to OT Kara some day.  Who knows.  You can use a lot of different gear types, don’t let them end up as shards.  Heck, I tanked my first Heroic this past weekend (I’ll post about it in detail later) just by using the assorted tanking pieces I’ve picked up along the way.  I also found that my Cat gear is REALLY, REALLY good.  I’m almost up to par for T5 content in my off-spec kitty gear!

Numbers Aren’t Everything

Skill can make a huge difference in your performance.  I know, I’m living proof.  Because of my casual, part-time play style, I’m more often then not one of the "least" geared healers in any given run.  That doesn’t stop me from being in the top three for overall healing nearly every time.  Don’t get too hung up with your +heal number as a reflection of your healing ability.  A highly skilled 800 heal Druid can easily out-heal a less-skilled 1200 heal Druid.  I’ve done it.  (Though my days of 800 heal are far behind me.)  This doesn’t mean that numbers mean nothing, just that they don’t mean everything.  You do have to have decent gear to succeed in the end game, but you can make up for gear deficiencies by using all your tools.  High level purples sure do look nice, but they don’t do the healing for you. 

Conclusion

And there you have it.  Undoubtedly I could keep this post going, to 10 or 15 or beyond.  But you don’t have all day now, do you?  I love druids, I love their versatility, and I’m fairly confident that my druid will ALWAYS be my main because of that.  I’m glad I was finally able to re-address my class in a more positive way, and I hope you found this post useful.  Later this week I’ll talk about my first Heroic Tanking experience, as well as our progress in BT over the weekend.  Thanks for reading!