More Class Changes on the PTR: Lifebloom fixed?
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Mar 7th 2008 at 9:10PM
MMO-Champion has found some new changes in the latest PTR patch. It looks Blizzard has turned their focus away from Shaman and Warlocks for a while in the wake of the recent total rollback of the Life Tap and Flametongue changes, and focused on weaking Restoration Druids some more, perhaps in the wake of the recent revelation that Druids are the most overrepresented class in arenas according to Blizzard's Internal metrics.
We'll look at the specific changes after the break.
General
* Non-self % based haste spells will no longer stack with each other.
Druid
* Lifebloom: The bonus coefficient on the final bloom effect has been reduced by 20%. This spell will no longer cause error messages when interacting with Spellsteal or while the Druid is under the effects of Mind Control.
* Regrowth: The mana cost of this spell has been reduced by approximately 20%.
Hunter
* Improved Mend Pet now has a 25/50 (was 50/100) chance to remove one Curse, Disease, Magic, or Poison effect, up from 15/50%.
Paladin
* Illumination: The mana energize from this talent no longer has a chance to set off other triggered effects.
The Lifebloom re-tool, at first glance, looks like it should be great news for PvE Restoration Druids. If you need an update or a reminder of what the Lifebloom saga is all about, check our own John Patricelli's recap here. The argument, if you'll recall, was that the original 8% nerf to the HoT portion of the Lifebloom caused the spell to be much less useful in PvE, since one of the most popular ways for a Restoration Druid to heal was via "rolling Lifeblooms," that is, a constant stack of 3 lifebloom HoT effects on the tank and anyone else taking damage. With the 8% nerf to the HoT coefficient removed, that healing strategy should work the same as it always has for PvE healing druids. In the meantime, the 20% nerf to the final bloom effect puts the nerf's effects almost entirely on Restoration Druids. If testing shows that the 8% HoT nerf has been taken out completely, when combined with the removal of the Life Tap nerf, It looks like we can say that Blizzard is slowly put surely learning to seperate the PvP and PvE game.
In other news, the reduction to Regrowth's mana cost should make emergency healing a bit easier, esecially for a Feral Druid or Moonkin who wants to hop out of form real quick and help save a dying tank. The Hunter Improved Mend Pet adjustment is... well, 50% currently seems to catch most effects on my pet by the end of its duration anyway, so it's probably a change I can live with. I'm more interested in improving my pet's survivability by sharing resilience with it or giving it some defense rating, anyhow. Paladins, what do you think about the Illumination change? It's a nerf, of course, but how much did you count on Illumiation triggering other effects? Will this hurt you a bit too much? What bout you, Hunters and Druids? Do you agree with my assessment of these changes?
Filed under: Druid, Talents, News items, Odds and ends, Realm Status, Analysis / Opinion, Patches, Realm News, Paladin, Hunter, Buffs
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
aeroman4 Mar 7th 2008 9:21PM
The illumination fix is going to hurt PVE paladins more than anything else. Illumination procced off my insightful earthstorm diamond to give me 300 mana a pop each time. Holy paladins have the worst mana regen of any healing class and I guess this trend will continue.
Mal Mar 7th 2008 10:01PM
Actually this lifebloom nerf, isn't a nerf at all. Since Blizzard also changed the way Emp Rejuv to affect the final heal of Lifebloom (which is 20%). Basically druids got a small buff.
This regrowth change and the set bonus might make the spell pretty useful.
Jack Spicer Mar 7th 2008 10:13PM
Awww.... I was really excited about the improvement to Mend Pet. Shucks.
glorft Mar 7th 2008 11:08PM
...twenty...percent...?
/DROOLS
Swarfy Mar 7th 2008 11:05PM
@aeroman4:
Holy Pally's aren't MEANT to have mana regen. We rely on the crits and getting healed(When we take damage. stupid nerf) to get mana back. I can Spam flash of light constantly through out the Prince fight and never go below 25% mana, and that's even without popping a mana pot.
My pally sits at 11403 mana with just kings and It takes me a hell of a long time to run out.
Notmut Mar 10th 2008 1:32PM
Sorry to say, but most bosses after Prince don't consist of sitting there and spamming FOL. If you stack spell crit you're going to have no where near the longevity of other end game healers post Kara.
theRaptor Mar 8th 2008 4:46AM
Are you that bad that you don't realise that Illumination = mana regen? Are you seriously that stupid? And you don't stack Mp5 when you can? Sorry but Kara is easy, and unless your tank is really terrible it does not push healers. My mate' s Disc/Holy Priest can heal most of Kara and be on > 80% mana at the end.
And yes since the Illumination nerf and all the buffs to the regen of the other healing classes AND the 2.4 spirit changes (making spirit better then Mp5 in some instances), Holy Pallies will be the worst longevity healer. Which is stupid considering all they really bring is buffs and longevity.
Kaething Mar 8th 2008 12:09AM
THANK GOD.
But if I understand the situation correctly, this actually hurts ferals/moonkin. Resto Druids will get the benefit of empowered rejuvenation on the lifebloom bloom, bumping their blooms up by 20%... but the coefficient nerf makes that a wash.
For ferals and moonkin that don't have empowered rejuvenation, that means the bloom gets reduced relative to live. No effect on Restos, hurts the other specs.
As happy as I am to see the rolling lifebloom nerf repealed since all I do is PvE, I'd rather see it taken back off Empowered Rejuvenation and leave the other specs alone.
Acceptable Risk Mar 8th 2008 12:26AM
Agreed. This is a clear nerf to non-specced Druids. I'm feral, but I still do a fair amount of healing in five-mans and the like. A single Lifebloom is usually enough to spot heal most random party damage and I count on that burst heal at the end to keep my health-per-mana up and my threat down.
Isn't the problem that Restos are overrepresented? Then why nerf the underrepped specs? Why not just leave it alone?
Baluki Mar 8th 2008 12:17AM
Well, I guess this is why it's called a "test realm". And unfortunately for Blizzard, most of their major class changes have proven problematic. This probably means that they still intend on doing SOMETHING to fix the problems they saw in these areas, so they're probably going to be delaying the patch a bit longer.
I'm still hoping for more shaman buffs. :)
arcady0 Mar 8th 2008 1:05AM
"I'm still hoping for more shaman buffs. :)"
Have shaman ever had a buff? Ever?
I dropped my shaman like a lead weight middle of 07 because I was tired of getting my then level 59 butt handed to me by the murlocs in the Blood Elf starting zone who could do more damage than me... Well, not literally - but it sure felt like I'd been nerfed that bad.
Patch and shaman nerf mean the same thing in whatever dictionary Blizzard employees keep on their desks.
arcady0 Mar 8th 2008 1:01AM
All that matters for lifebloom is the ticks, not the bloom. Lifebloom is a spell that in a raid you keep spamming on the druid until your click finger hurts...
Before, if I read it right, they were planning to nerf the ticks and not the bloom. I'm perfectly happy with them nerfing the bloom instead. I'm not sure of the logic - maybe in PvP you want to bloom or you have to bloom as you're healing multiple targets. I don't know... I never PvP. I'm resto after all - all 61 talent points - a healer, and that's what's important to me - healing.
arcady0 Mar 8th 2008 1:20AM
Er... Not spamming on the druid, spamming on the tank. :)
Slight typo there.
I guess what this nerf does is force druids to play more within their specc. Non-resto's will have more trouble being effective healers. Just as you wouldn't want my resto druid trying to DPS or tank, you won't get ferals and balance druids who think they can heal as often anymore.
Druid dude Mar 8th 2008 1:42AM
The Regrowth change, along with the big mana regen increase, might make Dreamstate/Resto spec where Regrowth is used a lot more actually workable. Regrowth has fallen off the hotbars of many healing Druids for good reason. Will have to see how it actually plays in a raid.
twelve Mar 8th 2008 3:39AM
I can't help but think this whole progressive-patch stupidity is a result of lack in ressources .. at least _some_ internal testing could've been done before putting these changes (and rollback again) on the PTR, don't you think?
The devs seem like scientists experimenting with things they have no clue about. And that's what they usually do at the internal tests, i guess.
So what's the QA-Team busy with? WotLK?
GM Bekyn Mar 8th 2008 4:45AM
Resto Druid overrepresented healer in arena? have they played resto druid before? it is easy to say and QQ about resto druid being op in arena but it is different story when youre on the druids shoes.....Druids are good healers in 2v2 ... we suck at 3v3 and we are horrible on 5v5. Ive been to ptr andyes it is a nerf on live server my bloom ticks for 503 while on PTR it only ticks 382 and it rarely crits... that hurt us bad.
Mal Mar 8th 2008 5:10AM
something is severely wrong with your character if those are truly your numbers.
Faar Mar 8th 2008 6:36AM
I'm sure Blizzard has NEVER EVER played resto druid, inside or outside the arena.
Also, the idea that Blizzard - the people who actually makes the game and control the servers it runs on - should have any clue about which class is overrepresented is just prepostrous!
Parental Advisory: this post contains Internet Sarcasm.
Combatc87 Mar 8th 2008 10:43AM
@12
The bloom is very important in PvP against dispellers. If you start throwing HoT's on a target, and, say, a shaman is puring them off, when he purges that Lifebloom, it will still bloom.
Another important part of the bloom is when trying to escape. If you throw a rejuv and lifebloom on yourself, then either bear form or root and run, or if you're getting stunlocked, that bloom is a lifesaver.
Jeff Mar 8th 2008 6:09PM
Stinks about lifebloom if I understood correctly but regrowth kinda evens it out. I was enjoying my awesome heals too. :)
Jeff
http://www.wowdungeon.com