The Queue: Archdruids? Nahh. Okay, maybe.
by Alex Ziebart 
Jan 16th 2009 at 3:00PM
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.
Apparently I missed a Doctor Who reference in one of the questions I answered yesterday. Maybe? Heck if I know. If you're looking for our resident Doctor Who nerd, direct your references to Elizabeth Harper. They go way over my head.
Zoidberg asked...
A while ago, we heard some rumors about a new hero class called archdruid. (Or something like that.) What do we know about these guys? Is this a possibility for the 4.0 hero class?
Rumors are rumors. We don't really know anything about it. Sure, it could be the 4.0 Hero Class, but it could be just about anything else as well. I'd say it's a decent candidate if we're definitely ending up with a Healing hero class, but we don't really know if that's the case. It's assumed, but that's all.
It's purely going to come down to speculation. I, personally, don't think it will be Archdruid, but a lot of people think that it will be. Who knows?
Sorano asked...
Has mana regeneration been checked with the introduction of Wrath of the Lich King? It seems, on my holy paladin, that even while casting, not critting with my spells, not under the effect of Divine Plea, it looks evident that I'm gaining mana.
I almost never actively have to watch my mana bar anymore. It was an aspect I liked about mana using classes. What's the dealy-o, WoWInsider?
Instead of large, periodic mana gains, your mana now trickles in at a constant flow of lower gains. It amounts to the same regen either way. Picture it like a faucet. Right now, the faucet is at a slow, constant trickle. Previously, every five seconds you would turn the faucet on full blast and then cut it off right away. Over time, you've used up the same amount of water either way. The only difference is one of those ways of using water is normal and the other way makes you look insane.
The new way has one big benefit: If you manage to hit the end of your manapool and you find yourself just a few points of mana short of casting one final spell, you'll probably have those points of mana almost immediately. Previously, you'd be sitting there frothing at the mouth for awhile waiting for the tick.
Debesun asked...
What happened to the combat dummies in the Dalaran Sewer that were in the Beta?
Dalaran doesn't have any dummies anymore, but the faction-specific capitals all do now. The way Dalaran is set up made the dummies there a nuisance. Not only were there added lag issues, but the dummies were directly beneath the busiest parts of the city. That means that when you were moving around doing your business, you'd hear the combat from the lower level all over the place. That was really, really annoying.
They just got rid of them. All it takes is a portal to get somewhere that has them, though.
jinster asked...
Question: Why does every single quest in Northrend make use of a horn?!
This video will explain it all.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column! Leave your questions in the comments and we'll do our best to answer 'em!Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Expansions, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
Angelofwar Jan 16th 2009 3:06PM
I think you misunderstood the question about mana gain. I don't think he was asking why it appears that there are a constant series of ticks, I think he was asking why he never goes oom and hence never has to watch his mana bar because it doesn't matter.
Firestride Jan 16th 2009 3:16PM
I've never been raiding before, so I don't know what it used to be like, but I'm healing as a druid and I use my innervate about 1/50 fights. And those are usually the fights when I'm DPSing some (Thaddius or Loatheb). And I never am asked to use it on anyone else (except this one time Kel took away half of a healer's mana, and then he was a pally so it didn't really do any good anyways). So it seems like no other classes have to worry about mana either.
silverdragon Jan 16th 2009 3:23PM
I understood the question like that too, but then why is he complaining?
Saelorn Jan 16th 2009 3:31PM
The post was complaining because a big part of the fun, in this case managing your mana to make sure you can do what you need to do without drying up, has become trivialized by too much mana regeneration. It's gotten to the point where the mana cost of a spell isn't an issue, so healing turns into a "hit the biggest healing button as quickly as possible", which requires neither skill nor strategy. It's not fun, because it's way way too easy.
From what I've gathered, this is an issue with the Replenishment feature. I never OOM when there's a Replenisher in the raid, and going without one requires much more effort.
Kyane Jan 16th 2009 3:41PM
I agree, I understood the question to be more of "why don't I go oom" not why is my mana regenerating tiny numbers faster than chunks at a time.
What Sorano probably misses is that in 25 mans you'll likely have 2+ classes that bring replenishment ( http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=57669 ). Before it was just shadow priests, but now it's also ret pallies and survival huntards. If the buffer can keep this up the length of a fight, you'll be hard pressed to go oom. My shaman has 19k mana unbuffed, using .25% return per second, that's nearly 240 mp5 ( and remember, that's without Kings or Arc Int ).
Alanid Jan 16th 2009 4:36PM
I used to have the same on my ret paladin - id be able to take about 7-10 mobs before having to check my mana bar. Although i recently respecced back to protection after hitting 80 - so ill be going oom like crazy till i get some prot gear!
JPN Jan 16th 2009 3:06PM
I would be shocked if they ever add an archdruid or just if they call it that. It's like saying "regular druid" and "super druid" - Blizzard won't want to make a class look inferior to a similar class...or...
Brady Jan 16th 2009 3:23PM
I agree. By definition, an archdruid is superior to regular druids. To follow the lore, the archdruid would have to be more powerful, which would defeat Blizzard's goal of class balance.
Jesse Jan 16th 2009 3:24PM
here's my questions for the queue. whatever happened to tank talk? I don't think I've seen one since September or so...
Azhariel Jan 16th 2009 3:24PM
You're right. That's why it's "Death Knight", not "Death Warrior". (:
Jake Jan 16th 2009 4:07PM
* Healers are now the least represented archtype in-game now that tanks are a dime a dozen.
* Blizz wants a 'different' way to heal that's not just whack a mole.
* Runes are a new resource system currently only utilized by one class.
=The time is ripe for a melee/healer hybrid that uses runes.
Tauren and Dwarf Runemasters already exist in the lore. Imagine a class that can finally make unarmed/fist weapons useful. They can have a 'disenchant' type class skill (ala DK Runecarving) to transmute armor loot to body runes with the same stats. They could heal/buff through melee damage.
The potential is just sick...
Amaxe Jan 16th 2009 4:14PM
"Imagine a class that can finally make unarmed/fist weapons useful."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is such a class. It's called Enhancement Shaman
Koopatroopa Jan 16th 2009 4:25PM
Imagine a healer class like the medic in TF2 xD
Arcanetrain Jan 16th 2009 10:15PM
I wonder if the hero class is in fact a healer, will it be able to heal all specs like a DK can (arguably) tank all specs?
gundamxzero Jan 16th 2009 4:36PM
I vote on something that utilizes dragons, taming, armor, abilities all dragon related.
Robert M Jan 16th 2009 5:00PM
@Jake,
IMHO, you have no idea how right you actually are. Look at maelstrom weapon and the art of war talents.
I don't know how many enhancement shaman and retadins are using their instant casts on a heal for the tank of a chain heal for the group on melee range, but the potential is there. Shadow priests were already healing through dmg, albeit not enough to be considered healers in the typical sense of the word, but it was still healing.
With the maelstrom and the art of war though, I'm convinced Blizzard is already testing new healing and working on the healing hero class and using us to test certain ideas about it.
Haarits Jan 16th 2009 5:48PM
For a brief time on the Beta, I think, there were "realm first" titles for every class that reached 80, and for the druid it was "Archdruid". They wisely removed those, but the fact they were there implies they've got no plans at all of an actual "Archdruid" hero class.
If the term ever gets put back in the game for player-use, it'll probably in some other achievement that a wider range of druid players can acquire (like the epic Hunter quest of Vanilla WoW, although I think they said they didn't plan on any more such quests). It would be great to have class-specific titles earned via quests or meta-achievements.
Nizari Jan 16th 2009 6:26PM
I think the next hero class should be Witch Doctors. Voodoo doll mechanics FTW!
Wulfkin Jan 16th 2009 7:13PM
Mechanics-wise how much difference could there be between a Witch Doctor and a Shaman? We've already got Hex - a notably shaman/shadow hunter type ability.
Wulfkin Jan 16th 2009 7:14PM
*Witch Doctor / Shadow hunter..... sorry