“The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.”
Carl Jung
Patch 7.2.5: Healer Intentions
I will admit to confusion. The current patch notes, which are considered a release build, shows that healers are getting a buff to our damage output.
Ignoring, for the moment, the painful nerf to my heart and soul, Resto-Druid’s healing by a whopping 4%. Much like the tragic handling of Hunters in the transition from WoD to Legion, it almost feels like Blizzard thinks that there are too many Druid healers and are trying to push players into other classes — total conspiracy theory!
As listed below from the patch notes; Resto Druid is getting a 25% buff to the offense spells, Resto Shaman is getting a 25% buff and Holy Priest is at 25% as well. In my poring over the notes, I saw nothing on Monk or Pally Healers.
So, the question is: why?
It becomes a question of expectations, I think.
It could be that Healers will be expected to interact more in Mythic Plus dungeons and be part of the equation of overall damage to packs of mobs and bosses when calculating the timers.
It could be to support the idea that one can quest and level in Healing Spec. If this is the case, it would be a welcome one as I do, indeed, quest and play in my Resto-Druid role.
I seriously doubt that Healers-as-Raiders will be expected to be part of a burn phase, spamming Moonfire and Solar Wrath; but, it is possible! In the current raid, there are many times when I will “do some piddly damage” for fun during certain phases of the fight. I’ve not seen any of the Tomb raid.
Any ideas why our damage output is buffed for the upcoming patch?
Patch 7.2.5
Restoration Druid Restoration Druid core passive Decreases damage/healing of Cenarion Ward, Efflorescence, Germination, Healing Touch, Lifebloom, Regrowth, Rejuvenation, Swiftmend, Tranquility, Wild Growth by 4%. Decreases periodic damage/healing of Cenarion Ward, Efflorescence, Germination, Healing Touch, Lifebloom, Regrowth, Rejuvenation, Swiftmend, Tranquility, Wild Growth by 4%.
Increases damage/healing of Moonfire and Sunfire by 0% Ferocious Bite, Lunar Strike, Mangle, Moonfire, Rake, Rip, Shred, Solar Wrath, Starsurge, Sunfire, Thrash by 25%. Increases periodic damage/healing of Moonfire and Sunfire by 0%. Druid – Restoration Spec. Ferocious Bite, Lunar Strike, Mangle, Moonfire, Rake, Rip, Shred, Solar Wrath, Starsurge, Sunfire, Thrash by 25%. Druid – Restoration Spec.
Restoration Shaman Restoration Shaman core passive Increases damage/healing of Lava Burst by 14%. Increases proc chance of Control of Lava and Lava Surge by 5. Shaman – Restoration Spec. Increases damage/healing of Chain Lightning, Flame Shock, Lava Burst, Lightning Bolt by 25%. Increases periodic damage/healing of Chain Lightning, Flame Shock, Lava Burst, Lightning Bolt by 25%. Shaman – Restoration Spec.
Holy Priest Holy Priest core passive Priest – Holy Spec. Increases damage/healing of Holy Fire, Holy Nova, Holy Word: Chastise, Power Word: Solace, Purge the Wicked, Smite by 25%. Increases periodic damage/healing of Holy Fire, Holy Nova, Holy Word: Chastise, Power Word: Solace, Purge the Wicked, Smite by 25%. Priest – Holy Spec.
As a side note about my pet conspiracy theory. We do see a lot of Druid Healers. Last night in our Heroic Nighthold, we had three Druid healers! Later a fourth healer, Holy Pally joined us. Telling melee to stack on three healing circles was pretty easy to do.
It would be incredibly painful to change to a new class. I have thought about how I perceive the Holy Priest to be over-powered and wondered about changing for Tomb even with the very long haul to get raid ready.
Blizzard has a nasty history of playing these kind of mind-games. Hunters were wholly abused leading into Legion and I would expect that many simply changed classes to play something else. Going into Legion, I can understand the need for more diversity in classes as the hunter class was very popular. Doing the same to Resto-Druids in mid-expansion would border on cruelty and have an evil taint.
Having said that, let’s hope I don’t understand the “why” of the changes. Up to this patch, I felt very even with the Resto-Shaman; getting a nerf hurts but all nerfs hurt. Where is the blue post to defend the changes? It can’t be that our four-piece bonus revolves completely around using Swiftment: an instant heal – can it?
I’m waiting for the Big Gun Bloggers to chime in on the changes, the Druid Masters that understand numbers, now that the patch is labled “release candidate”.
Coffee Cakes and Crits 
Since I do not raid, I havent got a firm grasp on “the world out there” anymore, but as for the DPS buff, it would be a nice welcome, as I too, quest in my Restoration Spec. In fact, Its the only spec I can master to the fullest. I´m not sure if its being made so we can be a DPS support in Mythic+ – and there is something seriously wrong with that, if that is the case. Im an odd one when it comes to this, but I want healers to focus on healing, not be the judge of when to do what.
I have always like the Restoration Druid. I played it during Molten Core, where all I did (in other peoples eyes) was Innervate the Priests and Rebirth them if they died. But subtely I felt as if I supported the team very well, even though it was not really that visible. I did however, really miss an out of combat ressurection spell for years – it affected if I´d get chosen for a Dungeon run, I can recall.
Now we have been in a solid spot (Havent we?) for as long as I can remember. I have rarely felt a “Geez, i could have managed this if I had been a XX class instead” (maybe except when we really lacked some defensive cooldowns).
I find it incredibly hard to understand the mindgames Blizzard plays, but I have read a while back, that they do hire psychiatrists to help develop the game to make it as addictive as possible. So my guess would be, that they too, do the same thing, when it comes to how their “tuning” is being made;
Trying to “steer” us in the direction they want, without us realizing what is going on /paranoid mode off 😉
As for the Tier set bonus, it does feel as if they have gone through the logs and done a “Oh, Swiftmend is hardly ever being used anymore. Do we remove it, or do we keep it in game? Let´s keep it! Ok, but then we have to get them to use it…Somehow…Hmmm…!”
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Gosh, I spot with my little eye a ton of mistypes! Typing on phone sucks. Sorry 🙂
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Yes, we are a solid class and desirable. We do very well in mythic dungeons and in raids; like I said, solid. I wish there was a better performance measuring tool than Heals Per Second. I do use Warcraft Logs (thanks to Raid Advice) and can not see how a nerf is fair because I didn’t feel like I was OP.
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Yes, me too, there is only so much those logs can show. Hm, no me neither. Maybe that tier bonus of ours is stronger than we think? And the nerf is being made around us having said tier bonus? Which in no way is fair, of course.
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Fully agree with your conspiracy theory, I know I’m always amazed when I look at logs just how many other resto’s I’m being compared to especially when looking at how little of other classes might be represented. And there’s precedent.. they did it to warlocks when they wanted people to move away from a certain spec (I want to saw demonology but I’m not 100% sure) and Ion was quite open in an interview that they were nerfing it to get ppl off that spec. .
I don’t feel we’re the most OP class, Pallys and Priests are incredibly strong at the moment as well and I really don’t see nerf bats coming their way. I feel it’s much more that resto’s are overrepresented.
Maybe looking into what makes the class/spec fun to play would be a better way of helping to balance by putting some of the results into the other classes.
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Really good points there. It feels like that they are trying to solve a problem that really isn’t there.
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