OK - I've spent the last 78 levels getting used to the feral side of the druid... in your face, clawing mobs eyes out, etc...

Upon dinging 80 though, I am going to respec over to resto, for the benefit of my guild and in hopes of joining some 10 and 25 man raids (another thing I've never had the opportunity to try). I've never served in the role of healer, and am a little unsure of a lot of basic stuff

I've been looking for a BASIC for dummies guide on what it is to be resto. What I've found are either in-depth discussions that skip the basics, or very basic rundowns of how the different healing spells work (and nothing else). I certainly understand the healing spells, but I guess my questions are more combat related...

For instance, I've become very accustomed to combat as a feral druid. That's really all we do. However, trees' main purpose is healing (duh), but they still have to fight from time to time correct? Occasionally in a battleground I have been utterly OWNED by a seemingly unkillable tree druid... So, how'd they do that? What are the key items in a tree's arsenal (if you get somebody in your face, is it best to use all available balance spells, and stay in tree form - go bear or kitty and fight em off that way?) Do you just run away and /cry? hahahah Any good guides out there on combat techniques for trees?

I kinda feel like a former tough-guy who's about to put on a blouse and dress and walk into a really tough biker bar.

Start reading www.resto4life.com and a blog or 2 from her friends list.

She had a good write-up a couple months back about addons you might find useful if you have just started healing.

http://www.resto4life.com/2008/06/25/grid-thinking-within-the-boxes/

And here's a link to all of her "Lunar Guidance" posts...

http://www.resto4life.com/category/lunar-guidance/

I fully expect to make resto my second spec if when they give us dual-specs. In fact, with the glutteny of Budget Tanks floating around (aka Death Knoobs (http://thebigbearbutt.com/2008/12/16/an-open-letter-to-a-death-knoob/)), healers seem to be in high demand.

Thanks!

Yup, deathknoobs were specifically mentioned when they were trying to explain to me why I'd basically never be needed as a tank in a 10 or 25-man situation. Greeeaaaat.... so glad I spent the last 6 months trying to perfect bear tanking techniques, fantabulous. That, and "we're always really short on healers"... In any case, I'm giving in - if nothing else, healing for raids is basically my best (if not only) shot at getting my hands on tier 7 feral gear. Odd but true.

Thanks for the links

Well, my opinion is bias, but Feral tanks are needed, and infact sought out. But, non the less. The best way to explain resto healing for the non-healer is to get an addon called "HealBot" and then play "Whack-a-Mole" If it lights up, you click it....that simple!

They're upgrading swipe in the next patch, perhaps you shouldn't give up so quickly?

The upgrade to swipe is live now! It was a server side hotfix, so we didn't need a new client fix.

I don't have any pvp advice for you, I am terrible at it.

PVE I can help you with. Usually I just do starfire, root, moonfire, root, moonfire. Kind of slow but it does eventually kill things.

I too have no PVP experience to share, but PvE resto (13/0/58) I've been doing:
Root - starfire - starfire - repeat, moonfire or wrath if they are near death or start to run away.

At around 1000SP I got both starfires in before the roots would break from damage, now that I'm ~1500 I find that the roots will often break sometime in the start of the second starfire. Especially if I get a crit - I think my highest starfire crit is 4K so far, with no talents to boost it. I used to use moonfire too, but have kinda fallen away from it other than if the mob has less than 1K health left, as a coup de grace.

If it's a mob I don't mind taking a hit or two from, I'll just continue casting. Otherwise, I'll reapply roots.

I've found that I can heal through just about any damage a single mob can do to me (and groups of regular mobs - AoE ftw), but it's the pushback/cast interrupt that makes me want to maintain distance.

Yeah, I don't really bother much about getting whacked. One rejuv and the pain disappears. Sometimes I like feeling like they're killing themselves on my thorns. :D

Oh, I accidently aggro'd a level 75 elite doing a quest and I solo'd it as level 80 resto! I used to solo all kinds of non-solo quests in BC so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

I'm sorry your guild is passing you up for a bunch of DK tanks. Properly geared druid tanks are much easier to heal than the other tanking classes due to our superior mitigation and smoother incoming damage. DK's are avoidance-oriented tanks and tend to take damage in spikes which are more difficult to heal.

However, a druid tank does require non-retard dps which is usually in short supply. Because we lack the insta-threat one button tanking of Death and Decay or Consecrate, we require the dps to hold back for a GCD before they open up. Based on my experience with the occasional pug, that GCD represents about 80 IQ points...

On the plus side healing is the most challenging role in the game right now by far, so you will never be bored and you will never have to look very long to find a group.

Well, after all that talk of resto from a couple of folks, I was then hounded with a barrage of requests to go boomkin (and since the caster gear I had been amassing was fitting for either, I gave it a shot).

What a blast! Wow they can really dish it out. I dinged 80 yesterday afternoon, and made my first attempt at a heroic with around 1600 spell power from the gear I'd been collecting. Wowza...

I may miss tanking after a while, but for the moment, I'm actually really enjoying being the angry chicken damage canon. And with the addition of just a few more heavily spirit-laden pieces, I can switch over to healing if needed with many of the same gear pieces.

How nice it is, to have a toon that can change so drastically, simply by respeccing. So glad I dropped my original huntard off at the door when I rolled durid!!!

LF Resto pre-Nax gear list and/or www.lootrank.com link (preferred). I just can't find one. Are Resto's afraid of lists? Us ferals have lists for everything.

And while I'm asking for help, give me a good 5-man healing spec for Resto.

Replying to myself...

MP5:10
SP:5.3
Spr:4.8
Int:2.8
Crit:1.4
Haste:1.2

I added in sta: 0.4 as a tie-breaker.


I found this loot rank (http://www.lootrank.com/wow/wr.asp?Cla=1024&Max=15&Str=&mh=1.2&mp5=10&Sta=0.3&mcr=1.4&spd=5.3&Agi=&Int=2.8&Spi=4.8&Ver=6&usr=&ser=&grp=www&i1=0&i2=0&i3=0&i4=0&i7=0&i8=0&i9=0&j1=0&j2=0&j3=0&j7=0&k1=0&k2=0&k3=0&k4=0&k5=0&k6=0) using the weighting list on wowhead. Seems like they give +spell too much over +int. I thought I read that in LK you want a huge mana pool rather than lots of +spell since you can't chain potions, etc.??? Thoughts...

What about this build (http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=0VG0zZZf0IuwuxVuVIst). Thoughts? I pulled it out of my butt as I have no idea about a few of those talents.

Nourish?? Is that used often??? Gotta do some research...

Should I even consider cloth? Or should I just remove it from my search parameters?

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of Wowhead's item weights. It's a good starting point, I suppose, but based on some reading I've done (Resto4Life (www.Resto4Life.com) and Elitist Jerks (http://elitistjerks.com/f73/t37554-resto_pre-raid_gear/)) and personal experience, I use the following weights:

1 Mp5 = 10
1 Spell Power = 9.4
1 Intellect = 5.8
1 Spirit = 5.2
-----------
1% Haste = 2.8
1% Crit = 2.1


I've done mostly 5mans so far, just starting Naxx - cleared up through Loatheb so far.

A big mana pool is nice, true, but I still prefer SP > Regen >> Mana pool. Fortunately, with the changes to the Int/Spirit to regen conversion, you get more regen as you increase your pool. I have absolutely no mana troubles in 5 mans, and only have had a little problems on long raid boss fights. I'll probably emphasize Int a little more in Pawn, or more likely, just pop some int/regen type gems rather than the straight SP ones I have now.

And stamina is on everything these days, or so it seems.

Nourish? It's ... ok. I use it occasionally, as my mild 'oh crap' button. NS/HT is the 'Oh S@#$' button.

Skimming your build, it looks ok to me. Check Rhus' link below, and you'll find mine is very similar. I choose to take improved tranquility (my 'OH F---' button) and a couple of other minor changes, mostly personal preference.

I'm a HoT healer, hands down, and haven't taken any of the HT improving talents. For glyphs, I have Rebirth (will swap for Regrowth when I find it), Rejuv and Swiftmend.

And my personal feeling on cloth vs leather is this: If it has equivalent stats, take the leather. Otherwise there is absolutely no reason not to equip cloth. As a healer, we're 'supposed' to be squishy, and I think that's why they increased the armor bonus afforded by ToL form, so they wouldn't have to duplicate cloth healing items in leather for us. Again, feel free to Armory me. Not that I think I'm any sort of role model or anything, just another Tree slogging it out in the trenches.

1 Mp5 = 10
1 Spell Power = 9.4
1 Intellect = 5.8
1 Spirit = 5.2
-----------
1% Haste = 2.8
1% Crit = 2.1Thanks for all the info. First, I assume those are the numbers you put into Pawn. Which means, the last two are per haste rating, not per 1%, right?

Second, interesting that you put more emphasis on SP. I was just reading a few QQ/blue posts in the healer's forum and noticed how many Druids are complaining about not having enough Mana for long fights. Obviously, that is not an issue in 5-mans. But, then, as GC pointed out, many Druids aren't the most efficent with their mana pools. And he claims, that high-end Resto Druid peeps tell him, they don't have problems with their mana pool on long fights.

I thought about going full iTranq for a WTF button. I know in BC I had it in my many proposed Resto builds. But I couldn't find space for it with a LK build epecially if I want to put 11 points in Balance to pickup Nature's Splendor. Which, I assume, is a really nice talent given it boots Rejuv and Regrowth.

I'll check out your spec when I get home as I can't reach the armory from work.

Regarding cloth vs leather....I excluded cloth from my "lists". It seems other healers have some means to protect themselves from an errant mob. But we don't. cyclone? It has a cast time. Maybe Nature's Grasp? So, my thought were I'd want a bit more armor to allow me to take a hit or two. Especially, while I learning the class (when I might be over-healing a bit too often). But, then, if I have a good tank....I'm torn. If I include cloth items in my lists, I think I'd end up with all cloth as it seems for each slot the cloth piece is "better" than the leather one at the same iLevel.

Thanks again...

Hmm. They probably are rating, not %, I can't check from work either. :-)

It may not be the best plan, but I protect myself from mobs by healing through their damage. I really rarely watch the aggro meter. I suppose NG would work for a single breakaway mob, but I never think of it in time. Ultimately, running with good tanks is the best defense. I've been pretty fortunate in that regard.

I think the Druid mana problems are probably mostly related to healing style and what spells you cast. As a 90-95% HoTter, I cast until the cows come home and rarely drop below ~70% on trash and 30% on bosses. In 5-mans. Raids, trash is similar, but bosses make me pot and innervate at least once, at least on the tougher bosses.

When I see my mana pool really dry up is when I start blasting WG right and left, and less so if I have to start passing out Nourish and HT like candy.

At my level, the rating scheme is working for me. I probably will be gemming a bit more for Mp5 and Int, though.

I gave up reading the Blizz forums because there was too much QQ - if it's not one thing, it's another, and it made me not like being a druid for a while. Now, I ignore them and I'm much happier. Ignorance being bliss and all. I follow these boards regularly, and Phaelia's blog, but that's about it for druid stuff. Still check out TKA some too, even though my hunter got parked at 2.1.x. ;)

Ignorance being bliss and all. I follow these boards regularly, and Phaelia's blog, but that's about it for druid stuff. Still check out TKA some too, even though my hunter got parked at 2.1.x. ;)I agree. The only stuff I read from the wow forums are those listed on mmo's blue post site. I, too, miss TKA. Great folks. But, like you, my hunter hasn't done a thing since July '07. In fact, he is my banker now (gotta love aspect of the cheetah on a banker).

I've been reading Phaelia's stuff daily since I started my Druid. Though I often just skim it if it gets real heavy into healing stuff. Guess I need to start paying attention.

Also, do you use grid/clique, healbot, mouse over macros?

Grid with mouseover macros. For me, that gets the fastest response time.

Grid with mouseover macros. For me, that gets the fastest response time.Do you use a HoT timer addon? Or does grid give you everything you need?

FWIW, I figured I would use Phae's Grid Guide (http://www.resto4life.com/2008/06/25/grid-thinking-within-the-boxes/) as a starting point.

I use an Addon called HotCandy (http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info6860-HotCandy.html#info) to put duration bars for rejuv and regrowth on the screen so I can refresh before they run out. Not absolutely neccessary, but nice to keep them from dropping off, or in the case of the Regrowth Glyph, to take advantage of the extra 20%.

I haven't found a Grid module to act as a timer for those two spells, but there is one that puts a numeric lifebloom timer right on the grid, making it really easy to see when a stack is about to bloom.

I found Phaelia's article that you linked to be really helpful when I set up my Grid, as well as a topic from the LightNatured forums (http://www.lightnatured.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=512).

Grid, with the proper plug-ins, will show you hot durations.

I'd been using Healbot and I like it much better these days, but I think I'm going back to Grid. It was always my favorite.

Grid, with the proper plug-ins, will show you hot durations. Must have to make your grid a bit larger if you want to squeeze in 2-4 HoT timers inside that tiny box.

GridStatusHots will show timers for all the hots, if you assign them to text objects in your grid.

I had mine assigned to corner dots, and didn't realize I could have had durations showing all this time. :ohwell:

Must have to make your grid a bit larger if you want to squeeze in 2-4 HoT timers inside that tiny box.
No, actually it works pretty well at the standard size. It just allocates a little square in each corner for all the hots. I have lifebloom as a colored text countdown in the center.

The idea is to keep things small and compact and the right amount of information. For instance, I don't need to see a big honking icon. Rejuv in the upper left hand corner, regrowth is in lower left, WG is upper right, lifebloom is text in the middle (Under the name). I don't need to know exactly how many seconds it has left to go. The little boxes change color as the HoT gets closer to expiring. So, if someone's rejuv box is turning yellow, time to refresh it.

I need to fiddle with the lifebloom display though. Basically now they start red and turn green as they're about to expire. That seems backwards. It also shows you stack size, which is good, but it shows seconds remaining with 10ths of seconds and I found that very distracting.

I did Naxx-10 with Grid last night and was really happy to have it back.

Oops, found my complaints with Lifebloom as text can easily be modified in the config screen. Although I think I'd like to turn off the seconds ccount down and just use a number for the stack size and colors for count down.

Here's an example: http://members.cox.net/npm/gridexample.jpg

This shows I have Rejuv (upper left, not close to expiring), Regrowth, lower left (not close to expiring), lifebloom (middle text, 3 stack, 2 seconds remaining) and WG getting ready to expire.

I decided I liked the seconds, but only as a round number. And I ended up modifying the addon just a tad to make it do what I wanted. Maybe if I can figure it out I'll add it as an option and see if I can get it incorporated into the release. Never have done that!

I've now done almost all of Naxx, both 25 and 10 mans, as resto and boom-chicken - (picking up some great feral offspec gear along the way that's languishing unused for the most part in my bags).

Back to my original question - basically, disregard it! When I'm tree-ing, I've totally let go of the old feral urge to always fight fight fight, and have embraced its intended purpose... If a mob gets on me, I calmly place a couple hots on myself, then refocus my attention back on the tank/party, and let em wack away. After a while if nobody notices that I'm still getting pounded, I politely ask if somebody would get em the heck off me so I can focus on keeping us from wiping. lol

I tried both Grid and Healbot, and must say I'm much happier with Healbot. I know it's the more "frowned upon" addon, but I just feel much more in control, and the bottom line is people stay up so whateva flicks yer bick!

Current armory here (http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Firetree&n=Tsunamee)
Unbuffed caster form SP is at 1830 atm, but gets up well over 2k w/ buffs/food/elixirs/etc...

Boom-chicken (which is technically my main raiding spec for the guild) is a ton of fun as well, but I do feel like the obligatory raid crit-buffer / utility player - as of yet, I'm almost always in the bottom 5 as far as the damage meters go. Getting closer to hit-cap in the chicken gear set, hoping that'll help - in boss fights there have been a lot of "Miss" happening. Will be curious how the dmg goes when i'm capped.

For those laserchickens who haven't tried it, get the Squawk and Awe add-on. REALLY helps keep track of the eclipse cooldowns and on top of dot uptime.

At times I do miss the feral side, but for now I actually feel much more useful to groups than I ever did in feral form.

Squawk and Awe? That's so cute!

Squawk and Awe? That's so cute!
Great mod; I get a nice dps bump from using it. And before anyone asks, yes I spend around 400g a week respeccing.

Grid with mouseover macros. For me, that gets the fastest response time.

I do the same with Lifebloomer, it's simple and gets the job done. Could be a little less fiddly when having to heal multiple people on the move but that's my only complaint with the setup. It's still essentially whack-a-mole but I've just never wrapped my head around heal-bot.

Is lifebloomer basically candy bars for lifebloom? If so, I would hate that. I want to have one place to look (health bars) not two.

Not sure what you mean by Candy Bars.

It just lists (in your preferred order) your group/raid members showing their health, whether they have aggro, are taking damage, the number of lifebloom stacks and duration before bloom as the main focus of the Member pane, whether they're cursed or Posioned, and whether Regrowth, rejuve and wild growth are active and how long before they expire (as a timerbar rather than a number).

I normally set mine up so that tanks are first, followed by me, followed by melee, followed by ranged, with other healers and hunter's pets down the bottom. I stick it to the right of the party members on the left hand side of the screen and 10 panes will pretty much fill top to bottom, never tried adding all 25 raid members to it, in those instances I tend to pull out the raid tabs just to keep an eye on other groups that might need a heal chucking on them.

I just set mouseover macros as 2 = LB, 3 = rejuve,4= regrowth, 5 = swiftmend, 6= WildGrowth, 7 = Healing touch = 8 tranquility, 9 = NS + HT and just move the cursor up and down Lifebloomer as required.

Other than show you information it doesn't do any thing active like Healbot but I like the simplicity of it and the sheer amount of information that it manages to display

Not sure what you mean by Candy Bars.Candy bars is a hot/dot tracking addon
It just lists (in your preferred order) your group/raid members showing their health, whether they have aggro, are taking damage, the number of lifebloom stacks and duration before bloom as the main focus of the Member pane, whether they're cursed or Posioned, and whether Regrowth, rejuve and wild growth are active and how long before they expire (as a timerbar rather than a number).So, do you use Lifebloomer instead of Grid or healbot? Or do you use lifebloomer in addition to Grid? Or do you use lifebloomer with the builtin raid ui? Your previous post (on page 2 of this thread) is a bit vague.

to my shame I've not got round to trying out Grid yet, it's just laziness on my part, I will do it soon, promise.

At the moment I've got pretty much the standard UI and I use Lifebloomer exclusively with mouseover Macros.

We're not 25man raiding at the moment and my druid's an alt that isn't 80 yet, but from days of Gruul I kept my 2 raid groups (10 people plus pets) in lifebloomer and pulled the other three groups out from the raid tab underneath just so I could see what was happening across the rest of the raid.

Lifebloomer itself is passive it simply shows you your heals on group members, where it does have a weakness is that it only shows Your/Duid heals active (I've never run in a group with more than 1 Resto Druid so to my shame I can't actually confirm off the top of my head whether it shows other, active Druid heals). If you're in a 10 man with a priest, for example, it doesn't show the other heals being applied.

I have run Healbot alongside it previously to get a more complete picture of what healing's being done but it's a mod that I was never completly happy using as a druid and I haven't checked the newer versions that have apparently corrected most of the problems I had with it.

Lifebloomer has click-to-cast capability built in. It's a very nice mod for resto druids.

Well there you go, you learn something new everyday.

From reading the description of lifebloomer, it seems like it adds a new "bar" next to each member's frame. That new frame contains all of your hot timers and curse/poison information. Sound right?

Personally, I don't like candy bars timers. They take up too much room. I want to see my heals right there on my raid frame. So I only have to focus on one place. But I guess if it works for you, power on!

From reading the description of lifebloomer, it seems like it adds a new "bar" next to each member's frame. That new frame contains all of your hot timers and curse/poison information. Sound right?
Yes, but it is not attached to the party or raid frames; they are free moving. IMO the Lifebloomer display allows for the most precise timing for casting HoTs, it's very easy to read, and it's Druid specific.

I've never tried to use it in a BG or a raid setting, but I like the latest version better than Healbot for 5 mans. Setup is super fast and easy.

Personally, I don't like candy bars timers. They take up too much room. I want to see my heals right there on my raid frame. So I only have to focus on one place. But I guess if it works for you, power on!

I use Healbot or Lifeboomer as a replacement for raid and party frames. I really can't see a need to use Xperl or even the standard Blizzard frames with these mods or with Grid when I am healing.

I use Healbot or Lifeboomer as a replacement for raid and party frames. I really can't see a need to use Xperl or even the standard Blizzard frames with these mods or with Grid when I am healing.

I agree. Healbot is my standard healing tool. (also an excellent tanking/DPS tool). I have tried other mods, xperl etc, and they are too "flashy". I don't need all that information that just cludders up the screen, I just need a name plate with health / debuffs / aggro...and supreme "whack-a-molablity"

Lifebloomer has click-to-cast capability built in. It's a very nice mod for resto druids.

I presumed it was a new version, but I'm missing something obvious. How do you use the click to cast on Lifebloomer? Because my google fu is failing me.

If you look in the addons tab in your interface menu in game, you will see an entry for Lifebloomer. Expand the menu and you will see a choice for click bindings. Good luck!

Well blow me down, you really do learn something new everyday, never even knew that tab existed.

Regarding cloth vs leather....I excluded cloth from my "lists". It seems other healers have some means to protect themselves from an errant mob.
Thanks again...

Also, many guilds are having to go to a Primary spec / Armor type roll system to keep the peace!

We don't allow resto's to roll primary need on clothy healing pieces. The logic behind this is two fold. First, the clothy healers don't have the luxury of using either, so they get first shot at the cloth. Second, it sets a presedent so we don't have pallies rolling on cloth or Shammies stealing the leather.

While the itemization of cloth peices may favor a Resto, they need to let the clothies have first shot at it. Plus the Resto isn't ever fighting with the other casters in the raid for leather gear that drops (except boomkins, when we are around).

That seems like it'd unnecessarily stunt your resto druids. There are a number of cloth pieces that, according to my calculations, are better than leather ones. I know holy paladins who wear cloth. My shaman (enh) wears leather, if it's better stats. However, I do see the point of perhaps letting the cloth wearers getting first crack, since they're limited to that but really, in the end, you should wear it for the stats, not the fabric it's made from (for resto or DPS).

Here's the loot rank I use (http://www.lootrank.com/wow/wr.asp?Cla=1024&Max=30&Gem=3&mp5=24&Sta=3&spd=18.8&Int=6&Spi=8&Ver=6&i3=0&i4=0&i9=0&j1=0&j2=0&j5=0&k1=0&k2=0&k3=0&k4=0&k5=0&k6=0)

Yep, we don't want any DKP system of any kind. The only attendance requirement to role for loot is that you are present when the boss dies. That is specifically to maintain a "Casual Raid" guild environment.

The Resto's still get a shot at clothy gear after the clothies, but before an "Offspec" role is issued. And judging by our Resto's...non of them are hurting by the policy! Our resto's out heal our priests by a land slide right now. :)

Our big issue with Pallies/Shammy's taking clothy pieces, is they will quickly discard it once they come across better plate for example. And if you have only one holy pally in raid (not likely to have more in 10 mans) they have no competition for plate gear. So if they role at clothy stuff, they know they will have no competition for plate later, giving them an advantage in loot.

We do the same in our guild, "need if you need it" is the general order of the day but but we do tend to run on a Cloth Wearers get preference on Cloth, mains get preference over alts, primary role gets preference over off spec, "That looks like it might be interesting can I have a play with it?" takes preference over sharding it.

I've no problems whatsoever rolling on cloth but only once the clothies have passed on it.