I KNOW It's Early... but...
7:33 AM
Posted by Reygahnci on Thursday, May 6, 2010
I can't help but feel like Blizz does these types of things because they intentionally hate me...
Druid Alpha Talent Tree
Yes, that's right. The Druid talent tree from the Friend and Family Alpha is here (apparently, there's some lax NDA this time around and they're expecting data to get leaked... just not until they're ready for it to), and Blizz has decided to give Moonkins all the love. You should notice that basically the Balance and Resto trees have been updated with new abilities, talents removed, talents reorganized... etc.
Feral. Got. Nothing.
Thanks Blizz... I know it's early on in the testing and what-not, but you could have started with Feral. BAH.
Primal Gore's still there... wtf right?
Also, look at the boomer tree... why are they getting ANOTHER knockdown? It's straight up looking like Moonfire (except it's the Sun), and it knocks down your opponent... and they get an AoE Silence with a Daze on it. It'll be Silence them, knock them down, and as soon as they get out and start casting, Typhoon them. Boomkin's looking kinda cool.
Additionally, the Resto tree doesn't have Dispel Magic in it... so we know they aren't done... Oh yeah... and my favorite part:
Furor is still there... and they moved Naturalist down another tier... so instead of being forced to spend 11 points in resto... we now have to spend 16...
EDIT:
LMAO... I just noticed this but give Nature's Reach a read and see if you don't see why I'm laughing. Hey Ferals... 13 points in Balance you say!?
EDIT2:
Okay... let's just keep this off the forums for a day or two... I'm not sure what's-what given the NDA and TORRENT of leaked info on reputable sites (such as mmo-champ). I think this will be a short period of "keep your head down and you might not lose it."
Let's talk first impressions:
1) Solar Beam - it's a set-n-forget spell that disorients all in the radius for 3 seconds (that's a 50% snare, essentially) and it also silences everyone in the radius for its duration (10 seconds). It's also surprisingly low in the balance tree (only requires 10 points to pick it up).
2) Blessing of the Grove - it's a flat 4% more damage to Mangle at the bottom-tier of the Resto tree... I don't really get it given that Furor is still there at 5/5... no one will be able to pick it up.
3) Perseverance - a 5-point talent that gives 10% spell damage reduction. Given that Cats have always had trouble with Casters (ZERO defensive CDs for casters besides Barkskin...) this feels like them tossing us a rope. However, it's on the same tier as Natural Shapeshifter, and that will be mandatory if you end up taking Solar Beam as a Feral (which we might).
4) Naturalist - BAH... still a 5-point talent, still mandatory for Ferals... AND NOW IT'S DEEPER IN THE TREE... bah. Instead of having a mandatory 11 points in Resto, this knocks us up to a mandatory 16.
5) Improved Tree of Life - "Increases damage done by ..." wtf?
6) Improved Tranquility - "Reduces damage taken while channeling Tranquility by 50%"... wtf? When I see a Druid using Tranq, I'm certainly NOT trying to dps him, I'm gunna KICK him in the mouf... maybe this is a PvE thing only.
Otherwise, business as normal. Hopefully, Blizz comes out with a statement as to whether we're supposed to be talking about this or not...
May 6, 2010 at 12:43 PM
Your quick!
Came to site to post about what I saw with druid changes, looks like you might have to dip into balance tree some. But all that being said its still really early so I'm sure these trees will look different then what gets released.
But, Solar Beam looks to be the silence/interrupt druids need ... possibly why it is so high in balance tree so other two specs can get it.
BTW you need to check out my obnoxious pose on armory!
May 6, 2010 at 12:56 PM
Looking back at the tree again from a feral perspective it is kinda stupid.
Even then looking at the talents you can almost tell its just a really really early throw-together and should only be taken with a grain of salt.
For example read bladestorm in warrior tree hah!
May 9, 2010 at 9:55 PM
Now my thoughts on your thoughts
By Jack Handy (HA!)
"4) Naturalist - BAH... still a 5-point talent, still mandatory for Ferals... AND NOW IT'S DEEPER IN THE TREE... bah. Instead of having a mandatory 11 points in Resto, this knocks us up to a mandatory 16."
I can see the reasoning here. You will now level to 85, so that 5 more points explains the 11 to 16 jump. Is it right? Hell naw, not only should it be an exciting thing to advance 5 more levels, but being able to meaningfully spend the talent points you get with the levels is important too.
"5) Improved Tree of Life - "Increases damage done by ..." wtf?"
Well, my only thing I can say about this speaking from my resto druid experience. Just looking st the talent addition made in the resto tree, Fury of Stormrage, it looks like with the increased health pools it appears that healers are going to have to dps more. Which would make this for a great burst to help burn someone down if its up. In the other realm of PvP, rated BGs (since they did say that is the focus), this would give a resto druid more to work with to actually defending themselves in small combat scenarios.
I'm excited about the way resto is looking, being able to grab that interrupt silence is gonna be s-ah-weet!
May 9, 2010 at 10:00 PM
One last comment.
"6) Improved Tranquility - "Reduces damage taken while channeling Tranquility by 50%"... wtf? When I see a Druid using Tranq, I'm certainly NOT trying to dps him, I'm gunna KICK him in the mouf... maybe this is a PvE thing only."
If combat is actually slowed down with these larger health pools and penatlies to dispel spamming, this might actually be a very viable thing, especially in rated BGs (you would be surprised how often I can get this off lol) ... but Barksin -> Tranq. is already better. Eh, gratz Blizz for making an unattractive talent, unattractive..
and one last thing y'all Californians ready for legal maryJ? hah
May 10, 2010 at 9:24 AM
Not sure why/how, but I have apparently eaten yet another 3day ban from the WoW forums... I guess I'll be productive this week at work >_<