Lifebloom Befuddlement Rolls On…
I was thinking about how I was going to come home and post today about how little change it appeared was in store for us in patch 3.2. All the talk has been about feral druid forms, and the changes to the level at which we get various forms, with the developers staying largely silent about mechanics that matter to Resto Druids. So I was all set to wax rhapsodic about how it was sort of nice to have a patch that meant relearning and rethinking very little for us trees. That was before I got home and saw the patch notes.
There are several changes in the 3.2 patch notes for the PTR that I did not see coming. Innervate will return half as much mana but can be used twice as often, mostly an even shift, although in longer fights it might be an additional boost. Empowered Touch now will buff Nourish along with Healing Touch, forcing me (and many others) to rethink my talent tree again. Another Nourish buff across the board, whether or not HoTs are rolling on the target. Ok, thanks for that, Blizzard.
But the change I really did not see coming at all is the change to Lifebloom:
The final heal that occurs when this spell blooms has been reduced by 20% on the base and on the spell power coefficient
When is Blizzard going to tire of tweaking this spell?
I probably could go into a long history here of the changes to Lifebloom over time if I were so inclined. But it’s probably unnecessary to follow the complete timeline of the spell. We all remember the plethora of tweaks and changes along the way. Most recently we went from Lifeblooming machines, rolling on every tank in sight every seven seconds, to having some reprieve to this gruesome schedule with the additions of talents and glyphs to extend the life of the spell before it needed refreshing. Finally, we had the mana cost of the spell doubled, with mana returned and bloom increasing per number of applications, pushing many into letting stacks bloom in order to justify the mana of the spell.
Now the value of the bloom is being decreased, as well. Now, in all honesty, this change, while a nerf, is probably not the biggest deal in the scheme of things. I can think of few occasions on which the ridiculous 20,000 crits I’ve seen from the bloom really came in handy, and were not largely wasted in overhealing. The change itself is not really what I’m taking issue with here. Will it hurt us? Maybe. Will it hurt us often? Probably not so much. Are we being balanced around PVP again? Bet your barky butts, but so it goes in the World of Warcraft.
What is really getting under my skin a bit about this is that Lifebloom is something they are having a hard time getting right, and I am doubtful that we’ve seen the last of the changes to it. The idea of the spell is great, and it’s a nice counterbalance to Regrowth, where the large part of the heal is front loaded. But it seems that in Blizzard’s juggling act, most of our spells are hackey sacks and Lifebloom is a flaming bowling ball. It’s pretty hard to balance.
There are problems that have been pointed out by many others along the way with making the bloom of the spell so attractive and needed to keep the spell at all mana efficient. The largest of these is, obviously, that we cannot plan spike damage and cannot use the bloom at all strategically in terms of mitigation. The only strategic choice we can make about it is, based upon damage at the second that the spell tics down, whether to roll it or to let it bloom. Yet the 3.1 change that put so much weight on the bloom was a reaction to the tics of the spell being too mana efficient and overpowered in the eyes of Blizzard. Once they put their finger in one hole in the dam on this spell, another leak springs up somewhere else. So now we have this 20% nerf to the bloom. Still doesn’t fix the unwieldiness of the bloom in the first place.
I admit, reluctantly, to some frustration about the fact that each change that they make to this spell has meant a pretty radical upheaval in play style for many druids. We aren’t paladins throwing out flash heals with monotonous repetition. We weave a complex net of healing mitigation. A change in one spell can change our entire play style for every encounter. The reason I’m reluctant to admit to my frustration about this is that I actually like and embrace new challenges in playing. It keeps things fresh and gives me a sense of accomplishment when I find a new way through a challenge. But with this spell, with Lifebloom, I’m beginning to feel as though enough is just enough. I find my thoughts echoing something that Lissanna from Restokin had to say on this topic today:
Why force us to let it bloom and then nerf the amount healed by the bloom? This is a pretty crappy move overall to a spell that most druids are starting to stop using, anyway.
I don’t want to stop using Lifebloom, but I’m getting pretty tired of relearning to use it. I hope that with all of Blizzard’s shooting at a moving target with this spell, that they finally hit on something balanced and satisfying to them and then just leave it well enough alone.
There are 8 Comments to "Lifebloom Befuddlement Rolls On…"
“When is Blizzard going to tire of tweaking this spell?” ~ Never…? I guess redoing the math and coming up with new priorities/rotations is fun, but I just didn’t see another lifebloom nerf this soon.
“We weave a complex net of healing mitigation.” ~ <3 I'm not saying pally's don't have to work when any of their spells change too. I just really like how you said this. I feel artsy and special now.
Aertimus´s last blog ..Best Resto Druid Trinkets (with a Mana Regen Focus)
I love my hots, I wish they would leave them alone. If I want to use nothing but direct heals, I’ll be a priest or pally, tyvm Blizz.
I tried to post before but my post got eaten… I will try again…
“When is Blizzard going to tire of tweaking this spell?” ~ Never…? I mean I do have fun running numbers and coming up with new rotations/priorities and all, but I didn’t see this coming this soon.
“We weave a complex net of healing mitigation.” ~ <3 This made me feel warm and fuzzy and creative and special. Thank you!
Aertimus´s last blog ..Best Resto Druid Trinkets (with a Mana Regen Focus)
I made a whole big post about it on the Healing WoW forum, but I think I’m coming to the conclusion that all it did was nerf our over-healing in PvE and not much else…
While the change isn’t nearly as major as the 3.1 overhaul, I think blizz may have overestimated the size of our blooms, especially the crits. While the bloom is mostly overhealing in a PvE setting, using the bloom in PvP has become a vital tool for my and my arena team’s survival.
@sunkist, I think you’re exactly right. I think that they did not take into account the size of the crits from this spell, and, thus, are meddling with it again. I am sure that there are legitimate reasons for the change that they are making. I just hope very much that on the PTR they watch the spell with the new changes, get as much testing as they need to make good decisions about it, make changes accordingly, and settle on what the spell should be. Oh, and leave it alone! I also hope that whatever change that they make allows Trees to continue to be viable in PVP and PVE.
After readjusting my healing strategy considerably – I find LB to be next to useless (my style of course) but for two distinct situations:
1) Tank healing – still a nice cushion to have these ticks dropping;
2) Expected heal down time – wherein you’re aware of an incoming stun effect and you plan to have your LBs bloom to offset potential spikes in that time.
Otherwise, I find it atrociously underwhelming when compared to the efficiency of RJs – especially when combined with T8 bonuses and a good amount of haste.
I can still go old school with Lifebloom on Emalon. But that’s the only encounter. With the rest, I’m forced – Forced! – to use my rejuv switfment nourish combo. Is anyone else not liking nourish? And nourish’s cousin, glyphed HT? I miss my hots. Throwing rejuv around is getting old.
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