Idol Thoughts

Idols. One of the most verstile pieces of our arsenal. In this bit of chatter, I'll cover some idols best used for just about any healing, with some tidbits on good ones for raiders.



Now for a Dreamstater, it's pretty simple.

• Idol of the Avian Heart - Increases HT by 136. Drops from Moroes in Karazhan.

But for the rest of us Trees, or for Dreamstaters who like variety, there is an insane amount of amazing idols:

• Idol of the Emerald Queen - Periodically increase LB by 88. This affects every tick, and the coefficient for calculating that healing is a bit different than most. First boss, Shadow Labs. This is a MUST for all druids.
• Harold's Rejuvenating Broach - Increases the healing done by Rejuv for 86. A nice quest reward from Nagrand Nesingwary kills. Definitely a must have for idol switches with your Queen for raid heals.

Now for some nice ones you may need as you progress into deeper raiding (T6/Sunwell):

• Idol of the Raven Goddess - ToL aura increase by 44. Epic flight form quest reward, and so worth it. If you are a tree, in the MT group, and the tanks have 2+ healers on them, this is excellent for bosses with high damage. Pro-Sunwell, Pro-Illidan/Mother Shaz/RoS/BB type encounters.
• Idol of the Cresent Goddess - Decreases the cost of Regrowth. Not a must have, but could be helpful in Sunwell. Drops from Hydross in SSC.
• Idol of Budding Life - Decreases the cost of Rejuv. Not a must have, but could be nice. Judges still out if this is better than Harold's. Badge buy.

Now about those idols from PVP. There is a reason they are sold for PVP...that is pretty much the only place to use them. In the long term, Emerald's outheals a PVP idol regardless of season bought, in PVE fights.

What's this about Idol switching? Oh yes, this is keen! You can do a couple things for switches. First you can attach the switch to a spell cast macro, but this doesn't work best for the GCD. You could create a macro to switch idols. Here's the example text to add to a macro:

/equip [noequipped:Idol of the Emerald Queen]Idol of the Emerald Queen

The Spec is the LIFE!

Another foray into specs for Healers. Many specs exist. Variations for every flavor of healing you can think of! I could go into mechanics and link to more resources than we can shake a leaf at, but for now, sticking to some tried and true goodies for those interested.

• Dreamstate : 33/0/28, A great build to start with when begining your trek into healing. Also lets you solo mighty nicely in the world. Some say this is horrid for raid healing, but it can have a place! This is the build Kanat uses with ease and grace.
• Full Resto : 1/0/60 or 0/0/61, this is the build that pretty much has every healing option shoved into one. If you are primarily on raid healing, this is overkill on talents you will never use (all those HT ones). Long ago, this was a killer spec, but in truth, you'll find it a waste of points.
• HoT Raider : 13/0/48, a lovely build. All of the strength in your HoTs, none of the HT bloat. It also incorporates some nice solo options for Wrath, increases your range for sleeping targets, and gives the love of Insect Swarm. Can't say enough about the beauty of this spec.
• PVP Healin : One of many, this is the 8/11/42 for feral charge, roots, and healing a go-go. There are many variations. And often, I've had enough with the HoT raider spec to wreck havoc.

I am not a boomkin expert, so I couldn't give much insight to that. But as all druids, I do have a mainstay secondary spec and raid role I love: tanking.

• Jadey's Tank-o-matic : A great build for tanking and dps. I know, I put two points in Nurturing Instinct. But for me, it's been great! Some fights being in melee as a DPS is murder for AOE and splash dmg. Any little bit helps. Also, going to caster, while changing weapons, to self heal is love with the talent for sticky situations.

KanKan CAN!

A great friend and fellow druid in Axiom has been given the amazing and interesting task to become the ultimate Dreamstate druid. Now, I know. Most Druids are shaking their branches in a decided, "Noooo. Dreamstate for raiding? How droll." But she has been absolutely amazing, and a much loved healing addition to the druid team. Dare say...dream team? Stop hitting me! *eats a Zanger schroom*

Here are some of her notes on how she does it. In her own words...Kanat!

So I added it up and I has 137 spell haste making my spells 8% faster than normal. (I think she has more now with snacky upgrades! About 195 I think.) That takes my healing touch down from a talented 3 seconds to...2.76 seconds (faster now with the additions). My rotation is well...done to The Ballad of the Green Beret.

I know, it sounds really *really* dumb but it is. It was the slowest song I knew all of the words to and since I was in band...>.> Anyways, it only works on single target healing. I cast 2 rank 8 healing touches and then a rejuvenation (which I just realized I could *down rank* the rejuvenation but eh) before going back to HT. When Blood (our cute pally tank) is in Abomination piles and before the rest of the tanks
can pull them off, I switch to rank 10 HT for the duration until I think he's comfy and go back to rank 8. Archie is the only fight I've had so far I feel completely useless. Some times the fire leaves me alone and I'm like "YAY!" and get off a few crit heals on Panda (another cutie tank) and load him up w/ full HoTs.

Other times, it's like Disco Inferno and I'm the main course. But I'm starting to get the hang of it instead of just going "FIRE! BY GROTHAR'S HAMMER FIRE! /flee" and barely healing. Everything else goes pretty much the same. I mean, it's not *exhausting* and I only have a problem when I switch to rank 10 w/ mana since 535 standing mana regin and 285 while casting is not that great (rank 10 costs me 583 mana, rank 8 costs 400 mana). I think I need to stack, ironically, more mp5 and int but spell haste first, yum!

How I love her! She uses a rotation as decribed above. Generally a Rejuv + HT + HT + HT repeat, of varying ranks, with changes based on the battle.

I'll have more on Kankan as I go. We hope to bring to light that Dreamstate does have a nice place in our hearts and raids. Go druids go!

Daily Druid

Welcome to the Daily Druid. Try as I might, I end up with tons of information for my druid friends in Axiom and other places that just clutters and mucks up our guild's forums. Or it gets mighty lost and can't be searched.

Seeing all of the other amazing blogs, I thought I might give this a try. I hope to have a daily thought or idea for my leafy, furry, and feathery friends. And I always welcome insights and ideas from others.

~Jadey the Loon