So, latency...

[Megrim]

Having recently resubbed to play with friends, four days ago i started getting hit with crushing lag. Like, 3k ping +/- permanently. For the love of me i can't figure out what's going on. I am fairly certain that it isn't anything on my end, nothing running in the background, Blizz downloader set to only work while i'm logged out, etc... I've ran scans, cleaned my system, nothing helps. Can this be a server (Tichondrius) issue? Anyone have any suggestions?

[Delmania]

1.) What antivirus software do you run?
2.) Did you add wow.exe to said application's exception list?

[Ingmar]

Does it happen when you play on servers in other battlegroups?

[Megrim]

To answer all three questions: AVG, and i've tried WoW with it running, and without - makes no difference. And i haven't tried playing on any other servers (lowbie here).

[Montague]

Are you playing through a router? I've gone through 3 routers in like 5 years, and every time they fail it starts with unexplained high latency.

[Megrim]

I am playing through a router, though i don't think it was the problem, since after waiting a few days most of the problems seems to have gone away. For the most part, i think that it must be a server thing.


Anyway, now that that's sorted - Druid thread! Anyone have advice and/or tips on playing a Balance/Resto (well, mostly Balance, since i only put enough points into Resto to get Omen)? Also, if a mod reads this, can you change the title to something Druid related.

[Nevermore]

It's very likely it was your ISP routing you through a hub that was having problems.

[SurfD]

I am playing through a router, though i don't think it was the problem, since after waiting a few days most of the problems seems to have gone away. For the most part, i think that it must be a server thing.


Anyway, now that that's sorted - Druid thread! Anyone have advice and/or tips on playing a Balance/Resto (well, mostly Balance, since i only put enough points into Resto to get Omen)? Also, if a mod reads this, can you change the title to something Druid related.

Hmm, as a newbie Balance / Resto druid, i cant really help much.  I leveled my druid back in Vanilla, so LOTS of things have changed as far as the leveling experience goes.

Only thing i can really do is give some pointers:

Spellpower / Int / Spirit and Crit are your important stats until Haste starts showing up on gear.

Once haste starts showing up, its importance varries depending on if you are Boom or Resto.  Boom needs more haste then resto.

Obviously for boomkin, Hit is important (you get 7% hit from talents alone, so until you are actually raiding, you wont really need to stack it) but hit cap is 17% so 10% from gear is needed (9% if alliance with a Space Goat)

Spec for the Mana regen talents in the resto tree (if resto) or Balance Tree (if balance), they REALLY help with downtime while leveling.

Thats about all i can think of right now.

[Megrim]

I will be going for a lazerturkey i think. but knowing how people love playing healers in mmos, i suspect that i will be doing my fair share of healing anyway. This is what i will be aiming for, though there is an interesting Boomkin tanking build that i've read about which i may be tempted to try also.

How important is haste? Since i don't know the percentages it comes in, how much ought a decent Boomkin have?

[apocrypha]

From levelling a resto druid and looking briefly into Moonkin as an offspec I seem to recall that haste is about as important as spellpower up to something like 400-500 haste rating?

[Sheepherder]

Haste is... haste.  Everything you cast casts __% faster.  More damage, more mana.  However, you get more haste per rating point than you do crit, thus if mana isn't an issue haste is superior.

[Fordel]

From levelling a resto druid and looking briefly into Moonkin as an offspec I seem to recall that haste is about as important as spellpower up to something like 400-500 haste rating?

There is a "soft cap" around 400 haste for Moonkins. Around that point, with Nature's Grace proccing, Wrath will hit the 1 second hard cap. Starfire will continue to gain from haste rating, so it's never a bad stat, just losses a lot of value past 400.



Megrim - The build you linked is terrible. You missed Starlight Wrath, Eclipse, Force of Nature and Wrath of Cenarius. You also managed to spec Naturalist and Genesis. That build is literally going to be thousands of DPS behind everyone else. It also won't heal for shit either.

If you want to heal, you just need to get a 2nd spec for it. The only people who spec Natrualist are Feral druids for the melee dmg bonus. No one casts HealingTouch outside of a NS+HT combo. Nourish is the go-to casted heal now.


PvE DPS should look something like - http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0xGbuiIocdIVuRuZbxczb:ufrzM0


Lots of people skip Typhoon and Galewinds for PvE, others don't take IMP Farie Fire depending on group makeup. If you are having mana issues, you can take points from Master Shapeshifter and Natural Shapeshifter to put into Intensity. OoC > Intensity > Moonglow > Dreamstate, thought there is some fudgery between Intensity and Moonglow depending on gear levels.


http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=12661300942&sid=1 has raiding and pve laid out pretty much.

[Megrim]

Ok, ta for that, digesting info.

[SurfD]

Yeha, Fordel's info on haste is basicly spot on.

Haste for boomkin soft caps around 400, due to wrath hitting the "casts faster then global cooldown refreshes" mark with Nature's Grace procs.  A good raiding boomkin will usually have around 500 haste, probably more.

Haste caps out a bit earlier for Resto, i think maybe around 300 with talents (might be sooner with the new changes to one of their talents listed as coming for the next build), but the Resto cap is usually when you hit the "global cooldown cap" on instant casts (min global cooldown is 1 second, standard for casters is 1.5 i believe) because most of your heals come from instant cast hots, and stacking more haste after that only affects a few spells.

[Fordel]

The thing with Haste too, is before the 'soft cap' it's easily one of the, if not the best DPS stat for Moonkins. On par with Spell Damage (or even exceeding it) and only out done by Hit rating (till cap).

[Megrim]

To avoid the risk of falling flat on my face again, can anyone suggest a resto spec? The way our 5maens (well, 4 at this stage actually) are going i will end up dual-speccing into a healer sometime soon.

[Selby]

This is my druid.  I've healed all raids up to Ulduar and haven't had any issues with it.

[Fordel]

Selby's spec looks pretty much like most Resto specs I've seen.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0VG0uZZf0IubugiuVhsVo:kLAzM0 is my own Resto spec.


Speccing Resto is pretty easy, As long as you pass over Furor and Naturalist in the Resto tree, nothing else is really "bad". You'll also want enough in the Balance Tree to pick Nature's Splendor. I don't know the latest math on revitalize, but I think it's still somewhere in the realm of ass, so skip-able. For raiding, you don't really use Tranquility, so that's also safe to skip, I just love it for 5 mans. Natural Perfection gives you a few extra crit percent, but it's mostly a PvP talent. Same with Improved Barkskin, mostly for PvP.

Probably more important then spec, is glyphs. You *really* want Glyph of Nourish and Glyph of Swiftmend. The third major is mostly your own discretion, I went with WildGrowth mostly due to my own laziness. 

I would stay away from the Glyph of Regrowth, you shouldn't be spamming Regrowth as a direct heal anymore. Nourish is your spam heal, it's also more or less overpowered by design and the Glyph of Nourish makes it even more so.

[Ingmar]

You want revitalize if you're going to raid. When you've got rejuvs ticking away on everyone in the raid the mana/rage/energy return from revitalize is useful/important. At least last I checked the EJ math on it which has been a couple months. I don't think it has changed recently though.

In the spec Fordel linked, you would take the 3 points away from Nature's Grace in the Balance tree and move them to Revitalize, to make it a raid spec. Nature's Grace is basically useless for anything but nourish spam so you really don't need it for raiding.

[Megrim]

Ok, slight bump for this thread. Doing well so far, about to hit 48. We've had zero problems with content and i've done pretty well in healing (had a Priest join recently), decently geared, etc..


My next question is on Balance Druid pvp. I've only really played Arathi Basin in the 40-50 bracket, but i'm having difficulty being able to tell who i can kill, and whom i can't. Any tips or tricks? Keep in mind that i went 11 points Resto, so i don't have Oomkin yet.

[Zetor]

I did some limited pvp in each bracket while leveling up (before and after boomkin form), here is what I remember:

- most of the time I was just healing and rooting people and assisting with DOTs. Nuking power is kind of eh before boomkin form and makes you vulnerable (with no armor bonus either). It's very likely that other healer classes will not be healing, so you should be topping the charts. Rooting enemy flag carriers / healers (so they get out of range of their heal target), and melee classes (making them useless) is very powerful. You should -definitely- be healing until you get close to the 'end' of a bracket (46+ for 40-49) or you'll get squished.
- If a rogue is on you, use barkskin the second you get stunned, then nature's grasp (will root the rogue in a few seconds), then faerie fire on the rogue (he won't be able to vanish), then cure poison, then go into bearform, run away a bit, switch back to humanoid form and nuke while tossing a HOT on yourself.
- Nature's grasp is a lifesaver against melee, bind it to a quickly accessible key. Shadowmeld (if you're elf) is good against nukers like a frost mage who got you in a nova; use it when they're almost done casting and they will lose their target, it's a nice way to win nuke-offs too. If you're tauren, warstomp is a very good defensive/offensive tool against melee.
- Most hunters are beastmaster while leveling, hibernate and/or root their pets. Hibernate feral druids too.
- Ret pallies have insane burst, but if you kite them, they're not so bad and you'll be able to HOT it back up while wearing them down (this changes a bit when they get repentance)
- Get warriors in combat ASAP so they can't charge you (your spells should have a longer range than even glyphed charge). After they intercept, nature's grasp and run away.
- You can use barkskin at any time, even when stunned; best to use if you're anticipating heavy incoming damage in the next ~10 seconds.
- Sometimes moonfire spam works (like when chasing down a severely wounded enemy flag carrier, insect swarm is already on them, and you can't stop to cast), but most of the time it doesn't...
- Don't neglect your other forms;  cat form stealth is awesome in general to get in position, cat form pounce is nice to get a stun on a healer, ditto with bear form bash (bear form in general is good if you're being zerged). Travel form goes faster than anything not sprinting or mounted, good to get away and restealth as cat.

[Paelos]

Pvp is dead.

[Fordel]

The lower level BG brackets are more about twinking then class abilities really.

[Sheepherder]

- Get warriors in combat ASAP so they can't charge you (your spells should have a longer range than even glyphed charge). After they intercept, nature's grasp and run away.

Things have changed.

Fury
Arms
Protection

[Zetor]

Those are all 50+ abilities (well, juggernaut isn't, but at least it doesn't break roots like the other 2 + it increases the charge cooldown)... I tried to leave those off the list for now since it's a 40-49 environment. After they get those abilities, he should get typhoon to offset 'em.

Anyway, Fordel is right... twinks are twinks, especially BOA twinks (characters using 4-6 'heirloom items' that level with you and always count as well-itemized blues for their level). Generally if you see someone who is level x9 and/or having significantly more hp than other teammates, healbot them (if on your side and he knows what he's doing) and run away / cc him (if on the other side). That's what I did, anyway.

[Sheepherder]

Except the get them in combat advice is defunct, it's better just to immediately root them and not waste a GCD on whatever you're dropping them in combat with, assuming you can get the cast off before they stun you.

[Shrike]

Good advice, especially since I run BoA twinks in the 39 and 69 brackets (well, not so much at 69). My 36 warrior has fits with CC types and rabbits. A warrior of this level is missing a lot of fundamental tools, but if I catch you, it's going to hurt bigtime. If I'm on your team, I'm practically unstoppable if I have support (the bad side is I might not be able to save you if I get CC'd and you get gangbanged).

And, yeah, I have about twice the hit points of most others in my bracket. The good part is that it's really not that hard to get to this level of gear in the lower brackets...and it gets easier the higher you go. What surprises me is that very few people I see in the BGs seem to bother. I guess most don't want to take the time--and it will take time to canvas the AH for good stuff every day. Twinks are works in progress at all times. Have good gear at 29? Great. Get to work on your 36-39 set and your 46-49 set. Also, do some long range investing and get the 57 level TBC set. This stuff...man, when my ret pally hit 58 AV she had over 7k hps. Huge advantage. BoA stuff is nice, but it's just a core to build around.

Oh, bring money. It probably costs less than you think, but it will cost. I think I have about 2k in my 36 warrior at this point, but she's geared until the 57-59 bracket. Most of that money went for enchants; not gear itself. It's a great way to keep interest in the game when your raiding toon is warming the sideline due to scheduling or lockout timers.