Cataclysm Resto Druid Guide is up!

I've finished my Resto Guide for Cataclysm and it is now up and running!

You can find the new guide here: Cataclysm Resto Druid Guide. ETA: I've posted the guide again to a NEW url, so please update your links and bookmarks! It is at the same URL as the previous guide, so your links and bookmarks should still work, though check to ensure they're updated. I took down the old guide completely to start fresh for the xpac. Everything there is for Cataclysm. 


As ever, I will be keeping the guide updated through changes and patches and adding any additional useful information that arises.


In other Cata preparations, there were a couple of great posts over on the MMO-Champion forums which are definitely worth a look.


Cataclysm Preparation Compilation by tunnland
There is a ton of useful information in this post, from suggestions of what to do before launch day, a full list of the new food, flasks, elixirs, and other buffs, to suggested dailies and their XP rewards to complete before launch day and turn in for quick easy XP at launch. There is also information on loot, strategy, and videos for the new 5-man instances. 


What Wrath players need to know to not suck at Cata! by Daetur
This post has some great info for everyone on what to expect in the new Cataclysm dungeons and raids and, in particular, what you need to start thinking about for the changes from the Wrath style of dungeons. There's general advice and more specific advice for DPS, Healers, and Tanks.

As that's quite a lot to look at and read, I'll cut this post off here. Enjoy! :D

Cataclysm Beta: Dungeon Guide - Throne of the Tides

I went into Throne of the Tides again today on my main (not on heroic, as he's not at level cap yet) to try it out again and get a better look at what's going on now that I knew what to expect. I thought I'd give a rundown of what you'll find in there (barring any changes between now and release), as it will likely be one of the first dungeons you encounter.

The dungeon itself is quite cool, the art is interesting, and there are a lot of walls and corridors made of what seems to be walls of water. Discovering the entrance to the dungeon is quite fun as well, as to get to it you have to venture down into the Abyssal Maw in Vash'jir. I didn't think I would come out alive!

The above screenshot is looking up through the lift (which has finally been implemented - no more goblins with 'Under Construction' signs!). The lift itself seems to be a giant jellyfish-type creature, though unlike jellyfish, it is not soft and squishy (and fortunately doesn't sting you), so if you jump off down to it you will get hurt and/or die (as a tank in one run found out).

Overall, the damage doesn't seem too bad (on regular), especially if your group is aware enough to not stand in deadly things. You will want to use CC on some of the trash packs and even on some of the boss fights (in my opinion, anyway) and you do need to be aware of your surroundings both on trash and on bosses. While you might be able to get away with not using CC and standing those extra few seconds in poison when in the regular dungeon, I highly doubt you will last long in the heroic versions.

Many of the trash packs will involve mobs like those in the screenshot above. There are lots of little murlocs who tend to come sprinting out in those little packs (just what would you call a pack of murlocs?). They don't do a massive amount of damage, but they are a nuisance, and seem quick to target onto either dps (like the priest there) or onto the healer (like myself). Barkskin and Nature's Grasp are your friend.

Those two Naga are another common presence in trash packs. The two above can both heal, and in every trash pull with these naga there are usually two. To handle them most effectively, you should generally mark one as the main target and the other to CC. The mage in this run had fallen behind, so I popped in with some Cyclones to interrupt a few heals. You do have Diminishing Returns to contend with, though.

These big guys are another common presence in trash. They tend to be on their own more, but one or two do pat around, so it's possible you'll end up pulling one while dealing with a larger group. They hit quite a bit harder than the other trash mobs and they also throw that green poison on the ground. DO NOT STAND IN GREEN POISON. It will hurt you. A lot. Also, once again this does raise the one complication with our Efflorescence proc - the big green healing zone does disguise the green poison a little bit. You can tell the difference if you actually look where you're standing, but if the person isn't paying attention, they may end up standing in both. You could also have some fun with this and see how many DPS you can get to stand in poison, but you didn't hear that from me.

Lady Naz'jar

Boss: Lady Naz'jar


The first boss you will encounter is Lady Naz'jar. There are several things you'll want to keep in mind for this fight. At ~66% and ~33%, she will shield herself and summon adds. There are three adds, two Tempest Sea Witches and a Naga Honour Guard. On this fight I would advise either CC, interrupts, or silences for the Witches. You will want to take out the Honour Guard add first. The Sea Witches will be standing at range casting chain lightning. The chain lightning actually does a fair amount of damage, and they're fairly quick to cast it. I would recommend either CCing one or both of the Witches or at least getting an interrupt or silence on them. Once you actually switch to kill them, any class that can interrupt that cast should try to do so. Your healer will thank you.

There are also two abilities she has which the group needs to look out for. One is Fungal Spores, she will toss a spore at a target which will place a disease on them. These can be dodged if you see them coming towards you and the disease should be removable. The other ability actually does a decent amount of damage. She creates a Vortex, which is marked by light blue circle that appears on the floor, followed shortly by a vortex of water which will damage anyone caught in it and toss them in the air. These can be deadly. Screenshot below:

As you can see, my Vuhdo works on Beta, which has made me incredibly happy while healing. Though as of today it seems it needs to be updated, as it wasn't recognizing Lifebloom as a spell (likely due to some glitches with LB from Tree of Life changes).

After Lady Naz'jar, you will quickly get to the second boss.

Commander Ulthok

Boss: Commander Ulthok


Ulthok is a fairly straightforward fight. He has two main abilities to be concerned about.

He will create Shaddow Fissures which do a significant amount of damage. The tank and melee dps need to be very aware of this ability. He slams the ground in front of him (which will result in a big hit on the tank of he gets caught in it, and likely one shot any DPS) which also leaves a dark circle on the ground which deals additional damage. Kiting him should help your tank and melee avoid these.

The second ability is Squeeze; he will grab a random group member and essentially holds and squeezes them. Whomever he picks up will be stunned and will take damage. Fortunately I had a HoT on myself when I was randomly grabbed today, hadn't been expecting it! Be sure to keep yourself and others topped off if you're healing.

Ulthok also has an enrage ability which will increase his damage done for 8 seconds.


Hm, I apparently neglected to pick up a screenshot of the next set of trash on the way to the third boss. There are two types of trash in the corridor approaching the third boss. One are lots of little Gilgoblin Hunters. In general they don't seem to hit too hard, but they do have an ability that can hit decently hard, and seems to have an AOE effect as well (hitting more than just the tank). I thought I've seen two abilities from them, one (the AOE one) looks a bit like a boomkin's Typhoon. The other I had thought I had read on recount as some sort of Spear attack. Regardless, be prepared for a potentially large hit!

The other type of trash in this corridor are Faceless Watchers. They do decent hits on the tank, but more importantly is they have an ability that whips the entire party into the air and draws them to the Watcher. You will get fall damage, and I advise the entire party (or in the very least all the DPS) run out immediately, as they also do an AOE damage immediately following the pull-in. As a Resto druid, the point when the entire party is grouped up just before you land at the Faceless Watcher is a great time to cast Wild Growth, as it should hit everyone in your party and will start healing that initial fall damage and the AOE damage. There are four in this corridor. One pats, and if you wait a moment you can easily pull him back towards the steps to avoid pulling the second. The final two are by the entrance to the next boss and seem like they will have to be dealt with together.

Erunok Stonespeaker

Boss: Erunok Stonespeaker


The third boss you will face is Erunok Stonespeaker. You're not really fighting him, though, you're actually killing the Mindless One that's attached to his head and mind controlling him (reminds me of the Brain Slugs in Futurama).

There are several abilities Erunok does while hostile. He casts some coral spikes which will fire up under the feet of a party member. Naturally, move out of the spikes. He also casts Lava Bolt and Magma Splash. Magma Splash is a conal ability, so stay behind him.

At about 50%, the Mindless One will remove itself from Erunok. It now has three abilities it can do.

Mind Control: The Mindless One will attach itself to a party member, usually the one with the highest threat, mind controlling them. For the first time, it is ok to DPS the MC'd person! In fact, it's what you're supposed to do! You DPS the MC'd person to 50%, at which point they will be released. They regain full health after they are released. The MC'd player should be tanked, as otherwise they will start firing off their abilities at the party members.

The damage to the Mindless One between mind controls will be what kills him off, so you'll want to free your party members from the MC as quickly as possible. Between mind controls, he will fire off either (or both) of two AOE abilities.

Poison: Green poison on the ground. Don't stand in it.

Mind Flay: Purple beams shoot out from the boss and channel onto all party members, dealing damage.

See the screenshot below.

It's now time to make your way to the final boss!

The corridor on the approach to the final boss is filled with water elementals. The large ones should be tanked and killed quickly. The smaller ones are a bit more of a nuisance and the tank should keep a hold of them, as too many will be deadly on a DPS or healer. I'm unsure if this is supposed to be a guantlet (it's certainly a short one if it is), but it seems moving through that corridor as quickly as possible is best, as that seemed to reduce the amount of small elementals spawning. At the end of the corridor by the gate/entrance to the final boss are two more large water elementals. Apart from the small adds being a nuisance, none of this trash seems to have any abilities of any real consequence.

Neptulon

Boss: Neptulon


Neptulon is the final boss in TotT. Or, rather, Ozumat is; you are actually trying to help Neptulon.

There are two phases to this fight. The first phase, which is essentially dealing with waves of adds, and the second phase, where you have to kill the boss (Ozumat).

This fight can be a bit confusing the first time, as there are a lot of adds and you need to know which to prioritise. I suggest trying to remain grouped fairly close together to help the tank pick up adds and to not get out of range of heals.

The adds of most importance in this fight are the Sappers. Think of the suppressors on Dreamwalker - they're quite like that in concept. You can see the Sappers in the screenshot below - they will be channelling onto Neptulon. It seems like the faster they die, the faster you push the phase, so these adds are top priority.

You can see in that screenshot as well one of the other types of adds, the mutated creatures (Blight Beasts). The tank should kite these. The tank should also kite the ones that look like Faceless Ones, Unyielding Behemoths, as they hit hard and do a frontal AOE cone of black tar. Don't stand in the cone, and don't stand in black stuff on the ground. There are also more packs of murlocs which, again, are mostly just a nuisance. The tank should try to get as many of these as he can to keep them from latching onto the healer (I had a warrior tank vigi me to help with this - keeping close to your tank may also be useful to catch them in AOEs). Barkskin and Nature's Grasp are once again your friend. Nature's Grasp will work on all these adds.

If Sappers are not up, priority is Vicious Mindlashers,  the Unyielding Behemoths, Blight Beasts, and the murlocs. The sappers should spawn partway through the first phase.


Once all the Sappers are dead, Neptulon will begin yelling that the waters are cleansed and will fill the room with water.

This begins Phase 2:

The worst thing in this phase is orientating yourself at the beginning; it can be very confusing the first time. As the room has now filled with water, you begin to swim, and as you rise up and see the actual boss (Ozumat, the giant creature spewing tar into the water in the screenshot above) the room does seem to get smaller, which will move your camera position in. ETA: The buff Neptulon places on the party will make you all grow massively in size, which is also what makes the room appear smaller (Thank you to Trizophenie for the clarification!).

The fight from this point on basically is a DPS race. The black bile that's spewing in causes a stacking debuff which deals shadow damage over time (which appears to cap at 200 stacks, dealing 40,000 damage per second).

As a healer, you can likely ignore the boss and focus on healing (and you want to make sure you don't fall behind). Tranquility is great in this phase, especially if you found you have fallen a bit behind while adjusting to the phase change. You may want to target Neptulon to throw some heals his way if you need to.

For DPS and the tank, you'll want to target the boss and burn him as quickly as possible. Finding and targeting him will likely be your biggest issue, especially the first time; you will likely have to angle your camera slightly up to spot him (he's essentially on the wall of a dome, it seems like) then make sure you're facing him and in range to attack.

Currently this fight appears to be bugged, as you can target Ozumat, but you cannot attack him with anything other than melee autoattack swings. As you can see in the screenshot above, any other attacks give an error message of 'target is not in line of sight'.

And that is it! It's a pretty fun dungeon and a nice introduction to Cataclysm dungeons. I expect the heroic version will be very challenging!

All possible results for this encounter have been calculated.

Malevica over at Type 'H' for Heals had an interesting post recently of a Wrath Raiding Retrospective. Reading the post got me thinking about raiding over Wrath and some of the highs and lows while raiding and inspired me to write a post on it as well.

Onwards!

Favourite Instance


I think Ulduar would have to be it, for several reasons. All the lore around it is quite interesting, particularly with the keepers, the old gods, and the related quests around Storm Peaks which lead up to it. The instance itself feels really different from so much around Northrend which is, for the most part, leading you up to ICC and battle with the scourge and the Lich King. Ulduar seems to have real history behind it, there's a sense of age and aloofness that rises above the rest of Azeroth's battle with the scourge and Arthas. The final battles with Yogg-Saron and Algalon in particular give this sense, especially with Algalon, that all of our battles before and still to come pale in comparison with the larger universe, nothing more than petty squablings.

The Algalon fight is amazing - the whole concept is brilliant, the stripping down of basically all that we know to see how this emotionless observer sees our world: See your world through my eyes: A universe so vast as to be immeasurable - incomprehensible even to your greatest minds.
Perhaps it's the philosopher in me, I just love the thoughts it all can provoke and the shift in perspective.

I like the Yogg-Saron fight for similar reasons - the sanity, the shifts in perspectives, driving creatures and races to madness, exerting its influence across Azeroth. At various places in Ulduar and around Northrend you will get whispers from an unknown voice; 'Hope is an illusion', 'All that you know will fade', 'You will be alone in the end'. The fight itself is incredible as well, particularly diving into the memories of the past and breaking through the illusions to strike at his brain. Important turning points in Azeroth's history are seen; the Forging of the Demon Soul, the Assasination of King Llane, and the Tortured Champion.

Madness will consume you!

Most Difficult Encounter

Lich King Heroic would probably be the most difficult encounter in Wrath. It's incredibly long and balanced on a knife edge, which can make it particularly frustrating on progression nights, as the tiniest mistake can completely destroy an attempt. Each phase is never completely sorted either, so it's never a matter of simply repeating phase 1 to get back to progression work in phase 2 or 3, every moment is a battle where every player needs to be performing their best and have high raid awareness. DPS needs to be as good as possible while still avoiding shadow traps and defiles, killing valkyr, killing raging spirits. The tanks need to be constantly managing cooldowns, repositioning the Lich King, surviving the Shambling Horrors. Healers have to manage between covering infest and safeguarding the raid against it with constant top-offs and bubbles, keeping the tanks healed, and keeping up with all the movement. It's a long, intense fight, and easily one of the most difficult out there.

Least Fun Encounter

Anub'arak in ToC may be one of the least fun encounters. I didn't have the joy (or pain) of taking him on in heroic 25 mode, as the guild I was in at the time was not at that level. It was an extremely tense encounter, though, particularly coupled with the heroic attempt countdowns - a single wipe was extremely costly in terms of rewards, and generally Anub'arak was the fight where wipes would come. I was able to take on Anub in heroic ToC 10, and it was certainly a pain then and very close, particularly with just two healers. Regular Anub 25 can be a pain too, mostly for PUGs, which is the more usual method of going to ToC these days, as most guilds which are still raiding are focussed solely on ICC and RS. Even a PUG that's one-shotted the entire instance (even Faction Champs) will suddenly lose the plot completely on Anub. Adds won't be killed or they'll burrow when the tank didn't position them over ice, ice won't even be down because no one is shooting it, people for inexplicable reasons decide to not move when giant painful spikes are bearing down on them, and healers start healing too much in the final phase. The fight itself can actually be quite fun to do when you're with a competent group, but in a PUG, it so often ends up just being painful.

Most Fun Encounter

Thorim in Ulduar can be great fun, particularly if you're in the team that gets to go down the tunnel. It's a fun guantlet, which you have to get through quickly and skillfully to make it to the arena team in time and defeat Thorim. It's even more fun on hardmode, as you have to get through the guantlet quickly enough to force Sif down with Thorim.

A lot of the hardmodes in Ulduar were quite fun because of the ways to trigger them - while it's definitely nice to be able to just turn some on or off as you do currently in ICC and RS, it is quite fun to have to do something to activate it, whether pushing Mimiron's Big Red Button or destroying XT's heart. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, I suppose!

Most Rewarding Boss to Heal


This is a difficult one to pick I think, as it depends on just how you define most rewarding. For sheer numbers, I think two fights stand out in particular in ICC. For all healing classes, but perhaps Resto drudis in particular, Blood Queen Lanathel can be very fun for healers as well as for DPS as both strive to top the meters. The constant raidwide damage, particularly on heroic, means constant heals being pumped out and, consequently, the climb up the meters. The Twins in ToC similarly offer big numbers both for DPS and for Healers, with more DPS-increasing mechanics and raidwide damage. Valithria Dreamwalker can also be a rewarding fight to heal, particularly as its focus is on healing rather than damage. It tends to be a bit more fun for those able to go in the portals which, if the raid can be choosy, will generally get to be pallies and shaman, who can really rock the numbers on her.

In terms of difficulty, I think Sindragosa Heroic, Algalon, and Halion Heroic are some of the most rewarding fights to heal. Sindragosa is quite a fun fight I feel (so long as your raid has decent awareness, anyway), as I quite enjoy the mechanics of it. Unchained Magic can be very frustrating in Heroic since you essentially have to stop healing in phase 2 if you get it, but overall I find it a very rewarding fight to heal. Sindragosa can be tricky as different healers get Unchained Magic or Icetombed. I may have to top up the raid at one point, then suddenly need to go help heal the tank the next moment. I really enjoy the flexibility there.

Algalon, especially before overgearing it immensely (though it can still be difficult even when overgeared for it), can be a difficult and rewarding fight to heal as well. There's a variety of damage, from raidwide damage from Cosmic Smash to fast, heavy hits on the tank.

Halion Heroic can also be incredibly rewarding when the whole fight comes together. There's a lot of damage both to the raid and especially to the tanks and, especially when healing the Twilight Realm, there's a very delicate balance between healing the raid, healing the tank, and healing the consumption debuff target. Combine that with all of the movement to avoid cutters and voidzones, it makes for a difficult fight, but a great one when it all goes well!

Proudest Moment

I think our Halion 25 Heroic kill may be one of my proudest moments. It was a brilliant moment after weeks and weeks of hard work, numerous wipes, strategy adjustments, and simply hours of going in again and again to try to kill him. From both a personal level of working like crazy to heal it well and to ensure I didn't make any mistakes, like avoiding cutter deaths, to the guild-level of working with 24 other people to bring him down, it was a great moment when he was finally slain.

I'm also quite happy to have gotten my little druid to where he is today. I still remember my first forays into healing and the trepidation I felt healing my first heroic dungeon and, even further back, fleeing from troggs in Dun Morogh where I went to quest because I was familiar with the area after starting my hunter there. It's been a long, interesting and fun journey!

Humble Beginnings.

Life-Binder... preserve me...

'Dragonqueen... Life-Binder... preserve me...' -Keristrasza

Moonra from RestoDude got me thinking with his post on Favourite Dungeons about some of my favourite dungeons and quest lines in Wrath.

There are tons of great quest chains which have great depth in their storylines. Icecrown and the Storm Peaks in particular have some great chains. The Sons of Hodir quest line is an interesting one lore-wise, particularly as the completion of the chain explains much of what is happening in the Storm Peaks and sets up much of what you see in Ulduar. Icecrown has some amazing chains as well, from helping the Argent Crusade gain a foothold, to taking back the Shadowvault for the Knights of the Ebon Blade and, in particular, the plight to save the soul of Crusader Bridenbrad. The Guru of Drakuru chains are also fun ones which take you through the history of the trolls in Zul'Drak and Grizzly Hills.

One of my favourites is a questline out in Coldarra in Borean Tundra. I love most of the storylines involving the different dragonflights (I love all the quest chains from Wyrmrest Temple), even moreso when connecting the quests and history to the book trilogy War of the Ancients).

This one in particular is picked up as you go around Coldarra to help the red dragonflight (you'll be sent to Coldarra after assisting on Amber Ledge in Borean Tundra). Eventually while fighting the mages and drakonid you'll pick up a fragment of a strange prison, which is actually holding Keristrasza prisoner. Through the quests, you help to free her and eventually set up a trap for Malygos. Unfortunately, Malygos takes Keristrasza prisoner, forces her to be his consort and attempts to turn her into a blue. It is then we are asked to venture into the Nexus and 'do whatever is required to spare her this fate'.

After doing this questline, it always strikes me as sad when we have to slay Keristrasza in Nexus. It's a tragic fate for the dragon, and another of the many captivating tales strewn throughout the quests in Northrend.

Are there any quests that have had particular meaning or memory for you? Which have been your favourites? Share your thoughts!