SAVE THE TREES PROTEST - Discuss***

[treatpplnicerbi]

As much as I want to cut down every branch of an Alliance tree then use them for a campfire, I shall surely miss having our Horde trees. No, this can't happen. It totally undermines the entire concept of being a druid in the first place!nnJust as bad as Blizzard removing bubbles for Paladins (which I keep hearing rumors on too -.-)nn~ Galeandra ^_^

n((nnif Paladins sit idle to let Blizzard pass that one through, i will officially retire mine & turn it into a bank. there is absolutely no way i'm playing without Divine Shield & i'm deadly serious about it too -- why is Blizzard screwing up this hard is beyond my comprehension *cringes to see paladin update notes* :/nn))

[Scarhoof]

I like the idea of removing Tree form in a PvP setting. It's a buff to resto PvP. Resto druids are the only healing class that has offense limitations, unless you're like me and heal out of form anyway. They should keep ToL in a PvE setting imo.

[Aitana]

ToL is just fine in pvp. We have thorns and natures grasp. Granted they aren't hugely offensive, but thorns do some damage to melee and natures grasp cc's them. We can already move in and out of form as needed right now if we need to use other damage spells. There is no need to force us out of tree form like that they are proposing to do if they made ToL a temporary buff. Even if it were just a temporary buff, that really wouldn't help our ability to quest and do damage as resto as compared to other specs. A healing spec is a healing spec, not a dps spec, but apparently the qq-ers have lost sight of that.

[treatpplnicerbi]

I like the idea of removing Tree form in a PvP setting. It's a buff to resto PvP. Resto druids are the only healing class that has offense limitations, unless you're like me and heal out of form anyway. They should keep ToL in a PvE setting imo.

n((nnperhaps it's because, i don't know, that we are there to heal? when i'm Resto in either PvE or PvP, i don't think about DPS or Damage Done, i focus on what all Resto druids focus on, Healing Done. DPS is the least of my concerns.......i'm noticing a pattern of thought that's haunting to see by the opposition:nni want to look at my "cool" gear instead of a treeni want to do DPS as a Resto in PvPni want Tree Form gone because it sucks (oh by the way, i'm not Resto, i'm Feral, or Balance, but it still sucks)nnhonestly, what kind of reasoning is that to take our form away to cater PvP, which is starting to become a gross thorn to PvE? the answer to that is simple, rolling a Priest. no one made a poll to see how we might feel about it, Blizzard in all its amazing glory took it upon themselves to say, hi all - we feel this is best for you the players. well, as one can clearly see, the response over at Blizzard's forums is overwhelming in favor of not having a cool down for the Tree Form & if Blizzard were smart, they would at the least, accommodate both. we like our Tree Form without a cool down, it should not be taken away so rudely.nnnor should we idly roll over & lick Blizzard to say "OK" like a peon.nn))

[Aitana]

nhonestly, what kind of reasoning is that to take our form away to cater PvP, which is starting to become a gross thorn to PvE? the answer to that is simple, rolling a Priest.

nnWhich is what I probably do since I already have an 80 priest. Depending on what the final changes are, Jemmali might make it to 85 before Aitana.

[Scarhoof]

For example, I've been in BG's or WPvP where a caster has targeted me and started unloading on me. Sitting in tree form does nothing, you have to pop out of form and fight back. My first priority is always healing when im resto, but if I need to deal some damage or kill someone I will, and that means changing forms...which is what a druid is meant to do. The only thing that will suck about this is not having a tree form will make you vunerable to polymorph.

[Aitana]

Getting out of polymorph is easy though. Shift to just about anything and then back out. That's how it used to work in vanilla at any rate.

[Scarhoof]

That's how it works now too, its just the inconvience. I can see spam polymorphs which will really suck having to shift out each time, thus wasting mana. But I really think this will make druids more scary and versitile.

[Aitana]

I really fail to see how it helps. Right now I can shift as often as I need or want to and do damage and cc as I see fit. I get extra armor in ToL form and can stay that way as long as I want to. I fail to see any benefit to making is a short term buff.

[Scarhoof]

Here is a post on the druid forum about the benfits of the removal...The only thing I dislike about the removal is that tree form looks awesome and is iconic, and resto will be vunerable to CC. It's a PvP buff, and has no change to PvE.nnn1) Defensive magic removal - since all healers will have access to remove magic, resto druids in Tree of Life would effectively make their entire teams immune to polymorph. This would effectively turn resto druid teams into a hard counter versus teams with mages on them. nn2) Purely cosmetic currently - the benefits that Tree of Life grant are largely irrelevant. The most exciting thing about it is the armor bonus from the Improved talent, and armor values are being changed and rebalanced for cloth/leather/mail anyways. The +6% raid-wide healing can simply be changed by increasing the throughput of every healer by 6%, which makes this "bonus" largely irrelevant. The addition of bonus healing spellpower based on our spirit can also be changed by simply giving us a further 7-8% or so healing throughput. Our spell mana costs can simply be slashed by 20%, since the form did that. And this assumes that Cataclysm healing works exactly the same as it does now, which we know it won't. All numbers are subject to change since every aspect of the game is being overhauled. nn3) Balance issues - Since we are simply equal to other healers while in our Tree of Life form, if circumstances prevent us from staying in Tree of Life (we keep shifting, there's warlocks about - and I've in fact been banished versus Faction Champs, whatever), then we are simply subpar healers. In addition, Cataclysm is going to re-emphasize CC and druid CC is quite robust between Roots for melee and Cyclone for a stop-gap, and Hibernate versus beasts and dragonkins. Enabling access to Faerie Fire when no other druid is available is also quite useful. If these abilities were to be simply added to Tree of Life, you've only proved how irrelevant Tree of Life actually is. nn4) New cooldown - Since druids will be rebalanced around healing outside of Tree of Life, the new cooldown - whatever it may do - will be a pure buff in terms of druid healing and will be useful in preventing wipes and surviving rounds of increased damage during PvP and PvE encounters. There is simply no negative here. nnAnd that's not even pointing out the lore issues, which everyone seems to be under the impression that druids are actually supposed to be shapeshifting to fill out all their roles. Since when was this part of the lore? Malfurion doesn't shapeshift at all, and he does a ton of healing. Druids in War3 only shapeshifted into beasts to maul their opponents or fly. Since when was Tree of Life (or Moonkin for that matter - I'd like to see that get replaced with another DPS cooldown myself) a "signature" and "defining" druid ability? The signature druid ability are the feral forums since it completely re-tools the druid for completely different roles. Tree of Life and Moonkin simply don't add anything, all they do is subtract and grant passive bonuses that Blizzard is trying to remove anyways.