Compared to some other classes, the Druid has received quite a bit of attention from Blizzard, who in the past noted that with each successive Wrath of the Lich King patch, class changes would be reduced. It seems that – at least with Druids – they may not be keeping to their word. That, however, is in this case a good thing.
Following are the patch notes and commentary where necessary:
Spells and abilities
• Prowl: This ability no longer has multiple ranks and penalizes movement speed by 30%
• Rebirth: The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 20 minutes down to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
Druids will no doubt be very pleased at being able to resurrect fallen allies twice as often as they currently can. The cooldown on Rebirth has always been a little on the ridiculous side, so kudos to Blizzard for addressing this.
• Rejuvenation: The base duration on all ranks of this spell is now 15 seconds.
• Tranquility: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.
There’s nothing quite as pleasing as hearing angel music when your party – as a whole – is on the brink of death. Druid Healers especially will be pleased, once again, at having to wait less to use this spell.
Pets
• Avoidance (Passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
The above change will only affect the Balance Druid spell ‘Force of Nature.’ It’s certainly nothing to celebrate if you’re a PvP’er, but PvE’ers will certainly enjoy such a large reduction in AoE damage from mobs.
Talents
• Balance
o Force of Nature: Health on the treants has been increased.
When combined with changes to treants previously mentioned, this will certainly be very welcome indeed. The difference here is that this will affect PvP players too, as opposed to the previous change only really being useful in PvE circumstances.
• Feral Combat
o Predatory Strikes: The Predatory Swiftness buff from this talent now has an 8-second duration.
• Restoration
o Gift of the Earthmother: Redesigned. This talent now increases spell haste and reduces the base global cooldown by 2/4/6/8/10% instead of its previous effect.
Yet another change aimed at Druid healers. The global cooldown of Rejuvenation, Lifebloom and Regrowth has been reduced by 50%, but an increase of spell haste has been granted in its place. Players will be able to fire off the spells in question less often, but more quickly when they do. Whether this is a blessing or a curse is up to the individual.
Overall, most changes seem to be positive for the class as a whole. The handy reductions in cooldowns will no doubt be appreciated, and some healers are no doubt happy about their job being made easier.
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