Hello folks!
All the discussion that’s been brought to Beta Class forums by Lissanna made me wish my hands were on the steering wheel once again! But this time I’ll not be talking about Moonkins. This time, it’s all about heals!
It seems fitting to me that I’ll be discussing a Restoration spell that came from something that is fundamentally Balance: Wild Mushrooms. As you know, in Mists of Pandaria Resto Druids will get a healing version of Wild Mushrooms: Detonate, called Wild Mushrooms: Bloom. It has been suggested in WoW forums for a while, and Blizzard liked the idea (which is amazing btw).
However, the way WM works can be awkward for Resto Druids. As a moonkin, we can pre-cast 3 mushrooms before fights without any downside. We can also place 3 of them right before DBM warns us of a big pack of adds showing up during a boss fight, once again without hurting too much our job. When we are forced to move during combat, we can plant mushrooms on the go, compensating the time running around to our great benefit.
Resto Druids already have to look out for many things. First of all, there is Lifebloom on the tank. But one cannot think of Lifebloom without thinking of our Mastery: Harmony, that is dependent on direct heals. If I’m not mistaken, we have to refresh our Mastery with a direct heal once every 10 sec. In a mid-fight scenario, we will be casting a direct heal to keep Harmony up, at least one Rejuv, a Wild Growth when it fits, Swiftmend on cooldown and the rest depends on the situation at hand. Now, if we are talking about an AoE situation, where Wild Mushrooms: Bloom would shine, we need to add another 5 actions on the player’s part: click shrooms, place, place, place, bloom.
Do you think all that fits in 10 sec? It doesn’t, I dare say. Even if it does, it will be tight, awkward, won’t flow naturally.
Come on, healing job is stressful enough already.
So, what would I do?
MWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!
Let’s go crazy:
First of all, Resto version of Wild Mushroom is a single, and huge, shroom. Big like the ones that this Hungarfen boss casts in Coilfang Reservoir. Maybe even bigger.
Imagine a big mushroom, with it’s cap at least as big and the Efflorescence effect. Once the Resto Druid casts it, the raid/group seeks shelter under it. But why? To fight in the shadow? Nope.
I would make this one giant mushroom clickable, pretty much like a Lightwell. If anyone clicks it, spores gently fall from the cap, placing a weak HoT on all targets below. Yeah, people literally shake it, and the spores shower. Notice that it is KEY that this HoT is weak, because the mushroom itself can still be detonated.
Calm down. Let’s see the big picture:
1) This single big healing shroom is easily seen by the raid, unlike the current version on Beta servers.
2) It takes only 2 actions to place.
3) From the moment it is placed, it is already in effect, with some minimal effort from other players.
4) When the time is right, the caster can still detonate it for a burst AoE heal.
The fact it is easy to place and that it somehow works as soon as it’s placed would make “mush room”, I mean, much room (damn, this pun was awful) for all other spells and stuff we have to keep working in “harmony” (someone make me stop!). That combined with how easy it would be to spot it would be sweet in my opinion.
I can imagine someone arguing that the cap of a shroom this big could hide too much. Well, personally I feel much more sure about if I’m inside a huge holy dome of healing than some bluish glow on the floor. Specially considering that it might have 5, 10 or even 25 people trying to stand over it.
Someone could also argue that Lightwell is a rather controversial spell, since it depends on the raid to click on it. Well, notice that this “clumsy” way to trigger the spores is intentional. In the big picture, we are getting a faster and much stronger mushroom, with an additional healing component. The healing spores are a bonus, something to put your 2 actions taken in use right away. Having to click the shroom is a minimal price to pay. Also, one player clicks it, but the healing spores affect everyone under the shroom cap.
I am not that bad after all. But not that good as well. If I was on Santa Claus mode, I would allow this weak HoT component from the spores to trigger Swiftmend… 😉
Stand tall, Basidiomycota! Bring us your healing spores, your healing bloom and the celerity that any healing scenario needs!
– Fakegamedesign
fakegamedesign 