Challenge:
Hypothetical situation: Blizzard has introduced a new underwater zone to WoW. Due to this, they start giving all classes underwater abilities. The druid seal form is now utilized for more than simple travel.

Your goal: Design abilities for the seal form! Is the seal a healer? Magical dps? Physical dps? Tank? Utility? CC? Something entirely new?
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First off I would love to see a zone completely underwater.  Blizzard does such a phenomenal job with graphics and animations that I just couldn’t see this not being a cool place to dive in to!  (The thought of having a 25 man raid dungeon coming up against a boss level murloc just makes me grin.)

Here goes nothing!

Group Buff(s):

Poseidon’s Blessing:  All members of the druid’s party gain endless waterbreathing effects.  Group members gain slight increase in swim speed.  Blessing grants immunity to other movement impairing effects.  Only one party buff may be active at a time.  Requires:  2 stranglekelp

Master of the Sea:  All members of the druid’s party receive a 5% increase to spell critical damage.  All members gain 60 Nature resistance.  Only one party buff may be active at a time. 

Player Buff:

Seal Form:  While in seal form, player gains endless waterbreathing and increased swim speed.  Nature damage and AOE damage effects are increased by 20%.  Mana cost for AOE abilities reduced by 25%.

Spells and Abilities (only usable in water form):

Sea Spray (various ranks)- An AOE bubble attack that projects forth from the druid doing nature damage to all targets in range.  Continual damage received from Sea Spray results in a stacking debuff called ‘bubble trouble’ that slows the target(s) attack/casting speed.

Tsunami (2 ranks)- An attack that temporarily removes a target from battle.  The target becomes incapacitated for 3 seconds (5 with talents).  During this time they are immune to all attacks but are susceptible to the Sea Spray stacking defuff.  Only one target can be caught in a Tsunami at a time.  Diminishing returns apply.  Requires:  Murloc oil

White Squall (varying ranks)-  An instant cast spell dealing nature damage equal to 150% of druid’s base spell damage.  All within 30 yards of target become silenced for 3 seconds.  3 minute cooldown.

Leviathan -  Calls for a creature from the deep to fight alongside the druid for 15 seconds.  All damage caused by Leviathan is returned to the group in health regeneration.  3 minute cooldown.  Requires:  Mysterious claw

Resurgence-   15 second cast.  Summon’s the target’s ghost back to it’s body through a mysterious portal.  Can only be used out of combat.  Requires two other’s to channel spell.

Yes I’m quite sure that what I’ve written would be overpowered but that wasn’t the point of the challenge. 

 What spells and abilities would you like to see?

If I could pick only one to have actually taken through to the game – Resurgence.  Druids need a way to resurect player’s besides BR.  ‘Nuff said.

1: the act, process, or an instance of recovering; especially : an economic upturn (as after a depression)
2: the process of combating a disorder (as alcoholism) or a real or perceived problem

 Good old Merriam Webster forgot to add one little addition to the above definition.  That of course being me and the state I’m in following my first Karazhan run spec’d as restoration.  It’s taken me a week to write.  Mostly  because work (RL FTL) has been a bit hectic with the new year and second because I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t just whimping out.

3:  A feral druid recovering from trying to heal Karazhan.

 I’ll admit that somewhere in the back of my mind I had harbored these grandiose thoughts of me stepping into Kara and being this uber healing machine.  Of course the realistic side of me knew better.  If I had a split personality one would surely be scolding the other at this moment with some taunting little sing-song of ‘I told you so I told you so’.  But enough of that.  

 What you have to understand is that my gear sucks.  I mean it totally 100% sucks.

 Oh sure at this moment you can armory me and find me in my feral gear.  It’s my meager attempt to go out and farm materials to try and improve the lackluster healing gear I have.  Do I miss feral?  You have no idea.   Walking into Karazhan I had with all enchants, buffs, blessings, whatever I could find just about +700 healing (my priest had +1K when she started Karazhan).  It’s a noticeable difference now with her sitting at just about +1700. 

 I try not to compare the two but I can’t help myself.  I don’t necessarily think the group was as prepared as they could have been.  In this particular group, we’re all starting fresh in Karazhan.  We were short a healer and the two we had were myself and a holy pally.  I give the poor soul credit – he did a fantastic job considering I spent more time dead or out of mana panicking then I ever thought I would. 

 After several hours that night we gave up having only gotten Attuneman down.  I was one sad bear.  I mean tree. We returned the following night.  That day I had managed to make a run through Mechanar and Botanica.  I managed to score myself a nice pair of healing shoulders.  But also the proud recipient of a new staff (better than the Ring of Blood reward) and pants.  Both feral!!  I spent the afternoon searching the AH debating on if I really wanted to buy that fluorescent pink robe (yes it really was!!) to match my fluorescent pink shoulders….  Long story short I realized I wasn’t that desperate.  Not yet. 

 First week I managed to get an upgrade to my bracers and I think a ring.  Honestly it was so late I can’t remember.  I do remember my friend chuckling over how excited I was to upgrade my green ring with an epic.  All in all we did manage to clear through Maiden.

 I’m promised that this Friday/Saturday we will have 2 more healers besides myself.

 **   On a side note I’m grateful for the responses I’ve gotten from you folks.  I’m grateful for the Dreamstate spec that was proposed to me and I will do some research on it tonight.  The spec I have was rushed with me literally flying into Darkshire picking my points as my bird landed. As for why my resto gear is not showing on the armory – would you really want to see a male NElf in bright pink shoulders?  I think not.  I think not. **
]]> http://allthingsleafy.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/you-asked-for-it/feed/ 0 nimhbus http://allthingsleafy.wordpress.com/2008/01/25/hello-world/ http://allthingsleafy.wordpress.com/2008/01/25/hello-world/#comments Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:37:23 +0000 nimhbus ]]> So the phone call comes in.  It’s the best friend (you know who you are).  And she’s being overly sweet.  And right away warning bells are going off in my head.  Because generally she is sweet, but this time it’s an overly sweetened sweet.  You know the kind of sweet I’m talking about.  The kind that is usually followed by a request that normally you’d outright refuse.  But the guilt trip is already in place because she’s been, well, sweet.  So you know you’re in trouble even before the conversation comes to fruition because you don’t want to be the bad guy and say no to whatever it is she’s about to ask.  All because she was sweet.

And she wants me to go to Karazhan with her and the guild.  So I have to sit there and wonder what I was so worried about.  Because she’d never set me up in anyway.  She just wouldn’t.  I’m in denial.  Big denial.  The conversation goes something like this:

Her:  We’re doing kara Friday night.  We need one more person.

Me:   Oh really?  Sure I’ll come.  What time?

Now a little background information before we continue.  It’s been a while since I’ve played on this server because the guild went through this huge thing of doing nothing but arenas and battlegrounds.  I can’t stand pvp despite being on a pvp server.  I’ll defend myself and occasionally take out my frustrations on some horde passing by (yes I’m Alliance) but for the most part if you leave me alone, I’ll leave you alone.  So I went off to another server to play on my level 70 priest (disc/holy hybrid).  So needless to say I jump at the opportunity to take my druid to Karazhan.  It’s fun.  It’s my best friend.  And I really miss playing with my other friends.

So she gives me the time and I agree to be there.  This is where I realize she’s got me suckered in to a trap I should have seen coming.

Me:  Who’s going?

She gives off the list of those coming to DPS and then tells me who is tanking.  Now I’m feral.  I’m already drooling over the idea of pounding on the bosses.  But there’s already two tanks going.  So at this point I think it’s kitty dps time.  

Her:   We need another healer.

I’m not sure what my response was to her right off.  But she’d gone and been sweet about it and I had already said I’d go….

**Fast Forward**

It’s Thursday night and tomorrow night is Karazhan.  So I’m at the trainer…lovingly looking at my feral gear and saying my goodbyes to mangle and my other feral abilities.  There’s something unsettling about pressing that “yes I want to unlearn all my talents” button.  It’s followed by this noise that I honestly think was my feral soul being torn from my virtual body.  Anyway.

It’s now Friday.  Karazhan is in a few hours.  I’ve never healed with a druid.  At all.

Who wants to take bets on the outcome?