The aim of the druid (and priest) changes was to give you, as a player, options. We've tackled many issues plagueing the healer archetypem including, but not limited to, a hard time levelling, very little agency in instances, inability to do content other classes could, limited usability beyond one healer regarless of raid or party content. For that reason alone it was imperative we get rid of some limiting factors for the healer archetype (namely the removal of must-own gear to be considered useful).
We're going to continue smoothing out gameplay as we go.
As for changing the archetype of the healers, of course, there is nothing wrong with that. Just judging by the description of the changes, now only one druid/priest bundle is 100% heal (well, druid /scout), because they have more ways to generate nature's power. I thought that the shift towards a more damageable one should be something like: we improve the base damage and give bundles for dealing damage, but at the same time we remember that first of all these are healers.
Display MoreAs you correctly deduced, gaining nature's power has been made more complicated. This is a theme that goes throughout these changes, where players main complaint about the archetype of pure healers was a lack of excitement. The word "boredom" has been thrown around a lot when gathering feedback, especially when there was more than one heal present, regardless of the content being played.
While the nerfs to healing skills seem harsh, their real effect were less than 8%. If this seems like too low of a number to be true, you can try this for yourself by using a spell at skill level 1 and with the same gear, use the spell at level 105. The difference of healing done is marginal.
The removal of Pure Healing (and for that matter, Faith), was simply to offset the rework of the Gloves of the Enchanter, which were on average passively taking away around 26% healing done.
Druids then got something which Priests didn't: up to 30% healing done with nature's power. Druids are vastly more powerful in terms of healing than before, even though the patch notes might not indicate that right away.
In total, you're doing about 20% more healing than before the patch as a druid.
If you want to play a druid that doesn't interact with monsters at all, there are still very good class combinations for you to explore.
Yes, indeed. I didn't notice that nature's power now gives a boost to healing. It really makes you play more thoughtfully, maintaining the maximum amount of it. Unfortunately, I did not notice this during the initial reading of the changes.
These are interesting changes that add complexity to achieve maximum healing.
Display MoreThe choice to change the Gloves of the Enchanter into one that serves the heal-dps hybrid was made with the utmost care to ensure it would not be to the detriment of the player. Namely, the swap to gear score meant that average buffs (except for the super top end) are now slightly higher than before, healing done has been slightly increased overall (if your gloves were >tier 13).
In addition, players wanting to try the new archetype don't have to build any new gear to do so.
Gloves of the Enchanters old effect simply had to go from a gameplay perspective. While a fun idea in it's conception, it led healers down a very narrow path: Would you be the one with the highest buffs, your only choices of class were to play druid/priest or priest/druid to ensure your party was as strong as possible. Choosing any other class was akin to griefing your party.
Being a newer player with lower buffs also meant that parties were hesitant to take you as a heal, often times delegating these players onto support roles with even less agency. We would see a pattern of these players either outright quit or swap to a different gear type altogether.
In short: You're healing more, you're buffing more and if you want to heal even more, you're free to build the set gloves. Even If you don't, you're very likely still stronger than before.
But how are they suitable for a healer if they actually give a damag? Now they give a buff for damage during treatment, but then it would be logical to add the opposite.: that when dealing damage, the healing increases? Then, yes, it would be a hybrid change, but now it looks lopsided, shifted to getting a damage buff by tapping the healing skill.
