Spec-tacular!

So, I want to thank everyone who provided advice and input on my re-spec decision. It was a tough decision for me - especially after Phaelia from Resto4Life made such a good case for a hybrid spec. I have never been a fan of change (yes, I know....EVERYTHING changes)...but to make such massive changes while I am just getting used to raiding - I thought that might be a bit much for me.

So, I did a bit of a hybrid based on Phaelia’s advice. I added points to improve healing touch and reduce its mana cost. I added some points in balance and went deep enough to pick up insect swarm. I put my single extra point in Natural Perfection (which seems to trigger a *lot* - I’ve been farming primals a bit lately).

And so, while I’m not saying my *spec* is spectacular - it sure has made *me* feel pretty darned good. I can’t remember a time when I was so confident (and daring) in my ability to solo and do regular questing. I’ve yet to attempt a heroic, but am cautiously optimistic.

Thanks for all the comments and emails!

More Spec Debate

I recently posted asking for some advice on my spec and referencing a post I'd read on Resto4Life's blog about specing into brambles and insect swarm. I recently read a couple of posts on Gray Matter's blog about how useless brambles and insect swarm are in a raid setting. I tend to lean more towards Resto4Life's opinion - particularly as she's given the math to back up her position. What do y'all think?

Spec advice?

I read recently on Resto4Life's blog some interesting information about a resto druid's ability to heal heroics. Essentially, especially for a druid who is still getting geared, healing a heroic can be quite difficult - much of the healing ends up being outside of tree form, as you cannot cast Healing Touch while a tree.

As a result of this post, along with others I've read on Phaelia's site and elsewhere, I am (again) considering a respec. I'm currently 0-20-41, and am contemplating moving 5 points back into resto to improve my healing touch. I'm also considering whether to move the remaining 15 points over to balance to pick up brambles & insect swarm. But I'm also tempted to put an extra point or three in Natural Perfection to pick up extra crit chance.

The quagmire of talent specs. :(

If any of you have some worthwhile advice, I'm all ears.

Remain Resto or Respec?

Having leveled resto from Day 1, I have had many an opportunity to run instances - they were sometimes the easiest way to gain XP as well as a good opportunity to meet new folks. PUGS R US. With a few exceptions, I have been in some awesome PUGs - I find that letting folks know up-front the PUG rules/expectations works really well.

So I managed to get all the way to level 67 without a spec-crisis. I was on travel (you never know how hotel lag is going to be) and was vehemently asked to heal for a PUG going to Sethekk Halls. I'd never run that instance before, didn't know anyone in the group, but was assured it would be cake - we were running with two prot warriors. Well, it wasn't cake. We managed to inch our way to the last boss, despite my plethora of problems - pulling aggro, occasional lag, and general unfamiliarity with the instance.

However, we couldn't down the last boss. After several wipes, I was typing out a suggestion that they might be better finding another healer (my lag wasn't preventing the healing, but I couldn't seem to get out of the boss's AOE in time) when I was unceremoniously kicked from the group. Ouch. I would have gladly left on my own and was just suggesting that very thing.

At any rate, the experience was demoralizing and I lost confidence in my ability to heal anything. I stayed away from instances for more than two weeks, finally only agreeing when Dorchah, a shadow priest and good friend of mine, insisted they needed me. I was quite tempted to respec to something (anything) other than resto. The problem was, I generally really enjoy healing and the challenges it presents.

I stuck to getting Kara-attuned and running dailies for a while. A few weeks later, still hesitant about my spec and my direction, having achieved all but the Black Morass step of Kara-attunment, I was running dailies up in Og'rila and grouped up with some folks I hadn't met before to get banishing over with quickly. Oddly enough, in that one short session, I ended up with two invitations to join raiding guilds.

One of those guilds, Ásgård, took me down to Black Morass and helped me get attuned. Then they proceeded to invite me to run Kara with them that night. Keeping in mind that Essy is my main (not Deressy), and really I wanted to join a raiding guild with *zul so we could raid together, I was hesitant to make any sort of commitment until he and I had discussed it and he'd had a chance to get to know the guys from Ásgård and decide for himself.

Lucky for me, the guys (and gals) from Ásgård are a quality bunch and were happy to have me run Kara with them for a couple of weeks while the *zuls got to know them better. As you've probably noticed, not only did I not respec, but I joined Ásgård as did Hunzul.