Recommend Restoration Druid Talent Tree Changes
Recommend changes: Reduce talent point cost from 3 to 2.
The talent point reduction to Ysera’s will cause an imbalance in this teir of the tree. This teir of the tree could nearly be maxed out, just by spending the required amount of points necessary to progress down the tree. By design the talent trees are supposed to force the player to choose some talents over another.
In order to maintain this design of player choice, additional talents should be added to this teir of the tree, to compensate for the lesser amount of talent points needed to fill this part of the tree.
I recommend adding another talent diagonally down from Ysera’s Gift. That talent being a Restoration version of Force of Nature. Which would summon three treants that will cast Healing Touch. Force of Nature is a fun ability, although typically a Balance spell, its very fitting for the Resto Druid spec fantasy of summoning and using nature & plants to heal.
Recommend Changes: Remove & Replace
This spell is not inline with the Druid class fantasy or restoration specialization fantasy. Druids do not convoke with spirits or the dead. This is more of an ability that fits the Shaman’s class fantasy as they commune with ancestral spirits and elements to heal.
Further to that, the spell itself is not very imaginative, creative, inspired or have any synergy with existing druid spells and abilities. What the spell is, in a nut shell, is just spamming a bunch of abilities at once and being over powered. This is something I would have thought of as a seven year old, as being cool. Currently players only like this spell because its powerful and useful, not because its creative, unique, imaginative, inspired or fitting.
Therefore I think it should be removed and replaced with a new spell or ability. My recommendation is;
Living Seed
10% of your overhealing received or done plants a Living Seed on the target for up to 10% of the caster’s health. The Living Seed will bloom when the target is next attacked. Lasts 15 sec.
(This is a merger and blending of the old Wrath of the Lich King talent and the Nightfae conduit Empowered Chrysalis. It addresses some of the issues resto druids have with over healing. Often times when a Druid has a hot on a target the health bar will get topped off by another healer, resulting in the hot over healing as its ticking on a fully healed target. Since Dragonflight is going back to a more classic state of mind and wrath classic also coming out soon, it would be nice to see some of these older talents and abilities people liked being given a new purpose or a breath of new life.)
Recommend Changes: Cosmetic Alteration
Rename Adaptive Swarm to Insect Swarm, change the icon to Insect Swarm’s, the spell animation to Insect Swarm’s, and spell damage to Nature instead of Shadow, but keep the mechanics of Adaptive Swarm.
The original Insect Swarm is an iconic and original Druid ability, that should be brought back and retooled with the usefulness mechanics of Adaptive Swarm.
This way it looks less undeathly/ death knighty & less carion/ blight looking and more about nature and insects pollinating plants and flowers, as well as protecting the druid by stinging enemies. This would be more inline with the class fantasy of Druids.
Shadowlands is over we’re leaving the world of the undead behind, lets get back to core World of Warcraft and maintain the integrity of class fantasy.
I would also rename the Unbridled Swarm talent to Improved Insect Swarm, but keep the mechanics of the spell improvement the same.
Recommend Changes: Add an improved version of Swiftmend to Incarnation: Tree of Life.
I recommend baking the old Prosperity talent into the talent thats supposed to improve Incarnation: Tree of Life. This would add a second charge to Swiftmend while under the effects of Incarnation.
Also this no longer improves Convoke the Spirits as it would be removed. Instead it would increase the amount of over healing Living Seed redistributes.