Is it time to Nerf Resto Druid in M+?

I’m just asking the question. I’m not nessisary making a strong case that we have to, I’m just curious to know your thoughts.

From everything I’ve heard, Resto Druid is the absolute king of M+. There is no close second in Shadowlands. Idk if that means the other 5 specs need buffs, or of it means that Resto needs a nerf. If it does need a nerf, what would it be? Resto isn’t op in Raiding so I’m thinking we take away something that would be missed far more in m+ than in raiding. Maybe we take away its battle rez and give it to Holy? Idk, it’s just a thought.

What’s your take on the m+ healer imbalance?

Blizzard is trying to break the Meta on everything (ie: covenants). Honestly, 90% of players that only ever do a 15+ (or less) don’t need to worry about imbalance.

Keep in mind that Feral / Guardian / and Moonkin are under-represented, so if you take Brez away, they get knocked from dumpster tier, to bottom of the ocean tier.

I doesn’t have to be B-Rez persay. Or maybe we can just take it away from resto? Idk, I guess that would be kinda weird.

Just give all healers a brez already, its a healer utility like a cleanse.

3 Likes

Sure as long as resto also gets an aoe damage reduction for raiding.

4 Likes

Not sure this is possible without nerfing us into the ground. Our area of expertise is our utility, if that’s taken away we’d likely become bottom tier in both m+ and raids. Our class just meshes extremely well with the style of m+. And honestly it doesn’t really matter unless you plan to run high keys.

This. That would have to be the catch to changing anything to bring Resto down for M+. You’d have to give them something to make them more favorable in Raiding.

But no, I’m all for not changing anything.

Let it stay the way it is. Blizz seems fine letting the certain top classes for whatever spec/class in whichever content stay where they are for multiple Xpacs. So… /shrug.

Maybe it’s fine that 1 spec is the clear winner in specific content as long as the other healers shine on other areas?

I thought the blizzard design philosophy right now was no niche classes/specs

I mean historically, since the creation of M+ all the way through beta right now, Resto has not been the clear winner all the time, strong contender for top yes but Holy Paladin and Disc have at times surpassed it.

And in Raids resto druid has been mid pack for way longer.

Seems pretty fair to me, a far more balanced scene than the DPS one, some specs/classes have been garbage or top of the line in every single type of content that exists for 3 expansions in a row.

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I never understand the rationale of nerfing one class into the ground because another class with a similar role has a shortcoming. Nerfing one does not fix the other.

6 Likes

It just depends on if the goal is to create a balance. If 1 is significantly better than the other 5 then you either buff the 5 or nerf the one which is easier I guess. If you only buff and never nerf you run into the issue of power creep.

Or you give up on the illusion of balance altogether.

No, it’s time to fix utility distribution across the entire game.

Resto druid is one example of a massive problem, where extremely useful utility gets amalgamated into specific classes or specs, and NEVER reassigned or rebalanced.

Patch after patch and expansion after expansion go by, and nobody gets those things that make resto druid strong, or rogue strong, or whatever other utilities are just so strong. Numbers change, and small bits and pieces change, but nothing fundamental. We get engineering clunked in as a fix by giving engineers 2 minute invisibility that doesn’t break pots instead of spreading shroud around to other specs where it makes sense. We get the engineering battle res back (which is great, don’t get me wrong, because the alternative of it straight not being there is much worse!)

Resto is too good in M+ at a baseline level. It’s not over the top good in coordinated groups that account for that utility in other ways purposefully, but in the pug world where groups just form off the cuff, having such a massive pool of utility in a single package is always too good if the numbers are good enough to get through. This will never change.

Resto’s need a nerf, but only in the context of systemic change. There’s no point nerfing the outliers without addressing the system that creates them. Utility is important, and not just flavourful.

3 Likes

But it isn’t 1 vs 5 is it? Holy Paladin is considered stronger than Resto Druid in some M+ comps and affixes. The nerf to Resto would make Holy the stand-alone king and your Resto Shaman would still have the same issues.

This is coming from someone that who has been healed more by a Resto Shaman on multiple tanks for all of 8.3 so I know where you are coming from.

Holy Paly isn’t that good in SL

Priests are.

It is that good in SL, just not with current numbers. The basic issue with balance is one of utility over healing numbers. If holy healing gets to be top tier again, which it will because that’s how things get changed, they maintain the same utility package as they have right now. They haven’t lost utility; they’ve just lost numbers. They still do crazy good damage, they still have sac and bop and all the bits and pieces that make them comparable to resto.

Not after the nerfs a few patches ago.

So SL balance isn’t finished yet?

BFA balance isn’t finished yet.

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