Resto leveling?Follow

Hello my fellow druids! I have been lurking the druid forums for awhile learning different things from others posts. I now have a question that I am needing help with.

My druid is currently level 76 and is balance. I plan on going resto and healing at level 80, but I am pretty excited about healing and really debating on going resto now. I know that balance/feral would be the better choice speedwise, but I could just hang out in instances to level if I really wanted to.

My question is if I were to respec right now to resto what would be the best possible spec to pick up. I have almost 400 spirit and almost 900sp right now as moonkin with 10k mana. I have some gear in the bank for healing which could add or subtract to some of those stats.

I have seen a few different builds in the forums for resto, but still confused with a few of the talents. Should I go into balance and pick up Lunar Guidance? Should I get imp ToL? Nature's grace? There are a few different specs I have seen from these forums and from top guild resto druids on my server.

My last question I would ask is how bad is it solo leveling as resto? Has anyone here really done it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

It will take longer for sure, but really it's up to you. I did 60-70 in BC as Holy on my Pally and while it did take longer than if I had been Retro, it was fine. I just couldn't grind anything, but questing was rather easy, just longer.

I'd still suggest staying Balance till 80, but it's not a must, especially if you group often.

As for the build itself, I can give you some input but I've never healed a raid as a Druid yet and don't plan to spec Resto 'til they implement dual specs.

In my opinion, Lunar Guidance is too far down the Balance tree to be worth it.
Imp ToL, I don't see why not. The armor is little more than a bonus, but +15% of your Spirit as Healing Spellpower is sweet.
Nature's Grace would depend on your healing style I guess. Last I heard it didn't proc off the ticks of your HoT's, so if you're mostly gonna be rolling HoT's on your raid, this is probably not worth it. I'd consider it for MT healing, but otherwise you can use the 3 points somewhere better.

I'm having hard time myself to plan a build for Resto, especially since I lack healing experience. I think I'd go with something like this. Wondering about Living Seed, dunno how useful it is. As always I just wish I had more points, but this is still a rough draft.

I am not impressed with the numbers I have seen from Replenish and Living Seed .

Healing Touch isn't used that much for most trees so those points are rather meh as well.

I would recommend something more like this.

The Tranquility talents are filler more than anything to a great degree. The power of a threatless Tranquility is pretty sweet though.

Numbers are here.

edit: Added in numbers. Also this druid leveled resto from the high 60's. While she did have a partner for questing, she did a lot of instance based leveling. She leveled fairly quickly and was heroic ready the miunte she dinged 80.

Edited, Jan 29th 2009 2:51pm by Horsemouth

The big difference is that almost nobody does non-heroic instances. It was much the same in late stage BC - people were hitting 70 then going straight in to Kara and getting epics.

Your best bet is push on to 80 then respec - only a few hours worth of questing. In the meantime, grab any crafted gear that is an upgrade. Those plus quest rewards will put you just ready for easier heroics.

Druid healing really depends on both the type of instance/raid you are doing and the other types of healers you are with in my opinion. I find myself using different spells if I am with a paladin compared to a shaman and/or priest.

If I am trying to keep up meter-wise with other healers in 10 mans I find myself using HT more than I normally would, but if I am just healing for the sake of healing I use it a LOT less. To me this is mainly because I see druids as the main healing power with another healer that excels at single target healing. In that case I see my role as keeping the raid alive while the other keeps one or two targets up.

As can be said with DPS, healing is more about completing a set objective (killing X boss) than trying to be number one. As a resto druid I can often top the healing charts, but in order to do my job most effectively doesn't necessarily involve being top dog on the meters. It is simply saving the tools I have at my disposal to ensure no one dies.

The great part about resto druids is they bring more to the table as a healer, just my opinion again. (maybe "more" is the wrong word, maybe just different things). Just do what you've gotta do to get the job done =)

edit: can't spell

Edited, Jan 30th 2009 9:25am by Sirmikey

I was in the same boat as you. Really excited about being resto and checking out the play style. I respecced at 73 and never looked back. Just get the Glyph of Wrath and you're gravy. Very fun in my opinion. I'm feral now, though. Heh, went back to my roots :)

Healing Touch works as a druid if you spec into it fully, glyph for it and plan for it with your gear.

The druid in my guild doesn't glyph for it and is more HoT focused.

Flavor options rock baby.