Battle for Azeroth Beta Changes

Last updated 15th July 2018

 

Battle for Azeroth is now at the end of beta and there shouldn’t be many changes from here. This page will hold all changes made to the spec so far, so you can avoid having to search through multiple sets of patch notes. The Resto druid playstyle is looking similar to on live, but with Azerite traits replacing most weapon traits. Further number tuning is still expected at this stage in the beta cycle so our strength is still difficult to predict. Several of our mythic+ strengths were nerfed early on, likely in an attempt to break up the Rdruid / HPally meta that’s common on live.

 

New / Changed Spells

  • All stats have been squished to a fraction of their legion values and so all spells have been reduced in power.
  • Almost every ability now incurs a global cooldown.
    • For Resto that includes Frenzied Regeneration, Rebirth and Innervate.
    • Barkskin & Ironbark remain free to cast at any time. For now.
  • Tranquility Now leaves a HoT on each target healed for 8 seconds. Stacks and can be Flourished.
  • Regrowth 40% Crit bonus removed. HoT portion buffed to do more healing.
  • Swiftmend Cooldown reduced to 25 seconds (was 30)
  • Bear Form Stamina increase reduced to +25% (from +55%)
    • This is almost certainly a Mythic+ nerf. They’ve also increased the armor slightly (200% -> 220%) but we’ll feel this.
  • Rebirth Two second cast time added.
    • Bleh. Bad change. On the bright side they now resurrect with full health.
  • Ironbark Cooldown reduced to 1 minute (from 1:30).
  • Nature’s Cure Mana cost halved.

 

Talents

  • New: Tiger Dash (replaces Displacer Beast)
    • Not as good as Displacer Beast. Arguably worse than Wild Charge.
  • New: Photosynthesis (replaces Moment of Clarity)
    • This is an interesting addition that can be used to either buff all of your hots by 15% or plow one target with healing. It’s definitely more competitive in its current iteration but Flourish is hard to beat. Ideally this ends up the pick for sustained healing with Flourish filling the ‘I need more cooldowns’ niche but it remains to be seen if it’ll be strong enough for this to be the case.
  • Changed: Abundance Abundance reduces Regrowth mana cost and increases crit chance by 6% per rejuvenation you have out.
    • This makes Abundance much more usable in raid while nerfing it in Mythic+.
  • Changed: Flourish Cooldown increased. Essence of G’hanir baked into it.
    • Still an incredibly strong talent and our only cooldown outside of Tranquility.
  • Stonebark and Germination swapped places.
    • This is a heavy Mythic+ nerf since it prevents us from taking both Germ and Flourish.

Wowhead has an updated talent calculator.

 

Removed Spells

 

Azerite Traits

The Heart of Azeroth is an artifact quality neck piece that you’ll pick up early in BFA. It’s a little like an artifact weapon except the trait trees are connected to Chest, Shoulders and Leg pieces. Wowhead has an in depth look at them here. There are 3-4 rings and you’ll get to put a point in each as you level your Heart of Azeroth artifact neck. The outermost ring includes spec-specific traits and the inner ring contains small defensive / utility bonuses. The center trait is always +5 ilvl to the item slot.

 

The traits we know about so far include:

Outer Ring (Throughput traits)

 

Second Outer Ring (Only present on epic Azerite gear)

 

Inner Ring (Defensives / Utility traits)

 

Center Ring 

 

 

 

Beta Patch Notes

15 July (Build 27025 – tuning changes)

  • Buff Lifebloom periodic heal increased from 120% SP to 135% SP.
    • Lifebloom was already decent in BFA. Now it’s even better.
  • Buff Swiftmend heal increased from 210% SP to 240% SP.
  • Buff Sunfire damage increased from 25% SP to 31% SP.

 

27 June (Build 26926)

  • Buff Photosynthesis proc rate buffed from 4% to 5% when Lifebloom is on someone other than yourself.
  • Buff Wild Growth SP modifier increased from 59.5% to 63%.
  • Buff Innervate duration increased from 10 seconds to 12.
  • Nerf Rejuvenation Mana cost increased from 10% of base mana to 11%.

 

19 June (Build 26871)

  • Buff New talent Photosynthesis changed from making Rejuv heal 30% faster to making all periodic heals 15% faster while Lifebloom is on yourself.
    • This is a net buff to the talent but Flourish is really hard to beat as king of the row.
  • Buff We no longer get 100% of our intellect as agility when we shapeshift to Bear or Cat form. Instead we just get a 100% Spell Power -> Attack Power conversion that’s active at all times.
    • This is actually nice because it means our bleeds still deal full damage when we’re in caster form. It’ll also buff your caster auto attack for when you feel the need to bash the boss with your staff.

 

 

9 June (Build 26788)

  • New Azerite Trait Grove Tending
    • This is highly likely to add a Mastery stack to the target which could make it pretty appealing for Mythic+.

 

16 May (Build 26624)

  • Buff Rejuvenation healing increased by 13%  (from 60% SP to 68% SP).
  • Buff / Nerf Tranquility channeled healing increased by 17% (from 175% SP to 205% SP), Tranquility HoT decreased by 33% (from 12% SP / stack to 8% SP / stack).
  • All healing increased by 40%.
    • All healers received a buff of this kind and health pools increased by almost the same amount. It’s likely not intended as a healing buff and might not even stick around past mythic raid testing. 

 

30 April (Build 26522)

  • Buff / Nerf Photosynthesis Rejuvenations now heal 30% faster (up from 20%) when you Lifebloom yourself. When lifebloom is on an ally all Hots have a 4% chance to proc a bloom (down from 5%).
  • Fluff Minor glyphs added to turn Aquatic Form into two different kinds of dolphins. I’m holding out for a penguin form myself.

 

20 April (Build 26476)

  • Buff Moment of Clarity replaced by Photosynthesis.
  • Buff Ironbark cooldown reduced to 1 minute (from 1:30).
  • Buff Sunfire now applies to all enemies within 8 yards (up from 5).

 

13 April (Build 26433)

  • Buff The 4% healing nerf to all spells has been removed.
    • This is just new expansion tidy-up.

 

3 April (Build 26367)

  • Nerf Rebirth cast time increased to 2 seconds (from instant)

 

14 March (Build 26231)

  • Nerf Bear Form stamina increase reduced to +25% (from +55%)

 

6 February (Build 25976)

  • Buff Healing Touch removed.
  • Buff Swiftmend cooldown reduced to 25 seconds (from 30).
  • Buff Tranquility now leaves a HoT all targets healed for 8 seconds. Stacks.
  • Buff Flourish now increases the rate of your heal over time effects by 100% for 8 seconds. Cooldown increased to 1:30 (from 1:00).
  • Raid Buff / Mythic+ Nerf Abundance reworked. For each rejuvenation you have active, the mana cost of Regrowth is reduced by 6% and the crit chance increased by 6%.
  • Nerf Germination / Stonebark have swapped positions in the talent tree.
  • Nerf Displacer Beast replaced by Tiger Dash.
  • Nerf Living Seed removed.
  • Nerf Regrowth bonus crit chance removed.
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