#0 - Jan. 30, 2009, 11:18 a.m.
I just think that they need to rethink their philosophy in regards to Renew being so terribly bad.
Before anyone jumps in and talks about how unbelievably good Renew is...
Rejuv heals for nearly 20% more base, costs about 150 less mana, and receives a much higher spell coefficient (due to Empowered Rejuvenation) to boot. So Renew starts out healing much less while costing more mana, and gets worse as both spells scale.
And that's where the other likely response comes in, and where my argument lies... "Renew isn't Rejuvenation. Priests aren't supposed to be as powerful HoT healers as Druids."
That sentiment has its roots back in vanilla WoW. Druids had a subpar Healing Touch, an absurdly inefficient Regrowth (15-20% or so of a well-geared Druid's TOTAL mana.. I'm not joking), and Rejuvenation. Besides a super-long CD Tranquility.. those 3 spells WERE a Resto Druid, and given how poor two of them were.. it's not at all an exaggeration to say that Rejuvenation (all by itself) WAS the Resto Druid.
I know personally.. as I've played a Resto Druid since vanilla WoW, minus a brief/fun foray into raid tanking in TBC.
Resto Druid viability - or more specifically, their HoT ability - is no longer based entirely around Rejuv.
Renew has always been balanced around the idea that it HAD to be worse than Rejuv or else Druids would lose their HoT crown. 4 years later and we're in a position where it is laughably worse than Rejuv (that doesn't mean it's useless, just leaps and bounds worse).
Rejuv also has other benefits.. it can proc OoC when it's initially cast, will boost Nourish, and can be Swiftmended. Renew has no synergy with anything at all.
Renew's balance needs to be looked at very seriously. The mindset of "Priests can't HoT as well as a Druid" DOES NOT mean "Renew can't be as good as Rejuvenation." One spell on equal footing won't threaten my Druid's HoT crown.. not even close.
