Review of Nature – the Embrace

This post is part of a series of posts titled Healing Inspection, which discusses healing abilities and styles.

Hm… That didn’t come out well. What I did mean to write was – Nature of the Review – Embrace.
Gah! Not that either…

Embrace the Review – of Nature? Review of the Embrace – Nature?
… One more try, this time from the heart.

Embrace of Nature – the Review!

I made it! (*flex*)
But I also let my train of thought derail once again, instead of blogging to the point.

Today.
Today I shall continue to delve into my latest invented skill – Embrace of Nature. On my last post, I have simply introduced it, with a minimal explanation, little details and a lot of non existent considerations.
So today I shall bring such considerations into existence.

Namely, after this hop.

A Reminding Welcome

For those who forgot, or for those who simply did not read my last post, here is what Embrace of Nature is like.

Embrace of Nature

(instant, 1 min. cooldown) The target is encased in a natural embrace, lasting 8 seconds. The embrace prevents the target from moving, reduces the threat of all her actions, but also increases healing effects on her by 15%, and reduces all damage taken by 10%.

Yes, it is slightly confusing as it seems to have both beneficial and harmful effects incorporated into it, but this is why I am going to explain it all.

The Shiny Embrace

How is this skill going to help Druids?

For those who read my previous posts, regarding the new skills for Paladin and Shaman, here’s a little thing to note – While the above couple were designed an ability that should complement their healing arsenal (both lacked a true mean to handle area of effect damage), Embrace of Nature does not fit the same goal. What I am trying to say is, that I think Druids in Wrath of the Lich King are getting all the tools they need (with the addition of Nourish and Wild Growth), so Embrace of Nature is simply something situational.

Now, let’s try and evaluate if it is any good.

Point One: It reduced all damage taken by the target by 10%, for 8 seconds. That’s a nano Shield Wall, and a healer that shall dis that shalt be smittenth by the gods!

Point Two: It increases all healing received by the target by 15%, for 8 seconds. That is probably as good as a healing trinket. A healer to dis that… you already know.

Point Three: It lasts 8 seconds, and can be used once per minute. That is 8/60=13%  of the time, which isn’t too shabby. To be honest, that might even be a tad too good, but we’ll get to that soon enough.

Point Four: Point One & Two combined make it an incredibly good combo for worst case scenarios. The tank is taking more damage than the healers can handle? This ability should reduce the damage taken, and at the same time increase the healing received, which will probably tip the scales back in the healer’s favor. If 8 seconds aren’t enough, then either the tank is not geared well enough, or the healers aren’t.

Point Five: The movement impairing debuff has minimal impact in PvE, hence should not hamper the use of this ability. True, there will be fights where the tanks must be mobile, but then this skill is intended to be situational. PvP is a different story, but we’ll get to that further down the post.

Point Six: Threat reduction while under the effect. Yes, this is a very touchy subject. No, I wasn’t under the influence of alcoholic beverages when I tossed that into the skill’s tooltip.
The objective of this bit is to prevent chain using this skill, and discourage firing and forgetting it. The party/raid should be aware that when this is used, it must adapt to it. I haven’t exactly decided by how much it reduces the threat of all her actions, and that is another point I will address as I continue.

To conclude the points, I think this has the potential to be a very good ability. It offers two things healers would welcome with open arms, at costs that with a little thought aren’t too demanding.

To finalize this sections, I’d just like to point out that this is a terrific panic button when soloing (this and Barkskin could get the Druid out of any bad encounter with full health); in PvE it has already been discussed, while in PvP it has a limited use, which is intentional.

Score: 9.5/10

Because of the six points given above.

Too Strong a Hug?

How is this skill compared to others?

I am going to use Guardian Spirit as a comparison anchor, as it seems to be an ability that fits a similar goal. This skill is the last Holy Priest talent in Wrath of the Lich King, and it grants a healing received boost to the target, on a 3 minutes cooldown, and also has the perk of preventing the target’s death.

How is Embrace of Nature in comparison to Guardian Spirit then? For the sake of the analyze, I assume that Embrace of Nature will be a Restoration talent, and not available to other Druid specs.

• Cooldown: 1 min. (EoN) vs. 3 min. (GS).
• Duration: 8 sec. vs. 10 sec.
• Healing Boost: 15% vs. 40%.
• Additional Effect: Damage reduction vs. Death prevention.

So the duration and additional effect can be viewed as even, while the cooldown and healing boost are each in favor of a different skill. I suppose that a cooldown 3 times shorter could justify an almost 3 times weaker boost, but let me first consider a couple of consequences.

1. A shorter cooldown allows chain using the ability more easily.
   With a minute cooldown, 8 Druids could keep this buff up everlastingly on the main tank (compared to 18 Priests required to keep Guardian Spirit). This is where the threat reduction comes into play.
2. An ability with a short cooldown has a bigger chance to be available when needed, and hence favored.

Having said that, I tend to think that Embrace of Nature is slightly superior to Guardian Spirit. Not by much, but the two are not on an even ground.

Score: 9/10

A very strong skill with perhaps a too accessible a cooldown.

Holding Impending Changes

So, if there is a chance that the skill will be a little too good, how can we change that?

Following the previous section, the most probable solution is increasing the cooldown. Since two minutes might be a tad too long, I think a minute and a half is a classic solution.

Other nerfs, such as reducing the effect or the duration, aren’t especially good since those are already pretty low, and reducing them further would just make this skill mundane.

Does that fix all our problems? The answer is no. While it possibly places Embrace of Nature in the same line with Guardian Spirit, the chain-use of this skill on a main tank is still an issue.
And this is also the occasion to speak about the ominous threat reduction.

Following the Threat Reduction Closely

The reason why Embrace of Nature reduces the threat of the target is to prevent using it too often, transforming challenging fights into much easier ones. The classical solution would have been to place a debuff on the target, preventing using this ability again for some timeout (Power Word: Shield style), but I decided I have used this tactic a bit too much lately.

Instead, I am using the course of Pain Suppression, and using threat as a throttle. The idea behind this is that using it too often will cause the tank to lose aggro, thus discouraged. On the other hand, it should work in a way that the occasional use will have a minimal impact on the party/raid, which requires some fine-tuning.

I’d like to try it reducing threat to zero, as a start. I am aware this is pretty scary, but my thought was bringing a new element of team work into play, where the healer must coordinate the group threat (either through threat meters, or simply by notifying the raid to stop generating threat). Obviously, if this is too hard to handle, the threat reduction could be adjusted until a magic value is discovered.

The alternative was to make Embrace of Nature flatly reduce the threat of the target, similarly to how Pain Suppression works. The inconvenience of this method however, is preventing the skill from being used early in a fight, since the reduction will probably make the tank lose aggro.

Lastly, I’d just like to point out that the threat reduction can actually be beneficial on some occasions (when used to save a trigger-happy DPS for example). As such occasions don’t feel very frequent to me, it doesn’t bother me that it makes the spell even better (for now).

The PvP Tango

In this series, I am designing all the heals with PvE in mind. Of course, all heals can be used in PvP as well, which is something one must closely pay attention to.

And that is why Embrace of Nature comes with the movement penalty.

As it is, Druids are already among the best healers in Arena due to their excellent mobility. This is especially true in small scale combat (where they don’t have to AoE heal), and remains to be seen how new skills from Wrath of the Lich King will affect them further. In either case, I didn’t want to make the Druid healer even more mobile than he already is.

So Embrace of Nature comes with the cost of being unable to move.

It is pretty harsh, I agree. It does prevent using in many situations, I don’t deny. It might benefit from some tweaks, I accept.

However, tweak as I would, some movement restriction must remain. And for the clever among the readers – no, this will not be considered a movement impairing effect, and will not be removed by shapeshifting.

Verdict: We can start with a slow lower than 100%; possibly 50% to make it somewhat more PvP friendly.

Score: 5/10

Very circumstantial since it can hamper the team’s progress as it also benefits their health and protection. This doesn’t bother me for now, as Restoration Druids are currently well represented in PvP.

Encompassed by the Lore

Why, from all possible healing classes, should Druids receive this one?

Because roots that come out of the ground, to protect an ally with their bark, and have their natural energies infuse all the healing he receives, are something that has to do with restoration.

Because only nature can truly embrace, and Druids are the best representatives of nature.

Because if you’re going to be a hugger, you might as well be a tree-hugger.

Seriously though, it isn’t too far-fetched for Restoration Druids to call upon mother earth to embrace their friends, protect and nourish them in a time of great need.

A Fun Surrounding

Roleplaying opportunities – Check (Argh! I’m being swallowed into the ground! *gurgles*)

Healing entertainment – Check (Casting Embrace of Nature on MT… Everyone stop DPS… Oh shit! I got healing aggro! *yelps*)

Clarifying the second point, it gives the Druid an additional role of being the threat police, which could make healing either more fun or much more of a headache. That remains to be seen.

Squeezing the Last Words

Thus ends the Druid chapter in the series. Last and not least, coming up on my next posts, is the Priest.
And yay, I even managed to pull out a rhyme out of it! (*self cheer*)

The embrace that smothers, or rather, that protects from everything that is outside.
— Jark Mansens, member of the Prison of Conspiracy

Tags: Druid, Embrace of Nature, Heal, World of Warcraft