I was going to write a post about why healing really is fun now, and how you shouldn’t despair, just wait to get more gear and better groups, why pugs aren’t always horrible… then I decided that everyone else wrote about that already. Instead, here’s a couple of likes and dislikes from my first month of Cataclysm.

Favorite spell: Lifebloom
I’m a Wrath druid, so until a month ago, I only used Lifebloom with Clearcasting for the mana regen. I fully expected to hate the spell, because keeping 3 stacks up on a tank sounded like a pain in the ass. I couldn’t have been more wrong: I love it! The huge bloom is a (literal) life-saver when the tank gets knocked out of range.

Jen

Least favorite spell: Regrowth
Get out of here, mana drain with a shitty HoT. If the patch notes are really saying what people believe they’re saying about Empowered Touch, Regrowth will lose its only use: a heal that allows controlled blooms.

Favorite instance(s): Throne of the Tides and Deadmines
Throne of the Tides is so. so. pretty. I love the look of Vashj’ir, even though the underwater mechanics make me cry. While I don’t particularly like the bosses in Throne of the Tides, the graphics more than make up for that.

In contrast, Deadmines is pure fun (especially since Blizzard spared us the long corpse run!). The encounters are well-designed and I absolutely love the “dodge the lines of deadly lightning” game. It surprised me a lot, since I used to suck at stuff like Halion’s beams… turns out, doing it while not having to focus on healing is great!
(Bonus: The first time we went there my guildies bet that I was going to die. I did it perfectly on the first try. They failed. Hah!)

Least favorite instance(s): Grim Batol and Blackrock Caverns
I hate Blackrock Mountain. I’ve always hated Blackrock Mountain. I learned the corpse run pretty fast and I haven’t fallen in the lava yet, but the color scheme is annoying, Karsh is a bitch to do and Beauty is not fun in a group with little to no CC. (They’re taking away some puppies though!)

Grim Batol is just plain depressing, the bosses are nigh-impossible with a bad (or even mediocre) group, and the first few times I wiped there for ages, even with the guild. I did have good experiences lately (a pug that cleared it in less than an hour!), but I’ll never like the place.

Favorite quest (Cataclysm): Saving baby squirrels and deer! (Hyjal)
I’m a sucker for cute things. Even when the cute things are trying their best to run away from me.

Me and my pets

Favorite quest (old world): The baby raptor quest line (Stranglethorn).
Still a sucker for the cute. I will be a very angry druid if we don’t get to hear the end of the raptor story.

Om nom nom

Least favorite quest(s): The naga battlemaiden quest line (Vashj’ir).
The quests themselves were interesting, the zone looks amazing, but oh my God trying to navigate the levels in that temple. If I have to look for a quest starting point for 15 minutes I get very, very annoyed.

Enter the maze

Best racial ever: Shadowmeld
I ninja pull. A lot. Shadowmeld has saved me and my group from death countless times. I really, really miss it when I play my draenei…

Least favorite raid boss: Al’Akir
I haven’t started raiding (hence the lack of favorite boss), but I read about Al’Akir and I just know it’s going to be a nightmare. In Wrath I mostly managed to stay out of Valithria’s portals, but it seems like this won’t be an option now. I might be dumb or out of practice, but navigating in 3D is not my thing. If I couldn’t hit a couple of floaty clouds, dodging them while trying to heal can’t be good.

Least favorite gearing option: trinkets and wrists
Why in the world are there tons of drops for all slots except wrists? It’s not even a druid problem, everyone is complaining about this.
And why did you put an amazing trinket at the end of a rep grind that doesn’t come with a tabard? I’m sorry, Baradin’s Wardens, but I can’t. Dailies are my least favorite part of WoW and I’d rather do Al’Akir until my eyes bleed rather than going to Tol Barad.