Spirit Beast Talent: Spirit Mend

[Phyra]

I'm trying to get some ideas on this talent. Maybe I've not played with it enough yet to find it useful. It seems like it is a useless talent. I miss Spirit Strike. ( QQ )

I guess my main beef isn't the actual concept behind it, but the actual mechanics. Having to target someone/something randomly (and no longer being able to self-click unless you do it by a portrait) requires you to click a target then click on the spirit mend button.

It seems more or less a first aid bandage that never runs out. It doesn't seem to have a smart function.. IE it doesn't auto target and heal a nearby friendly target.

I've not been able to figure this into a macro... And admittedly have not kept it on 'auto' long as it didn't appear to do jack.


With this in mind, it feels like Spirit Beasts, while pretty, are feeling more and more useless in comparison to other pets that bring better buffs.

Am I wrong in my thinking? Am I misunderstanding how to properly use/take advantage of this talent?

Would love some feed back. This sort has been stirred up by the fact that the new Spirit Wolf is a Spirit Beast with no Wolf traits :/



WTB Spirit Beasts that retain their family (they look like) abilities!

[Cerah]

I have to admit, I miss Spirit Strike too. I liked having basically a pet Boomkin (though much prettier than Druid-Chickens). However, the Spirit Mend ability has its pluses too, particularly while soloing, as quick, self heal that can be used in conbat - no more panicking if you run out of potions - and during pvp to give you that last couple seconds you might need to kill some opposite faction jerk. They're still ferocity pets, which means they deal out decent damage, even with basic attacks, and their Roar of Courage is a useful buff for soloing or dk-free groups. Think of them as healing Cats.

I would have preferred if they had left Spirit Strike in as well as give them their new abilities, and why not? No crying over them being overpowered then -- they're the hardest friggin' pets to find in the game, they *should* be a little overpowered, IMO. But I can't say I'm completely disappointed in their new abilities either. I still love my Skoll as far more than a pretty pet to show off in Dal. Reverie's still a useful, valuable companion -- well worth the hunt.

[Ikult]

Well, something I didn't realize until a few days ago is your Spirit Beast can also heal him- or herself with Spirit Mend! I didn't realize the SB could heal THEMSELVES with the ability... heh heh. *embarrassed*

I've not found a macro that will work with a Pet Ability yet- I'm hoping to find something that will allow me to put myself or my pet's name as the target, and to cast Spirit Mend. If anyone finds something like that, it would make this ability even more useful!

[MaximumOverdrive]

I've had my spirit beast auto use the heal spell on me once when I was gettin attacked by mobs...I think I was maybe close to half health when he did it and it brought me up about 25% of my health...the tooltip of course doesn't display the actual amount it heals (it says it heals like 1300 over 8 sec, but it does about 1400 per tick) so I think it's really a decent heal.

[Silvarain]

im a little saddened by the skill, too. for only 5 focus id like my pet to spam it, but as of now ive not noticed at what point its cast but it seems that for me i have to be a LOW health before my pet casts the skill on me. but then im looking at other things when im fighting so...

[Rikaku]

I miss Spirit Strike, but I really don't see how Spirit Mend isn't useful.
I put it on autocast, anytime I get under a certain HP, bam! Spirit Mend gets autocasted on me. It heals for a pretty substantial amount too.

Seriously though, Spirit Mend + Improve Mend Pet + Glyph of Mending = best questing pet ever. Hands down XD

[Lisaara]

I love Spirit Mend! I do miss Spirit Strike but Spirit Mend is just as awesome. It's also viable in raids cause it's like bringing an emergency healer with you. :3 It's definitely helped in ICC.

[Valashe]

I used my spirit beast (Loque) in WSG last night and I will tell you that the free heals do come in handy in PvP and I can see the same being true with leveling. I do believe that I will be questing as BM with a spirit beast as a pet all the way to 85.

[Lisaara]

I used my spirit beast (Loque) in WSG last night and I will tell you that the free heals do come in handy in PvP and I can see the same being true with leveling. I do believe that I will be questing as BM with a spirit beast as a pet all the way to 85.

No one could kill Loque in EoS. XD It was funny....til they found me anyway, unguarded.

[Phyra]

So the talent is hands free -- IE it does not require you to monitor/click target to use the heal for the pet?

Maybe I've never been in a scenario where the auto-heal pops in :/

That definitely would make it better than originally anticipated and originally understood the talent to be. Hate talents you've to babysit.

[Rikaku]

So the talent is hands free -- IE it does not require you to monitor/click target to use the heal for the pet?

Maybe I've never been in a scenario where the auto-heal pops in :/

That definitely would make it better than originally anticipated and originally understood the talent to be. Hate talents you've to babysit.

Yes, it's totally hands free. However, you must get low in HP for it to be triggered and it (obviously) must be on auto-cast. I think the HP you need to be down to is around ~35%? Roughly. If I had X-perl I'd know lol

Yeah its definitely not a babysit talent, and as someone who was not a fan of Spirit Mend originally, I have to say the ability is rather impressive.

[Tygamoon]

I found a macro in the Mounts forum that Acherontia has in her post about solo farming for mounts.
http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=5457

#showtooltip Spirit Mend
/cast [target=[player,help] Spirit Mend

I haven't been able to try it out (waiting on a pet restore for my Loque right now) but hope this answers your question.

[Cozzene]

/cast [@player] Spirit Mend

This should cast it on you, it does for me. /cast [@focus] Spirit Mend is what I use on my pally tank bud when we 2-man things we really shouldn't be. It's pretty strong, to be honest, definitely not useless if used properly, though for dailies/raiding* it can be questionable.

*Unless your healer is CC'd and a heal needs to be tossed

[Killskillz]

I just got my first spirit beast yesterday and I haven't really had a chance to play with this ability yet. But it looks like it will be really awesome!

I was riding through STV and noticed a level 30ish hunter low on hp and fighting a few mobs, I just hopped off my mount and targeted him and cast Spirit Mend on him and he was healed to full HP. I think that is pretty awesome.

I also used it a little in PvP, and I gotta say it come in very handy to have self heals right after you've killed an opponent and are trying to outlive the remaining dots that are still up.

I also wanted to give it a try on solo'ing fights where the boss MC's you. If my pet will auto heal itself, maybe I wont kill it while I wait for MC to wear off. All around I'm pretty excited about it, though I've never had a chance to use Spirit Strike. I think I'd have to say I prefer pocket heals over a little extra damage.

[Tygamoon]

Okay Spirit Mend is AWESOME! I'll really miss my moonfire but I've been having a TON of fun relearning my hunter while soloing old raids easly without taking forever with a turtle. Thanks Blizz for giving us a small heal to mess around with.

[Protego]

It does auto-cast on players, people here and elsewhere have said so. And I look forward to trying out the healing pet in a raid some day (when my guild isn't dormant from pre-Cataclysm players)!