5.2 Resto druid Haste versus Mastery (PvP)

So some people have been asking me lately whether it is better to stack haste versus mastery. The mastery bonus for restoration druids is Harmony as you know which increases the amount healed by instant spells when you use a casted heal. If you look up the info on a site such as Noxxic the order of priority is as follows : Intellect > PvP Power > PvP Resilience > Spirit > Haste > Crit > Mastery, http://www.noxxic.com/wow/pvp/druid/restoration/stat-priority. Noxxic is known for getting some things wrong but just in case lets look at some numbers here.

Spell	#	Ticks	Percent	+5% Raid Buff	Unbuffed
Lifebloom	1	16	3.36%	0	1428
Wild Growth	1	8	7.12%	860	3028
Wild Growth (SotF)	5	12	64.34%	1846	4063
Lifebloom	2	17	9.95%	2004	4229
Rejuvenation	1	5	12.51%	3039	5316
Tranquility	1	5	12.52%	3043	5320
Lifebloom	3	18	16.62%	4703	7063
Regrowth	1	4	16.65%	4717	7078
Wild Growth (SotF)*	6	13	78.73%	5730	8141
Wild Growth	2	9	21.43%	6652	9109
Lifebloom	4	19	23.38%	7440	9937
Wild Growth (SotF)	7	14	92.86%	9543	12145
Lifebloom	5	20	29.95%	10101	12731
Wild Growth	3	10	35.78%	12458	15206
Lifebloom	6	21	36.71%	12834	15600
Tranquility	2	6	37.50%	13157	15940
Rejuvenation	2	6	37.52%	13163	15947
Wild Growth	8	15	107.25%	13426	16222

Taken from http://sometimesatree.signaleleven.net/guides/haste-breakpoints/

So you could reasonably reach the first highlighted value of 5320 unbuffed haste which would net you 2 extra ticks on LB, 1 on wild growth, 1 on rejuv and 1 on tranquility. Without getting into the math too deeply, roughly 480 mastery is equal to 1 rating so for the equivalent amount of mastery, 5320, you would see roughly a 11% increase to your mastery rating which is an 11% increase to your HoT spells. From gaining the 2 extra ticks from haste on LB it is a 20% increase, 1 on rejuvenation is a 25% increase, and tranquility is a 2% incease as well. Aside from this you also cast faster due to the haste and have a lower global cool down time which allows you to do more in less time. All in all you will see a much larger increase to your output if you stack haste.

Also last week I had the chance of playing some rated battlegrounds at a rating of 2000. Some of the opponents we played were featured on the website Skill-Capped.com which is crazy and cool when you think about it. I have to say it was rather brutal. We ended up losing the games we played at 2k rating by a reasonable margin but we won a few at around 1800. As far as advice for that goes, the only difference you see when you start climbing ratings is that the teams are much more organized and focus their targets better and they also tend to use balance druids to lay a Ursol's Vortex on top of a Solar Beam. (sometimes they will also lay a ring of frost on top of that so you cannot get out or use a death knight's talent, Gorefiend's Grasp to force you into the beam a 3rd time. As a druid you can put out a ton of throughput while being rather easy to kill so you often be the one focused for a kill. Try to sit on the edges of the battle rather then running into the fray and always keep hots rolling on yourself to help reduce some of the damage you will take. Displace beast will help your survivability greatly. In arenas I've only played at 1700 in the 2v2 bracket with moderate success so not much to say there. I'll talk some gear and talent options next time guys. Hope you enjoyed the post.