World of Warcraft Patch 2.2 is going live tomorrow morning. Other than integrated Voice Chat and some new Chat Channel customization, there aren’t any significant content changes. However, there are a few very nice additions for druids.

First is a new craftable chest piece for cat druids, [Shadowprowler's Chestguard].

According to the commentors at WoWHead.com, for sustained DPS, this piece is equal to the Tier 4 Raid Feral Druid chest [Breastplate of Malorne] and a great upgrade to the Karazhan Nightbane drop [Chestguard of the Conniver]. It can be socketed for additional damage and/or shoring up the weak stamina stat.

If you’ve faced down Magtheridon for your T4 chest piece, don’t bother with this one. If you have your Karazhan chestpiece, the Shadowprowler’s Chestguard is a solid upgrade. And if you don’t raid at all, like me, this is a crazy good piece of feral cat goodness that has fallen out of Druid heaven.

To have it made, track down a leatherworker who is Revered with the Violet Eye (the Karazhan faction). The components are in this link: [Pattern: Shadowprowler's Chestguard].

More druid goodness in Patch 2.2 after the jump.

Another piece of feral cat armor is next on the list, the [Pattern: Cloak of Darkness]:

Considering the tailoring pattern requires Exalted with the Violet Eye and the cloak requires 4 [Primal Nether]s, it’s going to be a bit harder to come by this piece. Some players aren’t happy with the lack of Agility, but others see it as comparable to the cloak that drops in the 25-man TBC raid zone, Serpentshire Caverns. Scrounging together the 500g for the Primal Nethers may be worth it. WowHead has a screenshot of it here.

New gems are arriving on the server as well, but no one’s sure where the non-patterned ones are dropping. The good news is, there’s gems for every druid spec:

• [Design: Falling Star] -blue +18 Stamina
• [Kailee's Rose] - red +26 Healing
• [Stone of Blades] - yellow +12 Critical Strike Rating
• [Design: Crimson Sun] - red +24 Attack Power
• [Design: Blood of Amber] - yellow +12 Spell Critical Rating
• [Design: Facet of Eternity] - yellow +12 Defense Rating
• [Design: Don Julio's Heart] - red +14 Spell Damage

These patterned gems cause the item socketed to become Soulbound, but isn’t all the good stuff Soulbound already? They are also labeled Unique-Equippend, meaning you can have more than one in your inventory, but only one equipped.

There are also some gems listed with no patterns so possible raid drops:

• [Sparkling Falling Star] - blue +12 Spirit
• [Brilliant Bladestone] - yellow +12 Intellect
• [Great Bladestone] - yellow +12 Spell Hit Rating
• [Delicate Fire Ruby] - red +12 Agility
• [Rigid Bladestone] - yellow +12 Hit Rating
• [Mystic Bladestone] - yellow +12 Resilience

In PvP, [Merciless Gladiator's Mooncloth Leggings] get an additional +4 Intellect.

A few enchantments got changed. Balance druids should note that the [Formula: Enchant Weapon - Sunfire] (+50 arcane spell dmg) had its [Void Crystal] reagent increased from 6 to 12, its [Primal Fire] component reduced from 10 to 6 and its [Primal Might] requirement reduced from 2 to 1. Remember, Void Crystals come from disenchanting Epic items level 95 and higher.

Some other patterns of interest to druids have now been made available on vendors:

• [Formula: Enchant Cloak - Dodge]: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Lower City Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.
• [Formula: Enchant Cloak - Stealth]: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Cenarion Expedition Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.
• [Formula: Enchant Cloak - Subtlety]: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Thrallmar Quartermaster and Honor Hold Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.
• [Formula: Enchant Gloves - Superior Agility]: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Keepers of Time Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.
• [Formula: Enchant Gloves - Threat]: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Sha’tar Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.
• [Formula: Enchant Weapon - Greater Agility]: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Violet Eye vendor.

In the world of Alchemy, the Flask of Arcane Fortification has now been turned into the [Flask of Blinding Light] (+80 to Arcane, Holy and Nature spells for 120 mins!) Stock up on those bad boys.

Here’s a list of all changes directly affecting the Druid class in this patch:

• Cat Form (Night Elf) melee attack range was too short compared to Tauren Cat Form and other attack ranges. It has been increased.
• Cyclone: It is no longer possible to Cyclone two targets at the same time in the outdoor world.
• Cyclone: Paladin Auras, Trueshot Aura, and Aspect of the Pack will now be automatically reactivated when Cyclone wears off of a victim who had one of the abilities active.
• Enrage: If this buff is clicked off early, the armor penalty it causes will now be removed as well.
• Enrage and Furor should no longer initiate combat, though it will prevent rage decay for the duration.
• Entangling Roots: It is no longer possible to have Entangling Roots on two targets at the same time in the outdoor world.
• Entangling Roots: It is no longer possible to have more than one rank of this spell active on a player.
• Force of Nature: Using this spell in a neutral town will no longer cause its victim to be attacked by town guards. It also will no longer cause nearby party members to lose stealth.
• Hibernate and Entangling Roots duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.
• Hurricane: This spell is now affected by area damage caps. Its bonus damage coefficients have also been increased.
• Hurricane: A tooltip error in rank 3 has been corrected.
• Lacerate: The damage from this ability will now stack properly when two different characters are applying Lacerate to a target.
• Mangle: The duration remaining graphic will now display properly for Mangle after it has been refreshed on a target. It will also no longer sometimes apply the Mangle debuff to nearby targets when the Mangle victim is killed by Mangle.
• Nature’s Grasp: This ability can now trigger while the Druid is sitting.
• Tree of Life: The party aura from this shapeshift now extends the full 40-yard radius as stated in the tooltip.

I’m very glad to see the Furor talent (gain 10 rage when shifting into bear form) has been changed to no longer put me in a combat state. I usually fight in my cat gear. If I go into bear form and Furor puts me in combat state, my Outfitter addon wasn’t able to switch out my equipment to my tanking set.

We also get a little more juice out of Innervate now:

• Power Regeneration: Any effect which triggers a change in your rate of power regeneration (Mana, Rage, Energy, Focus) will now cause an immediate reward of some power at the old rate of increase, and then begin new “ticks” of power at the new rate approximately 2 seconds later. This was done to improve functionality of abilities such as Evocation and Innervate so that they did not have wasted “ticks”.

Finally, here are some miscellaneous fixes that affect druids:

• Increased the duration of the [Mystical Skyfire Diamond]’s cast speed buff to10 seconds.
• [Lesser Rune of Warding]: Due to persistent bugs with its design, this item has been redesigned for patch 2.2. It now enchants a piece of chest armor so it has a chance per hit of giving you physical damage absorption.
• [Pendant of the Violet Eye]: This item will now trigger properly from spells that cost a percentage of base mana.
• [Sagefish Delight]: The buff from this item has been modified to work the same as all other mana per 5 buffs, including display correctly on the character sheet.
• [Shiny Red Apple]: Druids in animal forms can no longer eat this food item.
• [Six Demon Bag]: The damage spells cast by this item no longer benefit from a player’s bonus spell damage effects.
• [Spyglass of the Hidden Fleet]: This item is now useable by shapeshifted Druids.
• Priest’s Mass Dispel… will no longer cause Rogues and Druids in Cat Form to lose stealth.
• [Staff of Natural Fury]: Tooltip clarified to indicate it reduces the base mana cost of shapeshifts, not the final cost.
• Cast sequence macros no longer get stuck at feral druid abilities.

Special thanks to MMO-Champion for providing an early list of the patch changes.