News from the PTR : Drinking Change
 Looks like Druids think alike, I took my daily trip over to Resto4Life and found another article about this change, although our thoughts on it differ 
Phaelia managed to dig up more details about this change.
I finally get to write something about pvp!
It’s well known that one of the main advantages of Druids in small scale arenas (2v2 and 3v3) is their ability to run and drink. They may only get 1 or 2 ticks off, but those add up over time and allow them to outlast many other healers, on top of being the most difficult class to drain.
While Blizzard doesn’t balance classes around 2v2, we knew there had to be something in the works to lessen Druid dominance in 2’s.
The drinking change appears to be a bit buggy on the PTR right now, but here is what is intended according to Hortus: (source)
The amount of mana regenerated now ramps up, so you will see little or no mana regen the first few seconds and then it will increase as the duration continues
I am sure if many of us think back to Season 1, Druids were considered fairly weak in arenas over all, Paladins ruled the scene at this time. Then a little something call Star’s Tears was quietly added to the Accessories Quartermaster. Towards the end of Season 2 we started to see more and more Druids in 2v2, and more and more with 2k+ Rating. When Season 3 came around it was common knowledge if you wanted your shoulders and weapon, find a good Druid and do 2v2.
It wasn’t just the ability for all to drink that dramatically changed Druids in arenas, but it played a large role and we are likely to see an effect. The class will still be very strong, but this definitely brings other healers, if not up to par, closer to Druids; Priest teams that can drain will be a much larger threat, the extremely mana efficient heals of Paladins will be a force to be reckoned with again and the extra burst damage Shaman bring through heroism/bloodlust with the resulting mana dump much more frightening.
However, it could easily go the other direction since priests, paladins and shamans also try to drink as much as they can and won’t receive near the benefit on the rare occasion they can. I honestly don’t think it will though, its very rare I manage to get more than 3 ticks of a drink off before I am interrupted and even that is a lot, its simply the amount of 3 ticks I get compared to other healing classes that really add up. I definitely think this will even the playing field a bit.
I personally think this was a very well thought out and subtle change by Blizzard, rather than making “sweeping class changes” they made many small changes that add up to a big difference in how arena’s will be played.
I do hope, however, they adjust it so its only active in arenas. Right now its a major annoyance on the PTR, especially in its buggy state. It will hurt a bit in battlegrounds and add some downtime which no one likes and those times in pve where you can sneak those quick drinks in between waves of a gauntlet or phase of a boss will be a lot less valuable.