Mage tower challenge thoughts... this'll be a few questions, some advice to people who haven't even got as far as me, and some just plain venting/griping.
My record: I've made about 43 attempts. (35 of those were within the past major tower session, the one that ended yesterday evening, so it's on my mind right now.) On all but 2 of those, I wiped in stage one, many times on the last wave. One wipe in stage three, one wipe in stage six. I can tell I'll have more stage six wipes before I get through it.
My setup: I can edit in an Armory link here tonight if people want to see it, but I didn't log out in resto spec or gear, so it probably wouldn't help. But I'm currently around ilvl 920-925 equipped. I have all of T19 and all of T20 except the cape IIRC. Relevant legendaries I have: Velen's, Prydaz, Soul of the Archdruid, Sephuz's Secret, Tearstone, Eldraith, Essence of Infusion, X'oni's Caress. No belt unfortunately.
I'd welcome any general advice, but I have some specific questions:
Set bonuses: 2P T19 and 2P T20 sound right? X'oni's Caress seems important, and if so, that seems like the best setup.
How long should phase one and five last, roughly? I'm wondering if I can get multiple uses out of any cooldowns.
The 3/2/3/3/2/3/2 talent setup seems essential in phase one, but would it be worth respeccing for phase five? I'm mainly wondering if Inner Peace would be worth it - see above.
The guide (see below) recommends interrupting the mages in stage one when they get 2 or 3 stacks of the buff. I've been doing them at 4, 5, or sometimes even 6 without a problem as far as I can tell. Should I be doing it early after all for some reason?
Tips for others still working on this:
I've read the Questionably Epic guide and several other tips here and there, but the thing I've found most helpful so far was the Wowhead guide specifically for resto druids.
Don't forget bear form. The damage from the soldiers is all physical. If they're fixated on you, bear form is a lot better than wasting cooldowns and mana.
Don't worry too much about your damage in phase one. You might as well try to do some, but making sure your allies are topped off and your mana is full are higher priorities.
As for your mana, you may be able to drink a Leytorrent potion while your allies are finishing off the last mob of the third or fourth wave.