Druids Planning on Respeccing for 1.8???

[Leiel]

Many druid class changes planned for 1.8, in case you didn't already know... here (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/druids2/talents.html)

It seems that the utility of Leader of the Pack (+3% group melee/ranged crit) talent and Moonkin (+3% group spell crit) talent may be lost on some people in comparison to the obvious uses of Innervate. I guess i just wanted to quickly ask other druids their thoughts on our usefulness to a raid group if we decided to branch out and become more viable damage dealers/tanks (through speccing Balance or Feral), and if this increase in ability to damage/tank (and the use of group-wide auras) would be raid-useful as a class that still has the capacity to heal.

It is my guess that this would be a great buff to group/raid PvP encounters, but not so much high-end PvE...

I'm quite seriously DROOLING over the new talent possibilities, and I really look forward to hearing what others have to say about this! :p

-Leiel

[Tamethis]

Well after playing with the new talents all weekend I have decided on my initial talent tree:

Balance Talents - 8 points
Nature's Grasp - rank 1/1
Improved Nature's Grasp - rank 4/4
Natural Shapeshifter - rank 3/3 - 30% mana reduction for shapeshifting

Feral Combat Talents - 31 points
Ferocity - rank 5/5
Feral Instinct - rank 5/5 - 15% greater threat in bear form
Feline Swiftness - rank 2/2
Feral Charge - rank 1/1
Sharpened Claws - rank 3/3
Predatory Strikes - rank 3/3
Blood Frenzy - rank 1/2
Primal Fury - rank 2/2
Savage Fury - rank 2/2
Faerie Fire (Feral) - rank 1/1
Heart of the Wild - rank 5/5 - +20% INT, 20% STA in bear, 20% STR in cat
Leader of the Pack - rank 1/1 - +3% Crit to ranged/melee in party (45 Yard Range)

Restoration Talents - 12 points
Improved Mark of the Wild - rank 5/5
Furor - rank 5/5
Improved Enrage - rank 2/2

I will have the +3% Melee/Ranged Crit "Aura" to benefit all of the rogues/hunters in my party. I see the benefit in this during MC because I could wear my hybrid gear that favors INT, + the 20% INT bonus from Heart of the Wild to play a backup healer during the healing intensive parts of the raid, and then go to DPS/Offtank (15% Threat increase w/ Feral Instinct Talent) to give the rogues, hunters, and myself that extra DPS boost when we need to get the boss down quick. I know that this will be great for PvP, but I think it should be used in PvE too. I mean how many rogues and hunters would pass up a chance to get a free 3% crit?

I am just hoping that the officers are giving these talents, especially Moonkin Form and Leader of the Pack a good look and will let the Druids play their new class without making us be healbots the whole time. If we are short Priests, then I don't mind picking up healer duty, but a Druid should no longer be assigned to the healer roll unless they are restoration. After 1.8, Balance druids can do higher DPS due to reduced casting times and increased crit %, Feral druids can do much higher DPS due to the massive talent overhaul which increases crit %, strengh, and attack power. Restoration druids are now faster at healing and more mana efficient. Just because all druids CAN heal, doesn't mean we should HAVE to heal.

But or couse...what is best for the guild as a whole is what I will do...I just may pout a little bit ;)

[Kilron]

Well, I have not played my druid as long as many of the others (just lvl 30 so far). But after reviewing the spec changes I see a significant increase in the all around usefullness of the class in all purposes. The Balance and Feral trees are now complete viable options for the druid throught the game content. The only thing that I think we need to watch as druid players, is to come to some organized agreement so that not all of the druids spec out of restoration. We certainly do not want to force any one to any type of spec...but if some are agreeable to spec (or stay spec'ed) Restoration then we will be fine.

[Leiel]

I agree Kilron... obviously we can't use all of our innervates, which is a reason that i kinda wanted to see what ppl had planned ;) . I have a feeling that people will be making a mad rush to DPS whether it's Feral or Balance, and if the test server shows huge benefits to being specced Balance that would be the route i would follow the migration with this build:

Balance Talents - 33 points

# Improved Wrath - rank 5/5
# Improved Entangling Roots - rank 3/3
# Improved Moonfire - rank 5/5
# Improved Thorns - rank 3/3
# Nature's Reach - rank 2/2
# Vengeance - rank 5/5
# Nature's Grace - rank 1/1
# Moonglow - rank 3/3
# Moonfury - rank 5/5
# Moonkin Form - rank 1/1

Restoration Talents - 18 points

# Improved Mark of the Wild - rank 5/5
# Improved Healing Touch - rank 1/5
# Nature's Focus - rank 5/5
# Reflection - rank 3/3
# Insect Swarm - rank 1/1
# Improved Rejuvenation - rank 3/3

(Imp Thorns ~31 damage to everything that attacks you is kinda questionable, but looks to be a good buff for grouping/grinding for leather/etc)

However, unless Balance turns out to be amazing for nuking, or if it looks like we are going to lose too many of our resto-specced healing types, I'd keep innervate and go partially down balance. C'mon test realm!

(BTW Tame, that looks like a great build!! About what i'm looking for with my Feral alt!)

-Leiel

[iamjcal]

id like a moonkin druid in my mc group with a priest that has the healing crits gives the target armor talent.

[kaptagon]

I'm planning on becoming a moonkin druid.

Technically, my heals will be cheaper with my talent builds, should I start healing (19% mana cost reduction), but will be a bit less effective (less +healing talents).

The only significant hit I'm taking is loss of innervate and instant cast heals.

A moonkin would be a great addition to any group with properly specced priests, and paladins, along with the obvious mages and warlocks.

I'm also getting those talents that help druids get huge (READ: fun) starfire crits with help from a warlock's curse of shadow.

I'd do well in either healing or ranged dps, just not as well with healing as I did before.


For anyone thats interested, I'm planning this build:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/druids2/talents.html?0143501002501351000000000000000050150 3105000000
I'm still not sure wether I should get the last 2 points in tranquil spirit, or if I should get an extra 20% off of shapeshifting (~140 mana reduction)

[Tamethis]

Sounds good Kapt. I do like how every tree has a talent or talents that make them viable in healing. I will enjoy the 20% more INT to help since I will be less mana efficient. Your build will be using far less mana then you ever did...so the efficiency from losing the +healing shouldn't be that bad. That actually looks like a great Balance/Restro build. I had trouble planning out a Balance tree with only 31 points in it. I think I ended up using about 35 or so because there are lots of great options there now.

[kaptagon]

I got a chance to actually try moonkin form, and was rather dissapointed in the results. Moonkin form did not do what I was hoping it would for pvp.
Moonkin is a bit more likely to survive a rogues stunlock with the armor, but dire bear is far better for it.

Without healing, there jsut isn't much available to defend with.

Without NS, I'm far more likely to die to a fire mage. shamen will have an easier time against me too.

Unless they make some significant changes, I'm staying 20/0/31.

The balance tree rearrangement is nice though - I get vengeance with innervate next patch. I also like the better healing talents (no "throwaway" talents needed for innervate)

I will be missing subtlty next patch, but I don't think its reallyneeded

[Tamethis]

Well from playing on the test server a bunch yesterday I have come to the conclusion that Moonkin form is kinda a waste. The dance is great, though I really prefer putting on an ogre suit instead. I watched a bunch of duals between restoration druids and moonkin druids. In every one the restoration druid destroyed the moonkin with > 90% health left and still had a good amount of mana left. It seems that for PvP, moonkin sucks. I see moonkin form being useful for farming, but not much else.

Feral however...I was able to down moonkin druids pretty easy with my 14/31/6 feral build. I dualed some restoration druids and was able to win most of the time, but the fights just take too long when I would get them way down on health and then they'd heal back to full. Mana efficiency seems to be good in feral with the 20% bonus from HotW and the 30% less mana cost from shifting. I still had > 1500 mana left at the end of every fight. Cat form seems to be a great opener to the fight to get that quick burst damage, shift, heal, bear form ftw! Bear form is so freakin sweet now. I am getting crits for 800 and am able to generate rage like crazy.

With my feral gear on I have the following stats
Cat: 3400 hp, 21.75% crit, 840 AP (I will have 90 more AP when they fix a bug)
Bear: 9500 AC, 21.75% crit, 650 AP

I equipped my MC healing gear and I had 7100 mana self-buffed. I will be one of the druids ditching restoration, but I should still be able to heal about the same, if not better than before when needed.

[Claud]

but what happened to you in AB last night . . . . you just disappeared :mad:

[Tamethis]

but what happened to you in AB last night . . . . you just disappeared :mad:

Sorry I didn't say anything...I thought I was just going to be AFK for a second...

The wife came home 2 hours late from school . . . . as much as I love playing WoW and wish I could actually commit solid blocks of time to playing like I used to, my family comes first, so when she is upset and needs to talk, I'm there for her.

I am going to work out something so that I can come to more raids, especially MC and Onyxia, but I don't plan on being reliable to do much of anything any other time until some things start changing in real life.

It just sucks right now because I miss gaming and chatting with all of you. I work 8 - 5 during the week, have classes Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night until 8 - 10 pm. I try to sneak in WoW whenever I can. Only been married for a month and we're still trying to get the "newly married" stuff taken care of, so I just don't have a lot of free time to do much of anything but work, school, and sleep.