Raiding as a Druid ? What spec to choose ?

[Mous 0]

All is in the title i'm actually asking myself if Raiding as a druid is worth ? Since i don't know much about PVE HL in Vanilla and i don't know what class is good or bad for this. So i'm asking how is raiding as a Balance, Guardian and Feral druid.

[Keftenk 0]

What is PVE HL and what is Guardian?

Raiding as Druid in vanilla is realistically just Resto. There are various builds, but it's primarily Resto. You can make other specs work to some degree, but they under perform compared to all other classes in nearly every situation.

[euron 1]

I wouldn't say they underperform like Keftenk, but in a competitive raiding environment druids do get the shorter end of the stick because they have no 1.5second cast heals. In an optimized raid you really don't need more than two druids.

 

Paladins or shamans are your bread and butter in a raid with their fast, efficient raid healing. Priests are glass cannons that can push out a lot of healing in a short amount of time if required, and in the meantime they can happily spam downranked heals. Druids really are more the finishing touch on your sandwich. They fill up the gaps in your raid healing with hots, take a big chunk of the tank healing and provide innervates and battle resses as well as a worthwhile raid debuff in faerie fire.

 

 

In less serious guilds, you might be allowed to be feral or even balance. As a DPS class these two specs require a lot of effort on your part, to do the same amount of DPS as a standard DPS class. It's not impossible to do well as a feral or balance, but you will be handicapped all the way.

Edited November 19, 2016 by euron

[Undertanker 88]

Restro specs:

 

First is Swift Med spec:

 

http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#0zL0bZZxEcqeqVo  at least 1 druid should have this to ensure max HoT on tank.

 

This is mana intensive and you should be prepared to use potions and runes frequently.   Is easier as you get more MP5.  Gives burst healing and practice use swiftmed right before your HoT expires for most heal per mana on your HoT.

 

 

Second spec is moonglow spec:

 

http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#0zjVIo0sZZxgcoxq   used for spamming healing touch on the tank and spot heaing the raid with HoT and low rank healing touch.

 

Alternatives to this spec involve taking 1/5 Nature's Focus, 3/5 Tranquil Spirit for 3/3 imp  rejuv.

[Keftenk 0]

I wouldn't say they underperform like Keftenk, but in a competitive raiding environment druids do get the shorter end of the stick because they have no 1.5second cast heals. In an optimized raid you really don't need more than two druids.

 

Paladins or shamans are your bread and butter in a raid with their fast, efficient raid healing. Priests are glass cannons that can push out a lot of healing in a short amount of time if required, and in the meantime they can happily spam downranked heals. Druids really are more the finishing touch on your sandwich. They fill up the gaps in your raid healing with hots, take a big chunk of the tank healing and provide innervates and battle resses as well as a worthwhile raid debuff in faerie fire.

 

 

In less serious guilds, you might be allowed to be feral or even balance. As a DPS class these two specs require a lot of effort on your part, to do the same amount of DPS as a standard DPS class. It's not impossible to do well as a feral or balance, but you will be handicapped all the way.

Feral and Balance definitely under perform and I'd argue that they don't even have much of a place in lesser guilds. Those that know who I am know I've tried to make Balance work and I believe it's possible to be competitive with the spec but it takes quite a bit and even though it's just theory. I still believe at the end of the day a Warlock or Mage would be more suitable. Feral is generally the same way. You can get a bit more use out of Bear form than Cat, but it's still a poor selection.

As for Resto. It competes and can be one of the best healers in the game. It's true that we don't have a 1.5s cast, but Regrowth makes up for it. Even low ranks of HT is fine, but I personally go towards Regrowth. Serious guilds honestly don't need more than 1 Druid pre-Naxx, but I'd agree that 2 is suitable for most raids.

[Mous 0]

Damn, i'm losing my motivation to try and play druid right now

 

Thanks for the healing spec but unfortunately i'm not looking into playing heal (i don't like, i tried it multiple times).

 

Since i'm looking for something with good performance on raids i'll be looking for another class.

 

Thank you for your answers guys !

[killerduki 54]

Damn, i'm losing my motivation to try and play druid right now

 

Thanks for the healing spec but unfortunately i'm not looking into playing heal (i don't like, i tried it multiple times).

 

Since i'm looking for something with good performance on raids i'll be looking for another class.

 

Thank you for your answers guys !

 

Don't loose your will , if you want you can still manage to raid on any spec, but ofc sadly harder because you might be in denial

 

Not that you can't do it or be effective , you can but sadly not at expected level due to many barriers from today min/max mindset .

 

/Kind regards Killerduki

[Keftenk 0]

Basically what Killerduki said.

Raid Feral if you wish, but don't expect to get close to Fury Warriors or Rogues on the meters. Exception would possibly be on Vael. There are 2 key factors that severely limit Feral DPS: Energy starvation and the lack of a damaging debuff. Feral DPS has to resort to powershifting to help alleviate the high energy costs and vanilla is only 8-16 debuff slots so none of the Cat's bleeds are optimal. Faerie Fire is, but that's it.

Balance is somewhat in a similar bind. The 2 key factors that severely limit their DPS is once again the 8-16 debuff slot limitation. Moonfire is an excellent source of damage, but it cant justifiably be used over priority debuffs. Additionally, Balance receives 0% Hit from talents which hinders your gear selection quite severely. Running out of mana is an issue, but it isn't exactly as poor as the myth makes it out to be, "oomkin".

And before you ask. The crit aura's really don't make up for the loss of DPS. Spell Crit is leagues more useful and beneficial than the Melee Crit, but it still falls short.

Edited November 20, 2016 by Keftenk

[killerduki 54]

Also keep in mind there are bugs within private servers where some classes get so overpowered from beneficial bugs (mainly viable ones) while there are many nerfing bugs (mainly hybrids).

 

Such as Rage,Ignite,Dodge,Crit etc.

 

Warriors for example benefit so much from Rage due to wrong formulas used , Mages benefit so much from Ignite due to wrong formula , Druids are so much nerfed due to wrong Dodge calculation formula and Crit and so on . 

 

/Kind regards Killerduki

[eyeofhal9000 0]

For the druids who want to tank, this is the spec I used on Nostalrius PvP:

http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#0ZxoxscrdxVxf0xo

 

Take the two points from "Blood Frenzy" and put them into "Feral Instinct" if you are having trouble keeping threat.

 

I had a blast running this spec in both PvE and PvP. Your primary focus is on tanking with enough Resto to be able to heal in situations where your tanking isn't needed, albeit not as good as a true resto druid. Gear plays a big part in playing either the tanking or healing role in this spec, so be wary.

[killerduki 54]

Don't get me wrong , i have not much experience about Druids .

 

From PVE aspect i can post following specs :

 

Feral Tank : http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#0zLV0oZExgscMdt (Feline Swiftness because of Neffarian but i believe you wont Tank that Boss).

 

Feral Cat : http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#0zLVcoZE0MsfbdtV

 

Moonkin : http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#0x0xcMEstZxVco (2 points for whatever)

 

Restoration : http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#0zLZZxEcqeqio

 

/Kind regards Killerduki

[Loktarøgarr 0]

Tanking/offtanking is viable with the right gear

 

i tanked Onyxia and MC as maintank, and ZG as offtank for example

[Gabooty 0]

I played druid on Nost, and i think healing is genuinely boring in raids. I played as a feral druid, my job in raids was kida interesting. I was never the main tank but when we needed more tanks I oftanked. The advantage of that is that you can replace the extra offtank that you want on some bosses with another DPS/Healer. And when you need an extra healer then i could change gear and heal. 

 

However, to get double gears thats good enough to be called is hard work, and the druid healing gear is really annoying to get. 

[mrcer 8]

Honestly there's no reason to be unmotivated to play a druid healer.

Typically you'll see up to 2 druid healers and up to 1 druid tank in 40mans. Most tier items are not bis for druid tanking.

Basically this means as a druid healer, tier loot is thrown at your face with little-to-none competition.

Even if druid healers aren't god-tier healers; you'll definitely be getting geared quicker than anyone else.

To add: if you've always wanted to try boomkin pvp, then you have all the more reason to heal in raids. A lot of amazing gear drops later on in raids that you'll never dream of getting unless you are druid healing for your guild

If it wasn't for the fact I love playing vanilla paladins, I'd probably play a druid.

PS: druid leveling is easy as dirt. No down time between each mob and travel form is op for gathering professions

Edited November 30, 2016 by mrcer

[Storfan 24]

I played druid on Nost, and i think healing is genuinely boring in raids. I played as a feral druid, my job in raids was kida interesting. I was never the main tank but when we needed more tanks I oftanked. The advantage of that is that you can replace the extra offtank that you want on some bosses with another DPS/Healer. And when you need an extra healer then i could change gear and heal. 

 

However, to get double gears thats good enough to be called is hard work, and the druid healing gear is really annoying to get. 

 

Hej Gabooty:D

 

And to the OP, pretty much this. You'll be expected to heal in 99% of raids, but bringing some tanking gear as druid is actually a good idea. There are situations where healing isnt an issue and you might want to keep a fury warrior in dps mode, this is a good time to beartank!

[Drain 19]

Druid healer has no competition on slots or gear. This makes them a winner, much like Hunters. It doesn't matter which class the job better; as guilds will take both classes. Stacking the same class because it's "better" means too many on it, and too few on the other. You shouldn't care if class A is better or worse damage/healing than class B. Beyond that, I suggest picking the one you enjoy. I like Undead, not Taurens, so naturally, I'd be a Priest, not Druid, if I rolled a healer.

[gotmilk0112 10]

What is PVE HL and what is Guardian?

Raiding as Druid in vanilla is realistically just Resto. There are various builds, but it's primarily Resto. You can make other specs work to some degree, but they under perform compared to all other classes in nearly every situation.

Feral and Boomkin don't do much DPS themselves, but they bring useful buffs (crit for melee and crit for casters) as well as innervates and battle rezzes.

[Asphycsia 0]

Feral and Boomkin don't do much DPS themselves, but they bring useful buffs (crit for melee and crit for casters) as well as innervates and battle rezzes.

 

 

Well that is also debatable. lets say the druid brings 100 dps to his group as a whole with his buffs. If said druid is doing 100+ dps less than what your typical mage, rogue or warrior would do then the buff is effectively null and void. and you would just be better off bringing another pure dps.

 

And yes they have oh фекал things like innervate and brez, but you are making the assumption that someone else ваууed up that caused the need for that.

Edited December 3, 2016 by Asphycsia

[killerduki 54]

 

 

And yes they have oh фекал things like innervate and brez, but you are making the assumption that someone else ваууed up that caused the need for that.

 

 

/Kind regards Killerduki

Edited December 3, 2016 by killerduki

[taladril 43]

Feral and Boomkin don't do much DPS themselves, but they bring useful buffs (crit for melee and crit for casters) as well as innervates and battle rezzes.

Ferals certainly do better dps than what a prot would bring in so stick to two prots and drag your feral in to tank where needed.

[HOGGington 0]

Druid healer has no competition on slots or gear. This makes them a winner, much like Hunters. It doesn't matter which class the job better; as guilds will take both classes. Stacking the same class because it's "better" means too many on it, and too few on the other. You shouldn't care if class A is better or worse damage/healing than class B. Beyond that, I suggest picking the one you enjoy. I like Undead, not Taurens, so naturally, I'd be a Priest, not Druid, if I rolled a healer.

 

Why say things when you don't know what you're talking about

[Storfan 24]

Why say things when you don't know what you're talking about

 

He's right you know. You rarely see more than 1-3 druids in 40man raids, meaning you'll get into raids very easily and get alot of gear.

[meridaw 11]

You will share alot of gear with other healers aswell, but class loot is easy to get as druid most of the time.

[HOGGington 0]

He's right you know. You rarely see more than 1-3 druids in 40man raids, meaning you'll get into raids very easily and get alot of gear.

What? For tier sets sure. But hardly any of those pieces are bis at any point and druids compete with other healers for bis gear. So no, he's not right.

[Jeetee 2]

Sick em hoggletine, don't let this ignorance run rampant thru the hallowed core.

Edited December 7, 2016 by Jeetee