Hey folks.. I've been playing WoW for a few months now and I'm in the mid 40's with my druid. I've been using this build thus far:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...10 3105010000

I am considering respec'ing to attain this:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...40 3105010000

Some background/info: I primarily play with my wife, who is a paladin that has focused on Holy so far. I usually spend the majority of my time in cat form, however during instances I play with guildmates and take on a healing role.

I never intended to go feral with this character as I will eventually maintain a main healer/non-melee role as I approach 60. This character will likely never seen a large raid, at least not for a long time, so mainly 5-man instances with my small guild of friends.

I know that the majority of my time will always be playing with my wife's paladin as a duo or trio (with a rogue or another druid as my kids level up to play with us). At this time I am also not heavily into PVP (we're on a PvE server).

A few questions:

Is Omen of Clarity worth the 6 points? NW5 really isn't a big deal, especially if I will only being using cat forms in solo modes later on.

Should I move the points in roots to thorns? It seems like a 75% increase in thorns can really be nice, especially in duoing situations as I spend the majority of my time. My main beef about roots is that they do not work indoors, which makes all those points useless in instances.

How about the common MotW vs Furor debate? I haven't done the math, but I think i'd rather have 100% energy when I shift into cat (again, for duoing).

Since I shift into cat a lot (duo mode) I thought Shapeshifter would be useful, but since mana is regenerating while shifted, I do not know that it will be a problem. It's 400 some mana right now to shirt, and I assume it continues to go up, thus a 30% savings at level 60 may be huge. Is it worth it?


There is a total possibility that I will maintain a shifting-focused build until 60, and respec to a more instace/healing friendly build one we are doing the level 60 instances.

I may be asking for too much (maintaining some good melee stuff and being able to heal/nuke decently). I feel that druids are good enough in melee forms without putting points into feral at all (not looking at any tri-builds).

If anyone has any comments or suggestions based on my playing style, feel free.. i am at the 10g level for respecs, so it's getting expensive to try new things on a whim.

Thanks !!

Langevin,
Age old Druid of EverQuest,
WoW Newbie

I'm 24/0/27 now. If you want to keep feral forms viable w/o any other feral talents, definitely keep furor, natural weapons and OOC. Free energy makes a big difference. OOC can also be useful for mana while nuking especially if you are alone/duo.

As GW said, OoC is worth the 6 points if you plan on playing in cat or bear form a good deal. Improved Roots and thorns aren't really that big a deal. There are three outdoor instances, though two of them are lv 60 20 man raids. The other is Zul'Farak, which you are just about the right level to run. You can mount up in ZF, as well as root and use NG. But thats not enough to make improved roots worthwhile, IMO.

Furor > MoTW always, unless you are a raid buff-bot. I have iMoTW for raiding purposes (resto druid), but really miss having free energy / rage. Makes a HUGE difference while leveling. iMoTW is a very minimal increase in stats until you get to 60. The 5 points are better spent in Furor.

Natural Shapeshifter is nice if you are shifting a lot. You won't shift as much if you have a dedicated healer (your wife's pally), as you can just stay in cat to dps, and not worry about shifting out to heal, so take that into consideration. Though for those solo times Natural Shapeshifter is really nice. At lv 60, shifting costs 687 mana. So you can do the math on the savings.

A lot of people (myself included) leveled feral then respeccd to something more healing friendly. Main reason being, Feral druids can heal 5 man instances just fine all the way up to endgame, and even in endgame can be great off-healers as feral. One talent low in the resto tree that is super useful for healing is Natures Focus. Having a 70% chance that your heals won't get interrupted is huge.

If you haven't tried it yet, I'd suggest putting 11 points into feral for Feral Charge. Its really cool to be able to drop into bear (with free rage from furor) and immediatley charge a mob, interrupt their casting and stun them for a minute, bash, shift out, root, nuke a few times, then shift into cat to finish them off.

There are a few different, very viable paths that you can go down. Emphasis on feral is most common for leveling, as your damage output greatly increases, so leveling is quicker and easier. You will find yourself spending a lot of time in forms while leveling... the 24/0/27 build won't be super effective except in instances, and nuking in your 40's isn't the qickest or most efficient way to kill enemies. Having a few points in feral makes life a lot easier. Natures Swiftness (21 point talent in resto tree) is godly as well - its an instant heal every 3 minutes. Saves a lot of lives in solo'ing and instancing. I can't see your current build cause of a firewall, but yeah. Sorry to be all over the board here. Main thing is that you have fun!

Tbh, I found feral to be most effective leveling up :S

Excellent tips everyone, thanks.. Yes I often wondered how less effective resto would be. Quite honestly, the main thing I wanted resto for is for the instant heal ability. You get all the spells anyhow... they aren't less effective, just a little less mana. I would never put points into criticals for regrowth or anything to draw extra aggro.

I will consider feral points. I spend 80% of each battle with mobs higher levels than us in cat form. Mobs that are 1-2 above and under I stay in cat nearly the entire time. My wife specifically spec'd Holy and some protection to be the meat shield.. so it is logical to go more melee. The beauty of this game is that you can always respec later...

Is there an easy way to tell when OoC is active? I don't usually have the combat log on, maybe it says something in there. There's no buff icon that I've noticed.

Thanks again for the tips.. I am thinking of respecing and putting the least amount of points into resto. The more I think about it, I really nuke even less than I heal... since I am almost always in cat form...

There is a buff icon for OOC, looks like a blue lightning bolt or something, you can also turn on scrolling combat text from the interface menu to get real clear messages on that and Nature's Grace procs too.

Edit: (Deleted)

Nevermind, i figured it out!

Thanks again !