Hey guys! 1st post, new user.
I'm not sure if i'm posting in the right forum so please let me know if i'm doing it in the wrong place.

First of all, I'm a beginner, and I'm brazillian, so sorry about my english... But, I'm a fast learner! :)

I was never a fan of the "common" role for everything is my life, so i've choosen a not common profession... and choosen a not commom role for my character.

I know so far 99% of the druid's role in wow is focused in a resto specd character, but i'm going for a balance spec! I also know that, "hey, if u wanted to go that way, then why didn't you built up a mage or a warlock?", and that's 'cause I love druids! :)

What am I doing here?
I need some advices and tips from you guys.
For start, let me show you guys what's my idea for the character and the you can (and please) help me build it. So thanks in advance and best regards.

As I'll be focused in the moonkin form most of the time, I'm aware of the "oomkin" jokes and problems. :/
So I'm going mostly for Int, Spi and Sta, grabing every item (or writting them down into a wish-list) that can boost those stats AND/OR (??) enhancing my spell dmg and crit hits, and some for mana regen.

I'll go for my feral set later! ;)

If you are literally just starting, I would suggest spending most of your points in the feral tree and then respecing after level 40. This is because the lower tier talents in feral will help you survive (and kill) better and faster than the lower tier talents in the other trees. Once you get to 40 you can respec and take moonkin all at once.

Before level 10 all druids are balance, from 10-20 we're mostly bears, and 20-40 mostly cats. Its just the natural progression of our abilities. After 40 is where you really start to see specializing in one particular tree.

As for gear while leveling, don't worry about it. Stuff will drop and you will pick it up and wear it and then a couple days later it will be obsolete and you'll pick something else out. Worrying about gear while leveling is a waste of time.

Once you have a clear idea of where you are and where you are going we will be happy to answer any questions you have.

Thanks for the quick response!
I'm actually lvl 43. I've respeced at lvl 40, before that I was kinda of 33% each, mostly thinking about solo survival, and i'm not grinding for lvl (at least not much) since I enjoy the game doing quests. Also, i've saved every cent and didnt bothered at all buying equipment as you've said. I'm also herbalist and alchemist and have worked out almost maximizing both (296 herb+291 alchy). To equip myself, instead of spending money, I've runned some instances about 4 times each after knowing what each mob could drop with some friends.
BTW, i'm a Tauren.

I've been doing some theory calculations that could work nicelly, but I need to know a few things.
Is it possible to raise my spell crit chance to, let's say, 50%?
I mean, using some above average itens, but not counting those mega epic itens, at least not for now. ;) Is it?
If so, how much int points we must have (not counting itens that enhance crits)?

Oh, I misunderstood.

You can not get your spell crit to 50%. I believe the highest you can reasonably raise MF's chance to crit is around 32% and that is if you gear entirely crit heavy, which most people will tell you is unwise as you should focus on +dmg. Most gear with spell crit only gives 1%, some really rare stuff gives two.

I once tried to look up all the crit gear to see what the highest I could get to was. I reached 18%, but that was with the best possible in game, including brilliant wizard oil. Add in 13% from iMF and moonkin aura and you're at 31. Of course, that was pre-Naxx (and possibly AQ, I don't remember now) so better stuff may be out there. I used:

Blacklight bracers - 1% (Kazzak)
Shroud of the Nathrezim - 2% (Strat)
Cap of the Scarlet Savant - 2% (crafted)
Robe of Volatile Power - 2% ?
Taut Dragonhide gloves - 1% (BWL)
Stormrage boots - 1% (BWL)
Cenarion legs - 1% (MC)
Flayed Doomguard Belt - 1% (Kazzak)
Ironbark Staff - 2% (AB exalted)
Pristine South Seas Kelp - 2% [wrath and SF only] (ZG exalted)
Eye of the Beast - 2% (UBRS)
Mindtear band - 1% (Taerar)
Dragonslayer signet - 1% (Onyxia)
Brilliant Wizard oil - 1% (crafted)

EDIT:
replace Cenarion legs w/ Leggings of Polarity - 2% (Naxx)
replace Kelp w/ Gem of Trapped Innocents - 2% (Naxx)
add trinket Eye of Diminution - 2% (Naxx)

with these changes that will be another 5% chance to crit on your MF, or 36% total (not counting any contribution from int), that would totally rock.

If you are serious about building a Balance druid, you will have to start looking into cloth gear for spell damage. There are only a limited selection of leather spell damage gear, and it prolly won't bring your build to its fullest potential. :)

alchemy/herb to be different as a tauren druid? that's a new one! :D

:P

But the main idea is, so that's important!! lol
I just seems natural... Tauren+Druid+Herb+Alchy...

Hmmm... Guess then my theory won't work :(
Someone elsewhere also told me to start looking at some cloth too...

Now you tell me, why the hell blizzard puts you a Balance tree if when you want use it you keep hearing everywhere "nops, wrong way". :confused:

lvl 45 now.
Thanks for the list!!!

When I was moonkin, I never wore cloth, but mostly on principle.

Without ever raiding I was able to get close to +200 dmg/heal and still have 7400+AC, I did great and really enjoyed it.

There are basically 2 types of moonkins:
1. Clothfeathers - use all of the highest +dmg items available, most of which happen to be cloth. Most of these druids play like a mage nuking from a distance, and believe the armor bonus is meant to bring them back to leather equivalent AC since they have to wear cloth. These moonkin go OOM faster and do more damage, but will never be close to the dps of a real mage.

2. Panzerkin - wears leather gear with more hybrid stats but still focusing on +dmg/heal. Many of these druids realize that AC is best used for mitigating damage and therefore needs to be hit. They spec for OOC and carry fast weapons to minimize the swing timer mechanic problem. Melee is an integral part of their combat cycle augmenting dps and giving free casts. Their plate level AC makes them very durable and great against most physical damage dealers. They do less dps than the clothfeathers, but have a very different playstyle than any other class (except Shaman perhaps, but I am alliance).

Hmmm. I like the idea of the panzer one too.
Any kindda of "example" stats or item list?

There is an excellent thread on the officail WoW forums with balance gear listed, it was stickied in the old one and we are trying to get it stickied in the new forum.

Basically pre-end game things to look for:
ZUm rah's Vexxing cane in ZF is a nice weapon with caster stats and +dmg and fairly quick attack spped for a staff

The PvP set has nice balance qualities, if nothing else try to get at least rank 8 for the pants and chest. (pants are uber)

There are a pair of gloves you can get in Silithus with only friendly Cenarion rep that have tons of +dmg (need to do some questing for badges though).

The feralheart set has some really nice pieces, and I found the upgrade quest line from Wildheart to be a lot of fun to boot.

PvP rep has some nice pieces as well, so even if you can't commit to the rank grind try to get exalted with WSG and AB.

While you are working on better stuff try the ironfeather breastplate and shoulders (crafted).

Tunic of the Crescent Moon is a nice chest from the Baron in Strat and Helm of the New Moon is a great balance helm from the Cannonmaster in Live Strat.

Theres plenty of nice stuff in DM as well (a real nice pair of boots but I can't remember the name)

For the cloak I made a Chromatic Cloak for the spell crit and resists, but there are plenty with some +dmg too (crystalline threaded from Silithus is real good, AV rep reward cloak is real easy)

Rings - I like the band of rumination from UBRS and Ring of Earthen Wrath, but I enjoy spell crits too much, there are some nice dmg ones around too.

Neck I would recommend the orb of the darkmoon, it is easily farmable solo and holds up well, even in MC there is little that just blows it away, so I save my dkp for other slots.

no doubt about herb/alchy for taurens. i was expecting u to say something like mining/blacksmithing to be totally different. :)

my team-mate has an alternate set of gear for raids based around max spell dmg potential. she gets around 600 spell dmg (mostly cloth), which is enough for her to stay in that gear on farm raids (~600 spell healing too). she mostly do pve content.

for me, and prolly many other druids out there, we like the idea of taking on a melee role. i collect mainly feral gear as an alternate set, but i also have a leather spell dmg gear set too (just started). i have about 150 spell dmg right now, but from my research on thottbot, we should be able to get close to ~400 with decent (not top of the line) epic level spell dmg gear and misc items out there (eg. rings, trinkets, neck, weapons, off-hands). i don't wanna collect cloth gear either. :|

her priority for her druid: healing > spell dmg > feral
my priority: healing > feral > spell dmg

on a different note, we have an elemental troll shaman in my guild decked in cloth spell dmg gear. in bg, he tosses his lightning bolts @ range. his lightning bolts do ~1k dmg on a non-crit, and ~2k on a crit (with talent). a standard rank 10 lightning bolt deals ~443 dmg. ppl just kinda die around him. chain lightning + regular lightning bolts + instant shocks. :)

the question is... what is your priority? if u go balance build, what can u do to maximize your potential within that tree? what will u be doing with your character? etc etc

spell dmg? spell crit? moonkin? balance w/ NS? pvp? pve? leather? cloth?

stuff like that, i guess...

:P

But the main idea is, so that's important!! lol
I just seems natural... Tauren+Druid+Herb+Alchy...

Hmmm... Guess then my theory won't work :(
Someone elsewhere also told me to start looking at some cloth too...

Now you tell me, why the hell blizzard puts you a Balance tree if when you want use it you keep hearing everywhere "nops, wrong way". :confused:

lvl 45 now.
Thanks for the list!!!

Ok!
Thanks guys!

To tell you guys the truth I love all roles of a druid character, but I guess my priorities are going to be balance > feral > healing.

I like pvp but I'm more focused on getting the end-game stuff (pve?).

Since I also like the idea of getting into some melee, I guess I gonna try going for the best leathers for spell damage, and not spell crit.

Hmmm... got to think about it too...

Endgame PvE leather balance gear, the Genesis set is the way to go, only 5 pieces, so you still have to shop around for the rest of your slots, but for the role you are talking about, its the best.