Right now I'm a lvl. 37 feral spec, but once I hit 70 I'm going to repec into balance or resto. What are the advantages and drawbacks to each, especially balance? I've heard nothing but bad things about balance, like how nobody likes moonkins and such. Any suggestions on what I should go with?

Balance:
Balance is the most unaccepted form of the druid.

But it can be a blast when right played and with gear.
ost top guilds which have Black Tempel on farmstatus have a moonkin in there raid.

I would recommend that you start collecting caster gear once u reach outlands.
You'll find not much gear for a balance druid till 70.
But u can use cloth till there.

At 70 it has gotten alot easier through the PvP-Items to get a raiding-starter-equip.

Resto:
Resto-Druids are really good healers and no guild i know would want to live without them. Also its the most challenging healing class in game(my opinion). But when played right u can rule the healing-meters of your guild.

It comes down in what u like to play in the end.

If you spec resto, you will spend all your time healing.

The advantage of resto is that it is the easiest spec with which to gain entry into raids.
The main disadvantage is that it becomes difficult to kill things on your own; you really need a group to get anything done with any sort of efficiency.


If you spec balance, you will find yourself casting damage spells from afar.

The main advantage to balance is the fun factor. A lot of people find playing as balance fun, and it still leaves you the flexibility to help with healing if your main healer dies, or your group is being overwhelmed.

The disadvantage of balance spec is that it has a certain stigma in raids. Many people believe (incorrectly) that taking a Moonkin druid on a raid is a waste of a raid spot. In reality a skilled Moonkin (ie balance druid) can hold their own on the damage meters quite easily, and their flexibility with regards to offhealing and the moonkin aura (which grants 5% spell critical chance to everyone in your party) is very useful for other classes such as fire mages.


-Annikk

If you spec resto, you will spend all your time healing.

The advantage of resto is that it is the easiest spec with which to gain entry into raids.
The main disadvantage is that it becomes difficult to kill things on your own; you really need a group to get anything done with any sort of efficiency.

So true, on so many levels. I raised myself feral - finished EVERY quest in Outlands - before I switched to Resto. Resto is very rewarding. I am offered top spot in all the raids, and quite truthfully, I enjoy battlegrounds more as a healer.

But, if I forget to throw on my feral set before I set out for anything, I'm reminded of it the hard way. For example, I have to heal myself at least once if suddenly attacked by a lower level elemental in Nagrand while herb gathering.

:mad: Very frustrating.

I second a lot of the above and only want to add the following...jump into some instances and battlegrounds and observe for yourself what you end up doing. I was resto and balance before I realized that in BGs I kept getting right into the thick of things in cat or bear. In fact, I enjoyed it much better than standing back and casting (except for starfire crits...those were fun!!) The middle of a fight is NOT the place for a caster so I've been feral ever since.

I also noticed while doing instances that I found healing boring and thus was bad at it (nothing like wiping a party because you were staring off into space or dozing off). I found that ultimately preferred tanking and dps.

That being said, I don't shun casting - whether raiding or PvPing, I try my best to see which of my druidy talents are needed when (spot heals, moonfire DoTs, battle rezzes and such).

This is your downtime so do what you enjoy. :)

Thanks for the input everybody. In the instances I've gone through so far (Deadmines and Stockades) even though I have no healing gear, I always ended up healing and doing some dps. Just about everytime I'm on I'm in a group with someone so if I heal I don't think I'd have to worry too much about being able to take things down. How difficult is it (or how long does it take) to find good healing gear?

How difficult is it (or how long does it take) to find good healing gear?Not too difficult. Don't be afraid to take cloth items.

Here's a great blog dedicated to Druid healing...

http://www.resto4life.com/

I always healed in a feral set - while leveling. I didn't really seek out a "healing" set until I was certain that I wanted to re-spec to Resto.

When I started raid healing, believe it or not, I just hit the AH and purchased all the +healing greens I could find. They aren't that expensive, and it was worth it. It took no time to gear myself out in all epics.

While always trying to improve my healing set, now I find myself in dire need of better "feral" gear. It's that bloody "have your cake and eat it too" problem. :wink:

while leveling a 2nd set for healing is really nice.
but u wont find much +healing items in your level-range.
just take the one with +INT and +SPIRIT and you are good to go.
max your manapool and you are good to go.

as soon you reach outlands you should start collecting more specific gear sets.
either go for resto/balance sets or resto/fearl(dps,tank) sets.
i can asure you that u would have a hard time collecting all gear sets(if you wanna have good sets).
i collected all the sets over time and am full epic now in all of them(balance, resto, feral-tank, feral-dps) but it costs extremly much money to keep them up to date (sockets, enchants, etc.). U may collect the mats for 1 or maybe 2 sets, but keeping up 4 sets.... not easy...not recommended ;-D

I'd say the most important gear to look out for as a levelling feral, is feral dps gear. This is because your dps gear directly affects your ability to kill with speed. If you can kill fast, quests will get done quicker :>

Definitely look out for all types of gear, though.


-Annikk

i collected all the sets over time and am full epic now in all of them

Woot! :thumbsup:

My newest druid alt I'm levelling Balance (level 37 atm), but I've ended up healing several of the instance PuGs I've done with no problem. On the other hand, my druids have always been feral before this, and not had much problem healing when needed either.

About every 10 levels or so I've gone to the AH to look and see what +healing gear is available. Literally done a search for "of Healing", and usually found a couple of pieces better that what I had. Other than that, I pick up whatever boss loot/quest rewards/green drops I come across that have more int than what I'm currently wearing. My general priority at this level is +Spell damage(rarely), + int (most common), + heal, then spirit/stam as tie breaker when comparing equipment.

Also, I keep a secondary set filled out with a focus on strength for my kitty moments. Like the Ogre Mage staff that dropped from a random mob in the mid 20s in Duskwood - + 12 Str. Made my druid a happy kitty. Still using it 15ish levels later in my feral set.

Oh, and I heartily recommend a gear swapping mod like Closet Gnome or ItemRack - whenever I shift form, my gear changes to the appropriate set automatically and near instantly. The only downside is Blizzard's limitation that you can't swap gear when you're in combat, but that goes for manually swapping too.