I am starting a new druid on horde and I was looking at a talent progression that will give me some variety, and respec costs aren't an issue since my main warlock donates lots of cash, so here is my talent progression on a horde pvp server:

10-20 Improve wrath, entangling roots, (basically be a caster, let roots tangle and nuke away)

Get cat form respec to all feral until I hit 40 and respec to moonkin

Moonkin until 60 and respec and get mangle

I plan to play in cat and was even thinking of leaving out bear talents (feral charge).

End game I would either respec to mainly a healer build, or maybe bear tank. So far we're talking 3 respecs, and that's not all that bad. I tend to solo most of the time and do quests.

What cha think?

The level 10-20 idea sounds great (wish I would have done that). As does the 20-40. Though I'm not too sure 40-60 will work out all that well as there is almost no moonkin gear pre-BC (from quests and green drops). But with a bit of gold and a trip, or two, to the AH it just might work. Are you leveling LW at the same time? If you take the time to keep your LW skill max'd (buy/grind matts with your main) while you level, you might be able to fill in the moonkin gear gaps until you reach the Outlands.

Feral charge is too fun to leave out for one point.

Progression of your build sounds solid. I'd personally say go feral from 20 - 70, but thats just me :P Never really got into lazerchicken, though it is quite powerful.

Feral from 40 - 60 is crazy, mainly cause of iLoTP (very rarely have to shift out to heal), and the fact that there is a lot more feral-oriented gear in that level range (unless you are looking to pick up cloth caster type gear).

But if you are looking to experience all aspects of a druid while leveling, your plan sounds spot on.

Feral charge is too fun to leave out for one point.FWIW, I leveled Feral and didn't take Feral Charge until lvl 63? 65? FC serves 2 purposes. PvP stun and for tanking for the "damn it! CC broke and the mob is running for the healer, better go get that" move. I'm on a PvE server, so I didn't need to waste the point while leveling and I didn't plan to even start tanking until I had lacerate. Even now when I PvP (BG stuff), I don't think I ever use it. But I seem to use it 1-3 times per run for tanking.
Feral from 40 - 60 is crazy, mainly cause of iLoTP (very rarely have to shift out to heal), and the fact that there is a lot more feral-oriented gear in that level range This is very true. Even more so now that blizzard changed HotW a couple patches back to boost AP rather than str. Which means that rogue gear (plentiful pre-BC) is nearly as good as true Kitty gear.

Feral charge was useful tanking mara, for those knockbacks the hydra and princess do. Also for runners in the world.

Mainly, its just fun to see a giant ass bear charge really fast at something. far more fun as a warrior imo, but nonetheless, its awesome.

I've switched and changed my druid continually from about level 30 upwards, it's only play money and I love the various aspects of being a druid.

In truth I'm hard pushed to recommend Balance as a pure levelling spec. It is good fun to play certainly and you'll have no problems taking on multiple mobs a couple of levels higher than you. But in comparison to Feral the downtime between batches of mobs is that much higher due to your mana usage.

With feral you can just lay waste to a bunch of mobs, pop out, stick a heal or two down, pop back to cat and lay waste to another bunch of mobs while your mana regens. It's rare that you'll ever need to pop a mana pot or even a health pot for that matter and once you get the underspore pod from zangarmarsh, that'll amply cover your health mana needs pretty much from that point on for levelling.

If you're having a play and don't really care too much about "optimal" levelling speed then give balance a go, it's a hoot (sorry) if nothing else. But if you're planning on taking balance for speed of levelling then personally I'd suggest sticking Feral, you're a better out and out killing machine and the improved stealth pays massive dividends on many quests where you can't be arsed to slay everything in sight before you can pick up the foozle.

underspore pod?

what is this underspore pod from zangarmarsh that you speak of?

Its a reward from a sporregar quest. "Bring me a shrubbery" I believe. The pod allows you to conjure 'free' food to eat.

Nellie, were you talking about the essence infused mushroom that either returns health or mana every time you kill a mob (10sec CD)?

The Mushroom is a trinket that I'd not tended to use, when I levelled the Hunter it didn't end up being particularly useful (In the days before Aspect of Viper) so I admit I ignored it completely as a druid and was running around Feral by that time. Having something that gives health is a bit point less when you can pop out and cast a rejuve anytime you need it before going back to melee.

As a Balance/Resto Druid the mana regen might well be bloody useful.

The pod is the reward for Bring me a Shrubbery and for grinding I still use it with the Hunter and now I've taken the druid resto they're bloody useful on that toon too. Nothing flash, nothing fancy, but 10 free mana and health food per day isn't to be sniffed it when levelling/grinding. They don't buff and they're not a patch on a Mage's Mana biscuits but I think they're great.

I must go back to Zang and have a look for that...

Sorry I got confused, it's a Sporeggar Quest reward for Underbog
"Oh it's on":
http://thottbot.com/q9717

If you're feral you can probably stealth your way to the Mushroom boss, loot the plant behind him and scarper.

That pod was wonderful while leveling. It's been in my bags since I hit 70 on all my toons, as its only like 4500 health and mana or something, but pre-ridiculous amounts of stam at 70, its nice.

fwiw I never used that mushroom either.

yep, at 70+ when you're eppic'ed to the nines it's not a replacement for Raid/Mage level food, but for grinding I still use them, 10 free food a day? can't complain and it's relatively easy to keep it stacked to 20 when starting off.