I was curious if anyone had any advice about this. Here is what I was thinking, as you level maybe a different talent tree may help you level faster or make it a more enjoyable expierance as appose to the cookie cutter tree. For the more powergamers that just grind all the way to 60 asap I don't think this would apply, more for the casual gamer who may play a few hours a week, where 60 is much harder to obtain.

There are a few threads in the talent forum that discuss alternate talent distributions specifically geared to lower levels. There seems to be general agreement that the restoration-heavy build popular at level 60 isn't as great during the grinding process. Omen of Clarity is a great example - it's probably more valuable during the climb than at the summit. Plus, at only 11 points into Balance, it's actually available for most of the grind. Innervate, by contrast, can't be obtained until level 40 at least.

Must haves for leveling up in my humble opinion:

Balance; Nature's Grasp, Imp. Roots, Nature's Reach, Omen of Clarity
Feral; Ferocity, Sharp Claws, Charge
Restore; Furor, Nature's Focus, Gift of Nature

Furor helps with Charge tho, since you can shift and automatically charge the target. Nature's Focus is really must for healing under fire wheather solo or in a group. Grasp and Imp. Root are your get outa jail free card. OoClarity will double the time you can solo without drinking usually. Get those in whatever order you see fit. You can always respec once you reach higher levels and play style changes. Best of luck.

Imp roots is a loser for PvP, given all the trinkets and abilities/items in the game to escape (coupled with diminishing returns). In PvE, I've never found it necessary given the low base cast time (1.5) of the spell. If it worked indoor (or more instances were outdoor), I would have it.

While there are a lot of feral abilities (and not just ones in Feral tree) that would be great leveling up (feline swiftness comes to mind too), I got to 60 without a whole lot of difficulty on a Rest build (after the first 5 points in NG).

Once you're in your 40s, you can pretty much get the majority of your experience running instances (Uldaman, ZF, Maraudon...). Innervate is just an incredible talent to have, and the shortage of healers in the game in general make it easy for a Druid to get a group.

That said, soloing as a Rest druid is painfully slow. If solo is more your style of play, some kind of Feral Build (with Nature's Swiftness in Rest Tree once you can get it) may work a lot better for you. If you want to solo faster, you might want to roll a rogue, mage, hunter or shaman.

I'm a firm believer in the idea of acquiring talent points that are usable immediately. Personally, I believe those that level to 41 and spec to Innervate the entire way for example are just asking for more difficult times. More specifically, the talent does not appear to be truly helpful until you are involved with end-game encounters. I am only 37 atm, but I have not once needed it, nor do I forsee any purpose for the talent until much, much later. But I digress.

Imho, from 10-19, Furor and Nature's Focus are perfect as starting talents and can be used as soon as you get the points. Furor to help drop a demo roar or maul sooner and Focus to help from being interupted while healing. From 20-29, Nature's Grasp (and Imp.) and Ferocity effectively help how well fights go at this stage. In the 20's is when you will find yourself more in +1 add situations on (solo) pulls, so NG is great for that guaranteed instant root so you can back up and heal to finish the add off. Ferocity just means you can now instantly get off that demo roar as soon as you shift into bear. Imho debuffs (demo roar and ff) make a very noticable difference in the pace of each encounter.

These 4 (+1 for imp ng) talents form a very solid basis for leveling up. After those, you should be able to know what play style is most enjoyable to you, so you should be able to make a fairly educated guesstimate on what talents to acquire next. As an added bonus, these same 4 (+1) talents form the basis of pretty much any of the "cookie cutter, end-game" druid builds, so you shouldn't have to respec.

In summary, up to lvl 55ish or so, get the talents that help you level up the easiest/quickest. Once you are at the end-game levels, then you can focus on your "Innervate build", or whatever else.

Meh, just my 2 coppers.

Nature's Reach and Innervate are godly for PvP, not so much for leveling up. Nature's Swiftness is a must-have for any part of the game.

Personally, I believe those that level to 41 and spec to Innervate the entire way for example are just asking for more difficult times. More specifically, the talent does not appear to be truly helpful until you are involved with end-game encounters.

Say that after you've main-healed pickup groups for divino in ZF and done 12 princess runs to get your Headress and Neck item from Maraudon.

It's even useful in PvP ala Warsong Gulch. In-combat mana regen is just plain yummy.

I will give you this - outside instance, non-elites, PvE you really don't use it a whole lot.

The OP is refering to just the early levels, hence my suggestion. It is my humble opinion that a) you will get the most bang for your talent buck if you spec in the basic 4+1 talents I posted and b) those same 4+1 talents form a good basis for any of the more specific builds later on with which you can then acquire said Inn, NS, FS, etc. I do not consider any 21+ talent an early level acquisition.

As an alternate option, those that went the Omen of Clarity route to start off may have a bit of input as to how well that worked for them in the early lvls (10-20). I have read many posts proclaiming how efficient the talent is while grinding via melee in caster form. I can only assume 5pts into Imp Wrath, 2pts into Nature's Reach, and then 3 pts in whatever (NG+2/4 ING ?) would be benificial enough for that playstyle. Someone with more OoC experience please elaborate.

Regardless, it still comes down to your own personal preference. To the OP I say this: as you level up with your druid, pick and chose the talents that will help you the most be as efficient and enjoyable as you desire and pay absolutely no attention to any of the "end" builds. When you get closer to said "end", then you can start thinking more about those builds at that time but again only if any of those particular builds happen to fit your style. No matter what, have fun!