I just turned 50 last night which means I will finally be able to group with my level 60 friends in AV and soon will be able to group with them in AB as well as WSG.

Our guild is fairly small, a group of friends mostly, but we have enough people at 60 that we're looking to become a primarily group-based PVP guild.

As a PVP druid, I am, of course, quite feral. My current track looks to be 11/32/8, though I may very well turn that into a 5/32/14, depending on how well Omen of Clarity serves me in PVP situations. If it appears to be overrated, I may redo my talents and dump those extra points into the restoration tree.

My question, though, is just what my role should be in a PVP group.

The group I will be most likely to team up with is apt to be a warrior, a priest, a mage and either a shaman or a rogue, with shaman being far more likely. In PVE, it's obvious that with that makeup my role would be as primary melee DPS in catform and backup healing, as well as low-grade crowd control in bearform and backup tanking.

What's my role in a PVP situation, though? The friend I'm playing this game to hang out with has challenged me with the question of just what purpose I could serve in PVP that wouldn't be better served with one of the core classes my class emulates, a true rogue or a true priest or a true mage or a true warrior.

That I can serve as a backup anything isn't the answer I really need. My flexibility is not to be denied. However, I can't think of anything new and potent I bring to the table. In most (I do stress most) BG situations, my battle rez is more or less useless. I am arguing that the druid is unique in that no class other than hunters have the maneuverability of speed boost and full attack ability, and hunter pets are going to be severely nerfed in the next patch as far as their ability to run and gun. It seems to me that with a feral cat's 30% speed boost, stealthing skills, tracking ability and unique ability to do damage while speed enhanced, druids have an almost unparalelled mastery of the battlefield (once again, hunters can claim a similar degree of mastery, but I'm being self-interested here) as well a tremendous ambush potential that couples well with their ability to control the territory around a flag in WSG or an assault point in AB.

I'd love to hear more points, though. Anything I can say to justify the existence of our class in BGs (and yes, I know that insty-click travelform is the best for flag carrying, but we all pretty much hate WSG compared to AB and AV) is very welcome. Thanks!

I just noticed that there was a PVP board just one click down from this one, so if this should be moved, go ahead and do so. Though it seems that more people read and post in the general board, so I wouldn't mind if it were left here.

Druids primary role in group pvp is healer. Other people will say "I don't like to heal" or "Priest heal better" or "I'm feral...raarrr" or "moonfire!" but whatever... if you wanna win your first focus is healing.

I've seen the alliance druids on my server and for the most part I laugh.. moonkin lol, there's a feral that likes to attack me lolx2. In my regular AB group there's a feral druid with a Hammer of Bestial Wrath... still doesn't make me drool and he doesn't lead the scoreboards (I do run with some heavy hitters... he is against BWL/MC warriors/mages/rogues)and he still has to heal which will hurt your kill count)).

So why Druid and not Priest? I don't really feel like going over all the advantages/disadvantages of it now.. easy answer is "I made a druid."

We have 3 things no priest has
1)Viable Tank form (shadowform is really laughable when compared to bear)
2)mobile stealth
3)We can wear Green Welp Armor! aka sorry rogues no easy kill for you.

50 is not a good lvl for av

the mobs in there are sometimes 62 elites which means you will not be able to do squat againt them in any form

you can heal but to be honest your just a liability until you hit 55 or so

i do both feral and healing. Druids ability to stealth is not always best used for offense. I use it as a defensive tactic as well to draw players in. Half of winning BG's is distracting your opponents. When a couple enemies come strolling up and only see a warrior standing there, they attack. What they do not realize is me standing there in stealth. Rogues often do not see me either, so they see a single defender as easy prey. I usually open with ravage in cat, switch to bear if i become the target, and switch out to heal as necessary.

I generally play feral to open, restore to finish in my bg fights. Healing is very important, and many do not bother to do it. Healing WILL win you the battle, so I have to agree with some of the comments above me.

But do not underestimate the ability to draw 1-2 maybe even 3 people out and distract them with what looks like a lone defender. Druid + nearly any class are hard as hell to kill, and can withstand an onslaught for quite some time until reinforcments arrive (if they are needed at all). while those 3 attackers are playing around with you and your teammate(s), they are not helping their team, and you are successfully defending what is yours (talking mostly in the AB context here).

Also, as a druid in feral gear (atleast on the alliance side) you do not look like a healer, you look more like a rogue. That usually means you can heal and be left alone 80% of the time.

"I'm feral...raarrr" or "moonfire!"

So why Druid and not Priest? I don't really feel like going over all the advantages/disadvantages of it now.. easy answer is "I made a druid."


:crazy: It's simple. Priests are healbots with lame shadow damage spells. Druids have the best aspect of tanks, casters, AND healers. Druids clearly are better.

I usually defend a node (in AB) or I'm an assault healer.

I start in the background and toss some heals on my friends.. but as all good players noticed that I do this, they usually attack me and I go melee.

Also, as a druid in feral gear (atleast on the alliance side) you do not look like a healer, you look more like a rogue. That usually means you can heal and be left alone 80% of the time.

Huh? Everyone knows what class you are as they have the options checked in CTmod.

Just judging peoples class by their appearance is indeed brave.. but not very smart imo. =)

Huh? Everyone knows what class you are as they have the options checked in CTmod.

Just judging peoples class by their appearance is indeed brave.. but not very smart imo. =)

So I can't use a big ol' sword on a mage and not be jumped? ^^

Hehe..

Let's say they don't know what class you are.. don't you think they will get kinda suspicious when the "rouge" starts healing people with a big green animation over their heads.

Maybe it works on your server.. but not on mine. =)

Healing is very important, and many do not bother to do it. Healing WILL win you the battle, so I have to agree with some of the comments above me.

That, I think, is one of the big reason's Horde usually wins the BG's. Horde has one extreemly popular and tough healing class in their Shamans, plus druids and priests. Alliance has the much less popular Pally with a lower damage outuput, plus druids and priests. In the BG's I was in, I was either the only healer, or one of two. Horde had at least 3-4 shamans and sometimes a couple priests. More healers on the alliance side might even the battle a little. Of course I've only been in a few BG's and those were the 10-19 instances. The class dispersion may level out later, but the ratio of players able to heal was a big obstacle for us to overcome because alliance doesn't have the "cool" healing class. There just aren't as many. I mean its been talked about alot. Pallys are a vast majority of ineffective healers, but the minority is just unbelieveably good. You tell someone you're a pally and they think bubble/hearth and forget about it. Its not "cool" to be a pally most times. Even a good pally has an uphill battle to convince others they are good.

Which brings me to another point. While everyone is free to play however they want, in a situation where it is Us vs Them, a Team effort to achieve a goal healers should heal. If you can heal and healing is needed and you choose not to you are just gimping your mates. Its different when building a raid, you plan on DPS, Heal, CC etc. If you go as DPS and throw a heal now and then, its bonus. In a situation where you are the only person able to heal you should. Sometimes you have to make a temporary sacrifice and play as MH so that ALL of you can win. /rant off

Nyte

That, I think, is one of the big reason's Horde usually wins the BG's.

They do? :)

On topic: Get a good PvP group and stick with it. AB is all about teamwork.

From what I understand, on most servers, the Horde wins the majority, of course that will change when my uber 20 druid gets higher level and I become the best druid ever, :wink:

Yeah, I met a couple rogues, a hunter, and a warrior that later asked me to Deadmines, my first instance. Hopefully they will become a regular group because we were tearing through things in BG.

Nyte

Case and point:

Last BG I was in, I was lv 49. Haven't gotten into BG's since, as at lv 50 I am pretty ineffective against lv 59's. At 49, I was pretty well off. I was in AB, guarding the control point at the Mine. There was a lv 40 priest that was shadowmelded in a bush, and I was in cat stealthed right next to the control marker thing. Horde wouldn't see me or the priest, and would come up in 2's and 3's thinking they had a free control point. The priest hid in the bush healing me (he was lv 40), and I was able to kill 2, 3, and one time 4 horde at a time in bear form, and never gave up that control point.

Ally won that round like 300-260. I only got about 15hk's, while the rogues and hunters that were running around wildly got 40+, but I am sure that myself and the priest working together won that round for us. No one even said thanks, let alone acknowledged us, but we were satisfied knowing that we had contributed significantly to an ally win. Using that method, and pretty much the same PuG, we went on to win the next 3/4 before I had to log. By the third game we won in a row, ally was starting to notice that the mine was very rarely being contested, and that a nasty feral druid :) and a priest were dominating down there. Hopefully that helped some others realize the benefits of healing and teamwork.

Who am I kidding, Ally BG's are all about all of the alliance trying to get as many hk's as possible, regardless of the outcome. On spirestone, this is why Horde owns us. :mad2:

Who am I kidding, Ally BG's are all about all of the alliance trying to get as many hk's as possible, regardless of the outcome. On spirestone, this is why Horde owns us. :mad2:

Ya i know the feeling.

Random ally teams are usually only about loladins and shadow priests trying to get HK's.

The most fun thing is.. you get more CP's for teaming and winning than you'll EVER get from trying to solo HK's in AB.

As said. Try to organize a permanent team. Get a good tactic going and issue people to different tasks (defending, assaulting etc).

I win more than 9 of 10 games when I play AB with my current team. And i get more CP's from that even if I have 0-0-0 in kill score.

It's all about teamwork.

It just really depends on what you need at the time, I do everything in PvP. Sometimes I go with the stealth and capture stuff, sometimes I guard a flag which I can do better than any other class in the game with stealth and track humanoid plus bear form and travel form to keep people from killing me and moonfire to keep them off the flag. Sometimes I'll drop a caster with cat form to start a fight, sometimes I'll heal and root enemy melee, sometimes I'll go bear and just soak up damage after I get heal aggro.

Now don't get me wrong, healing is important but it isn't what wins or loses battles. Proper usage of resources wins and loses battles... there are many cases where more DPS > more healing. You just need to learn what is needed when and go with it.

healing is important but it isn't what wins or loses battles

No single aspect of the game wins battles, but with DPS being such a given and healing being lacking in general... from a druid point of view healing is what wins the day.

I'm not saying 1 on 1, only heal... and there are gonna be times when you melee/cast whatever... but overall healing is our strenght and what wins group pvp battles.

I solo guard resources, I solo cap bases (altho I rely on engineering more then DPS... MC cap and Ice Refelctor can go far in the right situations in AB/wsg). I also tank alot in PVP as healing is a hella' taunt... but the second they give up on beating the bear, I'm back to taunting ;)

WAHHHHH more horde! Shamans suck.... They r overrated. TOO MUCH POWER!!! Earthbind reallly bugs too in BG... Why does it seem like only Horde cares bout PvP??? Too many shammy and no druids i swear there r like no druids in PvP on my server.

If you play the classes to their advantages and use your brain you will win.

People don't seem to understand that winning BG's isn't about killing people, it's about stalling them so you can steal what they own, whether its a flag, graveyard or resource. A sheep/root/mez is a far more efficient way to remove someone from a fight than killing them. If one person can take 2 others out of contention, you're a long way to winning. Crowd control wins BG's, not kills. If you do your crowd control right, the kills just come.

Pallies absolutely rock in BG's against Pickup Groups because people are dumb enough to try and kill them. They're as good as crowd control coz you usually have 3-4 people trying to kill 1 pally while the others on the team are free to do whatever they want.

Sorry, got off track. As a Druid in BG's, your roles are:

Hibernate Feral Druids
Root Melee (make them use their 90 second cooldown trinkets)
Faerie Fire Rogues
Heal

In WSG slow down defenders chasers as much as you can when your team has the flag. Heal. Root. Faerie Fire Rogues.

In AV heal that Warrior/Pally that charges into 5 enemies coz you can be sure a Mage, Warlock or Hunter will take advantage of grouped up enemies and they're far better at it than you will ever be. Heal. Root. Faerie Fire Rogues.

In AB crowd control again, even if its a root on a passing mounted enemy. They have to unmount, remove or wait out the root and then move again. It could mean the difference bewteen a flag cap and not. Heal. Root. Faerie Fire Rogues.

In case you didn't get it. Heal. Root. Faerie Fire Rogues.

Let's say they don't know what class you are.. don't you think they will get kinda suspicious when the "rouge" starts healing people with a big green animation over their heads.

I can only tell you from my experience. Nothing says healer than a brightly glowing yellow 2h staff...i swapped in my feral weapon (Bonecrusher) and that cut down on the number of attacks i got immediately. You would be suprised how many people do not look at your class, and instead look at what you look like.

I can only tell you from my experience. Nothing says healer than a brightly glowing yellow 2h staff...i swapped in my feral weapon (Bonecrusher) and that cut down on the number of attacks i got immediately. You would be suprised how many people do not look at your class, and instead look at what you look like.

Server issue i reckon.

I would never get away with that.

For right now. I am pretty much the number one target in all the BG's I am in. I'm ony level 22, meaning I am a pretty fast kill for the Horde, plus I'm a healer so even if they don't notice my level, the notice my green glowing hands.

However I also have to agree with Taithos. At my level, and for many levels to come, I can't outheal unless its a two on one battle. I can however keep the melee damage dealers away from the flag carrier, and I can hibernate the druids and the shaman in travel form. I can also martyr myself, which I've been doing a lot, and draw the fire of 5 or six people by pretending to be a big bad bear. They all kill me and the other guy gets away. I was uncomfortable at first going into the BG on the low end of the levels, but I am still usefull so I got over it.

Every army needs footsoldiers. For now I can't really play too active of a role because I die quickly, meaning I'm in the graveyard when the rest of the group gets the HKs. Which is fine. For now I'm learning the tactics, like the hunter jump/turn/concussive shot/turn when I am chasing them. Later I will know how to deal with them, for now I just take my licks and try to be helpful.

Nyte

Sorry, got off track. As a Druid in BG's, your roles are:

Hibernate Feral Druids
Root Melee (make them use their 90 second cooldown trinkets)
Faerie Fire Rogues
Heal

In WSG slow down defenders chasers as much as you can when your team has the flag. Heal. Root. Faerie Fire Rogues.

In AV heal that Warrior/Pally that charges into 5 enemies coz you can be sure a Mage, Warlock or Hunter will take advantage of grouped up enemies and they're far better at it than you will ever be. Heal. Root. Faerie Fire Rogues.

In AB crowd control again, even if its a root on a passing mounted enemy. They have to unmount, remove or wait out the root and then move again. It could mean the difference bewteen a flag cap and not. Heal. Root. Faerie Fire Rogues.

In case you didn't get it. Heal. Root. Faerie Fire Rogues.


This is ONE way to play a druid in PvP, its not the only way. There are countless situations where a feral druid in cat or bear form is going to be more important than someone rooting someone for 5 seconds here and there and healing. I find limiting yourself to one role to be playing away from the druids strengths, not into it.

indeed. Druids role is to adapt to the situation as they see fit. Thats our strong point. Saying "this is the correct way" is mostly bs, its only one part of the picture which is being painted by the situation at hand.

I can also martyr myself, which I've been doing a lot, and draw the fire of 5 or six people by pretending to be a big bad bear.

It always astounds me how easily distracted people are, quickly forgetting about the flag carrier (whom they are helping or chasing) because someone had the cheek to hit them.

There is no one set role for a druid in PVE, PVP or whatever. DO what you can personally do best. Do what your gear permits. Do what the situation demands. The only thing you need to have as a constant in the life of a druid is the ability to be flexible and know that nothing else is a constant.

In AB chances are you will heal a lot or go cat and gank.

In WSG chances are you either tank run/ travel form or support the runner.

In AV there a cat is invaluable. Get with a few rogues and go on stealth runs. Track humanoid is a gift and druids are the only stealthers that have it.

But you know what, even if you're healer, going bear and stunning that rogue for 5-6 seconds is going to spare a lot of damage and probably save a life than blowing a few heals won't.

Why not stealth in a kill the healers before trying work on the heavies especially if you target is a pally or shaman. (or another druid for that matter)

All that being said the ability to react is the most important thing in any fight. That goes for real life too.

Well said, I don't agree with a few of the roles you have, but I see where you are coming from on them.

I have been fortunate latelty, thanks to a guildmate that pvp,s hardcore and is ranked #4, to get invites to what is considered the best Alliance AB group on our server.

Now I am feral spec, they know that, but I dont kid myself. I get in because I can heal and they know I will. I mix up my gear so I get atleast 5k mana and still get 9k ac in bear. I dont like to use my wildheart unless im healing in an instance , because in the BG's a druid in wildheart might as well be wearing a big target. I put +22 int on my warden Staff becuase I like the stats it gives me as a combat medic, (and becuase it was free).

I try and stealth in just before each fight so they dont see me then pop up and start healing. Ofcourse I also mix in roots, FF, wrath and moonfire. You can tell right away if you are against an organized group because you will get nailed usually after your first or maybe second heal.
Healing is definately the key to BG's, well atleast in AB, and anybody that is able to heal should whenever the need arises.
I think that alot of people still do not realize just how versatile a good feral druid can be, or any spec druid for that matter.

Again don't forget about the druid's versatility (sp?). It kind of depends who you are playing as to what style you will use.

I am now a 32 druid so I can not speak for people who normally face well organized teams. What I have noticed in the battlegrounds is that sometimes you get a group with a ton of healers and no dps or tank while other times you are the only healer. Do what you need to do at the present time. Heal if you must, dps if you must, CC if you must... you get the picture.

Again I like playing this way and I think druids should use all their skills based on the situation at hand.

Combat healer FTW! \o/

Druids are insanely annoying as defenders also.. trust me.. we are hard as hell to kill fast and we have than nice moonfire to interuppt flag cappers while we wait for backup. :D

My experience is only in WSG, but you are right. We make damn good defenders. Very difficult to kill quickly, and in desperation we can bash to buy more time for reinforcements. Perfect combo in my opinion is us and a mage. They have lots of CC possabilities and lots of ranged damage, and we can keep tanking/interupting and healing. Only problems are zergs. But nobody is going to hold out long in a 6 o r8 on 2 situation.

Nyte

Combat healer FTW! \o/

Druids are insanely annoying as defenders also.. trust me.. we are hard as hell to kill fast and we have than nice moonfire to interuppt flag cappers while we wait for backup. :D

Ya there is nothing better than being stealthed on defense when someone tries to ninja a flag in AB. There are so many different ways you can attack them. I like to mess with rogues the most. Ravage is always fun but sometimes on rogues I like to pounce, FF, shred, moonfire then bear. I know its not the same but giving them a taste of their own medicine is a blast. They always seem to come back directly at me ignoring all others.....hehe.

:moon: to the rogues.

Hehe.. the majority of *******s play rouges imo. They probably took it as a personal insult when you catten them to death. :D

Ya I know they hate it. Rogues in general seemed to be threatened by the dps a feral druid can put out, and when you stick it to them they get pissed.

I have had a couple rogues that wanted me to stay in cat for a full duel so they could "show me" how much better they are.
I just tell the dumb asses that its obvious that they know nothing of how a druid works.

You can always get racial also. UD rogues seem to be the a**holes of the horde rogues (when I kill them I count on them running straight at me next time we encounter - they always do - and fail miserably, as usual). Similiar, NE rogues seem to be the a**hats if the alliance rogues.

When I posted my rogue slaying PvP movie on our realm forum, UD rogues whined and trashed me. Orc rogues gave me compliments for a nice PvP movie.

Strange phenomenon really. :)

I'm sorry but no.

Gnome or Dwarf rogues SUCK. They always make a beeline for me. Guess it's cuz I dash right for their flag when I enter WSG and usually pull off 2 flag caps in the first minutes.

:D

First all hiyas to all the Druids of WoW. /Wave.

Second of all I am glad I am now the only Druid who seems to attract the little ones no matter what I do. Napolean complex maybe?

And lasty correct me if I am wrong but the ony good way to play a Druid in PvP is in whatever manner allows you and your crew to kill, crush, and destroy your enemies? I play with two Mages, a Priest, and a Rogue so I have had to come up with some really odd concepts and tatics so just wanna check in with the more experienced pvpers on that one.


Mulk

ps: Why do people chase me across the map when I am in travel or cat form? All I end up doing is typically running in a big circle then my Mage and Priest friends blast them to pieces. I play on a RP server so maybe that is why?

From what I understand, on most servers, the Horde wins the majority, of course that will change when my uber 20 druid gets higher level and I become the best druid ever, :wink:

Yeah, I met a couple rogues, a hunter, and a warrior that later asked me to Deadmines, my first instance. Hopefully they will become a regular group because we were tearing through things in BG.

Nyte

I'm Horde....and with the exception of a few times....we won no contest. My group last night had fun making the comment that the Alliance have to use pots and they still don't stand a chance against us.....haha. They even are all twinked out....and yet we still win. For the Horde!

As for the role I play...it depends on my group. Lately I have been the sneaky FC that can Dash and then turn into Bear form and cap it like no other. But of course last night I did save my bf's @$$ with my lovely healing power and roots. It really just depends on the moment....not just the other classes in my group.

First all hiyas to all the Druids of WoW. /Wave.

Welcome mulk :)

In BG's I tend to find myself adapting roles. But that is typical of a Druid. If our mages are needing some AoE assistance for the Warriors to advance, then I contribute a Hurricane or 2 during the skrimish, I actually heal LESS in BG because with so much going on I don't have time to play Priest and watch everyone's health the entire time. I love running with stealth groups. I can provide them with great support in nearly all the aspects of combat. Toss them heals, Rip faces with Kitty form right along side them, or act as the sponge to their dmg when the enemy decides to try and kill me off first because of my healing.