View Full Forums : General Impressions of a 60 Druid (long)


Create
12-14-2005, 09:27 AM
- Poster of this thread choose to remove it.

~Rahjeir

Gaigar
12-14-2005, 11:24 AM
Create

I was wondering if you have or had any expirence with the 15/36/0 build?

Gaigar

Create
12-14-2005, 12:45 PM
I was wondering if you have or had any expirence with the 15/36/0 build?
I'll give you my take on it if you like but I dont know what you're aiming for. When I see an odd number of points somewhere I usually thing shapeshifter, imp ent roots, or nature's reach for PvP.

I'll make that assumption and, following your 15/36/0 buid that gives you:
Balance
Nature's Grasp rank 1/1
Improved Nature's Grasp rank 4/4
Improved Moonfire rank 1/5
Natural Weapons rank 5/5
Natural Shapeshifter rank 3/3
Omen of Clarity rank 1/1

For PvP that gives you the basic feral support & defensive talents from the Balance tree. I'd recommed shapeshifter for PvP but some disagree. You could take those three points and the point from moonfire and distribute them elsewhere.

Feral
Ferocity rank 5/5
Feral Instinct rank 5/5
Brutal Impact rank 2/2
Feline Swiftness rank 2/2
Feral Charge rank 1/1
Sharpened Claws rank 3/3
Improved Shred rank 2/2
Predatory Strikes rank 3/3
Blood Frenzy rank 2/2
Primal Fury rank 2/2
Savage Fury rank 2/2
Faerie Fire (Feral) rank 1/1
Heart of the Wild rank 5/5
Leader of the Pack rank 1/1

From feral you grab all the damage talents.

This is a basic Balance/Feral setup. Your options for change are swiftshifting, improved moonfire, feline swiftness, feral agression, and fairie fire (feral). If you're not PvP'ing swiftshifting and improved moonfire do nothing for you. If you're not using cat in 5-man and BG's feline swiftness is pretty useless. If you're not tanking PvE fairie fire is useless. This build does not maximize one particular style.

To be honest with you my weak point on knowledge is PvP. I've done a few duels, done about ten WSG matches, and seven or eight AB matches as a druid. That's somewhat limited experience and I by no means call myself an expert. For anything PvE I can speak with much more confidence.

Kebster
12-14-2005, 01:17 PM
If you go feral, its almost required to put 5 points in Furor..thats my opinion =)

Create
12-14-2005, 01:26 PM
I agree, no matter what build you choose 5 points in Furor is a good idea. Even with a full restoration build - caster, bear, bash, caster - is an invaluable tool. Mobs only pound on you for 1 sec.

More often than not I saw PvP builds as 11/31/9. OoC, balance out your feral between the forms, furor & nature's focus.

My last post above was trying to fit within his 15/36/0 definition.

Claritondeus
12-14-2005, 01:41 PM
Feral
This is the best thing to happen to druids...*ever*. I experimented with several builds with a feral focus.

Agreed. Versatility is the name of the game :)


2. 11/31/10: DPS Cat Solo build - OoC / Feral (cat focus) / Furor
Outside of the raids while using the build above I was out running some solo quests. I had been trying to max damage and lost a core talent: Nature's Focus. I'd gotten used to shifting out and being able to pull off a regrowth without much trouble. I diddn't realize how reliant I was on NF.

With the lesson learned I respecced by taking 5 points from feral and putting them into restoration. I took some emphasis off of bear form rather than cat as a matter of personal choice. If you’re more of a 5-man person I’d keep the bear talents instead.

Pro: The same excellent cat form DPS both in raids and safe for solo
Con: Mediocre healer, not quite all the bear you can be



Did you mean 11/31/9? or 11/30/10? I never tried the first build listed, and am currently 0/31/11, with my next 4 points going into feral, then next 2 into balance, then I'm gonna respec to either full resto, or 0/30/21 for a couple levels, before I go resto / feral for endgame raiding purposes.



3. 0/30/21: Endless Tank - nada / Bear Focus / Nature's Swiftness
The idea here was to be the endless tank. The cycle should operate like this: Bear, Bash, Regrowth, Rejuv, Bear, Nature's Swiftness, Healing Touch, repeat. This works pretty well, especially in BG's and duels. You're very, very hard to kill.

This was inspired by a paladin I used to group with. He was able to self heal while tanking and also got the occasional mana-free heal from talents. He was, in essence, the neverending tank.

A nice perk of this build was the ability to take lowbies through instances without a tank or healer. I'd just do both.

Pro: Great Tank, Good Healer
Con: Lacks DPS



I really like the possibilities of this build, as we get HoTW, as well as a ton of killer feral talents so that we can pvp / tank / dps if needed, but with NS can be a great healer.

I see the necessity of Innervate endgame (though I'm bummed that I will rarely be able to use it on myself), as I enjoy the team-oriented aspect of this game. So I'm soon to be resto as well (after I get some of my pvp gear) Still, without trying them all (im only lv 51) I think the 0/30/21 build looks like the best overall build. IMHO.

Thanks for the great rundown of the builds you've tried Create.

Create
12-14-2005, 02:40 PM
Did you mean 11/31/9? or 11/30/10? I never tried the first build listed, and am currently 0/31/11, with my next 4 points going into feral, then next 2 into balance, then I'm gonna respec to either full resto, or 0/30/21 for a couple levels, before I go resto / feral for endgame raiding purposes.
Excuse my typo. The spec was only 4 points into nature's focus for 11/31/9. I could not give up LotP as that is how I was justifying my slightly subpar dps in raids.

Your plan is solid. I've given up on balance as practical dps. 0/30/21 balances out feral and healing capabilities quite nicely in my opinion. If you are a player that does does both solo/small group work as well as raids this is a great way to go.

When I took 0/30/21 I was trying for a defensive stance, essentially to mimic a paladin. The feral talents I chose reflected this and that's why I felt like it lacked dps.

I think my thinking is a bit diseased as far as druids go. When I look at specs with 30 feral points I think one must choose either cat or bear and take all the talents. That's not the case, of course.

If you run solo, or with a small group, all-purpose specs are alot of fun. It's just not as practical for me, though. I don't get many opportunities to shift around anymore. If you do, well, I envy you :)

Claritondeus
12-14-2005, 03:37 PM
I'm really enjoying my 40's and early 50's because I can basically do whatever I want soloing with the build that I have, and fulfill many different group rolls. I have been told that things change bigtime when I get to lv 60.

A friend who is the leader of the Empyreans guild emailed me:

"This will be a true test if you like WoW end game material or not. What is there to do in end-game? Well the game only began for me when I hit level 60. At lvl 60, your a noob again, with green gear, and working on your healing gear/pvp gear whatever. MC is not that hard of an instance. If you have a great group of 40 with an even balanced raid consisting of each class, you can finish the instance up to Ragnaros but not killing him (10th boss) with all green and blue gear. Its all about getting epics in the end. Chances are you'll be using a point system. The guild changes, and you question yourself, are we a casual guild? Or a raiding guild? The atmosphere and gameplay completely changes. Not so much in MC, but in BWL. If your not in BWL, then your farming mats for BWL, if your not farming mats for BWL, then your farming gold for repairs for BWL.

Enjoy your leveling while it lasts. Most people love the end-game material, but its extremely time consuming and a lot more pressure if your leading raids and people rely on you. hehe, tough man~!

If your not raiding, your prepping for raiding, if your not preppig for raiding, your probably sleeping. lol"

Create
12-22-2005, 02:31 PM
I went out to Silithus the other day with my 0/0/51 spec. 0/0/51 outheals about half the priests in a 10-15 man, btw. With that statement I should mention that I have a half cloth, half leather +heal set I use (6k to 4.5k mana, +22 to +230 +heal)

Yeah, it's a real pita to take out that level 57 only to have two more jump out. I re-thought my 0/30/21 build. I simply cannot give up the healing core. I went with a cat focus for feral, both for solo and group formats (when mob facing towards & away).

For healing I can be hard pressed in 5-man without some support. In 10-man I'm fine covering a group.

Cat form ftw. The respec cut in half the time/mana it was taking to run through mobs. I pulled out some well rounded pieces for solo work (like a songbird blouse, wildheart kilt, ect.) and just mixed things from there. All said & done I can pull off 3.5k HP, 4.5k mana, and 1100 AP in cat.

It hits hard, takes a few hits, and still allows one to shift into caster and drop a half dozen heals.

Here (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/druids2/talents.html?0000000000000000503201132321205005550 0005010000) is my FINAL build...for awhile /smile

As stated, I'm focusing on cat damage, retaining the ability to offtank, and picking up the basic healing talents. I'd appreciate feedback.

Fendicano
12-22-2005, 05:47 PM
Another build, one which I have found to be quite uncommon, but the one I am using, is 0/41/10. I have all talents with the exception of reduced shred cost (or whichever talent it is that only affects 1 cat ability). I have found that with my armor in bear form (around 6.5 k right now), I can last a damn long time. When I get low on health, pop out and heal, then go back to bear. By the time I need to heal again, my mana is completely regenerated. I realize that for healing, this isn't a reasonable spec at all, but, as my guild does not require respec to go on raids, I like my spec A LOT.

Taithos
12-22-2005, 07:22 PM
Gday guys, just thought I'd chime in with my thoughts.

I'm a Tauren Druid with full Cenarion set, Staff of Dominance etc so my gear is pretty good and I've done a lot of raiding. I have about 8.5k mana 4.5k health with my healing set on which still needs some work. I want to fill all spots with Epics and I have no enchants at all yet because they're so damn expensive!!! I've changed my spec a load of times and it costs me 50g every time now which sucks :(

I use the 11/31/9 build most the time, Natural Shapeshifter is so important for PVP, 30% mana reduction for shapeshifting is a huge difference and can mean the difference between life and death quite often. In Bear form I have over 6k health without any particular focus on stamina or hp, the Warriors hate me haha. I'm going to build a set for hp one day and watch the warriors go green with envy.

I have tanked for many 5 man instances and people have always expressed in a surprised tone how well we did without a Warrior. Its nice to hear. I'm very sad that Blizzard won't build a Druid specific Feral set though :(

Anyway, going off topic here.

Balance

I just can't see the point of this build except for a change of playstyle, its horribly inefficient (its not called OOMkin for nothin!) and you do far less DPS than a Mage or Warlock. I must admit I enjoyed it for a while doing PVP in AV but for AB and smaller scale PVP its quite useless. Its also useless for grinding xp as its so mana inefficient, not too bad if you can get a load of Mage water but that's not always available.

I just can't see the big deal with OoC. I guess if you're climbing the tree for the shapeshifting mana reduction you may as well spend the extra points there if you can spare but I usually use them elsewhere. Natures grasp I almost never used so specced out of it.

Moonkin was the biggest disppointment of the Druid revamp, what were you thinking Blizzard? Seriously. 3% spell is not worth losing all the abilities you do in this form. None of my balance builds even bother putting the 1 point into it. If you're going Balance spec then you're better off spending 21 points in Restoration for Nature's Swiftness (instant cast spell) and skipping Moonkin altogether. Its good for 5 minutes of fun dancing until you realise the 5-50g you just spend to respec is an utter waste of money.

Just as a side note: If you're Balance spec, one thing that many people don't take into account is Thorns, with my Cenarion 5 piece set bonus and Improved Thorns my Thorns does about 38-42 damage back at melee hitting me, that's not insignificant (especially if you're grinding for cash). I had improved Thorns while I powered up my Rogue alt on another account and it helped a lot.

Feral

Feral is awesome, I've been raiding MC and BWL as one of the lead healers even with this spec. Feral Swiftness is the most awesome ability, being in cat form with 30% speed boost (and then add the 20% PVP set bonus!) while PVPing is just too good to pass up no matter what your build is.

I don't think the DPS in cat form is even close to a well equipped Rogue but its a lot of fun anyway. I really wish that Blizzard would help the Ferals out and put a proper set of epic Feral gear in the game. An excellent Talent tree that is hampered by poor itemisation.

Restoration

I have to say is Innervate is the most overrated ability in the game. Its *not* a requirement for raiding and if you're depending on it your guild isn't raiding correctly.

Reduced Healing Touch cast time is a nice bonus for raiding and the 70% reduction to interruptions is a must for any build imo. Furor is a must also.

The rest is optional and depends on your play style I reckon. My guild is good enough to know that Druids can heal well no matter their spec. What does piss them off is people that take those different specs but aren't willing to use their healing on raids. They are usually removed quite quickly. When raiding high end content you use have to exploit your strengths and healing is by far the Druids most efficient and effective ability no matter what spec you take.

Create
12-23-2005, 12:15 PM
Another build, one which I have found to be quite uncommon, but the one I am using, is 0/41/10. I have all talents with the exception of reduced shred cost (or whichever talent it is that only affects 1 cat ability). I have found that with my armor in bear form (around 6.5 k right now), I can last a damn long time. When I get low on health, pop out and heal, then go back to bear. By the time I need to heal again, my mana is completely regenerated. I realize that for healing, this isn't a reasonable spec at all, but, as my guild does not require respec to go on raids, I like my spec A LOT.
I am really suprised that with such an emphasis on feral you diddn't come up with ten points for NG and natural weapons. Improved shred is great for big mobs, where you can get in more than one every other mob.

Reduced Healing Touch cast time is a nice bonus for raiding and the 70% reduction to interruptions is a must for any build imo. Furor is a must also.
I agree. I have a hard time giving these up for any build.

Druids most efficient and effective ability no matter what spec you take.
Most druids forget this. I keep hearing them say they're feral and therfore not obligated to heal at any time.

What does piss them off is people that take those different specs but aren't willing to use their healing on raids. They are usually removed quite quickly.
I really like the fact that your guild allows non-innervate druids on your raids but kicks those not willing to heal at all. That's exactly how I would handle it. If there's an excess /random for who gets to go cat for your rogue group, and again for who gets to go moonkin.

Xarq
02-04-2006, 11:35 PM
After being lots of healers specs, I'm current doing a 0/30/21 build (I'll post it after I log in to look it up).

Initially, I went from heavy resto (13/0/38 -- OoC/Nature's Reach + Resto) to feral/resto to make grinding Timbermaw less agonizing.

I even started a feral from the ground up (for quests where there is a choice between a healer item and a feral item, Xarq always took the healer items).

However, I'm finding myself very fond of 0/30/21. It should be noted that Xarq rarely solos and mostly only does MC/Onyxia.

In my +Int gear, fully buffed (MotW, AB, Kings), I'm running around 9200 mana. At 199 per Remove Curse, I'm a decurse-bot.

At 9200 mana, I'm also able to get out of a trash fight with 5k+ mana left, meaning I can run up and start healing the next trash while the other healers are drinking.

Of course, I don't have Imp. Regrowth or Imp. Rejuv, nor the 10% heal bonus. My Rejuv will always bounce when I bother to cast it (because we have resto druids along). Regrowth isn't half the emergency heal it used to be.

That said, because we're talking a balanced 40-man raid, with 5 each of Priest, Pally, and Druid, the diversity of my build works. I'd not volunteer to be the primary healer for a 5-man Strath with this build, but in a raid where there are more conventional druids around, there's something to be said for having absurd mana.

Anubrim
02-05-2006, 10:13 AM
Nice post.

Like so many others before 1.8 I was a 9/11/31 build and soloed alot. The slow grind never really bothers me as im a patient sort of person.

When 1.8 came along I didnt respec right away, but after a couple weeks of people talking about hour awesome Feral was now I decided to give it a go. I went for the 14/32/5 build and never looked back. I had alot of fun with the build and started doing alot of BG's. I kept up the pvp grind until about 3 weeks ago when I hit Lt. Commander and decided that was enough.

About the same time my guild started doing MC and Onyxia on a regular schedule so I joined in looking forward to some pve because I had lost interest in pvp as far as BGs go. The guild needed healers so I ofcourse healed and was glad to fill that role.

After abouit 4-5 MC runs I started to think about going back to restoration. Not because the guild ask me to because they never have, but because I began to realise that I like healing in instances. The only thing that stopped me was all my pvp/feral gear. I just hated the thought of it going to waste in the bank so I decided to go with the 0/30/21 build and so far I like it alot. Its good for when I am solo farming and it makes me a better healer now that I have Imp HT, Natures focus, Imp rejuv, and NS. When I get my full purple set of healing gear (3 pieces so far) I will take another look and decide if I want to go full restoration again.

One thing that concerns me about Feral is the future of it and how damage will scale compared to other classes. I mean how will Feral druids keep up? When you have casters with nasty trinkets and melee types with the next biggest baddest weapon I can see feral druids falling behind unless they really improve itemisation.

Xarq
02-05-2006, 12:44 PM
When the expansion comes out, I have to wonder (if there is an official post to clear my wondering, pardon my ignorance) if the 10 extra TP from level 70 is simply going to mean we're going to have 0/30/31 builds, or if they're going to add new talents leading up to a 41st pointer.

If the latter, that would be a great opportunity to give ferals the extra kick in the pants necessary (personally, I'd vote for dual-wield hand weapons as a feral talent) to keep up with other classes.

gwmort
02-06-2006, 04:38 PM
I've been wondering the same thing, but some EQ veterans have told me its likely they won't use talent points beyond 60, and will have some whole new kind of progression. Someone more knowledgeable than me could tell you more.

Kizo
02-07-2006, 10:08 PM
Off-topic, but a reply to the person above.

Your talking as in they added Alternate Advancment in EQ-
(6 Year vet)

I Really wish they would add something along that line for WoW- So far I see it as at 60, your basically upgrading gear and PvPing. We should be able to continue to gain experiance and be able to spend it into other areas. As In EQ did for AA's. A few levels in your AA, you can spend in new stats, a new skill. Gave you a little more edge on mobs. Just more ways to upgrade your char and make you want to do instances for xp :)

My 2cp.

DemonMage
02-08-2006, 12:25 AM
Although subject to change, they have stated they are adding talent points post 60, including a new tier. While an AA system would be nice, I don't think we'll see one soon.

Rainlight
02-08-2006, 12:40 PM
Eh, trust me, you don't want AA. It ruined EQ in my opinion. Well the pvp aspect of it at least. There were times where one on one fights would go on for 30-60 mins and sometimes more.

Imagine having every ability, what you could do. It's not nearly as fun as it is now having your own type of build.

Oh and grinding sucks, I finally got bored with EQ after about 800 AA.

MaddogCT
02-09-2006, 04:16 AM
What no Hybrids? :)
Here is my spec: 16/11/15 I find this works for me as I do a lot of soloing.
Here is my profile from Alla:
http://wow.allakhazam.com/profile.html?742474

And talent calc from WoW:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/druids2/talents.html?5000501202100000051230000000000053150 0100000000

Any comments, questions or advice would be appreciated.

Kaelas
02-09-2006, 02:44 PM
So you didn't like Moonkin because people didn't understand that having an insurance was better for the group and people only liked big numbers. And yet you *loved* feral so you loaded up on Str, Sta, Agil, and AP to crank out those big numbers? Ugh......

Create
02-14-2006, 11:52 AM
So you didn't like Moonkin because people didn't understand that having an insurance was better for the group and people only liked big numbers. And yet you *loved* feral so you loaded up on Str, Sta, Agil, and AP to crank out those big numbers? Ugh......Yeah, that's exactly how I felt. Since then I've had the opportunity to spend some time with a Moonkin who's managed to get his +dmg arcane to the mid-200's. It's much more effective if you're correctly geared.

I'm still not too fond of them on raids. One or two is ok. They can damage through the trash and the first few bosses. We need them healing for Ghenny, on call for an accident with Geddon, and healing for Shaz and beyond.

I've yet to see one hit midrange dmg for the mages, let alone hit mid-low on the rogues like feral druids can.

Create
02-14-2006, 12:25 PM
Update: Now 0/0/51 spec. All the healing talents +furor & swarm. I'm raiding MC with a guild thats getting to MD in two sessions.

As a healer:
1. Without Improved HT all you're good for is spot healing rejuv & regrowth. You'll get consistently sniped casting HT @ 3.5sec.

2. Improved Rejuv will give you at least a few spots on the healing meter.

3. Improved Regrowth will save your ass solo-healing a tank assignment.

4. A blue/epic equipped druid can spam HT rank 6 for >1k hp each for >8 minutes. I only know this because we screwed up Golemag the other week and he killed about half the dps. We took him down, but the fight took quite awhile.

My most commonly casted spells:
1. Rejuv Rank 10 - 32%
2. HT Rank 6 - 30%
3. Regrowth Rank 9 - 13%
4. Other - 24%

I am generally healing an offtank on boss fights, usually duo'ed with a priest, sometimes solo if my tank's on one of the first few adds in the kill order.

If you'd like to compare healing strats...maybe I should start another thread.

Create
02-14-2006, 12:27 PM
EQ Vet here - You do not want AA's. It got to the point where level wasn't good enough. I had to grind out hundreds of AA's to keep my worth. I quit soon after I began to realize how big of a grind they'd created.

Falloraan
02-14-2006, 12:49 PM
What's so special about rank 6 HT? less efficient than rank 7 (or beyond) and longer cast time than rank 4...

Create
02-14-2006, 01:35 PM
What's so special about rank 6 HT? less efficient than rank 7 (or beyond) and longer cast time than rank 4...Rank 4's casting time is under 3.5 seconds. It doesn't get the full +heal bonus. Rank 5 is 3.5sec (these are untalented numbers as that's how it applies to +heal) but it simply doesn't heal for enough.

The +heal is making my rank 5 my most efficient heal but Rank 6/7 is kindof a sweet spot between efficiency and healing output. My +heal is in the 200-300 range depending on my setup. That's making me land rank 6/7 in the 1k+ range.

Does this make sense to you?

gwmort
02-14-2006, 02:54 PM
I've yet to see one hit midrange dmg for the mages, let alone hit mid-low on the rogues like feral druids can.

They may not hit high spots on the dps charts, but that may be due tothe hybrid nature of the role. If those mages or rogues stopped doing damage periodically to assist the healers or whatever it would be a closer comparison. (of course they can't just making a point)

Create
02-14-2006, 02:59 PM
They may not hit high spots on the dps charts, but that may be due tothe hybrid nature of the role. If those mages or rogues stopped doing damage periodically to assist the healers or whatever it would be a closer comparison. (of course they can't just making a point)This situation is not a factor. I'm making the statement based on a moonkin staying in moonkin over the course of a boss fight (each Luci, Mags, Garr).

If we look at the raid from start to finish they drop even lower due to their healing responsibilities on some boss fights.

gwmort
02-14-2006, 04:32 PM
Well, I can't really speak to raids, as I have no first hand experience, but my Moonkin out-dpses my cat, through a combination of melee damage, Dot, and wrath spamming.

Vrax
02-15-2006, 12:47 AM
Overall I had two huge gripes when they first redid our talent trees. Neither of these changes probably bother most people, witness to this is that both changes are still here. The first change I hated was that Improved Healing Touch replaced Nature's Focus as the prereq for Nature's Swiftness. The other change was replacing Swift Shifting with Natural Shapeshifter.

I really loved Swift Shifting and feel that it made me a better player overall and especially in PvP. Being on the 6 second clock forced me to learn to react faster and it also rewarded me for it. So this amazing talent becomes a ho-hum talent that does a set 10/20/30% instead of the original 20/40/60%.

To Xarq: The rumor I heard was that we would indead be getting new talent tiers and that (supposedly) the 41st would be so good that no one would do any 30/31 builds over it. I personally find this a bit hard to swallow as there are a few popular builds out there that don't even get to 31 now. For the rogue more than any other class.

gwmort
02-16-2006, 05:14 PM
The rumor I heard was that we would indead be getting new talent tiers and that (supposedly) the 41st would be so good that no one would do any 30/31 builds over it. I personally find this a bit hard to swallow as there are a few popular builds out there that don't even get to 31 now. For the rogue more than any other class.

I don't buy it, even if they do, they'll have to restructure where a lot of the talents are now (like I bet HotW moves to be 31-35 point talent or something).

Just to daydream though, if you could just get another ten point in our current trees, what do you think would be the uber spec?

31/30/0; 14/35/11; 35/13/13; 10/30/21; 0/30/31 ?

Create
02-16-2006, 07:06 PM
Well, I can't really speak to raids, as I have no first hand experience, but my Moonkin out-dpses my cat, through a combination of melee damage, Dot, and wrath spamming.Is this a balance spec vs. feral spec comparison, or are you stating that with a balance spec your moonkin out-dps's your cat?

Gawtmilk
02-17-2006, 08:49 AM
STICKY PLEASE

gwmort
02-17-2006, 09:52 AM
Is this a balance spec vs. feral spec comparison, or are you stating that with a balance spec your moonkin out-dps's your cat?

Before my respec at lvl 42 I was 3/18/11 (or thereabouts), immediately after my respec my dps in Moonkin was higher than it had been in Cat with some feral talents, and still out dps's my cat form with my balance spec, even in my "feral gear".

You don't need to point out that with a heavy spec in cat talents it would likely exceed the dps of moonkin (especially the crit and free energy things).

I didn't go Moonkin to get maximum dps, I did it because I prefer the playstyle. I am just pointing out that it is a respectable dps spec.

Create
02-17-2006, 12:27 PM
I hear ya; I just wanted it to be clear.

gwmort
02-17-2006, 01:57 PM
and while surely a mage could maintain higher dps in certain circumstances, I can do it while holding aggro rather than avoiding it, effectively becoming an off-tank off-mage.

By getting up close and personal swinging decent weapons, getting to use items and procs, casting MFs, FF, and NG instantly (SF when I get some cc and really quick wraths on any Natures Grace proc), barkskin+hurricane, improved thorns, and that thick hide boosted armor I have a lot of fun and shatter faces.

Create
02-20-2006, 09:42 AM
I actually ran a DM:W run this weekend (damn Mindtap) with a balance druid. He was doing exactly what you're talking about: offtank mage.

I was kinda suprised. He was much easier to heal than our tank. I think it was just a gear difference.

k0ster
02-20-2006, 04:05 PM
I just wanted to know your opinions about this
http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/druid/talents.html?5003553012501351000000000000000050050 2000000000
what do u think about a moonkin wit OoC and fast weapon like a dagger
for example http://thottbot.com/?i=38745
and something in off-held for higher stats
mass wrath spells (1sec near to instant cast ^^)
and moonfire sometimes because its take a lot of mana and deal dmg over time... casting it one by one is wasting mana
leave starfire spell... too long and not efective in pvp and pve sometimes ;] too long.... waiting is boring... and when u will be interupted its a nightmare x/
PvE in my opinion is great with this option because u can attack with your dagger a mob attacked by tank or someone with aggro and have free spells... no mor OoMkin :D
PvP u can try it too... :) i dont know how it will looks didnt try it :)
for now i have
http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/druid/talents.html?0143502002551351000000000000000050030 0000000000
something like this and wondering about that thing above :)
i think i will wait for a some cool dagger and off-held and try that idea :]
i hope it will work.. or maybe someone tried it already?
btw have fun in game... and have a lot of free time :D

Create
02-20-2006, 05:44 PM
k0ster, I'm having a hard time understanding you.

There's two lines of thought on moonkin weapons. One idea is to use a fast weapon to proc OoC quickly. The other line is to use the warden staff or unyeilding maul to boost AC.

For PvE balance, this (http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/druid/talents.html?5000550011551351000000000000000005050 3100000000) is what I'd do. Consider switching reflection out for Imp. Thorns.

I'd keep both a fast weapon with crusader and one of the 2h AC weapons on hand. A great offhand for the dagger would be Milli's Lexicon or the Spellbound Tome.

gwmort
02-21-2006, 10:24 AM
For my off-tank off-mage playstyle, I look for a weapon with reasonable speed AND dps AND caster stats/ effects. Thats a tall order, but I have a few in mind that I am grinding/ saving for. At my level (48) I am looking for a swing speed of 2.5 sec or less, dps at around 40, and some +int and/or +dmg spells, I also really like weapons with inherent procs because I enjoy that I can use proccing weapons in Moonkin.
[Zum'rah's Vexing Cane or the Witch doctor's staff seem to fit the bill, as will some 1h maces]

Create
02-21-2006, 12:32 PM
gmwort, what enchants do you like? I'm thinking stats or a time-based proc (rather than %chance on hit) for slow weapons.

gwmort
02-21-2006, 01:11 PM
I haven't invested much in enchants yet, as I am still leveling. I mostly get whatever my guild enchanter offers for free (Currently +7 to damage on a 2h mace).

I have done some looking at the end-game enchats, and I don't think I'll go with stats on the weapon. +22 int is nice, but I think utility > stats. I will probably go with life stealing or crusader (more for the heal proc than the strength boost), although I have been seriously considering unholy to keep with the whole ability to take a beating theme (anybody know if that effect stacks with Gift of Arthas?).

If I decide not to go the proc route I will probably just get spell power (or whatever the + spell dmg is called). I would et this on any end game weapon with a speed over 2.4, and a proc enchant for anything faster. (I'm hoping my end-game weapon will be a 1h mace with a speed of around 2.1)