Hi all

Im currently at level 30 and this is th talent path I was considering - any advice appreaciated. FYI this is my first ever character so noobishness all round - most of this has been devised with the help of a friend so far.

Balance 1 point

1/5 Natures Grasp

Feral 29 points

5/5 Ferocity
2/2 Brutal Impact
3/5 Feral Instinct
3/5 Thick Hide
2/2 Feline Swiftness
1/1 Feral Charge
3/3 Predatory Strike
3/3 Sharpened Claws
2/2 Savage Fury
1/1 Faerie Fire (Feral)
4/5 Heart of the Wild

Restoration 21 Points

5/5 Improved Mark of the Wild
5/5 Improved Healing Touch
5/5 Furor
4/5 Natures Focus
1/1 Insect Swarm
1/1 Natures Swiftness

All advice good and bad appreciated, especially pvp tips with this build.

Many thanks in advance

Daniel - real life Druid and member of OBOD (http://www.druidry.org)

Nature's Grasp is not reliable enuff with 1 point into it. Whenever I had to cast that spell, it was always for dire reasons. You want it to go off effectively 100% of the time, or not at all. (imho)

As for the feral tree, you're probably better off focusing on cat form while leveling. You can use the 3 points in Thick Hide and the 3 points in Feral Instinct elsewhere. I would definitely put two in Blood Frenzy, and 5 in Feral Aggression. You will come to enjoy using Ferocious Bite, since that is one of the few ways a druid can deal out burst dps. Feral Aggression will increase the power of your Ferocious Bite (as well as increase the power of your demoralizing roar), and Blood Frenzy will speed up your chances toward executing it.

Everything else seems fine. You can determine what's good and what's not as you level.

I think 1 point in NG is perfect. Quite the contrary of Bahoo. Reason for this is that I'll cast it before I go in bear, then a little bit into the fight, the root will proc, allowing me time for a free heal. And for us math majors: 35% chance to proc = once every three hits. Granted this varies, but if you are going to get killed in less than three hits, you either have multiple mobs on you, and NG wont save you then, you are fighting something too powerful, or will get killed by ranged attack anyway once they are rooted. Just my opinion though

The rest of the build looks good to me. One suggestion though: Take the three points out of thick hide, and finish out HoTW, and put 2 points into primal fury. The 5 rage that you generate every crit really adds up, and will get your rage bar up really quick, allowing you to pop a full frenzied regen. And crits really help you keep aggro too. The only aoe aggro we have is swipe, and spamming that will help keep aggro on you as Main Tank.

Hmm, I suppose I use NG differently. I use bash first. After the next cycle as a bear, I would shift out, NG to take a single hit, then run off to heal when they're rooted.

I know 5 points into NG/ING is overkill for rogues, but against a well equipped MS warrior (similar level), every hit we take will count.

Very true Bahroo. I am also only lv 57, and get pretty much worked by epic warriors.

Except if I'm with my hunter buddy who is also 57. We owned a 60 warr and 60 druid combo about 4 times last night in WPL before they called in a 60 shammy. That was too much for us, and we got camped for about an hour.

I like to save my bash, depending what class I'm fighting. Having it to use when they have about 1/4 health left will give me a good amount of time to put them down. Though Bash is almost always used to get off a heal and mf.

A lot of times I'll cast NG on myself, get into cat (with blood frenzy) get 3 or 4 quick combo points on them before NG will proc, then rip, back up, hot, mf, bearform, feral charge and proceed to tank them to a full rage bar, frenzied regen, bash maul ftw. Or I'll put on my green whelp armor and /laugh at them every time they fall asleep :elfbiggri

I'm planning a very similiar build to yours but allocating points slightly different:

http://www.wowhead.com/talent/?zzZxGMscddLEv0o0o

Our builds are basically exact with one exception. You put 3 points into thick hide and I put 2 pts into blood frenzy and one into primal fury. I felt that the extra armor wasn't worth it, especially in pvp, and that higher sustainable damage (combo point stacking/rage generation) were a better use of points.

Depending on your style I have two alternate builds that I think are decent as well.

The max damage build is:
http://www.wowhead.com/talent/?zzLVhoZxTMscddtV

This build sacrifices a little power for being a bit more assured of getting that heal off in a pinch:
http://www.wowhead.com/talent/?zzLMhZxGMscddtVV

Edit: forgot I had my old EQ magelo profile in my sig. that thing is a relic haha

The rest of the build looks good to me. One suggestion though: Take the three points out of thick hide, and finish out HoTW, and put 2 points into primal fury. The 5 rage that you generate every crit really adds up, and will get your rage bar up really quick, allowing you to pop a full frenzied regen. And crits really help you keep aggro too. The only aoe aggro we have is swipe, and spamming that will help keep aggro on you as Main Tank.

No can do - it takes me to 24 points in feral which wont allow me to train HotW. Any other sugegstions as after looking I can certainly see the benefit of 5/5 HotW

Cheers

Daniel