Talk:Druid

A dificult class to level
Quote: ''As expansions have been released and the class has been adjusted, this problem has been gradually alleviated and more and more players have been choosing druids. Now, with the release of Cataclysm, this is finally no longer a problem at all. When a druid chooses a specialization at Level 10, they immediately receive all of the abilities they need to enjoy that style of play.''

This is still the case for anyone trying to level as bear. Before lvl 25, bears don't have any form of AE at all. At 25, we get the glyph of maul which allows maul to hit 2 targets instead of one. While it helps, it dosen't even begin to provide a real solution to the problem. At 36, we get swipe. Swipe simply isn't sufficient on it's own to keep agro. We have to wait until lvl 81 to get thrash, the ability around which are are suposed to be balanced around although that is also heavily disputed on the druid forums. Those who have played other tanks often comment that other tanks have better AE agro at all levels, including cap.

Enalung (talk) 13:45, 25 March 2011 (UTC)

Swim Speed
error:

On the main page it says that the swim speed is increased from the standard 50% of run speed to 100% of run speed. If this is correct then the spell description is incorrect. The spell description says it increases swim speed by 50%.

The wiki is right about the final speed. (meaning swim speed is 2/3 of normal running speed) Or the wiki is right about the initial speed. (meaning the aquatic form moves at 75% of run speed) Or the spell description is wrong and the form actually increases swim speed by 100%.

Could someone test this and found out what it really is? thanks.


 * It's possible that the tooltip means it increases your swim speed by 50% of base (read: run) speed. While this might seem a very convoluted description, percentages in WoW are almost never clear as to what they are referring.  I'll see if I can find a definitive answer.--Aeleas 01:52, 27 April 2006 (EDT)


 * I understood the math in specific terms at one point, but don't feel like getting into it right now. I know that swim speed in aquatic form is basically equal to normal run speed on land (~99%), though.  My post on thottbot  might help you figure out how run speed percentages work.  --Aeroxima 08:28, 4 June 2006 (EDT)

If anyone is confused by the above conversation, then here are the facts: Both descriptions are correct. When swimming in normal form, your movement speed is reduced by 50 percent. So in aquatic form, swim speed is increased from 50% of run speed to 100% of run speed, for swimming in aquatic form is just as fast as normal run speed on land. Aquatic form increases swim speed by 50 percent. Both descriptions are saying the same thing. Hope this helps negate any confusion that might spring up from above. --Mesethusela (talk) 02:26, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Commentary
This is a very satisfying class to play that has a huge range of abilities and tactical possibilities:
 * Human (Night Elf) form has a good range of weapons including entangling roots and faerie fire to keep those pesky rogues where you can see them. In addition, the druid has a full range healing spells including a 'rebirth' spell which has a riduculously long cooldown time (30 mins!) and requires a reagent - I'd like to see one of those constraints lifted...
 * The aquatic form is great for those underwater quests - no need to breath (or carry underwater breating potions); when you run out of breath, switch to aquatic form and recharge your breath meter. Swim speed potion adds to the already boosted speed of aquatic form.
 * The cat form is a cool-looking rogue-type character complete with backstab, stealth ability and sprint(dash) speed boost. Due to the speed of attack, two cat form druids attacking at the same time do a lot of damage and can keep a caster from doing anything undesirable!
 * Bear form provides a respectable tank who can't be disarmed and has a simple but effective set of spells including a stun, demoralizing roar and multiple-enemy swipe.
 * Travel form - the cheetah. Acquiring this at lvl30 makes everything closer. Instead of waiting for lvl 40 to get a mount, the druid tuns into one! OK, it's not as fast as a horse but any speed boost is appreciated.

Is there a downside ? Some people complain that being the jack-of-all-trades has the inevitable consequence that you are master of none but druids are at least master healers.

The huge range of capabilities of the druid make it always fun to play - all you need is endless mana !


 * The major downsides I see is other players' attitudes. Basically, if you're a druid - most people will want you to heal, if you're a feral druid - you still heal, if you're a balance druid - you still heal, if you're a versatile druid (like me) - you just heal.  Druids are incredibly powerful, and given the right talent build and gear can do all three jobs at about 60-90% performance compared to the specialized class, whereas putting talents and gear in just one job will give you up to 120% performance compared to the specialized class.  However, if you're in a group with some less open-minded players, you're likely to be forced into doing a job you haven't designed your character for; which in turn leads to people complaining loudly about you not doing your job well enough.  Luckily for us, Blizzard introduced a lot of new feral and balance gear in the Burning Crusade expansion, meaning we are no longer mistaken for a healing-only class.  Also, given the new endgame class jobs where druids can now tank / dps / cast, the changes have been passed down to new players who like to imitate endgame when they instance, so you're likely now going to be able to play a druid how it is meant to be played.  Anyway, druids > all, thanks for listening --  Yoda   talk  / cont  16:39, 26 January 2007 (EST)


 * All that is true, right up to where blizzard decides that people playing druids are having too much fun, and beats us with the nerf bat again...and again, and again...--Azaram 23:16, 8 March 2007 (EST)

All that is not true. Just so no readers get cocky, I have to say that specializing into one role does not give 120% performance, for that would mean that druids are better at any role than any class, plus able to heal themselves and others. Obviously this is not true. While druids are very powerful, and due to their need to specialize so much and their strong talents, the end-game druid will be one of the most formidable characters in the game. But specializing to a role gives about 95% percent performance to a druid, with different ups and downs to balance it. Druids are a unique class, so the style for playing each role is a little drifferent from the style of the main class. A druid may play a role he/she is not specialized in with about 60-70% performance. However, any shortcomings in a druids' battles are made up for by their ability to shift out and heal themselves, then shift back. Due to the druids' great lack of stuns compared to other melee classes, that ability to heal is dampened somewhat, where it would otherwise nearly ensure a victory against a character of equal level. So while the druid is not quite as efficient at any one role than the intended class, their versatility makes sure they are just as powerful as any class. --Mesethusela (talk) 02:47, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Possible Errors
"The Druid cannot be polymorphed"

The druid can be polymorphed, but can break the polymorph at will by shifting.

Items with a "Chance on hit" portion and "Chance on hit" enchants such as Enchant Weapon - Crusader and Enchant Weapon - Lifestealing will not activate.

Items with a "proc" will not work for a druid in animal form, as we are not hitting the target with the weapon, but rather with our paw-weapon. However, "chance on hit" refers to any type of hit and does work for a druid in form. If the text on the weapon indicates that hitting with the weapon causes the "proc" then it does not work. There are currently only a few weapons in game that say "chance on hit", so far those do seem to work. Whether that is intended or not, is unknown.


 * I thought they fixed this in 2.0.1? -- Djn 09:47, 5 January 2007 (EST)


 * They announced they are fixing this in WotLK so that Druids will receive procs from both weapons and weapon enchantments such as Windfury Totem. --Medras


 * Note what is quoted above is after "While shapeshifted into Bear, Aquatic, Cat, Travel, Flight, or Dire Bear form:". Druids are in fact immune to polymorph while they are shapeshifted.  So, there is no error with that data. --Moonbunny 14:57, 28 February 2007 (EST)

Itemization
The Druid information page has at least two references to Druid itemization issues, that gear is lacking except for healing. While largely true prior to the Burning Crusade expansion, I question if this issue is still present post expansion. There seems to be much feral and balance Druid gear in the game now. I'm wondering if the main page should be edited to reflect this fact.

Restoration druids
Minor editing dispute, I class restoration druids as the best healers in the game, as to many of my close friends. Should the main page be edited so it no longer reflects the views of players but rather states facts and facts only? In this case I believe it's not possible to give an objective view of the healing class comparisons since many people think their own class is best at healing, or base their comparison on personal experience which is not necessarily representative of entire classes.

Anyway thanks for taking notice, I hope it can be cleared up soon. -- Yoda   talk  / cont  16:32, 26 January 2007 (EST)


 * I think Shamans that spec in Dual Wield (Enchancement) should be the best healers if they have two weapons with +Healing on :) By the way... I don't play as a shaman, I play as a Paladin (Blood Knight). --Oscararon 11:48, 11 February 2007 (EST)

I completely support the idea of restoration druids being the best healer class. I am a balance druid, and I can commonly heal just as well as priests in raid situations. You may notice that above I said that a druid specializing into a role gets about 95% performance. This is the exception. Perhaps this is why many people view druids as good for nothing but healing. They are just great healers. --Mesethusela (talk) 02:53, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

But I would like to add that resto druids are only the best in terms of longevity and mana efficiency. Holy-spec paladins and priests are able to keep players alive just as well, but a restoration druid happens to be the most mana-efficient healer in WoW. So they are, in my opinion, the best long instance healer. And also, now that I am higher up in balance, I do notice a difference in my healing. I can't really heal as well as a holy priest. I was actually wrong... --Mesethusela (talk) 23:06, 17 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Whether Resto Druids are the "Best Healers" or not depends on what you compare them to and what kind of healing you are talking about:
 * For HoTs, Druids kick the butts of all other healing classes (especially in Tree of Life Form; they only get ONE heal, Swiftmend, that isn't at least part-HoT, and that one is dependent on either a Regrowth or Rejuvination effect already on the target).
 * For mana efficiency, they are roughly equal to Paladins; Tree of Life Form gives a "+Healing received" buff to all party members (so each heal gives back more health), and the mana cost of all the Druid's spells in this form is reduced by 20% (less mana being used for each heal).
 * Compared to other healing classes/specs, Druids are, overall, closest to Priests. A properly specced and geared Resto Druid can rival a Holy Priest (if not surpass one). In my opinion, they are equal in healing capability; the only difference is that Priests primarily use direct heals, while Druids use mainly HoTs or HoT/direct-heal combos.
 * Felindre

Draenei (lost ones) druids? Arakkoa druids?
If you go to Zangarmarsh, specifically the Feralfen village, it seems some broken draenei have adopted druidism (http://thottbot.com/?n=1051743). They can shapeshift into an owl form, as well as use wrath, except it is blue instead of green. Now, here's something interesting. They have been influenced by the Arakkoa and are worshipping them as bird-gods, it is mentioned by some NPCs they have adopted them as their totems. Now, this raises the question- A) Can druids exist on a planet without Cenarius, B) Did Cenarius visit outland ans teach some native species druidism? and C) Are the Arakkoa versed in druidism? Or is this just another case of "lorelol"? Omacron


 * Looks like "lorelol" or rather "loremeh". Since Druids don't draw their power from Cenarius, but from nature, its flora and fauna, there could be druids on antorher planet, Cenarius was simply the primal teacher of both Elves and Tauren druids. Cenarius visiting Outland wouldn't fit into the timeline. Outland druids could have been an interesting story, provide some lore to flight form and its limitation to outland, and if there were Broken druids, surely the Cenarion expedition would be interested, try to make contact and learn from them. The Feralfen story looks rather like a quick hack, "Hey we have some broken shamans, hunters, warlocks in the tribes, why not add some druids?". --Hurax 12:09, 13 May 2007 (EDT)


 * More proofs here --> http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=20270

I'd have to say it's not so much strictly druidism, considering many NPCs display spells of multiple classes. The classes we play also shouldn't necessarily be used a rulebook to define NPCs, it's just a guideline. In lore, Shamanism and Druidism are very much alike; Shaman speak with spirits and the four elements, whereas Druids communicate with beasts and the world itself. The owl forms those Broken can assume would be more along the lines of the player shaman ability Ghost Wolf. Wrath has also been an NPC ability used by the more shamanistic NPCs throughout the game, and the majority of them have the blue version, not green. So the Feralfen Broken are Shaman, not necessarily Druids. And in the case of the Arakkoa, they are naturally imbued with avian essence along with their already bird-like qualities, giving them abilities like their Raven God without it having to be defined as Druidism or Shamanism. But considering they have some sort of shadow/ghost priests, priest seeming more a title than a class, who can only be seen through special means, they, too, would tilt more towards Shaman than Druid. -Mykael Mourningsun

AOE
I see that the page says that druids lack AOE, However the hurricane/Barkskin combo deals very heavy damage, so while their AOE has a 1 min cooldown, that doesn't mean that they have no true AOE, beside, the aggro gained is a good thing as most druids that play balance end up being a off tank.


 * (Please sign your messages with four tildes) One AOE that requires two cooldowns to be useful is not good AOE. It does work, but it's more a close-combat spell rather than any kind of ranged, as unless you cast it right on top of you the first thing they do is run out from under it. It is helpful in some instances, but desperately needs updating, either a slow effect (to keep them in it at a distance) or it's very own nocastus interruptus. At least they realized that the only time it's ever cast is when barkskin is available, since it's worthless without that... --Azaram 11:07, 5 September 2007 (UTC)


 * If i am correct, there is a major glyph that slows the targets under the effects of hurricane by 25%. no much, but it is a slow and would be decent in PvP (like the battle for the blacksmith in AB) when every is in a big group. Galexior (talk) 21:44, 28 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Druid AoEs aren't very useful compared to other those of other classes, since they don't have good mana efficiency, as well as the fact that they only get 2 (not counting Bear Form's Swipe ability; it only affects mobs in front of the Druid).
 * Hurricane does okay damage, but the cost only makes it good for occasional casts, or to build threat (tanking as a Moonkin, or to get threat at the start of a fight before dropping into Bear Form).
 * Tranquility is a good AoE heal, but the cooldown makes it worthless for anything but emergencies or to heal the party after a tough fight (downing a final boss, for example). The threat caused makes it dangerous to use in a fight (tanks would kill for that kind of threat generation), unless you put points into Improved Tranquility.
 * Felindre

Lore
What happened to the lore page on this? Now it just links you to the main page. This is all the classes, what's going on? Mr.X8 00:56, 3 October 2007 (UTC)


 * It's across the relevant pages now, rather than being repeated on the lore page. 01:33, 3 October 2007 (UTC)


 * That's wonderfully antithetical to the purpose of the wiki, now the Druid lore is smaller than Hunter lore. Revrant (talk) 09:53, September 21, 2009 (UTC)

Dire Cat?
I looked at the section on the expected WotLK changes, and I noticed the information on Druid Forms said that there would be a "Dire Cat Form." Does anyone know how this will differ from regular Cat Form; Dire Bear is supposed to be like the Warrior's change from Mail to Plate armor, but what change in the Rogue class does Dire Cat represent? Felindre


 * No dice. Apparently it was a mistake on Mr. Chiltan's part when he mentioned it. :(
 * http://www.worldofwar.net/n/415715/dire-cat-form-never-heard-of-it
 * Colann (talk) 23:39, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Spelling
On all these class pages, and any other pages, are we supposed to spell the term, in this case the "Druids", Druid or druid? It seems like Druid is used half of the time and druid the other half. Rolandius ( talk  -  contr ) 04:45, 20 December 2008 (UTC)


 * As per WW:MOS, only caps it if it's a proper noun or a title before a name.  T e ж u b    Ԏ Ҩ Ѡ  05:32, 20 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Instinctively, I'd say lower case apart from when it's being used as a proper noun or part of a formal title, eg Arch Druid Renferal - that's his official title, much like you should always capitalise real life formal titles, e.g. Lord Bruce, the Earl of Elgin; the Archbishop of Canterbury; Her Majesty the Queen; the Duke of Edinburgh. The generic form ("a powerful lord" / "a powerful arch druid") is still lower case, where it's not being applied as a title or position of office.  WW:MOS has some examples, and mostly agrees with what I've just written.  One situation that might be a grey area is if there was a formal well known and respected group, e.g. the Druids of Moonglade - I'm partly inclined to say that does deserve a capital, but I wonder if it depends on usage (e.g. where it is being used to signify a form of office - "The Druids of Moonglade decreed that ..." vs. "The druids of Moonglade are generally peaceful and non-violent").  If you're uncertain, it might be worth asking the same question on the pump, as it reaches well beyond the scope of this article.  -- 05:44, 20 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Having just been reading the lore of Tyrande Whisperwind, the High Priestess of Elune (deliberately using her title of office as yet another example), there are a couple of specific examples which I believe should always use a capital: "Druids of the Claw" and "Druids of the Talon". Those are just two examples, there are other formally recognised groups of "Druids of the Xxx".  -- 14:18, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

Druidboyz
No DruidBoyz? I mean, we have Nyhm references here. C'mon now. http://www.myspace.com/DruidboyZ

http://www.youtube.com/user/AbandonationZ

http://www.youtube.com/user/DemineonZ

Realek 00:15, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Transformation
I was thinking about the various forms a druid can turn into yesterday, and from fan and offical work I have seen it looks to be a physical transformation. If so, wouldn't they have to be nude to transform without tearing their clothes? Or can they transform (not just as a game mechanic)while keeping their robes on? , 4-2-09

There's no real explanation for it. Although from what I saw today on the WoW site, Bear and Cat forms are getting new looks that seem to display some 'armour' themselves, as well as the Epic Flight Form already having some, it may be that armour changes with the Druid. And since armour, at least back in the day, was considered a part of you spiritually, it would make sense that your nature magic would change your armour along with you to match your new self. Also, just to throw in there, Tauren will be able to change their skin tone so that Blizz can enable the Bear and Cat forms to change colour according to the Tauren skin tone and Kaldorei hair colour. -Mykael Mourningsun

Controversy
Isn't Arcane magic what druids most fear? So why do they have arcane spells like Moonfire and Starfire? Pudim17 (talk - contr) 19:53, 5 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Good question, maybe the spells are not arcane (like conjuring water out of thin air), but of a nature type (from the moon and the stars), and they just do arcane damage for mysterious (balancing) reasons Eruantien (talk) 01:16, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

The definition of Arcane means difficult or impossible to understand or comprehend. So Starfire, Moonfire, Starfall, and the Moonglade teleport are more arcane in the fact that they're obscure abilities grated by Elune, the Moon Goddess, rather than the pure magic forms used by mages. And it's mostly Night Elves who don't trust sorcerers, Tauren are a bit more accepting and tolerant. And like Eruantien said, it's for balancing reasons. If they made the arcane spells used by druids into nature spells, they'd have to eliminate nature resistance and immunity because it'd be like Paladins. That's why there's no Holy resistance or immunity. -Mykael Mourningsun

Druid?
Why is this image atributted to be a druid? In sons of the storm it just says "WarCraft - Night Elf Male". So, is there a source of him being a druid or should it be removed from the druid article and placed in the night elf article? Benitoperezgaldos (talk) 05:18, 16 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Should ask that on the druid's talk page... as this image doesn't even have the word druid in it. 06:29, 16 May 2009 (UTC)


 * You're right, moved to the druid discussion. Benitoperezgaldos (talk) 18:07, 16 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Well I could see how he would seem like a druid. His kilt is similar to the Feralheart. He also has an orb of moonlight in his free hand. The only thing that throws it off is that he's wielding a glaive. But there's a druid in Teldrassil, well the spirit of one, that has a 2h axe, another weapon druids cannot use. And on top of that, his clothing appears most like a druid's: having a somewhat exposed chest, a kilt, and no shoes. The only other thing he could be is one of the Moon Guard, but his gear is not elaborate enough, it has a natural look to it, and the Moon Guard are no more after the War of the Ancients, many becoming druids afterward. So I'd say this is a picture of a druid. --Mykael Mourningsun

Lore, lore, lore
Well, looking back, the Tauren bit was not flavor lore as a GM stated, Xarantaur, their "flavor lore" has just been completely validated in the game as true by a character that is immortal living proof. Revrant (talk) 09:57, September 21, 2009 (UTC)

Tauren
This section seems to be biased against Tauren. I saw in the notable druid section that there were few to no Tauren in there. Is this blizzard's choice or selective editing. BobNamataki (talk) 19:26, October 30, 2009 (UTC)

Feral DPS Raiding Guide Input
Planning on writing up and posting a Feral DPS Raiding Guide wiki page in the next few weeks. Please post here or email me your input for exactly what to call the new page and what you want included. You can also catch me at coldbear.wordpress.com Why a new page when the old ones need editing and clean-up?
 * This will be a rather huge undertaking involving a few of the most knowledgeable feral dps players out there.
 * It's a VERY specific subject requiring specialized knowledge that is currently described in about a paragraph on the Druid PVE page
 * The Feral Tactics page is a nice, generalized overall view of how to use forms and whatnot, but doesn't really teach a raiding feral how to do their job well in a high-pressure, dynamic environment. This is not about pvp, or tanking - only about feral dps - which is a very specialized role, only 1 of 7 of the roles a druid can fill (moonkin pvp/pve, resto pvp/pve, tank pve, feral pvp, feral dps pve).
 * The title needs to have the words Feral, Dps and probably one or both of Raid and/or Guide in it (or equivalent) in order to accurately describe it. Druid? Feral Druid Dps Raiding Guide? Feral Dps

Why Wow Wiki when there's already guides in a LOT of other places?
 * That would be the point - no more looking at differences between two guides at EJ, one at Tankspot, MMOC, StratFU, videos and whatever.
 * Multiple users can update it long after I'm no longer playing the game.
 * Once it's posted here there's no longer any need for players to search for blog posts and EJ/other forum posts that depend on ONE person keeping track of massive numbers of different developments in different subject areas.

What I don't want to have happen:
 * Someone not familiar with the content to arbitrarily decide to rename the page without consulting with others who have worked hard on the page. If you're going to do something like that you need to explain yourself first in the discussion page.
 * Flame wars of people claiming their way of feral raiding/gearing is the only way. - Avoided by having multiple headers on different ways to accomplish the same goal.
 * People deleting content that is still relevant - pretty sure there's already ways to deal with this, though I don't see an easy conflict resolution mechanism.

How does this fit into the rest of the Druid class wiki system?
 * It's such a specialized undertaking that only speaks to 1/7th of druids (ok, a bit more, but you get the point) that it doesn't really fit into the neat class-based matrix you see on the class pages. It's also hugely popular judging by the amount of theorycrafting/discussion that goes on about it. Parl2001 (talk) 14:28, December 21, 2009 (UTC)

40KB warning
I just tryed to edit the main page to fix a spelling error (baer = bear). so i click on the bit with the error in and well it takes me to the big page...

Can some one get there hammer out and fix that? Thanks :)

P.S. i lost the spelling error.

Limitations section
The section talking about druis not being able to root indoors, or being as good as a warrior or preist at their areas is long stale. Is there something to change it to, or just remove? JoshuaRodman (talk) 02:45, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Text in question, moved here:

For obvious reasons, druids thrive in the wild outdoors. Inevitably, however, they lose some of their effectiveness when they are forced to endure separation from the natural environment. What good is a cleansing rain when a druid cannot even see the sky? How are roots to capture a foe who is standing atop a high tower? Such cases clearly require a druid with the imagination to consider new strategies and the flexibility to carry them out.
 * Limitations

Yet this flexibility, too, comes with an underlying negative corollary. The druid tends to be a jack-of-all-trades, but a master of none. An unusual mixture of priest, rogue, and warrior, the druid is therefore not equal to any of these three classes in their particular specialties. Even so, the druids' incredible adaptability serves them well in confronting the challenges that Azeroth has to offer.

Shape-shifting
Done some work to clean this up and wikify. Removed following to discussion page as the links are out of date and no consensus as to why druids not able to wear disguises in form Tequima (talk) 10:23, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

--

Some players state that the change was because of PvP reasons but there is some conflicting evidence. Here's a post made by Drysc responding to a poster on what it appears to be a deleted thread found on a BlueTracker:

"'Quote: If I remember correctly, the nerf for Druids not being able to use noggenfogger in forms was because it was deemed overpowered in PvP.'"

Shapeshifting and Polymorph changes
Currently, a Druid who has been polymorphed while in caster form, cannot shapeshift out (I have tested this on my druid with my friend's mage). However, the immunity to polymorph while shapeshifted still exists. This appears to be intentional by Blizzard to make healing druids cc'able. Tyvona (talk) 10:16, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Cataclysm updates
Most of the page has now be overhauled for cata. Needs some expert advice adding from feral (tank & dps) and resto adding to the gearing section. Patch section needs a tidy up. Suggest some of it gets moved to the discussion page OR replaced by summary and link to new Battle.net patch pages (when they are available). Tequima (talk) 14:42, 24 December 2010 (UTC)