So I’ve done both Druid and Barbarian this server slam and the difference is quite noticible. How the game is catered to range classes aside, I found bear druid to have much less damage and less or about the same survivability as the barbarian (but the barbarian kills much quicker meaning it takes less hits over all). This is ofc based on this early gameplay and low level.
I struggled with druid more so for some reason this server slam than in the open beta. It took a long time to kill normal mobs, and bosses took forever. I didn’t notice any particular survivability either. The fortify does basically nothing with it’s 10% damage reduction for a bear that plays so sluggish you take way many more hits than Barb. The minor self heal from Debilitating Roar has way too long cool down to be of any real help (especially in boss fights). At least werewolf has CD reduction with enhanced blood howl.
Some Bear suggestions:
- Give Maul a slight attack speed upgrade so it feels less sluggish to play. Add (similar to barbarians frenzy) a 1-2 % increase damage reduction for any fortify per hit up to 5-10%.**
- Decrease cooldown on debilitating roar. Either base reduction, or increase the reduction per rank.
- Add a passive node “Iron fur” decreasing damage taken by X% per rank (or swap out Innate Debilitating Roar giving a flat damage reduction while it’s on cool down)**
- Lower the Overpower timer**
- Increase duration of the 20% damage debuff on mobs by 1-2 seconds**
All in all, I wouldn’t mind the lower damage bear has in comparison to basically everything else, if that meant they had more defence. But having lower in everything feels really bad (including the sluggishness).
With barbarian it went very smooth with a decent clearing speed and boss damage as well as not dying as much. Felt way more balanced.
On a final note though, some bosses should be looked over regarding melee fighters. Several bosses sits in pools way too often or has other mechanics which melee simply can’t do anything about that run around and wait them out (and that often takes quite some time).
Last open beta I did Bear druid, rogue and sorcerer and boy was it easy with rogue and sorcerer… So balance the game a bit more for melee, either by giving melee more tankiness, or increasing CD’s on bosses AoE stuff which makes it really boring to play melee (running around waiting for a tiny DPS window is not fun gameplay)