Astral form

[Artebudz-ravencrest]

Ok I’ll explain it for you better.

Right now, you do this:

Shape shift to bear form -> 1.5s GCD -> Shape shift to cat form -> 1.5s GCD.

If you remove that GCD, you can literally spam form shifting, which makes you immune to all slows and roots 100% of the time, that’s a clear advantage as no one else can remove things instantly, I can think of PvPers complaining a lot about that.

Another situation more aimed towards PvE advatages, if you remove the GCD it’ll end up like this:

Use attack skill->shift to anything and instantly back to the previous form -> Use attack skill->shift to anything and instantly back to the previous form -> Use attack skill->shift to anything and instantly back to the previous form .

Do you see the issue now?

Your literally removing every GCD from the class, druids would become the only class with 0 GCDs, as we would just macro the form switching after every attack used, sure we would have like a .5 delay whilst forms actually switched, but that’s still 1s quicker between attacks than any other class, our dps would rocket up.

Again Glyphs would be the best option here.

Now as for your auto shifting idea, I like the idea, but I have to poke holes in it
Cause ya’know, I’m a mean dingus lol

Whilst it would stop the instant attack spam I mentioned above, you’d still be removing the 1.5s GCD from shifting.
You also would have to grant druids the passive form bonus’s to their human forms, so for example, right now my guardian druid would have 1million health in human form, instead of 650k.

You’d be removing like I said previously, that element of risk that shifting out of bear form brings.

It would ruin the fun for people who enjoy the challenge of trying to shift mid fight and pop a heal on yourself or the team, I’ve lost count of how many times swift-mending myself or others has saved a wipe.

So again, it’s not a bad idea, but it has flaws.

Glyphs do everything people want, but without affecting current game play.

[Zirealle-ragnaros]

You do realise shapeshifting pre-BFA was not on the GCD? It felt so much better. They need to remove the GCD from all classes in general IMO. Many people hate it, it’s unfun and makes everything slower. It worked before, it can work again. I don’t think druids shapeshifting with no gcd is broken? Wow we can get out of roots, cool? what classes can actually root that often? Not many. We don’t have a ton of CC in our kit anyway so it’s fair.

[Hexelyion-aggramar (Hexelyion)]

The entire point of Druid is shapeshifting. That’s the core mechanic of the class. It’s the one defining element.

Sounds like you’re not really enjoying your Druid.

[Rimian-dalaran]

@Artebudz-ravencrest

Your literally removing every GCD from the class, druids would become the only class with 0 GCDs

I don’t know where you got that. Skills that are off the GCD don’t remove the GCD on others skills.

@Artebudz-ravencrest

If you remove that GCD, you can literally spam form shifting, which makes you immune to all slows and roots 100% of the time

Never liked that mechanic. I wouldn’t mind it if it was straight up removed. But I’m sure that if forms are reworked to be off the GCD, the root removal can be moved somewhere else in the druid toolkit, it doesn’t need to be tied to shapeshifting.

@Artebudz-ravencrest

You also would have to grant druids the passive form bonus’s to their human forms, so for example, right now my guardian druid would have 1million health in human form, instead of 650k.

I don’t know where you got that either, I never suggested that you keep the bonuses in others forms, should auto shapeshift be a thing.

@Hexelyion-aggramar

Sounds like you’re not really enjoying your Druid.

I’m enjoying the gameplay loop. The class can’t just be summed up by “you turn into things”.
I’m only suggesting options to get rid of forms. You can stay a lame cat 90% of the time if you like it, but why would you want to force everyone to enjoy something the exact same way as you do?

Ideally, I’d like the druid to actually shapeshift during combat, going in and out of forms. I can do that alright, but it’s situational, it’s not part of my core rotation. For all intents and purposes I’m just a cat that occasionally turns into a humanoid whenever I want to use a mount (which is worse than flight form to begin with).

@Furreal-auchindoun

So because you like mounts, you want all other druids to have reduced movement speed in travel form. That’s a bit weird to me. If you like mounts, just use ur mounts like everyone else does? Why penalize others?

How about giving druids a passive to mount instantly, so that they’re on par with flight form?

[Furreal-auchindoun]

@Rimian-dalaran

How about giving druids a passive to mount instantly, so that they’re on par with flight form?

We druids control the art if shapeshifting. We’re not illusionist who instantly ride random mounts

[Rimian-dalaran]

Sometimes, gameplay takes priority over immersion, that’s why hunters don’t need arrows.
How about… Shapeshifting into mounts? And someone can ride us if we’ve unlocked the Legion flight form?

[Artebudz-ravencrest]

Ok I guess you didn’t read the full thing.

If you use a skill that has no GCD, none of your other skills go on a GCD.
Therefore, if you shapeshift, you can instantly cast another skill, instead of having to wait 1.5s.
^---- That removes the GCDs from druids.

I honestly like that we can shift to remove slows and what not, because of our passive bonus’s from forms, we are taking a risk to remove a root/slow.

I wasn’t saying you said it, I’m telling you, if you go instant shape shift from using skills, just as a visual thing, then the specs form bonus’s would have to become a basic passive that isn’t removed when changing forms.

If you remove the stamina bonus from Guardian for example, we become an ant trying to fight an elephant, you’d basically kill off druids as a tank class.
So yes, that is a must with your suggestion of auto shifting, I don’t mind, it’s technically a buff to us, but it removes the risk/benefit of shifting and that’s part of the fun of playing a druid.

[Artebudz-ravencrest]

Yes and in all honesty I’d rather it went back that way too.

But that requires a complete overhaul of all classes and I doubt blizzard wants to do that.

If they do decide to though, i’d be all for it.

As for the root/cc stuff.

Every class has a CC/root/stun e.c.t one or multiple of each.
Druids have loads of CC in their kit:
Mass entangle
Root
Typhoon
Cyclone
Vortex
A stun / charge / incapacitate

If that’s not a lot of CC, I don’t know what is

The point i was making was related to PvP, so:
Right now you go into a battle ground for example, you get ambushed by a mage and hunter, you shift out of the mages freeze and then walk into a hunters trap … you can’t shift from this for the whole GCD and by that time another player has rooted / cycloned / stunned you and you die.

If you remove the shapeshifting GCD, you are giving druids the option to shift out of every last freeze/root you get caught by with no cooldown on that.
It’s like having the human racial on a 0s cooldown.
^---- overpowered, no risk and infuriating to the enemy, PvPers already hate the pvp system, don’t make it worse for them

[Rimian-dalaran]

@Artebudz-ravencrest

That removes the GCDs from druids.

That removes a GCD from druids. You still have a GCD everytime you use any other skill. Shapeshifting can have its own separate GCD, it doesn’t need to be removed entirely. A lot of classes have that: Brewmasters share a GCD on all their rotational abilities, and they share a GCD on all their brews. But the GCD on brews doesn’t trigger the GCD on rotational abilities: They are independent.

@Artebudz-ravencrest

if you go instant shape shift from using skills, just as a visual thing

I never said it would just be a visual thing. I said that I’d rather press Rake right away, instead of first having to press Cat Form, and that Rake should take me into Cat Form instantly. Basically the way Prowl works: You can use it in any shape, but it shapeshifts you into a cat.
Hence, no need to remove any bonus from any form. The idea is to just make it smoother to rotate through, and to get the barbershop option of turning them into stances while we’re at it.

[Zirealle-ragnaros]

So would I. I doubt removing the GCD would require them to do an overhaul. It’s not that complicated.

And not every spec has vortex. Our CC shares the same talent row. As a moonkin specifically, as that’s what I play, I feel I don’t have a lot of CC compared to every other class but it doesn’t bother me too much considering we have great off-heals and speed.

It’s not overpowered. It has been that way in the past. I don’t remember a big outcry about druids shape-shifting considering that’s what makes them unique. We can’t get out of stuns, only roots, so I don’t see how it’s super unfair since we don’t have ice block, turtle, dispersion etc. If we get caught, we can die pretty easily.

PvP is unbalanced because all the stupid systems they implement are activated in PvP and do too much damage like corruption and traits. SO many people want the GCD removed from everything.

[Furreal-auchindoun]

@Zirealle-ragnaros

SO many people want the GCD removed from everything.

I’m one of them (: