Hi!
I’m having so much fun playing druid in retail at the moment, mainly “catweaving”. (Going resto with some cat DPS)
This is the only experience I have playing druid. Will I enjoy it as much if I roll one in classic?
2 Likes
Well… Imagine the same but add off-tanking aswell.
Back in the days, some players managed to get in top 5 heal/dps/tank in the same raid.
1 Like
Oh wow! That sounds really dope.
Ok, more specifically…
You can expect something like 75% passive direct physical damage reduction with bear form alone (no active skill, no CD involved).
You can expect very decent healing, although priests will be better than you.
And… You can expect semi-decent damage in cat. But you will never ever be as good as a rogue, for example.
You’ll feel like you need to time 2 times the effort to get 75% of what other classes get. But where other classes get basically 1 role at once max, you’ll get 3.
But it kinda felt depressing at some point, because the game slowly became in favor of specialists instead of jack of all trades.
3 Likes
What ? No. Even a full tank Druid was only off tank. A full feral was not really a good dps. And a full heal Druid wasn’t a good healer.
The more you combined them the worst they got.
If you want to play a Druid OP , you will play heal or you will be useless
1 Like
My memory might be shoddy of when I played Classic, but from what I remember Druids didn’t have a ress? I swear the only way they got ress was by doing AQ, but I could be wrong, sorry if this isn’t helpful! But maybe if I am right it is? 
They had a brez. In fact they were the only class with an active brez.
1 Like
As I said, the game evolved in favor of specialists. Not jack of all trades.
So, if you really want to minmax, all you need is warrior, rogue, hunter, mage and priest. Everything else is useless (except for the occasional buff/debuff).
But if you’re a decent being, you can live without minmaxing.
1 Like
You don’t understand. Even with min maxing Druid is bad outsite of healing.
As feral you need to farm a item again and again to do DECENT dps.
As tank you need a raid which doesn’t mind wiping because you died unlucky ( which happens randomly )
As mixed specc you will do everything but do nothing
I played a druid in vanilla (even in vanilla’s beta)… And I mained a druid ever since, so I guess I understand very well.
But you have this feeling because you are minmaxing. I mean… Basically if you’re not the best tank, you’re no tank. If you’re not the best healer, you’re no healer. If you’re not the best dps, you’re no dps.
I could probably take a rogue and deal better dps with it than I would with a druid.
Or take a warrior and be a better tank, or a priest and be a better healer.
That’s true. That’s also minmaxing.
You’re saying that outside of healing a druid is bad, but in that regard even regarding healing a druid is horrible.
That said, I would not be able to be in the top 5 or even top 10 dps/tank/heal during the same raid with a rogue, for example.
It’s not a priest or a rogue who’s gonna save the day when your tank dies or looses aggro. A druid could. (although I remember a rogue tanking vaelastrasz for at least 30 sec straight).
You just don’t compare each role individually, but what the class as a whole offers.
So, of course, if you’re in a group of hardcore gamers who minmax everything and get everything done correctly, no druid is needed. No warlock, no paladin, no shaman either.
3 Likes
The OP asked if he would enjoy it.
Is it enjoyable to perform worse than other , while having to put more effort into the game, farm before every raid a item which gets destroyed after 3 uses , and that with less clean gameplay ?
Obviously not to you.
For me it was.
2 Likes
The game might be the same but actually it isn´t.
Forget retail druis.
Classic druid No no´s:
No normal ress
Cant properly heal a 5 man party at higher levels
Problems with mana
Boomkin = Oomkin
Amazing last talent tree in balance and feral specialization
Classic Druid Ye ye:
only battle ress in game (warlocks are preemptive ress)
best healing spell healing/mana wise
Very versatile
World content is really easy do do wile in feral
can tank normal dungeons (can tank in naxx with proper gear)
My opinion about if you will like or not it completely depends on you and what you want from the game.
As world content it is amazing
Dungeon wise you are a support dps/heal
I wouldn´t advise you to heal 5 man run at max level
Most guild will want you resto to help
Best build to dungeons/world would be feral
Hope i helped
3 Likes
What’s not to like about nearly one-shotting clothies that are sitting down drinking/eating? 
1 Like
Well druid won’t be one shotting enyone who is the same lvl. If you are in to the hybrid style of play that Druid offers in retail then you’re going to have alot of fun in classic. Retail forces the druid in to a role with their talent specalizations, affinities failes at trying to make up for it. In vanilla Druid is a true hybrid. Feral/resto hybrid build was the most fun I had with any class in vanilla if we disregard raiding.
4 Likes
The answer is: depends what you want to do. You won’t dps in raids unless you know the raid leader or the guild is casual and you won’t dps as moonkin unless you enjoy spending half the fight (even more) out of mana.
You won’t tank unless you’re seriously overgearing content or you know the raid leader and he doesn’t mind asking healers to work extra hard.
If you’re healing, you wouldn’t beat decent paladins/priests but you’re bringing innervate (for priests) and rebirths to the raid (which are awesome) but you will spend the fight casting various ranks of healing touch.
If you’re pvping you will be the best flag carrier in warsong gulch and have various degrees of success otherwise.
If you just want to level casually and go sightseeing, cat druid is maybe the best leveling experience after hunter.
1 Like
I get what you’re saying 
I think Druid will be just the fit for me in classic.
Thanks for your input!
@Brewslé
Oh yeah! The hybrid style is exactly what i’m enjoying about it.
Jumping around from cat > bear > normal form putting up bleeds hots and tanking damage. I’ve watched a couple of PvP videos from classic content and it looks really fun.
After some more research, feral dps is actually not that bad and i changed my opinion. You just need a couple of key items. Wolfshead helm you get from tribal leatherworking and you won’t replace ever. Manual-crowd-pummeler is a weapon from Gnomeregan and you will have to keep farming for multiple copies (it has 3 charges of the active which you need).
The thing is, a competent raid leader will prefer a feral that goes the extra mile and gets consumables(and you will have to, to get an edge) over a rogue that just shows up and expects to wreck face.
Also, be Alliance. Windfury does nothing for you and there will be less of a gap between you and non-windfuried warriors and rogues.
Classic druid is very versatile. You can heal on one boss and tank on another without changing talents. There is also plenty of builds you can choose from. Also resto druids are not as bad as people say. Big downside to resto druid is that their main spell healing touch cast time is 2-2.5sec. That is way too long and u get heal snipped alot unless you are mt heal or you are regrowth spec with good gear. Druid can tank almost everything just fine and hold aggro better then warrior but you need to farm for a weapon but its not such a big deal as it´s not very hard and you don´t need too many of them. They are also good for pvp as they are very tanky in bear form and can´t be sheeped. Playstyle is definitely more interesting then what we have now. I am not fan of shapeshifter who can only heal/dps or tank but nothing between.
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.