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One tank to rule them all? Devs say no.
As a healer, I feel like I get a decent view on tank performance. And by now I've had a chance to heal for all three primary tanking classes: Warrior, Paladin, and Druid. From my point of view, both a Paladin and a Druid make excellent tanks when specced for it; in fact, in BC I'd say they tank better than a Warrior. Post-patch, if I had to pick a ranking, I'd say Pally > Druid > Warrior (Druid would've been on top pre-patch), but that really depends on player, gear, and environment. I asked a few guildies (a shadow Priest, experienced in pulling aggro, and a player who's tanked as both a Pally and a Warrior both made themselves available for extended comment; one more each of Druid, Pallie, and Warrior gave quick shout-ins), and here's what emerged (combined with my own observations):
A realistic look at druid tanking
Druids have received some significant changes in the coming 2.0.10 patch, but while there's lots of complaint and speculation, there's little agreement on what the changes will actually do for druids. But the loudest complaint is that druids will no longer be able to tank and will be once more reduced to a pure healing role. Note that there are no changes to cat or moonkin effectiveness or damage output, which does leave DPS as an option (in both PvE and PvP) -- but with so many classes able to DPS and so few classes able to heal, druids are reasonably concerned about being marginalized. The facts on bears from the patch notes are as follows: Bear/dire bear form's health bonus has changed from +25% health to +25% stamina. While this sounds like a non-change, this means that +health enchants and health-increasing potions or flasks are no longer considered in the bonus calculation, resulting in a loss of health for some druids. Dire bear form's armor bonus has been reduced from +450% to +400%. The talent Savage Fury no longer affects mangle (bear), maul, or swipe. Savage Fury previously increased damage done by those abilities by 20% for two talent points. The ability lacerate is the only bear ability that is not effected by this change, but only because it wasn't effected by the talent previously. (This talent will still have benefits to cat form, but no longer benefits any abilities in bear form.) The talent Predatory Instincts has been changed from a critical damage increase of 3/6/9/12/15% to a critical damage increase of 2/4/6/8/10%. The rage normalization equation has been adjusted to grant more rage. While we won't know the full story until the final changes hit the live realms, by piecing together some of the data coming from players on the PTRs, I think we can make some reasonable guesses. Curious? Keep reading.
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Where have the tanks gone?
Unlike many guilds, my guild has never had a problem with finding healers in TBC. We have a ton of 70 shamans, most of whom are resto specced and on nearly all the time. We have a couple of priests with good healing gear. We even have some up-and-coming paladins who are in the mid-60s. Instead, our problems are tank-related. Like most guilds, we have a good number of warriors, about evenly divided between tanks and DPS warriors. But our tanks seem to have fallen into the habit of mysteriously disappearing for days at a time, which has slowed their leveling speed. Two of our tanks are still 67, which kind of puts a damper on Karazhan plans. Two of our prot warriors are 70, but one let his game card expire and can't afford a new one and the other is only on occasionally. So as of now, our theoretical main tank is a feral druid. Admittedly, he is a very GOOD feral druid, and he is excellent in five-mans and heroics, but he's not quite confident that he can handle the big raid bosses. Other guilds I've spoken to have reported similar issues. One has a shortage of prot warriors and is having difficulty in Karazhan with druid tanks, and as for five-mans, "we've got 20 people wanting to instance and 2 tanks online." Another has trouble "finding tanks that wake up in time for raids." The third guild has enough tanks right now, but the leader noted that they leveled slowly. As I see it, the problem has three parts. First, prot warriors level slowly, so the first warriors to 70 are likely to be those who spec arms or fury and have the gear for it. Second, warriors are sort of gimp right now, and many warriors have switched to other classes, either because they didn't like being nerfed or because they had trouble getting into a guild as a warrior. And finally, most raiding guilds only needed two or three regular protection warriors for their raids. When forty people doing one instance with three tanks turns into forty people doing eight instances, needing eight tanks, there's likely to be a perceived tank shortage -- even if you have the same number of tanks you did before. Have you noticed a tank shortage on your guild or server? What do you think players can do to make life easier for tanks?
Yes, you do still have those healing spells
We've written a lot here about offspecs, and it seems that with the Burning Crusade, players who choose to offspec are finally getting their due-- druids can play as rogues, shadow priests can play as warlocks, and dual-wielding shaman can play as fury warriors if they want to.But there is one problem. Some players are, unfortunately, forgetting exactly not what they're supposed to do, but what they can do (excellent rant there, definitely worth a read). If you're a shadow priest, please remember that it is possible to get out of shadow form and heal if necessary. You may be a feral druid, but sometimes it's time to step back, drop out of cat form, and heal. And sure, as an enhancement shaman, you may have loaded up on strength, stamina, and agility rather than +healing, but when the healer is going down fast, every bit counts, and it's time to get out Lesser Healing Wave and start spamming.I don't mean to force you to only do things you aren't specced to do-- if you're shadow, and someone asks you to main heal an instance, you have a right to say no. As I said, we here are all for offspecs-- they break the cookie cutter molds built around characters and show us things in this game that have never been done before. But in this case, necessity is the mother of non-invention-- if necessity calls you to fill a traditional role, even for one fight, please, fill it.
WoW Moviewatch: Nerf Druids
I know, I know -- we had such a positive discussion yesterday about cries of "nerf this!" and "nerf that!" But this compelling video evidence is awfully hard to argue with. [Thanks, Tylluan, for pointing out that Joystiq tagged this video first]
Today's overkilliest video: Nerf Druid
Finally, some hard video evidence that druids are a bit too overpowered in World of Warcraft. You can't really argue after seeing this video. Could your poor warlock, paladin, or shaman stand up to this? We highly doubt it. Hopefully Blizzard will heed the call and scale back on the druids just a tad, because while some of the other classes are pretty powerful, this one goes to 11.
Nerf.... wait, who do we want to nerf this week?
The cries to nerf warlocks have been so loud on the forums lately that it's nearly refreshing to see them replaced by something else. This week's nerf cries seem to focus almost entirely on druids, as forum posters run back and forth about whether or not druids are overpowered and, if so, how to fix them. And, of course, the there's always the constant cycle of "nerf your class, buff my class" posts.Those claiming druids are overpowered say that druids shouldn't be able to tank like a warrior, DPS like a rogue (or, I suppose, a mage, depending on spec), kite like a hunter, and heal like priest. And the druids argue that they can't do all of these things at once -- and to be as good as any primary class, they have to spec for it and gear for it which limits their effectiveness in other areas.And in a massively multiplayer game like this, where major class changes can come unexpectedly with any patch or hotfix, I wonder which class will be overpowered next week, and the week after. Taking all bets...
WoW Moviewatch: The RawrBomb
Xxorn of Durotan demonstrates the druid's fearsome RawrBomb technique. The technique, originally developed by Siiren of Warsong, involves a druid positioning himself above his enemy in flight form, shifting out of flight and into bear, and feral charging a target right before hitting the ground. As you can see, the RawrBomb is hard to perfect, and Xxorn only got one successful one off compared to a lot of hitting the ground and dying. Still, it would be pretty nice to see an army of druids own Thrallmar or Telaar someday. There's nothing scarier than the revenge of the druids. "Remember when you told us all we had to spec resto or get /gkicked? Eat flying bear death from my Night Elf friends!"
Ask WoW Insider: best spec for a DPS druid?
As we all know, some durids is bare and some is for fite. Today's Ask WoW Insider question comes from one o tehm durids interested in being more cat-like -- Corey asks: My main is, and always will be a Druid. I really enjoy the class and I try to focus mostly on a feral build since I like being able to DPS as a cat, and tank as a bear. Lately I have been searching for a spec that will give the best DPS output I can get, but haven't found that magic combination of talents yet. So I ask you... what is the best DPS spec for a druid? What say you, durids? Can you help this cat? Don't forget to send us your questions for Ask WoW Insider to ask AT wowinsider DOT com -- see you next week!
Druid flight form FAQ
Earlier today, I hit 68 on my Priest, which was awesome because I got Prayer of Mending. However, if I was a Druid, I would have gotten something infinitely more awesome: Flight Form. If anyone's unfamiliar with flight form, it's a Druid shapeshift that's only usable in Outlands and turns you into a Stormcrow, allowing you to fly. This means a free, instant-cast flying mount, basically, as well as free flying mount training (which is much more expensive). People have a lot of questions about Flight Form; fortunately for us, Locust has compiled an excellent FAQ in the forums. I'll put the more interesting bits here, and the whole FAQ (which is rather long) after the cut for those who can't access the WoW forums. Do I need Journeyman Riding skill (which is needed for ground epic mounts) in order to gain this ability? Will it cost me? Yes, and it will cost you 540g. Will I still need to buy Expert Riding skill in order to buy Artisan Riding skill to ride a flying epic mount? No. Once you train for Flight Form, you automatically gain Expert Riding skill. You save yourself 800g. If I activate Flight Form while falling, can it save me from a fall that would normally cause me to die? You bet. Can I attack in Flight Form? No. No attacks. No abilities. What happens if I die while very high in the air? Your body will be found exactly where you died. If you are unable to retreieve your corpse because it is too high, you will have to spirit res. Normal running speed: 100% Walking speed: 40% Aspect of the Cheetah: 130% Cheetah form: 140% Ground normal mount: 160% Ground epic mount: 200% Druid Flight Form: 160% Normal flying mount running: 160% Normal Flying mount flying: 160% Epic flying mount running: 200% Epic flying mount flying: 380% Epic swift nether drake: 410% Wind Rider (Flight Master): 500%
Phat Loot Phriday: Staff of Beasts
The loot is still so phat in Outland, we still don't know which one to pick (although don't worry, lowbies, we'll do an Azeroth item next week for ya). Fortunately, reader Adam sends in his favorite new Outland item, something that embodies all the great stuff the expansion has to offer: great looking items, fun quests to get them from, and items that are perfect for those offspec folks.Name: Staff of BeastsType: Rare StaffDamage / Speed: 144-252, 3.30 (60.2 DPS)Abilities: +31 Strength, +30 Agility, +45 Stamina Here's Adam's favorite part: On Equip, it grants you 298 Attack power in Cat, Bear, Dire Bear and Moonkin forms. That's a terrific item for feral druids, either for soloing or playing non-healer roles in groups. Plus, just look at it, man. That's a B.A. staff! I pity the fool! How to Get It: Actually, like most of the amazing stuff in Outland, it's not hard to get at all, but you'll need a few friends who know what they're doing. It's a quest chain at the "Ring of Blood" arena, in the northeast corner of Nagrand. The chain's level is 67, but all the quests call for a group, so bring a couple guildies and you can do it all at the same time. Basically, the questgiver runs you through five arena battles against NPCs, each progressively harder. Beat the fifth quest, "The Final Challenge," and you'll get your choice of six awesome rewards (including a 81.5 DPS two hand axe that looks amazing, and a +160 healing mace that my Shaman would love), one of which is this very nice Druid staff. Just remember the wise words of Alamo: cat durid dosen't fite!Getting Rid of It: Sells to vendors for 9g 96s 92c (gotta save up for that mount!). No one has been dumb enough to get one of these quest rewards and disenchant it, so couldn't tell you what it D/Es into yet. What are you still doing here reading? Go get it!
The naked Night Elf (who does more than dancing for gold)
Our old friend the Naked Troll has a new fellow nudist (or a rival, I guess, depending on whether you play PVE or PVP). AntiTweak is a Night Elf Druid who's leveling her way up completely naked ("without weapons or armor," she says), and livejournalling the whole thing.First, I'll get the formalities out of the way, and say it's an accomplishment for both of them to do it, and that both are taking on (and succeeding at) pretty impressive feats. They're great, good for them, and so on.But more importantly, let's decide: which is harder? A Druid definitely seems harder to level naked than a Hunter (the class Juffowup was leveling with), but then again, Druids can heal and Hunters can't. But Juffowup definitely used weapons, and AntiTweak isn't using any. But AntiTweak seems like she's getting a lot of help from her boyfriend and guildies, and I think Juffowup mostly played with only his pet. And let's not forget, Juffowup plays Horde, and Alliance is EZ mode...Whoops, did I say that last one out loud?AntiTweak's latest debate is whether potions count as "armor and weapons" or not. I say no, but then again some PVP duelers consider potions cheating, while other PVPers drink pots in battlegrounds like their life depends on it. Whatever she decides, grats again to AntiTweak. I'm kind of glad she's doing it, just so I don't have to.
Rolling restarts this morning
US realms will be seeing rolling restarts beginning at 5:00 AM PST today to apply a small fix to introduce a necessary reagent to vendors across the world. Drysc isn't specific about what he might be referring to, but I can only assume he's talking about Wild Quillvine, a reagent required for a druid to cast Gift of the Wild rank 3 (the group buff version of Mark of the Wild). Complaints about the lack of the reagent go all the way back to beta, so it's good to see them finally getting some notice. To those of you hoping for Drysc might be talking about the missing Khorium veins, his wording seems pretty specific to a vendor reagent. The restart process shouldn't last more than 15 minutes -- perfect time for a breakfast break!
Druid and Rogue talent calculators updated
Blizzard has updated the druid and rogue talent calculators to reflect the changes in today's patch. To recap talent changes for each class from earlier today: Druids:
