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WoW Moviewatch: Take 40 druids...
So what can you do with 40 druids? 40 moonfires, 40 innervates, 40 bears, 40 cats... Well, not all at once, of course. But this video gives you some idea of the capabilities of druids in large numbers -- though, okay, the 40 druid raid on Ogrimmar at the end of the video may actually be the best part.
All aboard the nerf train in the BC beta
If you haven't been on the forums for a day or two, you may not have noticed: the devs finally pulled the nerf bat out for the expansion. Lots of classes are running around crying their heads off (droods I'm looking at you), there's lot of flaming going on, and the world is generally coming to an end. You haven't noticed? Strange.So here's the changes that freaked everyone out so bad. These appeared in the patch notes for the beta server, which we posted here without fanfare when they first showed up. Warriors got a big change to rage generation that, as far as I can tell (there's a lot of math involved) gave a nerf to anyone carrying around a two hander. Rage was normalized, especially on crits, so people are reporting from 3-4 to up to 10 less points of rage per crit damage. Of course, as gear gets better, so will rage generation, but the warriors aren't thrilled. Mage AOE took a hit, as well-- right now, AOE hits any number of mobs in a certain area (hence, "area of effect") for the same damage. After the patch, AOE will diminish (see point number 6) after a certain number of mobs-- beta testers are saying it's around ten or so. I didn't think this was a big factor (because when are you really fighting more than ten mobs, but I was proven wrong tonight in ZG, when we found countless numbers of panthers and spiders and the AOE was necessary to finish them. Hunter pets got "normalized" (more math-- anyone want to try explaining this simply), which means Cat pets will see a drop in damage and Bears will see a small gain. Also, Hunters aren't thrilled that The Beast Within (one of their BC skills) was nerfed to a 10% damage bonus from a 30% damage bonus. But they aren't crying nearly as much as the... Druids, who got hit big: there will now be a one second cooldown for all shapeshifting abilities. Also, feral druids were very excited to be able to use consumables (and weapon procs) in bear and cat forms, but the devs say that was apparently a bug, and it's not happening in the beta. That has got druids torn up more than anything else, so there is QQing aplenty over on the druid forums (though there may be hope yet). Now, I'll leave it to you guys to determine whether or not these changes are deserved or necessary. Right now I'm playing a Shaman and a Rogue, so I'm pretty much staying out of it, but feel free to unleash your rage (or, in Cat form, your energy) in the comments below).But I will say that I think it's inevitable the nerf bat had to be brought out eventually. Blizzard has been exceptionally generous, I think, with these expansion talents and spells (don't forget, mages still have Invisibility, and almost all classes are getting completely new spells and strategies to use), and so I'm not surprised at all that these changes came about-- and I won't be surprised if more show up as well (Shamans, I still expect a dual wield nerf for us).But at the same time, the Mage and Druid changes confuse me a little bit. AoE seems so fundamental to the Mage class, and you'll rarely hit 10 targets in a PVP setting, so why bother nerfing it in PVE? And even if the Druid consumable problem is legit (and I think it is-- Druids shouldn't be able to be replacement warriors in every situation), the devs just call it a "bug"? That's a pretty big bug to let float by for so long.Anyway, have at it. And if you've played on the BC server, are these changes as much of an issue as everyone thinks they are? Or is this stuff all just creating a river of tears for nothing?
Consumables in druid forms? Maybe... not.
I don't think I'd want to be in a room with these very angry druids... On the live realms at present druids cannot use consumables in forms -- the lack of useful things like health potions and healthstones is certainly an annoyance, but after playing a druid for a while you start getting used to the trend of shifting out of feral forms whenever you need to do anything important. However, on the beta realms Blizzard dangled a carrot: for a brief period of time, "certain consumables were flagged as usable in some forms, and that has since been reversed." Drysc claims this was a bug and a mistake -- but even after his comments, countless druids insist that he is uninformed and that the change can't be a bug, pointing at recent changes to the text of Thistle Tea (restores energy) and Rage Potions (restores rage) to include druids under their class restrictions. And while I admire so many druids for believing so whole-heartedly in the power of their dreams, I wonder how much hope there is for a change after it's been confirmed as a bug.[Thanks, Atrius]
Forum Post of the Day: Druid tanks from a healing perspective
There's little discussion on this post so far, but the few posts in the thread thus far are rather interesting. As far as tanking goes, the warrior has always been king, with a much wider array of abilities to hold aggro and reduce their own damage taken. But when the Burning Crusade hits store shelves, druids and paladins will both find themselves with a wider array of tanking abilities -- druids with a hardier bear form and paladins with a much nicer protection tree. And while I still feel that protection warriors will be the cream of the crop, I wonder if druids and paladins won't offer their own advantages -- in certain situations. However, warriors and paladins maintain the advantage of block and parry, neither of which druids are capable of. But whether this means druids will be the Burning Crusade's third class tank or whether their immense stamina and armor ratings make up for it -- I think I'll really have to get some experience with it before I could decide.Forum Post of the Day attempts to highlight interesting and constructive posts (I know, I know -- I'm severely restricting the available options!) from the official forums. Seen a post recently that's made you think? Let us know about it!
Official BC Druid talents announced!
Been waiting? Wait no longer -- the druid's talent preview is up and running on the European website! See new skills here and talent trees here. Interesting highlights include a flight form for flying transport around the Outlands, a new CC spell called Cyclone that has no limitations on enemy type or an indoor/outdoor restriction (but does require level 70), the ubiquitous pet-summon at 41-points balance, and increased HoT spell domination with new healing spell Lifebloom and the 41-point restoration ability Tree of Restoration -- which only allows a druid to cast HoTs.
Bears, flags and cross-server queue times
"This PvP thing is quite fun," thought I, several weeks ago.Time passed. Lured on by cheap combat potions, armour and (of course) glory, I've been spending plenty of time attempting to kill Horde recently. I thoroughly enjoy the niche my druid has found in PvP, and have worked hard to become a better player. By slowly but steadily ranking up, the addictive microreward cycle has worked its magic on me, and what began as an experiment to see how far I could get PvPing when I had the time has become something more permanent.Of course, such idyllic stories end in tears; the Drums of War have arrived in Azeroth, bringing with them shortened battleground queues. Previously, it was a case of occasional PvP games (usually short losses to elite teams) fitting nicely in amongst work breaks -- a little light relief from a heavy burden. However, now the queues are almost eliminated, and the games are much longer, I can't multitask any more.All is not lost, however. Despite the joy of being a flag-carrying bear, sometimes it's fun to just get out there and burn faces. My mage alt is old enough to go into AV, and firing pyroblasts with reckless disregard for rank or reputation is a different -- and utterly refreshing -- kind of game.
Ramp! Tunnel! The life of a flagrunner
I've recently started spending much of my day in that eternal WoW timesink -- the battleground queue. Fed up of terrible random groups, I've joined a casual PvP team in search of honour, glory and extreme violence towards the Horde. With something of a druid shortage on my server, I'm often the only one in the group, and thus the chief flagrunner.Having partaken of the odd PvP game since I was in my mid-forties (not to mention playing games other than WoW which involve flags, teams and death) I'm no stranger to the concept of flag running, but I've found my ability as a flag carrier has vastly increased since getting into a good group. Not only have I become much faster at shifting between shapeshift forms in PvP, setting up easily-accessible keybinds for the various forms has helped me in PvE as well -- I'm developing a reflex for shifting into bearform when I start taking damage, which is useful in tricky aggro situations.However, there's one common theme to my flag carrying; one thing I spend most of my time doing, and I'm not ashamed of the fact. My chief activity is running away, and staying alive. I make a lot of mistakes -- I run away from healers, I hit Dash and sprint off into the middle of several cows with big pointy swords -- but I'm learning, and enjoying it. The druid class makes a perfect flag runner in my (extremely biased) opinion, and with the right support a match can be over in a few minutes. Here's to more victories, and losses that help me learn.
WoW Druid Simulator for Excel
Ok, I'll admit that I have no real idea what this thing does, or if it's even useful, but I figured I'd let you guys be the judge of that. FileFront.com is hosting a user-created Druid Simulator for MS Excel that allows that allows "druids to test their gear setups. It should allow them to determine which gear to aim for."So, I guess it's a spreadsheet kind of thing? Personally, I don't get into the minutae of stats & all the numbers when I'm playing an MMO...or any game, for that matter...but I know there are plenty of folks that do, so maybe some of you will find this useful. You can download it from this link.
Essential advice for druids
Play a druid? Ever confused about which form to use when? Or do you want a handy howto to give others when they ask you, in catform, to heal? Alamo's Druid Guide, or rather "Alamo teechs u 2 play DURID!", can help -- it's been recently reposted on the forums. Here's a sample excerpt:OK LISSEN Almo noes about sum durid things sinse the baginning. Maybe B4 durids was week & stuff but now Durids is very storng. 1) OK, Sum durids is bare 2) Tehm whos bare durids, can B 4 tank: ONLY DURID DON’T HAF SUM PEEPS IN THE HEAD AND A GUNZ LOL! 3) Man, sum bare druids can maek sum peeps poop in feer bc/ tehms so storng. 4) Bare druids is not so good at uh moonfare spam but its OK b/c a bare durid haf many armors & when a thing hits durid, maybe thing gets borken hand LOL! 5) Bare durids is 4 funs when u can charje & stun & haf sum armors lol. Indispensible advice for life. Thanks, Alamo![Via Wonderland]
Well, You Knew Druids Were Versatile!
Druids are arguably the most versatile class in WoW, what with their shapechanging and all, and this video is a perfect example. This 34-man group of druids drop Onyxia, which is a testament to the versatility of the class. It would be possible for the other hybrid classes, Paladin and Shaman, to do this as well, but I can't see how any other non-hybrid class could pull this off, unless they were completely maxed out with items. Well done, Druids of Al'Hakir. /golfclap
