What does a druid bring to the table?

[Shneider]

Worried about the upcoming changes on high level instances myself, as those of us who've yet to do them will have a more difficult time of completing the quests there. Doubt Blizzard will do anything retroactive in that regard but I can at least understand the change in order to stop rewarding zerglings in favor of people actually use some degree of tactics.

[Narrock]

Bread, water, menus for everybody, and crayons for the kids.

[Zanchief]

Worried about the upcoming changes on high level instances myself, as those of us who've yet to do them will have a more difficult time of completing the quests there. Doubt Blizzard will do anything retroactive in that regard but I can at least understand the change in order to stop rewarding zerglings in favor of people actually use some degree of tactics.

The lower lvls have it so fucking easy it rediculous.

People whine at lvl 50 to do BRD, 55 to do Scholomance. All they have to do is ask some high lvls to bring them!

I did ST at 55, because it would have been to hard to do it with the gear and lvl of people any earlier.

I didnt enter into BRD until I was 60 and the same obviously goes for all other isntances.

Whine all you want about the horrors of not being 60 now, then get all your friends to run you through LBRS in an hour.

[Skrum]

I've done all the quests and as a caster theres like..... 3 truely worth doing reward wise and 2 of the 3 should be no problem to 5 man if you really wanted it.

[Tikker]

After doing 3 back to back to back Maraudon runs with a druid in the group last night, i've come to the conclusion that druids are fucking useless, and gayer than they were in EQ




if you want to prove me wrong, lvl a druid to 50+ on doomhammer, and group with me nightly~


ps we're recruiting!

[Jirig]

The problem with druids is this: people expect way too much of them. Read: they can't be your main tank / main healer at the same time.

IMO, a good druid filling in the role of main tank will be in bear form 80% of the time... shifting only to heal during down-time to help conserve the main healer's mana. Or; if he IS the main healer, stay in cat form 80% of the time... shifting only to heal as necessary (or shifting to bear form to offtank a single add if no CC is present).

Druids are the jack-of-all-trades. Expecting them to be superior at any single role is only setting yourself up for disappointment.

[Keletarise]

How 'bout Good Druid story:


4 of us went into Marudon last night to farm the Princess and the 'Gator for Blue drops. Me (56 Warrior), a 52 Rogue, a 54 Mage, and a 54 Druid. Use the staff shortcut... blah blah blah... But we were still one short of a full deck, and another tank would have been VERY nice to have around.

The early Dimetradons were cake when I can hold Aggro for the Rogue and spellcasters, while one hibernates and the 3rd is a sheep... 4 Dims? Sheep/Sleep = 2, I solo one while the others take down the other then return to help me finish... Piece of cake.

The Elemental patrols were more difficult, just because I can't reliably hold aggro on THAT many, THAT often. (Challenging Shout has a 10 minute cooldown) We did fine though, and were (temporarily) happy we decided to continue when logic said we should wait until we recruited another tank.


BUT near the base of the bridge near Landslide, we were doing the last Patrol of stone elementals when another came up from behind... And Aggro'd.... I figured we were SO dead, but used my Challenging Shout and Retaliation to gather all the Hate that I could... So we're all up to our ears and Brawling HARD, when BOTH the Mage and Druid shout OOM after tossing their nukes. The Mage manages to break free and run. Little elementals are still beating on us. I'm Cleaving and Whirlwind-ing my skinny Elven butt off, trying to maximize the sad amount of damage that Warriors do, when the last big one crumbles into MORE little ones. The Rogue is getting her rear end kicked, so she pulls a Vanish. Leaving me at less than half health and the freshly-shifted Bear to deal... Yah - I had to burn a major heal pot, but the Druid had recovered enough Mana in Bear form to shift out, heal us both a second time, and shift back to continue the fight


It was enough. We all finished the fight alive... (barely) And it was the well-played Druid that shifted the balance.

The rest was surprisingly easy - Princess fell after a decent brawl and rewarded our efforts with a nice blue hat and the Blackstone ring (We gave it to the Druid). The Gator yielded the Axe, though. Which wasn't what we were after, since I already had better.

Anyways - Nobody died, even though we were short a party member, and it was the Druid's versatility to do what was best at the moment it was needed that tipped the balance.


Kel

[Tikker]

I would have said it was more that you were over lvl'd for the instance, but that's just me =P

[Tacks]

Dude this one time at level 60 I went into wailing caverns and I SOLOED IT! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?

[Keletarise]

I would have said it was more that you were over lvl'd for the instance, but that's just me =P

Warriors take beatings. But they don't administer them at higher levels because Warr damage does not scale to meet new threats as the Warrior does. Most (solo) warriors can go toe-to-toe with a regular mob of their level. Pairs or up to a couple higher if the warr is well played and has good gear. Then the warrior must stop to heal him/herself. But a Warrior cannot carry Elites of it's own level, and the slow grind means that Warrs are best off working Mobs 2~4 levels lower so the kills can be chained. That's the fastest way to gain XP without constantly dying and burning through buttloads of options.

When they level, a Mage, Rogue, Warlock, (whatever) does LOTS more damage as they grow. Warrs only do a little more. Add to that the fact that I'm more defensively specc'd, and I simply cannot kill Elites fast enough to protect the group. I would absolutely steamroll regular Mobs of that level. But Elites are different. Now, give me a Rogue partner, and the story changes LOTS!


Yeah - My level means that I'm the last one to die, but that's about it...

Kel

[Tikker]

I would have said it was more that you were over lvl'd for the instance, but that's just me =P

Warriors take beatings. But they don't administer them at higher levels because Warr damage does not scale to meet new threats as the Warrior does. Most (solo) warriors can go toe-to-toe with a regular mob of their level. Pairs or up to a couple higher if the warr is well played and has good gear. Then the warrior must stop to heal him/herself. But a Warrior cannot carry Elites of it's own level, and the slow grind means that Warrs are best off working Mobs 2~4 levels lower so the kills can be chained. That's the fastest way to gain XP without constantly dying and burning through buttloads of options.

When they level, a Mage, Rogue, Warlock, (whatever) does LOTS more damage as they grow. Warrs only do a little more. Add to that the fact that I'm more defensively specc'd, and I simply cannot kill Elites fast enough to protect the group. I would absolutely steamroll regular Mobs of that level. But Elites are different. Now, give me a Rogue partner, and the story changes LOTS!


Yeah - My level means that I'm the last one to die, but that's about it...

Kel

Your whole group was overlvl'd for the Maraudon instance

It's a mid to upper 40's instance...