INC: Massive Post of Druid

So, my first character in WoW, way back, was a Druid. I would like to think I speak "druid" and have been with the class along the way through it's many, many PvE and PvP eras.

I was there in Vanilla WoW when no one REALLY played as anything other than Resto since Ferals and Balance both were terrible trees that did only 70% of the damage of pure DPS classes, and who would want either when you'd rather have a Mage or some such of CC. I was there when all we did was lean on Healing Touch Spam in 40-Man raids and Innervate other healers (hopefully not tanks by accident, since at that point the spell could be wasted on those without mana-pools, but I digress).

I was there for the massive Tarren Mill outdoor PvP action, when in order to get credit for an Honor Kill, I had to do damage to opponents ("Hello, Moonfire!"), and there for when WSG was introduced and week-long AV's, Lieutenants and all, were the norm.

I was there for when Bear Tanks suddenly were worth something at the beginning of TBC, and then were nerf-batted HARD. When Arena was fascinatingly new (First Gladiator Antlers on Proudmoore, gogo!), and incredibly, INCREDIBLY confusing and overwhelming since I had very little idea how any classes other than Druids functioned. But at least Armory was there to let me know I was on the right track (albeit, a clumsy one).

I played my heart out in PvP Feral, and then made a transition to PvP Resto. And with so very, very many lessons learned along the way, when I sit here and find myself pondering Season 5, I suppose I am still less concerned than a lot of Druids out there right now.

This is why.

Before TBC had premiered, yes, there was PvP, but in no way shape or form did I consider the game to have a clear FOCUS that that was an integral aspect of it. But when TBC came out, suddenly Blizzard wanted to make PvP more "balanced" (and competitive: Arena is part of MLG and other sponsored events now), especially in small groups.

Coming from a game still struggling to "balance" PvE (remember when only Horde got shaman and Alliance got Paladins?), I honestly think Blizzard did a pretty decent job right out of the gate, and as the seasons drew on, was able to roll with the punches and most importantly: adapt with players.

How I played at the beginning of Season 1 or 3 was no how I played at the end of Season 4. It went from "OMG KILL THAT GUY BEFORE ONE OF US DIES!" to a more skilled and coordinated "dance" of not only communication an coordination, but a heightened awareness of not only other classes (and their strengths and weaknesses alone and with comrades), but being more aware of other player's personal weaknesses and being able to adapt to them.

Along the way, here is some of what went on (and some of it is outdated, but you mght find it useful):

- I became much more mana-conscious, and by the middle of Season 3, was heavily into downranking. If I saw a Priest, Shaman, or Paladin removing my spells very insistantly, I would downrank my hots, roots, Farie Fire, Moonfire, ANYTHING, so that they had to spend more mana removing my buffs or debuffs than I did putting them on, leading me, over time, to "win" the mana battle.

- I learned to "mask" my spells with other spells (ie: if I wanted to root someone, I'd also put up Moonfire and Farie Fire so there was only a 1 in 3 chance they would dispell my root the first try, assuming it didn't resist)

- I learned to coordinate interrupts a lot better with my partners, and play more aggressively. You have the upper hand if you have the upper hand.

- I learned to manipulate other players to move where I wanted them to move and avoid being baited myself.

- I learned to drink early and often.

- I learned to time my own CDs around enemy CDs. If you can guess what will happen in the next 5 seconds and anticipate it, you are a step ahead of things.

- I learned to feign casts so that Kick, Pummel, even CS casts were "wasted" on me.

- I learned to use abilities like Bash and Pounce on the back of people to avoid unnecessary Dodges/Parrys

I rolled with the punches on repeated Druid nerfs (4 piece set bonus change, Cyclone range change, etc.) and overall just kept learning and adapting in ALL of my specs, even when Resto seemed to be dominating 2s and 3s in the higher brackets.

And I learned I'm, still, always learning. :)

Bringing me to now.

Yes: Right now heavy Resto builds do not do well in 2s and 3s, generally. Right now, the era of burst and lots of Paladins, Rogues, and Death Knights is upon us, but if there's anything I've learned, is that this is a game of adapting, and just as all of us are adpating right now, I believe further balance (no pun intended ;) ) is in our future. I firmly believe that Blizzard is watching what is going on and will be "tweaking" things across the board to help players and make the game more strategic.

My biggest evidence of this is the slow removal of random-proc stuns. Mace stun, Blackout, and with 3.0.8, even Starfall's Celestial Focus: all being weeded out. There are now DRs on silences and many stuns, as well as enchantments and meta-gems to guard players against particularly troublesome stats. What does this mean? Less RNGy, more "If you want to stun, you need to click and use an ability and be responsible for it's outcome." I approve of this. I approve of the timers on Arena games to soon be capped at 45 minutes (I have endured multiple 2:30+ hour games in Season 3 and Season 4 and am SO over that).

There are more options for hybrid playstyles, more options for group compositions, more fine-tuning overall, and as much as it really is still a burst-fest, the expansion has only bee nout two months, and PvP gear has only been out a month and I can already see a difference in the brackets.

Resilience is starting to make a difference. Perhaps not fast enough, but during 3.0.1 and 3.0.2, I remember matches where combat lasted only six seconds. I remember Season 5 openning and matches lasting about 30 seconds in part because of a ton of Ret Pallies and Arcane Mages and Rogues (QQ), but also because of the Pv gear "burst."

But now? Even now I am seeing a LOT more Healer + DPS teams, and matches averaging 4-8 minutes, which tells me that things are on the right track.

Are things perfect now? No. All three of our trees are underpowered in 2s and 3s. Underpowered, however, does not mean "unviable," or "ABANDON SHIP!" it just means that things are shifting all around and we Druids will have to do what we do best: Adapt. To new partners, new compositions, new strategies and abilities.

For me, the recent "adaptation" I've tried is a Feral/Resto build (0/34/37 I think) for 2s with a Death Knight. It's a bit wonky, and who-knows if it is something that I will stick with, but I've been enjoying the incredible survivability benefits, and I'll be honest: Feral Charge.

When Blizzard moved Feral Charge deeper into Feral, it was to discourage the playstyle that seemed to dominate part of Season 3 and 4. The problem, however, is that they gave us little to compensate in the Resto tree.

Sure, we have more healing, and more bonus armor if we are a tree (which is less than that of bear form), and certainly we are not subject to "perma-snare" in that form, but there is one huge, overwhelming problem that it's being addressed: Trees have no heavy offensive abilities. We can't Cyclone, can't Root, can't Feral Charge, Bash... anything in Tree Form The most we have is Abolish Poison and Remove Curse, which I can hardly consider "heavily offensive." So all it is, is a healing mana-battle, and having Living Seed and Wild Growth doesn't make up for that tree's shortcomings (in my humble opinion).

Heavy Feral has some nice interrupts and options, as well as a fantastic 51 point talent. I wish we had a Mortal Strike, but I suppose we can't have it all. :)

Heavy Balance is a bit better off, with Typhoon as an interrupt, alongside root and Cyclone that are castable in Moonkin form, but "Pure" Resto... not so much. And since it's survivability is fairly low at the moment (compared to say a Pally or Disc Priest), I do wonder what options they wil give us in the future, but I remain, as ever, hopeful.

In the meantime, however, if you guys are getting frustrated with Heavy Resto play, I'd encourage you to try out the Feral/Resto spec I mentioned, even just for fun/BG play. You will find you survive a lot longer if you spend time "bearing it up," and you have a lot of increased survivability and survivability options that are useable when silenced or somesuch. It doesn't make it "THE" spec for Season 5, but until folks get a bit more resilience and things are shuffled out across the board, it might be helpful to live a bit longer, and as such: have more fun in BGs and such, as getting instagibbed isn't fun at all.

I have faith things will get better in time. :) Keep adapting, and know you're not alone.