Most druids lvl feral. I've seen this in-game when I seemed to be the only resto under 70 and stated on the forums. My first character was a tauren druid ; I lvled resto.

It wasn't because I wanted to be different, I didn't know any better. It was frusterating for a while to realize that I had a tough time soloing quests unless the monsters were more than two lvls below me. I used cat form most of the time, which may have not been the best idea, and felt a bit embaressed to see other classes doing much higher damage than me. Some of my frustration obviously came from just learning to play the game, but from what others have said I have no doubt I would have had an easier time going feral.

With time I gained better talents--NS, swiftmend, OoC--and learned to use them. Rejuv and regrowth, heals I once dismissed as too underpowered to keep me or anyone else alive, suddenly looked useful. These became my core heals, HT a last resort. Sometimes they were all that stood between me and another corpse run. Popping heals while tanking mobs of three or four monsters on yellow solo quest was a hell of a challenge, but the experiance made healing instances a breeze.

Lvling resto taught me how to play my class. It forced me to use all my abilities in both PvP and PvE and to use abilities which I might never have considered as feral. At lvl53 I feel more than ready to heal the big instances. This isn't an attempt to convince players to lvl resto, most players will not want to take the time. But for anyone considering druids, resto can teach you a lot about your class and give you valuble healing experience. I have no regrets. =)

I'm leveling a druid myself, and I'm leveling has resto, I also have a warlock lvl 70, this way (lvling has resto) I'm hoping to learn to HoT instead of DoT :P


may be a chalenge but I hope to be a better healer this way when I reach 70

My druid was my main. When I created a lock I found going from using hots to using dots quite natural, this my screen name.

The only difference between lock spells and druid spells is that druids use +healing to up their rejuv, regrowth, and lifebloom spells, while locks use +SHADOW to up their life drain, drain life, ect. Any warlocking healing spell WILL ONLY be imprived by gear with +shadow. I'm not sure about health stones, however. But this is all stuff for the lock forums. =)

I have to agree with you. I leveled as a Resto druid also, for the same reason; I did not know any better.  Getting to lv 40 was a slow process that was frustrating. Now at lv 70 and in to PvE I know it was the best decision I had ever, accidentally, made. I learned to survive. Quests that were easy for everyone else took cunning, time and perseverance.
I congratulate anyone that chooses to lv restoration, it does have it's payoff but only when you look back and see all you learned by following your own path.

(note: For lower levels look at Stamina and Health over Spirit ... hard to do since all the gear is stacked for Spirit)

Happy Hunting

Almost leveled as resto, there are some great feral talents in the early party of the tree and NS can be a life saver.  Got talked out of it but from the sounds of it I kinda wish I hadnt.

Wierd also went from warlock to druid, maybe there is some dark demonic urge in every lock to start huging trees. ;)

It's best to lvl as a feral then change to resto when you reach lvl 60 =D

im lvling as a resto druid atm. i love it, i also have a feral set in the bag just in case. had to tank Mara the other day, didnt wipe at all

I levelled up my druid early last year. Up to level 50 i was balance. Looking back i don't know how i had the patience cos feral is so much easier. But i went resto at 50 and to be honest i realised that i was far better at healing as a druid than doing anything else as a druid.

I'm not really good at other druid stuff cept healing lol

anyway..i find it very hard to kill anything as a resto druid, but with the new patch healing gear give spell damage bonus too so it's a lot easier now, especially if you have good healing gear.

My Druid is a lvl 67 balance druid
im not sure if i was lvling right lol but i have to say lvling resto is not that hard using the right technique, i rarely soloed for all my +66 lvls, at least on my server "Draenor", everyone needs a healer and u get in many instance groups. i dungeon lvled for a lot, this was sort of time consuming but u do get good gear,money,and in my mind lots of xp. Lvling restoration can be done many ways , its just trying to figure out the right techniques that is difficult, sadly im now a balance druid and in my 3 lvls i pland on going back to resto and main healing my guild... Gotta love those HoT's..
anyways Good Luck fellow Druids and make sure you pick the right talent tree. Restoration in my mind is the way to go..

I usually don't have a problem killing things, it just takes longer than it would if I were fighting as a warlock. I don't worry about getting adds because I know my class well enough to survive a bad situation in PvE.

I think a resto druid's biggest strength in PvE is their ability to outlast their opponent. This is why I solo in feral gear. High armor and stam allow me to cut down damage in bear form, and +agil allows me to dps a little in cat form and the resto talents alone still afford me decent healing, even without +intl/+heal gear.

I don't see how PvE with balance gear could be any better for a resto druid, although I've never tried it. Even with a few points in the balance tree we still don't have a lot of crowd control, and since decent leather is hard to come by most of us would be stuck in cloth for a while. So feral forms will always be my key to soloing.

so to every1 hear the best talent is restoration? sweet... i am making a druid and cant wait to play him! i also heard restoration druids are like the best in arena teams...also if you get restoration as your talent will you do good in PvP?

Yes, but you'll spend most of your time healing other players.

I almost lvl as a resto but soon I lose the patient with it because my friend started his lvl 1 hunter at the same time with me actually lvl so much faster than me. I have to keep asking him to help me with some of the quest =/

I later then re-spec at lvl 60. ;)

Leveling as resto is pretty time consuming and as much as I was happy nd like woohoo with tree of life at lvl 50 it just seemed there were going too come times where I had too do quests too level and so I respeced too moonkin and gosh its alot easier. Its realy stupid copnsuming all that time when you could be 70 and doing end gaming instances instead off leveling slowly cos doing places like BRD or Scholo/Strat whn you could aswell skip em

My strategy in lvling a resto drood is to over abuse ur bear form while soloing as it has higher amour and u generate a lot of rage for it in earlier resto tree. So moonfire rejuv run in bear form and it should be an easy victory and ur ready for any adds.

Please be reminded to those who are looking at spirit at a low level. Stamina is hard to come by at low levels, and is needed much more. I leveled resto 1-60, it wasn't easy at all. I literally leveled only from group instance runs. I realized, that it was difficult for me to level because I couldn't kill anything, (be reminded this was before battlegrounds even came out, so feral druids weren't all that strong)

This reminds me of an experiance I had recently in Zangarmarsh. I had just got my epic mount and was out of money, so my hunter friend and I were riding from Shatt to our questing grounds. On our way we ran across some monsters I was questing for, so I stopped to fight one.

For some reason my friend stayed on her mount while I fought the monster. I was lvl62 and the monster was lvl60 and after what felt like twenty seconds I realized this was taking an awful long time by myself. Anyway I finally killed the creature and as I was mounting up I commented on how long the battle took, because I had never thought about it until I had my friend standing over me. We joked it off, but it's true that resto druids do not do well in feral forms at higher levels.

Questing in feral gear as resto does probably take longer than it would if I quested with balance gear, but I'm convinced I have more survivability. If I quested in balance gear I would have to deal with wearing mostly cloth, with less than half the crowd control abilities of a mage. And to be honest shapeshifting is what really makes the druids fun for me, so I would much rather quest feral.

Although I do have to explain my hideiously low mana to groups when I get called to an instance. "Oh don't worry, that's just my quest gear," usually gets the message across. =)

i lvl'd feral from 1-60. Once i hit 60 i started doing more instances, and there weren't nearly enough healers in my guild, let alone the server itself, so i respec'd to resto.

For questing i've got in mind to just use my feral gear, at my resto spec, it's not exactly ideal, but it gets the job done so i can do enough damage to get through.

but honestly, i really haven't even got a chance to use the feral gear while the resto spec, every time i log on i get whispers to run instances. Level a little slower than if doing quests, but the gear makes it worth it. I respec'd just three days ago and i already have a set of mostly blues.

As I leveled resto, I'm most comfortable in caster form.  You leveled feral, so it is understandable that you are more comfortable in feral form - and may find fighting in feral to simply be more fun.  This being a game, fun is very, very important. :D

However, because 1/3 of +heal translates into +spl dmg, you will likely find that you do much more damage in caster as your gear improves.  The alternative is to try and keep a set of feral gear that will out damage your caster set.  That's hard to do unless your guild is willing to let you roll on drops against others that could use it for their primary kit (feral druid and rogues, etc.) 

Now that you have respecced, I'd highly recommend periodically running a dps meter in both forms/kits to make sure you are still getting the most bang for your pounce :) 

Recently I got a chance to try this. I had just come from an instance and didn't feel like switching out of my resto gear, so I quested for a bit to see what it was like. Surpisingly--well, to MY surprise--it was easy.

I don't like caster form much, I guess. As you said this is a game and it is about fun, and since I've got a hunter to quest with it doesn't really matter what my dps is. I just like being a kitty. Besides I hate having to stop to drink.

A NE Druid restor can stand against up to 4 5+ levs no problem

I have been lvling my NE druid spec most balance 41/0/12. (im lvl62, for those that cant add)

I have found it a very nice experiance, in mookin i am safe enough to take mobs up to 3-4 lvls higher than me, also treeants make solo'in a hell of a lot easyer.

The other day i respec'd to resto, though id try out that tree for a bit. So i went into blood furnace, worst experiance of my life. Although it was a PUG and we did have a player in our group that had bought his account of the internet (i reported him, ofc) and a tank that had no idea what wait means. Anyway back to resto, i found the system of HoT's and then swiftmend quite annoying tbh, and found it was hard to keep the tank healed up, and a few times i got quite a bit of aggro due to the heals i was putting out, just to keep the tank up. I dont understand why you cant cast HT in tree of life form, makes no sense to me. Needless to say i respec'd straight after the instance.

You resto soloers must be pretty hardcore, your DPS must be pretty bad (no offence intended), espically without mookin form.

now ive been feral for all my druids life (was even a feral healer at around 40-50) that was interesting. but yeah ive been wanting to try out the other trees to see what its like. ive almst got all my healer gear rdy but im not to sure ill be able to adjust to the change. i mean ive been feral dps/tank for 70 lvls (even more if the caps werent that)but yeah my question is where can i find information on resto builds for research?

There are some PUGs no healer could keep alive, no matter how godly their skill. If the tank can't hold aggro it puts a huge strain on the healer, who has to keep four people alive all the time instead of one. But back to HoTs...

HoTs are tricky. I remember my first experiance healing Wailing Caverns; I had no faith in my HoTs and cast HT the entire time. It wasn't until my mid thrites or early fourties that I finally understood the way HoTs work.

The first step in a normal pull is to cast rejuv. When pulling mobs of three or four (and with a good tank, healing gear, and depending on the level of the mobs vs the tank) a single rejuv can soak up most of the tank's damage. If another group member starts to take hits cast rejuv. Hopefully the tank will get aggro back.

For tougher pulls, cast rejuv. Cast it before the tank goes into battle or a few seconds after he starts taking damage. If the tank's hp starts dropping cast regrowth. I have almost +600 healing, so when I stack rejuv with regrowth the tank is healed for roughly 400 and 250 each tick for a total of 650 every 3 seconds. If I can keep rejuv up for the duration of regrowth's HoT (12 sec) I can usually stabalize the tank's health for the rest of the battle. I ONLY cast swiftmend if the tank's health continues to drop, followed by another rejuv.

For boss fights, or if the tank is prone to taking big hits, I stack lifebloom and keep it refreshed. If the fight gets even tougher I cast rejuv. Sometimes I'll cast rejuv in addition to LB and let it sit on the tank like a health bomb. When the tank takes excessive damage I pop the health bomb with swiftmend, then reapply rejuv and keep LB ticking. That saves mana and takes less time to cast than HT, which means I'm less likely to lose that lifebloom.

Nature's swiftness is very situational. I use it in an emergency, usually in conjunction with regrowth. Then I follow up with a rejuv and swiftmend if necessary. I may also use it with HT or rebirth if its a REAL emergency.

I use regrowth, HT, swiftmend and nature's swiftness in situations where the tank is taking so much damage my normal HoTs cannot heal through it fast enough, or if the tank's hp is getting low and needs a boost. Tranquilty is my "Oh shit!" heal. Cast barkskin, pop any threat reduction trinkets I have, then dive into the middle of the action and cast tranq. Otherwise stick to rejuv.

I always wear a threat reduction trinket when I'm healing an instance. If that doesn't work I go into cat and use cower, but that only works on one attacker. Best option is to create a macro to let your party members know you're in trouble and run to the tank. I use "/rw HEALER UNDER ATTACK!" The tank is gaurenteed not to miss it.

hmmmm--not sure what the prob people are having with resto-soloing--but im writing this at only lvl 35.
    in my cat and bear action bars, i placed a "regrowth" key
    in my regular action bar i placed a "cat form" key
    when i attacked a mob i hit my damage spell keys, lowered their armor.....at this time they were on top of me...hit my instant heal over time key, then my cat key (this takes no time whatsoever)....i fight the mob in cat form until my health starts to go down, then hit my instant heal key(placed on my cat form action bar). . . presto, instantly start healing over time again--then hit my cat form button and im back hitting hard..... repeat as necessary.
    I have a "group healing" set of armor and a melee set for soloing.
    With 20+ points into resto i heal very well, especially with 70% chance to cast heals without interruption.
    So far ive had no trouble taking out 2 mobs, 2 lvls higher than me, although i have to stop after and drink
    Maybe at higher lvls this will not work, but up to mid-thirties i can almost keep killing mobs my lvl non-stop

A friend of mine convinced me to start playing some months ago. He had 3 lvl 70s and talked about WoW constantly at work. After discussing things we decided I should start a druid. I like the Swiss-Army knife feel and prefer to be a behind the scenes operator as opposed to a standout that I would need to be with some other classes like warriors.

I decided to go Resto since healing was my primary objective. Killing mobs was quite hard at first but I learned to use Cat form and occasionally Bear form for soloing. Then I entered the world of instances. There was nothing more fun for me than keeping my group alive and received high marks from everyone I ran with as a healer. Rejuv is your greatest asset along with Regrowth as a healer. If you can learn to effectively use those spells you can out-heal any class in the game. Also healing in battlegrounds is tons of fun. Run into Alterac Valley and just see how long you can go without seeing a teammate die. I did that with my second Druid (Feral while lvling) with gear that was outdated by 10-20 lvls. I out healed every other player on a regular basis by 20-50k and that was including both sides.

We eventually decided to switch servers and I restarted a Tauren Druid this time lvling as Feral. Its much different but I love destroying mobs and having the ability to choose to either tank or dps in instances. But the plan is to return to Resto at lvl 70. Its just too much fun.

I've seen both sides of the argument first hand and can honestly say that Feral lvling is much faster than with Resto but if you stick to instances Resto isn't far behind.

Feel free to check me out too Seksithyme

when u respec do u get to keep your moonkin form if u already have it? because i have a 42 balance druid and i thought i would try feral out so back to my original question, do u get to keep moonkin?

u dont get to keep moonkin
when u dont have a talent point in moonkin form u cant use it.  sorry

in the new patch 2 come out soon, i hear that they're completely nerfing resto druids...does anyone have a stand on this or know any more information, a friend is interested in knowing. if u have any information either add comment, email me aceshot@comcast.net, or look me up on wisperwind. name's Mugentataku -70 rogue tnx

Druid is my first char, and to be honest I didnt know anything about Wow or anything. I joined because a friend invited me. Now on the topic, I leveled to lvl 48 as a feral druid but I felt I was missing something. After talking with some druids in my world, I realized it was the resto. When I was a feral I could do the quests really easy and kill with no stop, now as a resto lvl 51 Im finding it difficult to complete some quests, specially because my gear is part feral part resto, but Im not regreting it. As many have said above, being resto teaches you a lot of things of the class and to be honest, my perspective of the druids changed a lot since I became resto, however Im not sure if I would be lvl 51 if I hadnt been feral first.

my resto druid is fairly close to going into outland, so which faction is better?

Im 45 now and am Feral with full feral gear i no it takes a lot longer as resto but really want to try it out is it hard to get resto gear and do u recomend goin to 50 first then switchin kuzz of the Tree talent thingy?

My first character was my druid, i noticed that from very early on ppl needed healing. I did get frustrated that it took me longer to kill than most other classes but i really enjoy my resto druid. I am now at Lv 68 and finding it hard to find the correct items i need for a resto, mainly finding Feral and Balance gear :(  Blizzard need to make items for resto druids with a good armour