Many of us are familiar with druids, although depending on your talent tree you have major different fighting styles. I used to be a Feral Combat Druid and switched to Balance because I got bored lol.

The Balance Spec - IMO I would not switch to balance until atleast level 40, when you have the chance to get the Moonkin Form which also gives you and party members Moonkin Aura, which increases spell critical chance by 5%. You have a variety of ranged ability, not to mention the 400% armor increase. (Multiply your armor by 4) There spells can stun, damage over time, do massive damage, and crit often. Unfortunatly, like all spec's / classes, they have they're weaknesses. While your casting starfire for example, and a rogue uses kick, you are done with Balance for atleast 5 seconds, and that's a problem. If you are out of mana, we have a nifty little spell called Innervate, which any spec can use, but mostly useful for Balance and Restoration, it increases your Spirit-Based Mana Regeneration by 400%. (Once again, multiply by 4) At level 50 they get Force of Nature, which summons 3 treants to attack enemy targets. They're great in PvP combat, although in PvE, then can be a pain. If they kill a creature without you attacking (they're automatically aggressive), you cannot loot, skin, or gain experience from it. They also only last 30 seconds, so they can attack something and die, leaving you with a mess. (Very bad in Instances)The best thing for Balance is Intellect and Stamina in my opinion, Spirit being a third choice. While in moonkin, you should use a fast weapon such as a dagger. On approximatly 60% of melee attacks the moonkin allows you to return a small amount of mana (usually allowing you to cast a Wrath or 2). Let's move on to Feral Combat...

The Feral Combat Spec - Feral Combat, best for leveling, PvE, pretty good in PvP, and like a rogue in many ways. They use Energy. You will be in the Bear / Dire Bear Form, and Cat form while fighting. They are great for doing major damage fast, with a kick *** speed of 1.0 (fastest in game) they are VERY capable of killing most classes. Hunters... problem. Hunters are able to fear beasts, and when you are in an animal form, guess what, your a beast. Not to mention you MUST be in melee range to use your abilitys and deal massive damage, with they're concusscive shot, scatter shot, ext. they can keep you at a range. Agility and Stamina is what you'll want in here. Strength and Attack Power as a third option. At level 40, you have the option of getting Leader of the Pack which increases your melee critical chance by 5% while in an animal form. You can also get Improved Leader of the Pack which, at maximum value, can heal 4% of your health everytime you get a critical hit. (Only works once per 6 seconds) At level 50 you get Mangle. A VERY powerful melee attack used in Dire Bear and Cat forms. It does damage, makes enemy's suffer from bleed effects, and you do 30% more damage with Shred and Bleed Effects. Moving on...

The Restoration Spec - The Restoration Spec - Resto druids are purty much the best healers in the game. Unkillable unless stunlocked in pvp but in endgame pve they're the best MT healers easily healing 3 tanks at a time and possibly a fourth using just lifeblooms. They're a bit slow on raid healing so just get a few shams together and have them chainheal everyones ***.
No more use for holy pallas and priests! Besides for their buffs.
Info. On Resto - Courtesy of Dahlaine
Now, which one is best? It all depends on you. If you played a rogue, you would probabaly consider Feral Combat the best, because you know how to play them. If you played a mage or warlock, you would probabaly like the Balance. And ofcourse Restoration, if you played a priest, you would enjoy this. Does that mean a rogue can't be Restoration? NO! In my opinion though...

In order of the best... Best, Second Best, Last

PvP - Restoration, Feral Combat, Balance
PvE - Feral Combat, Balance, Restoration
Instances - Balance, Restoration, Feral Combat
Raids - Balance, Feral Combat, Restoration

That's what I would consider it, please feel free to post what I forgot or your thoughts on this. (BTW, I am only level 52 so I am not familiar with the level 70 attacks) I hope this helps some of you!

Zenu, 52 Balance Druid
Sisters of Elune

Haha, woops. Put it in general instead of talents xD

hehe, ^_^ good article, well written, few points though:
1) Balance druids are significantly powerful in PVP now more than ever, end game they are a force to be reckoned with =P were as restoration golly... those you cannot kill by yourself unless you can somehow manage to stun their rear long enough to get a few hits on them and tear them to pieces, of course they just heal over time, travel form and run away while regenerating 300% of their health haha, for the most part feral druids are insanely good at pvp if played correctly, using all forms to maximal abilities and allowing of course to see when the time is right to use other forms when needed hehe =P

^.^

I am balance and I love it! It will definitley help anyone who wants to improve on their spell casting and the moonkin is a major form that is great for spells. Feral would have to go for the Battlegrounds type of person, for more PvP. Restoration is more of someone who does instances and wants to be a healer.

Balance is most certainly not the way to go for instances. Pretty much, the other two specs - feral (tank) and resto are the ones everyone will welcome into an instance party because they fulfill one of the 5 roles needed for an instance:

1. Tank
2. Healer
3. Dps/CC
4. Dps/CC
5. Dps/CC

Balance basically only has one CC that can be used in all instances, and that's cyclone which only lasts for 6 sec and causes the tank to have to pull the mob off of you cause of the threat, even if the first mob isn't killed.

Now when it comes to raids, Balance is pure pwnage, cause we don't need to CC.

For instances, I would choose tank (only if you don't mind grinding forever for some epic tanking gear), or resto.

For raids. either balance or resto. Tanking is very nice, but with crushing blow, you will find that the raid leaders will always make druids tank the most weakest opponents because of this, while the other main pally/war tanks take the harder ones.

For PvP, nothing beats Resto, even with crap gear. Balance is great too, but only if you have the gear for it. Feral is very very hard to play as in arena, cause you do little damage in comparison to other players, and with an enemy's resilence at max, you will only hit whites and your dots will do little damage.

I lvld as feral and I really enjoyd it, feral is certaintly the best spec to level, no doubts about it

At 70 I immediatley respeccd to Balance, gathered some gear and I can tell you one thing: they OWN in pvp! Melee classes are no match against me, the only thing that gives some problems are the spellcasters , like a lock but then I just Hot all the time

Id say

Leveling: Feral, Resto, Balance
PvP: Balance, resto, feral
Raids: Resto, Balance, feral
Instances: Balance, resto, feral

what do you guys mean>? resto duids are way better than a priest or shaman for pvp!

More I look at these post I laugh every time this spec better then this ect ect ect if you know your abilities and how to use them to there your full potential you will be very good in all aspects of the game I myself am a NE Druid I rolled Feral and hand on my heart im always in top 5 in the BG and and im always at the top 3 of DPS meters in Raids mainly 1st and 2nd I dont feel my toon is special from any other i just know its abilities and if i dual or PvP the only class i have problems with are rogues hate to be stunlocked :0)

But if im honest you Boomkins out there your a dying breed on my server and to find a good Boomkin is even harder!

thats my 2 bob's worth

EU bloodhoof

Resto druids are purty much the best healers in the game. Unkillable unless stunlocked in pvp but in endgame pve they're the best MT healers easily healing 3 tanks at a time and possibly a fourth using just lifeblooms. They're a bit slow on raid healing so just get a few shams together and have them chainheal everyones ass.
No more use for holy pallas and priests! besides for their buffs.

Really ought to try raiding with 5 trees on MT's and 3 shams on raid, any tank dying with 5 times lifebloom, rejuvi and regrowth doesn't deserve so live anyway.

Don't know much about the other specs besides that feral druids are the best offtanks for being able to shift to cat once they're done. And they're piss annoying in pvp.
Boomkin are fantastic in pvp dealing crazy amounts of fast crits, though no one uses them in PVE, probably because of their mana issues (even with innervate) and I can only assume very high threat.

Ok.. lets straighten some stuff out.

Feral is the most versatile spec of the druid specs and i feel the whole point of being a druid is being able to addapt/shift roles to fit the groups needs. Not only can we tank and Ot we are also able to SHIFT roles and dps when needed. No warrior or rogue can do that as effectiely as a feral druid.

Also, that crap about druids being hit with crushing blows is just that, crap. Yes as a feral druid im not supposed to Mt most raid bosses bc of crushing blows but being an Ot in a raid is just as important (if not more important in some cases) as the Mt.

Take the bear boss in ZA for example or even the lynx. Niether of those bosses have crushing blows so its exeptable for me to tank and it actually recomended that druids OT bc of our high TPS even when not taking blows. And when im not taking hits im able to either dps, brez, innervate, cast Tranquility and ect. As for the MT.. all he can do is tank.

And soloing.. once u get to a certain gear lvl u can solo mobs with out spending any talent points...

US Honatar, Lightnings Blade

Raid healing as a resto druid is imba....
Get into the same group as the tanks and you'll be contributing 25% of your spirit's worth to all heal's incoming on the people in your group and within your tree of life aura's range.

I'm currently raiding SSC/TK and I'm giving approx +175 bonus healing to everyone healing the MT/OT's.

And with 1750 unbuffed healing I'm over priests/paladins/shamans with 2k in healing...both trash and bosses.
Shamans should be the ones though that raid heal with their chain healing.
But skipping a resto druid in your raid buildup is very unvise.

easy ;)
for pvp: balance and feral are very good

for instances: all the 3 are good (balance-DPS and the 5% crit aura very useful, feral except for damage some times can be used as a main tank, resto- very good at healing especially with the many HoTs, the aura from the tree of life .... very useful.

for raids: well for the feral i can`t thin of somthing with which they areveryimportant for raid, the balance... they are mainly invited in raids for the aura and the IFF :/(improved fearie fire) and as for the resto - perf. for instances and raids.

And as for the question... well it depends what you wants to be usefull for. I hope that i have helped whit my opinion :)

A resto druid is the best for a group? Not true.

The thing about a druid is it is made for all situations - Resto = only heals and minamal DPS - but whats' the point of them when you have holy pally's and priests, and resto shammy's that do a better job, because they have now CD on rez - granted our HoT are what make resto druids so sort after in raids and i have no quarms about a resto druid healing me as the tank or DPS through any instance. Though I do prefer priests, with their buffs and fade abilities.

Balance Druids are great at PVP, as are resto's in arena, but Ferals are the best for groups/instance runs.

For all you feral haters out there who don't believe me when i say that they can be the best asset an instancing party, think about the fact that there are plenty of druids out there who do more damage them mages and rogues in cat form.

Then there is the fact that blizzard always remember's our position in a party when it makes our armour sets by adding intell to them. Why would they do this if our job wasn't to off heal in tight situations you knobs. Plus because we don't use mana to do damage it is always there for us to use when we shift out, if not i just carry a mana pot or 2, rarely used though.

Feral druids allow the group to fill in any gaps should the unexpected happen. Eg. tank goes down fast due to bad pull, or the same with any DPS class, the druid just changes into Bear or cat form respectively and works the party through the mob, when utilized this can commonly save a wipe and therefore the 10% damage cost ;D

If the healer goes down before the druid, you simply run away till tank has agro added HoT to tank then battle rez healer, cast innervate on them, watch healz for a little longer while they recover mana and wa-la another wipe avoided.

Being a tank also allow's easy grouping access for TBC instancing WHEN GEARED! and if you aren't that you always can fill in a DPS spot allowing the possiblity of OT'ing as well as the above abilities.

I really suggest as a feral druid in 70 though getting 2 sets of gear you carry, 1 for tank and 1 for DPS, otherwise your DPS just won't have the Stam, str and defence needed for the task, as you will have higher crit, agi and AP instead. Now it doesn't have to be an entire set carried just key pieces such as chest, legs, helm, maybe a neck and shoulder change too. Just build it up as you go.


ONE more thing. not only are we the best for a group as we fill the TANK, DPS, Off-Tank & Off-Healer roles, but we also are the best grinder's especially with the feral talent-tree healing us on crits which occur quite often in DPS gear. leaving us to kill between 6-10 before having to shift out to heal ourselves saving food and drink costs as well as we regen our mana while fighting.

That all being said though, a druid is a great character for anybody beginning WOW as it shows them all the position that they can play, the only problem is you end up with a lot a newbs playing them at end game. The main thing is for people to allow them the opportunity to learn about the character and they have to show a williong ness to learn. That is the only way for ANY Druid no matter the spec to be an asset to their guild/party/raid and even to themselves.

SO PEOPLE SPEC HOW YOU WANT TO SPEC AND HOW YOU WANT TO PLAY! THEN LEARN HOW TO PLAY IT!

RESEARCH: if you need too. This site is good for gear along with armoury, www.wowwiki.com is great for talent info - learning what you actually get for that cruical talent point (you learn not to waste them).

I agree that druids are not the better than a worrior in bear form, a rogue in cat form or a priest in tree form but this does not mean that worriors, rogues or priests are better than druids. since druids are an all round class we combine the role of these 3 classes to survive some situations where 1 of these clases simply would not. its not 1 form that makes us better but the use of a part rogue to get the jump on someone, then part worrior when the stun ends and then become part priest to heal to stop us from being killed. that is what makes druids so damned good

http://youtube.com/watch?v=n7d5c78SChc

whoever said low dps.... kill urself  :D

Unkillable? no.
Lowest DPS output in th game? ofc.

when i use all invoker gear on my level 65 balance druid, i do really good in terms of spell crit (near 30%) and damage, around 2600 or so for star and 600/700 or so for moon.  + bonus damages.  i often get in the top 1 or 2 in terms of damage meters during dungeons, but i don't play with everyone and i know there's people out there who rock it.  but during pve  i blast most things no prob.  with root, innerverate, treants, and healing, i can take on 3 or 4 mobs at a time, but it doesnt work every time and it's taken me awhile to figure it out, and especially when  i can get away from all of them bapping me at once. 

one nice thing, i can shift into regular form as a DPS druid if necessary and off-heal when the resto druid, priest, pallie, or whatnot has been killed.  balance druids to my new eyes (only been playing for a bit) seem to be super effective off-healers, or full time healers if they use the correct gear (all physician and healer gear),  and stock up on extra mana potions as well as the full set of elixir (guardian and battle), scroll, and other buffs.

in battlegrounds, as a druid i can literally entangling root the heck out of entire groups of the other team, allowing my team to pummel everything stuck to the ground.  i almost always get in the top of the 'honorable kill' section during these situations.  toggle, root, toggle, root, toggle, root, toggle, root.  bad ass.  but in terms of finishing blows and knowing the strategy of the pvp, i have lots to learn.   

now, i'm not sure if it's better or worse, but balance druid has a sweet side.

rather than comparing better or worse, i'm currently into using the full range of possibilities to make my character stronger / or at least able to match other strong pvp characters: finding potions, elixirs, scrolls, and items that compensate for other classes strengths: potions that detect stealth, items that kick me out of stun, etc...

lots to learn,

mug

That guy pwns I can't believe it.  That confirms my choice of being a druid for my next toon.