Like I did with Holy Paladins, I will be going over my choices for talent extras in 5.0 Mists of Pandaria, and my reasons for them. I go back and forth between Restoration and Balance for my Druid, so I’ll give perspective for both specs. I use to love playing a feral pre-Wrath, so I may give some commentary on feral, also.
Level 15:
Feline Swiftness: Increases your movement speed by 10% and by and additional 20% while in Cat Form.
This one almost makes me nostalgic for my cat form pvp days. But, this would affect me in all forms, 10% is 10%. And, when you’re a big, fat, feathery laser chicken, you need all the help you can get. Good for PvEers who need movement speed boosts for encounters.
Displacer Beast: Teleports the druid up to 20 yards in a random direction, purging all periodic damage effects and providing stealth for 10 seconds. Attaching or taking damage cancels this effect. Using this ability activates Cat Form. (3 minute cooldown)
Sooooo, they just gave Druids mage’s Blink + Rogue’s Vanish??? Which Dev do I kiss for that?!!?! The great thing about this is that I don’t have to already be in Cat to use this. Pew pew laser chicken, or LAWL big fugly Healy Tree needs to get out of the way fast, hit button, gogo Cat Form Druid and just teleport in a random direction!
This will probably be seen most often in smaller pvp scenarios, arenas, probably.
The potential lulz in this is that it’s a “random” direction. That could be right in the middle of the enemy group 20 yrds. away! Teehee!
Tireless Pursuit: Removes all roots and snares, and increases movement speed by 70% while in Cat Form for 15 sec. Does not break prowling. Using this ability activates Cat Form. (3 minute cooldown).
This one will be good for BGs in general, druids seem to get snared a lot and this provides an alternative to form shifting out and wasting mana, every 3 minutes.
I will probably choose Displacer Beast until I test this stuff out. Tireless Pursuit will be the other choice, for me.
Level 30:
Nature’s Swiftness: When activated, your next Cyclone, Entangling Roots, Healing Touch, Hibernate, Nourish, Rebirth or Regrowth becomes instant, free and castable in all forms. The healing and duration of the spell is increased by 50%. (Instant cast, 3 minute cool down)
The PvP implications here are monumental. Being able to Cyclone in Cat or Bear form is just insane! People will pee themselves all over the Druid forums with QQOP posts. 50% increase on duration of the spell? Uhhh…..9 second Cyclones?! Good Christ that’s awesome.
This could possible suck for Cats, though. It might be an indicator that they are going to lose Predatory Strikes in their Cat tree, and if that happens, they will almost have to take this talent to compensate. And, even then……I’d rather have Predatory.
Renewal:
Instantly heals the Druid for 30% of maximum health. Useable in all forms. (2 minute cool down)
A heal I can cast in Cat, Bear or Lazer Chicken? Tempting. But……it’s only good for me, not for anyone else. Dunno. Good for tanks!!! Gogo tank self heals! 2 minute CD, though.
Cenarion Ward: Protects a friendly target, causing any damage taken to heal the target for 2660 every 2 sec for 6 seconds. Gaining the healing effect consumes the Cenarion Ward. Useable in all forms. Lasts 30 secs.
I can’t see Ferals or Tanks taking this, unless it’s for PvE. For PvP, they’ll take one of the other two. Chickens and Trees might take it, but Swiftness provides more utility, imo.
Nature’s Swiftness for me in all forms.
Level 45:
Faerie Swarm: Decreases the target’s armor by 12% for 5 mins and reduces the target’s movement speed by 50% for 15 sec. While affected, the raget cannot stealth or turn invisible. Deals 49 damage when cast from Bear Form. Useable in all shapeshift forms, but incurs a 5 sec. cooldown while in Bear Form or Cat Form.
This talent replaces Faerie Fire.
Originally, I thought this was their subtle way of saying that Faerie Fire was being taken out of the game. But, I realize now that that’s not the case, however, we don’t know how FF will change. This talent is kind of underpowered from a cursory glance, but we also need to account for the fact that the tool top we’re seeing here is for the lvl 45 version of the spell, and not the level 85 or 90 version.
This is great for Chickens and Trees since it costs no mana and has no cast time, but would need significant buffs for ferals, I think.
Mass Entanglement: Roots all enemies within 12 yards of the destination for 8 sec. Damage caused may interrupt the effect.
Cannot be cast while in Bear or Cat Form. (4480 mana, 2 second cast time, 1 minute CD)
Ferals would be best served to stay away from this talent. Unless of course you don’t mind shifting out to cast it. With a 2 second cast time (insane!!!) and 1 minute cooldown, it’s unattractive to me. Even as a chicken or tree. 4480 mana just for the lvl 45 version?! No. No, no thanks. I’m sure some will find this attractive, I don’t see it.
Typhoon: Summons a violent Typhoon that strikes targets in front of the caster within 30 yards, knocking them back and dazing them for 6 seconds. Usable in all shapeshift forms. (5120 mana cost, Instant Cast, 20 sec CD)
Anyone who has ever played Alterac or Arathi Basin will understand the glee involved in Typhooning the enemy off cliffs and bridges. I have Typhoon now as a Lazor Chicken, but don’t as a Tree. this is my change to Tree Typhoon people off things. It currently costs 12% base mana to cast. For me at lvl 85, in my shitty gear, that’s 9500 mana. The lvl 45 version of this costs 5120 mana. If it’s comparable to what I already spend on it, or less, Typhoon will win this round.
Otherwise, it’s Faerie Swarm.
Level 60:
Wild Charge: Grants a movement ability that varies by shapshift form:
Non-shapshifted: Fly to an ally’s position and your next healing spell costs no mana.
Bear Form: Charge to an enemy, immobilizing them and granting you 30% haste.
Moonkin Form: Bound backward and gain 20 Lunar or Solar Energy, whichever is more beneficial to you.
This has potential, but I don’t like it for Moonkin. I can see PvEers liking it, though. Especially, PvE laser chickens. For Bears, perhaps someone who plays a Bear exclusively can explain to be why one would be concerned with 30% haste. That one escapes me. I sort of like this for healer Druids, but I’m trying to come up with a reason why I’d want to fly to an ally’s position, other than just being in range to heal them.
Incarnation: Activates a superior shapeshifting form appropriate to your specialization for 30 sec.
Feral (Cats): King of the Jungle: Improved Cat Form that allows the use of all abilities which normally require stealth, and allows the use of Prowl while in combat.
Restoration: Tree of Life: Tree of Life Form that increases armor by 120% and enhances Lifebloom, Wild Growth, Regrowth, Entangling Roots, and Wrath spellcasts. (Instant, 3 min cooldown)
I don’t know what that would mean for laser chickens and bears, but the Cat one is “ruh roh Raggy!”. For those that don’t get that, it means ravages and pounce, while in combat and not stealthed.
For Trees, I think they’re insinuating that this would be Tree of Life form and that the ToL we have now would go bye bye. Fine, I guess, I don’t really like ToL anyway, it’s more of a PvE deal as far as I’m concerned.
Force of Nature: Summons 3 treants to assist the Druid’s current combat role. Treant capabilities vary by specialization. Usable in all shapeshift forms.(Instant, 3 min cooldown)
Melee treants (which laser chickens have currently) for Cats and Bears, healy trees for healy trees??? Laser pew pew trees for crit chickens? Could be fun. Already have this for myself in laser chicken spec, anyway. I would go for this by default for that spec most likely. For healing I’d go with either this or Wild Charge, probably.
Level 75:
Demoralizing Roar: The Druid roars, disorienting all enemies within 10 yrds. for 4 sec. Using this ability activates Bear Form. (30 sec. cooldown)
Bear tanks have this already but it doesn’t disorient tagets, and I am speculating that they’ll take this if they tank PvE. Bears that pvp would love it, too, probably. This is an AoE. So, it has a lot of potential for larger group PvP.
Ursol’s Vortex: Conjure a vortex of wind that pulls all enemies within 15 yards toward your own location. Usable in all shapeshift forms. (Instant, 30 sec. CD)
The scenario playing over and over again in my mind is that this is like a DK’s lifegrip, only AoE, and that using this to lifegrip the enemy into Drek’s or Van’s room (respectively) in Alterac Valley, then Typhooning them to daze them would result in hilarity. Other than that scenario I just gave you, there is little use for this in PvP. However, in PvE this could be fabulous for grouping adds for AoEing them down, etc.
Bear Hug: Melee attack that stuns the target and deals 10% of the druid’s health in damage every 1 second for 3 seconds. Effect canceled if the Druid moves away, attacks, or takes any other action. Using this ability activates Bear Form. (Instant, 1 minute CD)
Some druids have insane amounts of health. I am not one of them. But, 30% of their health being inflicted upon you in damage could have devastating consequences for some. Especially, being able to do that every 60 secs. The possibilities are endless for this in small and large scale pvp. Plus, as a healer, we have to go bear at times to protect ourselves against dying immediately.
I would go with Bear Hug, here, unless I felt like getting some lulz in Van’s room.
Level 90:
Heart of the Wild: Dramatically improves the Druid’s ability to serve combat roles outside of normal specialization for 45 sec.:
Balance (Laser Chicken): Healing spells generate Lunar or Solar Energy and benefit from Lunar and Solar Eclipse. In addition, grants 50% of the Intellect as Agility, 100% of hit rating as expertise rating, and increases armor by 95% while in Bear Form.
Feral (Cat): Grants 50% of agility as intellect, increases hit rating 100%, and increases armor by 95% while in Bear Form. In addition, regenerates 2% of maximum mana ever 5 seconds. (Instant, 6 minute CD)
So, we’re going to lose Heart of the Wild that we have now, which is pretty important to all forms, but we’re gaining a very weird flipside effect that has a 6 sec. CD. I’m not very hip on this, but I do see where it’s useful, and I also see where they’re going with it. The return of the “hybrid”, which is great to see. This is a purely PvE talent, I’m afraid, and I wouldn’t spec it for that reason.
Master Shapeshifter: Improves the Druid’s effectiveness at briefly switching between forms. Your melee abilities increase your spell damage by 10% and your non-instant spellcasts increase your attack power by 10%. Both effects stack up to 3 times and last 15 sec. Each ability used which benefits from one of these effects consumes one application of that effect.
Again, the return of the hybrid, increasing survivability if you have to switch from your chosen specialization. It might have some utility in PvP when a feral has to shift out to heal themselves on the fly, other than that, I see nothing in it that’s tempting, really.
Disentanglement: Shapeshifting now removes roots. In addition, shifting into a form heals the Druid for 20% of maximum health. This heal cannot be received more often than once every 30 sec.
The pluses here are numerous!!! We used to be able to shift into forms to remove roots, and then they removed that. It’s back! This time with 20% heals attached to it!!! Oh my, oh my! People will be QQing all over the forms about this one, too. Provided that nothing else changes, I’ll be taking Disentanglement.
Shockanlawl 