queue the troll going "I'm regenerating 5 HP per sec, and there's nothing you can do about it" ascii.

I guess my real complaint is the difference, usability and convenience of Warstomp when compared to the Night Elf Racial: Shadowmeld.

I have both a lvl 80 Tauren Druid, and a lvl 80 Night Elf Druid. When I discovered what exactly Shadowmeld did for you in various occasions, I nearly crapped my fur; you go invisible even in combat, and not only that - you drop combat altogether. That means in combat you hit Shadowmeld, flight form, and float away scott free. In a boss fight - The feces hits the fan: everyone is down and you as the druid tank are the last one standing - you find a corner, hit shadowmeld, the boss says "wtf?! oh well I guess he was never here. I'm going to despawn" and the encounter resets. !!!!!!!!!!!!! The best racial EVER (imvho) !!!!!!!

Upon rolling a tauren on another server I somewhat expected the racials to be comparably useful as Druids because "why wouldn't they be?". In Bear Form Warstomp shifts you out of Bear form, drops all of the rage you had previously built up, requires you obviously, to switch back into bear negating the benefits of using the warstomp in the first place to a certain extent. 2 sec stun, diminishing returns, and 2 minute cooldown.

I realize this is a wall text crit, and may be perceived as a mass QQ explosion. But this is my point of view from both sides of the Druid Tank Racial abilities. If I'm wrong or I'm the only one who feels this way please vote it down.

whispe. Do you really play a NE druid? It doesn't sound like it. It sound like you are regurgitating theory about Shadowmeld not fact. In theory SM does all the things you claim, in fact. it doesn't. You are the first NE druid I have ever met that actually likes it. I don't. I hate SM because it never actually works. I can't think of a single 5-man or raid fight that I have ever saved by popping that ability. It typically works well in questing PvE. But in any type of boss fight you are going to have some type of debuff on you and as soon as you pop into SM you will pop right back out an die anyway. I've tried popping it in bear, cat, and tree. Never works. Never.

If SW was as great as you say maybe you would have a claim that it was OP compared to warstomp. But in truth it is not. Both have real limitations.

daniel,

SM is awesome for feral in PvP. It has some uses in PvE, though I agree it's not as easy to find them as the whispe suggests. Still, it's far, far better than warstomp.

Run a poll on druid's forums asking if players would switch their warstomp for shadowmeld and vice versa. I'm pretty sure what the results will be (I've seen such polls before).

I completely agree with Daniel...

I've tried SM several times in raids to the same result - I'm DEAD, just like everyone else! That even goes for not having any debuffs or threat. For example: fighting a boss in 25man Naxx - several people were going down so everyone agreed to let the raid fall. I thought, hmm experiment time. I had no debuffs and I had no threat from the boss, so I went to the farthest spot I could reach directly away from the boss and popped SM. With the boss targeted I watched all my teammates fall except for me and a hunter who was performing the same experiment but with feign death. Once the last person fell (except for me and the hunter of course), my threat on the boss went from 0% to 100% instantly he came right over to me in SM and then I was dead! After me, the boss went right next door to my hunter friend and then there was none! So as far as SM goes in raids.....useless (as well as feign death)!

However SM in PvE is a whole different issue, yes it can save your butt in a boss fight, but just like warstomp, you'll switch back to humanoid form and loose all of your energy and/or rage. However, I see much more utility in Warstomp than I do SM. At least with WS you can drop a heal without as much time for interruption and then return to the fight, where you left off. If you pop a SM right in front of the guy, you leave combat and the bosses health goes back to 100, while you stand there with your pants down at the same health you had when you popped SM. Yes you are out of combat, but now you can't move. At this point you risk the boss detecting you and starting the battle all over but this time you are in a much worse starting state. I think I'd prefer WS in PvE versus SM.

In my opinion both racial talents have their pluses and minuses! Either of them if used in the right combination (with other abilities) or at the right time, can save your butt in a fight.

One to remember is that SM was changed in 3.1 I think. It only takes you out of combat while you are stealthed. Upon unstealthing you regain all aggro you had on the boss and/or are now a target should everyone else be dead.

It was like a permanent Vanish before the change and was very helpful in boss wipes. Now it's an "oh shit" button to drop aggro if you pull from the tank.