The Daily Quest: Let's talk about this right meow
by Anne Stickney 
Nov 14th 2011 at 4:00PM
WoW Insider's on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative, and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.
My very first character ever back in vanilla WoW was a druid. I loved the class, even though it took me a while to get the hang of it. But once the whole aspect of being able to shift in and out of various forms to survive darn near anything kicked in, I was relatively unstoppable. I switched from Alliance to Horde after hitting level 60, and from druid to priest. But I still loved druids, and I loved raiding with them. One of the top druids in my vanilla raiding guild was simply brilliant; he was a healer, but he'd swap between forms all the time if there was something he could do to help.
And that was the druid class to me, in a nutshell -- the extreme versatility of being able to do just about anything because you could simply shift forms. I loved it. I still love it, and I have two druid alts, though I rarely play them these days (not enough time in the day). There've been some pretty interesting conversations around the blogosphere about the state of druids in the upcoming expansion, however, well worth reading.
Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.
My very first character ever back in vanilla WoW was a druid. I loved the class, even though it took me a while to get the hang of it. But once the whole aspect of being able to shift in and out of various forms to survive darn near anything kicked in, I was relatively unstoppable. I switched from Alliance to Horde after hitting level 60, and from druid to priest. But I still loved druids, and I loved raiding with them. One of the top druids in my vanilla raiding guild was simply brilliant; he was a healer, but he'd swap between forms all the time if there was something he could do to help.
And that was the druid class to me, in a nutshell -- the extreme versatility of being able to do just about anything because you could simply shift forms. I loved it. I still love it, and I have two druid alts, though I rarely play them these days (not enough time in the day). There've been some pretty interesting conversations around the blogosphere about the state of druids in the upcoming expansion, however, well worth reading.
- Falling Leaves and Wings points out exactly what the resto druid community is concerned about.
- Restokin has a two-part post detailing what exactly is wrong with having a melee moonkin.
- Tree Heals Go Woosh calmly tells druids not to panic. In large, friendly letters.
Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.
Filed under: The Daily Quest
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bellajtok Nov 14th 2011 4:12PM
Oh thank goodness. We needed some large, friendly letters.
Bellajtok Nov 14th 2011 4:38PM
Also, this is a fantastic song. How have I not seen this before? My guild gets to hear this tonight.
Noyou Nov 14th 2011 4:17PM
Very nice song. Just curious, why did you switch from Ally to Horde? I have lots of toons on both sides. I think everyone should play at least one toon on the opposite faction just to get a different perspective and more lore.
Anne Stickney Nov 14th 2011 4:28PM
I liked the feel of it -- there was a very different tone between Alliance and Horde zones. It was not an easy switch -- the server I started out on was vastly skewed to Alliance by about 6:1. But I had made friends with a few players on Horde side, and that made it easier to transition.
These days, I still play both sides just to play through the stories -- my 80 ally is next on my list of alts to be leveled through to 85 when I've got free time. 80-85 doesn't really take that long to do, and I've been told the quests for ally are very much similar to the Horde quests, but I still want to play through everything anyway!
ravyncat Nov 14th 2011 4:21PM
I am going to sing that in vent and annoy people XD
I already run around slash saying meow all the time.
Because KITTEHs are the best!
Jorges Nov 14th 2011 4:52PM
Everytime I hear this song I get chills on my spine, and remember how much I love my Kitteh :D!
Pam Nov 14th 2011 4:59PM
This is our raid leader during Beth...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWIPZvwcnX8&feature=related
Now I'mma play the above one during Rags!
furrama Nov 14th 2011 5:24PM
I think that drooods tend to forget that Blizz is trying to have a reason for pure DPS specs to exist. They don't seem to like that hybrids can do anything and have no penalty, while pure DPS only have DPSing and can't switch if someone needs them to. I think the upcoming changes are evident of that. Trying to inject flavor and purpose and all that jazz.
Blizzard is going to try to fix this again, hold on to your butts.
Nathanyel Nov 14th 2011 7:09PM
Except the direction ever since the beginning of BC was "make specs of hybrids more specialized, closer to the 'pures', reducing off-spec abilities to mere utility". Cataclysm cemented this by preventing "hybrid" specs.
Giving the hybrid classes (or just the druid) not just the option, but apparently the necessity to "be hybrid" more often, will most likely mean one of two outcomes: Either the hybridization leads directly to PvE underperformance in the actually chosen role, or they manage to balance it for PvE, to make it interesting with good options, but that will make the spec/class OP in PvP, most likely due to the power of (self-)healing combined with the normal damage output, which will then end in nerfs to the whole of the class, resulting in the same underperformance in PvE.
Dankie Nov 14th 2011 8:22PM
You forget there's no "Pure" healing class (a class that has 3 healing specs) or a "Pure" tank class (as in 3 tank specs).
Hybridization shouldn't prevent say, a healer from being able to heal or make a tank unable to tank. That's what druids are upset about. Being forced into using a talent that takes them out of their healer form or tank form in order to perform some sort of utility. Tank goes out of tank form while tanking... it's dead, period. A healer shifting into a cat or bear or moonkin locks them out of their healing spells for however long it is, and it costs mana to do so.
Even being a rogue, I can see this as a problem. Would I want my healer to be not healing for a certain amount of time because they're forced into shifting? No. Would I want my healer taking DPS talents or Tanking talents because there are no others available? No. It's wasted talents. And crazy to boot.
Not to mention - what of the boomkin forced to take a feral talent? Or the Tank forced to take kitty stuff? And the kitty forced to take healer stuff.
S'all lousy for druids, imo. Being a class that can have multiple roles shouldn't mean that each role is penalized for just existing. As a dps, sure I want them to do less damage - and sometimes they do. But with them as my tank or healer? - I want them to be even with each other.
furrama Nov 14th 2011 10:59PM
Then why would anyone want to play pure DPS outside of class flavor?
Lets try looking at this from a different perspective: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xGDL6QVL-8&feature=channel_video_title
Either everyone should be able to fill every role, or hybrids should be penalized in some way. It might be lack of talent choice, it might be that they fill multiple roles at once and it's not penalization so much as a different kind of role.
Nathanyel Nov 15th 2011 11:36AM
Pure classes have 3 separate specs, which, while not changing role or the melee/ranged mantra, offer quite different ways to use and extend the base abilities of the class, and bring along their own utility options. Some base abilities even have little use for this or that spec, they're used only in rare occasions, and unless in the spec that benefits most of it, have a lesser effect.
Dualspec offers to assume two of those specs, or another setup of their main spec (e.g. for PvP or soloing)
But they, just like the hybrids, can only change that spec outside of combat. You can't expect an Arcane mage to use many frost spells, maybe Frost Nova/Cone of Cold, Ring of Frost and Iceblock. If some fight requires a spam of Frostbolt/Ice Lance (think Viscidus) or otherwise favors Frost, the raid will take only those mages with a Frost spec, as those can provide the necessary abilities with their normal rotation, without losing that much DPS.
Similarly, hybrids don't have that many or strong off-spec abilities, the gap especially between melee and caster/healer specs became perpetually larger due to larger stat numbers on gear. E.g. it takes quite long to fully heal yourself as a 85 feral, and you'll be near-oom afterwards.
Because of the off-spec abilities that became ever weaker (in comparison to what they meant for other specs) hybrid DPS can ("are allowed to", if you prefer that phrasing) compete with pure DPS - and with the mentioned Trinity ruling (I don't see this truly changing during WoW's lifetime, even with Mistweaver coming up) this is necessary so that these specs are still taken along into raids. Pures are still taken as well, because they, too, bring several types of utility.
Note: I did not watch the whole video, just skimmed through the first minute to get what it was about
furrama Nov 15th 2011 4:08PM
All I'm saying is that the system is rather broken at the ground level, and I don't think it's anyone's fault so much as natural evolution of the genre. We soon will move past this: you can only do one or two, possible three jobs if you pick the right class. But that's neither here nor there.
No one picks a class because "I want to push Heroism at the right time!" or "I want to be the one that ice traps all the mobs" or "I want to make food and water for EVERYONE". Most players, (I'm not counting min maxers), pick what looks fun. Once you get to end game it is disappointing to find that you aren't needed for the class/spec that you picked. Sure, you CAN play BM, but Marksman is so much better right now. It plays a little different... not by much. Essentially it's the same though. Shoot things, let the tiger chew on things, so on. You just have a different focus dump and it's less of an issue when the pet gets nova blasted. But the closeness with the pet, that's why you picked the class. It's all psychological. That's the only real difference between all of the pure DPS specs. And if they wanted to try a different role in a group because that's what was needed? Too bad, you picked the wrong class. Should have picked a hybrid. And the hybrids are all upset that they can't be just like the pure DPS classes and just do the one thing they wanted to do and don't get as many options, when in reality they have similar problems and are looking at what they perceive to be greener grass on the other side of the fence.
This is poor design. It is the designers' job to funnel good behavior and goodwill through game mechanics, and not be as confusing as possible. It is not beyond imagining that a new player just might want to play that one roll their entire time, or change their mind and want a different one as time goes on. The game should facilitate this.
And I have no respect for someone who can't sit through a 6 minute video when all the talking points were at the end. Don't just skim something and think you got the gist of it, it's poor form. Either watch it or don't.
TonyKP Nov 15th 2011 10:26AM
I just hope that the developers listen to the more knowledgeable druid bloggers this time around - they'd have saved themselves (and us) a lot of headaches if they'd done that during the lead-in to Cataclysm. I used to play a lot of different classes and read a lot of different class forums and blogs, and the one class that this crop of developers has understood the least has always been druids, and by a pretty large margin.