This is a very well stated, excellent feedback post.
I could comment on quite a few things, but I’m going to touch on Human form since the lack of support for it has been bothering me since the “Server Slam” pre-release when Druid became my main.
HUMAN FORM BONUS
15% cooldown reduction & 5 spirit regen / second
-
This isn’t the worst bonus, but it doesn’t really provide damage (Werewolf attack speed) or defense (werebear DR and max life), which is an issue. Cooldown reduction has diminishing returns, and even with Shifter’s Aspect to gain 120% bonus to these values, it doesn’t really open anything new up for Human Form.
-
Human form druids using the Storm Shepherd set get all their skills cast for free, further reducing the benefit of the spirit regen. Sure, it helps, minimally, with the 2 piece bonus… but something like Tibault’s Will (+50 spirit regen) is so much better.
EXCLUSIVE SKILLS
I agree that the updated skill trees are a huge improvement, but I have to ask… why is there no skill exclusive to Human form?
-
Werebear has exclusive access to Pulverize.
-
Werewolf gets exclusive access to Shred and Lacerate.
-
Human gets exclusive access to…. nothing. Every single Human skill is usable by another form.
It seems to me like a huge missed opportunity to give human form something unique and special about it.
SKILL VARIETY
On top of not having their own unique skill, why does Human form get by far the least variety in skill options?
-
Werebear has access to 19 skill choices: all 5 basic, 3 core, 3 defensive, 3 companion, 3 wrath, and 2 ultimate skills.
-
Werewolf has access to 22 skill choices: all 5 basic, 3 core, 4 defensive (w/ items), 3 companion, 3 wrath, 4 ultimate skills (w/items)
-
Human has access to 16 skill choices: 3 basic, 4 core, 2 defensive, 3 companion, 2 wrath, and 2 ultimate skills.
HUMAN ASPECTS AND UNIQUE POWERS
Human form gets (1) ONE unique item. Werewolf gets (5) FIVE (1 shared with werebear) and Werebear gets (2) TWO (1 shared with werewolf). Once again, Human form in dead last.
Greenwalker’s Signet
As already discussed in this thread, the 15% proc chance is just way too low to be useful given how it works.
-
While it “works” with channeling skills, it really doesn’t, because the proc chance is only checked when the ability is first channeled (button is pressed). It should continue to be able to proc while the channel is maintained, but it doesn’t. The best way to “channel” shouldn’t be to keep clicking the button to try and get procs.
-
You have limited control over what actually gets proc’d. For instance, I thought I could use a fast attack basic skill and get it to consistently proc free boulders. Unfortunately, because the item doesn’t say “a different equipped non-Ultimate Human Skill”, this isn’t possible. Instead, you may just proc the same basic skill again. This is pretty disappointing given the very low proc chance to begin with.
Archdruid’s Aspect
- This is a low value aspect overall given it seems to be built around the idea of shifting to benefit from multiple forms. Human Form has the hardest to maintain benefit though (keeping enemies Distant) and gets 55% bonus damage, which is less than the average offensive aspect bonus, to show for it.
Aspect of Human Ingenunity
- This aspect has a highly conditional bonus with no real payoff. 50% bonus damage with human skills IF the enemy is hindered. It comes with an extra effect, to pull enemies close together when hit and immobilize them for 2 seconds, but this effect is hamstrung by a 5 second cooldown. It’s not reliable enough and the uptime is too short to give up a stronger offensive aspect that does more consistent damage.
Aspect of Natural Instincts
- Another aspect which I suspect no one is using that is probably built for form switching. Human form gains 1 stack of resolve every 5 seconds. If that isn’t terrible compared to something like Aspect of Dominance (crowd controlling an enemy grants 1-2 resolve), I don’t know what its.
Nature’s Reach
- This is the best of the Human form aspects… which isn’t saying a lot. Still, it grants an average 60% damage bonus with a conditional 25% bonus damage if the target is hindered. It’s clear Blizzard wants us to be hindering targets at a distance in human form, so that makes sense. I’m not sure it’s exactly where it needs to be, and it suffers against bosses, but I think it’s a reasonable aspect if the other pieces were in place.
Vigorous Aspect
- 30% damage reduction in Human (or Werewolf) form. Sure, it’s alright I guess, but there are better defensive aspects for DR and you can only equip so many.
PARAGON BOARDS / GLYPH
As already stated, Human Form does not have its own paragon board.
On top of that, the Human form glyph (12x) gives a smaller bonus than Fang and Claw (which was now boosted to 15x). Sure, it also grants 12% DR, but given how DR has diminishing returns, smaller amounts of DR like this have very limited value. Paragon boards and glyphs are almost always damage focused these days.
BOULDER (bonus topic)
Just adding a bonus note about Boulder… is anyone actually using this without the Dolmen’s Will node?
-
Boulder’s knockback is a cool effect, but the cooldown makes it so you can’t cast this with any consistency or rely on it as a main skill UNLESS you use the Dolmen’s Will node. We need a way to reduce the cooldown on this to make it spammable OR another way to make it a core skill without the rotation.
-
Crushing Impact, even at 300x, could likely use more damage given that Boulder’s damage scaling is very low per skill point. I also feel it should reduce by less for each enemy hit, perhaps 25x per enemy would be better than 50x.
-
Landslip is terrible. I at first thought it would work like Meteor, crashing down and perhaps exploding if you have the Dolmen Stone equipped. Instead, it simply casts the normal boulder at your cursor… which is just worse. It doesn’t push any nearby enemies away and ends up getting less knock back hits on your target. On top of that, the 200x bonus only applied to a single target. I don’t see how its usable, frankly.
Alright, that’s it from me for now. I really hope Blizzard listens and makes some improvements to Druid, but especially to Human form. Across the board though, lets get some parity at least within the class, if not with other classes.