I started playing WoW during late Cataclysm so I never got to experience the druid in vanilla until the last stress tests.
I noticed that the class fantasy of the Balance specialization was quite different from the current one. It seems there was a change in design where Balance went from being related to the “balance of nature” to the “balance of the sun and moon”.
For example, the Wrath spell had nothing to do with the Sun. It was a green nature-lightning spell. I actually think it looked cooler, Solar Wrath feels like a mage fireball.
The Restoration tree had the Insect Swarm spell, which was taken away. I actually like more this design of being a nature caster instead of an “astral caster”, because if you think about it outer space and stars don’t really seem to have such a direct connection with biological nature.
Personally I would love to see more plant and nature spells for druids, maybe related to the Botani. Thorns, vines, razor leaves, etc.
Which class fantasy do you like the most?
Was druid that bad in Vanilla as some people suggest?
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I enjoyed my druid immensely in vanilla. I am doing it again with classic. I will MAKE it work…like I did in vanilla.
Druid class fantasy is great.
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I am definitely creating a druid for WoW Classic today. I have read that the class was bad and if you wanted a place in raids you had to be Restoration, but even then I love the hybrid concept and want to take on the challenge to make it work… somehow, like you mentioned.
Balance class fantasy in vanilla was basically spam moonfire lol
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Blizzard didn’t really figure out what the classes were supposed to do until BC. Vanilla was a mess.
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I agree, i would really like to go back to nature spells instead of all the astral stuff.
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Space and stars are the most natural thing to ever exist lol
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I don’t know if this was confirmed somewhere, but I think the focused more in the astral theme for Balance to further differentiate it with Restoration. Resto is incredibly nature and plant themed, and I think Blizzard chose instead to focus more on the theme that moon fire and starfire presented.
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The whole reason I rolled druid from the beginning was because I liked how the class fantasy sounded in the paper manual.
I hated the whole Gandalf-space-journey-hey-guys-have-you-been-to-burning-man revamp (and critiqued it on these very forums), but I learned to live with it.
It’ll be nice to go back to my roots (ha) when I feel like it.
Druid was “bad” for me in vanilla because I was forced to play resto if I wanted to raid or really do anything in a group.
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Druids in vanilla were healers basically. I’m going to finally do what I’ve always wanted my Druid to be and make a bear pvp Druid. I’ll of course tank dungeons and such. Bears are my favorite animal so I’m going to be one. But overall feral was lackluster in vanilla and balance Druids were horrendous. Even when they finally did damage, they had to expend so much mana that if a fight lasted longer than 2 minutes, they simply couldn’t dps. They got the nickname oomkins for quite some time. Balance Druids in retail, theme preferences aside, are MUCH better than they were in the beginning stages of WoW.
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Sadly Balance druid became more and more to what seems to be a priestess of the moon.
After reworking the spec in Legion it’s almost impossible for blizzard to fix that and adopt a more offensive plant base spells like for example the ones grass type Pokemon use.
It was my hope to get a grass type pokemon kit for balance and all those balance lunar spells be given to a Priestess of the Moon class (or a 4th priest spec resembling that) but that ship sailed long ago.
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You know, they said they couldn’t add any more rows to talents because it would get out of hand. I mentioned to some guild-mates, of course they could add more rows. Just make them expansion-centric with their strength in the current expansion & residual power going forward.
This thread made me think why couldn’t the first row be all about an individuals class fantasy (cosmetic). Something where your 3 choices change up the look/basis of your spells, but not the numbers. Then adjust the other rows up to keep them intact.
The 3 Balance choices might be Cosmic, Nature, & Noxious (for a darker side of things). The DoTs for Cosmic would be what they are now, but Nature would bring back Insect Swarm and perhaps a retooled Faerie Fire DoT. Noxious might include Spore Cloud & Snake Bite DoTs. AoE would be Starfall, Hurricane, & Shrooms. Etc, etc.
Cosmetically you could create Anti-Paladins, Necromancers, Witches, & so on. I don’t know, been up for 33 hours, was just a delirious thought.
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Why aren’t you working for Blizzard right now? Go now and be hired!
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Yeah everybody pretty much agrees on Balance being one of the worst specs during Vanilla, at least for raiding purposes.
I did enjoy a wpvp video of a Balance druid hybrid (no moonkin form) that combined bear form and cat form with strong starfire burst damage, it looked really fun if you manage to make it work. I guess I enjoy the challenge of trying to make it work… somehow.
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Not a bad idea, but it should be nature, astral, and fire. Fire because we had druids of the flame in legion and things like smoldering roots would be awesome.
The Balance talents in retail are usually Elune related like you said: Warrior of Elune, Chosen of Elune, Elune’s wrath.
But now with new races that can roll druid (trolls, zandalari trolls, kul tirans, highmountain tauren), what’s the relationship they have with Elune?
Grass/leaves/vines spells would be amazing. They already have the Botani and Genesaur as part of the lore.
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Right on… I’m rolling two druids… one for resto / raiding and one to redeem the balance tree. Balance for that one from level 10…
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You made me want to roll another druid to preserve the balance and take on the challenge of making it work.
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Good point, should be Astral over Cosmic, was tired. Not sure about Fire though, but that might be my Forgotten Realms bias.
I know and it’s annoying. Don’t get me wrong, I love starfall. It’s a cool spell but I would trade it in a heart beat to get hurricane back.
The classes in Vanilla may bit have been perfect but I really preferred the nature focused aspect of the class. I want green wrath back and insect swarm and my damn buffs. They took thorns and mark of the wild. A lot of our spells could be used to make a celestial spec for the priests.
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