Posting on my BFA toon instead…
The main intent would obviously be for main heals, but with HoTs, etc - there’s always downtime. In current state M+/BFA, there is quite a bit of downtime due to HoTs, which allows Druid to sit in cat form for some time, and supplement DPS.
I’m just unsure if this exists in Classic, and the opportunity to catweave will be negligible, making druid overall less effective in this regard?
From what I understand, most gear you get will either be tailored to cat dps or healing but not both. So trying to do both in a raid with the shapshift cost will likely be costly in pots and your dps/hps (but Im not some druid pro so _o.o_/ )
Ah, there we go - bingo. Dumb question on my part. Cat form eats up a ton of mana in Classic, so it would be pretty dumb to try and catweave, I guess.
I’m sure you could make it work but idk how efficient mana wise it’d be. You could spec into cheaper forms mana wise, but would still recommend mana pots.
Yeah, seems a bit risky to attempt to test this out by leveling a 60 lol.
I guess you can just chug mana pots in Classic, unlike Retail, right? Might be viable, but costly AF.
It’s totally doable. In fact, it helps justify putting all those points into Natural Weapons to get Omen of Clarity, the procs of which can be used for healing spells. As others have already said though, cats have enough trouble competing with other DPS in Vanilla. Just don’t expect to contribute anything more than modest and occasional DPS, and be mindful of the mana you’re using to enter cat form.
Oh, and some macros might help!
So in reality, it’s probably more likely that a priest putting SW:P, wanding, or throwing out DPS in general, will likely exceed cat DPS and/or generally be more efficient mana-wise, is what it seems to me.
That is absolutely the case.
I thought maybe catweaving was a new profession what with all those strays running around Elwynn Forest. Disappointed.
Priest is definitely the better option for 5-15 mans for the simple fact that druids lack an out of combat rez.
You can toss out a few wraths or a moonfire, but IIRC swapping forms ate like half your mana.
Yeah I checked some beta streamers and it appears changing forms (both in and out) eats up a decent chunk of mana. Wowhead says 55% of base mana, so not great.
Priest probably does more dps with SW:P and a wand 
Here’s an example of a spec with which I think you could reasonably return to cat when no healing casts are needed at the time as long as you’re fairly sure you won’t need the mana soon.
https://classic.wowhead.com/talent-calc/druid/014005301-5-055103105315201
Looks like you figured it out, mana.
@Durrus - it would be nice if Omen of Clarity applied to shapeshift, but it seems doubtful.
Catweaving : When you are attracted to a druid’s tinder profile, but then meet them in real life.
Oh, we already know it doesn’t. The point is that if it procs in cat, you can return to caster to burn the proc on a heal.
Nope, only going into form costs mana.
Omen of Clarity applies to shapeshift. Doesn’t make up for shifting cost and no mana regen for the duration of cat form though.
bingo, natural shapeshifter will help a lot too, unless the OP is constantly going in and out of forms.
@Durrus hmm… that seems a little more tempting, then.
@Bashan - oof, no mana regen in cat? Are you sure? I’m watching Soda on an old beta stream and he was regen’ing in cat.