I want to first start by saying how impressed I am at the new talent trees. I have not been this excited about something WOW related in a LONGGGG time.
My main focus in this game is Arena (Gladiator more times than I can count in every expansion since Wotlk and now TBC Classic), with the occasional M+ and Pug raid. So feedback provided will be through a mainly arena slant.
First - Feral affinity and specifically rake stun when pressed while stealth. This is gameplay that is highly controversial. It is both very fun from the Druid’s POV and very annoying from their opponents POV. Overall I applaud the change to move away from this gameplay even if it will be sorely missed. With that being said, maybe finding away to give the Druid player something more than just Bash (You will most likely take bash 99% of the time) would be nice, though, not sure if necessary. Maybe Incap Roar could be baseline? Not sure if this would be too over the top?
Second - Tranquility. Will the “Tranquility Bubble/Immunity” PvP talent returning in Dragonflight? It drastically changes the way you invest in the tree if it is. No real preference here, just curious.
Some old mechanics/ideas I would love to see return:
- Current Restoration Druid 9.2 Sepulcher 2-Set Bonus: 25% Chance on Rejuv Cast to place a mini undispelable HoT on the target. Seems like there is a strong Mastery theme in the Druid tree (especially with the new Lifebloom Talent and Grovetending returning) and I would love to see this return as a one point talent in the Resto Tree (I would be MUCH more excited about this than Ephemeral Incarnation)
- Nighthold Restoration Druid 2-Set Bonus: When you cast WildGrowth gain X Amount of Mastery. Again, multiple HoTs and mastery seem like a big theme in the Druid Tree and this would be another fun talent for both Arena and M+. Especially would be fun in conjunction with the PvP Talent for Instant Cast WildGrowth (if it stays in the game) as a small way to combat burst dmg.
-Displacer Beast as mobility. Truly, I miss displacer beast, and I would be SHOCKED if I was alone. It is just an infinitely more satisfying button to press than either Tiger’s Dash or Wild Charge. I would love to see this come in the form of a PvP talent (replacing Wild Charge/Tiger’s Dash) or just in the tree as a selectable option along side or replacing one of Tiger’s Dash/Wild Charge. Also maybe this would be a way to allow Night Fae players to keep their Soul Shapes?
- Nature's Swiftness + Regrowth. The power of NS + Soul of the Forest + Regrowth is just absurd. The modifier is 300% (Pre Mastery Stacks) of the original value (340% percent if talented into Imp Regrowth with a Regrowth HoT on the Target). I think Druid's currently need this to keep up with the burstiness of the current Meta. But from a class fantasy perspective it is kind of weird to have this massive amount of your healing come from a Direct Heal and I would much prefer to find a way to reduce the modifiers and allow Druid HoTs to handle burst better (Invigorate seems like a potential great way to do this!). You could potentially even drastically reduce the modifiers but maybe introduce the Blackrock Foundry 2-Set which made NS work on the next 3 spells casts (maybe this would be too powerful, I don't know!) And I assume a return of Genesis would be off the table/too powerful/not fun to play against (also lots of overlap with Invigorate)?
-Nourish granting HoTs on the Target in addition to a reduced cast time based on the amount of HoTs on the target. I'm not sure if this would just be too busted or broken, but I will say it was FUN. Back in Legion when the Healing Touch builds would reduce the cast time and/or add HoTs to the target it was just FUN gameplay. I find the current Nourish to just be solely uninteresting and boring. Would love to know what other people think of this button/talent/ability? I think most people don't even think of it or use it (which indicates it maybe needs a rework?)
Some thoughts on Talents and Talent placements:
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Soothe placement in the “Druid Class Tree” feels odd. Making every druid player grab soothe to invest a point in mobility feels off, especially for an arena player that basically rarely (if ever) has the need to press this button. Maybe something changes with mechanics in DragonFlight and sootheing enemy players is something you will want to do in DragonFlight? If not, maybe swap Soothe and Cyclone placements?
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Thoughts on placing a connection between Increased Damage and Healing (2/4/6) NNF - and Astral Influence (Range on Spells)? Currently you need to invest 6 points that you to get Typhoon that you (most likely) would never invest otherwise. This means that basically Typhoon is locked off from a Resto player. If there were a connection from Increased Dmg and Healing to Astral influence this would only be a three point investment to obtain Typhoon and much more choice/decisioning would be introduced to the tree?
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Wild Growth in the main tree and Wild Growth talents in the Restoration Tree. This one just seems off to me. I almost feel like this should be tranquility and Wild Growth should be the centerpiece spell in Restoration? I honestly would be curious who outside of Restoration players would invest into this, but maybe that is the point?
Currently the build I am looking at in the Restoration Tree would obtain Photosynthesis, Adaptive Swarm, and Verdant Infusion (this build seems INSANELY fun to play by the way!!!). My only criticism would be that I do have to pick up five points that just seem very underwhelming to get there, and missing out on several optional side talents that I would love to pick up. These would be:
Improved Wild Growth and tranquility - Clearly a PVE raid healing talent. You MUST select this to obtain this talent to pick up Overgrowth which feels weird as it is very much a single target talent. Maybe this could be the Nighthold Two Set bonus that gives mastery when Wild Growth is casts? This could double as Single Target and AOE and would overall be much more enjoyable?
Unstoppable Growth - Currently you must invest two points into this to get soul of the forest, which feels bad as you don’t currently press Wild Growth in arena all too often. But then again, maybe if the change above was implemented this would not feel bad at all?
Improved Regrowth - This really just seems like a weird talent. When is it right to regrowth a target with a regrowth HoT vs Nourish (if talented)? Is there overlap here? Does one invalidate the other? Just feels like there is some bloat here between Nourish and Regrowth that could be more elegantly or fluidly addressed?
Also having to choose between two talent points in this vs one point in Improved Wild Growth to get Tranquility just feels bad. Neither really seem like a place you want to be from an Arena perspective. But then again, you really only want Tranq if Tranquility Bubble PvP talent is returning or its healing is significantly buffed.
- Does invigorate have a cast time?
Some Things I REALLY Like:
Decisions - Such as Skull Bash vs Survivablity. Its very difficult to pick up nature’s vigil (pumped to see this return by the way!), Skull Bash, and Renewal. Love that!
Many of the same talents/legendaries/systems from the past few expansions but presented in a way that will create entirely new rotations/gameplay mechanics from being able to pick and choose between MORE of them than ever before. I’ve seen A LOT of complaining going on that Blizzard is just taking away our base kits to make us talent into it. As far as I can see they are giving us the base kit + more options than ever before. Very exciting stuff.
Overall, I am truly impressed, especially considering this is just the first pass through. I cannot wait to see the other classes!