I took a long break from WoW a few years ago and returned at the end of Legion. I used to play a druid heavily, but as I did more quests with him I came to hate how druids were portrayed in game. I just ended up looking at them and think, “You are all so pathetic.”
The entire zone of Val’sharah made me sigh. This was supposed to be the druids on their own turf and they just fall to Nightmare corruption so easily. Millennia old druids are irredeemably corrupted in moments. It bothered me so much to see the druids get overwhelmed by the Nightmare so quickly on multiple fronts.
The class hall didn’t help either with druids failing pretty hard to manage the Nightmare’s effects. I understand it’s their nemesis but they seem perpetually caught off guard and ambushed.
Getting the second scale for the Heart further made me cringe. The green dragons are, yet again, unable to defend their own ground and are completely outmatched. Merithra, the daughter of Ysera, seems very unsure of herself and on the verge of giving up herself. Seeing two out three green dragons literally choose to die just set the tone for me for how easily they gave up. Merithra herself was also very underwhelming, especially since this was my first time interacting with her.
Druids feel like they’ve been rewritten from guardians of nature to constantly in need of aid. On top of how bad a lot of quests feel to do as a druid (we kill A LOT of animals needlessly) it just affected my enjoyment of playing the class.
Has anyone else felt like this about druids? I long for the days when druids were fierce and not so in need of aid.
I mean … isn’t the issue with the Nightmare that it literally is a perversion of the very power that the Druids rely on to do what they do? Hell, its a twisting and corruption of the very Emerald Dream itself. Doesn’t it make sense that it is particularly difficult for Druids to deal with? The Nightmare is portrayed like a cancer running rampant through the realm of Life (it doesn’t kill life, it twists it).
Beyond that the last major enemy Druids were put up against (other then their literal conceptual cryptonite the Nightmare) … was the Firelands pouring out in Mount Hyjal (and ANYONE would have had a huge issue dealing with that … let alone people who rely on plants and wind as tools).
I would have preferred the story to orient more around “We’re fighting them but we need you to break the stalemate!” or “Your aid in our campaign would be invaluable!” It would feel more like they’re accomplishing something on their own instead of leaning on me to save them completely.
Is my druid just so great that he can wrestle control of those energies back? I don’t understand why the character is immune to corruption when an echo of Xavius can absolutely overwhelm Malfurion.
You do have to suspend your disbelief a little bit if you intend to look at this as a Game and NOT just a story. They setup a situation where you are able solve a problem, and feel like a hero; its far less an instance of Druids being portrayed as weak … and more of the type of YOU being a Demi-God murder hobo. Hell, I’m the Farseer of the Earthen Ring, who united the Elemental Lords to fight the Legion … yup, I’m apparently just that good.
That being said … outside of fake Xavius Malf screaming “Tyrande…” I sort of loved when you finally got to Malf and he’s just sitting there smack-talking the Satyr. Yeah, he’s not particularly good at it … but there was just something charming about the concept that he has literally spent hours; being unable to move; snarking away at the “God” of the Emerald Nightmare.
We are a pretty neutered, ineffective bunch. Both factions routinely desecrate the land in the name of war, profit, whatever and we just idly sit around or even participate in it. Imagine being a Horde druid right now, you’d be a laughingstock.
Considering the environmental damage that’s going on and how this may lead to long term damage, perhaps not. I feel like, with wild gods dying, there’s going to be more difficulty restoring the wilds. Heck, look at Felwood. It’s still the wrong type of green even with druids trying to cleanse it.
I feel like the problem with the Cenarion Circle specifically is that they are far too out of date from a pop culture standard of environmentalism. It just doesn’t stand up well anymore. My guess is it’s why how different Troll and Kul Tiran Druidism is.
For them, everything is green, predators are evil, and life is good and death is bad. That’s waaaaaay too simplistic and feels decades old. The Druid of the Pack thing (I think I got the name right) was the Druids being unable to control a wolf form correct? That’s not stereotypical at all…
The balance and in tune with nature aspect they’ve done with the Kul Tirans and Druids I think is a good way to still have that environmental/nature lover theme but brought up to date.
I feel you don’t give their enemy enough credit. These’re creatures of nightmare, an extension of the Old Gods themselves. They are timeless creatures that have existed long before mortalkind has, and possibly, before the Titans did. They have been there since the beginning, they’ve seen everything come to its natural conclusion. They know every strength, weakness, desire, loathing and social standing. They know everything that there is to know about what inhabits this world they seek to destroy.
The Druids may be great, but nobody stands alone against a cosmic horror.
The old gods were made in responce to titans being incorruptible so they are younger and not timless horrors they are middle managment. There also apprently were mortals on azeroth before the old gods came down.
All seeing and all knowing i doubt otherwise none of thrur plans could fail because all possable outcomes which thanks to the bronze is meant to be 1 would be foreseen. They are very cunning in setting up their plan and executing it but unless every defeat from befire the titains was staged they are not all lnowing or all seeing.