Is it looking like any spec of druid will be a competitive raider next expac?

Very few bear tanks, ferals get lolled for rogues, boomkins are way below fire mages and locks, and resto may be meta M+, but they are not considered good in raids. You’d think, with 4 specs, one could be a stunner.

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Depends on how you define “competitive” I suppose.

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Well, next expansion we won’t have corruption, which is the primary cause for why some specific specs (FMage, Destrolock, BM Hunter) seem so oppressively good right now.

Balance has always been a great spec for raiding, I don’t see why this expansion will be any different.

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I’d call competitive: “existing in the environment of non-world first, but still cutting edge progression in a manner that, when the raid leader is considering you for the team overall, and the roster that particular day, you aren’t penalized for being a spec that is outshone by specs from other classes to such an extent that you can’t overcome it by being better and putting more work in.”

In other words, not: “Oh, he’s a boomkin, they do the most damage, he’s in no matter what,” but, also not: “He does good dps, for a boomkin, but…he’s a boomkin, so unless it’s him vs an empty chair, it’s gonna be bring the other guy.”

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Well, I’m the GM of a Cutting Edge guild, and I have no qualms about how our boomkins perform on Mythic fights. I think the bigger question in Shadowlands is not their performance, but rather whether they’ll enjoy the changes to the spec’s mechanics.

As for resto, I generally let the healers work things out on their own, but we’ve been without a Resto Druid most of the last 3 tiers and haven’t really missed it. And when we inevitably get to one of those 3 healer fights, I’d go with Paladin / Shaman / Priest for the cooldowns, as usual, since cooldowns > throughput. But we’ll have to see how the fight mechanics play out.

As for Feral, why bring a Feral when you could recruit a Rogue or a Warrior? Especially since the Boomkins bring roar now.

And Guardian… well, after tanking on the Druid for 14 years, I’m finally benching myself in Shadowlands and changing to a new class.

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There is a reason…I’m sure of it. Just give me a minute.

~https://tenor.com/view/confused-perplexed-gif-10834164

I have a feeling feral single target will be big.

Not sure how healer balance will be if resto shamans get the mana totem. That might be crazy good for the healer team…and why only bring 1.

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History says otherwise…so far they havent been worth much before the maintenance mode patch.

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They havent even come out with a Druid Legendary yet. Its too soon to tell. Im guessing that Balance and Resto will still be fine for Raiding, they pretty much always have been. Im guessing Guard has to get RotS for a Legendary. That will most likely bring Bear back. Feral… I dont see Feral being a progression raid spec for most Guilds, but Im sure that you can still push CE playing Feral, it will just be harder to find a group to do it with.

It’s really premature to ask this question. One balance pass is all it takes to bring a bottom spec to the top and vice versa. Haven’t even started beta yet

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Funny!

(It would take a lot more than that.)

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Where moonkins are concerned, I think that while they sim low, their relatively simple rotation keeps them competitive in the real world, even if they are probably still lower DPS than their peers. They also have some pretty good raid utility.

Resto Druids will always be at least okay because they can do what they do while moving around and bring unique healing utility, even if they’re out-performed. They’re probably helped at least a little bit too by the availability of healers or lack thereof. I agree they’re nothing special though. The bizarre thing I’ve noticed about resto druids is just how little damage they add to a group. Their best M+ major is still High Noon IIRC, lol.

One important thing to consider is that numbers changes can do a lot (well maybe except for Guardian). It wouldn’t take much to make Moonkin straight-up busted in Shadowlands for example, even if Eclipse isn’t as fun as Empowerments.

And keep in mind that someone on a “lesser” spec but is capable of responding to the mechanics of a fight is better than someone playing the best rated class but is always getting caught in the fire/knocked in to the Whelps.

Numbers change can very easily make Guardian the best tank.

Except the lack of tools for anything except face tanking ^^

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Where’s my snare?

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I was unaware that any Druid actually enjoyed the Eclipse mechanic. It was hot garbage then and I cannot vision any changes to it that would make it enjoyable.

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The new eclipse mechanic doesn’t really share any similarities to the original eclipse mechanic in anything other than name. I can see why they want to return to that theming, Lunar and Solar eclipses acting’s as apexes of the Druid’s rotation are thematically a fun idea. It’s the mechanics that people didn’t like.

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In the old eclipse you spam one spell til the next eclipse procs then it forces you to spam a different spell til the former eclipse procs. In the new eclipse you spam one spell til the next eclipse procs then it forces you to spam another spell til the former eclipse procs. Not a big difference other than there is no visual bar.

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