Did anyone try leveling as a balance druid in vanilla? If so, pros and cons? (LOL OOMkin memes aside)
Pros: Sweet dance moves.
Cons: Literally everything else. TONS of downtime due to mana issues, lacking in damage when you do go OOM, much slower kill speed when compared to feral, lack of decent armor till owl form.
If you really want to for RP purposes, go for it but it sounds like a nightmare to me.
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this right here.
i hear leveling as feral is pretty solid though.
One of the better leveling classes (from lvl 20 on). Hunter/Warlock being the “best” for leveling.
yeah yeah everyone knows how OP Hunters and locks are.
especially hunters. derp derp send pet in. derp derp cast auto shot. derp derp collect loot from dead mobs.
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Keep in mind too, if/when you go OOM you wont have the mana required to pop into bear or cat to finish off the mobs, if you aren’t watching your mana you will find yourself oom and just hitting the mob with whatever wep you are holding till your mana gets high enough to finish it off.
Think of it as a mage without the ability to use a wand when you are oom.
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Well then, feral it is LOL.
Thanks all.
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I leveled a Tauren Druid From 1-60 back when the game was new.
I don’t remember everything but I remember some things.
- Plan to drink some but less than other mana users.
- You don’t level as balance you level as hybrid. Use spells until you get down to just enough to shift. Then Cat until you get your mana back, then Balance. Repeat.
- Natural Shapeshifter is priority!!!
- Once you get NS - Move to the Feral Tree for Ferocity, Thick Hide and Feline Swiftness. You will be level 29.
- Improved thorns is better than it looks for leveling.
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Its been while, a decade and some while, but this druid was the first character I made and while I came from Everquest, I was pretty noob like concerning WoW. So the noob way to level up a balance druid come classic.
-Pull with wrath. Just like you did on those Grells.
-Use your staff the thwack your opponent(s) while rejuv to heal yourself and thorns dwindle its health away, slowly.
-Spam moonfire until oom and run away
-Think that insect swarm will finally let you kite, it didn’t really.
-Don’t use Moonkin form because you made a night elf and not a moonkin. Cats and bears are okay though.
-Thwack more mobs with your staff.
-Stupidly spend gold on a new staff, instead of saving for a mount, to keep up on your thwacking.
-Wait for the inevitable crunch of a rogue opening on you and wonder why they don’t seem to do that as often on your mage.
-And finally, thinking that you finally got hurricane you are really going to do some destruction now. Sigh ingame.
-Start looking thru the feral talent tree finally.
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I leveled as balance, loved it. Then again, I was always a very casual player.
Drinking between pulls didn’t really bother me. I loved the fantasy behind balance druids and star fire randomly stunning people was always a nice surprise.
Do what you find more enjoyable!
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The first druid I leveled I tried doing it as Oomkin but by the time I hit level 40 for moonkin form I was sick of the downtime and ended up switching to feral.
You can level as Feral then switch to Balance around lvl 50 or something where you can get Moonkin form, then use that last part of the journey to get used to your new spec then continue as Balance for the rest of the game. Do not quit on it just because people tell you is not viable or too hard. Lack of enjoyment shouldn’t be a part of a gaming experience.
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I leveled in Classic Balance (before they made the feral tree decent). If you want to know what true suffering is like go for it. It will put you into a state where you want to inflict your suffering upon others but you will be unable to.
I would also like to try leveling as balance. However, it lacks some of the (what I think would be) necessary caster abilities.
First, your in-combat mana regeneration talent is 13 points into the Resto tree. Given the spec is so notoriously oom, I’d think this would be essential. But you’d either take it first, delaying your more powerful (and also necessary) Balance talents by 13 levels, or finishing the Balance tree first, then get the mana regen. Either way, you’re looking at your mid-50s before “balancing” everything.
Second, all other casters can not only equip wands, but also have talents to boost wand damage. (Warlock is the exception to increasing wand dps.) So other casters can use a wand to save mana while grinding, or when they get low in dungeons.
This leaves the druid only three choices: go oom with almost every pull (not sure about this, though), hit the mob with your equipped melee weapon, or switch to bear or cat. Shape shifting costs a lot of mana, which would necessitate three points in Natural Shapeshifter (in Balance tree, to reduce mana cost by 30%). And, since you’re shifting you might better take five points in Furor (in the Resto tree), to get energy or rage when you shift.
Natural Shapeshifter is also in the same row as Improved Moonfire, which is required for Vengeance–increase crit damage bonus by 100%. So you would either need to spend an extra three points, beyond the other 31 needed for Moonkin, or skip Vengeance.
Finally, the druid can fill any roll, as the saying goes, with the right gear. If you gear for balance spell casting, then you’ll be doing (much?) less damage when you hit with your melee weapon, or switch to cat/bear.
Two more things I almost forgot: Druid is the only caster without talents to 1) lower a mob’s resistance to their spells, and 2) lower threat from their dps spells. They can lower threat from healing, but not damage.
Don’t let the naysayers deter you. Balance is actually really fun. One thing people forget about druids (and hybrids in general) is that your spec matters less than your gear and class in general. No matter which spec you roll, you will be using your entire kit. Look through the talent trees. You aren’t really getting any awesome new spells or abilities, you’re just augmenting your base spells/abilities. Your play style will only slightly change.
As balance vs feral, you’ll be doing more damage at a further range, then BEFORE you go oom, switch into cat or bear and melee while you regen mana (if you even need to). Low level Druid spells are potent. At 60 is when balance really falls behind the damage curve. I’d say the biggest factor against level balance is losing out on the 30% kitty run speed at lvl 20/21. But at lvl 30 you get travel form anyway.
Tldr: do what you want. Feral would be quicker, but not by a ton. Being powerful at range is fun too.
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Sure, if you enjoy siting and drinking every 2 mobs.
This is coming from someone who actually tried leveling Balance. It was absolutely horrible. Damage was nice, but it has insane amounts of downtime and the RNG of roots breaking/not breaking was horribly frustrating.
Also, if you’re going to be “switching into cat/bear” all the time…JUST GO FERAL, for god sakes. Stop encouraging people to use awful meme specs that will just slow you down.
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BS… Boomkin are good in pvp. And the leveling experience is fine… take omen of clarity for clearcasting…
It’s not as bad as leveling a pally or warrior, probably on the same level as a disc priest.
Also balance druids are among the best duo-levelers if you have a friend.
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battleground PvP is not leveling.
also omen of clarity only procs on melee hits, not spellcasts.
Balance is NOT the “best duo-leveler”, that would be either a paladin or shaman.
Yea, swing that weapon dude… for efficiency. Might feel weird, but it works.
And yes it is… shows you don’t have a lot of knowledge about speed leveling.
What does it matter to you what other people level as? Holy balls. And you didn’t even read my post. I’ve leveled (on pservers) as both balance and feral. Feral is more efficient. Balance is still fun. As balance, you will only have long downtime if you don’t use your entire kit. For every 4 or 5 mobs you kill as a caster, you kill 1 or 2 as a cat. Then you’re regen’d. Balance also has a better time soloing outdoor elites.
Let people make their own decisions.
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