Feedback: Druids

Blue Tracker

Greetings, Druids.

There are several updates to the Druid Class Tree coming in Season 2. We’d like to share some of the design thinking behind these changes. Overall, our hope for this tree design is that you are able to painlessly take the core abilities and defensives you need for your spec, and that you have some interesting choices you can make with the remaining points, especially in the middle and bottom gates.

Nodes that Don’t Benefit Your Current Specialization
The top feedback we heard on the Druid class tree is that it’s frustrating to take nodes for abilities you never use, or that provide bonuses that don’t benefit you. We have rearranged and redesigned talents so that druids never have to take more than one node that doesn’t benefit them in the normal course of play of their spec, and most druids won’t take any.

As part of making these changes, we’ve changed a number of damage nodes like Instincts of the Claw and added some new ones. We’ve adjusted the balance of several spells and abilities to account for these changes. Overall you shouldn’t see big changes to your spell damage or damage composition in appropriate builds for your spec (with the exception of Restoration - see below).

Utility and Interrupts
We wanted to make it easier for Druids to access important class utility. We’ve made Remove Corruption easier to access for all specs, and moved Skull Bash to make it less expensive for Restoration Druids to reach. Balance Druids can no longer take Skull Bash - instead, Light of the Sun has been moved from their spec tree to Skull Bash’s location in the Class Tree. Fluid Form now also affects Skull Bash, shifting the druid into Cat Form if necessary when they cast it.

Restoration Druid Damage
There are a couple of aspects of Restoration Druid damage that we’re not happy with:

It’s demanding to play, requiring Druids maintain magic DoTs and shift in and out of Cat Form while healing.
When Restoration Druids take all possible damage talents, they don’t have enough points to invest in defensive talents or useful utility.

We have made some changes in the tree to encourage Restoration Druids to specialize in either physical or magic damage (if they choose to deal damage at all), but not both. The Circle of the Wild / Circle of the Heavens choice node gives a massive 25% bonus to the damage type of their choice. We hope this change frees players up to take more defensive talents and makes the spec easier to learn and pilot for players who are interested in playing it.

Blizzard Forum Source: Feedback: Druids, Author: Kaivax, Posted: Thursday, December 19th 2024, 11:08 pm