Why does everyone hate on druids?Follow

Methinks there's something else going on here. I've never once experienced an iota of the "druid hate" you're describing. Let alone four times in one day?!? Frankly I call...let's just say..."exaggeration".

I've never been balance, so maybe there's some "spec'ism" out there, but I say with great confidence there's no general sense that druids are "useless until 70." To the contrary, if anything I hear that we're OP in our versatility... stealth, healing, plate-level armor, travel form, free flight at 68, fuggetaboutit!!!

Are you getting into these groups with an expectation or misunderstanding that you are either Resto or Feral? Because if a group already has three DPS, then a Moonkin would be a pretty bad fit at that point.

Even if that WERE the case...getting kicked four times in one day, all without explanation or warning...I'm just not buyin' it.

Warning! Personal preference ahead!

I myself try not to group with Boomkin. Sure Boomkin do some strong DpS, but when I look to a Mage or Lock, it doesn't compare. To me Boomkin has long been the 'alternative to Rogue' in that you can spam a couple buttons and do all around 'ok'. Maybe it's simply that 3 DD spells + 1 AoE offensive spell just isn't enough for me. lol

Mostly my regards to Boomkin comes from comparing talent trees and gear. Feral provides some serious versatility in that a Druid can Tank extremely well with easy to acquire gear, DpS in the same set or double that DpS in an actual DpS kit (which I've found to avg about 12.5% more DpS in Cat of comparable gear than as Boomkin). Balance is a decent PvP / Soloist's tree.. maybe for those Mages who didn't like being so squishy.

When I group, quite honestly one of the last classes I will appeal for DpS is a Boomkin. I'd take another CC, another Offtank, another Healer, or any Hybrid before one Boomkin. There are always exceptions, and S3 has raised my hopes for the Boomkins a little, though I doubt I'll see too many in full S3, and even then, I bet I could do better DpS in cat form with the altenate feral set for DpS as long as we aren't comparing apples and oranges (ie. 65% miti armor targets Booms will obviously hit 'em harder, or 250 nature resist Targets would get eaten by a Kitty). heh

You get the idea. Sorry to be so harsh, and it's totally nothing personal and I don't hate Boomkins, I simply don't like to group with them because of my past experiences with their DpS and that has alot to do specifically with the players... limitations. To me Feral is extremely versatile and a phenominal hybrid / group / raid asset *IF* that feral Druid has gear sets for each role (Tank, DpS, Heal-assist). Boomkin have the advantage of Hybrid'ing with one gear set (Caster DpS / heal-assist), which I guess is pretty cool for the exta bag space it saves. Resto Druids? I've done it, I wasn't super impressed, but it does have some nice boons to compliment all three trees. Fortunately I've been able to pull off Main healer as Feral on more than a couple occasions, it's simply about knowing your gear (and your groups'!), and knowing what it can handle (knowing the fight sequences!).

Bottom Line: How does Moonkin benefit other classes? Ask around, find out when it is that people would say "I wish we had a Boomkin for that.."

Best of luck in your adventures!

IMO the "support" people look for in a DPS spot of the group is mainly CC, either CC in form of pre-pull (rogue) or in-fight (sheep/offtank).

Sure boomkins can root and probably withstand some hits, but just not as good as pure classes.
I guess there's always a gamble with grouping playing those hard to define hybrid specs vs the classic ones.

They just hate moonkins. Go feral and everyone will love you. I get asked to tank and DPS stuff all the time, only time grps are reluctant to invite me is if the need DPS and druids don't have really any CC.

Stop the hatred!







No waith, I actually got something usefull to say!

Boomkings have always been shunned by the general public; not the healing of a full resto druid, not the tanking abilities of a feral druid. Their pretty much mages without the usefull water, locks without a SS or a priest without Vampiric Embrace. And worst of all; they got no CC. The only other full mana-using-spell-damage-stocking-oom-going-class that doesn't have CC is the Elemental Shaman, snd he has lots of happy happy totems to keep himself usefull.

Waith, did I just say we got no CC?

We do. Actually, we got 3. The obvious is Entangling Roots, our truted snare. The other two, however, is often overlooked, and doesn't really shine that often, since their rather situational; Cyclone and Hibernate. We do got CC, but we don't get to use it that often (unless your in a place outside filled with dragonkin and animals).

Personally, seeing I have a holy priest, I never said no to a balance druid since I've hit 70. A druid that knows what he's doing can and will do about as much damage as any other class, and I never say no to 5% free crit.

All in, I wouldn't say balance druids suck. Pre-70, they may be a bit hard to gear, but there is an easy solution to that; roll on cloth items. Roll on staves. Roll on anything that is an upgrade for you. And if the party starts ********* leave the group; they are simply not worth the time.

Balance druids are hybrids. We are just as good as mages on our own, and we contribute to groups in our own way. The next time your healer dies because the tank let an add slip, who will safe the day? Not the mage's food and water. Not the locks summoning portal. No, it is the balance druid that is smart enough to realise he has resto spells.

You call us OOMkins; we call ourselfs BOOMkings. We pwn. And we're good at it.

All other things being equal, a Boomkin will not keep up with a Mage or Lock in terms of pure dps. This is especially true pre-70 where leather caster gear is painfully hard to come by. Even at 70, I find my fire mage keeping up with Boomkins that are much better geared (30-40% more +dmg). Add to that their relative lack of CC (compared to sheep especially) and you've got yourself one underwhelming spec.

That said, as a mage, I absolutely love having a Boomkin in my group. The 5% crit bump is, I believe, what allows me to keep up with and beat those better-geared Boomkins (ironically enough). Not many class/specs benefit from crit boosts as much as a fire mage with Ignite.


lolwut? Watch a mage in a long boss fight. See how varied his casts are. Summon Elemental, Cast Frostbolt, Frostbolt, Frostbolt...Coldsnap, Summon Elemental, Frostbolt, Frostbolt...or...Scorch, Scorch (+3), Fireball, Fireball. In fact, with my gear (lacking a bit on the +dmg) and my old hybrid arc/fire spec, my "rotation" was: Scorch x infinity with the occasional pom/pyro. The combination of Ignite, Incineration, and the short cast time (thus no fireballs smacking into a dead target) make this a vicious strategy. I'm off topic here, sorry, but the point is that dps'ing as a mage is as deadbrained as it gets.


Locks and mages really couldn't be more different. If you're just looking for a non-DoT ranged dps class, don't be afraid of mage. If you're truly looking for a hybrid class that also does ranged dps, then more power to ya.


Not sure what you mean here. By innate reduction, are you talking about things like Invisible and Soul Shatter? I suppose that counts as "innate", though any cloth dps'er worth his salt will also spend talent points on it.

Lack of good Moonkin gear makes Moonkin suck balls, that's why. 70 is when you get the goodies that make Moonkin worth its salt. So until then, there's not much more you can do but play a spec that's actually viable, like... Feral tanking.

I hate to say it, but back in Azeroth gear didn't really seem overly important (this is sans actual old world endgame, I doubt thats what he is referring too). Paladin tanks with 0 spell damage held hate perfectly well. And y'know, leveling as feral, I don't remember finding quest rewards all over the place with green armor and good feral stats. In fact, I only really remember 1-2 pieces even close to having feral oriented stats, everything else I was wearing was relatively lame rogue gear.

As for moonkin gea, a moonkin can wear cloth. It doesn't give them the best armor, but if by your logic a moonkin wearing mage gear (sans actual +fire damage, +frost damage, etc) wouldn't be a good caster, why would a mage?

If this really happened, I would chock it up to CC. I know if I have any DPS in my group without CC already, when I'm filling the other two spots, I'm probably going to try to make sure they have a CC ability.

Yes, I was partly referring to those. I also meant the automatically reduced threat that Rogues and Cat form get. Automatically does 0.71% threat. (Hit for 1000, do only 710 threat)

I don't mind being quoted but I do mind being mischaracterized. Gullible implies that I haven't seen the issue under debate with my own eyes; that I haven't tested my theories in practice. It implies that I heard somewhere from somebody that boomkins were really lolkins and should be mocked accordingly. None of the above is true.

Regardless, I never said Boomkins could not keep up a good dps, just that for the most part, they would not keep up with mages and locks. I was working my *** off to keep up with the Boomkin in my prior example (a 'kin I play with regularly and that I know knows his class), pushing the limits indicated by my handy Omen hate-o-matic. Nevertheless I did keep up and with vastly inferior +dmg. Again, credit goes to the Boomkin aura for my edge. You have your examples, I have mine, as is ever the case in forum debate.

Anyway, even if you gave in and agreed with me here, so what? Even if Boomkins are behind other clothies in dps by, say, by 5-10%, so what? The aura, the spot heals, the innervate, hell, the huggable hooter that you are is worth the price of admission imo. The only 70 druid in my guild just switched from Balance to Resto and though he's a sick healer even in crap healer gear, I miss his owly *** in my group.


Dueling is another story and not altogether related to the topic at hand, having much less to do with dps and more to do with class balance, cooldowns, and "PvP skill" (and gear, of course, but we've assumed those to be equal for this discussion). When I was a 3min mage and my c/ds were up, a Boomkin didn't stand a chance unless they got a lucky resist. But if they wanted to duel again, fugghetaboutit, I was the one not standing a chance. Now as frost I have to work a bit harder to get the win, but the fights go much more consistently. PvP of any sort is a pretty bad measure of dps (compare your local 10/48/3 mage in EotS to a deep frostie and you'll likely see what I mean).

I only used the word gulliable as I doubted that you have ever played the Balance spec, or at least for any period longer than, for example, the ammount of time it takes for a small dog to turn red in a liquidizer...

My point still stands, Moonkin druids are a fun, powerful and great all arounders to play.




Once again, I beg to differ. As I have already stated, many druids better geared than me can keep up dps higher than that of a mage or lock easily, and often come up top of raid charts. For example THIS PERSON, although certainly not the best druid around, s/he is able to pull out some quite good damage quickly with a Starfire/MF combos.






Plus the chicken thing... I mean, come on... Give it some credit...

It does seem like there is a lot of hate harbored toward the moonkin spec. The biggest reason for this can only be brought to one thing, many runs with badly equipped Moonkins. Maybe they just switched to try it out or they do not play much, lets face it some Balance druids have below optimal gear. It is the "red headed step child" of the druid tree, at least that is how Blizzard seems to treat if for itemization. There are several good options for each slot when it comes to feral and resto gear. Most of the time with Balance there is one good leather option or fighting over cloth with mages, locks, and priests.

People hear that someone is feral and they go "There is a tank" or OT. Resto, "we got us a healer". Balance druids are so rare that most don't know what to do with them. They cast like a mage with the armor of a DPS warrior or Hunter (depends on cloth/leather mix).

I am a moonkin druid. I have had to work long and hard to get the necessary gear for Mandragal. One of my prides is that I have now bowed down to the masses and equiped my self with cloth gear. I have scrounged and saved for a set that is completely Leather.

I have fallen in with a guild that loves to have a balance druid around. However, I have also seen the ugly side of things. Looking for a PuG for any instance just for rep and I will always get asked "Are you a Tank?" or "Are you a healer?" even when I add a comment that says the I am Balance spec. I will not overlook being a healer for a group ever. I can do it well except for Heroics where spec and gear play a much bigger role. Being a tank.....that is the iffy one, there is too much in feral that without being feral makes it worse than an MS or Fury warrior tanking. So, I avoid tanking just due to the ineptitude of my spec toward that aspect. (Not that I have not had thoughts of going back to Feral just because it would aggravate me less when looking for a PuG)

For the most part it is the general populace that is miseducated or under educated as far as the druid class goes. They think that just because we have the capability to do everything that we do it at a level that is inferior to the "parent" class. Or, they have only ever known the druids as being Resto/Feral depending on when they joined the game. We are still a minority on most servers if memory serves so be patient and accept that you cannot change everyones mind. It will make you enjoy more the runs where you are willingly accepted into the fold.

you don't get to use it that often because majority of instances where cc is needed... *gasp* doesn't match any of those requirements >>; you're not outside ever unless in zf/zg (maybe ZA recently released, dunno haven't been inside yet), so that nulls entangling roots 90% of the time, your cyclone lasts 6 seconds IF that and will be immune after three uses, your hibernation is awesome but i would say most of the Outlands instances are full of humanoids and elementals, not beasts, so there goes hibernation as well. comparing that to a mages polymorph, oh hey, 30 seconds, on what's that? humanoids BEASTS and critters? :O i think i know which one's better :D locks can handle the elementals, mages for humanoids and beasts (sorry you just got overwritten) not to mention hey, they can make food/water (gotta love ritual of refreshment) :D, the higher dps, the aoe-spamming abilities (yours has a 1min CD)

i would think the reason you got into druid was because you wanted to be able to multi-class the game, be an offtank, offheal, offdps, all in one, if you wanted to be a better tank, healer, or dps in particular ten i think you should reroll so you can. druid bear form will never be as good as a warrior, cat form never as good as a rogue, tree of life ... well ok, tree of life is absolutely awesome for healer, low mana cots, constant healing instead of burst, and healing gets a bonus from spirit, gotta love it. but still never as good as a holy priest in raids. you'll always be classified a 2nd class, and alot of groups can be picky, i'm sorry to hear that. but when i look for someone to replace a bad group member (more often than not a druid with an ego who thinks he can tank better than a warrior in bear form (damn mana sponges), i would gladly replace them with someone who knows their roll better in the group and follow through without complaint so my job is 20x's easier.